Andrew OsborneFilmAustin,
Though SXSW 2020 was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, a digital sampler plate of the festival's scheduled lineup nevertheless yielded three amazing documentaries to watch out for via a screening service (or, hopefully, eventually maybe even a theater) near you at some point in the future: ...
Michael McDonaghMusicNew York,
A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR: Please excuse the lateness of this piece but three versions of it that I wrote which were in "Draft " disappeared thrice so I had to re-write it thrice and re-think every position I took on this version of Akhnaten ...
Andrew OsborneFilmAustin,
Full disclosure: after covering the jam-packed South-by-Southwest line-up for more than a decade, 2020 is the first and only time I've ever managed to see EVERY film in the festival's narrative feature competition because THIS year... ...well, y'know, SXSW was cancelled ...
Andrew OsborneFilmAustin,
True crime tales are an evergreen genre (whether in tabloid, podcast, or mini-series form) because they tap into primal human emotions, including a basic need to know whodunit, while the best ones -- a distinction which certainly applies to the new Showtime docuseries "Outcry" (based on the first two ...
Andrew OsborneFilmAustin,
Depending on your political leanings and/or the culture in which you were raised, you might feel many of the world's problems are caused either by (a) Islamic fundamentalists, (b) black/Latinx gang members, and/or (c) toxic white incel (or "involuntarily celibate") alt-right trolls. But what if the true answer is ...
Andrew OsborneEtcAustin,
South-by-Southwest (a.k.a. SXSW) began in Austin, TX as a music festival in 1987, continuously expanding in the years since to feature movies, TV, comedy, games, art, podcasting, and conferences/exhibits on everything from education and sports to politics and cutting edge technology. Personally, I've ...
Paula FarmerFilm
At the intersection of Noir mystery thriller and art appreciation is the film, “The Burnt Orange Heresy,” by director Giuseppe Capotondi. When an ambitious, but fallen-from-professional-grace art critic, James Figueras (Claes Bang) gets approached to steal a painting from an acclaimed but reclusive elderly artist, Jerome Debney (Donald ...
Lynne FriedmannTheaterSan Diego,
A sex scandal leads to the resignation of an elected official and creates a leadership vacuum. Political fodder for today’s newsfeed? Nope. These actions fuel the engine of the most astonishing election campaign to emerge in what is already an astonishing election year. My fellow ...
Emily S. MendelTheaterBerkeley,
In their fifth appearance at Berkeley Rep, Culture Clash, kings of provocative, politically charged comedy with a Latin flavor, have not lost their mojo. After their 35 years performing together, the three Mission District natives, Richard Montoya, Ricardo Salinas, and Herbert Sigüenza, are back at the Rep in their ...
SInger & SonDanceBerkeley,
James: You spoke about Joffrey having been cutting edge. Is today’s Joffrey in step with the original company? Toba: It’s an entirely different kind of company, not as self-confident, not the same unsinkable esprit de corps, and the repertoire is more diffuse. I am tempted to ...