Damian Cunningham has the face of an angel–calm and cool blue eyes perched above freckled cheeks and a benevolent grin–which is only appropriate for a 7-year-old boy who speaks with the late, great saints, among them Peter, Joseph, Claire and, of course, Francis of Assisi. Damian sees dead people, all…
Before I walked out the door to see Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, a colleague sneered, “Why do you even bother with that shit?” It’s a question one’s tempted to ask of its star, Sandra Bullock, as well. (Surely, our answers would be the same: The paycheck, pal.) Hers…
Despite the sunshine of the Stalin years and the carefree frolic of the oligarchs, the words “Russia” and “romantic comedy” don’t exactly come skipping off the tongue in perfect harmony. But if we can believe co-directors Olga Stolpovskaya and Dmitry Troitsky, a welcome spirit of playfulness–or the brave effort to…
Most contemporary thrillers aren’t concerned with moral dilemmas; the emphasis is on action and intrigue. The Israeli film Walk on Water–which, conveniently for American audiences, is primarily in English (the rest is Hebrew and German with English subtitles)–not only raises questions about right and wrong, but also addresses issues of…
The Groden family lives out in the middle of the New Mexico desert, far from main roads. They grow, harvest and/or kill all their own food, own their own home and make what little money they need from crafts. They have no phone or indoor plumbing, and they haven’t paid…
Americans have a love-hate relationship with Wal-Mart. Some believe it’s the best thing since nylon pantyhose, big-screen TVs and Ziploc baggies. That you can find all three products under one large, sprawling flat roof not only signals one-stop shopping but also the megastore’s generosity. As an institution, it is a…
Stephen Lapthisophon As a kid, the enormous cardboard box that came with the new refrigerator offered a world of palatial and spaceship possibility. As an adult, it is a throwaway, recyclable or, for the many who have fallen on hard times, an extremely economical and available form of refuge. Lapthisophon’s…
On the face of actress Lynn Blackburn are all the reasons you need to see Hay Fever, Theatre Britain’s production now running–no, galloping at full gait–on the stage at Trinity River Arts Center. First, there’s Blackburn’s nose, a proud little thing twitching pertly like Samantha Stevens’ or turning down slightly…
Hairspray They can’t stop the beat. No, they can’t stop the beat. Don’t try to make them stop because they can’t stop the beat! Everything about this musical adaptation of John Waters’ low-budget movie insists that you must love it. Must! From the 1970s pastels on the backdrops to the…
According to the Chocolate Manufacturer’s Organization, more than 60 million chocolate bunnies are sold during Easter season. The organization also reports that nearly 80 percent of adults bite off a bunny’s head and ears first. We believe it. With all due respect to the religious reason for the Easter season,…
Thursday, March 24 Jonathan Borofsky’s dad used to tell him the story of a giant who lived in the clouds, and he used to dream about visiting him. This giant had more to offer than a goose that lays golden eggs; he knew how to help everyone down on Earth…
To find an example of man giving nature its proper respect, look no further than Kyoto, Japan. The city is Japan’s seventh-largest with nearly 1.5 million people and was home to the emperor from 794 to 1868. But it isn’t the people–emperors or otherwise–who cause visitors of Japan to flock…
3/27 It just doesn’t feel like Easter Sunday in Dallas until the chiffon starts twirling, the feathered boas are billowing and those stiletto heels are resolutely clicking across the pavement–and that’s just what the dogs are wearing. The Turtle Creek Association’s Easter in the Park and infamous Pooch Parade in…
Ongoing Nabokov described a mounted butterfly in The Aurelian as “eyed wings wide-open in wonder, shimmering blue satin, black magic.” And it was dead. Imagine those velvety stained-glass arcs in three dimensions. If your inner lepidopterologist flutters about your soul, get to Butterflies in the Garden at the Fort Worth…
3/27 Jamie Oliver would indeed look enticing as an actual naked chef, and we love watching Nigella Lawson workin’ her English muffin over a stainless steel range. But no cooking show compares to the intense culinary combat of Iron Chef. We eagerly anticipate the announcement of each episode’s “surprise” ingredient–what…
3/25 Family secrets aren’t exactly undisclosed. With any given secret, almost all relatives over the age of 10 are in the know, as well as family friends, in-laws and the lawn guy. The stint Aunt JoJo spent at Timberlawn? Everyone knows. Nana’s late-night whiskey binges? Known. Cousin Tiffany is a…
The Upside of Anger belongs to Joan Allen, who plays Terry Wolfmeyer, a wife abandoned by her husband and left to pick up the pieces and collect them in a giant bottle of vodka. Terry’s is the cold, composed visage of a woman struggling to keep it together; through her…
The Ring, Gore Verbinski’s 2002 remake of Hideo Nakata’s Ringu, offered sufficient closure that it didn’t exactly demand a sequel. The horror lay in wondering why a mysterious videotape kills viewers seven days after they watch it; to a lesser extent, there was the mystery of the creepy girl, face…
The Cherry Torture, critics often call it. And for good reasons. Anton Chekhov’s final play babbles on and on for four acts of increasingly tedious arrivals and departures by more than a dozen oddball characters. Actors enter with great flourish to announce that they must be going, and then they…
Coast to Coast Geographic alliance underscores this exhibition of painting and Conceptualist sculpture at Barry Whistler Gallery. Showing in the front room of the gallery space are the paintings and works on paper by the Texas and Southwest artists Emi Winter and Mark Williams and works on paper by the…
The Cherry Orchard Chop, chop, we say, as the cast of more than a dozen characters gathers to bid each other farewell one more time. And again. And yet again. Anton Chekhov’s four-act meditation on the decline of the Russian aristocracy can be fun when played as farce (as he…
Between writing works of allegorical fiction and sharing a pint with chum J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis found plenty of time to be frightened of the dentist. “What do people mean when they say, ‘I am not afraid of God because I know He is good’? Have they never even been…
