Is there such a thing as Kumar Pallana overload? Not for fans of movies like Rushmore, Bottle Rocket, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Terminal, each of which featured the quiet-yet-charismatic 87-year-old Indian actor. But locals know that Pallana is more than a guy with endearing bit parts in Wes Anderson…
I’m not really a fan of being read to, unless it’s by Sarah Vowell or someone similarly brain-sexy. The visual learner in me just can’t deal with it, which is why I run for the hills when I see my family members moving toward me with e-mail printouts. But if…
Now in its fifth year, the Asian Film Festival of Dallas—which runs Thursday through August 10 at the Magnolia Theater, 3699 McKinney Avenue—has emerged as an event that transcends its modifier; though many of its 25-plus entries are imports (some even funded with U.S. bread), more than a few would…
What exactly would one wear to a biker’s wedding? Jeans and a tux shirt with the sleeves cut off? Suit pants and a “If You Can Read This, The Bitch Fell Off!” T-shirt? The answer might lie in J.C. Corcoran’s new novel, The Biker’s Wedding. This is no fun-filled romp,…
It’s amazing what the muddy, turtle- and tire-filled Trinity River can inspire. While some see a polluted ditch, others see a reason to spend millions for a fancy-schmancy bridge to nowhere. Still others see a good place to dump old couches, refrigerators and the occasional corpse. The artists at McKinney…
The hapless promoters of Nashville Star once tried to bill their alleged talent show as a country version of American Idol—but better because their contestants often played their own instruments and wrote their own songs. In this case, all that means is that their south of Stepford performers feel empowered…
In Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute, evil is warded off by a prince with said magic flute. Hmm, that’s interesting. Momma always said that “magic flutes” brought nothing but evil and the boys attached to them were far from princes. Guess we’ll see who’s right when the University of North…
Raise your hand if you know that Duncan Sheik had an album after 1996’s self-titled release that included the seemingly triple-tracked vocal wonder of “Barely Breathing.” Keep them up if you know that Sheik actually has five albums to his credit, and four of them are far superior to that…
When it comes to dead presidents, it’s not always all about the Benjamins—or even the Grants or the Jacksons. And for once around here, it’s not about Kennedy. Larry L. King’s The Dead Presidents’ Club pits four U.S. presidents—Nixon, Coolidge, Johnson and Truman—against a committee of saints, who are deciding…
Is there such a thing as Kumar Pallana overload? Not for fans of movies like Rushmore, Bottle Rocket, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Terminal, each of which featured the quiet-yet-charismatic 87-year-old Indian actor. But locals know that Pallana is more than a guy with endearing bit parts in Wes Anderson…
Walking the streets of Dallas, we can’t help but see so many tragic faces. We imagine the heart-wrenching stories behind them as those we pass look to us for hope. How sad that there are so many people in need of something so simple: wine edification. Thank God, then, for…
Are you one of the people who are just now discovering the greatness that is Art Prostitute? It’s OK, I understand—I’m one too. That drive up 35 always seemed so long in the past, didn’t it? You always wanted to check it out, but you just couldn’t bring yourself to…
I’ve never really sat through a stand-up comedian and thought to myself, “Man, this routine would be so much funnier if the jokes were set to some Indigo Girls-style acoustic balladry.” I would hope for the sake of humankind that most people haven’t. Comedian Kristin Key, on the other hand,…
Michael Mann’s Miami Vice is like a car that’s been stripped of everything but its two bucket seats and rebuilt from the ground up. The protagonists are a pair of detectives named Sonny Crockett (Colin Farrell) and Ricardo Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) and a cover of Phil Collins’ “In the Air…
The Ant Bully is based upon a very short children’s book by John Nickle, who wrote and illustrated the 1999 work all by his lonesome after years of providing illustrations for The Wall Street Journal and Sports Illustrated, not to mention other works of kiddie lit. The book, as most…
For 35 years, Woody Allen was a long shot to stray into the Bronx or Staten Island, much less the alien reaches of London. The creator of Manhattan has always been joined to his chosen borough like pastrami on rye, so when he ventured abroad last year to direct the…
It is a dark, warm night. A hot breeze blows across the top of the Oak Cliff hill where you sit, gazing at the glittering Dallas skyline in the distance. Out here, it is quiet. Maybe too quiet. And then—behind you! Something stirs, and it comes closer and closer…and then…
For hundreds of years the French have been good for only three things: cheese, champagne and the phrase “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?” Aside from those gems, Napoleon’s country has had very little to show for itself, but when filmmaking spread its way across its borders, France found one…
At this point, just about all of the life has been sucked out of the term diva. Everyone from Barbra Streisand to Little Richard to Tyra Banks has held the title. I’ve been thinking maybe the designation has totally lost its luster. We use the term so loosely now—there are…
In the upper echelon of finely coiffed, candy-throated troubadours there are but a few true legends who continue to foster rabid and loyal fan bases. Neil Diamond was able to elude being pigeonholed as a Fat Elvis apostle, winning over scores of fans by mixing a little bit of singer-songwriter…
It must suck to be Justin Guarini these days. It’s one thing to have Kelly Clarkson’s shadow looming over you in all directions. But even William Hung has experienced a level of notoriety Guarini’s best publicist couldn’t pay for (Hung’s first album reached number 3 on Amazon.com’s sales rankings and…
Dazed and Confused is widely regarded as one of the classic stoner films, but that description sells short the wistfully earnest heart of Richard Linklater’s 1993 film about the travails of high school juniors on the last day of school as they experience their first bout of “senioritis.” Dazed and…
