12/26-12/28 In 1988, Tom Hanks starred in Big, a film about a 13-year-old who receives his wish and wakes up one morning in the body of a grown man. In recent years, the story has morphed into a musical, currently being revived by Greasepaint Scottsdale Youtheatre. Within the confines of…
Sat 12/27 If the holiday blockbusters didn’t sate your artistic side, head to Espresso Depot on Saturday, December 27, for a creative film fix. The late-night coffee bar hosts the Saturday Film Salon from 7 to 11 p.m. on the last Saturday of each month. The showcase features short and…
12/26-1/11 “It’s intimidating when you play anybody who’s lived a life,” says actress Joan Pringle (best known for playing Sybil Buchanan in the 1980s TV series The White Shadow) about playing Billie Holiday. The role is also daunting, she says, because she has to sing Billie Holiday. “I’ve been trying…
You know how it’s often the ones we love whose flaws are most apparent? Well, when it comes to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, I am smitten. This film is a miracle, an extravaganza equal to its predecessors and in some ways more stunning. It…
William H. Macy’s plain-vanilla features and hangdog screen demeanor have served him well. Who could resist him as the clueless car dealer who hatched the disastrous kidnapping plot in Fargo, or as the distraught husband of a frisky porn star in Boogie Nights? A splendid character actor with a gift…
This year’s British assault on the Yank funnybone is a spirited, hard-trying farce called Calendar Girls, plucked straight out of a 1999 headline and dolled up with all the heartwarming charm we’ve come to expect from recent films made by our former rulers. Essentially a chick flick for middle-aged women…
Not unlike Kurt Vonnegut, J.R.R. Tolkien remains a massively popular author whose seemingly “morbid” work often reflects surviving the horrors of war, firsthand. Tolkien was also a devout Catholic — a demographic gleefully bashed by the entertainment industry in countless movies, sometimes fairly, sometimes not. The question is, who profits…
Bland canvases and poster art hanging in the typical workplace rarely goes beyond the realm of pleasant decor. But at UBS, the financial services corporation formerly called Paine Webber, important works by the biggest names in contemporary art grace the lobbies and executive offices. The creative output of luminaries like…
Thursday, December 18 It’s hard to say “humbug” to Actors Theatre’s popular presentation of A Christmas Carol, a beloved Valley tradition that makes Charles Dickens’ haunting holiday story come alive, year after year. Directed by Michael Wiener, the production features many returning cast and crew members, including Kim Bennett in…
Sun 12/21 It’s a highly unorthodox matchup. A team of local rabbis takes the field — and takes on the world — at this weekend’s Rabbis vs. the World Softball Challenge.”The Challenge pits the Orthodox Rabbis of the community — including members of the Phoenix Community Kollel, Young Israel of…
12/18-12/21 So the seasonal blues aren’t confined to the Whos — and Christmas isn’t the only holiday to suffer a Grinch. A grisly gang of goblins snuffs out the Festival of Lights in Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins, a stage musical based on the award-winning children’s book by Eric Kimmel…
Sun 12/21 Several of the religious holidays celebrated worldwide during December are linked to the first day of winter and shortest day of the year, better known as the winter solstice. Jazz music, being a religion of its own — and Windham Hill Records the temple at which many aficionados…
Preteen boys may dog Michael Jackson, but at least he’s not saddled with a bunch of dead kids who want to become famous. Schoolteacher turned yoga instructor William Cooper Robert channels a group of “spirit angels” whose 5-year-old ringleader, a dead boy named Little Billy, is bent on becoming the…
November 17: It must be Christmastime — I’m averaging three calls a day from publicists trying to persuade me to review their upcoming holiday shows. The woman from the Rockettes’ Radio City Christmas Spectacular called twice today. She didn’t laugh when I asked what’s Christmassy about a bunch of girls…
Fans of Monty Python’s Eric Idle were given an unexpected treat in 2000, when he returned to live performance after years of Hollywood film work that by his own admission wasn’t very demanding. “I like to create my own work. I can exploit my own talents more effectively than you…
12-19/-12/21 The Ninth Annual “Christmas at First” Dickens Festival closes the book on another holiday season this weekend, after festivalgoers devour the last of 30,000 holiday cookies, 20,000 cups of cider and 15,000 bags of popcorn. (More? They ask for more?)Though the indigence of Dickens’ world may not be represented,…
12/19-12/20 This weekend marks your last chance to take home the bull-riding jackpot at Mr. Lucky’s. Winners earn the age-old claim, “I busted my butt to buy you that.” Buck up and ride this Friday, December 19, and Saturday, December 20, and see how cowgirls cheer — God bless ’em…
This being the end of the year, and since none of the people I wanted to write about this week felt it necessary to return any of my calls, from the leftover heap comes this collection of random topics I considered tackling this year but lost interest in after 200…
While the inanities of the Phoenix Festival of Lights schlepped noisily past last Saturday night, Nearly Naked Theatre wowed an almost full house with yet another fine piece of complex, compelling theater. This tireless troupe’s take on Joe Calarco’s smart, sexy Shakespeare’s R & J drowned out the idiotic honking…
Remember the Farrelly brothers? Makers of Dumb and Dumber and There’s Something About Mary? Known for crossing the line of good taste and making fun of the differently abled, but with a sufficiently sweet streak that they could be forgiven for such? Kinda popular until Trey Parker and Matt Stone…
“Here, go ahead and light this joint, man, let me tell you my idea . . .” Flick, flick . . . puff, inhale, hold it, eyes bug out, holding it, exhale, coughing fit . . . “Okay, we got a screenwriter with a pretty good feature film under his…
Sorrow sprouts wings and flies in Jim Sheridan’s radiant new film In America, which pits the pain and grief of unimaginable loss against the resilience of the human heart. In this semi-autobiographical tale from the writer-director of My Left Foot and In the Name of the Father, a working-class Irish…
