iZombie is about as sunny and optimistic as the zombie genre gets, which of course isn’t all that much. Even by supernatural standards, it’s a bloodthirsty canon, demanding regular sacrifices of innocents and grisly feats of skull splitting and cerebellum cannibalizing. The CW’s Seattle neo-noir boasts plenty of both to…
As a middle-aged woman, I rarely have a conversation with other middle-aged women in which the subject of movies “for us” fails to come up. As a critic, I don’t really think of movies in terms of which ones are “for” me and which are not, but I know what…
“I hate myself.” That’s an unusual statement coming from the hero of an animated film, let alone in the first two minutes. But 12-year-old orphan Anna (Sara Takatsuki), the protagonist of Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s lovely anime When Marnie Was There, has no illusions about her place in the world: There’s an…
The Melissa McCarthy of Spy is different from the one who rose to prominence by shitting in a sink. Bridesmaids scored her an Oscar nomination, and for the ceremony McCarthy donned a glamorous rose gown with a diamond collar and belt. But in the years since, Hollywood continued to see…
What does the world sound like when you’re Brian Wilson? When you’ve made a record that sounds like cirrus clouds look — as Wilson did with the Beach Boys’ small modern miracle of harmony, the 1966 Pet Sounds — all bets are off when it comes to the way ordinary…
The first line in Entourage is a good indication of what the next 104 minutes will bring. Peering through a pair of binoculars while a speedboat carries him toward a yacht in the dazzling waters of Ibiza, Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon), the big brother of megastar Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier),…
Jon Revett: The Glacier Project In a sense, the minute something is declared “art,” it has been elevated. The process of art making is transformative. Whether it’s the whittling down of tree bark, or slathering paint on a canvas, or in the case of Amarillo-based artist Jon Revett, screen printing…
In this industry, I meet a lot of people who talk a lot of shit. “This industry” meaning the film industry. Most heard: “Love your idea, let’s get together and talk about it,” “Send me your script and I’ll pass it to the right people,” “I’d love to be a…
The art world and its stock market unpredictably will quickly make even the most well-intentioned artist cynical. These days the world is filled with aspiring art stars. The lifelong drive to make something valuable is easily diminished by a discussion of finding a gallery, pricing a work of art as…
As part of an ongoing series of art receptions at Bishop Art’s design store, {neighborhood}, co-owners (and husband and wife) J.P. and Erin Hossley welcome Austin’s Tim Kerr Saturday night. Kerr is a legend in the punk rock world with his time in punk/funk act, the Big Boys, but he’s…
The Deep Ellum neighborhood is not just a great place for getting yourself pierced somewhere unthinkable. It’s also nothing short of historic. In the mid-’90s, you could find Kurt Cobain fighting onstage at Trees, and 20 years later, at the same venue, you’d find Macaulay Culkin dancing in the crowd…
William Shakespeare wrote 37 plays without any character ever turning to another to say “Are you OK?” The two main characters in Amy Herzog’s 90-minute, four-person drama Belleville say it a lot. The lazy little linguistic glitch is the mark of a playwright less concerned about the literary merits of…
Over the weekend, the Nasher Sculpture Center unveiled Phyllida Barlow: tryst, a major exhibition of all new works by the influential British artist who has been working with sculpture since the 1960s. Using commonplace materials, Barlow has hand-built an imaginative world of organic structures that challenges common ideas about sculpture…
June is one of the biggest months for cinema. It’s right in the middle of what is known as blockbuster season. Or, if you want to be edgy, call it “popcorn cinema.” It’s the summer –the time when all the movies with giant budgets hi theaters: some with a brain,…
Even if you’re really, really interested in the theater, purchasing tickets to see a few shows a month can knock a huge hole in your entertainment budget, which should generally otherwise be reserved for purchasing copious amounts of alcohol. Still, you should make it a priority to see at least…
The sun is finally shining again, or at least we think it is. After two weeks of torrential rain, we all could probably use a little time outside of our respective apartments. Even if you’ve somehow managed to wade your way to the neighborhood bar, all that Netflix you’ve been…
Everything looks so much easier on TV. Baldness is cured with the simple spray of a can. A methamphetamine empire can be built in an RV with school supplies. A sponge can live in a pineapple under the sea without being contaminated by off-shore drilling. American Ninja Warrior, the NBC…
Little Edie and Big Edie were related to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Edith “Big Edie” Ewing Bouvier Beale and Edith “Little Edie” Bouvier Beale were the aunt and first cousin of the former first lady. Grey Gardens, the Long Island home of the Beales, was almost shutdown by the health department…
The minutes before a play begins are usually spent flipping through the program, examining coupons for restaurants you’ll never visit and marveling that one of the evening’s performers was on Law and Order: SVU. Not so at the opening performance of Stop Hitting Yourself at the Wyly Theatre. One of…
We all know that dinosaurs are extinct. We know there hasn’t been a giant lizard or bird roaming the Earth that ranks higher than us on the food chain for at least the last 65 million years. Movies like the upcoming Jurassic World, starring Chris Pratt, have creatures that cost…
At 64, Warren Harris has led an exceptionally various life. Starting out in the psychedelic music scene in San Francisco back in the 1960s, he was a roadie for The Grateful Dead. He worked in the music industry for decades after that, doing engineering work at Motown and sound for…
Tattooing has come a long way since the early days of a needle, thread and a vial of Indian ink. Back then, the only Americans showcasing body art were outlaw bikers, inmates and sailors. They were the days when getting a tattoo was a right of passage, and you were…
