V for Vendetta (Warner Bros.) Illustrator David Lloyd calls this adaptation of the comic he made with writer Alan Moore “very good” — so why did Moore beg to have his name removed? The intentions are noble, sure; name another big-studio blockbuster in which a government manufactures fear to keep…
Beavis & Butt-head: The Mike Judge Collection, Volume 3 (Paramount) Blind Beast vs. Killer Dwarf (Panik House) Broken Saints: The Animated Comic Epic (Fox) Dallas: The Complete Fifth Season (Warner Bros.) Elvis: ’68 Comeback (BMG Heritage) A Fish Called Wanda: Deluxe Edition (MGM) Girls Next Door (Fox) The Graduate (MGM)…
Been to the gym this summer? Make it pay off during One O’Clock Shirtless Shots, where you’ll get a penny shot for exposing yourself from the waist up. Bring on the sweaty armpits, chest hair, or whatever your naked torso has going for itself. The naughtiness happens every night at…
City anglers can get fishy without leaving town at Red Mountain Park Lake during Urban Fishing. The eight-acre oasis features two fishing docks and waters stocked with channel catfish, bluegill, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, carp, and white amur. Other species like tilapia — documented by a two-pound, 13-inch record-setting catch…
Michael Mann’s Miami Vice is like a car that’s been stripped of everything but its two bucket seats and rebuilt from the ground up. The protagonists are a pair of detectives named Sonny Crockett (Colin Farrell) and Ricardo Tubbs (Jamie Foxx), and a cover of Phil Collins’ “In the Air…
The Ant Bully is based upon a very short children’s book by John Nickle, who wrote and illustrated the 1999 work all by his lonesome after years of providing illustrations for The Wall Street Journal and Sports Illustrated, not to mention other works of kiddy lit. The book, as most…
Originally, Ward Serrill set out to make a documentary — and a short one at that — about Bill Resler, an avuncular tax professor at the University of Washington who thought he knew enough about basketball to coach the girls’ team at Roosevelt High School in Seattle. Never mind that…
For 35 years, Woody Allen was a long shot to stray into the Bronx or Staten Island, much less the alien reaches of London, England. The creator of Manhattan has always been joined to his chosen borough like pastrami on rye — so when he ventured abroad last year to…
I’ve nearly recovered from having seen a dinner theater production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast in east Mesa last week. My headache, which began shortly after Anthony Majewski began singing, is almost gone. My stomachache (which wasn’t caused by anything I ate, since I skipped the dinner portion of…
1740 The first version of Beauty and the Beast, by Madame Gabrielle de Villeneuve, appears. Villeneuve’s version doesn’t end with the transformation of the Prince, who remains ugly — and grumpy about it, too. 1756 A newer, more cautionary (and much more sexist) version of the tale by Madame Le…
Flight sims — games that emulate the experience of being in a cockpit — are plenty popular on PCs, but have never taken off on home consoles. This is partly due to their inherent complexity. When it comes to recreating an entire cockpit’s worth of buttons, levers, and gizmos, the…
Feed (TLA) Remember the old jokes about “What’s grosser than gross”? The makers of Feed do, as they prove in the first 10 minutes — one-upping their opening scene featuring a voluntary victim of cannibalism by bringing in a guy who gets nekkid and shoves cheeseburgers down the throat of…
West Side Story: This deeply sincere take on Arthur Laurents’ landmark musical thankfully never tries to impersonate the movie version, which is what audiences who attend West Side Story often want. Instead, Desert Stages’ Sharks and Jets dance like kids actually might if they were trapped in Hell’s Kitchen and…
2005 Academy Award Nominated Short Films (Magnolia) Animaniacs: Volume 1 (Warner Bros.) Ask the Dust (Paramount) Awesome; I Fuckin’ Shot That! (ThinkFilm) The Benchwarmers (Sony) Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story (Shout! Factory) Bogie & Bacall: The Signature Collection (Warner Bros.) Chappelle’s Show: The Lost Episodes (Paramount) Electric Shadows (First Run)…
Hair holds a magic exalted for centuries. In the Biblical story of Samson, hair was a source of power. In Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, long, flowing locks are the epitome of beauty. Hair has also been used for functional and artistic purposes. In the Victorian era, pendants containing a lock…
Remember those commercials that promised 52 free dinners with any windshield replacement? Over time, the offer dwindled to 20 free dinners at a salad buffet, then 12 barbecue meals, and, finally, a single box of steaks. What happens when you replace an attractive offer with items that are less desirable?…
Two weeks ago, a colleague insisted that Superman Returns isn’t a remake of the 1978 original, as I wrote, but a reinterpretation — its melancholy flip side. Where the Christopher Reeve model was pop art and a cool breeze, the Brandon Routh version is heavy and solemn, weighed down by…
It would be a mighty sweet thing to see M. Night Shyamalan as the great redemptive storyteller he clearly thinks he is — or as he portrays himself in those American Express commercials. Genuine yarn-spinning, even as a doomed ambition, is virtually extinct in American movies; what had been the…
In the latest extravaganza from executive producers Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, millions of dollars and long hours in the digital animation studios have produced . . . a photorealistic, computer-animated, generic American suburb! Location costs must be getting pretty damn expensive nowadays. As Monster House begins, we follow a…
The history of football videogames is one of adding layer upon layer of complexity. Tecmo Bowl, the first great football game, had just four plays to choose from. Fast-forward to the latest Madden, and it’s more like 400. The logical result of this evolution is Electronic Arts’ NFL Head Coach,…
Edison Force (Sony) Gritty cop stuff must write itself — just make sure everyone’s tough, corrupt, and talking like they stole Mickey Spillane’s thesaurus. Then cast Justin Timberlake. Screech! Employing the talented (at music) popster as a crusading journalist isn’t this lame flick’s worst flaw — merely the one you’ll…
“David Pimentel: Legacy of an Artist and Educator” at Mesa Arts Center: The death of an artist usually brings instant notoriety and positive attention. In former ASU professor David Pimentel’s case, the accolades are warranted. Look for his renowned series of copper vessels, each unique in form and crafted from…
