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CHRISTOPHER GRAY

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Outdoor music to get your mellow on

Get comfy on the grass
The lazy, the restless, the cheapskates, yuppies, ravers, snobs, and prudes: the magic of the outdoor summer concert ecosystem is that it offers very nearly everyone who doesn’t care about exquisite sound quality a reason to get out of their house or state for a day, evening, or weekend.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | June 07, 2013

Summer Guide: Get comfy on the grass

Outdoor music to get your mellow (and aggro) on
The lazy, the restless, the cheapskates, yuppies, ravers, snobs, and prudes: the magic of the outdoor summer concert ecosystem is that it offers very nearly everyone who doesn't care about exquisite sound quality a reason to get out of their house or state for a day, evening, or weekend.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | June 05, 2013

Shane Carruth’s rapturous Upstream Color

Regaining Senses
One of the many triumphs of Shane Carruth's second film, Upstream Color , is that it demands to be heard as well as read.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | April 24, 2013

Ascending filmmakers, dying formats

As film itself fades, classics and breakthroughs take over Waterville
It's a precarious moment for lovers of classic films and, indeed, film itself.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | July 11, 2012

Review: The Color Wheel

Alex Ross Perry’s bracing comedy
By my (admittedly jaded) count, there are two shocking moments in Alex Ross Perry's startlingly original comedy, The Color Wheel .

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | May 23, 2012

Beautifully brooding, bleating new wave from Future Islands

Heart on fire
Romance is terrifying. It is second-guesses and regrets, passion manifested in polar extremes, and an ongoing search for certainty.

By: | April 25, 2012

Fake It So Real considers the arts of storytelling and bodyslams

Men in tights
Almost any documentary about a niche hobby or creative outlet (think Every Little Step or Spellbound ) devotes some amount of screen time to the therapeutic value of such unlikely obsessions.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | February 01, 2012

Review: Dragonslayer

The perils and virtues of slackerdom shape the arresting Dragonslayer
Josh "Skreech" Sandoval is a slacker. A onetime professional skateboarder both admired for and limited by the "random chaos" of his technique, Sandoval abandoned sponsorships and relative fame in search of greater freedom.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | January 04, 2012

A good festival becomes a great one in the Midcoast this weekend

Reel talk
Last year, the big stories out of the Camden International Film Festival were its newfound industry cachet and a very noticeable uptick in Portlanders making the trip up to Midcoast Maine's annual documentary showcase.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | September 28, 2011

Four-hour showstoppers and Malcolm McDowell come to Waterville

Into the Woods
Boasting a high-profile selection of archival prints and to-be-buzzed-about small films, the 14th Maine International Film Festival begins on Friday and runs through July 24 at locations in Waterville, primarily HQ Railroad Square Cinema. Herein, a guide to the festivities.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | July 13, 2011

Mod Night at Empire Dine and Dance, June 3

Music seen
Speaking from experience collaborating with him on the decks, the litmus test that best gauges the success of any Ian Paige DJ night is how well Booker T and the MGs' "Green Onions" goes over.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | June 08, 2011

Review: My Heart Is An Idiot

Davy Rothbart's misadventures in David Meiklejohn's first feature film
Is My Heart is an Idiot an act of utter solipsism or utter self-effacement?

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | May 10, 2011

Atomik at Bayside Bowl, March 15

Music seen
Having a DJ (or, in this case, two) play your bowling night is a luxury, but damned if it doesn't seem like an obligatory one on occasion.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | March 23, 2011

Robyn at the State Theatre, January 29

Music seen
With each of her three 2010 Body Talk EPs armed with a single-of-the-year contender (in the just-slightly-ironic, pop-chart-averse blog-critic sense), it's been hard to ignore Swedish pop star Robyn's status as in indie icon these past 12 months.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | February 16, 2011

Review: And Everything Is Going Fine (2010)

Spalding Gray's story
"Maybe I should just tell you some of the facts as I remember them," the late, acclaimed monologist and actor Spalding Gray says early on in Steven Soderbergh's documentary collage, And Everything is Going Fine .

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | February 02, 2011

Blood Wedding on January 15, at SPACE Gallery

Music seen
Not a death-metal Billy Idol cover band but a lyrical tragedy written by Federico Garcia Lorca in 1932, last weekend's production of Blood Wedding at SPACE Gallery was at turns graceful and punishingly fraught.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | January 19, 2011

Josh Fox's refreshing, vital eco-doc Gasland

Water on fire
Recently shortlisted for next year's Best Documentary Feature Oscar, and screening at SPACE Gallery on December 16, Josh Fox's Gasland feels, in a way, like the first hipster environmental documentary.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | February 24, 2011

But is it a good movie?

Diving balls deep into The Cremaster Cycle
Now that we know something of the visions, allusions, and conceits behind Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle , it's important to acknowledge that you will, in all likelihood, scarcely be able to juggle all of its metaphors as the nearly seven-hour epic unfurls.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | November 11, 2010

Review: Halloween Party at SPACE Gallery, October 30

Music seen
It's humiliating to admit this, but if you were at SPACE last Saturday you probably agree: a fucking cover band just restored my faith in rock and roll.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | November 04, 2010

Review: Damnationland: The Way Life Should Bleed

Seven short and locally-grown horror films
I lost track of the body count of "Damnationland," a program of seven short and locally-grown horror films screening across the state from Thursday-Saturday, about halfway through its second installment.

By: CHRISTOPHER GRAY | October 27, 2010

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