When the King of Spain sent Christianity to the New World in the 1500s, he hardly counted on finding heathens living as well as the ones Hernan Cortes, conqueror of Mexico, first met in 1519. Cortes reported the ancient Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan–now Mexico City–to be filled with “large and beautiful…
On opening night of Phoenix Theatre’s production of Chapter Two, when its star Kathy Fitzgerald took her final bows, she received what could only be called conventional first-night applause. One could be excused for having expected a rafter-shaking ovation. This was, after all, Fitzgerald’s first new role since she returned…
It could have been any town in America, and it often was: Athens, Georgia; Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Minneapolis; Austin, Texas. Seattle was just another stop on the A&R Express, another destination where the gold-card crowd could run up their expense accounts while they looked for the Next Big Thing…
World governments may topple, stock markets may soar and crash, deadly viruses may mantle the globe, but one constant remains: Woody Allen still hankers for a Cole Porterized New York. You have to be a deep-dish romantic, or else a blinkered snoot–or maybe both–to persist in such a demonstration. We…
For people who grow up loving movies, returning to old favorites can be as jarring and illuminating as blowing the dust off a family photo album. Even if our judgments about the films are identical the second time around, our emotional reactions, if we’ve grown at all, change or deepen…
When an incredulous Jane Campion fan asked what I hated about her version of Henry James’ The Portrait of a Lady, I immediately responded, “Everything.” Actually, I thought Barbara Hershey, as the subtle villainess, Madame Merle, made a good first impression: I laughed appreciatively when the heroine, Isabel Archer (Nicole…
dream time MLK Breakfast and “PLAY for Peace”: See Friday in Pic Hits. MLK Reading: Borders Books & Music at 7320 West Bell in Glendale hosts a special kid-targeted presentation of speeches by the late social activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at noon Saturday, January 18. Admission is free;…
thursday january 16 Smokin’ Joe Kubek Band featuring Bnois King: A rock-solid blues band; these guys cook. Dual guitarists Kubek and King are the heart and soul, respectively, of the Dallas act, which has been on a steady rise since its 1991 debut for Bullseye/Rounder, Steppin’ Out Texas Style. The…
The king of Seventies comedy still reigns in Phoenix: Rare is the community theater company that each season doesn’t feature one of Neil Simon’s plays. What’s baffling is that they’re about as pertinent as a pet rock. But even more perplexing than the popularity of Simon’s shopworn comedies is the…
The People vs. Larry Flynt is a Hollywood rags-to-riches success story with a twist. The inheritor of the American dream is a pornographer who admits to losing his virginity at 11 to a chicken and is known for saying things such as, “A woman’s vagina has as much personality as…
Robert E. Howard created the sword-and-sorcery genre with his Conan stories. The subject of Dan Ireland’s wonderful debut film The Whole Wide World, Howard had a grand yet coarse-grained consciousness. The Conan stories, set in a fictitious, primordial age full of demons and killers, boasted swift, cartoon-flavored action (“He moved…
Terry George, the director and co-writer (with Jim Sheridan) of Some Mother’s Son, has more complicated feelings about Northern Ireland than he can express coherently. They explode in penetrating shards of action and rhetoric from both the gutter and the pulpit. The story of an imprisoned IRA group known as…
good sports “Games and Sports of the Past”: Kids are introduced to turn-of-the-century pastimes like marbles, shuttlecock, cup and ball, and hoop racing at this old-timey event, slated for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, January 11, at Sirrine House Historic Museum, 160 North Center in Mesa. Admission and participation…
thursday january 9 Swinging on a Star: The Johnny Burke Musical: The late Burke wrote the words to some of our most memorable popular songs–including the title tune, “Pennies From Heaven,” “But Beautiful,” “Moonlight Becomes You” and “Misty”–and most of his career high notes are hit in this Tony-nominated homage…
A famous movie composer once told me a joke: Two songwriters are sitting around, and one of them says to the other, “I just saw the most amazing thing. A man fell off the roof of a building, hit a ledge, fell to the street, got winged by a bus…
My first impulse in considering the top movies of 1996 was to dispense with the new stuff altogether and go for the revival gold. The best films of 1996 were the rereleased restorations: Vertigo and Taxi Driver. The movie business has finally figured out how to turn out new classics–just…
on the stage Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Readings: Cast members from the touring musical (see Thursday in Pic Hits) read from various works at 10:30 a.m. Friday, January 3, at Borders Books & Music at Biltmore Fashion Park, 24th Street and Camelback, Suite 200 (call 957-6660); at 11 a.m…
thursday january 2 Swinging on a Star: The Johnny Burke Musical: The late Burke wrote the words to some of our most memorable popular songs–including the title tune, “Pennies From Heaven” and “Misty”–and most of his career high notes are hit in this Tony-nominated homage by writer/director Michael Leeds. Arizona…
In his critically hailed HBO special that aired in June, Chris Rock joked about how people say what they think other people want to hear. For example, he noted, nobody really wants to be an organ donor–people just say they do. Organ donation is for people with no faith, he…
Wes Craven, creator of the Nightmare on Elm Street series and writer/director of its two best entries (the first and the last), works whispering distance from the commercial Hollywood mainstream, just far enough to allow for more rude wit and less comfortable resolution than most studio product. His films open…
When we first see the character of Australian pianist David Helfgott (Geoffrey Rush) in Shine, he’s middle-aged and standing in the driving rain, tapping at the window of a wine bar after closing time. Let in by a sympathetic waitress, he keeps up a nonstop nonsensical patter that makes him…
good sports Fiesta Bowl National Junior Tennis Championships: United States Tennis Association-ranked players ages 12 to 18 compete in the 24th annual tourney, which has produced big-time competitors like Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Tracy Austin and Michael Chang. Preliminary rounds are scheduled Thursday, December 26; Friday, December 27; Saturday, December…
