What do you get when you cross Han Solo with Wolfman Jack, drag racing, drive-in diners, Richard Dreyfuss and “Rock Around the Clock”? You get a classic in American film from George Lucas—one without hyper drives, droids or battle stations, making it safe from “fixing” by the technology-obsessed director determined…
Kinky, you let us down. You crapped up the gubernatorial debate by cracking off the same old tired witticisms. Then, with a week to go before November 7, you admitted there was no way to win but didn’t drop out of the race so that votes might instead be cast…
Slam poetry has never really lived up to its billing for me; there’s nothing particularly “slammin'” about it in my eyes. But get a couple people together to actually slam dance while reciting Dylan Thomas (or even better, Mattie J. T. Stepanek), and you might win me over. If you’re…
The best days in elementary school were the days we got to skip out of class. Once, my mom wrote me a fake doctor’s note so I could get out of school to see a museum exhibit. I can’t remember whether or not the exhibit was cool, but my mom…
Watching crazed couples and bickering brothers navigate their way around the world to reach their destination first is one of the true pleasures of reality television. Had a honeymoon from hell? Couldn’t be worse than getting spit on by camels in the Sahara Desert. Endured a family vacation with three…
Before the long-awaited Art Conspiracy coming December 1 to the Longhorn Ballroom, curator and art/event coordinator Sarah Jane Semrad (and CorinthPark owner Herschel Alan Weisfield) offer an artistic amuse bouche of sorts with the appropriately titled Primer. The group exhibition features works from local artists Kate Nelson, Tim Stokes, Ronald…
This is the Gobble Hobble 5K and Family Fun Run’s inaugural year, and it’s being hyped as Richardson’s new Thanksgiving tradition, complete with a kick-ass “Kids Zone.” Personally, we think restricting adults from awesome stuff such as rock-climbing walls and inflatable obstacle courses by designating it a “Kids Zone” should…
What’s scarier than a monster in your closet? How about an oversized monster prancing around an ice rink on razor-sharp steel blades? I am always the first to doubt that a chilled, choreographed fairy tale redux will entertain the kids, but Disney on Ice continues to prove me wrong. Now…
For the non-motorcycle guy, there’s something a little jeering, a bit bullying about the two-wheeled beasts. If it were alive, all that chrome and steel and power would, I think, sneer at me: “What’s the matter, pussy-boy? You chicken? Buc-buc-bucaw.” Shades of high school come creeping in: wanting to hang…
Penguins are the new black (and white). This Friday, the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History is hosting a full-on penguin celebration in honor of the IMAX version of the animated penguin flick, Happy Feet. The Happy Feet Dance Fest features tap-dance lessons and mini performances from the LaFeet…
Get ready, because the circus is coming to town. Don’t worry, though, because you won’t have to wade your way through PETA protesters to see it, and a French translator will not be needed if you want to see some fine acrobatics. In director Chris Lashua’s Birdhouse Factory, acrobats (featuring…
Between coordinating a playgroup for aborted fetuses, running quality control on natural disasters and being slowly devoured through the magic of transubstantiation, we’re pretty sure Jesus doesn’t have time to hate us. Besides, we’re very careful: Even an omnipotent dude has to take a smoke break every now and then,…
I’ve been called the whitest Hispanic ever. And that’s by my closest friends. The slightest hint of jalapeño has me gasping for water. I’m lost when someone speaks to me in Spanish. The closest I’ve gotten to actual Mexican culture was a resort stay in Cancún. If I have any…
Once an actor gets big enough to take whatever kind of role he wants, it makes sense that the biggest stretch imaginable, given his current situation, is the part of a powerless man with no control over the world around him. Call it a “nice” movie—a vehicle designed to tone…
Pity Max Skinner, emasculated over his lamb chops. On a gray afternoon, at London’s hot spot du jour, his gloating superior unveils a plot to poach his most lucrative client, divesting him of a six-figure bonus (pounds sterling) in the process. Fuck it. The bummed-out bond trader hands in a…
The Junky’s Christmas (Koch) They just aren’t cranking out claymation Christmas specials like they used to, which makes this a welcome one. Nicer still, it’s got heroin! A mixture of stop motion with a little puppetry and live-action shots of William Burroughs (who may himself have been a Muppet), this…
In the gangsta pantheon, nobody gets more respect than Tony Montana. Consider all the homages: Not one, but two rappers have named themselves after Montana (Scarface of the Geto Boys and Tony Yayo of G-Unit), and Nas borrowed Montana’s slogan for his breakout hit, “The World Is Yours.” Indeed, the…
Anna Karenina (Kino) Arrested Development: Seasons One-Three (Fox) The Best of the Scripps National Spelling Bee (ESPN) Beverly Hills 90210: The Complete First Season (Paramount) Cinema Paradiso (Weinstein) The Fallen Idol (Criterion) Freak Out (Anchor Bay) Jag: The Complete Second Season (Paramount) The James Bond Collection: Volumes One and Two…
There’s a lot of things about Pee-Wee Herman that you wouldn’t understand. Things you couldn’t understand. Things you shouldn’t understand. Most of them happened in an adult movie theater in Florida, but that’s a story for another time. In Tim Burton’s Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Herman spins yarns long and wide…
The title—Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story—sends chills all by itself. There’s a musical about America’s most infamous “thrill killers”? How could…? Why would…? It’s a grim affair all right, real musical theater noir. And Uptown Players’ production, the regional premiere of Thrill Me, doesn’t pretty up the proceedings…
We think it’s well-established that kids are not the biggest opera fans, so we’re not sure about the following combination. Radio Disney and the Dallas Opera are joining forces to present The Dallas Opera Cartoon Carnival. It’s not quite chocolate and peanut butter, but it is “an afternoon of music,…
It’s been years since you last did a Paint-By-Number, hasn’t it? Sure, hanging that lake scene you toiled over for weeks is a bit kitschy, but the ’50s art fad is making a comeback, and the people of Market Square are here to supply you with everything you need. Once…
