STEELE PICKS: Best Films of 2016
Posted by Amy Steele in Film on December 30, 2016
I’m not a film critic although a had a stint as one when I worked at Harvard Business School from 1997-2000. I reviewed films and interviewed actors and directors for The Harbus. I see a lot of films in the theaters as well as on DVD and Netflix.
Here’s my list of the 16 best films of 2016:
Moonlight
written and directed by: Barry Jenkins
starring: Mahershala Ali, Andre Holland, Janelle Monae, Naomie Harris, Ashton Sanders
gorgeously filmed. intense, heartbreaking yet hopeful film which follows a young black man from childhood to adulthood. Like most of us, Chiron’s searching for connection, acceptance and a sense of place. He’s starting from a much lower point than most as his mom’s a drug addict and neglects him. Chiron ends up finding guidance, protection and a sanctuary with drug dealer Juan, played by the wonderfully talented Mahershala Ali. Visually stunning and devastatingly honest and poignant.
The Handmaiden
written by: Chan-wook Park and Seo-kyeong Jeong
directed by: Chan-wook Park
starring: Min-hee Kim, Jung-woo Ha, Jin-woong Jo, Tae-ri Kim
wow. stunning, strange, enthralling, amusing, beautiful, erotic, intense, thrilling, twisty. SEE IT.
Sing Street
written and directed by: John Carney
starring: Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Aidan Gillen, Maria Doyle Kennedy
I adore John Carney’s other films Once and Begin Again plus I appreciate films about music. In 1980s Dublin, Conor faces challenges at home and at school so why not form a band to impress a girl. Conor’s parents argue incessantly at home while at school he finds himself not fitting in anywhere. He gathers together an earnest collection of misfits to form the band. He seeks advice from his older brother who exposes him to all the classics as well as popular music. He tells Conor that he needs to create “happy sad” music like The Cure and Joy Division. He says: “Your problem is you’re not happy being sad. But that’s what love is, happy sad.” That music draws me in as it embraces 80s alternative/ mod. This film is a pure delight that actually makes me smile, makes me happy.
La La Land
written and directed by: Damien Chazelle
starring: Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, John Legend
A modern day musical/ love story set in Los Angeles starring the magnetic pair of Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as an actress and a jazz musician looking to break out. Infectiously entertaining and bittersweet.
Love & Friendship
written and directed by: Whit Stillman
starring: Kate Beckinsale, Chloe Sevigny, Xavier Samuel, Stephen Fry, Tony Bennett
Oh Whit Stillman I adore you and your cleverness. If you haven’t seen his Metropolitan trilogy you must. Based on the Jane Austen story “Lady Susan,” Love & Friendship is a witty, darkly amusing and smart film. While temporarily residing with her in-laws, Lady Susan Vernon seeks to make a match for her daughter and maybe one for herself as well. Because it’s all about money and position during this time period. Kate Beckinsale dazzles in the lead.
Hell or High Water
written by: Taylor Sheridan
directed by: David Mackenzie
starring: Ben Foster, Chris Pine, Jeff Bridges
didn’t expect to love a modern Western as much as this one about two brothers plotting to save the family ranch in West Texas.
Jackie
written by: Noah Oppenheim
directed by: Pablo Larrain
starring: Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig
outstanding, gorgeous, moving. I cried! Always a sign of a brilliant film if I’m moved that much. Natalie Portman should win the Academy Award for her stellar performance as Jackie Kennedy in the days following JFK’s assassination.
American Honey
written and directed by: Andrea Arnold
starring: Sasha Lane, Shia LeBeouf, Riley Keough
this one’s difficult to describe. gritty and riveting. exploring Heartland poverty, the film focuses on scrappy young woman who joins a group of street hustlers selling magazines door-to-door (who still does that?) throughout the country. they form a community of sorts. it’s eye-opening, engrossing and heartbreaking.
Certain Women
written and directed by: Kelly Reichardt
starring: Michelle Williams, Laura Dern, Kristen Stewart
quiet intensity. amazing cast. women in control, women space and exhibiting a modicum of control in the Midwest in three intersecting stories.
