Right-wing pundits will come out of the woodwork to holler about this one. Bad enough, they’ll say, that The Life of David Gale attacks the death penalty; it also features a caricature governor of Texas with big ears and a familiar, Scripture-quoting smirk. There’s a character who notes that 73…
In Tin Box Boomerang, Ivonne Azurdia’s new play now in production by the Mad Cat Theatre at the Miami Light Project, you will meet a passel of ordinary, flawed characters who seem real and familiar. Two Mexican-American sisters struggle to make ends meet, living in a beat-up trailer. Their California…
Tony Grisoni can always tell when his old friend Terry Gilliam, the visionary who sees too far for his own good, is in pain: He laughs. The worse the pain, the harder the laughter. If that is the case, then the Terry Gilliam seen throughout Lost in La Mancha, Keith…
Saint Valentine’s Day, created by the Hallmark company in the early part of the 20th Century, takes its name from an ancient religious feast day of the same name. According to legend, Valentine was a bishop who was clubbed and beheaded by Roman soldiers on or around February 14, 270…
Thursday, February 13, 2003 The City of Deerfield Beach’s Founders’ Day Celebration kicks off today. Although this is the 66th-annual event, the city traces its history back much further. A post office was first established at Deerfield, so named for the numerous deer that grazed along the Hillsboro River at…
The Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale is offering a rare chance to see works by major American and European artists of the past four decades, including Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, Roy Lichtenstein, and Alighiero Boetti. The show, beginning February 13, gives us 58 paintings, sculptures, and photographs seeking to…
Astaire & Rogers. Hepburn & Tracy. Heck, Ball & Arnaz, Houston & Washington, or Vardalos & Corbett. Over the decades, Hollywood has proven that its romantic comedies needn’t suck. But alas, they often do, as is the case with How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Clearly, bigwig co-producers…
Anybody who’s cracked open a recent Disney G-rated DVD has probably witnessed the ultimate in sequelmania: on Lilo & Stitch, for instance, the feature was preceded (skippably, thank God) by trailers for The Jungle Book 2, Atlantis 2: Milo’s Return, 101 Dalmatians II: Patch’s London Adventure, Inspector Gadget 2, and…
It was supposed to be make-believe, a disturbing but ultimately uplifting work of science-fiction from a celebrated author of grim futurama and glorious fantasy. The subject matter of Orbiter, a hardback graphic novel about a spaceship that disappears for years and returns sheathed in skin after visits to faraway places…
Time was, the great repertoire of classical drama was the mainstay of established New York City and regional theaters. But take a quick look at the season lineups at the nation’s major theaters, and you’ll be hard pressed to spot even a smattering of classics. What happened to the great…
This group of singers looks more like four suburban housewives than Four Bitchin’ Babes, but hey, if they want to think of themselves as steamy and unconventional, who’s it going to hurt? They’ll still give a good show at the Broward Center this weekend. Sally Fingerett, the only remaining member…
Sinewy arms straining, 20 men paddle their canoe rapidly and in perfect synchrony around a bend in the New River. A drummer in the front of the canoe beats out the stroke cadence while a steersman standing in the rear keeps the boat on course. Another boat behind them, this…
Although virtually no one in this country foresaw the American disaster in Vietnam, the late British writer Graham Greene glimpsed it with astonishing clarity a decade before the first U.S. “adviser” set foot on Vietnamese soil. The Quiet American, a disturbing and provocative film by Australian director Phillip Noyce based…
If nothing else, because there’s nothing else to this movie, Shanghai Knights allows Jackie Chan, he of halting dialogue and poetic movement, to pay direct homage to his idols. He hangs from the arms of Big Ben, dangling off the stories-tall clock like Harold Lloyd in 1923’s Safety First; he…
If English mysteries are your cup of tea, you might want to sample Sherlock’s Last Case, now being served up at the Actors’ Playhouse in Coral Gables. Charles Marowitz’ script, a revisionist take on legendary detective character Sherlock Holmes, borrows characters and situations from the classic series of whodunits penned…
Last year, the National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University contacted more than 200 art critics across the country, inviting them to participate in The Visual Art Critic: A Survey of Art Critics at General-Interest News Publications in America. About 75 percent of those responded. I was one of them…
Rawson Thurber has been so busy the past few days that by the time he finally returns a reporter’s phone call, he does so at 1:30 in the morning–and he doesn’t even realize the late, or early, hour till he hears the groggy croak on the other end. He’s sorry…
One might think that the Florida Toy Soldier and Action Figure Show would consist primarily of Star Wars dolls and vehicles from the original trilogy wrapped in the original packaging. “For God’s sake, you can’t take that Han Solo doll out of his plastic casing!” you might imagine some collector…
With all the Latin immigration to South Florida over the decades, many times we forget our dear neighbors to the north. Canada! Yes, Canada. There’s the barren wilderness in the Northwest Territories, the snow-capped peaks of the Yukon, and a massive percentage of its population planted just north of the…
First off, make no mistake: Biker Boyz is not, and has no intentions of being, The Fast and the Furious on two wheels, which will be considered a serious shame by the 12-year-old demographic that was hoping to chug a little more Diesel fuel till the official sequel’s release this…
Let’s start with two raves and a beef. Final Destination 2 is a tight, rockin’ popcorn flick packed with nasty kicks. It’s also a rare beast, a second horror-franchise installment that matches and in some ways supersedes the original (unlike such sputterings as Jaws 2, A Nightmare on Elm Street…
Last October, Sue Vertue found herself in a Los Angeles soundstage watching the filming of a pilot for a would-be NBC sitcom. The storyline of this particular episode dealt, more or less, with the horrific (and, of course, capital-H hilarious!) fallout that comes when a man’s girlfriend finds his porn…
