Howard Kremer has an interesting challenge as a comedian and a musician. His shows have the structure of a concert but he also needs the response from a crowd that every comedian needs to make their shows work. A joke takes about a minute to tell from setup to punchline…
Ann Veronica Janssens Belgian artist Ann Veronica Janssens has long been interested in creating what she describes as “situations of dazzlement.” She uses light, interacting with materials and architecture to explore our eye’s interpretations of reality, hoping to in turn allow the viewer “an experience of excess.” Her exhibition at…
How smart are American readers? What about readers in Dallas, specifically? These questions lingered in the air last week as representatives from three nonprofit presses publishing works in translation — Chad Post of University of Rochester’s Open Letter, Kendall Storey of New York City-based Archipelago Books and Will Evans of…
In Martyr, there’s not a likable character to be found. At least not in Second Thought Theatre’s production of it. Marius von Mayenburg’s moralistic tale of a teenager who seeks solace from adolescent confusions in the strictures of the Bible is treated without a hint of subtlety rendering it a…
You can knock his prankish dilettantism all you want, but James Franco — that actor/director/writer/boho curio — has this going for him: The not-bad short stories of his books Palo Alto and A California Childhood have now been adapted into two quite good films. Like Gia Coppola’s Palo Alto (2013),…
An admirably complex tale of time travel, corporate espionage and high emotions you’ll just have to take everyone’s word on, Jacob Gentry’s science-fiction puzzler Synchronicity is so ambitious — and so canny, on occasion — that you might be willing to forgive its indie infelicities. The acting is iffy, especially…
But what about the meaninglessness of everything? William Monahan’s Mojave is one of those ’90s-style chatty-killer movies, mixed with one of those ’90s-style guns-in-the-desert existential cheapies, the kind of picture where good-looking dudes shooting each other is passed off as elemental and beautiful rather than just what it actually is…
Do you know Arthur Redcloud? He lives in Colleyville as a fuel delivery driver. Oh, another tidbit about him is he’s also in the biggest movie of the year, The Revenant, which just racked up 12 Oscar nominations for the upcoming Academy Awards. Yeah, you know Arthur Redcloud, and even…
Drinking games are an American tradition. But with a marketplace so crowded with games, alcohol and other recreational drugs, it can be difficult to find a pair that works well together. So we’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite games and some of our favorite ways to enjoy…
If you’re finding yourself a little short on inspiration lately, this is the week to get out there and find someone to light a fire under you. There are plenty of opportunities to find insight, know-how, and revelation in the coming days, whether from the glimpses into the most ordinary…
Benghazi is a hashtag battle-cry, a call to arms that many Americans don’t understand. Unlike the simplicity of “Remember the Alamo!” a bleat of “Benghazi!” still has people wondering, “Wait, what happened? And why are we mad?” Michael Bay’s 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi has an explanation, though…
For her latest solo show, Becoming Colette, multimedia artist Colette Copeland has switched alter egos, assuming the identity of French author Colette. As a teen, Copeland naturally gravitated toward the novels of the famous French author who used her first name as a pen name. Over the years, she found…
Critics rarely receive love from filmmakers. Last year’s Best Picture Oscar winner, Birdman, featured a vengeful harpy of a theater reviewer (played by Lindsay Duncan) hellbent on annihilating a play before she’d even seen it. Birdman was joined in its release year by other unfair portraits of critics in Top…
Alan Rickman has died at the age of 69. To Americans of a certain generation, he’ll always be Hans Gruber from Die Hard; to those of a slightly fresher vintage, he’ll never not be Severus Snape. But it was his ability to transcend the typecasting of those iconic roles that…
Do This! Artopia is the party of the weekend. The Dallas Observer art overload features some of the city’s best music acts (Ishi, Dezi 5), a fashion show, performances by magician Confetti Eddie, and so much more. There will be drinks, dancing and a lot of art. One of the…
MTV’s The Shannara Chronicles is gorgeous and lunkheaded, gory and hilarious, sometimes awful and sometimes full of awe. It’s also quite welcome: Just as Terry Brooks tore the pompousness out of Tolkien with his pulpy, brick-thick Shannara novels, the series – executive produced by Jon Favreau – shows your Game…
Black Sheep Feminism, Aura Satz & Jeff Zilm What promises to be another excellent round of programming opens this weekend at the Dallas Contemporary. Dallas-based artist Jeff Zilm fills one of the cavernous galleries with his newest paintings for Lossless Forms for Picture Plane; London-based artist Aura Satz, whose work…
Dallas doesn’t get many world movie premiers, not to mention ones that have potential to change the trajectory of presidential elections. That made last night’s world premier of 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, Michael Bay’s slick but effective movie of the siege of Benghazi in 2012, and event…
About three months ago, Dealey Plaza near the West End was pretty much shut down thanks to J.J. Abrams and James Franco. They were filming for a Hulu thriller series, 11.22.63, based on Stephen King’s book by the same name. You were either really mad at all the traffic it was causing…
Charlie Kaufman is a cartographer of the soul. You can picture him hunched over parchment accurately inking each dark river and, off to the side, cautioning that there be dragons. What makes Kaufman cinema’s best psychoanalyst is a contradiction. He sees people for who we are — hurtful, hopeful, lovely,…
Don’t let that title throw you. Joe Frank and Zachary Reed’s rambling neighborhood comedy Sweaty Betty isn’t dopey or sweaty, and I don’t recall meeting anyone in it named Betty. There is a 1,000-pound hog named Miss Charlotte, decked out in Washington Redskins gear, but that vision’s just one of…
People around the world suffered a certain kind of heartbreak Sunday night when news broke that music legend David Bowie died. He made the alien in all of us feel a little more at home during our time on planet earth. He left this place more colorful than when he…
