Ian Mckellen

Dark, morose, gloomy? Does the great Swedish playwright August Strindberg truly deserve his cheerless reputation? David Krasner, an associate professor of theater at Emerson College, laughs and points to the title of a Strindberg play he's been rehearsing: "Dance of Death. " "That's pretty foreboding," he says. Krasner plays one of the leads in Sunday's reading of the 1900 drama, the story of a combative marriage, in the Jackie Liebergott Black Box at the Paramount Center.

Dark, morose, gloomy? Does the great Swedish playwright August Strindberg truly deserve his cheerless reputation? David Krasner, an associate professor of theater at Emerson College, laughs and points to the title of a Strindberg play he's been rehearsing: "Dance of Death. " "That's pretty foreboding," he says. Krasner plays one of the leads in Sunday's reading of the 1900 drama, the story of a combative marriage, in the Jackie Liebergott Black Box at the Paramount Center.

Peter Jackson’s two-film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit’’ has release dates. New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. and MGM announced Monday that “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’’ will be released Dec. 14, 2012. The sequel, “The Hobbit: There and Back Again,’’ is to be released Dec. 13, 2013. The films have suffered repeated delays over studio funding problems, a threatened actors’ boycott and ulcer surgery for Jackson. Shot consecutively, they began filming in March in New Zealand.

GIGANTIC ** ( Comcast Movies: Free Movies) Paul Dano ("Little Miss Sunshine") as a young mattress salesman in love with free spirit Zooey Deschanel. Writer-director Matt Aselton puts the pieces of the coming-of-age genre together in ways that don't quite line up, and that works both for the movie and against it. (R; runs through Oct. 18) - TY BURR GODS AND MONSTERS **½ (Comcast Movies: Free Movies) What could have been a memorable film about the last days of James Whale, the British director of "Frankenstein" and other '30s horror classics, turns pedestrian when it lurches into psychodrama between the...

THE SIMPSONS MOVIE (Comcast Movies: All Movies) For the show’s first movie, Homer brings catastrophe to Springfield. It would be a stretch to call the movie more than a crisper, livelier episode of the series. The change in mediums changes nothing, which suits the filmmakers fine. But while many of the laughs in this movie come easily, some don’t come at all. The show’s weekly rebooting is exciting on TV. It’s less magical in a movie. (PG-13; runs through Dec. 31)

X-MEN: THE LAST STAND (Comcast Movies: All Movies) The future of mutant-kind is under siege again. This time the American government is backing an antidote to the mutant species. Professor X (Patrick Stewart) wants to negotiate, but his old friend Magneto (Ian McKellen) wants a war. This third and headiest installment of the series is fat with ideas and emotionally scarred characters. (PG-13; runs through June 7) WESLEY MORRIS THE BLIND SIDE (Comcast Movies: All Movies)

"Push" is that rare humans-with-superpowers movie where the powers are contagious. It made me feel psychic. Suddenly I found myself able to predict what Dakota Fanning would say next, where Chris Evans would put his hands, what Camilla Belle's face might do. OK, that last one doesn't make me psychic since Belle doesn't express much. Her pretty, motionless face suggests a statue in a coma. And the camera's insistence on lingering upon it for what feels like minutes at a time is just one sign that this flaccid bid for franchisehood suffers from woeful judgment.

NEW YORK -- Anne Pitoniak, the Tony-nominated actress best known for her work in Marsha Norman's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, " 'night, Mother," has died of complications from cancer. She was 85. Ms. Pitoniak died April 22 at her Manhattan home, her son, Christian Milord, told The New York Times . The actress, born in Westfield, Mass., appeared on television and in regional theater, most prominently at Actors Theatre of Louisville, before making her Broadway debut in 1983 in " 'night, Mother.