Loving
written and directed by: Jeff Nichols
starring: Ruth Negga, Joel Edgerton
how can you not be both moved and compelled by the story of Mr. and Mrs. Loving who took their right to interracial marriage to the Supreme Court, paving the way for many others. Nothing’s easy about the couple’s relationship but their love endures.
Maggie’s Plan
written and directed by: Rebecca Miller
starring: Greta Gerwig, Julianne Moore, Ethan Hawke, Maya Rudolph, Bill Hader
having second thoughts on her marriage, Maggie concocts a plan to reunite her husband with his ex-wife. witty. clever. brilliant script and impressive cast.
A Bigger Splash
written by: David Kajganich
directed by: Luca Duadagnino
starring: Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ralph Fiennes, Dakota Johnson
when an old friend and his daughter interrupt a rock star’s vacation with her lover, lots of naked debauchery ends in tragedy.
The Meddler
written and directed by: Lorene Scafaria
starring: Rose Byrne, Susan Sarandon
my mom would never become this involved in my life. she wants me to be happy but she’d not going to take an active role in making sure that happens.
Queen of Katwe
written by: William Wheeler
directed by: Mira Nair
starring: Madina Nalwanga, David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong’o
for a film based on a true story about chess this one’s inspirational and impressive.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
written by: Robert Carlock
directed by: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
starring: Tina Fey, Margo Robbie, Martin Freeman
Tina Fey plays and earnest, determined reporter who thrives on the adrenaline rush filing stories in Afghanistan. The film delves into the treatment of female war corespondents and the challenges being a war reporter.
White Girl
written and directed by: Elizabeth Wood
starring: Morgan Saylor, Brian Marc, Justin Bartha, Chris Noth
shocking, gritty glimpse into a college student’s summer when drug binges, partying and an unexpected romance take her a bit too deep and collapsing into danger and uncertainty. It’s as far from Homeland’s Dana Brody as Morgan Saylor may get.
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STEELE PICKS: Best Documentary Films of 2016
Posted by Amy Steele in Film on December 27, 2016
strong documentaries expose you to subject matter in a novel and enlightening manner. it might be a subject of which you know very little or a subject with which you’re familiar. the best documentaries make you want to read and research, discuss and debate. that’s why I’ve belonged to a documentary film group for five years. I tend to favor biographical, political, social justice and music documentaries.
13th
directed by: Ava DuVernay
written by: Spencer Averick and Ava DuVernay
–our criminal justice systems needs serious reform. this documentary painstakingly delves into our prison system. It’s a moving, upsetting and infuriating call for change.
Oasis: Supersonic
directed by: Mat Whitecross
–while I classify myself a Blur girl, I also love Oasis. I love Britpop and alternative music. I didn’t know all that much about how Oasis formed or how brothers Liam Gallagher and Noel Gallagher grew up with an abusive father. I know music was a way out for many British bands in the 90s. The film documents the band’s meteoric rise to fame and its collapse. There’s a moment on tour when Noel quits the band in Los Angeles and takes off to a female fan’s place in San Francisco. He ultimately re-joins the band and ends up writing a song about it. Being a long-term music critic this film hit all the right notes and all the right emotive spots. I laughed. I cried. I stood in the theater lobby with four strangers discussing it all.
Amanda Knox
directed by: Rod Blackhurst and Brian McGinn
written by: Matthew Hamachek and Brian McGinn
–going into this one I definitely had an opinion. it’s like the OJ Simpson case, how can you not? I’d read Amanda Knox’s riveting memoir and still learned quite a bit about the Italian judicial system and being locked up abroad (don’t do it) watching this documentary. Nearly a decade ago in 2007, Amanda Knox and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were arrested, charged and convicted of the murder of Amanda’s roommate Meredith Kercher. Remember the supposed orgy and its aftermath as well as Knox’s nickname “Foxy Knoxy.” Because of course if someone’s sexually open she *must be a murderer. Amanda serves prison time until the conviction is overturned but then there’s another trial. While the United States criminal justice system remains a mess the Italian one seems outrageous. It’s not what one expects in a European nation. There are so many flaws in the investigation and numerous questions about the process that this documentary attempts to address.
