Notes from a Genius

It's been since 2016 since I last saw my saxophone-playing buddy's band Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds. They went on hiatus, due to the singer's pregnancy and birth of her first child. And after a year away from the stage, she returned, in rare form, almost as if she'd never taken a break and looking amazing, post-childbirth, her voice sounding ever as incredible and raspy as before. And the band, well, they always impress me. They were tight as hell, playing their first show together since the departure of their lead guitarist, as well. It was the beginning of April that they decided to return to the live stage, nervous and anxious, but better than ever. This was their very first show back, and it happened to be staged in Boston, as they played a string of shows within a week of each other, as a sort of warm up before summer hits and they inevitably tour extensively and hit some festival circuits. If they ever come around to a city near you, you absolutely must see...

"Opening Night" starring: Topher Grace, Anne Heche, Alona Tal, Lauren Lapkus, Taye Diggs, Rob Riggle, Paul Scheer, Brian Huskey, Carlena Britch, Zach Cregger, J.C. Chavez, Lesli Margherita, Johnny Ray Gill, Nikki Tuazon, Carly Anderson written by: Gerry De Leon and Greg Lisi directed by: Isaac Rentz This is an absolute throwaway film about a failed Broadway actor/singer turned production manager as he puts out fire after fire on his play's opening night off-off-off-Broadway. His musical is about the one-hit wonders from the '80s and his lead actor is none other than JC Chavez (yup, that's right, the "other" guy from *NSYNC). Ultimately, "the show must go on," but almost immediately you are wishing they'd shut down production on this disaster. It tries to be raunchy, but fails. It tries to be funny, but fails. It tries to make you care about the love story, but it fails. This was miserable. .........................................

"The Hallow" starring: Joseph Mawle, Bojana Novakovic, Michael McElhatton, Michael Smiley, Stuart Graham, Conor Craig Stephens, Charlotte Williams written and directed by: Corin Hardy Here's an interesting take on the whole idea of fairies. These fairies are monsters. Stalking a family. Adam and his family have moved from London to a remote Irish village, where Adam works as a conservationist. Adam's been warned repeatedly not to go into the forest, but he as to for his work. What Adam fails to understand is the forest belong to the Hallow, and every time Adam steps foot in there he's trespassing. Adam and his family are told, in no uncertain terms, that if they trespass against the Hallow, the Hallow will return in kind. The film starts off with great promise, but eventually falls apart, which was a bit disappointing because I wanted to enjoy it. There's great setting, atmosphere, and a decent amount of build-up/tension. The Hallow are monstrous,...

"Begin Again" starring: Keira Knightley, James Corden, Mark Ruffalo, Hailee Steinfeld, Adam Levine, Yasiin Bey, Catherine Keener, Mary Catherine Garrison written by and directed by: John Carney John Carney has found his niche- films about music- and he does them so perfectly that you cannot help but love each one. "Begin Again" is the second of his, what I've dubbed, "trilogy" that started with "Once" and bookended with "Sing Street." For writer/director John Carney, at least one story is tried and true: A pair of unlikely partners are drawn together by the promise of making music. In the case of his perfectly romantic  Once , this resulted in an Oscar win (for Best Original Song), an acclaimed Broadway adaptation, and an actual relationship between its two leads, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová. If that film was raw sugar, then  Begin Again  – which sees scorned songwriter Gretta (Knightley) and washed-up record c...