Film: As Andy Warhol once said, we will all be famous for 15 minutes, and the corollary to that seems to be that most of us will become the subject of a documentary. At the moment, it is late night comic Conan O’Brien’s turn, featured in a breezy bio-flick called Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop, which understandably focuses on the shabby way he was treated by impatient NBC executives … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Aug. 5-7
Theater: Sharr White’s Six Years looks at the ups and downs of the second half of the 20th century, as seen through the struggles of Phil and Meredith Granger (Todd Allen Durkin and Margery Lowe), a married couple separated by World War II, who are challenged to re-establish a normal life when he returns from combat suffering from a trauma that is dismissively diagnosed as … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: July 29-Aug. 2
Theater: OK, you’ve procrastinated long enough. This is the final weekend for the world premiere production of Stuff at Boca Raton’s Caldwell Theatre. This cautionary tale of two eccentrically wasted lives, wealthy Harlem hermits Homer and Langley Collyer, is not only Davie playwright Michael McKeever’s best script in quite a while, but he gives a remarkably accomplished … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: July 22-24
Film: The grueling existence of undocumented aliens is captured with dramatic sensitivity in Chris Weitz’s A Better Life, the ironically titled film about a gardener’s helper in Los Angeles, desperately trying to carve out a decent living for himself and his teenage son, while always looking over his shoulder for the law. Veteran Mexican actor Demian Bichir gives a haunting … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: July 15-21
Film: Fans of director Michael Winterbottom’s Tristam Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story are likely to get a kick out of the ad lib road comedy The Trip, for he has again enlisted the duo of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon in a sly verbal romp. As in the earlier film, the two British actors play themselves, or at least a comic exaggeration of themselves, on assignment to find and review … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: July 8-10
Theater: Many of Palm Beach County’s professional theaters are idle this summer, but the Maltz Jupiter Theatre has a few special events, like this Saturday night’s talent competition, called -- what else? -- Palm Beach Idols. For the eighth annual event, some 90 locals of all ages who are convinced they have talent auditioned, but only 25 of them have made the cut to perform … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: July 1-6
Film: The British neurologist Oliver Sacks’ popular case studies have made good fodder for Hollywood (1990’s Awakenings), and in The Music Never Stopped, one of Sacks’ essays (The Last Hippie) is the source of the story. Gabriel (Lou Taylor Pucci), long estranged from his father (J.K. Simmons, taking a break from all those Farmers Insurance commercials), shows up in a hospital … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: June 24-June 29
Music: After conquering the world of popular music, bandleader Duke Ellington began branching out in more ambitious directions for the concert hall. In 1943, his suite Black, Brown and Beige had its premiere at Carnegie Hall, and in subsequent years there would be a landmark recording of the work with the great gospel singer Mahalia Jackson performing Come Sunday. And come this … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: June 17-19
Film: Can’t decide whether to go to the theater or to the movies this weekend? Do both, with the high-definition video of the recent concert version of Stephen Sondheim’s Company, which was shamelessly promoted on last Sunday’s Tony Awards broadcast. It stars Neil Patrick Harris as marriage-challenged Bobby, which should restart the discussion whether the character’s dilemma is … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: June 10-15
Film: Writer-director John Gray (credited with creating TV’s Ghost Whisperer) grew up in Brooklyn and his latest feature film, White Irish Drinkers, feels like it has autobiographical elements in its coming-of-age tale of a young, sensitive artist trying hard not to sucked into the world of crime of his older, desperate brother. Nick Thurston impresses as Brian, who chooses … [Read more...]