Category Archives: Reviews

Minions Is Good

Posted on July 18, 2015 by barczablog

Never read a review before seeing something about which you have no choice.  Adults & children seeing a film aimed squarely at a child? Best to be a child or to be like a child. In Matthew 18:3 Jesus says … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Deep Inside Out

Posted on June 21, 2015 by barczablog

There I was in a theatre full of children for Father’s Day. As we got deeper into Inside Out the small ones were often silent. The small unrepresentative audience survey I conducted suggests that the kids enjoyed themselves but couldn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Psychology and perception, Reviews | 3 Comments

Picturing the Americas: AGO goes Hemispheric

Posted on June 16, 2015 by barczablog

As a swan song “Picturing the Americas” might be Matthew Teitelbaum’s finest hour.  The show is in some ways a triumph of diplomacy, an impossibly congenial meeting between museums and cultures sure to be a feather in his cap, as … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Architecture & Design, Reviews | 4 Comments

Toronto Symphony – Pan American Rhythms

Posted on June 15, 2015 by barczablog

This weekend the Toronto Symphony began a summer of the arts celebrating the Pan Am Games coming to Toronto. There’s much more to come, for example… Toronto Summer Music celebrate their tenth year with a festival titled “The New World” … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged | 1 Comment

Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony with the TSO

Posted on June 11, 2015 by barczablog

It’s been a long time between Mahler 2nds with the Toronto Symphony. I heard Andrew Davis lead them with Maureen Forrester in Massey Hall, one of several cherished memories from the old days on Shuter Street, aka the 1970s. Given … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Melissa McCarthy and the F word: Spy vs Spies

Posted on June 7, 2015 by barczablog

For more than half a century we’ve been watching various bodacious hunks enacting our fantasies of control at a time of great anxiety. Cold War jitters made the heroics of James Bond and his ilk extra attractive no matter how … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Goodyear plays Rachmaninov

Posted on June 7, 2015 by barczablog

Now I have a better idea what we missed. Stewart Goodyear was in the news recently when the Toronto Symphony hired him to replace the scheduled pianist at the last minute: until he withdrew due to online harassment. On social … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Reviews | 1 Comment

#AtGdeathdesire: more desire than death

Posted on June 3, 2015 by barczablog

If yesterday’s Dora announcement is anything to go by the youthful Against the Grain crew are a force to be reckoned with, as they’re up for several awards. Tonight AtG opened their latest, Death & Desire. Reading the lists of … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Toronto Consort—a new Play of Daniel

Posted on May 23, 2015 by barczablog

I saw something brand-new, from the 12th century. It’s one of the ironies of theatre or music that sometimes recent works give you comparatively little room for invention, every page stipulating how it must be interpreted. If you want real … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Andrew Davis – Verdi Requiem

Posted on May 22, 2015 by barczablog

The Toronto Symphony are celebrating a 40 year relationship with Sir Andrew Davis, their one-time music director (from 1975-1988) and currently their Conductor Laureate, with a series of concerts over the next couple of weeks. Tonight’s concert featured Verdi’s Requiem, … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Opera, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment