Areas We Cover
Categories
-
Documentary Film Review: BEAUTY IS EMBARRASSING (directed by Neil Berkeley)
A GOOD LIFE You could do worse than be Wayne White. Wayne White could certainly do worse: he could be anybody else. A designer and puppeteer on TV shows (most notably Pee-Wee’s Playhouse), a “one-man animation department” on iconic MTV videos, a fair banjo picker, and the guy responsible for those instant kitsch paintings at…
-
Los Angeles and New York Film Feature: FRENCH OLD WAVE (American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica and Film Forum in NYC)
EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN Even a cinema neophyte is no doubt aware of the term “French New Wave” (La Nouvelle Vague), which describes a period when French filmmakers, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classic Hollywood cinema, created unprecedented documentary-style movies that veered toward existentialism, individualism, and absurdism. This decade, roughly 1959-1969, also saw the…
-
Chicago Theater Review: 33 VARIATIONS (TimeLine Theatre Company at Stage 773)
MORE THAN JUST VARIATIONS ON A THEME 33 Variations starts out with a character asking the question, “Why did the great German composer Ludwig van Beethoven write 33 variations on a trivial little waltz by a mediocre amateur composer?” On the surface, the question itself may seem trivial, but playwright Moises Kaufman expands the mystery…
-
Film Review: COSMOPOLIS (directed by David Cronenberg)
COSMOPOLIS: FILMING THE UNFILMABLE To properly critique David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis, the relationship between film and literature should be addressed in both a general and historical sense. The challenge that cinema placed upon the primacy of literature in the last century has resulted in marketplace rivalry. As with any respectable products, the two began to differentiate:…
-
Los Angeles Theater Review: ELEPHANT ROOM (Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City)
MAGIC TRICKS OR TRAGIC MIX? Every once in a while a show comes along that defies classification. Elephant Room, making its West Coast Premiere at the Kirk Douglas Theatre is one such show. It’s sort of a comedy, it’s sort of a magic show, it’s sort of a bloated SNL skit, it’s sort of an…
-
Los Angeles Theater Review: FISHING (The Archway Theatre)
FISHING FOR LAUGHS If you are now or were at some point a wannabe entertainment professional, chances are you’re no stranger to slinging hash in a greasy spoon to make ends meet. Playwright David J. Duman spent his formative years dishing up organic eats to some of San Francisco’s “most particular, demanding, and ridiculous diners.” …
-
Chicago Theater Review: DREAMGIRLS (Marriott Theater in Lincolnshire)
THE CAST IS GREAT. THE BOOK AND THE STAGING? NOT SO DREAMY Dreamgirls is based on the rise of the Supremes, America’s premiere girl singing group of the 1960’s. The musical opened on Broadway in 1981, won six Tony awards, and ran for nearly four years. Since then, the Michael Bennett musical has only two…
-
Film Review: SLEEPWALK WITH ME (Directed by Mike Birbiglia)
GOOD TIMING AND A GOOD TIME Mike Birbiglia’s one-man show, Sleepwalk With Me, has been turned into a movie so well-edited that even if its excellent writing, acting, and direction make it into this sentence, they’ll be sandwiched between gushes about Geoffrey Richman’s editing. Here, Mr. Richman does for comic timing what he did for…
-
Los Angeles Theater Review: TO QUIET THE QUIET (Elephant Stages in Hollywood)
THE ACTORS SHINE IN A CLOUDY PLAY Playwright Christy Hall comments about her play To Quiet the Quiet, “I am most interested in the complexities of the human condition,” and in her work she truly draws fine character studies. But there is some difficulty in the plot development. In an effort not to give away too…
-
Off-Broadway Theater Review: TENDER NAPALM (59E59 Theaters)
EXPLOSIVE AND EXQUISITE “I’d rather be unhappy in her world than happy in another,” says the Man about the Woman, in Philip Ridley’s outstanding new play Tender Napalm, about a couple’s love in an abyss of tragedy. While hardly a simple statement, this dynamite production at 59E59 is as minimalist as it gets. The theater…
-
Chicago Theatre Review: POOL (NO WATER) (Greenhouse Theatre)
IF THERE’S NO WATER, WHY IS THIS SCRIPT DROWNING IN PRETENTION? A group of bad artists resent their (dare I say) “frenemy” because she is a more successful artist than they are, and because she is “distant.” The group takes pleasure when she has a near death accident, and find a darker side of art…
