The publicity materials sent in advance of the at-long-last release of The Kids Are Alright on DVD suggest that the maker of the 1979 documentary about The Who has been on the lam–in the rock-and-roll witness relocation program, perhaps, far from the long windmilling arm of justice. A “recluse” is…
At a recent performance of Hamlet at the Dallas Theater Center, the temperature inside the Kalita Humphreys Theater was so cold the ushers were doubling as Sherpas. They handed out small fuzzy wraps to ticket-holders who hadn’t anticipated subzero chill. At intermission, they short-roped half-frozen audience members back up the…
Four years ago, we never would have imagined that corn dogs could have been any less appetizing than they are in their natural state. There’s that tough, chewy skin that proves they were fried at some point; a slightly sweet batter that’s a little soggy; and, inside, a lukewarm pink,…
Ah, the enthusiasm of youth. Sure, some prefer to use the synonym “folly,” but we enthusiastically disagree. See, in our more tender years, we were all about the passion: caring about politics, thinking that love wasn’t a complete bullshit scam invented by Hallmark and studying art history. Yes, we took…
9/26 We’re gonna do it this year. We will go to the State Fair of Texas. We will look at cars we can’t afford, pet animals we only see in captivity, stare at the freaks and watch somebody deep-fry a Twinkie. We won’t run screaming through the front gate, cross…
9/26 Go early, if you dare, to Texas Discovery Gardens on Friday for the shock of your life. People will be swarming for this Fear Factor experience; do not attempt if you have a heart condition. The otherwise benign and beautiful TDC conservatory has been converted to a chamber of…
10/1 Looking for a cool alternative to traditional rug-rat Halloween festivities? An interactive Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, mini-exhibit starts Wednesday at the Dallas Children’s Museum. Unlike Halloween–based on old European negative views of death, rife with menacing demons, ghouls and other evil spirits–Mexico’s Day of…
9/25 We want to sniff your butt. Well, better put, we know a group that wants to help your butt get sniffed. No, not ‘N Sync. We’re talking about Dog & Kitty City, a no-kill animal shelter run by the Humane Society of Dallas. The group is throwing a fund-raising…
9/30 Everyone says it’s hardest to write about something one truly likes, and it occurred to us, listening to ABBA Gold for inspiration, that it just might be true. Benny and Björn from ABBA have created a widely successful musical around the hits of their former band. Regarding Mamma Mia!,…
Thursday, September 25 If there’s anything we need, it’s tips on entertaining. Something inside screams that our next throw-down must have more to it than a game of Cranium and Li’l Smokies with barbecue sauce in a slow cooker, so we’re heading to the Dallas Convention Center for the 15th…
Visualize Tokyo. Got it? Now add popular favorite Bill Murray doing his “lovable schmoe” shtick. Toss in American Rhapsody’s up-and-comer Scarlett Johansson doing her standard “like, duh” face. Dip them both into emotional torpor in the sleek Park Hyatt, add local color, stir. Et voilà: Lost in Translation. For Sofia…
Secondhand Lions is cornier than the cornfields spread out in front of the dilapidated rural Texas manse inhabited by Robert Duvall and Michael Caine, playing grumpy old brothers with mismatched accents. (Caine, in fact, has accent enough for three actors–one English, another maybe Texan, another perhaps Australian.) There is no…
Never mind the trailers, which advertise Cold Creek Manor as some kind of horror-thriller, complete with the image of a hand emerging from the shadows to quiet (yes!) Sharon Stone. Mike Figgis, most recently a maker of unwatchable art-house fare shot on digital video (Timecode, Hotel) that suggests a fetish…
Woody Allen churns out one movie a year, and “churned out” is an apt description of how his new romantic comedy, Anything Else, feels. “Disappointingly mediocre” would be another. It’s not that the film doesn’t have its humorous moments or memorable lines. It has many, but the jokes and quips…
Neil Gaiman, father of a dysfunctional family of seven immortals known as The Endless, never had any intentions of abandoning his children in 1996, when he stopped telling their tales in the pages of the most celebrated and deified comic book of the past 20 years. He merely needed to…
Here’s one way to tell if a production is good. Say the curtain goes up at 8 p.m. If the first time you check your watch the little hand is near the 9, you’re in luck. You’ve been swept into the acting and the story of the play and everything’s…
Ah, fall. The season of gallery walks, museum shows, dealer openings and party pics. Of hype and anxious activity, all aimed at luring that rare but highly prized specimen, Homo sapiens collectoricus. This season, especially, the quarry is as interesting as most of the bait. Over the past decade, art…
In the good ol’ (boy) U. S. of A., David Bowie is soccer. He has long-standing, loyal pockets of devotion that ensure consistent support, but he’s largely viewed as an international anomaly. Delicacy for some, acquired taste for others, foreign weirdo for most. Does that mean the crowd gathered outside…
Thursday, September 18 We like to think of Would I Lie to You? as the Jewish version of Tootsie. But instead of learning how to walk in heels and pluck eyebrows, the protagonist has to learn how to wear a yarmulke and find out what happens at a bris. In…
By the mid-1940s, it looked as though the career of Groucho Marx had come to a whimpering end, especially to Groucho Marx. The laughs had given way to painful groans: Long gone were the surrealistic masterpieces of the late 1920s and early ’30s, having been replaced by mediocre outings that…
9/19 Scarface, directed by Brian de Palma from an Oliver Stone screenplay, is an unremarkable movie full of memorable moments, the kind that transform junk into jewel in the wide eyes of those who adore coke kingpin Tony Montana in spite of themselves. Those who adore it view it religiously,…
9/20 Understand that this is not just another one of those health-frenzy runs-for-a-cure that have become so much a part of the weekend culture. The list of sponsors is the tip-off. In addition to the old standards such as Reebok and RunOn!, you’ve got support from the likes of Big…
