Armchair Cinephile
Brits and bumblers You may not have heard the name Alan Clarke, but chances are you’ve enjoyed some of the careers which he supported: The English filmmaker, who died in 1990, gave Tim Roth his first role; he did the same for Ray Winstone (Sexy Beast, Cold Mountain, and more great character-actor appearances than you…
The bare minimum
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 set the federal minimum wage for non-farm workers at 25 cents an hour. Sixty-six years later, the hourly minimum wage is $5.15, although some states and cities supersede that amount: Maine has set its minimum hourly wage at $6.25; by local ordinance, full-time, permanent City of San Antonio…
Special screenings
Special screenings update: This just in, from possibly reliable sources… There will be a free screening of Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism, at 7pm, Tuesday September 7th, at the San Antonio Public Library – downtown branch, 600 Soledad. Be there, or be misinformed… by the forces of evil. The Good, the Bad, and the…
Recent Reviews
Alien vs. Predator, The Best Two Years, Bush’s Brain, Collateral, Danny Deckchair, The Door In the Floor, Garden State, Hero, The Manchurian Candidate, Maria Full of Grace, Shaolin Soccer (Siu lam juk kau), Zatoichi, and all the rest… Alien vs. Predator Dir. & writ. Paul W.S. Anderson; feat. Sanna Lathan, Raoul Bova, Lance Henriksen (PG-13)…
Not buried alive
A young Efrain Gutierrez sits in front of posters from his first two feature-length films, Please Don’t Bury Me Alive and Amor Chicano es Para Siempre. Low Rider Weekend in San Quilmas marked Gutierrez’ return to the big screen in 2001. UCLA’s Film and Television Archive is in the process of remastering Gutierrez’ pioneering work…
Where have all the flower(ed hat)s gone?
Limestone walls, rich wood floors, and works by local artists add to the ambience of The Copper Kitchen at the Southwest School of Art & Craft. (Photos by Mark Greenberg) Ladies lunch may be a thing of the past, but the menus persist I’m disappointed. It appears that the era of the ladies’ lunch is…
Sweet and savory
The humble appearance of the Mexican Chocolate Icebox Cookie belies its rich, savory flavor and melt-in-your-mouth texture. The complimentary sweet is served sparingly during Sunday brunch at Liberty Bar & Grill. (Photo by Mark Greenberg) Loosen your belt for two of Liberty Bar’s eclectic desserts “The only thing that makes fat taste better is more…
In the round
News and notes from the San Antonio theater scene Footlightseptiembre September begins the new theater season. It’s also come to be unofficial Theater Month in SA, as all sorts of stage-related events vie for your patronage. On September 9, the Magik Theatre, in collaboration with Communities in Schools, will present a “symphonic” revival of one…
All You Can Eat
News and notes from the San Antonio food scene King Willie’s outdoor barbeque restaurant opened August 6 at 943 South Alamo in the heart of the King William historical district. Owner Gloria Hernandez moved the longstanding Southtown Emporium to the back of the building and turned the front into a restaurant, she says, out of…
As the poet might have said it
José Rubén de León presents his critically acclaimed play in Lorca’s native language It happened in Kentucky. José Rubén de León, a local playwright, performer, and vocalist, took his one-man show LORCA to Murray State University. He performed the piece, about the life and work of Spain’s beloved and controversial poet and dramatist Federico García…
Bare necessities
Bobby Bare Jr.: country in his DNA, and punk perversity in his soul The scion of maverick country royalty takes on Music City Nashville has long been the country music equivalent of Hollywood. It’s an industry town where every waiter is an aspiring singer, songwriting is done by appointment in someone’s office, and studios crank…
October is the weirdest month
Expanded ‘Darko’ is still a head trip, even with the extra info Although the film did a lot to increase the Hollywood standing of its writer and director Richard Kelly and its sibling co-stars Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, not a lot of people actually saw Donnie Darko in theaters. If the anecdotal evidence can be…
Sound and the Fury
A week on the scene Mucha lucha At one time, Randy’s Ballroom would be packed wall-to-wall with Raza on a Saturday night, yet for last Saturday’s visit from Los Chicos del Barrio the venue was, surprisingly, sparse. Still, the dance floor filled with gente once the 10 members of the group (visa complications held back…
Youth against fascism
Sonic Youth: no longer so youthful, and less adventurously sonic on their latest album Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon talks consumer culture and America’s fascination with celebrity “We’re playing at the House of Blues `in Las Vegas`, and I think this is really the only weak-selling show on the tour,” says Kim Gordon. “I’m curious about…
Barrio slam
Taco Shop Poets built their reputation by taking their spoken-word performance from bars and slams to the streets, literally living up to everything their name implies through taqueria tours of their native San Diego, California. Locals may remember these guerrilla spoken-wordsmiths from their bravura appearance at the Guadalupe’s Inter-American book festival several years ago, or…
Electro crush
Hyperbubble the debut CD by San Antonio’s own Hyperbubble delivers what its title promises: Solid Pop. For fans of the synthesizer-playing, kitsch-loving, robot-posing duo, the new CD will scratch that Hyperbubble itch between gigs. (Though gigs, thankfully, are becoming more frequent.) Listening to a song like “Bionic Girl” on a CD may never be a…
Becky sharp and nothing flat
Reese Witherspoon gives a deft portrayal of Thackeray’s Becky Sharp, “a Napoleon of the drawing room and boudoir.” Mira Nair constructs an intensive, intoxicating version of Thackeray’s dark masterpiece If you had read William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair when it was published in monthly installments from 1847 to 1848, its characters would have lived with…
A soulful expression of the living word
Two bad muthas: the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Isaac Hayes. ‘Wattstax’ captured the heady days of Black Power, a young Richard Pryor, and Stax Records’ swan song As its name suggests, the 1972 Wattstax festival was a self-conscious attempt to create a Woodstock for the black community. More than any event of its time, Woodstock…
Here comes the judge
Judge Phil Hardberger Phil Hardberger aims to sail into mayor’s office Phil Hardberger’s life has been an adventure, whether by land, by sea, in the sky, or in the courtroom. He has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, raced a sailboat from Galveston to Veracruz (winning first place), flown a single-engine airplane from San Antonio to…
That empty feeling
Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley play murder investigators saddled with goofy genre conventions, maddening psychic ability, and an ambiguous mathematical symbol, in Suspect Zero. Serial killers plus ‘X-Files’ equals less than expected It is a dark and stormy night. A jumpy fat man sits in a diner booth, minding his own business. Silhouetted in the…
