Ann Lemons Pollack

  • The Interrupters

    No, "The Interrupters" is not a comedy about rude people at a cocktail party. Despite its unfortunate title, it's a sad documentary film about an attempt to reduce the number of young black men murdered by other young black men in Chicago. Directed, photographed and co-edited by Steve James, who directed "Hoop Dreams," about eager,

    read more

  • Home Wine Kitchen

    That creaking and rustling noise you just heard is the sound of us going out on a limb. Actually, we don’t think it’s going very far out to say that Home Wine Kitchen is going to be the next hot table in town. This small spot in downtown Maplewood, a long, narrow room that seats

    read more

  • New Orleans: The Acme vs. Felix’s

    The two French Quarter oyster bars that are the stuff of arguments are Felix's and the Acme, across the street from one another and a mere block from Canal Street. Both attract a mixture of localsand visitors, both are slightly scruffy in the manner of many old New Orleans favorites, and both, of course, have

    read more

  • Memphis: Interstate Barbecue

    Yes, the Neelys of Interstate Barbecue have been on television. We’ve not seen them, but what brought us to their house of ‘que was their reputation in print and on the net. It’s well-deserved, worth a detour (as Michelin would say), and the fact that it’s easy to get to from I-55 should endear it

    read more

  • Falling

    For almost all of its 75 minutes, "Falling" is a tense, gripping piece of theater, a visit with a family bound so tightly together that a seismic split is peering over our shoulder.Right there! There it is! But playwright Deanna Jent, ducking much of her responsibility as an author, tosses us a rubber bone when

    read more

  • Chasing Madoff

    It's extremely difficult to make a film when the title character shows up only briefly, and then in handcuffs, but that was only the first giant problem that faced Jeff Prosserman when he set out to make a movie from "No One Would Listen," Harry Markopolos' book about his decade-long struggle to get someone —

    read more

  • The Tree

    With supernatural beings all around us, nesting in the widest variety of places, there’s no reason not to believe that the spirit of Peter O’Neill is living in the giant Moreton Bay fig tree that grows outside his house. “The Tree,” which opens here today, is a tale about the tree and Peter’s eight-year-old daughter,

    read more

  • Senna

    Ayrton Senna was a dominant force among Formula One drivers for almost a decade in the 1980s and 90s, until he was killed in a crash at the San Marino Gran Prix in 1994. Born in Brazil in 1960, into a well-to-do family, he's the subject of an exciting documentary, "Senna," which uses brilliantly edited

    read more

  • This Way of Life

    The story of Peter and Colleen Karena and their six children is not about to send thousands of Americans to the North Island of New Zealand, to live in tents on a beach and to wrangle some four dozen horses. The Karenas are the stars of “This Way of Life,” a strange way indeed. The

    read more

  • Rasoi

    Fish and chips at an Indian restaurant? Why, yes. And why not? The English influence on Indian food, dating to the colonial years, remains a presence. In fact, in many low-end curry houses in the UK, the usual question about an accompanying starch is “Rice or chips?” So when we saw Calcutta fish and chips

    read more