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week– the touring years
directed by: Ron Howard
written by: Mark Monroe
–it’s always cool to learn something new about music legends. while I’m familiar with the music I don’t know as much about the band’s history and specific historic moments. There’s an excellent cross-section of fans interviewed from Whoopi Goldberg to Sigourney Weaver to Eddie Izzard. It’s a sweet love letter to a band from a genuinely sincere Ron Howard. It’s not messy or scandalous or a sexy film but wholesome family fun that one expects from Ron Howard.
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book review: Lady Cop Makes Trouble
Posted by Amy Steele in Books on December 19, 2016
Lady Cop Makes Trouble by Amy Stewart. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt| September 2016| 320 pages | $26.00| ISBN: 978-0-544-40994-1
RATING: ***/5*
This was an overall fun and enjoyable read. I didn’t read the debut Kopp Sisters novel Girl Waits with Gun so maybe it wasn’t a good idea to read the second book. I do think that even in a series each book should be a stand-alone that anyone can pick up to read and figure out what’s going on. Despite not knowing the case from the first novel which did carry over to this novel–at least in consequences for Constance Kopp and her position as deputy sheriff—I could mostly piece together what I needed. The youngest sister Fleurette confused me at first and I didn’t know if she was a daughter or niece. I absolutely admire and appreciate that Amy Stewart found clips in which to base this case and that Constance Kopp was a real person. Stewart explained, “I’m lucky enough to have a huge treasure trove of newspaper clippings covering 1914 and 1915. Constance was in the paper all the time. This book covers one particular incident that made headlines nationwide: the pursuit of a convicted criminal.” This is a delightful description of Constance’s duties for the New Jersey sheriff’s department: “I wasn’t just a chaperone for wayward girls. I carried a gun and handcuffs. I could make an arrest, just like any deputy. I earned a man’s salary. People did find it shocking and I didn’t mind that one bit.” Constance stands as a strong, determined female working in the male-dominated field of law enforcement. She doesn’t seem deterred when men don’t know how to speak with her or how to react to her as she carries out her varied responsibilities. She lives with her sisters, Fleurette and Norma, in the countryside in New Jersey. Norma seems content to raise homing pigeons and not venture far from home. Fleurette dreams of the stage and for now acts in a local production. The sisters look out for one another and serve as sounding boards for each other. Not having sisters it seems a wonderful thing. This case didn’t quite enthrall me enough for a mystery/thriller, fortunately the strong female lead makes up for my lack of interest and sometimes confusion in the case. I rooted for Constance and her sisters to fight the system and to fight sexism.
–review by Amy Steele
FTC Disclosure: I received this book for review from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
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STEELE PICKS: Best Albums of 2016
Posted by Amy Steele in Music on December 17, 2016
here’s the music in heavy rotation or that intrigued me or moved me in 2016. we need music and the arts now more than ever. music heals.
Chairlift, Moth [Columbia]
–the duo aptly describes its music as “25th-century folktronica.” infectious beats, sweet vocals. the Brooklyn band just announced its break-up on Twitter.
Bat for Lashes, The Bride [Parlophone]
— concept album. all the songs on this album= perfection. dark humor, dark melodies with gorgeous arrangements, provocative lyrics and lilting, rich vocals.
Warpaint, Heads Up [Rough Trade]
–the all-female Los Angeles indie band plays soothing, swirling, pretty, contemplative, dreamy, free-spirited music. Warpaint is Emily Kokal (guitar, vocals), Jenny Lee Lindberg (bass, vocals), Stella Mozgawa (drums, vocals) and Theresa Wayman (guitar, vocals). The new album sounds a bit more pop, a bit more loud and loose without departing from the loveliness that makes up Warpaint’s current musical catalogue.
Daughter, Not to Disappear [4AD]
–haunting vocals, swirly moodiness and thoughtful lyrics
Tindersticks, The Waiting Room [City Slang]
–sexy, dark music. Singer Stuart Staples oozes romance with that brooding baritone and the varied instrumentation of violin, keyboards, percussion and guitar leads to gorgeous layered arrangements.
Band of Horses, Why Are You OK [Interscope]
–this band makes me feel slightly warm and fuzzy. also one of the best shows this year.
