Theater/Film Reviews
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Certified Copy
Iranian writer-director Abbas Kiarostami, in his first film outside his native country, brings us an English man (William Shimell) and a French woman (Juliette Binoche) in Italy. He’s an art historian on a book tour, pushing his volume about originals and copies in the art world (thus the movie’s name) in “Certified Copy,” which opens
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Bill Cunningham New York
Bill Cunningham has been a street photographer for the New York Times for more than 40 years. No, he does not take pictures of streets. He takes pictures of people on streets, and at fancy parties, and with his aged bicycle, his wispy white hair and his single-mindedness, he could easily be viewed as a
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Source Code
A source code is computer language, deep computer language, far beyond anything I've ever learned. After seeing "Source Code," which opens today, I know that it has to do with Jake Gyllenhaal and a bomb plot on a commuter train, and the chance to go back in time, sometimes as yourself, sometimes as someone else,
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Tornado Alley
Mark Twain's memorable line about Missouri weather, "If you don't like it, just wait a few minutes. It will change," rarely has been closer to the truth than we have witnessed this year, and the screwy weather patterns of recent years probably will get worse. Whether the weather is due to global warming, greenhouse gases,
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Jane Eyre
Hardly any heroine–any time, any place–has the permanence of Charlotte Bronte’s most famous creation, and still another remake of “Jane Eyre” only makes her more so. The latest version of the 1847 novel, an excellent rendition and a splendid movie, opens here today. Mia Wasikowska, a 22-year-old, Australian-born actress who quickly is becoming a household
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Of Gods and Men
"Sacrifice" is a much over-used word. One human's sacrifice is another human's no-big-deal. When it comes to sacrificing life for an ideal or a belief, it may be another story, told brilliantly in "Of Gods and Men," a French film based on a real event, the 1996 killing of six French Cistercian Trappist monks by
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Kaboom
Trying to combine sex and horror, Gregg Araki's apparent ambition in the stupid, juvenile, self-reverential movie, "Kaboom," which opens here today, rarely works in the hands of good filmmakers. Imagine how boringly awful it can be with someone like Araki at the helm as both writer and director. The horror parts are ludicrous. The sex
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Driving Miss Daisy
With a cast that looks–and acts–as if they were born for the roles, the Dramatic License production of "Driving Miss Daisy" brings style and grace to a suburban shopping mall, and its presence is a plus for civilization. Alfred Uhry's comedy, with serious moments here and there, much like blueberries in a muffin, is a
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The Real McCoy
Wow! That's the first reaction to "The Real McCoy," a powerful play that receives superb acting and brilliant staging by the St. Louis Black Repertory Company. It is the United States premiere of a work by Canadian playwright Andrew Moodie, based on the life of Elijah McCoy, the son of escaped slaves, and is a
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Beehive The 60s Musical
When the '60s arrived, I was a grown man with an interesting job, a house, a wife, two very small children and the personal security that came with surviving having been on strike for more than three months. I had strong musical interests, but they did not include piping girl voices, even if they were