Case closed, already!
Owen Wilson (left) and Ben Stiller co-star in the Starsky and Hutch remake (courtesy photo) Another unfunny flick spoofs the ’70s This will probably be too obvious to utter aloud for anyone outside the decision making machine in Hollywood, but: Can we stop with the self-conscious ’70s spoofs already? If Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson…
Playing With Passions
‘The Passion of the Christ’ shortshrifts Jesus’ message The monumental uproar and controversy generated by Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion of the Christ, is a reminder that there’s nothing like religious fervor to inflame passions and obscure reason. To see any human being relentlessly abused and mercilessly whipped is disturbing enough. But to show the…
Armchair Cinephile
An Anthropologist’s Nightmare As I started working my way through the impressively put-together Mondo Cane Collection from Blue Underground, the exotic visions onscreen started inspiring others in my head: I saw hordes of tweedy academics, those devoted to the honest study of other cultures, ripping every hair from their heads in horror. Mondo Cane, you…
Go Tell It On the Mountain
A scene from Touching the Void Severing a tenuous link to life in the Peruvian Andes In June 1985, 21-year-old Simon Yates and 25-year-old Joe Simpson set out to ascend Siula Grande, a peak in the Peruvian Andes whose west face had never before been conquered. By the third day of strenuous, perilous climbing through…
A Democratic Dogfight
Ciro Rodriguez District 28: survival of the richest As the poll returns came in on the Election Night 2002, it looked like Democratic challenger Henry Cuellar might upend GOP incumbent and mainstay Henry Bonilla in the race for Congressional District 23. Well into the night, the results came in from the last county – Bexar…
Special Screenings
Instituto de México 600 HemisFair Park, 227-0130 Mexico en Corto Sunday Movies at the Instituto presents “Sin sosten,” “Santo golpe,” “Largo es el camino al cielo,” “Pronto saldremos del problema,” “En espejo del cielo,” “Cruz,” “Republica Checa.” 4pm Mar 7. $2 suggested donation. Planet of the Tapes 1111 S. St. Mary’s, 212-9373 Short Films Screening…
Two Moderates, Two Bush-Lites
Four Republicans vie for a newly carved 28th Gabriel “Gabe” Perales, one of four Republican challengers running in the March 9 primary for a chance to unseat a Democrat in Congressional District 28, believes he made a good showing the last time he vied for that office. “There were some malfunctioning machines in Hidalgo County,…
RECENT REVIEWS
21 Grams Dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu; writ. Guillermo Arriaga; feat. Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Benicio Del Toro, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Melissa Leo, Paul Calderon (R) 21 Grams juggles three main characters who, though they don’t know it yet, are involved in one story. We see snippets (very short ones, for much of the film) of their…
Driving While Black — Or Brown
Lieutenant Rosalinda Vasquez of the San Antonio Police Department explains rights and procedures for filing a complaint with the SAPD’s internal affairs division. Vasquez spoke during a recent town hall meeting on racial profiling in San Antonio. The meeting was sponsored by the Texas Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, the American Civil Liberties Union, the NAACP,…
Ignore the Walls
From front: Phad gra prow – ground chicken, onion, fresh chiles, and basil; Thai fried rice with crabmeat; vegetarian Thai springrolls; and green curry – eggplant, bell pepper basil leaves, and coconut milk in a slightly sweet sauce. (Photo by Mark Greenberg) Concentrate on Bangkok Cuisine’s delicate flavors If you can get over the pulsating…
Two Views, Same War
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright speaks to a capacity crowd recently at a Barnes & Noble bookstore in San Antonio. Albright was in town to promote her book “Madame Secretary.” (Photo by Mark Greenberg) Albright and Kay speak about Iraq to SA audiences Last week, San Antonio became center stage for the national debate…
Oh veggie, where art thou?