Julianna Barwick, Will [Dead Oceans]
–this album soothes and calms. I often listen to it while I’m at acupuncture. my review.
The Julie Ruin, Hit Reset [Hardly Art]
–edgy brilliance. The spectacular album bursts with a tangible emotiveness, unapologetic lyrics and a collective embrace for individual truth and identity.
Basia Bulat, Good Advice [Secret City]
–there’s an earthy loveliness in the Canadian folk singer-songwriter’s vocals. her captivating and honest lyrics get buoyed by layered melodies.
James, Girl at the End of the World [BMG]
–one of my favorite 90s Britpop bands. this electronica/ indie-rock album does not disappoint. my review.
Suede, Night Thoughts [Warner Bros.]
–another one of my favorite British bands from the 90s still at it.
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book review: Virgin and Other Stories
Posted by Amy Steele in Uncategorized on December 15, 2016
Virgin and Other Stories by April Ayers Lawson. Farrar, Straus and Giroux| November 2016| 179 pages | $23.00| ISBN: 9780865478695
RATING: ****/5*
Strong debut short story collection with a dark tone and dark sense of humor. Author April Ayers Lawson, currently a visiting writer at University of North Caroline at Chapel Hill, grew up in the South with an evangelical background. She grew up in Greenville, South Carolina. It’s easy to imagine that everyone in the South drives around in a pick-up truck with confederate flag and gun rack attending weekly church service. In this story collection she creates a complex image of the South and its inhabitants with rich details and enthralling, layered characters.
In the title story, Jake contemplates the potential deterioration his marriage to Sheila, a virgin when they wed. A teenager becomes tantalized by a mysterious young man living at her piano teacher’s home in “The Way You Must Play Always:” “The love inside her had room to spread out now. It was part nervousness, part desperation, and a little craziness too, and she felt it begin to rush outside of her and around her, leaving invisible prints of itself all over the things she touched: her bag, her books, the keys, the pages of the music she turned.” A woman who befriended a transgender woman at her church takes her son to the woman’s funeral in “The Negative Effects of Homeschooling.” This boy recalls how different his mother would be when Charlene would come over to visit: “First I thought WHAT IN THE WORLD did my mother have to put in a diary? All she did was give me assignments, wander around the house wiping things down, drink green tea, and go to stores. She never said anything to me about a diary; then Charlene’s her thirty minutes and my mom is Anne Frank.”
In the best story, a married artist forms complicated relationships with her art dealer and another artist in “Vulnerability.” She’s married to a man who mostly hangs out after work in the garage watching porn on his computer. Of her husband: “Occasionally when I returned from the bathroom at a restaurant I’d come back to find him engaged more happily in conversation with the waitress than he ever was with me; with me he claimed he could be himself, which was depressed.” She creates imaginary relationships in her mind then when she meets the art dealer and another man she corresponded with she plays them off against each other. There’s a dangerous precariousness in her emotions and palpable insecurities: “I knew I had nice legs, and unable to think of anything funny or intelligent to say, my mind sludgy with the clonazepam I chewed like candy and alcohol and th dregs of crumbling fantasy, I shifted then about in hopes that he’d forgive me for not being as smart and inspired and bold as I thought I’d managed to seem in the emails.” Best read slowly to savor and absorb the exquisite details.
–review by Amy Steele
FTC Disclosure: I received this book for review from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
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music news: The Candles on tour now with Norah Jones and new album due out December 16, 2016
Posted by Amy Steele in Music on November 30, 2016
The third album Matter + Spirit [The End Records] from New York rootsy band The Candles will be released on December 16, 2016. Blending 60s troubadour with twangy guitar Americana, the new songs evoke freedom and hopefulness like a cross-country road trip with wide open spaces and big sky, sunshine and open windows. The band is currently opening for Norah Jones ending the tour in Boston on December 10, 2016.
