What would Chappelle’s Show have been without straitlaced white actors for Dave to act off of? Of course, it’s hard for comedians like Bill Burr to stand out when Chappelle gets the biggest laughs in sketches like “The Racial Draft,” but when solo, he pulls his weight. Hell, Burr’s a…
Raise your hand if you’ve actually seen the last half of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Seriously people. Unless you are in the theater, with an exceptional supporting live cast, the film just doesn’t hold up past the dinner party/people turning to stone portion. Don’t get me wrong, there are…
Spoken in the voice of movie-trailer guy: “In a world…where evil dwells and bad deeds are rewarded…one man…”—cue an image of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson walking with a torn, bloody shirt and two oversized pistols—”must muster the courage to protect one Jew”—and here’s the shot of Mel Brooks gasping as…
The world premiere of Dave Chappelle’s Block Party at the Toronto International Film Festival last September had the vibe of a sold-out concert–all those spotlights beaming to and fro in front of a venerable old theater, all that pushing and shoving for the best seats, all those celebs in the…
Didn’t Richard Donner retire? A 1980s star-director name, among many, that should now send bolts of discouraging dread down your spine, Richard Donner may well be seeing his filmmaking skills peak with 16 Blocks–even if saying it’s his best, least flatulent, most efficient film is tantamount to saying that the…
The thing that’s so difficult about Cowboy del Amor–a richly layered documentary by Israeli filmmaker Michèle Ohayon–is the same thing that makes it an accomplished work: It refuses to take sides. Ohayon presents Ivan Thompson, a.k.a. “Cowboy Cupid,” an aging Texan who has made it his business to fix up…
The press notes for Pulse would have you believe that it predates many of the recent Japanese horror films that have been remade for American audiences, but that doesn’t seem to be true. It predates the U.S. remakes, yes; but according to the Internet Movie Database, Pulse came out in…
If you’re a parent trying to teach your sullen teenage kids that movies with subtitles aren’t all bad, try taking them to see Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor). Like Christophe Gans’ The Brotherhood of the Wolf or Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, this is a foreign-language film that proves that…
What do little girls want? If we are to follow the emotional heart of Aquamarine, a new film about two 13-year-olds who help a runaway mermaid fall in love, the answer is…bling. Hailey (Joanna “JoJo” Levesque, pretty much a Lindsay Lohan ringer) and Claire (Emma Roberts) are best friends in…
Robert Ryman Though working with an economy of means, Ryman’s cup runneth over. Ryman has been painting white squares in various sizes and formats with innovative modes of installation for 50 years. This might sound humdrum, but it’s not. You’ll want to return to this show to peruse and scrutinize:…
Aida Uptown Players present the Elton John/Tim Rice musical loosely based on the Verdi opera about a beautiful princess enslaved by an Egyptian pharaoh. When naval hero Radames (Gary Floyd) dumps the pharaoh’s daughter Amneris (Patty Breckenridge) to pursue Aida (Kia Dawn Fulton), it’s a classic love triangle. The syrupy…
Walk the Line (Fox) No matter what a junkie does with his spare time — say, redefine country music, or forge one of history’s most enduring personas — movies about junkies are a drag to watch. So it’s too bad this Johnny Cash biopic is a by-the-numbers fall-and-redemption tale. A…
Last fall, Microsoft hyped its pricey Xbox 360 by promising to reinvent gaming as we know it. The blockbuster “next generation” titles were supposed to harness the machine’s awesome power to deliver high-definition graphics and impossibly realistic action. But a funny thing happened on the way to the future. The…
Annie Duke’s Conquering Online Poker (Big Vision) The Avengers: The Complete Emma Peel Megaset (A&E) Battle’s Poison Cloud (Cinema Libre) Bleak House (BBC Warner) Camara Oscura (Warner Bros.) Charmed: The Complete Fourth Season (Paramount) Death Tunnel (Sony) The Hobart Shakespeareans (Docurama) The Ice Harvest (MCA) The Lords of Discipline (Paramount)…
It’s hardly a stretch to call Emily Braun, a professor of art history at Hunter College, a Renaissance woman. After all, she’s published works on late 19th-century European painting,’20th-century American art, women’s studies, (be patient) Jewish history, contemporary sculpture, (not there yet) modern Italian art, fascist culture and Renaissance architecture…
When Kermit the Frog sang, “It’s not easy being green,” he obviously wasn’t talking about being a transplant in Dallas. Every hockey season since 1995 (except for the sadness that was last year’s lockout), I’ve found myself swimming in a sea of green while staying true to the red and…
If you’re a woman seeking international prominence, it wouldn’t hurt to have had a close relative killed in the 1973 Chilean military coup. Just look at Michele Bachelet. Her father Alberto was “disappeared” by the Pinochet regime, and presto, she was elected president of Chile last month. Then there’s Isabel…
You’ve seen London. You’ve seen France. But you haven’t really seen anything until you’ve experienced a century-old German farce performed on the Southern Methodist University campus. Enter: The Underpants. Originally written by Carl Sternheim in 1910, the play has been adapted by actor/comedian Steve Martin (currently starring in the equally…
The late, great Townes Van Zandt was born in Fort Worth in 1944. He died on January 1, 1997—44 years to the day after his hero, Hank Williams. It’s been said he even predicted his own demise, telling friends he would die of a heart attack at age 52. Like…
Much to our surprise, riverdance.com is a gold mine of statistics, tour journals and history that we find totally enthralling. Apparently, Riverdance companies have used 32,000 boxes of tissue, 40,000 gallons of Gatorade, 10,000 stage lighting bulbs, 9,000 costumes, 12,000 dance shoes, 38,400 rolls of self-grip tape and 17,500 years…
Cowgirls aren’t easy to love, and they’re harder to hold, but it’s that rebel, pioneer spirit that keeps the West just a little bit wild. You may not be able to lasso one of these ladies, but you can take a gander at their culture and lifestyle during the National…
Vote on the worst-dressed. Throw popcorn at long-winded winners. Goggle at starlets who forget to wear their bras. In short, get on the A-List for the 78th Annual Academy Awards by attending one of 46 Academy-Sanctioned Official Oscar Night® America Parties. Telecast on a theater-size screen courtesy of WFAA-Channel 8,…
