Posts by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
A Girl Who Can’t Grieve
Her Dead Father
Loss can be a dead place. If you move forward, you’ll know the person you love is gone. As I sat spellbound in the Majestic Theater watching the brilliant performances of James Barbour as Phantom and Julia Udine as Christine Daad, I knew that The Phantom Of The Opera isn’t only the story of a…
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99 HOMES
What Makes Someone Become
Who He Hates?
Alert: Possible Spoilers How can someone do exactly to other people what’s been done to him? That’s the big psychological question in Ramin Bahrani’s new film, 99 Homes. How can Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield) become the right-hand man to the very real estate developer (Michael Shannon) who callously uses the housing market collapse to repossess and…
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MARK WEBBER’S SECRET MOVIE
Shhhh … It’s About His Mother
A good mother can make a bad situation better. I just read Valentina Valentini’s piece in Indie Wire, Mark Webber Wants Your Money But He Can’t Tell You Why, about actor/director Mark Webber’s Kick Starter Campaign. He’s raising money for a movie he’s making about his mother. It’s a secret, but he did give his…
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BENT
Being Cruel
When Love Is A Scary Thing
Spoiler Alert: Some Plot Details Revealed Cruelty comes in different forms. We can’t escape the obvious in BENT: the unimaginable inhumane cruelty of The Nazi Party towards Gays and Jews. Yet, we see more than the Nazi’s cruelty in this brilliantly acted, honest, heart-wrenching, and inspiring play (written by Martin Sherman and directed by Moises…
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EMMY FOR JON HAMM?
Yes! For Portraying
A Traumatized Man
Jon Hamm deserves an Emmy for Don Draper. I agree with Variety’s Debra Birnbaum about that. But, I find it unfortunate that voters would only now consider awarding him that Emmy. As Birnbaum wrote, Jon Hamm likely hasn’t won in the past since “Don Draper … was a cheating husband, a neglectful father, an unapologetic…
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DONALD TRUMP
The Good & The Ugly
In His Political Incorrectness
The Good: We see exactly who he is – since Donald Trump has only contempt for any kind of political correctness. Most of us are politically correct because it reflects what we believe. Yet, political correctness for political correctness’s sake could hide what someone really thinks. The Donald isn’t self-aware enough to hide. He’s also…
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