Theater/Film Reviews
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Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All to You
When Sister Mary Ignatius made her first St. Louis appearance some 30 years ago, all Hell, or maybe Heaven, broke out. The always open and progressive Missouri Legislature considered bills to ban it, or anything like it, from the state's stages. The usually liberal and academic-freedom loving Washington University reneged on an agreement and
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A Christmas Story
Before Garrison Keillor invented Lake Woebegon, Minnesota, many of us heard tales of Hohman, Indiana, which in truth was Hammond, Ind., where Jean Shepherd grew. Shepherd was a raconteur, like Keillor, with the same leavening touch of homespun humor and the same universal appeal of stories from small-town America Shepherd's most famous tale, "A
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Brothers
Iraq and Afghanistan have been the focal point for many movies this year, some of them excellent, almost all of them depressing. "Brothers," a new film from director Jim Sheridan ("My Left Foot") is the latest, but he and writer David Benioff use the Middle East as a device, not a necessity. The plot
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Moonlight
Remember "Waitress"? That was a charming little film a few years ago, written and directed by Adrienne Shelly who, unfortunately, was murdered shortly after it opened. Well, Shelly had written another screenplay, "Serious Moonlight," now directed by Cheryl Hines, a friend and member of the "Waitress" cast. Keri Russell was the third of the
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Black Nativity
Now is the time of year for music, regardless of the adjectival prefix of choice, and the Black Rep is the first local company out of the musical starting blocks with "Black Nativity," in which the story is secondary to the music, and the music is splendid. It opens tonight, to run through Dec.
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Brooklyn Boy
The story of a man escaping his boyhood and his heritage is nothing new for a playwright. Eugene O'Neill did it, Arthur Miller did it, Tennessee Williams did it, Herb Gardner did it. Donald Margulies tried in "Brooklyn Boy," which opened at the New Jewish Theatre's Clayton home last night, but his writing has
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The Maid
Chilean movies don't come around very often, but with Catalina Saavedra in the title role, "The Maid" is a very strong, often funny film that has universal application. Raquel, frumpy, virginal and not at all pretty, with unkempt hair and a slouch in her walk and her attitude, has worked for a wealthy family
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Everybody’s Fine
It isn't really a conspiracy, nor is it with sinister intent, but children often decide to keep information about one another from parents. Eventually, parents usually find out. It's part of life, and something to make a movie about. "Everybody's Fine" has been made twice, 20 years ago in Italy starring Marcello Mastroianni, now
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The Messenger
Woody Harrelson is an actor of amazing versatility — for example, even as he is a typical radio talk-show host trying to engage in conversation while doing play-by-play on the end of the world in "2012," he's a demon-driven Army captain with the horrible assignment of knocking on doors in rural New Jersey, then telling
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The Damned United
Hooray! A movie about sports that doesn't end with a triumphant game! "The Damned United," a superior film about a haunted, fatally flawed man, is an exciting story about English soccer, specifically about Brian Clough, a genius while he was coaching and winning at little Derby County but when he moved up in class to