Is soap opera the one thing that unites us all? Such a question inevitably arises during "The Promise," Aleksei Arbuzov's look at the lost loves of the Russian postwar generation, being given its Boston premiere by the scrappily ambitious Basement on the Hill Stage. Arbuzov was one of the Soviet era's most successful playwrights, but if you imagine his work therefore consists of a medicinal dose of socialism, think again. "The Promise" (which saw dozens of Russian productions, and a successful West End run with Ian McKellen)

Ian McKellen could probably make Ashton Kutcher’s tweets sound like poetry. The British actor just about sings his lines of dialogue, using melody, dissonance, phrasing, and meter in service of his intentions. With his majestic delivery, he almost gives the existential blather of AMC’s “The Prisoner’’ a sense of profundity. For the duration of this six-hour miniseries, he adds a dignified, rhapsodic luster to throat-clearing bombast such as “The mind is capable of anything, because everything is in it.’’ Alas, McKellen isn’t alchemist enough to transform such a leaden piece...

Peter Jackson’s two-film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit’’ has release dates. New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. and MGM announced Monday that “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’’ will be released Dec. 14, 2012. The sequel, “The Hobbit: There and Back Again,’’ is to be released Dec. 13, 2013. The films have suffered repeated delays over studio funding problems, a threatened actors’ boycott and ulcer surgery for Jackson. Shot consecutively, they began filming in March in New Zealand.

X-MEN: THE LAST STAND (Comcast Movies: All Movies) The future of mutant-kind is under siege again. This time the American government is backing an antidote to the mutant species. Professor X (Patrick Stewart) wants to negotiate, but his old friend Magneto (Ian McKellen) wants a war. This third and headiest installment of the series is fat with ideas and emotionally scarred characters. (PG-13; runs through June 7) WESLEY MORRIS THE BLIND SIDE (Comcast Movies: All Movies)

Ian McKellen could probably make Ashton Kutcher’s tweets sound like poetry. The British actor just about sings his lines of dialogue, using melody, dissonance, phrasing, and meter in service of his intentions. With his majestic delivery, he almost gives the existential blather of AMC’s “The Prisoner’’ a sense of profundity. For the duration of this six-hour miniseries, he adds a dignified, rhapsodic luster to throat-clearing bombast such as “The mind is capable of anything, because everything is in it.’’ Alas, McKellen isn’t alchemist enough to transform such a leaden piece of work into gold.

If, like me, you didn't make it to London or New York last season for Ian McKellen's acclaimed performance in "King Lear," you might be interested in tonight's broadcast on PBS's "Great Performances. " Just be forewarned: For better and worse, this isn't a film of the live performance, but an adaptation made especially for television. It's better because codirectors Trevor Nunn (who helmed the stage version) and Chris Hunt can use the strengths of TV, such as closeups and intimately pitched conversational tones - ideal for the intrigues and family quarrels swirling around...

"Push" is that rare humans-with-superpowers movie where the powers are contagious. It made me feel psychic. Suddenly I found myself able to predict what Dakota Fanning would say next, where Chris Evans would put his hands, what Camilla Belle's face might do. OK, that last one doesn't make me psychic since Belle doesn't express much. Her pretty, motionless face suggests a statue in a coma. And the camera's insistence on lingering upon it for what feels like minutes at a time is just one sign that this flaccid bid for franchisehood suffers from woeful judgment.

NEW YORK -- Anne Pitoniak, the Tony-nominated actress best known for her work in Marsha Norman's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, " 'night, Mother," has died of complications from cancer. She was 85. Ms. Pitoniak died April 22 at her Manhattan home, her son, Christian Milord, told The New York Times . The actress, born in Westfield, Mass., appeared on television and in regional theater, most prominently at Actors Theatre of Louisville, before making her Broadway debut in 1983 in " 'night, Mother.

The happiest news about the third (and final?) "X-Men" movie is actually quite sad: headstones. Yes, "The Last Stand" brings the lamentable deaths of several major characters. This is a courageous move since it puts the heroes of a mighty summer blockbuster in a rare mortal position. Realism at this time of year? How unorthodox! Tom Cruise might let Philip Seymour Hoffman smack him around for our entertainment. But is he willing to have the flesh pulled slowly from his bones, as a few folks do here?