Theater/Film Reviews
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Battledrum
Leave it to the Metro Theater Company to find a new and intelligent — and still entertaining — approach to a very sticky subject. "Battledrum," which opened a January run yesterday at the Missouri History Museum, is about drummer boys during the Civil War, and it's strongly anti-war, even if it's set within one of
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On Golden Pond
Ernest Thompson's splendid play, "On Golden Pond," is a perfect vehicle for Ron Himes and Linda Kennedy, the Black Rep's two standouts for lo, these many years, and both actors deliver in a rich, compelling style in the company's new production, which opened over the weekend and will run through Feb. 5 at the Grandel
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Sunday in the Park With George
In one of those strange and wonderful coincidences that often make theater scheduling more than the sum of its parts, St. Louis is home right now to two classic musicals, "Sunday in the Park With George," which opened at the Rep last night, and "La Cage aux Folles," which is running at the Fox. This
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La Cage aux Folles
Smart guy, that Harvey Fierstein. Facing the playwright's perennial problem of getting the show over smoothly and in one piece, Fierstein solves it admirably in "La Cage aux Folles," which opened a two-week run last night at the Fox. With a stage cluttered with careening characters and no sensible solution in sight, George Hamilton, as
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The Best and Worst of 2100
Well, here we are again — the final week of another year. No movies opening to provide fodder for this space. What to do? Sigh! I know. I'll write about the movies I saw during 2011. I'll make a list of the best — no, even my ego won't allow "best." Besides, what is
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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
They called it the Circus, partly because it was located in a warren of offices near Cambridge Circus in London, partly because of its various legal, illegal, immoral and vital activities as the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service of England. “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” a powerful, intelligent, gripping movie based on one of John
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The Artist
Many people, my fellow St. Louis Film Critics among them, have chosen “The Artist,” which opens here today, as the best movie of 2011 and are supporting it for Best Picture honors when the Academy Awards come around on Feb. 26. I respectfully disagree. I’ve seen the majority of the 2011 releases, though I’m still
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We Bought a Zoo
In a holiday season with lots of sex and violence, I knew there would have to be a warm-hearted movie aimed at the entire family. "We Bought a Zoo," as one immediately realizes from the title, fills that slot as it opens today. In truth, it's so warm and so filled with heart that it
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The Elves and the Shoemaker
The Imaginary Theatre Company is not a figment of anyone's imagination, not even the vibrant one belonging to Steve Woolf. It's a real theater company that lives and works at the rep, taking productions aimed at young audiences to school groups and such around the area, entertaining and teaching and, we all hope, creating a
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The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
From the charming drawings of the Belgian artist George Remi, using the pen name of Herge, the young newspaper reporter named Tintin and his loyal dog, Snowy, go off in search of good stories and buried treasure in “The Adventures of Tintin,” a feature-length animated film that is entertaining in spite of being in 3-D.