Theater/Film Reviews
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The Eagle
We don’t have illegitimate sons or weeping daughters, only a few witches and not a line that is memorable or poetic, but we have broadswords, spears, lots of hand held devices that make effective killing machines, but were later replaced by telephones and game boys. With almost all the globe already at some sort of
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9 to 5
Never has the Fox Theatre stage been as busy as it was last night, and while the cast of "9 to 5" contributed some of it as actors and dancers, they contributed far more pushing, pulling, tugging and turning desks, file cabinets, cubicles, flats and anything else that could be built on wheels. Upstage went
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True West
Since Cain and Abel , and probably before, siblings have been at one another's throats, mostly figuratively, sometimes literally. Lee and Adrian are fine examples of the relationship in "True West," the Sam Shepard drama that keeps things buzzing in the first production of HotCity's 2011 season. It opened over the weekend at the Kranzberg
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Distracted
"Distracted," the play by Lisa Loomer that began its Midwest premiere run last night, is a perfect name. The Stray Dog Theatre production at Tower Grove Abbey deals with ADD, or ADHD, or whatever abbreviation is currently in favor for attention deficit disorder, in which children have extremely short attention spans and are often unable
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The Price
The musty, dusty attic makes one’s fingers simply itch to touch things, to peek into dresser drawers, to handle 78-rpm records, to pluck a string from an old harp that stands partially covered, probably out of tune, to put a record on an old Victrola and hear the phony Irish accents of Mr. Gallagher and
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The Company Men
A review for "The Company Men" ran here on Jan. 21, two weeks before the opening of the film today. To read it click here The film will be on a number of screens, beginning today.
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My Dog Tulip
The love between people and their pets creates a strange and permanent bond, rarely shown better than in the intimate and fascinating "My Dog Tulip," following the 15-year relationship between English author and critic, J. R. Ackerley, and the German shepherd he rescued. The dog, named Queenie, was renamed for Ackerley's memoir and for the
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Biutiful
Javier Bardem is a great actor. Great actors seek challenges in almost every role, but Bardem may have overreached a little in "Biutiful," which opens here today. It's not that the role of the tragic Uxbal is too much for him, but that the entire film, and the confused direction of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, provide
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Another Year
English writer-director Mike Leigh has a very sharp eye for the foibles of his countrymen, their manners and morals, their attitudes. “Another Year,” which opens today features a pair of interesting people, acted brilliantly by Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen as Tom and Gerri (the writer’s little joke?). They are in their 60s, quite successful,
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Boxing Gym
Frederick Wiseman is one of our greatest documentary filmmakers. In more than 40 years, he has directed 37 movies depicting the cruelty of an insane asylum, the glory of a sports arena, the beauty of a park, the discipline of ballet, to name just a few. His latest, "Boxing Gym," which opens today as part