The Weather Man, starring Nicolas Cage as a disappointment of a son and a failure of a father, was screened for critics in the spring, before its April release was pushed to October, ostensibly to allow for the off chance that Cage or Michael Caine (as Cage’s father) might be…
With a name like Prime, a movie had better be about something more than an older woman digging on a younger man, much to the disapproval of the younger man’s mom. It ought to be about, oh, I dunno, math or something–like Pi or Proof or even Primer, Shane Carruth’s…
It’s been 85 years since Douglas Fairbanks slashed his way into the top tax bracket as the masked hero Zorro, and Hollywood still can find no reason to shut down the franchise. Technically speaking, The Legend of Zorro, starring Antonio Banderas as the guy with the sword and Catherine Zeta-Jones…
Talk about striking while the iron is hot: It’s been only a year since Saw became an instant cult hit, as well as a topic of debate among horror fans. Was it an innovative new classic, or did the occasionally lackluster acting and ludicrous final twist doom it to also-ran…
Devotees of Asian cinema–especially those with a thirst for blood–will probably delight in the unofficial sequel to 2002’s horror sampler Three. Like its predecessor, Three . . . Extremes is a trilogy of short films that root around in the dark regions of the psyche and conclude that human behavior…
When watching Where the Truth Lies, a film noir about a young celebrity journalist’s obsession with a comedy duo from the 1950s, a single question arises again and again: Why? Why have the immense talents of Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth, both of whom are excellent in this movie, been…
Dafatir: Contemporary Iraqi Book Art Before you stammer in disbelief, yes, Iraqi artists are making contemporary art. And, yes, it’s good. This show educates and enthralls through form, disabusing you of any misconceptions you might have had about Iraqi culture while indulging your eyes and emotions. The book art showing…
(The) Book of Matches Our Endeavors Theater Collective cooks up a tribute to Marcel Duchamp performed inside the exhibit of the Dada-ist’s work at the Dallas Museum of Art. John Flores, Lulu Ward and Lainie Simonton eat up 40 minutes with bizarre movement, nonsensical dialogue and abstract musical interludes, some…
Oprah Winfrey needed to prove the depth and breadth of Sir Anthony Hopkins’ talent. So the other day on her show she asked the Oscar-winning actor to read aloud from the Chicago Yellow Pages. He played right along, declaiming with great flourish: “Professional Nail Care! Women and men! Two dollars…
Death Becomes Them For some, death hovers in the mind like an overprotective mother or a paparazzi helicopter, clouding thoughts to the exclusion of all other possibilities. A tickle in the throat? Surely it’s the avian flu. Feeling tired and run-down? Must be cancer…or, God forbid, West Nile. For others,…
Thursday, October 27 From London in 1920 to later-in-life Vegas shows, Noel Coward was quite the life of the partyor at least his plays were often about the life of the party. The playwright, songwriter and performer and his often-upbeat works have been a huge influence on modern theater. Theatre…
Dead Like Them Drink one glass of wine per day–no more, no less. Also drink cranberry juice, green tea, only bottled water, soy milk. Eat only natural foods; eat only chemically engineered foods. Don’t eat anything…ever. If we tried every piece of advice about preventing cancer, stopping the aging process…
Gov. Maybe is pro-library Don’t ever think libraries aren’t cool. If free books, movies and Internet aren’t enough, answer this question: Do you wanna get kinky at the library? Well, do you? Even if you already have, it probably wasn’t quite like what the Friends of the Dallas Public Library…
On a roll for Tamar’s House As a child of the 1980s, my life centered around three things: Banana Clips, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam and the skating rink. My cool aunt lived in L.A. at the time, and she sent me a pair of electric blue skates with fluorescent…
The sculptures of recess Anybody who’s dragged a kicking, screaming child to Home Depot in search of some backyard climbing/swinging/sliding entertainment apparatus for the little booger knows that a larger problem awaits once you return to your domicile: putting the thing together. Playgrounds are installation nightmares, with hundreds of parts,…
Debbie hits Big D The 1970s was a golden era for film, covering such classics as the two Godfathers, The Deerhunter and, of course, Debbie Does Dallas, the most popular adult film of all time. The skin flick might explain why we don’t know of a single twentysomething Debbie in…
Titanic: Special Collector’s Edition (Paramount Home Video) Loved and loathed in equal measure, Titanic nonetheless is among the few modern-day movies deserving of lavish treatment; this boxed set, three discs with three hours of new stuff, feels almost as big a production as the feature itself. Writer-director James Cameron, never…
We’ve all been kicked in the junk by Marvel superheroes before. Watching Elektra was like two hours of nut-pummeling by a relentless, sac-hating donkey. But superhero films — even bad ones — gross bazillions of dollars. So it’s no surprise that Marvel is cashing in with a slew of licensed…
ABBA: The Movie (Universal) AC/DC: And Then There Was Rock (Chrome Dreams) Alias: The Complete Fourth Season (Buena Vista) Audioslave: Live in Cuba (Sony) The Beat That My Heart Skipped (Wellspring) Bewitched (Columbia/Tristar) The Day of the Triffids (Pro-Active) Dominion: A Prequel to the Exorcist (Warner) Face (Image) Herbie: Fully…
Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology 1989-1997 (Warner Home Video) There’s good reason to be skeptical of an eight-disc Batman set that forces you to buy the campy Joel Schumacher movies (Batman Forever, its title a veiled threat, and Batman & Robin) when all you need are the dark Tim Burton…
It’s ugly to watch a grown man gush over a puppy. The kissing. The cooing. The “widdle-doggie” talk. Embarrassing stuff. So it was with trepidation that I approached Nintendogs, the cuddly dog-rearing sim for Nintendo DS. A million and a half people have already adopted virtual pooches, making the game…
The Adventures of Superman: The Complete First Season (Warner Bros.) American Movie Musicals Collection (Columbia/Tristar) Batman Begins (Warner Bros.) Bruce Lee: Ultimate Collection (Fox) The Care Bears: Big Wish Movie (Lions Gate) The Coen Brothers Collection (Universal) CSI New York: The Complete First Season (Paramount) Dark Shadows: The Complete Revival…
