Theater/Film Reviews

  • The Limits of Control

    As fierce a figure as has ever appeared on a movie screen, Isaach De Bankole dominates "The Limits of Control," speaking so little as to make Clint Eastwood seem like a babbler in his spaghetti Westerns. It’s a strange movie written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, with Christopher Doyle’s cinematography a glorious palate, stark in

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  • Cockeyed

    A world premiere is like a blind date, so one attends with a certain amount of trepidation. Well, I saw "Cockeyed" over the weekend, and while I’m not ready to set a wedding date, I’d certainly like to see her again. She’s funny, and imaginative, and bright, and doesn’t act like a philosophy major. I

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  • Martha Mitchell Calling

    It must have been a strange, but wonderful, relationship, at least at the begnning. John Mitchell, a successful New York lawyer and Martha Mitchell, a feisty, rowdy blonde from Arkansas who fell into deep lust – and maybe love, too – the first time they met, in 1953, when both were married to other people.

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  • Angels and Demons

    Conspiracy theories, plentiful as they are in today’s world, always go up a notch when a new Pope is being named. And since novelist Dan Brown builds conspiracy theories with pretty good foundations, it’s just right for him to plow that sacred soil again. After all, Rome makes a good backdrop, and Tom Hanks was

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  • Shall We Kiss?

    Little is more copied on stage and screen than the French bedroom farce, with strange bedfellows making for high—or low—comedy while bouncing from bedroom to bedroom, or from bedroom closet to bedroom closet. Identities are confused, things are seldom what they seem and yet all usually comes together in a final scene, after which the

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  • Goodbye, Solo

    Ramin Bahrani hasn’t reached his 35th birthday yet, but boy, can he make movies! His latest, effort as director and co-writer, "Goodbye, Solo," is a fascinating tale of two people, one looking at the end of his life and the other at a new beginning. It stars two unknown actors and a minimal cast, was

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  • A Chorus Line

    It is, as the song goes, "one singular senation," and in a sparkling, gorgeous production, "A Chorus Line" opened at the Fox on Tuesday (May 12), to run through May 24. The tribute to the "gypsies," as dancers for Broadway shows are nicknamed, is a glorious piece of work that remains vibrant and youthful even

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  • Food Fight

    It may be the worst double-whammy this man can think of – in a gym and on a diet – but those two so-depressing topics are front and center in "Food Fight," a mostly bright entertainment now at the Playhouse at West Port, where it will run through May 24. Parodies to some of the

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  • Return To The Forbidden Planet/Sugar/Is Anybody There?

    It’s a hoot! An absolute hoot!! The blend of Shakespeare, science fiction and rock-and-roll that make up "Return to the Forbidden Planet" is the most delightful musical to hit St. Louis in many years. The New Line Theatre production, at the Washington University South Campus Theatre, once known as CBC High School, runs through May

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