The usually silver-tongued Eliot Spitzer, political hero of last month’s Inside Job and now ubiquitous media personality, stammers and hesitates when asked to explain the psychosexual motivations behind his spectacular flameout in Alex Gibney’s gripping Client 9—or, if you prefer, Inside Blowjob. Spitzer, whose tireless efforts to redeem himself led…
“She doesn’t sing that way because she’s had it easy.” This is how Tess (Cher), the long-suffering owner of the nightclub at the center of Burlesque, defends her new star Ali (Christina Aguilera) to the club’s jealous deposed marquee attraction, Nikki (Kristen Bell). The same phrase could substitute as a…
“Great,” sighs the wicked witch in Tangled, a CG-animated spin on the Rapunzel story, “now I’m the bad guy.” Mother Gothel, the frizzy-haired, sharp-featured enchantress with the inimitable voice of Donna Murphy, is Disney’s first villainess whose chief crime is being an underminer, and the heroine of Disney’s 50th animated…
Everest looks suitably majestic in this IMAX documentary, though five different expeditions on the peak are awkwardly cobbled into one dubious narrative. At issue is whether, in 1924, George Mallory and his rope-mate reached the summit 30 years before credited first-timer Edmund Hillary. Mallory’s body was discovered in 1999 by…
Some young actors yearn for that flashy role in a blockbuster movie that will prove their bankability to a doubting Hollywood. Kristen Stewart, on the other hand, seems determined to accentuate her anti-star bona fides, delivering aggressively affectless interviews and bracketing this summer’s $300 million-earning Twilight: Eclipse with two grittier…
The leading role in Kitchen Dog Theater’s Charm fits actress Tina Parker like a velvet glove. But the character she plays, 19th century writer, feminist and transcendentalist Margaret Fuller, wasn’t the glove-wearing sort, though she lived in glove-and-corset-wearing times. Kathleen Cahill’s immensely satisfying 90-minute biographical comedy, getting its Southwest premiere…
They say that everything’s bigger in Texas. Unfortunately, however, New York has us beat when it comes to public menorahs–the 9-armed candelabrum erected every year near Central Park at 59th Street and 5th Avenue reaches 32 feet into the sky and weighs 4,000 pounds. Still, with the oversized menorah on…
Whether you’re another Ebenezer Scrooge or the merriest of them all, the holidays can bring joy to just about everyone–especially if they involves a little shopping and a few giddy Christmas tunes. Kick off this year’s holiday season at Mockingbird Station with a little discounted shopping at places like Gap…
If the pretties of Cirque du Soleil were to find themselves on a street corner in New York, one of two things would happen: They’d get a smackdown unlike any other, or they’d emerge from the experience looking a little something like Cirque Dreams Illumination. A stunning sight all its…
Spend an evening with a cranky old war vet, a boozy redneck and a jalapeno… on a stick! Don’t worry, it’s not a nightmare dinner party, but there’ll be no shortage of entertaining personalities when Dallas native Jeff Dunham comes to town this weekend. The popular stand-up comedian and ventriloquist…
The lighting of Lee Park along Turtle Creek is one of the most beautiful harbingers of the holidays. This year, be part of the celebration with Bough*Wow, a showcase of holiday trees decorated by artisans from Urban Flower/Grange Hall, Anthropologie and more. Vendors like Hail Merry, Molto Fromaggio and Paper…
I don’t get why standing in the dark surrounded by coyotes and strange rustling wouldn’t be a nightmare, but I’m a nature-hating person who sucks down high-fructose corn syrup, dumps pollutants in the ground water, kicks a tree and calls it a day. If you’re a better person, check out…
Let’s talk about Fight Club. In his film Boxing Gym, director Frederick Wiseman got into the ring with a Texas boxing gym. Basically, he planted his tripod in Lord’s Gym in Austin and waited. Wiseman allowed his camera to soak in the gym’s rhythm, without giving direction or asking too…
Long ago, folks trash-talked Oak Cliff as if it was the redheaded stepchild of Dallas with nothing going on worth experiencing. Things change. Blocks are bettered, communities are developed, artists adapt. Now, the happening burg is the hip tip of Dallas’ cultural iceberg with more meaning underneath its once placid-seeming…
You could celebrate Thanksgiving by cooking a massive meal, but do you want to spend the holiday pulling the innards out of a turkey and washing hundreds of dishes? Instead, head to Nana atop the Hilton Anatole Hotel, 2201 Stemmons Freeway for a Thanksgiving brunch with unconventional offerings. Feast on…
Kick off your Thanksgiving holiday with a decades-old tradition that’s better than can-shaped cranberry sauce. With turkey hats and silly waddles, the Turkey Trot is a holiday ritual now adopted by thousands of North Texans. Finish the race and you’ve earned yourself all the pumpkin pie and gluttony you can…
Work from the three artists on display at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary have little in common, but all “deal with women’s issues in compelling and provocative ways,” if the MAC is to be believed. Mary Beth Edelson’s There Is Never Only One Game in Town and Other Stories is an…
If you haven’t heard much about your Dallas Stars this season, don’t fret. Thus far there hasn’t been any real reason to unless you’re a passionate hockey fan. The team has started the first season of the post-Modano era with a 9-7 whimper–not Mavericks great, but not Cowboys bad, either,…
Reality takes a backseat in Cairo Time, a love story targeted to ladies who buy J. Crew sweater sets and consider Nora Roberts a guilty pleasure. The AARP chick flick stars the excellent Patricia Clarkson, a fashion editor romanced by Alexander Siddig’s suave and swarthy guide on what’s supposed to…
Lebron James broke ten million Ohioan hearts this summer with his Decision, perhaps the best example of misguided egotism in the history of sports. In bolting to South Beach, he also helped create the NBA’s most evil franchise, a basketball Death Star with Pat Riley in the role of the…
So which Dallas Cowboys team will show up to play the New Orleans Saints on Thanksgiving? Will it be the ‘Boys who played with passion and heart and a fire under their asses and clobbered the New York Giants after the firing of Wade Phillips put the fear of God…
Annie mania struck me hard as a seven-year-old. The movie came out that year leaving a sea of red-headed merchandise in its wake: I had Annie T-shirts, Annie dolls and Annie records. I wanted curly ginger hair. I wanted a scruffy dog named Sandy. And most of all, I wanted…
