Tag Archives: writing

Somerville Theatre sold to current managers

25 Oct

News of the deal brought relief and excitement to local leaders and cinephiles. The new owners have launched a GoFundMe to help pay some of the downpayment.

The future of the Somerville Theatre came into clear focus today when it was announced that ownership of the Hobbs Building, which houses the historic theater, was transferred to CSB Theatres, Inc.

CSB is co-owned by longtime theater managers Ian Judge, Ian Brownell, Jamie Mattchen and John O’Leary. Judge’s name is listed as owner of the limited liability corporation, but he called that a formality.

Judge called the deal “equal parts excitement and nausea.” CSB has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help raise $90,000 to back monies used for the down payment. “It’s scary,” Judge said, “but it’s basically our only chance to make sure that the theater stays around, locally owned in its current form for as long as possible.”

Ian Judge, new co-owner of the Somerville Theatre, was in the lobby greeting patrons.
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Motorist who killed cyclist sentenced to prison

16 Oct

Junming Zhu, the driver whose car left Memorial Drive before hitting John Corcoran, will serve a year in prison with another 18 months suspended.

The “ghost bike” memorial for bicyclist John Corcoran by the DeWolfe Boathouse in Cambridge.

Junming Zhu was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison as well as the loss of his driver’s license for 15 years for the death of cyclist John Corcoran Sept. 23, 2024. The decision was rendered Thursday in Cambridge District Court by Judge David E. Frank. Frank suspended the final 18 months of the sentence, meaning Zhu will serve one year and then be on probation.

The sentence was split despite pleas from Corcoran’s family to keep Zhu in prison for the full two and a half years, the maximum term permissible under the law. “After everything we’ve endured, I ask that this court please hold him fully accountable for taking my father’s life,” said Corcoran’s daughter, Christine, during her victim impact statement, calling it “the only fair sentence.”

Assistant District Attorney Caroline Evans requested that Zhu serve 18 months of the sentence, with the remaining year suspended, while Zhu’s attorney sought two years of probation without incarceration, asking for leniency because Zhu helps care for his six-year-old nephew, whose father works late hours in the food industry.

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Bourdain helped us see that food is the foundational human story

8 Oct

Reflections by a food and film critic about the evocative biopic “Tony” and how it changes the way we see the worl

“Tony,” the plucky biopic that follows a young Anthony Bourdain during the summer he fell in love with restaurant life in Provincetown in the mid-1970s, not only entertained me with its deep character dive into a mercurial soul who would become a food-culture icon but also took me back. During that same era, my family vacationed amid the dunes of Fisher Beach in nearby Truro, and I have fond memories of licking creamy soft-serve twists along Commercial Street, and perusing the endless bins of saltwater taffy from Cabot’s Candy — still there! But the best were the lobster boils my mother served on the sand-swept deck, setting out clear Pyrex bowls full of rich, drawn butter for dipping. We ate the clams and claw first and saved the tail for the savory end. 

Here at Cambridge Day I write about food and film. Seeing “Tony” made me wonder just why stories about food resonate so powerfully on the screen (and on the page) when you don’t get to taste or smell what’s being eaten? Bourdain spent most of his career answering that question without ever really asking it.

A portrait of Anthony Bourdain. Credit: Getty Images
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Crowds flock to Charlie’s Kitchen sidewalk sale

6 Oct

Memorabilia and the hope of helping its owners re-open drew extensive support for the Harvard Square institution. There may be more to sell next weekend.

Part of the crowds that gathered outside of Charlie’s Kitchen for its farewell sale Oct. 3, 2026.

Hundreds of people came by Charlie’s Kitchen to buy memorabilia and support its co-owner, David Toraji Oshima. Charlie’s, a beloved dive bar in Harvard Square, closed earlier this year due to internal flooding from a dishwasher malfunction. Oshima started the “everything must go” sale to prepare for whatever happens next, which might include relaunching the restaurant and bar.

Re-opening, perhaps at a new location, depends on how a pending insurance claim plays out, since the damage and repair is estimated at near one million dollars. Oshima and partner Derek Luangrath own the bar and restaurant business, while the property is owned by Paul Overgaag, the previous proprietor of Charlie’s and the nearby Red House.

