Arts and Culture (All)

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Dick Wilson - 10/21/10

Bay Theatre Company’s Lips Together, Teeth Apart

The title’s a metaphor; this play’s a triumph

We hear a lot these days about relationships. There’s the romantic kind, and then there are other kinds: husband/wife, brother/sister, parent/offspring as well as the illicit kind, among others, some of which migrate from one form to another. In Bay Theatre’s fine new production, Lips Together, Teeth Apart (we’ll discuss the title later; stick with me), we see relationships that are stretched to the breaking point. Two married couples are spending a holiday weekend at a beach...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Mark Burns - 10/21/10

Red

Superspy sages come out of retirement swinging in this snappy comic action flick.

Frank Moses (Bruce Willis: Cop Out) is a lonely guy, quietly whiling away retirement with regular phone calls to his federal pension agent, Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker: TV’s Weeds). Dimmed verve gets a jolt, though, when a hit squad comes crashing through his home in the dead of night. Suddenly he’s crisscrossing the country, fighting off a kill order and CIA hotshot William (Karl Urban: Star Trek) even while connecting with mothballed allies and assets. Together they’ll crack a...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Davina Grace Hill - 10/14/10

The Crucible

Don’t miss this burnished Dignity Players’ production

Many of us studied The Crucible in high school. Arthur Miller used the Salem Witch Trials of America’s 17th century to tell a pointed cautionary tale about Red Scare fears and McCarthy Hearings of his own America in the 1940s and 1950s. The Crucible proves itself resilient for our times as well. In our world, Internet gossip leads to suicides, lies trade as fact in politics and false accusations lead to job dismissals (remember Shirley Sherrod?). We seem not to have progressed very far...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Mark Burns - 10/14/10

Secretariat

An upstart horse owner rocks the racing world in this capable equine sports drama.

Penny (Diane Lane: Nights in Rodanthe) is a Denver housewife returned to the family’s Virginia horse farm by her mother’s death. She means to stay just long enough to set the stables in order. But Penny’s equestrian id returns full force, and her passion flares when she’s gifted with the prize foal that will become Secretariat. She’s hooked. Soon — with the help of trainer Lucien (John Malkovich: Jonah Hex), plus a few friends — Penny finds herself...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Mark Burns - 10/7/10

The Social Network

Harvard alums battle for ownership of a legacy in this smart Silicon Valley pastiche.

Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg: Zombieland) is a socially stunted Harvard sophomore. Just dumped by his girlfriend, he gets drunk, lashes out in a blog, hacks for photos of Ivy League co-eds and creates a hotness rating website that crashes Harvard’s network. The misadventure stirs up trouble but also catches the attention of alpha twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (both Armie Hammer: Spring Breakdown), who recruit him into developing their own dating website. But Zuckerberg...

Article - Books; by Louise Vest - 10/7/10

Raymond McAlwee’s Small Success Story

He’s living his Chesapeake dream

I’d like to say that I saw Raymond McAlwee’s book as soon as I walked into the Fenwick Island bookstore. But my eyes were first riveted to the mound of beckoning crab balls laid out for the store’s patrons. Munching away, I then saw the pile of books he had for sale, and I learned that the recipe for the delicious crab dish was from the same book. I went back to the plate for more of the crab, and later back to McAlwee for tales of Chesapeake Bay. Bay Dreaming...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Mark Burns - 9/30/10

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (3D)

Owls battle and soar in this beautiful tangle.

Soren (Jim Sturgess: 21) is a young barn owl from the forest of Tyto. The dreamer is just learning to spread his wings when he and his brother are kidnapped by agents of the Pure Ones, an evil flock of hawkish owls who snatch owlets for conscripts. It’s up to Soren, bolstered by bedtime stories about legendary heroes, to escape brainwashing and fly to the Guardians of Ga’Hoole to mount a rescue. His quest for help may forge Soren as a legend himself, as he strives to free the owlets...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Davina Grace Hill - 9/23/10

Colonial Players' Private Lives

Noel Coward’s wit seldom shows its age

Noel Coward was witty, erudite, classy and provocative. His playwriting gifts continue to make Private Lives — a play he wrote in four days 80 years ago — compelling. Colonial Players of Annapolis’ choice to begin its 61st season, Private Lives displays classic Coward irreverence towards marriage and social conventions. The plot line is simple: Sibyl and Elyot are on their honeymoon, as are Victor and Amanda. The complicating factor? Elyot and Amanda used to be married to each...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 9/23/10

The Town

A Bah-ston robbah tries to go straight in this engaging and pulpy crime tale

In the first five minutes of The Town, a group of precision criminals, donning skeleton masks, knock over a bank. Everything is going smoothly until someone triggers the silent alarm. The slick crew devolves quickly into violence and kidnapping as they make a sloppy getaway with the loot and terrified bank manager Claire (Rebecca Hall: Please Give). After releasing the woman and laundering their money, the crew meet in the neighborhood of Charlestown for a job evaluation. Crew leader...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 9/16/10

Machete

An action film with a message fails to deliver either.

Danny Trejo (Predators) is a badass. His 20-year career is based on the fact that he is the most intimidating man in just about any room. Trejo’s visceral presence inspired filmmaker Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids) to make his frequent collaborator an action movie star. At 66, however, Trejo is rapidly moving from grizzled action hero to curmudgeon. Machete is an extended version of the fake trailer that Robert Rodriguez added to his half of the Tarantino/Rodriguez Grindhouse double feature....