In an early draft of Phoenix playwright Carol DuVal Whiteman’s Katsina, the story ends with a stage full of extras dressed as elaborate approximations of Hopi kachinas. But Whiteman spiked the scene when her Hopi friends objected to public representations of their deified ancestral spirits. Would that some benevolent organization…
So the Academy has once again shut you out of the Best Director category on the technicality that you haven’t actually made a movie? Hollywood philistinism, of course, but there’s always a chance at next year: This weekend, Arizona Film Society is once again presenting the Hollywood Film Institute’s two-day…
Cult auteur David Cronenberg crashes and burns–his talent, that is–in Crash, a vain attempt at a techno-age Persona. It follows a demented explorer named Vaughan (Elias Koteas) into an insane new world where twisted metal, curvy skin, automotive oil and bodily fluids merge in an explosive carnal cocktail. To Vaughan,…
I spent the 68th anniversary of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre watching The Godfather with the new soundtrack prepared for its 25th anniversary. The scene was a mixing room in the Saul Zaentz Film Center in Berkeley, California, and the master of ceremonies was much-honored editor and sound expert Walter…
thursday march 20 Critters Buggin: Let’s be blunt: New Bohemians, as a concept, warranted maybe five minutes of Andy Warhol’s industry-standard quarter-hour of fame. Still, the musicians who backed up neo-hepkitten Edie Brickell were generally excellent. Two of ’em, drummer Matt Chamberlain and bassist Brad Houser, prove it with this…
For the past 16 years, the Arizona Museum for Youth in Mesa has thrived on the fact that children would rather “just do it” than listen to or watch grown-ups tell or show them how to do it. The museum averages about three major exhibits a year, and its hands-on…
With the Kennedy reference in its title and its promise to choreograph “the hits of a generation,” Ballet Arizona’s new work–“Ask Not . . .”–could easily have been a shameless grab at baby-boomer bucks. “There’s a generation out there who should have very vivid memories, who are the new powers…
In the last chapter of this Star Wars trilogy, an intergalactic window display of creepy and cuddly critters upstages the human characters. All the conflicts are resolved between the virtuous rebels–Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher)–and the wicked Imperials, notably Darth Vader (David…
If we take Bob Rafelson at his word, Blood & Wine completes a trilogy about family relationships that started with the director’s two crowning achievements, 1970’s Five Easy Pieces and 1972’s The King of Marvin Gardens. Those two films are so often pointed to as evidence of the brilliance of…
During the first few minutes of Howard Stern’s romp through his inexplicable life, he spells out his mission: Private Parts will both convert the nonbelievers and entertain the cult. Stern wants to give you plenty of hot lesbian action (and freed from FCC restrictions, he takes real pleasure in saying…
thursday march 13 Cactus League Baseball: The boys of spring are back for this year’s slate of preseason games, which continues daily, through Friday, March 28, at stadia Valleywide. On Thursday, March 13, the Milwaukee Brewers host the Colorado Rockies at 1:05 p.m., the Chicago Cubs play the Oakland A’s…
The musty old warehouse at Second Street and Roosevelt is better known for its garish mural than for what goes on inside. After five spotty seasons, Planet Earth Multi-Cultural Theatre is still looking for its audience, even while its founders–Peter Cirino and his wife, actress Mollie Kellogg Cirino–are preparing to…
Crispin Glover is not a kook. Never mind the time he almost beheaded David Letterman with a platform-heeled karate kick. And forget the rumors that he hangs upside down from high-rise apartment balconies to relax. We won’t discuss Glover’s collection of doll eyes neatly arranged according to size, or his…
The most obnoxious man alive suddenly, for a rare moment, is calm and contemplative. “I don’t know,” says Howard Stern, his familiar voice unfamiliarly soft. “I don’t know why.” Those are words Howard Stern doesn’t say very often. He, after all, knows everything, and he’ll remind you of that on…
thursday march 6 Cactus League Baseball: The boys of spring are back for this year’s slate of preseason games, which continues daily, through Friday, March 28, at stadia Valleywide. On Thursday, March 6, the Oakland A’s play the Chicago Cubs, the Milwaukee Brewers take on the San Diego Padres, the…
In the two decades since Eraserhead, David Lynch has established himself as American cinema’s premier surrealist, our own Wizard of Weird. Although his first two Hollywood projects–The Elephant Man (1980) and Dune (1984)–had little room for the sort of spooky shit at which he excels, his style found its greatest…
The ingredients are familiar: Donnie Brasco stars Al Pacino as a Mafia soldier and Johnny Depp as an FBI undercover agent who infiltrates the mob. But there’s a twist. Based on a true story, the film is a grunt’s-eye view of the Mafia, and it’s not remotely “operatic” or Scorsese-ish…
Marvin’s Room, starring Diane Keaton and Meryl Streep as sisters who reunite uneasily for the first time in 20 years, is one of those movies about people who confront the choices they’ve made and become better people for it. Adapted by the late Scott McPherson from his popular 1992 play…
thursday february 27 Cactus League Baseball: The boys of spring are back for this year’s slate of preseason games, which opens with a couple of charity matches on Thursday, February 27: The Seattle Mariners take on the San Diego Padres in a benefit for the Peoria Diamond Club at 1:05…
Michael Grady is a playwright/actor/director who not only turns out fine work, but is content to stay in Phoenix putting out for a theater audience that’s still developing a taste for new plays. Lured here in the late ’80s by Actors Theatre of Phoenix, Grady has remained, appearing in lead…
If all you knew about lesbians was what you saw in movies made by lesbians, you’d have a pretty dreary picture of the lifestyle. Most of us know a lesbian or three who actually has a sense of humor, whose idea of socializing extends beyond sitting in a semicircle with…
John Singleton’s new film, Rosewood, chronicles a shocking and little-known incident in the history of American racism–the destruction of the title village and massacre of many of its black residents by a white mob. A moderately prosperous hamlet in the pine forests of western Florida, Rosewood came under attack in…
