Still in Hiding Black Mass is strong, 0x000Abut Johnny Depp’s 0x000Anot back to us yet. James “Whitey” Bulger was more like a character from a 17th-century folk tale than a late-20th-century criminal, the sort of figure who’d murder innocents on wooded roadways and then, with a shrug, toss their bloody…
Don’t Be Afraid to Feel Zhang Yimou’s Coming Home is what the movies were made for. In the mid-20th century, movie audiences understood the value of a good melodrama: A picture like Now, Voyager or Black Narcissus or almost anything by Douglas Sirk could be an urn into which you…
’70s Breakdown Elisabeth Moss makes Queen of Earth’s unspooling vital. Sometimes a face is enough to anchor a movie. In writer-director Alex Ross Perry’s Queen of Earth, Elisabeth Moss plays Catherine, a young city dweller who, after recently suffering both her father’s death by suicide and a crushing breakup, treks…
Hello, Dalí! I was late for the theater, a particular and long-held fear of mine. But Mesa Arts Center was celebrating its 10th anniversary with an outdoor carnival (because how better to honor an arts center than with a frybread truck and a Tilt-A-Whirl?), which gobbled up all the parking…
Nearly six years ago, Joey Robert Parks came up with an idea: What if he paired writers and photographers to make an exhibit about Phoenix? Not just the major landmarks, but the inner city, the nooks and crannies, the regular buildings and side streets and open lots. “I had the…
The diversity in Arizona’s landscape is stunning to say the least, and for hikers and outdoor enthusiasts, it makes for a playground to be explored. Whether you’re planning a day trip, a camping trip, or simply an afternoon jaunt, here are three hikes in Northern Arizona to try. West Fork…
What happens in the studio shouldn’t always stay in the studio. Studio Visit is a monthly series that profiles artists in their studios. We ask them questions, they provide answers, and then we have a nice discussion about their work. This month: Carolyn Lavender, whose work is currently featured in…
If you want to see what 300,000 books look like, you have only to visit the Friends of the Phoenix Library warehouse. The moment you step into the building, you find a mountain of cardboard boxes filled with books. Wheeled carts are packed with books. Books are piled on every…
Whether you want to shop for holiday goods or maneuver your way through spooky corn mazes, there is plenty to do this fall, and something for everyone. Maybe you’d like to check out some intriguing underground films, or see locals dress up for costumed theme parades? From underground film festivals…
With so much to do in Phoenix all the time, it can be hard to pick and choose what to do and where to go. We’ll help you narrow done your options to some that are free. This week we’ve got community mixers, drinks and debates, and a series of…
On the Third Friday of each September, metered car spaces across the globe are transformed into tiny personal parks inhabited by activists and spectators who, quite literally, just want somewhere green to sit. The Park(ing) Day project began in San Francisco in 2005 at Rebar, an art and design studio…
“Scientology’s Dirty Tricks: Then and Now” with Tony Ortega While it’s easy to make Scientology into a punchline, thanks to its celebrity followers and sci-fi roots, what shouldn’t be ignored is the church’s ability to draw in adherents and keep them in its clutches. Journalist Tony Ortega, formerly of New…
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art announced on Thursday, September 10, that Peter Bugg and Christina Davis will join the arts institution on September 15 as its new curator of programming and programming coordinator, respectively. Bugg is an artist and educator who has taught at Arizona State University and in the…
When Tony Ortega was an intern at New Times, his editor approached him and said, “You need to put some meat on the table.” It was 1995, and Ortega was a rookie reporter. He had written a couple of warm-up articles, but in his search for more ambitious stories, Ortega ended…
LA Weekly film critic Amy Nicholson found out first-hand that Michael Shannon is a pretty stern Monopoly player during a recent game with the actor, who portrays a tortured Orlando real-estate baron in the upcoming 99 Homes. Nicholson and Village Voice film editor Alan Scherstuhl open this week’s Voice Film…
It’s almost fall somewhere in the Northern Hemisphere. Fall, as in cool temperatures and the beginning of a new school year. As this is being written, it’s monsoon season in the Valley and school has been in session for weeks. When we were kids somewhere else, Labor Day felt like…
Gallery Talk: Ehren Tool and Garth JohnsonEhren Tool found ceramics as a creative outlet after serving as a marine in Operation Desert Storm. The veteran handcrafts cups covered in imagery referencing the effects of military service on veterans and the impact of war on societies. Serving as both social commentary…
The Palms Theatre in Mesa has shuttered. A Wednesday, September 9, e-mail announced the closure of the dinner theater located near Brown and and Higley roads formerly known as Broadway Palm. “It is with our deepest and most sincere regrets that we must announce the closure of The Palms Theatre,…
Disappointing action reboot The Transporter Refueled is so thoroughly misconceived that it took us a couple of extra days to pinpoint all the ways it leaves audiences disappointed — and possibly pining for the relatively sturdy drive-in/grindhouse-ready exploitation films of yesteryear. Refueled, a reboot of the adequate 2002 Jason Statham…
The success of Jean-Jacques Annaud’s handsome lupine adventure Wolf Totem relies in large part on the ratio between wolf and totem. There are wolves — those howling, majestic hunters of the Mongolian grasslands — and then there are the many things they stand for: freedom, teamwork, the delicate harmony of…
Whether chasing sunsets or simply trying to escape the sun, night hiking is a great way to hit the Arizona trails year round. With that being said, there are some important safety precautions to take when exploring nature after dark, as the desert does change and come alive in different…
That Anne Bowles Levy became a young-adult author should come as no surprise. When the New York-born writer was just 3 or 4 years old, she’d sit curled up on her mother’s lap reading the first book she remembers: Robert McCloskey’s Make Way for Ducklings. “I loved that time,” she says…