-
Los Angeles Theater Review: HOW OBAMA GOT HIS GROOVE BACK (Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena)
A NATIONAL LAMPOON While the 2012 presidential election has provided entertainment enough, from Donald Trump’s political posturing to the Sarah Palin bus tour, there’s always room for a little light-hearted comedy. City in a Swamp Productions doesn’t take itself too seriously, but is clearly following every step of the election, even to including a reference…
-
Chicago Theater Review: THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (The Hypocrites at the Chopin Theatre)
HIP POE HYPOCRITES Regretfully, I must admit I’m not familiar with the theatre company The Hypocrites, but have heard that they often use the basement of the Chopin Theatre for their performances. I certainly know Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, and peripherally perused the Hypocrites’ press release to find that this was…
-
Film Review: AUGUST (written and directed by Eldar Rapaport)
SUMMER LOVE, SUMMER LOSS IN AUGUST Love is a messy business and August, the new DVD release from Wolfe Video, proves it. Jonathan (Daniel Dugan) meets Troy (Murray Bartlett) on Memorial Day and falls in love big time. For Troy, lust may be on the table but love is out of the picture so what…
-
Chicago Theater Review: SWEET AND SAD (Profiles Main Stage)
A DINNER IN REAL TIME Richard Nelson’s Sweet and Sad at the Profiles Main Stage has six characters gather around a dining table for 95 minutes of uninterrupted talk on a Sunday afternoon dinner at the Apple home in upstate New York on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 disaster. The action is presented in…
-
Los Angeles Theater Review: ALL THE KING’S MEN (El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood)
IT’S THE PERFECT YEAR FOR THIS POWERFUL STORY, BUT FOR THIS PRODUCTION..? It must be an election year, as artistic directors all around the nation are presenting Adrian Hall’s meaty 1987 adaptation of Robert Penn Warren’s Pulitzer-Prize winning classic, All The King’s Men. It is a tale of two journeys: Willie Stark, a gubernatorial candidate…
-
Film Review: SAMSARA (directed by Ron Fricke)
ALMOST PRETTY AS A PICTURE In the tradition of metaphysical stoner movies like Mondo Cane, Koyaanisquatsi (which he photographed), and Microcosmos, Ron Fricke makes films that show you what’s going on in the places you don’t usually go. Some call what he does “pure cinema,” and the label works inasmuch as he doesn’t use dialogue…
-
Los Angeles Theater Review: THE BLUE IRIS (Fountain Theatre)
A LITTLE BLUE More than a few friends recently mentioned that there are many “great” things on the boob tube. Since I don’t watch TV, it came as a surprise because I assumed it was mostly pablum. I was equally disturbed by this information not because I hold TV as mindless and addictive, but because…
-
Los Angeles Theater Review: UNDER THE DESERT (The Lounge Theatre in Hollywood)
A MOUTHFUL OF SAND Kiff Scholl’s production of Raymond King Shurtz’s new play, Under the Desert, is a show that’s impossible to discuss without equivocation. It’s not terrible, and there are good things in it, but I’m not happy I saw it. When one sets a two-character play in a greasy spoon in the desert,…
-
Chicago Theater Review: MARVIN’S ROOM (Circle Studio Theatre in Oak Park)
A HEARTBREAKING, FUNNY, AND COMPASSIONATE TALE FROM A PLAYWRIGHT WHO IS SORELY MISSED The audience never sees Marvin, the title character in Marvin’s Room. He’s an old man ravaged by cancer and senility, living in a dark room in his Florida home. His caregiver is his daughter Bessie, a 40-year old unmarried woman dying of…
Search Articles
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Find beautiful trendy gowns for girls' special events.
Need to order an essay? Hire our top writers to complete the most challenging papers at an affordable rate.
For professional writing support, hire essay writers at Edubirdie for high-quality help.
Discover top-rated Australian online casinos with fair games, fast payouts, and generous bonuses for every type of player.
Explore the best paying pokies Australia games with high RTP and clear bonus terms
Explore a no id verification withdrawal casino for faster access to winnings with fewer account checks.
