Ann Lemons Pollack
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The Future
Miranda July often is described as “a precocious filmmaker.” That could easily be translated into self-promoting, untalented, posturing, pretentious and blessed with an oversupply of ego, as shown in “The Future,” which July wrote, directed and stars in as both a silly woman and the voice of an aged cat. Between July and Hamish Linklater,
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Roll On Cowboy
All sorts of movies come through St. Louis, good and bad, old and new. Good, of course, means I like them, while bad means the opposite. And then there's "Roll On Cowboy," which takes us to new depths of boredom. Even if it's a spoof, an attempt to show just how untalented a so-called entertainer
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London: St. John Restaurant and Bar
One of the pioneers in bringing English cookery, to use their noun, into the contemporary world is Fergus Henderson. In 1994 he opened St. John Restaurant and Bar near the historic Smithfield Market in London. His food, considered by many to be a bit twee, another Britishism, meaning a mite too cutesy, turned out to
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Blues City Deli
On a pleasant enough but otherwise unremarkable Benton Park corner, in a century-old building, Blues City Deli attracts lunchers to the point where a line is a constant. Since the restaurant seats perhaps 30, plus some outside tables, it gets more than a little crowded. At least the line has plenty to read; the walls
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Thrill Me
There's a small gem at the heart of "Thrill Me," the terse, staccato musical that is in its final weekend at the Gaslight Theatre, and the two-person tale, based on the murder that defined raw crime stories for the 1920's, is a terrific little play. The "thrill killing" of 14-year-old Bobby Franks in Chicago ,
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Another Earth
Putting hard-to-believe people in an impossible-to-believe situation brings forth a film with a lot of quirks, but "Another Earth," which opens here today, overcomes a lot of those obstacles. Excellent, understated direction, good writing and fine, low-key acting combine to pose many questions, but few answers, especially to the big question that sits in front
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She Loves Me
Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock wrote musicals that danced on the edge of the treacle pot. Sometimes they fell in, but most of their work was clever and warm, both hands filled with love as they reached out to their audience. Their shows included "Fiddler on the Roof," "Fiorello!" "The Apple Tree," and "She Loves
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London: The Gilbert Scott
It’s no news that London is now among the first tier of eating cities in the world. Not as romantic as Paris or as frenzied as Rome, perhaps, and considerably less vertical than Manhattan, London’s last twenty years or so have brought forth a new generation of chefs and people wise enough to back them
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The Secret Garden
Frances Hodgson Burnett's "The Secret Garden" is an ever-popular novel that seems aimed at women. It's a love story, and a tale of an orphaned girl who struggles with — and defeats — a pair of well-born Englishmen whose thick-headedness (that's Archibald) and greed (take a bow, Neville) is surpassed only by their stubbornness. It's