Flightplan, starring Jodie Foster as a mother who’s either lost her daughter or her mind during a flight from Berlin to New York, is a wonderful movie for about an hour — a moving, gripping rumination on loss, grief and sanity. It works primarily because of its star, whose delicate,…
In the tradition of A Beautiful Mind and Good Will Hunting comes Proof, a psychological drama about a math genius and the people who worship, care for, and endure him. Based on the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play by David Auburn, Proof is a strong film with intense focus…
Back in the mid-’90s, when MTV still flirted with (intentional) comedy shows, it ran one called The State, which featured performers who now appear on the Comedy Central hit Reno 911. There wasn’t all that much worth remembering about The State, but the show did make one significant attempt at…
It would take a critic more churlish than this one to sneer and bare chickenlike talons at Roll Bounce, a formulaic crowd-pleaser that hits familiar marks, but does so well enough that it’s hard to fault anyone involved. The retro-’70s vibe seems kind of obvious, and the irritating Mike Epps,…
When one goes to see a movie titled El Crimen Perfecto (literal translation: The Perfect Crime), it might seem unlikely that the title of this Spanish film has been altered for American audiences. But it has — in Spain, the title is Crimen Ferpecto, which makes the crime a general…
Like hundreds of creative Southerners before them, Phil Morrison and Angus MacLachlan have Thomas Wolfe in their bones. The media notes for Morrison’s first feature, Junebug, don’t mention Wolfe, and the 37-year-old NYU Film School graduate makes a point of distinguishing between literary inspiration and what he, like Paul Schrader,…
What do Julie Andrews, Peter Gunn, the Mystery Writers of America, the bolero, and one rather large pink cat have in common? Hollywood director Blake Edwards, of course. Edwards is married to Andrews, he won an MWA writing award for one of his episodes of the 1950s TV show Peter…
The massive “Revolution RezFest” will be the biggest party to hit the Salt River Indian Reservation all year, yet no drugs and alcohol are allowed at the event. Who needs them, anyway? “I’d rather have horse leg, pig ass, rabbit soup and Kool-Aid,” says guitarist Onk Akimel, whose band, Diana…
9/22-9/25There probably isn’t a musician in town who can command the weekly live audience that Bobby Freeman can — during the summer, at least. You’ve heard him yourself if you’ve ever been to an Arizona Diamondbacks home game, pounding out the Mexican Hat Dance, the Hungarian czardas, or the opening…
FRI 9/23The first person to shout “Play ‘Free Bird'” at the BlackMoods show on Friday, September 23, might get a microphone up the moo-moo. The local rockers built a reputation for cover songs under their previous moniker, Chalmers Green, but for the BlackMoods, it’s more about their own blistering brainchildren…
SAT 9/24The Bruisers versus the Surly Girlies. It sounds like something out of West Side Story — only with skates. Actually, it’s the latest blood-sport death match between the take-no-shit Arizona Roller Derby chicks, who hit the hardwood for their first match of the new season on Saturday, September 24,…
SUN 9/25When the late artist Joseph Cornell found objects, he put them in boxes. When he found celluloid, he crafted it into some of the richest and earliest experimental films this side of the Big Pond. The results were jocular and edgy phantasms that were enough to make Salvador Dali…
THU 22Master chef Stephen Stromberg whips out his magic pan on Thursday, September 22, for the final installment in “Cooking & Cocktails” at Latitude 30, a gratis summer series of culinary demonstrations and tastings at the swank eatery, which is named after the imaginary line that bisects the heart of…
After Sex (New Yorker Video) Ben-Hur: Four-Disc Collector’s Edition (Warner Bros.) Candlemass: The Curse of Candlemass (Navarre) Carlito’s Way: Ultimate Edition (Universal) Escaflowne: The Movie — Ultimate Edition (Bandai Entertainment) Everybody Loves Raymond: The Complete Fourth Season (HBO Home Video) Fever Pitch (20th Century Fox) Happily Ever After (Kino International)…
Michael Eastman’s unpopulated photographs of empty streetscapes and seedy interiors occupy the same desolate ward as Edward Hopper’s diner and Walker Evans’ still lifes. Boarded-up theaters, abandoned houses and shabby rooms tell of entropy, imploding communities, empty dreams, and a center that cannot hold. You know the drill. That’s why…
Da Ali G Show: Da Compleet Second Seazon (HBO Home Video) Sacha Baron Cohen’s inching closer to Tom Green territory; come this time next year, his HBO show is likely to be on the pop-culture junk pile. Which isn’t to say this double-disc set doesn’t hold up — it’s just…
It’s nearly as difficult to get an interview with one of the 500-plus New Orleans evacuees housed at Veterans’ Memorial Coliseum as it is to get timely rescue assistance from FEMA. A dozen phone calls to flacks from various agencies in search of an audience with someone — anyone –…
If you’re a character in a movie, and the rain is coming down so heavily that you cannot see out your car’s windshield, for the love of God, don’t drive! Mack-truck drivers interpret such conditions as carte blanche to be reckless and will assume that honking their horn provides ample…
A rich family returns to their nice home after a vacation, but something isn’t quite right. The place has been . . . burgled? No, not quite. The stereo that’s missing — it’s in the fridge. The chairs have been stacked into a tower. And there’s a note attached: “Your…
Andrew Niccol’s first two films as writer-director, 1997’s Gattaca and 2002’s S1m0ne, were hollow, sterile sci-fi masquerading as earnest satire: The former told of a near future in which parents could genetically engineer perfect children; the latter proffered an actress who became the most famous and beloved movie star in…
Yes, that could be Vince Vaughn standing behind you in line at your local Fry’s. The actor may be one of Hollywood’s hottest residents, but he’s a frequent visitor to Phoenix. “Phoenix is like a second home for me,” the actor tells New Times via phone from Chicago, where he’s…
What do cockroaches and ’50s kitsch have in common? They just keep coming back. At first glance, Paul Wilson’s hand-cut prints appear to be family photos from the era of Hula-Hoops and sock hops. Doting housewife Dottie Kimble serves a pitcher of fresh lemonade to a gaggle of teenage boys…
