“The heart wants what it wants,” Woody Allen has taught us, and apparently what his heart wants these days is not to have to bother with writing second drafts of film scripts. His latest, Magic in the Moonlight, plays like a sumptuous vacation, its stars larking in ’20s finery about…
Mood Indigo is bitter candy, a heartbreaker that uses sugar as a trap. The director, Michel Gondry, has a brilliant, contradictory brain. He’s a swoony pessimist, a big-dreaming romantic who believes in love at first sight but never lets his films end with a kiss. Instead, his idea of a…
With Jack Nicholson still enjoying his retirement, it falls to Michael Douglas to swoon over the oh-so-cutesy Diane Keaton in And So It Goes, a timid, elder rom-com in the same wheelhouse as the 2003 Nicholson-Keaton team-up, Something’s Gotta Give. A film of nothing but soft edges, director Rob Reiner’s…
He couldn’t have known it at the time, but James Brown’s debut recording and first chart hit — made in 1956 with the Famous Flames — is a question that contains its own answer. The lyrics to “Please, Please, Please” speak, pretty obviously, of sexual desire. But Brown’s voice is…
James Brown stripped pop to its rhythmic essentials: the groove and the grunt, the bridge, and the scream. Tate Taylor’s Get On Up likewise reduces James Brown — and the biopic form — to all that matters most. Here are the highs of the man’s life, both artistic and recreational…
What’s the only thing more satisfying than a good party? How about a party for a good cause? This summer, the Fundación para las Artes Latino-Americanas, better know as FALA, brings just that with its inaugural fundraising fête the FALA Gala.This evening of Latin entertainment and dinning, hosted by Carlos…
Not sure if the movie you’re watching is considered film noir? Here are a few dead giveaways: There is a private detective. There is a woman who is maybe not so trustworthy (but totally pretty). You could call it “gritty.” You might also There are lots of shadows and shadowy…
And now for something completely intimate.Leaving behind larger-than-life arrangements, Scorpius Dance Theatre will resurrect a small-scale 2005 production as part of Actors Theatre Phoenix’s ongoing summer stock schedule at Black Theatre Troupe Center for the Performing Arts.Intimate features original choreography by Scorpius founder and artistic director Lisa Starry and simple,…
Rather than leave your canine confined to the couch all summer long, give him some fresh air some new furry faces at Glendale’s Fifth Annual Dog Days of Summer. At this community event, pets and their owners can meet and greet with other four-legged locals including Topaz, a crisis response…
Sometimes it’s good to play in a small league. A few weeks ago, Arizona United were struggling near the bottom of the USL-Pro table. After a short hot-streak, however, United are, well, still near the bottom of the table, but they’re also within striking distance of a playoff spot thanks…
What do Russian astronauts and knock-knock jokes have in common? Not much. But that’s just the sort of slapstick logic you’d expect from Arizona sketch comedy troupe, The Cosmonauts.This humorous herd comprises local pranksters Jamie Aronson Tyus, Marc Siegel, Rick Beedle, Carey Antoszewski, Jonathan Brown, Andrea Kuretzky, Yuko Maeda, David…
The Sanctuary’s midday epicurean course series is back for its 13th session, and this time they’re bringing in Jason Asher, a former Jade Bar bartender and the Nation’s Most Inspired Bartender of 2010, to speak about the world of craft cocktails.Nowadays, Asher works mainly as a beverage program consultant for…
It might be a myth that dinosaurs have provided us with oil, but those prehistoric reptiles have certainly fueled imaginations. For those with all sorts of terrible lizards on the brain, the second edition of the Phoenix DinoCon stomps into downtown Phoenix this Saturday, August 2.The biggest score this year…
It took Hal Sparks awhile to catch fire, but quirky commentary helped him find his true sense of comedic timing.The 44-year-old made a name for himself with his role as comic-book loving Michael Novotny on the stateside version of Queer as Folk, a British-developed drama about the interwoven lives of…
Think air guitar, but with more thrusting, more head banging… more banging in general. The 2014 Air Sex World Championship Tour comes to downtown indie theater FilmBar.Hosted by comedian Chris Trew, the raunchy roadshow — now in its sixth season — encourages air coitus between exhibitioners and their imaginary partner(s)…
Phoenix artist Daniel Shepherd brings solo work to Willo North Gallery for an upcoming show entitled “an idea of why.” The artist, who works in abstract paintings and collages using old magazines and photographs, uses these repurposed materials to create work minimalist in style and complex in message. The goal…
Surfing in Phoenix? As good as that sounds, it also sounds fantastical. Wait, it’s true! Surfing on Central is all about enjoying a surfing-like adventure compliments of a cranking wave generation machine. Crazy it is — crazy cool, fun and thrilling. Get on your best surf shorts and head over…
Jennifer Gross’s latest solo exhibition “Garden Delights” on view at Practical Art this month may or may not be a reference the infamous Hieronymus Bosch triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights. But Gross and Bosch do share a slight inclination towards the bizarre and an ability to bring their visions…
If you have a box full of Pez dispensers buried in the back of your closet or a book of state quarters discretely hidden between copies of the latest bestsellers, then we have something in common. Peter Held has us thinking about these kinds of assemblages, if you will, for…
Phoenix is brimming with creativity. And every other year, we put the spotlight on 100 of the city’s creative forces. Leading up to the release of this year’s Best of Phoenix issue, we’re profiling 100 more. Welcome to the 2014 edition of 100 Creatives. Up today: 40. Melissa Dunmore. “I…
UFC, the premier organization for mixed martial arts, is hosting its first-ever event in Arizona on Saturday, December 13 at the US Airways Center. It will be broadcast internationally as the UFC’s 13th event on Fox…
Mark Walters is just another victim of the evil subject known as math. The owner and one of the artists at Living Canvas Tattoos in Tempe didn’t intend to go into tattooing, he wanted to work with his dad as an architect, but he always found himself struggling with the…
