Girls Aloud: What I Watched, September-October 2020

As I wrote earlier this year: “The role of third-wave feminism certainly took its hold in the cinema of the 2010s. Women in the 21st century are allowed, more than ever, to be imperfectly perfect creatures: kind and compassionate, cold and calculating, badass…or just plain bad.” Nowhere has this been more evident than in filmContinue reading “Girls Aloud: What I Watched, September-October 2020”

Just Press Play: Hulu’s ‘High Fidelity’ (2020) is One Infinitely Good Playlist

“Making a playlist is a delicate art.  It’s like writing a love letter, but better, in a way.  You get to say what you wanna say without actually saying it.  You get to use someone else’s poetry to express how you feel. And then there are the rules: It’s gotta be entertaining.  You gotta tellContinue reading “Just Press Play: Hulu’s ‘High Fidelity’ (2020) is One Infinitely Good Playlist”

Rebel Yell: ‘Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl’ at DOCNYCFest 2019

Over the last decade or so, singer-songwriter-actress Kate Nash has developed a reputation (and obvious penchant) for defying others’ expectations.  Filmed over five years as the British singer moved to Los Angeles and began writing and recording new music,  Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl (which had its Stateside premiere last week at the DOC NYCContinue reading “Rebel Yell: ‘Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl’ at DOCNYCFest 2019”

The Great Eleven O’Clock Number

As I previously wrote: “..none [of the songs] get us there quite like its eleven o’clock number, “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” does. It is La La Land’s most character-driven piece and undeniably its best song (despite being passed over by “City of Stars” for Best Song nominee at that year’s Oscars).”  Featuring wonderfully-penned lyricsContinue reading “The Great Eleven O’Clock Number”

A Diamond in the Rough: Marina’s ‘Love + Fear’ Explores Multiple Facets of Human Nature

For singer-songwriter Marina Diamandis, it seems as if her identity has forever been inextricably linked with her music.  When she arrived on the scene with her 2010 debut The Family Jewels she was known then as Marina and the Diamonds,  a moniker which suggested the idea of a band — perhaps one similar to theContinue reading “A Diamond in the Rough: Marina’s ‘Love + Fear’ Explores Multiple Facets of Human Nature”

The Star Who Fell to Earth: Christine and the Queens Showcase Their Mettle at Brooklyn Steel

Many might claim Christine & the Queens’ frontwoman, Héloïse Letissier, as many things.  She’s Jacques Brel and the Cocteau Twins, with a bit of David Bowie and Laurie Anderson thrown in for good measure.  She’s Bob Fosse and Pina Bausch reincarnate — or better still, Michael Jackson and Beyonce’s long-lost, would-be French love-child (apologies toContinue reading “The Star Who Fell to Earth: Christine and the Queens Showcase Their Mettle at Brooklyn Steel”

Twee and Twang: Stuart Murdoch’s ‘God Help the Girl’ is a Delightful Burst of Quirk

Some of you already know how much I love my movie-musicals — and recently, I’ve become very much obsessed with one in particular that I’ve been meaning to see for a while now: God Help the Girl (2014).  The brainchild of Belle & Sebastian musician Stuart Murdoch, the film also happens to be the offshootContinue reading “Twee and Twang: Stuart Murdoch’s ‘God Help the Girl’ is a Delightful Burst of Quirk”