While Oshima hopes to restart, he said the sale was also meant to help to connect with the community and to preserve memories of the place. His sale was slated to start at 3 p.m. Saturday but there were dozens lined up at 1:30PM, which both warmed Oshima and overwhelmed him. “Today was way better than I thought,” Oshima said. “I told everybody 3 to 5, but I started setting up at 1, and by about 1:30, I had hundreds of people here supporting me.”

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Reviews of “Heart of the Beast” and “Unabomber”

30 Sep

A survival thriller and a crime drama

“Heart of the Beast”

⭐⭐1/2 Rating: 2.5 out of 4

The vast wilds of Alaska are where James Belmont (Brad Pitt) goes to tamp down the PTSD he suffered as a former special ops sergeant, as well as heal the war scars of his loyal German Shepherd Odin, who served with Belmont during multiple Middle East tours. The two are flying around the wilds of the 49th state to do some birding, fishing and communing with nature.

 Odin’s scars are more visible: titanium fangs (someone smashed him with a brick during combat) and a prosthetic paw. Belmont matter-of-factly says he shot the responsible parties “in the head” during a campfire encounter with a jovial old coot also roaming the wilds, played by none other than the baritone-blessed J.K. Simmons (“Whiplash”). The two enjoy some tasty Belgian beers and go their separate ways in the morning as a storm is closing in. 

From there “Heart of the Beast” becomes one long perilous survival journey after Belmont suffers a heart attack (if the storm don’t get you cardiac arrest will) and the plane goes down. Frigid lake waters revive Belmont. He and Odin go on to endure encounters with bears, wolves and moose (oh my!), not to mention steep ravines and white-water rapids. Through all this, man and best friend seemingly have nine lives, in part because they take turns saving each other’s lives (the dog may get a tad more screen time than Pitt).  

This is the second pooch-and-person flick in two months, after August’s “The Dog Stars,” directed by Ridley Scott. This one, thankfully, spares us the human actor (in “Dog Stars” it’s Jacob Elordi) over-explaining the plot to the canine actor. This one is also set on Earth where the sweeping mountainous terrain of Alaska does a lot of cinematic heavy lifting. 

Unfortunately, “Heart” suffers from woeful computer FX to conjure the tooth and clawed furries of the wild — if he was still alive, Bart the Bear (from 1997’s “The Edge”) would have been a massive upgrade. The movie pretends to be a based on true-events kind of film, but it’s not, which makes the sepia-tinted flashbacks to war time both disruptive and unnecessary. Still, Pitt and Odin (played mostly by a dog named Uber) convincingly sell the deep connection of two beings who have seen the worst of the world and are seeking peace and solace both from within and through each other.

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Reviews of “Late Fame” and “The Brink of War”

21 Aug

“Late Fame”

⭐⭐1/2 Rating: 2.5 out of 4

Director Kent Jones (“Diane“ (2018)) works with a killer cast in this reset of a novella by Arthur Schnitzler, with 1890s Vienna transposed to modern day New York City (the script’s by Samy Burch, “May December” and the upcoming “Coyote vs Acme”). The esteemed Willem Dafoe stars as Ed Saxberger, a New York City postal worker who back-in-the-1980s-day penned an obscure work of revered poems. He’s rediscovered by a gaggle of youthful writers and artists who brand themselves the Enthusiasm Society. There’s a beatnik vibe to the group, led by a scarf-wearing dilettante who goes by the moniker of just Meyers (Edmund Donovan, who gives his pompous character a modicum of depth and vulnerability). They embrace Ed as something of a Bukowski-esque literary lion and through fawning flattery entreat him into their circle. The newfound notoriety rekindles Ed’s creative passions. As he starts to see the world through the progressive lens of his admirers, he calls out fellow old White guys for the intolerance he had become numb to over the years. The rising arc becomes Ed’s mounting affections for the much younger Gloria (Greta Lee, the soulful heart of “Past Lives”), the group’s aspiring actress, chanteuse and something of a Blanche DuBois in the making. 

