Look for Leo DiCaprio to pick up the Best Actor Oscar for The Revenant. This Sunday’s 88th annual Academy Awards telecast should be more interesting than most because of the controversy surrounding the all-white acting nominees for the second year in a row and the anticipated reaction by outspoken emcee Chris Rock. His selection and the number of awards presenters of color … [Read more...]
MCB’s ‘R&J’ sumptuous to look at, but light on the heart
By Tara Mitton Catao Starting its Kravis Center season off last weekend with an ambitious full-length production of John Cranko’s highly regarded Romeo and Juliet, Miami City Ballet continues to present a variety of repertory that not only pleases audiences but also encourages the artistic development of its dancers. In addition to presenting three different casts as Romeo … [Read more...]
The View From Home 61: Friedkin, Kiarostami, Romanian New Wave, vintage Cagney, and a lame actioner
The People Vs. Paul Crump: Made in 1962 for Chicago public television but considered too controversial to air, the prescient documentary The People Vs. Paul Crump finally sees the light of day courtesy of Facets ($27.98 DVD). It is essentially an hour-long interview with Crump, a professedly innocent African-American death-row inmate convicted of murdering in a white security … [Read more...]
Gritty but empty, ‘Sunlight Jr.’ revels in urban misery
The best thing Sunlight Jr. has going for it is its setting. Laurie Collyer’s sophomore film was shot in Clearwater, one of the sprawling eyesores of metro Tampa, but it looks a lot of like certain stretches of Lake Worth, or Oakland Park, or North Miami, or hundreds of other depressed stretches of dollar stores, fast-food joints and scalding macadam, where the city meets the … [Read more...]
Postcard from New York: ‘Woolf’ still has bite; ‘13 Things’ and The Ride
NEW YORK ― I spent last weekend in Manhattan, checking out the holiday lights and the department store window decorations. And a few shows, too, to see whether they are naughty or nice. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: Fifty years ago, Edward Albee burst onto Broadway with his take-no-prisoners view of marriage, academia division. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? cemented his … [Read more...]
‘Dinotopia’ light, entertaining exhibit for our inner kids
When not reduced to a still pile of bones, dinosaurs appear to us as skeletons trapped in glass cases. In two colors, usually: dark brown or white. This summer, for three months, we can see them like never before. They play games, dance, sing, have their own alphabet and brush their teeth. They come in all colors: light and dark browns, grays, pinks. Dinotopia: The … [Read more...]
Carbonell haul is light for Palm Beach County theaters
If you are looking for Carbonell statuettes today, look southward. Monday evening’s 34th annual Carbonell Awards ceremony was a low-key, well-produced event that tilted strongly towards theaters in Miami-Dade County. In fact, to two theater companies in Coral Gables -- Actors’ Playhouse and Gable Stage -- which walked off with most of the booty: six and five awards, … [Read more...]