‘Matter + Spirit’ Tracklisting:
- Back To The City
- Move Along (Feat. Norah Jones)
- Blues Skies And Sun
- Followed
- Lost My Driving Wheel
- Something Good
- Sunburned
- Til It’s Gone
- You Won’t Remember Me
tour dates opening for Norah Jones:
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show preview: Jaw Gems at House of Blues on December 31, 2016
Posted by Amy Steele in Music on November 30, 2016
Looking for a cool way to close out the year? This might be the perfectly chill vibe to bid farewell to 2016. Get lost in the hypnotic mellow beats of Portland, Maine-based Jaw Gems. The electronic collective of experimental producers brings beat-music to a live band setting. Jaw Gems recently released their second album, HEATWEAVER [1320 Records].
JAW GEMS w/ Lettuce featuring Antuwan Stanley (as seen with Vulfpeck)
& TAUK on Saturday, December 31, 2016 at 8pm
venue info:
HOUSE OF BLUES BOSTON
15 Lansdowne St
Boston, MA 02215
(888) 693-2583
TOUR DATES:
Sat. Dec. 17 – Brooklyn Bowl – Brooklyn, NY *
Fri. Dec. 30 – State Theatre – Portland, ME **
Sat. Dec. 31 – House of Blues – Boston, MA **
Sun. Jan. 8 – The National – Richmond, VA **
Tues. Jan. 10 – The Throne Theater – Wilmington, NC **
Weds. Jan. 11 – Lincoln Theatre – Raleigh, NC **
Thurs. Jan. 12 – Marathon Music Works – Nashville, TN **
Fri. Jan. 13 – Georgia Theater – Athens, GA **
Sun. Jan. 15 – Music Farm – Charleston, SC **
Tues. Jan. 17 – Republic – New Orleans, LA **
Weds. Jan. 18 – Soul Kitchen – Mobile, AL **
Thurs. Jan. 19 – Jannus Landing – St. Petersburg, FL **
Weds. Feb. 1 – Low End Theory – Los Angeles, CA
Fri. Feb. 3 – Gem & Jam Festival – Tucson, AZ
* w/ Break Science Live Band
** w/ Lettuce
More Dates To Be Announced Soon
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show preview: CRX at Brighton Music Hall on Sunday, November 20, 2016
Posted by Amy Steele in Music on November 17, 2016
Fronted by The Strokes’ Nick Valensi, CRX melds impressive guitar riffs and power pop elements for high energy songs. Valensi’s vocals sound clear, self-assured and relaxed. On creating CRX, Valensi explained: “The Strokes don’t play that often anymore, and when we do it’s awesome, but it got to the point where I needed to balance that out with a project I could take on tour whenever I wanted to. And the idea of playing clubs again was really exciting to me.”
CRX is: Nick Valensi [guitar and vocals]; bassist Jon Safley; keyboardist/vocalist Richie Follin; drummer Ralph Alexander and guitarist Darian Zahedi.
The band’s debut album New Skin [Columbia Records] – produced by Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme – is out now.
CRX at Brighton Music Hall in Boston, MA on November 20, 2016 with Streets of Laredo.
venue info:
158 Brighton Ave.
Allston, Mass. 02134
617-779-0140
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book review: Mister Monkey
Posted by Amy Steele in Uncategorized on November 15, 2016
Mister Monkey by Francine Prose. Harper| October 2016| 285 pages | $26.99| ISBN: 978-0-06-239783-6
RATING: ****/5*
“They are in this together, everyone is happy to be here and disappointed to be here, glad to have a part in a play, glad to work for scale, but truthfully not all that overjoyed to be working in an off-off-off-off-Broadway production of Mister Monkey, the umpteen-hundreth revival of the cheesy but mysteriously durable musical based on the classic children’s novel.”
In writing this novel about a failing theatrical production, author Francine Prose [Lovers at the Chameleon Club: Paris, 1932, My New American Life, Blue Angel] addresses the rippling effect of the play on a bevy of players. The faltering stage production of a classic and popular children’s novel brings together a disparate group of actors, crew and audience members. Prose imagines how this rather basic play correlates to the mid-aged actress questioning her career, the child actor playing the titular monkey, the children’s book author and young child in the audience, that child’s teacher and others. Each chapter builds on the past one. The play’s based on a novel about a wealthy New York family who adopts an orphaned monkey. The father’s girlfriend thinks the beloved monkey stole her wallet. The case ends up in court. Absurdity ensues.
