We are well-acquainted with the zebras at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glen Rose. Many times they’ve stuffed their handsome heads into our car window; beware the zebra sneeze. These days we’re more likely to get snot streaks on our windows because we’ve learned to close them as soon as…
Weekend Comedy doesn’t exactly have a high concept: Two couples are inadvertently forced to share a cabin for Memorial Day weekend. Wackiness ensues. Directed by Jeff Fenter, Weekend Comedy stars Don Long, Emily Roberts, Andy Copes and Lucia Welch. The play, presented by AmeriStage Players, runs Thursday through August 20…
Though this writing gig is pretty wicked, it definitely resembles school a little too much for my tastes. Pay attention, kids: If you want to abandon the world of perpetual homework, deadlines and returned essays covered in red ink after you finish high school and college, journalism might not be…
World Trade Center is about just that–the attacks on and the collapse of the twin towers on September 11, 2001. But 45 minutes in, a viewer might easily forget the movie is set during that nightmarish day. There is little talk of terrorism and scant suggestion that a mighty nation…
There is no modern-day antecedent to the movies Will Ferrell makes with writer-director Adam McKay, with whom Ferrell collaborated during their tenure at Saturday Night Live only a few years ago. To compare their offerings, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and the new Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky…
What’s the difference between a good liar and a good storyteller? The answer, or the lack of an answer, is a mystery at the heart of The Night Listener, a muted psychological thriller adapted from the Armistead Maupin novel. A writer’s elaborate what-if scenario extrapolated from an anecdote, it’s presented…
Just in time for its U.S. release, Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecrossí fierce docudrama The Road to Guantanamo received a giant shot of free publicity in early June with the news that three Arab inmates at the infamous detention center in Cuba–none of whom had officially been charged with any…
Monster’s Ball producer Lee Daniels makes his directorial debut with Shadowboxer, and it couldn’t be clearer that he’s trying to follow his previous formula for success. Oscar-caliber actors? Check. Interracial sex? Plenty. A violent demise or two, all in the service of character development? Oh yes. But Daniels maybe could…
The old Lucas/Spielberg stunt of turning B-movie peekaboos into E-ticket thrill rides remains the industry standard–to the virtual exclusion of other multiplex fare, particularly when school’s out. But as not every kid who remade Raiders in Super 8 either gave up the dream or morphed into Michael Bay, there’s at…
Once upon a time there were two musicals that began with the words “Once upon a time.” Into the Woods, now at WaterTower Theatre in Addison, and Brooklyn the Musical, on a national tour stop at the Music Hall at Fair Park, are tuneful fairy tales with twists (and shouts)…
V for Vendetta (Warner Bros.) Illustrator David Lloyd calls this adaptation of the comic he made with writer Alan Moore “very good” — so why did Moore beg to have his name removed? The intentions are noble, sure; name another big-studio blockbuster in which a government manufactures fear to keep…
Native American heroes are a rare commodity in videogames. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, released a decade ago, is the most prominent example. Now Turok finally has company. The best way to describe Prey is “Doom meets Cherokee mysticism.” And while most critics are fawning over this first-person action/horror title, don’t believe…
Beavis & Butt-head: The Mike Judge Collection, Volume 3 (Paramount) Blind Beast vs. Killer Dwarf (Panik House) Broken Saints: The Animated Comic Epic (Fox) Dallas: The Complete Fifth Season (Warner Bros.) Elvis: ’68 Comeback (BMG Heritage) A Fish Called Wanda: Deluxe Edition (MGM) Girls Next Door (Fox) The Graduate (MGM)…
If you’re looking for one more reason why the Rolling Stones were better than the Beatles, consider 1964: The Tribute, a Beatles Tribute show, coming this week to Fort Worth. At a recent concert in Liverpool, 1964: The Tribute drew 35,000 fans, or close to twice the capacity of the…
I’ve debated the idea of subjecting myself to multiple rejections at one of those mass rapid-dating events. But how many times do I really need to hear “You’re not my type”? At the same time, I’m widely fascinated by this dating option. With just a few minutes and some clever…
In what looks like a showcase of dancing Captain Kirks, the Wiggles are a group of four Australian men that have sung and danced their way into the hearts of preschool children across the world. On a sadder note, they have also entranced thousands of stoned college kids too. Their…
When I first read the words “Rick Springfield Eddie Money Loverboy Scandal” (with no punctuation, as if Christopher Walken had written it!) I thought I was about to discover the pinnacle in creepy rock-and-roll debauchery. What sort of “loverboy scandal” could Springfield and Money have been caught up in? I…
It’s amazing that Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne had the idea to make Oxygentankfest free while the relatively younger dudes in Korn, who started the Family Values Tour, haven’t realized corporate sponsors will foot the bill if you let them cover the venue with more logos per square foot than a…
Oh, hell yeah! Didn’t get enough art/spy/Vatican craziness with the media frenzy surrounding the accusations of plagiarism against Dan Brown and his bestseller The DaVinci Code or the release of the feature film starring the oddly cast Tom Hanks and the subsequent über-coverage of all things Opus Dei on CNN’s…
A movie adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas could have been an unmitigated disaster in the hands of your average Hollywood filmmaker. As one of modern cinema’s most mischievous mavericks, Terry Gilliam has a well-earned reputation for turning disastrous productions into dazzling visual masterpieces, even…
Your kids are pushovers about Harry Potter; hand them any of the books and they’ll get lost at Hogwarts for weeks. And you’re no stranger to the series, having bought your own copies because you’ve had trouble stealing the kiddies’ copies when they’re asleep. But what about your friend or…
At least once a year I’m subjected to a lament by a certain doctor I know about the horrors of managed health care. Next time I’ll have a response: Join Doctors Without Borders. A year or so in Darfur, Sudan, or earthquake-devastated Pakistan, or maybe a few months attending to…
