About Will Smith’s estimable talents, there is no doubt. Six Degrees of Separation, Ali… um… the “Parents Just Don’t Understand” video — the man’s got skills to pay the bills, yours and mine and his. That he seldom uses them, or their attendant clout, is dispiriting. This is an actor…
“TIA,” mutters Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), slouched across a bar in Sierra Leone. It is 1999. As the West obsesses over Clinton’s blowjob, the West African nation is mired in a savage civil war. Our hero, a world-weary soldier of fortune, has struck up conversation with Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly),…
If there’s one place at the Museum of Art’s new exhibit, “Cradle of Christianity: Jewish and Christian Treasures from the Holy Land,” where the evangelical-minded might feel compelled to drop to their knees and shout hosannas, it’s right at the beginning. The opening display is a fragment of marble relief…
Don’t be too quick to dismiss it as just a college poster exhibition. And don’t knock yourself if you find yourself enjoying FAU’s exhibit more than, let’s say, a show of “important” works by “serious” artists. There’s a reason this stuff is appealing — it’s advertising, baby. “Graphic Noise: Art…
Talladega Nights (Columbia) This cut of Will Ferrell’s NASCAR comedy runs 13 minutes longer than the theatrical version, and that doesn’t take into account the deleted and extended scenes, outtakes, phony commercials, public-service announcements, and gag reel. A movie that already seemed to be constructed from deleted scenes is well…
AFI: I Heard a Voice (Interscope) Air Buddies (Disney) Ali Rap (ESPN) The Andy Griffith Show: The Complete Series (Paramount) Barnyard (Paramount) The Chronicles of Narnia: Four-Disc Extended Edition (Disney) A Dead Calling (Lions Gate) The Doors (Lions Gate) James Bond: Ultimate Edition Volumes 3 and 4 (MGM) John Wayne…
As you might expect, the man named The Health Colonel knows a thing or two about fitness. “The real issue,” he says, “has nothing to do with food — or exercise for that matter. It has everything to do with how you think.” When we asked the Colonel – whose…
The Architect (Magnolia) Beerfest: Unrated (Warner Bros.) Charlie Chan Collection, Volume 2 (Fox) Coma Girl (Cinequest) The Conformist: Special Collector’s Edition (Paramount) Dinosaur Valley Girls: Mammoth Edition (Cinema Epoch) Dungeons & Dragons: The Complete Animated Series (Brentwood) Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton: The Film Collection (Warner Bros.) Gwen Stefani: Harajuku…
Apocalypto has a faux Greek title and an opening quote from historian Will Durant that ruminates on the decline of imperial Rome. It may seem an odd way to comment on the supposed end of an imaginary, unspeakably barbaric Mayan civilization — but WWJD? Mel Gibson means to be universal…
Written and directed by Nancy Meyers. Starring .
“TIA,” mutters Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), slouched across a bar in Sierra Leone. It is 1999. As the West obsesses over Clinton’s blowjob, the West African nation is mired in a savage civil war. Our hero, a world-weary soldier of fortune, has struck up conversation with Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly),…
When David Lindsay-Abaire’s The Rabbit Hole opened on Broadway last winter, New York Times critic Ben Brantley advised would-be theatergoers to bring life jackets. He was concerned that the play might cause a weeping so uncontrollable as to constitute a drowning hazard. Brantley seemed pleased about this, as though he…
When most people dress up their pets in outrageous outfits and/or put them into unusual situations, then photograph the hapless animals, the result is kitsch, and the people might be considered, oh, kinky. When William Wegman does the same thing with his famous Weimaraners, however, it’s considered art, and he…
Rocky: 2-Disc Collector’s Edition (MGM) An old TV commercial for Rocky included here compares Sylvester Stallone to Pacino, De Niro, and Brando — and though we now know this to be pure madness, it’s easy to see what inspired it. Sure, Stallone (who also wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay) slowly destroyed…
I did not have to fend off a horde of bloodthirsty geeks for my PS3. And nobody shot me either, as one hapless Connecticut gamer was. Actually, I just preordered my console weeks ago, and on the day it came out, I walked into the store, paid for it, and…
Are you tired of turning on the oldies station only to discover that they are playing the exact same 20 songs that they played yesterday? And they aren’t even your favorites?! Jon Sommers understands. He left oldies radio for just those reasons and has since started Jukebox Friday Nights, a…
Ever been in a situation you’ve been in countless times before, but for some reason this time it just feels different? Like the stars are aligned so that the same old scene seems better than it ever has? This, my friends, is what we call a vibe. When the Robert…
No, the Virgin Mary doesn’t get high on aerosol fumes, and Joseph doesn’t ride in on a skateboard, but in most other respects, The Nativity Story is less of a departure for Thirteen and Lords of Dogtown director Catherine Hardwicke than one would have imagined. From our first glimpse of…
Do artists actually see more than ordinary people? That’s what my high school art teacher thought. So, apparently, does Nicole Kidman — or at least, that’s the way she plays Diane Arbus (1923-71) in the celebrated photographer’s exceedingly curious “imaginary portrait,” Fur. Kidman acted around a prosthetic proboscis to win…
Unidentified Human Remains & the True Nature of Love is not a play about breasts, but let’s talk about breasts. In this play, you will see six (6) of them. They are all very nice. They come equipped with nipples, and they are all, to my mind, exactly the right…
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (Warner Bros.) At long last, Richard Donner’s much-whispered-about “original version” of Superman II sees the light of day, and it quickly joins the ranks of the reconstructed Touch of Evil, Apocalypse Now, and Blade Runner as films made superior in the recutting and retelling…
