“Don’t get all Carson McCullers on us,” Julia Roberts’ character warns a relative, referring to the 20th-century author who specialized in stories of Southern tragicomedy. The film takes its own advice — its first and greatest misstep. With Tulsa-born Tracy Letts adapting his 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winning play for the screen, August: Osage County should wear […]
Tracy
Posted inArts & Culture
Kill for Me
For Hailey, it’s her dad (Donal Logue, Silent Night). For Amanda, it’s a stalkery ex-boyfriend. But problems can solved and, you know, you scratch my back, I scratch yours. In other words, Kill for Me, I kill for you. Director Michael Greenspan’s follow-up to the disastrous Wrecked is a marked improvement. It’s like a gender-swapped […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Why Stop Now
In the kind of one-note part that threatened to kill his career before the one-two punch of Zombieland and The Social Network saved it, Jesse Eisenberg stars as Eli, a young man with a bright future as a pianist ahead of him, if not for having to act as a surrogate father for his own […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The write stuff
Photo: Shannon Cornman Oklahoma has a long, varied history in pop culture. From actors and filmmakers like Brad Pitt and Blake Edwards to musicians and singers like Charlie Christian and Garth Brooks, the state has been a leader in exporting world-class talents. One area that often gets overlooked is the state’s role in the realm […]
Posted inMusic
Good Grammer
Folksinger Tracy Grammer has lots of reasons to look forward to Saturday’s show at The Blue Door. Some are small. “I hope the ‘other’ Tracey Grammer will show,” she said. “There’s someone in Oklahoma City who has my same name and we have so many things in common, it’s not even funny. It’s like we […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Festi-full
Iconic detective Dick Tracy has spent eight decades on the comics page since Chester Gould invented the character in 1931. Although the story reflected the era’s Chicago gangland, Darrell Gambill wants the world to know it all started in Pawnee, now home to the Dick Tracy Headquarters. “Gould was one-of-a-kind; he was the first to […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Oklahoma native ‘Dick Tracy’ creator helped revolutionize law enforcement
Although his often-grotesque villains were larger than life, Gould was big on realism when it came to Tracy’s investigations. Said Michael Vance, volunteer curator of the Oklahoma Cartoonists Collection at the Toy and Action Figure Museum in Pauls Valley, “He wanted to be as close and authentic as possible.” “Dad’s goal in life […]