Lee, who you can also catch in the subpar sci-fi thriller, “The Last House“ over on Netflix, strikes the screen as a luminous wonder, but at times feels miscast and out of place. She does strike a genuine (if more platonic than romantic) chord with her veteran costar. Ultimately, the film feels drawn out, as Dafoe’s Ed never brings congruence to a hodgepodge of ideas and icons, despite the actor’s affable effort.

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The Prick of the Litter – Episode IV

26 Jul

The Bench

By nine o’clock the video had been viewed more than nine thousand times.

It wasn’t much to look at. Forty-three seconds of shaky cell phone footage posted to Nextdoor. A ribbon fluttering in the breeze. A city councilor applauding. A bronze plaque catching the afternoon sun. Somewhere off-camera, a child let out a sing-song whine about ice cream.

The title read simply: “That new bench on the Common.”

The first dozen comments were predictable.

“Beautiful addition.”

“Nice to see people giving back.”

“Great, but needs shade trees.”

Then, at 8:17 p.m., CantSitStill, an anonymous account that no one seemed to recognize, joined the conversation. “Too bad his father won’t sit on it,” was all they said, and nothing more.

By morning, the post had turned into an online trial.

Victor Haskell refreshed the thread every thirty seconds. He half-expected the dedication to earn a polite newspaper brief and perhaps get a well-framed photograph for the annual report of the Haskell Foundation. Instead, strangers were debating his childhood, his marriage, his taxes, his politics and, most bafflingly, his father.

“Isn’t his dad dead?”

“No, just saw him at Whole Foods.”

“T heard they’re estranged.”

“My cousin worked for Victor. He can be difficult. Believe the comment.”

“Believe what?”

“Believe what you see is not reality. Wealth comes easily to those who have not earned it.” CantSitStill responded and then went silent in the wake of the tidal wave of follow-up questions.

Victor had paid nearly forty thousand dollars for the bench —fine, marbled New Hampshire granite, reclaimed ash and a custom bronze plaque honoring his father:

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Reviews of “The Dink” and “Motor City”

26 Jul

A mishit and a backfire from two new movies

“The Dink”

⭐⭐Rating: 2 out of 4

What if a top tennis player faltered in their career and had to slum it on the pickleball circuit? That’s kind of the loose “Happy Gilmore”—esque concept behind this not quite pickled-enough comedy that stars Jake Johnson (“New Girl,” “Drinking Buddies”) as said fictional tennis star Dustin Boyd. Boyd is a one-time rival of real-life great Andy Roddick, but an injury means he now toils as a club pro. When he dips his toe into the pickleball waters he gets crushed by a pair of 70-year-old grannies — Dustin, known as “The Hammer” in his tennis heyday, doesn’t understand finesse or the parameters of the smaller court. Then there’s the heralded, anemic drop-shot of the title (which the film uses as a running gag until it is past tired).

As the might-have-been superstar trying to pivot, Johnson doesn’t quite have the bravado needed for the part. The ace serve here — the script’s written by “Kevin Can F*** Himself” scribe Sean Clements—comes in Dustin falling for an older woman (a pitch perfect Mary Steenburgen) who’s not so sure she’s attracted to her younger suitor. The May-December pairing does score points when the two sit down for a movie night “date” and watch “The Graduate” and Dustin, busts on the other Dustin for having a big nose (Johnson has a pretty protuberant proboscis himself).

Directed by Josh Greenbaum (“Strays”) and co-produced by Ben Stiller, who has a small part too, the flick built around a feeble flick shot does best when the Greek chorus of feisty Floridian nanas are taunting Dustin and Roddick — who plays himself ­— in a match where the winner claims the deed to the tennis club owned by Dustin’s dad (Ed Harris, poorly used here). Heckling, it turns out, is the crosscourt humor that saves this cinematic dink from busted string ruin and John McEnroe’s woefully wooden intonations. 

