In the first few minutes of Eastern Promises, the striking new thriller from David Cronenberg, a throat is sliced, a uterus hemorrhages, and a newborn baby, slimy and palpitating, emerges from the womb of its dead mother. None of which comes as much of a surprise from the maker of…
The exemplary achievements of the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival succeeded by one of two means: narrowing the gap between author and subject in pursuit of intimate effects, or else working distance into the material and profiting from the vantage. Contemporary neorealism at its most confident and alert, Chop Shop…
People refer to Phoenix as an up-and-coming city; they call it a late-night ghost town, a sweatbox, a suburban desert. But what it looks more and more like all the time is a deserted movie set. And the film that’s just wrapped here is a cheesy sci-fi flick about an…
In space, no one can hear you scream, Jumpin’ Jesus, this is one of the greatest games ever! But that doesn’t mean you won’t try during Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Hard-core gamers know Metroid’s star, bounty-hunter babe Samus Aran, has been kicking ass since 1986 — back when Lara Croft…
Saturday Night Fever: 30th Anniversary Special Collector’s Edition (Paramount) For all its camp-classic status as the ultimate disco-fever dream, John Badham’s movie truly is remarkable — a foul-mouthed, mean-streets masterpiece that just happens to feature a Bee Gees score that spreads like melted cheese 30 years later. And, of course,…
Young American Comedy Tour. Dull name, granted, but the sextet of comics tore up the Improv when they pulled a one-night stand there last April, and they’re back for another go. Host Mike Young (who has a sitcom in the works with ABC titled Forever Young) and his boy-wonder yukmeisters…
Okay, enough with the piddly-squat San Jose States and San Diego States. It’s time for some major-league fur to fly when the ASU Sun Devils open what looks to be a tough Pac-10 schedule with a game against the Oregon State Beavers. Pardon our pottymouth, but those East Coast “experts”…
The Rockabilly Revival conjures images of slicked-back dudes with oil-spill hairdos crankin’ out “Ring of Fahr” on sunburst hollowbodies and big-ass slap basses. According to “The Wolf,” a Valley music promoter and founder of azrockabilly.net, rockabilly is a lifestyle that connects folks to a simpler time. “It’s a romance of…
The thing about our beloved Scottsdale socialites is that they’d all rather be in Vegas. In fact, with enough booze, drugs, and scantily clad women, many of them actually believe they are. This weekend will be no exception, as Sin City nightlife guru extraordinaire DJ Shift hits the decks at…
Picasso? Pottery? Who knew? Yep, in addition to his paintings and sculptures, the King of Cubism liked to make dinner plates. His kiln of choice was France’s Madoura workshop, where he created 600-plus objets de clay from 1947 to ´71. Sixty-five are included in the “Picasso: 25 Years of Edition…
Cardiac Recovery. Cute. As some of you know, Paper Heart suffered a fiscal-angina incident late last year, and it’s celebrating its ongoing rehabilitation with a big bash featuring “donated” performances by many of its closest pals. The free multimedia event will showcase performance art, short films, comedy, poetry, burlesque, and…
Mayor Gordon may have declared last November 10 “Alwun House Day,” but for locals looking for offbeat and sometimes off-putting art, it’s been Alwun Day for decades. The folks over at Alwun House — which opened in 1971 and is now in its 36th year of unveiling works old and…
Pretend it’s 1826, you’re inside the Metropolitan Hotel in New York City, trying not to stare at all the pretty wrists and ankles, when someone orders a cocktail and Jerry “The Professor” Thomas picks up his steel tumblers, lights the ingredients on fire, and streams the contents of Blue Blaze…
We’ve been boning up on Calculus for Dummies in an effort to figure out how Coach & Willie’s is gonna cram in all of those Arizona Diamondbacks fans for its D-Backs Fan Appreciation Night bash. Then we remembered that Chase Field’s been half-empty all season — half-full if you work…
Only superjocks and mental patients go bouldering in these temps, so if you’ve got the jones to dyno, hit the climbing walls at AZ on the Rocks, Arizona’s king of the fake mountain. Public “free” climbing is available from 3 to 7 p.m., but “free,” unfortunately, does not mean, “Cool,…
We won’t spend a lot of time jawing about why Ballet Arizona’s annual Ballet Under the Stars outreach series is so crazy popular (you’re welcome). The quick and dirty: 1) it’s free; 2) it’s easily digestible, even for non-ballet fans; 3) it’s that rarely encountered beast called outdoor summer entertainment…
Will Master Chief save the world? We’re on pins and needles, man. The nigh-unendurable wait for the final episode in the Halo trilogy comes to a blessed end with the midnight release of Halo 3. Play N Trade celebrates with a Halo 3 Tournament. Tue., Sept. 25, 11:59 p.m., 2007…
If you’ve got a mustache, you can cash it in like a grocery-store coupon at Mustache Monday and keep that lip caterpillar wet and foamy all night long at happy-hour prices. If you don’t have a ‘stache, but still wanna drink on the cheap, they’ll rent you one. Mon., Sept…
We tend to frown on critical darlings, who are typically so obtuse that critics can’t understand ’em. Ipso fathead, they must be good. Take Jana Hunter — please. The “New Weird America” icon is soooooo in, and soooooo painful to the ears. It’s the rare performer who casts off the…
Once upon a time, art openings and museum shows were the domain of high-falutin’ art-school types and their pretentious wanna-be fan boys and gals. But ever since pop-surrealist painters from the lowbrow-art movement began to have their way with the fine-arts establishment, museum shows have gotten a whole lot more…
George A. Romero once said, “Zombies are the blue-collar monsters.” That sounds familiar, because if you wake up morose, stagger into the bathroom, spill the same bitter cup of coffee, and then lunge to work every day, hell, chomping your cuticles could pass as a taste for human flesh. Film…
Though NASCAR’s position in popular culture is totally solidified, the sport has never been what you’d call art-gallery material. Shawn Hardegree, who grew up in Georgia and spent hours at the racetrack with his father, is looking to change that with the sophisticated “paint what you know” techniques displayed in…