“We need to think more deeply about what we are doing on this planet,” says Kaz Sephton, president of the San Antonio Vegetarian Society (SAVS). (Photo by Erich Landry) Meatless in steer city In a land where cattle is king, it is odd to eat the monarch. Imagine if the French had made not only…
Bluegrass Immigration
The Greencards: Austin’s favorite musical expatriates Bluegrass Immigration By Gilbert Garcia The Greencards learned American traditionalism in Australia and England Australia might not produce a wealth of bluegrass and country musicians, but the relative few all seem to land in the same building in Sydney. Keith Urban, Nashville’s best-known singer from Down Under, rented an…
Putting the Money Where His Mouth Was
Theater and opera patron Robert L.B. Tobin funded the Tobin Endowment and the Tobin Foundation for Theatre Arts in his will, expressing a desire to, “continue our family’s dedication to supporting the advancement and enrichment of the arts in the various communities to which our life’s work has been devoted.” The Tobin Endowment doesn’t fund…
Sound and the Fury
a week on the scene Dr. Loco’s Blues This year’s CineFestival ends on Saturday, March 6 with a special screening of Alambrista!, director Robert Young’s tale about the immigrant campesino experience, recut with a new ending and a soundtrack that better fits the movie’s themes. Following the film, José “Dr. Loco” Cuellar, a professor of…
Punk-Pop Godfathers
The Mr. T Experience: a Berkeley quartet that has endured numerous lineup changes The Mr. T Experience pities the fool who would count it out The moment you stop and think everything is really going great is usually when it all starts to go south in a hurry. One might assume that Dr. Frank -…
Indelible Impact
Sandy Dunn, pictured at left, and S.T. Shimi of Jump-Start Performance Co. create an ever-changing “tone-poem” meditation on the politics, meaning, and experience of water in Watermark, Part I, showing one more weekend only at the Southwest School of Art & Craft. (courtesy photo) ‘Watermark, Part I’ leaves a lasting impression The challenge of writing…
Sweet Home Arizona
Closely affiliated for years with Jimmy Eat World, Reubens Accomplice has simultaneously benefited and suffered from the association. While the connection has enabled these talented Phoenix indie rockers to enhance their profile, it’s also tended to make them look like eternal upstarts, junior-varsity emo kids following in big brother’s footsteps. The superficial similarities are unmistakable:…
The Latin From Manhattan Returns
John Leguizamo Everyone’s favorite ‘Freak’ lampoons the ties that bind It isn’t often that Latinos have a chance to see their lives reflected in the media. Oh yeah, I forgot. Every gang-member or undocumented-worker arrest is broadcast in living color on the 10 o’clock news. But how often are we given a mirror to reflect…
Swedish Barrage
Yngwie Malmsteen In late 2002, while aboard a flight to Tokyo, Swedish guitar wanker Yngwie Malmsteen reportedly uncorked a blistering flurry of anti-gay epithets. A woman sitting close to Yngwie took offense at his tirade, and expressed her displeasure by dousing him with a glass of water. Yngwie’s response quickly became the stuff of Internet…
The Marketing of Faith
James Caviezel as Jesus Christ in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ (courtesy photo) You can count on a crucifixion to fill a movie theater After a millennium-and-a-half of representing Christian martyrdom, painters and sculptors of the late baroque became ever more intricate and even perverse. El Greco’s exquisite “Saint Sebastian,” for example, eroticizes…
Cine Sin Fronteras
Cine Sin Fronteras By Gregg Barrios The Guadalupe Cultural Arts CineFestival has brought the best in Latino independent films for more than 25 years. This year’s edition, “Many Roads, Un Destino: Chicano/ Latino/Indigenous Perspectives on Immigration,” is no exception. Among this year’s highlights are the documentary, Farmingville, by Carlos Sandoval and Catherine Tambini, and Robert…
Justice Is Coming and So Are We
My yet-to-be lawfully wedded wife and I are sitting in front of the computer screen weeping. No, the system hasn’t crashed. Nobody died, and neither of us has PMS. These are tears of joy, baby. It’s happening. Equality is in the air and on the bandwidth. Justice is coming, as no doubt are many of…
