If the gangs that plagued New York in the 1970s looked and acted like the ones in Walter Hill’s 1979 film masterpiece, The Warriors, it’s possible that there wouldn’t be any gangs around today. They were easy to spot with each gang sporting its own “unique” look. The Baseball Furies,…
Anyone can cook, but only the fearless can be great.” So goes the personal mantra of the late celebrity chef Auguste Gusteau, whose disembodied spirit materializes—Jiminy Cricket-style—to guide the rodent hero of Brad Bird’s Ratatouille toward his goal of gastronomic excellence. He also seems to be guiding Bird, who makes…
We’re Americans. We go into other countries when we need to. It’s tricky, but it works.” So declares Michael Moore in the midst of his new documentary, Sicko. Moore may be riffing on the war in Iraq, to name only our most recent intervention, but he’s actually referring to U.S…
Still an all-American bloodhound after all these years, Bruce Willis’ Detective John McClane begins Live Free or Die Hard sniffing around a Rutgers-Camden parking lot and busting the frat boy who’s been trying to cop a feel off his daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Oh, Dad! Since much of the…
It takes Bruce Willis awhile to get warmed up. He’s always just a bit below room temperature — a cool brother, dig, dating back to his Moonlighting days as a private dick belting out “Tighten Up” while going undercover as a man of the cloth in Wayfarer shades. He’s been…
Enough with the meta-musicals, where are the meaty musicals? Monty Python’s Spamalot, now at the Music Hall at Fair Park, is the latest light-bite Broadway hit to make comic hash of the Broadway smash. The Producers—like Spamalot, a musical comedy based on a feature film—won a slew of Tonys clawing…
Black Snake Moan (Paramount) The best place to see Craig Brewer’s mash-up of blood-boiling exploitation elements would be a Mississippi drive-in circa 1972. His tale of a black bluesman (Samuel L. Jackson) who chains up a seething, scantily clad cracker nympho (Christina Ricci) would’ve had the lot under martial law…
Everyone’s got a different sense of what makes a killer party. For kids, maybe it’s whacking a piñata and overdosing on cake. For adults, it could be sticking a beer bong down your gullet and declaring yourself Mayor of Schlitz City. But since 1999, the Mario Party series has served…
The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3: The Complete Series (Shout!) Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (Anchor Bay) Dead Silence (Universal) Echo & the Bunnymen: Dancing Horses (MVD) Film School (Docurama) Frankenstein Conquers the World (Tokyo Shock) Going Under: Unrated Version (Blue Underground) High School Musical: The…
At an age when most people are resting on their laurels, comedian Paul Mooney continues to break new ground with his brand of comedy. Starting in the early ’70s, Mooney began as a writer for Sanford and Son and Good Times. From there, he wrote for The Richard Pryor Show,…
So, I was hanging out the other day, working on my list of things that make babies go blind, and I just felt like something was missing. I had all the obvious ones, such as sharp objects and hazardous chemicals and, of course, blindfolds. But it just didn’t feel complete…
John Oliver’s sculptures have been described as “whimsical,” “sophisticated” and “colorful.” They’ve also been called “blobby” and “bubble-gum-like.” You can find out what exactly this means (art that looks like Horatio Sanz with glasses?) at Introductions North, a dynamic collaboration between the Greater Denton Arts Council and the comtemporary art…
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a movie that should never be remade, retouched or jacked with in any way. It’s not only one of the most charming films ever made, it’s a genre-bending, anachronistic film that eschewed typical Western violence for slapstick and humorous banter. And it also…
We say: the phrase “killer of sheep.” You think: rap metal band circa 1994, something Wes Borland would have been into before he met Fred Durst. Or maybe you’re thinking more along the lines of an awesome epic epithet. Like a metaphor for a character’s tendency to wipe out hordes…
Who knew someone who claims to not understand sex, and who yet was put on trial for allegedly touching young ladies on their naughties, could be such a hoot?! Somehow Paula Poundstone has transcended her oddities and resurrected her career. In fact, she has twisted said oddities into positives, utilizing…
The thing you most want to do on a national holiday? We surveyed 137 imaginary Dallas-area people and came up with these results: 47 percent said sleep, 32 percent said some combination of or something similar to “drink beer, watch Jerry Springer and Oprah” [if on a weekday, we assume]…
Something happened at a Texas Rangers game a few weeks ago that was really heartwarming. No, they didn’t win–that would actually go in the miracle file. A group of soldiers, freshly returned from Iraq, managed to get a full 10-minute standing ovation. The Rangers could have beaten the Red Sox…
Clay Aiken’s latest CD, A Thousand Different Ways, showcases the thousand different ways you can shit on music. It starts crapping immediately with 10 covers. Of love songs. Including Bryan Adams’ “Everything I Do (I Do It for You).” Then, it takes a big dump when Clay’s backup band turns…
Everybody likes things that go BOOM, right? How ’bout food, music and historic military airplane flyovers? Well, Addison holds a crowd pleasing pre-Independence Day celebration that features all of the above. The Addison Kaboom Town fireworks display has been rated one of the top shows in the country. The 50th…
While the image of Rosie the Riveter represents the 6 million women who worked in factories and shipyards during World War II, it doesn’t apply to all those honored in the newest exhibit at The Women’s Museum at Fair Park. Women in War: Reflections of Courage explores the vital role…
Remember lying in bed as a kid terrified of that horrible monster in the corner? And then when you got up the courage to tiptoe over and flip the light switch on, you discovered the “monster” was a crumpled pair of pants draped over a chair? Sometimes our eyes play…
Toby Keith is bringing America to the Smirnoff Music Centre for a concert this Sunday night. As the official keeper of America, Keith will unload buses full of apple pie, ass-whoopings, yellow “Support Our Troops” magnetic ribbons, Bud Light, Big Macs, Bibles and pretty little blond girls with ringlets. He…
