11/19 Ah, squirrels–so cute… so deadly. Don’t let the bushy tail fool you; have you seen what those guys can do to a nut? The main character of Circumference of a Squirrel knows what we’re talking about. He’s terrified of squirrels, ever since his father was bitten and had to…
The most shocking thing about Kinsey, the first film from writer-director Bill Condon since 1998’s Gods and Monsters, is how shocking it actually is. Within the confines of a standard biopic (A Beautiful Dirty Mind, you might call it), Condon refuses to play it straight–which is only appropriate, since his…
A lone figure stands on a stage. You’re close enough to see the sweat forming on his brow and the veins in his neck pulsating as the lyrics of his songs go from highs to lows. As you watch his fingers tumble across the guitar strings, you begin to feel…
A week after having seen Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, no memory of it remains save some scribblings in my notepad, such is the slight nature of this woeful, forgettable sequel. Squandering the good will that lingers from the original, now a beloved relic among the singletons and smug…
Most articles written about The Polar Express have focused on its groundbreaking technology, which takes the process used to create Gollum in The Lord of the Rings one step further. Much as Andy Serkis’ performance was digitally mapped and reproduced via CGI, so, too, is Tom Hanks computer-generated here as…
The death of art is a well-worn idea. Once the anti-aesthetic rallying cry of so many pious avant-gardists, declaring that art has met the grim reaper is another way of saying “where’s the price tag?” In a rather cynical turn of events, it would seem that the avant-garde has revealed…
Ellen George Out of Doors Based in Washington state, Ellen George is a sculptor making work that seems at once deep-sea and extraterrestrial in nature. While the work comes to us from the Pacific Northwest, it would seem to have arrived from farther away, evidence of a tiny alien invasion…
Varekai One needs a new vocabulary to describe the latest production of Cirque du Soleil now in residence at Fair Park. The aerial acts are voluptudinal. The Russian dances are spinfastical. The costumes come in colors and shapes that look primorfimous and galacicle. This show is a circus of shapes…
You may have been to a bad concert at the American Airlines Center before, but chances are you’ve never been to a show that smelled as bad as the ones that take place during the Texas Stampede Pace ProRodeo Classic. Not even a weeklong circus stinks up the arena as…
Thursday, November 11 No matter how people voted last week–Bush or Kerry, moral values or war in Iraq, marriage is between a man and woman or between anyone willing to promise “till death do us part”–most will say they support the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan even if they don’t…
In all his approachable Everyman glory, Davy Rothbart won over the likes of David Letterman and the entire Late Show with this message displayed and read aloud during his early-October appearance on the show: “Took some hos to get some burritos.” Rothbart is the creator of FOUND Magazine, a collection…
11/11 At its inaugural Japanese Film Festival, the Southern Methodist University Language Program “commemorates the 150th anniversary of United States-Japan relations.” It’s a nice round number (which is always reason enough for any celebration), but beyond that the time is ripe for the acknowledgement of the ultimate culture clash of…
11/13 It’s called the Cheetah Challenge, but no cheetah will be harmed in the running of the race. Humans, though, that’s another story. This cross-country trail run benefiting the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glen Rose, some 50 miles southwest of Fort Worth, is known as the “toughest 5K in…
11/12 At first sight, former MTV VJ, actress and model Karen “Duff” Duffy’s literary output would seem to place her quite squarely within that dubious category of Gen Xers who tout themselves as “alternative” and “real” but are the same old schtick aided by irreverent packaging. The titles of her…
11/16 When the American Ballet Theatre performs at McFarlin Auditorium at Southern Methodist University on November 16 and November 17, two talented Dallas girls will dance with the company. Victor Barbee, associate artistic director, says more than 100 hopefuls in Dallas and Houston auditioned for the coveted parts. Kathryn Boren…
The witless inanity of After the Sunset is so numbing that the sole reason for any living creature to sit through it–man, woman or household pet–is to marvel at the speed and variety of actress Salma Hayek’s costume changes. After an opening sequence in Los Angeles, this failed jewel-caper comedy…
When was the last time you saw Paul Giamatti? And when the film ended, did you realize how much you would miss him? It was just last year that Giamatti played the hilariously beleaguered Harvey Pekar in American Splendor, a role that he occupied with slumped, head-hanging perfection. Yet as…
Since its initial publication in 1986, myriad filmmakers have attempted in vain to film Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ comic book Watchmen, in which costumed superheroes have been outlawed and are being summarily exiled and executed by an unknown baddie. At the moment, Darren Aronofsky (Pi) is set to direct…
Writer-director Charles Shyer’s Alfie is less a remake of the 1966 film that made Michael Caine a star than it is a retooling that softens the horrific blows struck by the original; it’s sweeter, too, cotton candy spun from decades-old arsenic. The original, written by Bill Naughton (who also penned…
The Ramones have been commodified (shilling Bud Light with “Blitzkrieg Bop”), deified, even gentrified (on the soundtrack to The Royal Tenenbaums, where “Judy Is a Punk” thrashes for dear life alongside Vince Guaraldi), but seldom have they been so thoroughly analyzed. There have been myriad boxed sets and re-releases–Rhino seems…
Those familiar with the films of David Gordon Green (George Washington, All the Real Girls) likely have one big question about his latest feature, Undertow: Is there more of a story this time? The answer is…sort of. Green, who favors meditative, meandering portraits, and is often compared to Terrence Malick…
Throughout p.s. , a thoughtful, self-possessed film from director Dylan Kidd (Roger Dodger), there is a sense of the disaster it could have been. A 39-year-old woman, divorced and emotionally shuttered, meets an adoring, adorable young man. The boy (compared to her, he’s a child) is a replica of her…
