Theater/Film Reviews
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The Baader-Meinhof Complex
When young people turn to criminality, whether for personal gain or political statement, they're often far more violent than their older compatriots, even if the elders served as mentors or role models. "The Baader-Meinhof Complex," which opens today, looks at one of the most violent of the guerrilla groups in an exciting but often-depressing movie
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Van Gogh: Brush With Genius
When people talk about painters–people from all walks of life, from high-powered experts to wherever the other end of the spectrum touches down-the first name mentioned is usually Vincent Van Gogh. The Dutch-born Expressionist painter lived only 37 years (1853-1890) and painted for only nine of them, but created masterpieces familiar to almost everyone and,
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It Might Get Loud
Davis Guggenheim, born in St. Louis in 1963 while his late father, Charles, was a busy movie maker here, is following nicely in Dad's footsteps. After the extremely successful and well-received "An Inconvenient Truth," about global warming, directed by Guggenheim and starring Al Gore, he turns to music in "It Might Get Loud," and scores
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Neighborhood 3: Requisition Of Doom
Disaffected, disoriented, disenchanted and disheartened, but never disconnected, the young people of "Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom" offer a fearsome picture of a future- perhaps a near one. The drama, by West Coast playwright Jennifer Haley, is a Hot City Theatre production that opened on Saturday. It is an interesting evening, and "interesting," in this
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Amadeus
Too many notes," says Emperor Joseph II of Austria to a young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, delivering a line so amazingly dumb that it probably will remain in universal memory forever, adapted by editors who can tell reporters, "Too many words" or a more exact "Too many letters." But "Amadeus," Peter Shaffer's play that opened the 2009-10 season
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Il Divo
Blending the fierce action, bloody violence and sheer lust for power that dominated "The Sopranos," and "The Godfather," Italian writer-director Paolo Sorrentino brings us "Il Divo," a brilliant flm based on the life and career of Giulio Andreotti, long-time prime minister of Italy, a member for life of Italy's parliament and a man who schemed,
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The September Issue
Hidden behind her dark sunglasses, Anna Wintour observes her world from a position of security, like Daniel Boone awaiting a bear. The editor of Vogue, one of the most powerful women in magazines, is surrounded by people who love her, or pretend to, and watching her prepare one of the year's most important issues should be a fascinating
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Guys And Dolls
It may be the finest musical theater experience-book, music, lyrics-ever created, and Stages St. Louis did "Guys and Dolls" full justice with a rich production that, unfortunately, opened musically short last night at the Robert Reim Theater, to run through Oct. 4. To my mind, no one matched Frank Loesser when it came to creating
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9
Three, according to singer-songwriter Bob Dorough and Schoolhouse Rock, is a magic number. Six, according to Mobil, gets Cardinal fans reduced-price coffee when the team scores that many runs. "9," according to writer-director Scott Ackers, is the savior of. . . . Well, I’m not sure what the animated hobbit, or straw man, with the
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Lorna’s Silence
Lorna is an Albanian emigrant, living in the gritty Belgian city of Liege. She’s a semi-legal person, as so many Europeans are, having used a phony marriage to gain entry. She now lives and works on the edge, employed in a n almost-menial job. Arla Dobroshi is outstanding in the role in the strong, evocative