In case you didn’t happen to read the tag line on the ubiquitous poster, Xander Cage, also known as xXx because he’s tattooed his first initial three times on the back of his neck, is “a new breed of secret agent.” The old breed, we learn pretty quickly, is Bond,…
Blood Work, Clint Eastwood’s 23rd directorial effort, is a crime thriller in the mode of, but better than, True Crime (1999) and Absolute Power (1997), two of his last three films. More than these, however, it resembles In the Line of Fire (1993), the Eastwood vehicle directed by Wolfgang Petersen…
Ever since she opened reZurrection Gallery with her husband Damian in December 2000, Darci Johnson has been hosting monthly openings for the artists who exhibit their work there. To keep things unpredictable, she alternates the media in the shows, bringing in sculptures one month, paintings the next, and then perhaps…
The man who is perhaps the most unlikely pop star of our time is returning to Phoenix. Morrissey — son of librarians, celibate singer of sexual songs, violent vegetarian, bundle of endless contradiction and controversy — graces Celebrity Theatre with his presence on Friday, August 9. The question is: Why?…
This time around, writer-director M. Night Shyamalan puts the surprise at the beginning of his film, and it’s a subtle, shimmering clue — one easily missed and, frankly, one that might not even be there at all. Such are the temptations offered by the maker of The Sixth Sense and…
It’s daunting to hear that John Sayles’ new film Sunshine State is almost two and a half hours long and consists mostly of calm conversations. But don’t be deterred, or you’ll miss out on a study of character, class and changing times that puts Robert Altman’s stodgy Gosford Park to…
“I am Deke Dickerson,” he says, “entertainer, musician, singer, guitar player . . . Renaissance man.” What’s more, Dickerson has made it his personal mission to drag folks from the moribund monoverse of Friends reruns and out to his traveling road show, a 200- to 300-day-per-year tour of musical duty…
Although it’s been several millennia since we abandoned the fig leaf as a form of dress, humankind hasn’t been able to shake its spirit from the ever-evolving cycle of fashion. Phoenix Art Museum’s new major exhibition “Garden of Eden” poses the question “Why do we wear clothes?”, then demonstrates the…
The cocktail waiter at Barmouche is staring longingly out the window at Laurie Notaro. “Hey, man,” he says to me. “That’s Laurie Notaro, huh?” I assure him that it is. “Wow,” he says. “I love Laurie Notaro. I read her all the time. She’s absolutely the best. Hey, how come…
Yoga, an ancient practice that’s one of the hottest exercise trends of the past decade, has become popular in part because you need no special equipment (except, perhaps, the ubiquitous blue mat), and you can do it anytime, anywhere. But in an art museum? Bending over into downward-facing dog might…
Tim Hart is having a hard time concentrating. He wants to tell me the complex, nasty story of how his Ensemble Theater Company got booted from its performance space — a story rife with bomb threats, infighting, even a Seinfeld connection. But the story isn’t coming easy to Hart, who…
Arizona has mud that even Shout can’t Shout out: 26 years ago, Shout laundry stain remover ran a promotion called “Shout It Out,” in which kids ran an obstacle course in pools of mud to prove Shout’s stain-removing superpower. After realizing they couldn’t get Arizona’s red mud out, even with…
Her name sounds like the answers to a multiple-choice question on a catechism quiz, but the Reverend Doctor Lady Bishop swears she’s all of the above. She is America’s premier voodoo priestess, a messenger of a mélange of disciplines including black magic and Mormonism who’s here, she explains, to “work…
At this very moment, members of the Television Critics Association are gathered at the Ritz-Carlton in Pasadena, California, to preview this fall’s new series, interview those responsible for them and, finally, gorge themselves silly and drink themselves stupid on the networks’ dwindling dime. This event, the so-called “press tour,” takes…
All signs were pointing to a lousy evening of theater, even before the curtain came up on White Byson Theater Company’s production of Remember My Name. The show’s publicist phoned me at 7 a.m. the day before, to ask that I not review the show — never a good sign…
On the first day (of opening weekend), the Lord said, “Let there be, like, this year’s Evolution or sumpin’, only with more hope for significant box office returns,” and there is, and it is called Eight Legged Freaks, and it is good. The silly title needs a hyphen in the…
People in New York and Los Angeles are used to getting the first look at a new play — they open almost daily. But here, where people are lucky to get the opportunity to see an art film before it comes out on DVD, it’s a pretty remarkable event. Phoenix…
Adolescence is plagued with awkward, sometimes terrifying, rites of passage. For author Lizzie Simon, the crucial turning point of her youth occurred during her final year of high school, which she spent studying and living with family friends in Paris. At a time when she was high on life —…
A pal asked last week, “Who you writing about?” Told him, “Art Linson,” which screwed his face into a big ol’ question mark. “He’s a movie producer. He made Heat, Fight Club, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, The Untouchables, Car Wash…” Said said friend upon hearing that last one, “Dude…
