Film: You’ve already seen Gravity, right? Well, a new, less flashy, more earthbound, but tension-filled movie with virtually the same plot arrives in theaters this weekend. It is All Is Lost, the saga of a man (Robert Redford) out in the ocean on his yacht when it is hit by a shipping container of sneakers. It punctures his boat’s hull and forces him to use his wits and his … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Nov. 1-3
Theater: For more than 25 years, Lou Tyrrell has been producing new work by emerging young playwrights, but I cannot remember him being as excited over a relatively unknown talent like he is about composer-lyricist Daniel Maté. He is so excited that he has devoted two of the slots in The Theatre at Arts Garage’s season to shows by Maté — a song cycle on contemporary … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Oct. 26-27
Film: British director Steve McQueen is known for making films of brutality and excess, but now he has chosen a subject that matches his style. It is 12 Years a Slave, the fact-based saga of Solomon Northup, an African-American free man who lives with his family in upstate New York until he is lured to the nation’s capital, tricked into bondage and sold as a slave. The … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Oct. 19-20
Art: This weekend, the Wimberley Library at Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus welcomes Alaskan artist and bookbinder Susan Share for the opening of an exhibit featuring her work that will be on view until Jan. 19. Last night, Share gave a performance featuring her art, which incorporates movement, costumes and experimental books, all of it as a way of invigorating … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Sept. 20-22
Dance: One of the innovations of the Miami-based Knight Foundation has been its Random Acts of Culture, many of which can be seen on YouTube. Don’t be surprised next week if you see something similar here from Ballet Palm Beach, Colleen Smith’s Palm Beach Gardens-based dance troupe. This coming Thursday, the company will do 10-minute “flash ballets” at the Cultural Council of … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Sept. 14-15
Film: David Gordon Green came on the cinema scene with such methodical, observant art films as George Washington, Undertow and Snow Angels. Lately, though, he has made broad, raucous comedies like Pineapple Express and Your Highness. He now returns to his earlier mode with Prince Avalanche, the saga of two men who paint traffic lines on remote country roads. The older guy (Paul … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Sept. 7-8
Art: South Florida has a large collection of work by the eminent American painter William Glackens, left by his son Ira to the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale in 1990. Some of that work is now on display at the Coral Springs Museum of Art in a show called Glackens as Illustrator. The painter began as an illustrator for Philadelphia-area newspapers before advances in … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Aug. 30-Sept. 1
Music: Robby Krieger was one of the respected guitarists in rock during his time with The Doors from 1967 to 1972. These days, at 67, he’s still out there with a band, this one called Robby Krieger’s Jam Kitchen, with a powerhouse lineup including two former Frank Zappa alums, guitarist Arthur Barrow and keyboardist Tommy Mars, veteran L.A. session saxman and Neil Diamond … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Aug. 24-25
Theater: Yes, the pickings are few for theater at this time of year in South Florida, but while the few companies that are operating in the dog days of August opt for feather light fare, Maltz Jupiter Theatre offers Shakespeare’s weighty, downbeat tragedy, Hamlet. But not the usual production, for it is part of the free summer mentorship program where the student cast and … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Aug. 17-18
Film: So many films claim to be “based on a true story,” and Lee Daniels’ The Butler is one that bases itself very loosely on the biography of Eugene Allen, an African-American who served presidents from Eisenhower to Reagan. From his lofty perch in the White House, he had a unique view of the evolving civil rights situation in the country, and that is the heart of this … [Read more...]