Secret World finds the Genesis founder fully entrenched in his world-music phase — still ongoing today — but still playing his solo hits, such as the never-not-excellent “Solsbury Hill” and the John Cusack’s boom box-co-opted “In Your Eyes,” which becomes an epic encore. All are sung with passion, with backup (and occasional duet duties, i.e. […]
documentary
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Marina Abramovi?: The Artist Is Present
Is it art? A fully nude woman suspended on a wall, perched on a bicycle seat. Is it art? A man lying on the floor with a skeleton reclining atop his naked body, perhaps as if his sexual partner. Is it art? A couple stands facing one another, nary a thread, and museum visitors must […]
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Casting the Runes
Those working on a TV special on the history of witchcraft have peculiar run-ins with a mysterious, reclusive alchemist known as Karswell (Iain Cuthbertson, Gorillas in the Mist), a man who openly espouses lust, deviance and all-around evil. When one character recalls a co-worker’s fatal brush with Karswell (depicted in the prologue) and says that […]
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Of Dolls & Murder
What are nutshell studies? CSI viewers might recall season seven’s year-long arc of dollhouse miniatures of the crime scene left at each crime scene (“I think Malibu Barbie did it”). Those were based on the real-life models ranging from 1-inch- to 1-foot-scale, made with an über-meticulous attention to detail in the 1930s by the unheralded […]
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LIFE
First Position, director Bess Kargman’s award-winning documentary, steps into six screening slots at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive. The film follows half a dozen ballet dancers at the Youth America Grand Prix, one of the world’s most prestigious ballet competitions, as they prepare for a chance to enter the professional dancing […]
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Simply Red: Live at Montreux 2003
That was then; this is now. I no longer own Simply Red — in any format — so it’s only with sheer nostalgia that I gave the group’s Live at Montreux 2003 a spin. The Blu-ray presents a live concert of 18 tracks of jazz- and soul-inspired pop (and then seven more from a 2010 […]
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A Necessary Death
After 22 minutes of auditioning and logistics, Toma and team get down to business with their chosen “star,” Matt, a young British man who would prefer to kill himself before the fatal brain tumor he has reaches the unavoidable stage of unbearable pain. We watch as Toma films Matt talking to the camera about his […]
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Racing Dreams
It’s not the go-kart you once rode up and down your driveway. These no-suspension, sponsor-stickered mini stock cars reach speeds of 80 miles per hour as they circle the track, their drivers’ rears a mere inch off the ground. “What kind of parents would let their kids go that fast when they’re not even old […]
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Wish Me Away
Coinciding with OKC Pride activities, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art on Thursday screens Wish Me Away, a documentary on country music superstar Chely Wright’s decision to come out as gay — arguably the first in her genre to do so. While I’m no admirer of her music, I completely, wholeheartedly respect her for this […]
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The Swell Season
Musicians Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová were not an item when they played the MFEO lovers of Once, but that relationship status changed after the movie’s release. By the time they deservedly won the Academy Award for Best Original Song the following year, they were sharing more than honors. Taking its name from Hansard and […]