Garry Shandling does not have a face for the big screen. He has a mug that seems to spread to the edges of the theater; it’s like an approaching storm front, a sky full of billowing clouds roaring in from the north. And it’s a face built for two emotions:…
Be honest. If someone told you ahead of time that you were going to see a play that depicts the coming of age of a young black girl somewhere in the South during the mid-’60s, you might want to respond, “What a shame! I have a root canal to attend…
“Too much of a good thing,” Mae West once quipped, “can be wonderful.” That’s pretty much the position we’re in this season in South Florida. Two weeks ago I wrote about the embarrassment of riches on display at the Boca Raton Museum of Art in “Paris 1860-1930: Birthplace of European…
As the unofficial “ambassador of New Orleans,” Joe Cahn has made it his mission to set folks straight about his hometown, its food, and its world-renowned Mardi Gras celebration. “I try to demystify misconceptions about New Orleans cooking, especially that it’s hot,” says the roving chef and Fat Tuesday cheerleader…
Step right up, youth of the world, and receive the Boomer inoculation that is Wonder Boys, the first feature from director Curtis Hanson since his much-lauded adaptation of James Ellroy’s L.A. Confidential. Then marvel at Michael Douglas showing off his wide spectrum of inert doldrums and tedious self-pity. Thrill to…
Calling the subject matter of Errol Morris’ latest documentary, Mr. Death, “unpleasant” is like referring to the lavatory on a tuna boat as “lightly scented.” The director who brought us the zany Americana of Fast, Cheap and Out of Control and the lukewarm Stephen Hawking snoozer, A Brief History of…
Boaters cruising Broward County’s inland waterway system in the past month or so may have noticed the shiny new aluminum docks and freshly landscaped scenery along the north side of the Dania Cutoff Canal. The 3000 feet of shoreline just west of the Ravenswood Boulevard bridge in Dania Beach sports…
If he isn’t taking tickets and overseeing productions until all hours at the EDGE/ Theater in South Beach, where he’s artistic director, then Jim Tommaney is up at 6:30 a.m. doing his bookkeeping at his Fort Lauderdale apartment. Or he’s directing rehearsals for a new play at the Studio Theater…
Notoriously neurotic comedian Richard Lewis sounds as if he could well be obsessively touching his forehead and running his fingers through his hair while conducting a phone interview. Those are his trademark stage moves — the manic actions that go along with his self-deprecating banter about chronic depression and low…
Twenty-seven-year-old Ben Younger delivers the message of his first feature, Boiler Room, with all the subtlety of a car bomb. To wit: Greed is alive and well in the new century, fueled by the material dreams of a generation bent on instant gratification and the distorted expectations of neophyte investors…
Moviegoers rejoice! The first fun movie of the year has arrived. Oh, Leo’s little seaside adventure was pretty to look at, but the attempts at depth were a real bummer. And let’s not even talk about Scream 3. Even the first one was highly overrated, and it’s been downhill from…
The roll call is impressive: Paul Cézanne, Giorgio de Chirico, Edgar Degas, Eugène Delacroix, Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Georges Seurat, Vincent van Gogh. And that’s just a dozen names, perhaps the best-known of the more than 75 artists included in the sweeping…
The dark-haired young woman strolling around the Museum of Art in a fashionable business suit and a pair of Nikes isn’t really a horrible dresser. It’s just curator Ginger Gregg Duggan, and her mismatched clothing and footwear are a prop in the exhibition “do it.” Her fashion faux pas fits…
As Valentine’s Day approaches, couples prepare to trade endearing gifts — and to make florists, jewelers, and candy makers rich in the process. Meanwhile many singles (and some guys actually in relationships) dread the commercialized lovers’ holiday and its sickly sweet sentiment. Things weren’t always this way. Centuries before the…
Ewan McGregor. You can’t toss a caber in Scotland these days without toppling a gaggle of blokes who closely resemble him. Yet some magical combination of talent, charm, and shrewd management has thrown wide the gates of choice projects for the young superstar, whose résumé already glows like a career…
Jane Campion’s 1993 film The Piano was an intoxicating work of art, a film of such beauty and power that it literally took my breath away. Nothing the New Zealand-born writer-director has done before or since even comes close to matching it in form, content, or sensibility. And her latest…
First the good news: GableStage’s new production of Killer Joe features smart staging and engaging performances, backed up by a terrific design team. South Florida theatergoers should consider themselves lucky to have this company in their midst. Now the not-so-good news: Despite the merits of this particular production, Killer Joe…
Sharon Stone doesn’t appear on screen until halfway through this tale of three lives unraveling, but when she does, she makes quite an impression as Rosie, the third player in a horseracing scam. Adapted from a play by Sam Shepard, Simpatico jumps back and forth in time between the present…
Ah, boxing. Beating and being beaten about the head and torso until one of two bruised and bloodied humans drops. Clever sport. Tops even American football for sheer poetic elegance. So it’s not surprising — and this is only half sarcastic — that so many fine films have been made…
“Sorry I’m late,” whines the dominatrix in Communicating Doors. “I think there was a gun battle in the Strand.” She sports a tattoo, nosebleed heels, and a leopard-print coat, underneath which is a layer of patent leather lingerie, complete with zippers dangling from pointy nipples. Poopay, as she calls herself…
Like many widowers, Paul Linke was nervous about dating again after his first wife passed away following a long battle with breast cancer. He hadn’t realized how traumatized he was, however, until he started feeling a new lover’s breasts for lumps, putting an end to the evening of playful bondage…
Where the Las Olas Riverfront entertainment complex now rises above the New River in Fort Lauderdale, John Baker used to park in a dirt lot behind decaying buildings, unload his car, and hoof it west along the Riverwalk to the gazebo near the Broward Center For the Performing Arts, where…
