Although most people in the moviegoing universe by now know the differences between an “Alien” and a “Predator,” putting the two critters together in one movie really ought to necessitate more specific species names for each, since both are technically aliens and predators (they’re from outer space and they hunt…
Randall Wallace is a curious guy. Raised in Tennessee and schooled at Duke, he put himself through a year of divinity school by teaching karate, wrote songs for a while in Nashville, and managed shows at Opryland. Then he kicked into high gear by writing the script for Mel Gibson’s…
Those zany kids at Stray Cat Theatre have strapped a leash onto their new season, which they’re opening with something called Poona, the Fuckdog — a title as compelling as it is unprintable, at least in Phoenix. “The Rep has Poona, the (Expletive) Dog,” laughs Stray Cat’s artistic director Ron…
Sat 8/21 Existence, the Buddha says, is suffering; proof positive according to students of Eastern mysticism that he spends his Sundays moonlighting as an Arizona Cardinals fan. Despite an unrivaled string of losing seasons, hope once again springs eternal in Redbird Country, for from the ashes of the Stallings, Bugel,…
Sat 8/21 Vertical proficiency isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Just think of all the comforts average-height folks enjoy — waste-level countertops, overhead shower heads and, above all else, average expectations. So don’t think that a Central Arizona Tall Society (CATS) shindig is all about flexing some soaring dominance…
Thu 8/19 Radio drama? These days, there isn’t much, unless Rush Limbaugh’s bout with OxyContin counts as dramatic fare. But there was a time — in the 1930s and ’40s — when live electronic entertainment came solely via radio, with War of the Worlds and Arch Oboler’s Lights Out leading…
Chauvinism is funny. Misogyny is a laugh riot. And Robert Dubac, author and star of The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron?, is pretty darn amusing, too. The show, which ran for months in Chicago, Cleveland and Boston, and has occupied the Herberger Stage West for most of the summer, recounts the…
THU 12 The Invincible Czars — an Austin quartet with a thing for mixing buzzing guitars with accordions and horns — buzz into town Thursday, August 12, for a show at the Emerald Lounge, 1514 North Seventh Avenue. The Czars play a mean set of “indie-riffic-mathrockery to Eastern-European folk idioms,”…
Grease is definitely the word, even if I don’t entirely understand why. I have nothing against fab ’50s musicals or playwrights Warren Casey and Jim Jacobs, who co-authored Grease back in the ’70s. Their score is among the best of its kind, because it mimics the sound and sentiment of…
A good friend likes to say that there’s only one kind of great pop song — the song that someone had to create, as though the writer and performer had no choice. The song can be corny or cynical, upbeat or downhearted; it doesn’t matter. All that counts is that…
Garry Marshall is at it again. The director of Pretty Woman, Beaches and the original Princess Diaries has returned to peddle his particular brand of überschmaltz in The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, in which he disguises an insidious worship of wealth and privilege as a “feel-good” comedy about a…
Most boys seem to tumble down the assembly line with their main switch factory-preset to Aggression. Toys are for throwing, army men are for melting, and eventually grown males consider punching each other senseless, hurling deadly bombs, or surreptitiously undermining one another to be completely reasonable forms of discourse. But…
Troy Tinker sounds exasperated as he explains why the World Famous Lipizzaner Stallions Tour would be of interest to discerning hipsters. It’s almost as if his horse sense was tingling, anticipating the question before it was asked. “I know where this is going,” says Tinker, the emcee of the show…
William Makuet is lost no longer. A member of southern Sudan’s Nuer tribe, Makuet was forced from his thatched hut, at age 11, by men wielding machine guns. Permanently separated from his family, he became one of Sudan’s “Lost Boys.” In the mid-1980s, war forced an estimated 20,000 Sudanese boys,…
8/12-8/31 Jen and Scott Sanders, owners of the Paper Heart, 750 Grand Avenue, pride themselves on providing something for everyone. So any pop-cultural pimp worth his or her weight in Hot Topic gear will find something of interest at the joint, be it Argentinean tango lessons or alt-rock shows. Similar…
Scheduling the Phoenix Mercury’s annual clinic to coincide with the Summer Olympics is a slam-dunk way of cashing in on all the, uh, hoopla surrounding USA Basketball’s expected march to the medal stand. True, a chunk of the WNBA’s roster is already in Athens. But c’mon, is there a better…
Saturdays When the bar scene is too hot and the club scene is too cold, DJs Natasha Diggs and Mosha know just what to mix to make the night feel just right at Tempe’s State Side Grill (formerly Zoom Room) on College and Fifth Street. The fluidity of the featured…
Sat 8/14 Things get pretty dead around these parts during the dog days of summer, especially when it comes to nationalistic celebrations. After getting hammered by the one-two punch of July 4 and Bastille Day, patriots and expatriates alike have to wait until the Labor Day weekend for frenetic flag-waving…
“Imagine That!” at the West Valley Art Museum: The current selection at this oft-forgotten spot includes an exhibition organized by the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum titled “Imagine That! A Whimsical Take on Nature.” The idea was to challenge traditional wildlife artists to create images of fictional animals — merging species, switching…
THU 5 If your multi-tasking tendencies extend toward culture, you’re in luck. Get a two-fer at 7 p.m. Thursday, August 5, when members of the Phoenix Symphony set up shop at the Phoenix Art Museum to perform works by Bach and Mozart — heavy on the cello, clarinet and strings…
Mike Maas has more than a few skeletons in his closet. The budding artist who spent his childhood watching Creature Feature boasts a house full of monsters, goblins, freaks and bunnies. Yes, bunnies — both real and ceramic — the signature touch of sweetness that wife Jodi lends to Mike’s…
As a reviewer, it can be very tempting to want in on the ground floor of a phenomenon, to say you were there first when some low-budget feature with a nifty premise made its festival debut, only to be picked up by a big studio and become a national phenomenon…
