Pity Max Skinner, emasculated over his lamb chops. On a gray afternoon, at London’s hot spot du jour, his gloating superior unveils a plot to poach his most lucrative client, divesting him of a six-figure bonus (pounds sterling) in the process. Fuck it. The bummed-out bond trader hands in a…
The Junky’s Christmas (Koch) They just aren’t cranking out claymation Christmas specials like they used to, which makes this a welcome one. Nicer still, it’s got heroin! A mixture of stop motion with a little puppetry and live-action shots of William Burroughs (who may himself have been a Muppet), this…
In the gangsta pantheon, nobody gets more respect than Tony Montana. Consider all the homages: Not one, but two rappers have named themselves after Montana (Scarface of the Geto Boys and Tony Yayo of G-Unit), and Nas borrowed Montana’s slogan for his breakout hit, “The World Is Yours.” Indeed, the…
Anna Karenina (Kino) Arrested Development: Seasons One-Three (Fox) The Best of the Scripps National Spelling Bee (ESPN) Beverly Hills 90210: The Complete First Season (Paramount) Cinema Paradiso (Weinstein) The Fallen Idol (Criterion) Freak Out (Anchor Bay) Jag: The Complete Second Season (Paramount) The James Bond Collection: Volumes One and Two…
There’s a lot of things about Pee-Wee Herman that you wouldn’t understand. Things you couldn’t understand. Things you shouldn’t understand. Most of them happened in an adult movie theater in Florida, but that’s a story for another time. In Tim Burton’s Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Herman spins yarns long and wide…
The title—Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story—sends chills all by itself. There’s a musical about America’s most infamous “thrill killers”? How could…? Why would…? It’s a grim affair all right, real musical theater noir. And Uptown Players’ production, the regional premiere of Thrill Me, doesn’t pretty up the proceedings…
We think it’s well-established that kids are not the biggest opera fans, so we’re not sure about the following combination. Radio Disney and the Dallas Opera are joining forces to present The Dallas Opera Cartoon Carnival. It’s not quite chocolate and peanut butter, but it is “an afternoon of music,…
It’s been years since you last did a Paint-By-Number, hasn’t it? Sure, hanging that lake scene you toiled over for weeks is a bit kitschy, but the ’50s art fad is making a comeback, and the people of Market Square are here to supply you with everything you need. Once…
While other girls my age were mooning over the two Coreys and wearing New Kids on the Block buttons as large as a salad plate, I quietly crushed on Davy Jones, Chad & Jeremy and Peter Blair Dennis Bernard Noone. Gently caressing my mom’s gatefold LP The Best of Herman’s…
With each passing day, American society slips farther and farther into the immoral, unscrupulous black hole of sin and depravity. Once, we were pure. Now, we are extending our obsession with sex to that most innocent of American institutions: man’s best friend. Now, we are insisting they woo us with…
Who said the homemaking maven’s status plummeted after her tangle with the law? The press release for Martha Stewart’s November 11 book signing may as well be advertising an impromptu show by a trendy band. Space is limited to the first 300 customers, it says, and pre-purchasing tickets doesn’t guarantee…
Last year I attended the Shrine Circus for the first time, borrowing my favorite 4-year-old for an afternoon of elephants, clowns and old men in funny hats. It was a lot like one of those Mastercard commercials: One stick of cotton candy: $6. Another stick of cotton candy to replace…
Here’s our kind of Sunday: Sleep in way late, feast on pigs-in-a-blanket and watch the Cowboys beat up on the lowly Arizona Cardinals. Fortunately, the Granada has effortlessly found a way to indulge in all three of our passions—slackerdom, food and Tony Romo—by offering a pre-game brunch and a subsequent…
I know you love to judge. You’re just a big ol’ bag of judgment love. When Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes got together, you were all, “Isn’t he gay?” And when Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston got together, you were all, “Isn’t he gay?” Well, crack those judgmental knuckles and…
If the recent Truman Capote biopics on the big screen are a bit too grim and ghastly for your tastes, then try a couple of his more family-friendly works on the small stage as Duncanville Community Theatre presents “The Thanksgiving Visitor” and “A Christmas Memory” (bundled together as Holiday Memories)…
I heard the title Thieves Like Us and immediately imagined Louise Fletched…which is something I try very hard not to randomly do since I was traumatized by her Nurse Ratched while watching One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. See, Fletcher was given her first film role as Mattie in 1974’s…
Imagine the cutest possible thing you can think of. Imagine the smells, sounds and textures. Then, realize that whatever you’re thinking of is not nearly as cute as little orphaned baby animals wrapped up in donated fur coats simulating their lost mommies. That’s what the Coats for Cubs drive is…
It’s hard enough for us average Joes to live up to our folks’ good name…assuming they have a good name. But just imagine if the name you’ve got to live up to not only holds a Nobel Peace Prize but is also the most widely recognized name in the American…
Some things just have to be seen to be believed. One such thing would be the sheer spectacle of a Pink Floyd concert performance. Pink Floyd pioneered the live music experience in the late ’60s and early ’70s with over-the-top visuals, quadraphonic speaker systems, sound effects…oh, and some good music…
Ask your mother what her worst nightmare is, and she’ll probably answer something to the effect of, “Waking up next to your father for 25 years.” Ask your daughter the same question, and she’ll probably say, “Turning out like you, hellbitch.” Based on these responses, you might realize that you…
Love, societal constrictions and clever young women make for successful theatrical plots in any language, in any time period. Lope de Vega’s 1606 Spanish comedy La Discreta Enamorada is proof. It’s been updated and translated to reflect the Spanish dance music and costumes of the 1950s for an English-language performance…
Growing up in New York City, my childhood Christmas memories are made up of Fifth Avenue’s meticulously decorated shop windows and storefronts, the fever dream that is a mid-December visit to FAO Schwartz and standing in line at Macy’s with 100 other rambunctious brats and our exhausted parents waiting to…
