Ginnifer Goodwin voices Judy Hopps, rabbit cop, in Zootopia. Film: As the name suggests, Zootopia is a contemporary city populated by a menagerie of animals, and it is also the best animated film that Disney Studios has produced in many a year. This tale of an ambitious little female bunny who long yearned to join the police force absolutely has one level of humor for adults … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Feb. 6-8
George Clooney in “Hail, Caesar!” Film: Ever since they burst onto the scene in 1984 with their idiosyncratic take on film noir, Blood Simple, a new film by Joel and Ethan Coen has been a much anticipated event. Certainly that is true for the incessantly promoted Hail, Caesar, opening this weekend at area theaters, and it does not disappoint. This snarky valentine to the days … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Jan. 9-10, 2016
Film: Last year’s Oscar-winning director, Alejandro Iñárritu (Birdman) is back with another tour de force saga, this time far from the urban canyons of New York City. It is called The Revenant, which means “one who returns from the dead.” Indeed, fur trapper Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) is mauled by a bear in the bitter cold Old West wilderness and is left for dead by his … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Nov. 20-22
Film: Its expansion delayed for a couple of weeks to maximize its impact and exposure for Oscar consideration is a small, but powerful film, Spotlight, certainly one of the year’s 10 best and a sure competitor for Best Picture honors. Spotlight is the name of the Boston Globe’s small, elite investigative team, which launches a major project to look into the city’s … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: July 17-19
Film: You’ve got to wonder whose idea it was to release Bill Condon’s first-rate, literate and cerebral Sherlock Holmes tale, called simply Mr. Holmes, in the middle of the summer when it is bound to be crowded out by superhero blockbusters and dazzling animation. Had it been released in the fall, it would surely be vying for Oscars and other awards, particularly for Ian … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: July 11-12
Music: Here’s a good sign that summers are more active than ever in South Florida. On Saturday night, no less a musical eminence than Deborah Voigt will kick off the second annual Miami Summer Music Festival, singing with the MSMF Orchestra led by festival founder Michael Rossi at Barry University’s Shepard Broad Performing Arts Center. Voigt will sing music by Richard Strauss … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: May 8-10
Theater: Douglas Carter Beane’s sly comedy on the intersection of show business, the art of negotiation and sexual orientation, The Little Dog Laughed, is receiving a savvy and sexy production by Island City Stage at Empire Stage in Fort Lauderdale, through May 17. This is due largely to Chris Crawford as a sexually confused television star trying to make the leap to the movies … [Read more...]
Maltz leads PB County theaters with Carbonell nods
The Maltz Jupiter Theatre led all Palm Beach County professional theaters with 14 nominations for the 39th annual Carbonell Awards, recognizing production excellence throughout South Florida. Nine of those nominations were for the Jupiter company’s new look at the 1951 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, The King and I. The other five were for its season opener, Larry Shue’s … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Jan. 23-25
Theater: Playwright Lauren Gunderson wrote the redneck comedy Exit, Pursued by a Bear that Theatre at Arts Garage produced a couple of season ago, but try not to hold that against her. She is back with a much smarter script, I and You, about a couple of high school teens who meet over an English class assignment, and as with many formulaic romantic comedies, they banter and … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Nov. 22-23
Dance: Sergei Prokofiev went through a great deal of trouble over Romeo and Juliet, and originally wrote it with a happy ending in which the star-cross’d lovers survive and dance off into the sunset. But the composer’s Soviet overlords didn’t think much of that idea, and forced him to reinstate Shakespeare’s original tragic outcome. Whatever the ending, he created a matchless … [Read more...]