When it comes to TV adaptations of sci-fi and fantasy novels, Terry Brooks, author of The Elfstones of Shannara, said it best at the Tucson Festival of Books: “The book is always better!” But some book-to-TV adaptations are better than others. For every loving adaptation like Jonathan Strange and Mr…
The second season of Amazon’s Catastrophe might do for the #TGIF-style family sitcom of the late ‘80s and ‘90s what the first did for the ailing rom-com: open-mouthed resuscitation on the operating table after one too many Garry Marshall–fueled heart attacks like Valentine’s Day. (Or New Year’s Eve? It doesn’t…
Nearly every Alien movie begins the same way: in the vast loneliness of space, in a ship that’s running on its own. In the first film, Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979), the camera slowly glides through the dark, lifeless corridors of the commercial towing vehicle Nostromo before locating the sleeping bodies…
In ’81 he accessorized his trench coat with high heels and bikini briefs. In ’84 that coat got dandified, high-collared and famously purple, Edwardian formalwear over a frilled tuxedo shirt over that wicked slick of chest hair. It was the get-up of a perv or a president, a look that…
Harkins Theatres announced on the evening of April 21 that its Tempe Marketplace 16 Cine Capri location will pay tribute to the late artist Prince with two screenings of Purple Rain this weekend. It’s the second local film tribute announced to honor the Purple One, who died at his Minnesota…
Each week, we’re recapping season one of Fuller House, episode by episode. Do it Gibbler Style, y’all. “Ramona’s Not So Epic Party” revolved around the 13th birthday of the one-and-only Gibbler spawn. Everything was centered around the party, including the complicated dynamic between her soon-to-be-divorced parents. It was a…
We’re fortunate in metro Phoenix to have several art venues with robust offerings in fine-art photography – including Tilt Gallery in Scottsdale and Art Intersection in Gilbert. And First Friday regulars know they can typically get a photo fix at Drive-Thru Gallery and Bokeh Gallery in Roosevelt Row — or…
Dearly beloved: Fans of the one, the only, the late Prince will gather at Pollack Tempe Cinemas on May 7 to honor the artist’s work in film. Shortly after news broke on April 21 that the pop culture icon died in his Minnesota home, Cult Classics announced plans to screen 1984’s…
New Times picks the best things to do in metro Phoenix from April 22 through 24. For more arts, culture, food, and music events in the Valley, see our curated online calendar. Beer Olympics New Times and Tempe Marketplace have joined forces once again for the third annual Beer Olympics, where…
Tempe artist Danielle Wood stood near her newest art installation on Sunday morning, April 17, talking about her work with people taking a bicycling tour of public art in Scottsdale. Several of her ceramic works, inspired by cactus and coral forms, comprise an installation called Desert Playa located in Old…
A few years ago a friend gave me a gift she’d found in a used-book sale somewhere — a Bantam paperback edition, from 1955 (price 35 cents) of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. She thought that I would be amused by the cover, which pitched the book as a lurid…
Each week, we’re recapping the second season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt episode by episode. Beware of silverfish. Season one of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, the Netflix original that follows a young woman’s life in New York after a 15-year period living in a cultist underground bunker, turned out even better than Tina…
Butch female characters have been too few and far between in film history. In most cases, you’ll find them in so-called “gay and lesbian” genres, as though a character’s sexuality entirely defines his or her story. But in 1986, Private First Class Jenette Vasquez, expertly played by Jenette Goldstein, destroyed…
The Arc & Sprout Touring Film Festival’s aim can be boiled down to just three words: Change the world. With help from Arc of Arizona, Chandler-Gilbert Arc, and the Sprout Film Festival, the second annual edition of the event looks poised to do just that. Taking place at Tempe Pollack…
JLouis Mills isn’t a doctor, but after years of persistence, he now plays one on TV. This is thanks to a single phone call. The roadblocks along the way were multifold. Mills struggled with the blood disease known as Kawasaki Syndrome from ages 6 to 12, underwent retinal re-attachment surgery…
Don’t hold it against Tom Tykwer’s A Hologram for the King that its best scene is also its first. As Alan Clay (Tom Hanks) strides down a suburban street singing a modified version of Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime” (“You may find yourself … without a beautiful house ……
Elvis Presley once watched Dr. Strangelove three times in one night at a Memphis movie theater. After that, he made them play the last reel several more times, marveling at it. It’s fascinating to wonder about: Here’s this country’s biggest musical star, the leading man in movies he knew were…
Jonathan Pine, the hero of The Night Manager, might have a syrupy voice and skin tanned to a glowing bronze, but in other respects he’s a classic John le Carré creation. Pine (Tom Hiddleston) makes his living unshowily and in the dark, at a swank hotel, juggling front-desk phone calls,…
Who says superheroes can’t get action beyond fight scenes? Just because they’re saving the world all the time doesn’t mean they can’t serve justice between the sheets, too. With superhero movies and TV shows more popular than ever, we’re looking back at some of the steamiest moments in superhero sex…
With summer fast approaching, it might be wise to take your cycling indoors. Cue the grand opening of CycleBar Premium Indoor Cycling, “a new luxury boutique fitness franchise offering a high-energy workout in a lively, concert-like atmosphere,” according to a news release. The workout venue is set to open in…
A crisp white sheet that’s hung like fresh laundry using wooden clothespins bears three carefully embroidered letters: KKK. It’s placed behind a small wooden ironing board, its flat surface bearing the diagram of a crowded slave ship cargo hold. Nearby, a white dress hangs above a small chair holding the…
Careful what you wish for. When it was announced that Jessica Chastain and Emily Blunt would be joining Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth for the followup to 2012’s humdrum action/fairy tale Snow White and the Huntsman, many filmgoers, myself included, got unduly excited. The original film, while a hit, had…
