There’s a photograph of Sarah Polley from the Disney movie One Magic Christmas. The still is enormously endearing, less because the Canadian 4-year-old looks adorable in blond bangs and a woolly cap than because her lower lip is stuck out in an attitude of mutinous pugnacity that foretells not only…
Last weekend will remain in my memory as one of those rare weekends when each of the plays I attended was what people here rather regrettably refer to as “Broadway caliber.” On Friday, I saw an Actors Theatre production of The Pillowman so magnificently acted and so deeply disturbing that…
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Phew. It looked for a second there as if theater audiences were actually going to make it through an entire season without one troupe or another dusting off this mammoth musical warhorse. But, thanks to the efforts of Arizona Broadway…
There was a time in my life when I might have actually enjoyed Pocket Pool a little bit. Back when I was 12, giving myself migraines from staring at scrambled cable porn, the notion of a game where I could “win” pictures of girls in their underwear would’ve seemed pretty…
To Catch a Thief: Special Collector’s Edition (Paramount) Starring Cary Grant as a cat burglar and Grace Kelly as a hot-to-trot heiress, this is easily one of Alfred Hitchcock’s slightest films, especially coming on the heels of Rear Window; indeed, its idyllic setting on the French Riviera suggests it was…
Because I Said So (Universal) Breaking and Entering (Weinstein) The Bridge on the River Kwai: Collector’s Edition (Sony) Cagney & Lacey: The True Beginning (MGM) The Caine Mutiny: Collector’s Edition (Sony) Catch & Release (Sony) Deliver Us From Evil (Lionsgate) Dirty Dancing: Twentieth Anniversary (Lionsgate) Donnie Brasco: Extended Cut (Sony)…
During the Industrial Age, some English brewers created ales by using ingredients like opium, strychnine, and Indian hemp. For another bizarre (but not so lethal) concoction, check out Captain Tripp’s Strange Brew Crew Comedy Gong Show. The good Captain (a.k.a. local comic Jeffrey Maikos) acts as your guide through the…
Any time major-league beat manipulator DJ Seduce is a featured MC, you know it’s gotta be one hot, blowing-up-the-spot shindig. The musical-mélange master – who spins a pleasing mixture of Afro funk, soul música, Cubana, and more – is a wizard at flooding dance floors with positive energy. Now imagine…
Bar snacks and the appropriate beverage can create a spa day for your mouth, and you know you need one. It’s Monday. Come on. So alert your parched entourage and hit Taneko Japanese Tavern’s Half-Price Wine and Sake Mondays (that’s all day). “We just started our happy hour from 3…
“Life in a Cold Place: Arctic Art from the Albrecht Collection” at the Heard Museum: The humble aesthetic of Grandma Moses — the self-taught early-20th-century folk artist — is beloved because it serves as a simple reminder of quaint, rural life in America, rich with homely traditions and collective practices…
Given P-Town’s proximity to Mexico, we Phoenicians pretty much experience Latino culture in one form or another nearly 365 days a year. But things are really gonna get amped up from Friday, May 4, to Sunday, May 6, as the PHX is fixing to host some serious Cinco de Mayo…
What is it with the third installments in superhero franchises? For whatever reason — let’s just call it the lack of fresh ideas commingled with the love of money — they always strike out swinging their third time up to bat. It happened with Superman, when Richard Pryor became a…
Camilla Taylor, 26, is a Utah native with a home studio in central Phoenix. With a background in printmaking, she has turned to printing on fabric to create patterns for plush anthropomorphic dolls. The petite artist sports granny glasses and a bright blue Mohawk that matches the plugs in her…
After starring in 20 years’ worth of video games, the Super Mario Brothers have been spread mighty thin. The mustachioed heroes’ latest outing, however, takes this concept to a literal extreme. Paradoxically, Super Paper Mario is like every Mario game you’ve ever played — and like nothing you’ve seen before…
Little Children (New Line) In the eyes of Hollywood, our American suburbs are so filled with perversion and treachery that it seems the government ought to crack down on something. Until then, we can count on movies like Little Children to keep us informed. Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson are…
Alpha Dog (Universal) An Officer and a Gentleman: Special Collector’s Edition (Paramount) The Best of the Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet (Shout) Beverly Hills 90210: The Second Season (Paramount) Clint Eastwood: Western Icon Collection (Universal) A Collection of 2006 Academy Award Nominated Short Films (Magnolia) Fletch: The Jane Doe Edition…
Roosevelt/Grand is the undisputed kahuna of the Phoenix arts, but the First Fridays concept has started to seep out of downtown like a stream of bubbling goo. One of the places the sticky stuff has landed is the long-suffering stretch of Seventh Avenue between Indian School and Montecito, which seems…
The proprietors of Olive Branch Mediterranean Restaurant figured that good Middle Eastern eats, a hookah lounge, a full bar, and belly dancers weren’t enough to create an authentic and worldly experience, so they added other global flavors to their entertainment palette, including knock-your-socks-off DJs spinning world sounds of Africa, India,…
Given P-Town’s proximity to Mexico, we Phoenicians pretty much experience Latino culture in one form or another nearly 365 days a year. But things are really gonna get amped up from Friday, May 4, to Sunday, May 6, as the PHX is fixing to host some serious Cinco de Mayo…
Speaking as the new owner of a puppy, I can say definitively that a dog is both more and less annoying than the average person. Year of the Dog makes much the same point with its pack of uncontrollable pooches, including a cute beagle that rips into the wrong bag…
“10 people will fight. 9 people will die. You get to watch.” So proclaims the poster for The Condemned, a movie executive-produced by World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon, and starring self-professed “whup-ass machine” Stone Cold Steve Austin and oft-suspended former soccer star Vinnie Jones. So can someone explain where…
The folks over at North Valley Playhouse had better hope that the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation doesn’t get wind of the offensive gay stereotypes they’re promoting in their new, original, so-mean-you-won’t believe-it show, Diet! The Musical! For that matter, they’d better hope that anyone with half a brain…
