In the early hours of February 1, John Borden Evans was out for his regular run through Walnut Creek Park when he paused to memorize the landscape before him. He noticed how the setting moon hung low and bright in the sky, how the moonlight radiated through striated clouds to bathe the mid-winter trees, grass, […]
In the early hours of February 1, John Borden Evans was out for his regular run through Walnut Creek Park when he paused to memorize the landscape before him. He noticed how the setting moon hung low and bright in the sky, how the moonlight radiated through striated clouds to bathe the mid-winter trees, grass, […]
Look alive: What better time to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s misunderstood monster than Halloween? Frankenstein received high-def attention in the filming of Danny Boyle’s adaptation at London’s National Theatre in 2011. In this electrifying resurrection, shown as part of the Live in HD series, Benedict Cumberbatch stars as the infamous doctor and Jonny […]
Samhita Sunya will go to great lengths to see a film on a big screen. The cinema scholar has attended 7am screenings in theaters. When the weather’s nice and the sky is dark, she’ll set up a screen and a projector in her yard and watch from a lawn chair. Two years ago, she traveled […]
At a festival that offers more than 150 films, highlighted by selections that have awards buzz and super-special guests, it can be difficult to choose wisely (and, with the way the VFF tickets sell, quickly). Here are five under-the-radar documentaries that rose to the top of our list, and are well worth your time. Key […]
By Justin Humphreys arts@c-ville.com Decades ago, actor/writer/director/film historian Peter Bogdanovich promised his friend and colleague Orson Welles that, if Welles couldn’t finish his work-in-progress, The Other Side of the Wind, he would complete it for him. Now, Bogdanovich, at age 79, has beaten countless setbacks and fulfilled that promise. Academy Award-winning editor Bob Murawski and […]
By A.D. Carson arts@c-ville.com I remember, now, waking up the night my aunt came to tell our mother about Tony. My brother and I were asleep in the bedroom of our small apartment. I thought it was a dream, a subconscious thought making its way to the fore, as these things do, taking away our heroes, […]
Kurt Vile Bottle It In (Matador) Caveat: I was a big fan of Kurt Vile’s 2013 album Wakin on a Pretty Daze until I went to his show and watched him basically perform the album note for note. What was entrancing became plain boring, and it’s been hard to hear his subsequent stuff without lingering […]
On Sometimes Just the Sky, Mary Chapin Carpenter takes measure of her 30-year career through fresh renditions of songs from her original studio albums. Carpenter curated gems from her catalog that reflect her soul and trace the evolution of her songwriting, from award-winning country music to the intelligent folk-pop and orchestral collaborations that currently define […]
Lucy knows about the sharpness of teeth and claws—years of high school torment have left her hollowed and unseen, even in the eyes of her concerned grandmother Ruth. After new friend Jenny rescues her from near-death, sudden dreams of howls and gore lead Lucy to a darkness she’s never known. Stephen Spotswood’s In the Forest, […]
When local author and teacher Jocelyn Johnson started receiving Twitter direct messages from literary giant Roxane Gay, she thought to herself, “Something good is going to happen.” Just like that, a series of emphatic pings announced her arrival into a rarefied sphere: Johnson’s story, “Control Negro,” was hand-selected by Gay to be featured in Best […]