Jonathan Levine’s The Night Before runs only 99 minutes, but it feels considerably longer — so chockablock is this anarcho-buddy-stoner-road-Christmas-comedy with quips, gags, references, elaborate set pieces, and most of all ideas. It’s amazing how many of them work. Few comedies in recent memory measure up to middle hour of The Night Before in its hedonistic inspiration, its … [Read more...]
Few surprises at 86th Oscars show
There were few surprises or upsets at Sunday evening’s 86th annual Academy Awards ceremony, which is to say that my posted predictions were pretty accurate. I called 20 of the 24 categories correctly and, if you are willing to ignore the two short film categories, it was 20 of 22. With the pool bets I made, I could afford to chip in for the pizzas that host Ellen DeGeneres … [Read more...]
Sundays: Time to take stock
By Myles Ludwig Would the boy you were be proud of the man you are? I was having a G&T with a colleague at the old Long Bar in the Royal Selangor Club in the twilight of Kuala Lumpur when he posed that question to me. Founded in the late 1800s as a social club for the best of British colonial society when they ruled Malaya, it has survived flood and fire and is very pukka. … [Read more...]
Despite the wait, U2 finds true believers in Miami
For a country said to struggle with numbers, math and science, nobody is getting U2 360 degrees wrong. At least in South Florida, everyone got what they came for. The electrifying Irish band’s 360° Tour, with its supernatural stage, landed at Miami’s Sun Life stadium Wednesday night. One hour after the English indie rock band Florence and the Machine ended its magical … [Read more...]
Cult oddness of ‘Panic’ only partly successful
You can pay half-attention to A Town Called Panic and still be able to follow the story. You can just easily pay complete attention and have no idea what’s going on. Bottom line: Just leave logic at the door and try and enjoy yourself. Opening Friday at the Lake Worth Playhouse, the film is based on a long-running, Belgian stop-animation cartoon of the same name, most of whose … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: Poetic ‘Buffalo,’ sharp ‘Song,’ shocking ‘Blasted’
After some of playwright David Mamet’s recent anemic attempts at whimsy (Romance, November), it is a pleasure to be reminded by his 1977 Broadway breakthrough, American Buffalo, how visceral and, yes, poetic he can be. The poetry is of the fragmentary, high-profanity, elliptical street type, but at Palm Beach Dramaworks, a trio of capable actors are demonstrating that the … [Read more...]