Bill Maher has no use for religion, supports drug legalization and railed against the Iraq War years before it became fashionable. So Oklahoma, arguably the fire-engine red of red states, might not seem like a natural fit for the often-controversial stand-up comic and host of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.” But Maher, who performs […]
Phil Bacharach
Posted inArts & Culture
Cedar Rapids
But that’s all right. The story’s familiar contrivances and clichés actually feel kind of cozy in “Cedar Rapids.” The film is burnished with the glow of sweetness not easily replicated by the Hollywood machine. That is no small feat, but the movie’s sly appeal is even more impressive when you consider how it also manages […]
Posted inMusic
Irish springs
When you’re a rock band with an Irish lead singer and a knack for blending punk with Celtic music, you’re in big demand for St. Patrick’s Day. That’s certainly the experience of Flogging Molly, a group renowned for getting its Irish up during spirited live shows. But the group can’t be everywhere on St. Paddy’s. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Megamind
The studio’s latest been-there-done-that computer-generated cash cow is “Megamind.” Like the “Shrek” franchise, it features a bad guy who isn’t a villain so much as a misunderstood lug. Like the “Madagascar” movies, it often confuses wit with frenetic montages in which creatures dance, dance, dance. Like “Monsters vs. Aliens,” it offers characters only as memorable […]
Posted inNews
Liberty’s Bell
Joann Bell’s children tell a story that seems emblematic of their mother. She was driving her kids to school when she glanced out the window and spotted four preteen boys beating up a younger boy. Bell slammed on the brakes and rushed to the boy’s rescue. Amid the scuffle, one of the boys inadvertently hit […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Another Year
Nothing much happens in Mike Leigh films, at least not in the strictest sense of Plot Mechanics 101. There are no car chases or explosions, not even a juicy epiphany in the final reel. But in such emotionally rich films as “Secrets & Lies,” “Topsy-Turvy” and, now, “Another Year,” the British writer/director explores the complexities […]
Posted inMusic
Leggo my emo
Jimmy Eat World isn’t known as a political band, but its four members have been active in their native Arizona when it comes to their favorite member of Congress, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. They’ve played a few fundraisers for her in the past, and so they were particularly distraught, like most Americans, in the wake of […]
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RED
Still, its cast of old pros — including Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and a machine gun-toting Helen Mirren — is having such a fun time playing dress-up and waving weapons and cracking wise, only the most hardhearted movie watcher could resist. That isn’t to say the film, which is new to Blu-ray and […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Black Swan
Opening Friday, “Black Swan” is so haunting, so engrossing, you might be tempted to invest it with more meaning than it warrants. With its über-creepy shock effects, swirling camerawork and Oscar-caliber performance by Natalie Portman (“Brothers”), the psychological thriller directed by Darren Aronofsky (“The Wrestler”) is a ballet/showbiz picture awash in LSD. It’s trashiness masquerading […]
Posted inMusic
Good Fortune
The Fortune Tellers with Feel Spectres and DJ Eddie Lee9 p.m. Friday VZD’s Restaurant and Club 4200 N. Western www.vzds.com 524-4203 If you were in Oklahoma City during that era when cell phones were bigger than irons and neckties were skinnier than Calista Flockhart — the 1980s, for those of you playing along at home […]