Of the eight films featured in the 11th Annual Jewish Film Festival of Dallas, not one of them involves Woody Allen, and thank God for that. No two-hour examinations of middle-aged male neuroses here. Instead, the series, which runs through September 25, features some of the best Jewish-themed comedies, documentaries…
Who doesn’t love potato chips? We’ll eat ’em in just about any variety—plain, barbecue, salt and vinegar, dill pickle, sour cream and onion, etc., etc. You might even say we’re connoisseurs of fine fried taters. We’ve even had friends and family ship us bags of our favorite regional chips (Ever…
Accommodating Nature: The Photographs of Frank Gohlke features works by the highly influential landscape photographer. While trying to accomplish the sweeping and uncluttered shots that are typical of landscape photographs, Gohlke discovered that it was difficult to show only nature without evidence of man. Telephone poles, in particular, were difficult…
I’ve seen exactly one live butterfly in the past few years. Seeing a Giant Swallowtail was a rare sight—living in East Dallas, I’m privy to a different kind of wildlife. For those of us who aren’t fortunate enough to be greeted at our doors by Monarchs and Question Marks, the…
Sondheim. Rodgers. If you were in need of emotional resuscitation with fast-acting lyrics and time-released melodies, these were your go-to guys. In the ’90s the warm-and-fuzzy experience was chased off Broadway, apparently by antidepressant manufacturers and the American Psychoanalytic Association. Enter Jason Robert Brown, a young composer who understands our…
We’ve never been huge fans of Bob Marley (hippies killed him for us long ago), but we certainly respect the guy. After all, he recorded several legendary albums and turned the world onto reggae, all while fathering 13 children by 10 mothers, several of which would go on to beat…
Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme has been trying to escape from the “stoner rock” pigeonhole for the better part of the last decade. The band’s latest offering, Era Vulgaris, offers the tasty hard rock riffage and sweet swirling melodies that QotSA fans have come to know, love…
Robert Caruso is an internationally known psychic medium. How do we know? Because his Web site says so. And if the Interweb says Robert Caruso is internationally known, well, it must be true and we’re just woefully behind in keeping up with our famous psychic mediums. Heck, you’re probably wondering…
Since you’re already at The Modern Museum of Art on 3200 Darnell St. in Fort Worth checking out Ron Mueck’s giant naked people exhibit, at 5 p.m. Saturday, see Patrice Leconte’s comedy My Best Friend too. In the movie (probably starring Jerry Lewis), an antique dealer refuses to believe that…
What better way to celebrate the anniversary of a venue that has hosted many a musical, a stage production and a beloved star than by offering up Neil Berg’s 100 Years of Broadway? There really isn’t one. Especially considering that thanks to the partnering of Berg and Eisemann Center, peeps…
Everyone loves a good coloring book. Whether you’re a classic Crayola eight-pack fan or you carry the briefcase of millions of colors, if you choose to color in the lines or prefer to make dogs green, you should head out to ArtWalk this weekend and get your hands on the…
A photograph only has a flat page on which to work its mystery. How good must a photograph be to grab our attention and change the world then? What must be captured on paper to change public perception or policy? Whatever that mysterious “it” is, it seems that every year…
Huh, how about that? Slappy’s Puppet Playhouse is not another name for the confessional booth during youth services at your local Catholic church, but an actual puppet theater. OK. We knew that, but that Catholic pederast humor just never gets old, does it? You say it does? Well then, let’s…
Did you know that the University of Texas system is the largest wine producer in the state? Yes, folks, it’s right there in black and white on Wikipedia, so it must be true. And, yeah, it’s a little surprising that UT dabbles in the winery business, but when you think…
Man From Nebraska isn’t the catchiest title in the world, but that didn’t stop the play from garnering lots of critical acclaim. Tracy Lett’s play was a 2004 Pulitzer Prize finalist and made Time Magazine’s “Best Theater 2003” list. Revenge of the Cornhusker, uh, I mean, Man From Nebraska, is…
Huffing and puffing to resuscitate a long-moribund genre, James Mangold manages to imbue a 50-year-old Western with the semblance of life. Mangold’s remake of 3:10 to Yuma isn’t as startling a resurrection job as his Johnny Cash biopic, but it does send a saddlebag full of Western tropes skittering into…
Don’t worry about what to wear to Dallas Theater Center’s season opener, Pride and Prejudice. By the last scene, your outfit will be out of style. At least it feels that way. Three hours is a long sit at any play. Three hours of the quaint jibber-jabber of Jane Austen’s…
There have already been critical rumblings about the extreme violence in Shoot ‘Em Up, but it’s hard to get too worked up about a film whose very title announces its maker’s intent and which opens by raking the New Line Cinema corporate logo with machine gun fire (a gesture long…
1. Balls of Fury is a movie about: a. A former table tennis prodigy (Dan Fogler as Randy Daytona) enlisted by the FBI to infiltrate the underground ping-pong tournament of a legendary Chinese criminal (Christopher Walken). b. Suppository jokes. c. Little worth discussing and even less worth seeing. d. All…
The Office: Season Three (Universal)After a shaky first season and a better-with-every-episode second, The Office proved itself one of the most consistent comedies in the history of the medium. The show has long since escaped the shadow of its BBC forebear and boasts an ensemble from which you could pick…
Sundance signals, for better or worse, the state of American independent filmmaking. Cannes keeps faith, for those who still believe, with the cinema d’auteur. And Toronto? The largest and most important film festival in North America seems to do nearly as many things as there are movies to see—349 in…
It’s pretty much a toss-up which I love more: gorging on cinema or getting up at noon. And so, on the first day of the Toronto International Film Festival, in lieu of contemplating Bela Tarr’s The Man from London, I lingered in my pajamas anticipating Delta Chelsea’s The Breakfast from…
