He claims to be blacklisted and close to busto. Thirty years in the film biz, with a cult bigger than David Koresh’s and a disemboweled body of work that would make any studio boss blood-red with envy, and still he kvetches in a voice so eerily similar to that of…
On a stripped-down set of black metal scaffolding and simple black wooden cubes, Irving’s Lyric Stage company makes the audience see things that aren’t there. So inventive is director Drew Scott Harris’ staging of this fine new production of the musical Titanic, and so convincing are its 37 actors, that…
The last time we saw a dog fly was when we threw a Hebrew National at Carl Everett’s head. Seriously, we aren’t foolish enough to waste a good cell phone and be completely conspicuous. Nevertheless, we had never seen a Scottish terrier fly until Michael McWillie came along, paintbrush in…
Thursday, May 1 To Fort Worth filmmaker Philip R. Fagan, short films dont mean short attention span. Though his seven works clock in at about an hour together, theres a lot to digest here: silent Chaplin-style slapstick, heroin addiction portrayed through Ghoultowns Count Lyle, Jekyll and Hyde retold at a…
Country music raised me. Sunday afternoons, watching tapes of Austin City Limits featuring George Jones and Merle Haggard with Dad, Willie on the console record player and a transistor radio in “the shop” out in the garage that was never turned off. A rather pensive child, my favorites were the…
5/2 Much more than an occasion for getting the Frisbee out and hitting the park, the original Earth Day was closer to a nationwide “teach-in” dedicated to saving the planet. A massive demonstration in Washington forced Congress to adjourn for the day. An impromptu parade of environmentally conscious protesters brought…
5/3 If you hope to win the third annual Elvis Run, then concentrate on the young Elvis wiggling his hips to “Blue Suede Shoes,” not the overweight lounge lizard gasping for breath crooning “Love Me Tender.” Lay off the fried peanut butter-and-banana sandwiches if you hope to cross the finish…
5/3 As shameful as it was to be a citizen of Dallas on November 22, 1963, our collective dishonor was short-lived. This city is inextricably linked to the Kennedy legacy, and you could argue that the legend really began here. Dallas has venerated the events of that day and respected…
5/4 It’s not easy to gain in-depth knowledge of Mexico’s Tarahumara Indians, who originally retreated into the mountains to avoid Spanish slavery and missionization. The rough terrain has kept the Tarahumara, many of whom still live in mountainside caves, largely isolated. Their wariness of outsiders is well documented, so the…
5/7 Getting weary of romances, serial-killer whodunits and Stephen You Know Who’s things-that-go-bump-in-the-night novels? For a real jump start to your summer reading, the Literary Café is set to introduce you to a host of talented new writers. Created 11 years ago as part of Arts & Letters Live, the…
In Confidence, Edward Burns plays Jake Vig, a con artist whose body temperature runs a few degrees below normal. Even when things seem to go bad, when a would-be partner betrays him with a phone call or a seedy-greedy Dustin Hoffman lays maybe-gay and grubby paws all over him, Burns…
You can’t be sure what to make of Identity for its first hour: Director James Mangold’s first foray into the horror genre plays so much like a joke it’s almost impossible to tell whether he’s making you laugh on purpose or because, well, he is director James Mangold, maker of…
Director David Cronenberg has led his loyal fans down some pretty spooky corridors, including the telepathic netherworld of Scanners, the violent sibling rivalry of twin gynecologists in love with the same woman (Dead Ringers) and the drug-haunted imagination of William S. Burroughs (Naked Lunch). So it comes as no surprise…
It had become sport in recent years to dismiss the USA Film Festival for what it wasn’t rather than what it was becoming. No, it is not a South by Southwest Film Festival or an Austin Film Festival, where would-be independent filmmakers gather each year to discuss a project or…
It’s the actor’s dream, to have more work than there is time to do it. At times, it may not all be the most pleasurable work, but for every paycheck there is the payday of working with a Ridley Scott, a Michael Mann, a Harold Ramis, a Norman Jewison, a…
They were loud once, deafeningly so–and dumbingly so, if such a thing is possible. They wore skins of leather stuffed with cucumbers of foil, towered over dwarves who danced around a Stonehenge made of pebbles, sang about women who fit like flesh tuxedos and explored the majesty of rock and…
More than anything, Cyrano de Bergerac is terrified that his beautiful cousin, Roxane, will laugh at his nose. Cyrano is madly in love with Roxane, but his rocket schnozz makes him feel ugly. So, as the sad clown, he takes a defensive stance and pokes fun at his own most…
Southern Methodist University’s Division of Theater’s new production Smash! is about the consequences of introducing Marxism to a private all-girls school. Though we have visions of Groucho, Harpo and Chico hiding in closets, taunting naïve girls with mildly suggestive comments and starting food fights in the cafeteria, it’s actually about…
Thursday, April 24 Parties are great and all, unless the gathering prompts one of our group members to network the entire time, leaving us in a corner with Ted in Accounting from who knows what company. ProvenBrilliance Productions and Gregory Jones have a take on the party we fully support…
Outside looking in: Dallas and Houston are more alike than they are different. Texas’ two largest cities are sprawling, urbane population centers with mostly robust economies, decent tourism and as much culture as the howdy-do’s can muster. Differences seem insignificant: Houston’s a port, while Dallas is landlocked. Houston has higher…
4/26 Lloyd Kaufman will take no offense when you refer to his films, among them The Toxic Avenger and Terror Firmer and Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD, as “low-rent”; the self-appointed renegade director and producer, who launched Troma Entertainment some three decades ago, prides himself on making movies for pennies on the…
4/26 While many are watching the tube or blissfully sleeping in this weekend, people across the nation are voluntarily free-falling a couple of miles at speeds of more than 100 mph, and not in their nightmares. In fact, Operation Freefall, a fund-raiser for Speaking Out About Rape (SOAR) and the…