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Reviews of “Over Your Dead Body,” “Balls Up,” “I Swear,” “Apex” and “Mother Mary”

25 Apr

Soccer balls, bodies, & the occasional manhunt

“Over Your Dead Body”

Samara Weaving seems to be typecast as an onscreen punching bag. In the “Ready or Not” films and now this dour rom com/thriller, she plays a fetching can-do femme transformed by the masochistic madness of the plot into a purple bloody mess. Directed by Jorma Taccone, “Over Your Dead Body” is a remake of 2021’s grim Norwegian film “I Onde Danger” (lamely rebranded as “The Trip” in the United States).

The story begins with Weaving’s Lisa and her husband Dan (Jason Segal) having marital problems, not least of which are a two-year drought in the conjugal bliss department. He’s an indie film director who scored critical success early but now is relegated to making “pop-up ads.” Lisa is a struggling stage actress cheating on Dan with a fellow thespian. Money is another sizable problem. A getaway to Dan’s dad’s cabin on a lake in Upstate New York during a stunning fall season (the landscapes are shot in Finland but look legit) becomes an opportunity for Dan to off Lisa and cash in an insurance policy. But when he hesitates to apply Chloroform, she tases him and ties him to a kitchen chair to put her own permanent separation plan in play. But then, murder interruptus — a trio of escaped convicts (Timothy Olyphant, Keith Jardine and Juliette Lewis) drop through the ceiling. The couple have to team up or die.

The main problem with “Over Your Dead Body” is that neither Lisa nor Dan is all that interesting or likable. It’s the trio of malevolent misfits that hold our attention, especially Olyphant’s smooth but demonic mastermind and Lewis’s edgy Allegra, who is sexually aroused by the clamor of violent confrontation. The movie may be even more gruesome than its Norwegian inspiration, though “Dead Body” somehow manages to make whimsy from the severing of fingers, ears and noses. Turns out romantic separation is always messier than it has to be.

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Urban Confluence

13 Apr

by T. B. Meek

It was a typical bustling day at the Porter Square shopping mall made more so by the beautiful spring day, a gift from Mother Nature after a week of overcast skies and two torrential rain storms that caused drain basins to back up and overflow. Chaz Perkins, his sciatica acting up, gingerly baby stepped his way out of the CVS, skirted his way around one of the many lingering puddles that dotted the parking lot and a his way towards old Betsy, his trusted Honda CRV with more than 15 years of reliable service. He had parked Betsy near the pharmacy with strategic intent to minimize the taxation of his hip. As he had envisioned it, he would first hit up Ace Hardware for his spring planting needs (a new trowel to replace the rusty, ineffective relic that had been in the condo’s basement since before the Boston Tea Party, and nasturtium and magnolias seeds for the planters that abutted the sidewalk in front of the three story walkup) and then the liquor store for a half case of Vino Verde to go with the Portuguese fisherman’s stew he had made for his book club which would be arriving at his Huron Village abode within the next three hours. Everything was going according to plan, the trowel, seeds and wine had been deposited in Betsy’s boot, what Chaz didn’t bargain for was the demanding woman insisting that the pharmacist check and recheck his records as he stood by on achy joint waiting to claim his ‘scipts and pay for the much needed vial of Advil and coveted Reeses Peanut Cups. When it was revealed that the woman’s prescription order had been placed at another CVS some two miles away, the woman, who Chaz felt possessed the melodramatic air of Blanche DuBois, launched into an indignant tirade shaming the pharmacist for her mistake and adding another five minutes of hip grinding discomfort to his day.


Outside in the cloudless blue Chaz examined the space between the blue Tesla and Betsy. It was sideways sliding tight, but every space in the parking lot was ridiculously small. It was as if some over zealous planner decided to take normal sized spots and reduce them all to compact size so they could squeeze in an extra fifteen or twenty cars, but for what gain? Anyone with a minivan or plus size SUV took up two spaces and the rear of the monstrosity often jutted out, adding to the lot’s chaotic traffic flow woes. Chaz imagined that the number of insurance claims filed at Porter Square had to be substantially higher than those at the suburban shopping expanses like Burlington or Natick where you could park an apatosaurus-sized family truckster without fear of losing a sideview and still have ample room to swing your door open without dinging your neighbor.

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