Each chapter addresses the play from a different character’s viewpoint adding more layers to the story behind the play. Margot wonders how she ended up working so hard and not advancing her career in the way she’d imagined. She’s playing Mister Monkey’s lawyer in a tiny theater. This isn’t the career she’d envisioned for herself at Yale. She reminds herself: “Art is art, theater is magic, no matter how humble the venue. Together they have transformed a house full of strangers into a group of people all rooting for Mister Monkey!” The home-schooled twelve-year-old actor in the monkey suit became engulfed in everything simian when he landed the role. He also harbors a massive crush on Margot. Costume designer Lakshmi believes “Mister Monkey is a nasty piece of imperialist propaganda justifying human trafficking, which you would know if you were smart enough to substitute a person for a monkey.” Eleanor works as a nurse full-time and acts on the side. The grandfather and his grandson, Edward, attended a matinee of the play. Prior to the play the grandfather started reading the book to his grandson. “The grandfather didn’t like the book either. It seemed obvious and preachy, full of improving lessons about race and class, honesty, justice, and some kind of . . . spirituality, for want of a better word.” Edward takes the playbill to school and a spirited argument about evolution erupts among the kindergartners.
How does this affect Edward’s teacher Sonya? She’s in trouble because her young pupils discussed Darwinism. Sonya meets a guy for dinner at a fancy restaurant where she ends up next to the book’s author. The date deteriorates quickly. Suffering from PTSD after Vietnam, Ray ending up writing Mister Monkey based on an experience during the war. He’s now wealthy. Whenever Ray receives theatrical royalties he takes whomever he’s dating or married to at the time to dinner at a restaurant called Enzo’s and he gives his favorite waiter Mario tickets to the production. Mario’s fiancée left him—“She was the one who pretended to be someone else, someone who wanted a life of simple contentment with Mario. By then Mario had moved back to his parent’s house for what he’d thought would be a few weeks.” Mario adores the theater and will attend any play and restaurant patrons gift him tickets often.
Prose based the novel on her own experience attending a children’s musical with her granddaughter at a small theater in Manhattan. Prose found the production lacking and tragic and at one quiet moment her granddaughter exclaimed: “Grandma, are you interested in this?” And so Prose wrote this novel to address that question. Fascinating connections allow Prose to explore shattered dreams, unfulfilled goals, success, failure, raising a child in Manhattan, career, love and friendship through wonderful characterizations, vivid prose and a sharp tone. It’s easy to become engulfed in this brilliant, darkly amusing and astutely observational novel.
FTC Disclosure: I received this book for review from Harper Collins.
–review by Amy Steele
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show preview: Skinny Lister at Middle East Downstairs on Monday, November 7, 2016
Posted by Amy Steele in Music on November 5, 2016
Need a distraction before Election Day? Go see Skinny Lister at Middle East Downstairs. Skinny Lister is a six piece British folk band based in London. Formed in 2009, the band puts on a spectacular live show with its upbeat contemplative songs [combo of originals and traditional Irish songs] and solid audience connection. It’s clear that this band loves touring and performing. Skinny Lister recently released its third album The Devil, The Heart & The Fight [Xtra Mile Recordings] on 30th September 2016. the band released Forge & Flagon in 2012 and Down on Deptford Broadway in 2014.
Skinny Lister is: Dan Heptinstall [lead vocals/guitar/stomp box]; Max Thomas [melodeon/mandolin/vox]; Lorna Thomas [vocals]; Michael Camino [double bass/vocals]; Thom Mills [drums]’ Sam Brace [guitar/ concertina/ mandolin/vocals]
venue info:
Middle East Restaurant and Nightclub
472-480 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, Mass. 02139
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About Me
covering mostly music and books. focus on alternative/indie and women in music, literature and the arts. feminist. vegan. mostly alternative, a bit bohemian. Masters in journalism from Boston University. BA from Simmons College.
Entertainment Realm by Amy Steele is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at entertainmentrealm.comCopyright © 2009. All writing, unless otherwise noted, by Amy Steele.
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