Flatiron Hot! Critic
Q&A Pt. 1: Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie & Ron Currie, Jr. at the Strand Bookstore
January 10, 2013 | Eric ShapiroMusician Benjamin Gibbard (Death Cab For Cutie, The Postal Service) and Ron Currie, Jr, the author of such acclaimed novels as God is Dead and Everything Matters, took the stage at the Strand Bookstore on January 10th to showcase their work and highlight thematic similarities that transcend their respective mediums.
Review: Illuminating Traumas of Slavery, August Wilson’s “Piano Lesson” Strikes Core of American Identity
January 9, 2013 | Eric ShapiroAugust Wilson is often referred to as one of the greatest African American playwrights of the 20th century. He also happens to be one of the greatest playwrights, period. Last night, the Flatiron Hot! News critic saw the latest revival of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Piano Lesson” (premiered in 1987 at the Yale Repertory Theater) at the Signature Theatre. The play is not only a poignant snapshot of the African American experience in the 1930s, but an overall sublime work of art relevant to Americans of all races.
Flatiron Hot! Review: Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained
January 4, 2013 | Eric ShapiroThere’s something to be said for an artist who is out to please only himself. But when the product of the ensuing creative narcissism is so arcane as to be unfathomable to those who do not share the artist’s fetishes, then it is deprived of a certain universal quality present in the greatest of art. It has long been said that Quentin Tarantino has abandoned making movies in the traditional sense and has instead taken up the postmodern indulgence of making movies about movies.
To an extent, this has been the case since Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. Tarantino’s most critically acclaimed and greatest cinematic achievements possessed more than a few elements of pastiche. But beneath all the allusions and arcane stylistic flourishes, one could still discern a beating heart. With Death Proof, which Tarantino correctly deemed his creative low point, the director completely abandoned any pretense of traditional cinematic ambitions with breakneck style over substance.
Flatiron Hot! Critic: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
December 28, 2012 | Shaun PersaudJ.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel, The Hobbit, has captured the imaginations of young readers for decades. Therefore, in typical Hollywood fashion, the novel has been adapted for the big screen in three separate parts. The first installment of the series, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, was directed by the famous Peter Jackson (with a screenplay co-written by Guillermo del Toro), who garnered worldwide acclaim for his film adaptions of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Flatiron Hot! Critic: Homeland Season 2 Review
December 28, 2012 | Eric ShapiroAt its best, Homeland mesmerized us by playing around with our expectations, the show’s writers always seeming to remain one step ahead of us, ready to unveil some new tidbit about Brody that would keep us guessing from week to week. The show knew how to mine narrative gold out of uncertainty and imply layers of character depth behind the twitch of a finger or the utterance of an Islamic prayer. Unfortunately, the latter half of season 2 has taken a much different approach, culminating in a competent but thoroughly underwhelming season finale.
Flatiron Hot! Critic – Theater Review: Richard Nelson’s “Sorry”
December 3, 2012 | Eric ShapiroFlatiron Hot! recently had the opportunity to attend Sorry, the third installment in a trilogy of plays by Richard Nelson, which also includes That Hopey Changy Thing and Sweet and Sad. The production bears all the hallmarks of solid off-Broadway theater. It is well-written, competently acted, and witty, replete with literary, poetic and dramatic references. The Public Theater, located on 425 Lafayette Street, is ideal for a production of this sort. Spare, intimate and unfussy in its layout, the historic venue hearkens back to a time when theater was about the rapport between actors and audience, not the indulgent sets and flashy effects that define modern Broadway.
Flatiron Hot! Critic – Movie Review: Life of Pi
November 29, 2012 | Eric ShapiroIn a way, Yann Martel’s Life of Pi was the perfect novel to adapt into a film. Its pages are loaded with the kind of spectacle, self-consciously weighty themes and timeless quality that lends itself well to the Hollywood blockbuster treatment.
The Dilemma of The Brainy Sci-Fi Blockbuster (BSFB): Looper
November 14, 2012 | Eric ShapiroFlatiron Hot! Critic on those Sci-Fi BLockbusters …
Like many Brainy Sci-Fi Blockbusters (BSFBs), Looper begins with an emphasis on its intellectual side. The film’s basic premise is that in the distant future, crime syndicates have devised a new, foolproof way of making their enemies disappear: sending them back in time to be executed by agents known as Loopers. The moral implications of this concept bring up interesting thematic possibilities.
The Dilemma of the Brainy Sci-Fi Blockbuster (BSFB) Part 1
November 8, 2012 | Eric ShapiroThe Flatiron Hot! Critic deconstructs the Sci-Fi Blockbusters – Part 1 …
One can select any number of summer blockbusters to support the cliched assertion that Hollywood has lost its magic. Loud, flashy, and utterly bereft of such cinematic staples as storytelling, characterization and directorial vision, the films in question are unashamedly tailored to deliver the biggest possible adrenaline rush to the widest swath of the testosterone-fueled young male demographic.
Danza Permanente Blends Color, Music, Dance for Unique Aesthetic Experience
October 16, 2012 | Heath RobbinsTechnically, a critic would not be remiss in describing choreographer DD Dorvillier’s Danza Permanente as an interpretive dance based on Beethoven’s String Quartet in A Minor (op. 132), but that would be reductive. Dorvillier’s ambitious work invites interpretation through lenses decidedly outside the repertoire of dance criticism.