From start to finish, everything about the Chappie experience is a pleasant surprise. Yes, Neill Blomkamp’s story of a police robot in the near future who becomes sentient can be viewed as a synthesis of Short Circuit and RoboCop, but the film gets the more familiar plot elements out of the way in the first […]
In the sunroom of a manor home in Bucks County Pennsylvania, brother Vanya and adopted sister Sonia are sighing back and forth. The interior of the home is lovely and laden with books, the house is flanked by trees on either side, and the idyllic indoor porch offers two wicker chairs and a chaise lounge, […]
“I used to go to my mom’s office, which smelled like wool and fabric, and the copy machine, like hot ink and hot toner,” said Amanda Wagstaff. “She would give me grid paper, the kind designers would use to mark out different patterns, to draw on and play on to keep me occupied. I can’t get […]
For some, this weekend is a chance to get an early start on St. Patrick’s Day festivities, er, drinking. For others, it’s a trauma trigger for paraskevidekatriaphobia–the fear of Friday the 13th. But for those looking to eschew shamrocks and other nightmares, there’s a different option. On Friday, March 13, local musicians take the stage […]
Sibling rivalry is elevated to comic catastrophe in Live Arts’ production of Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Bloodlines, love and lust collide in this Chekhov-tinged mashup about home, and where the heart is, that’s directed by Julie Hamberg. Through 3/28. $20-25, times vary. Live Arts, 123 E. Water St. 977-4177.
The only reminder of a once-thriving Orange County town is a sign: Scuffletown Road. And while the place may be gone, it’s certainly not forgotten, thanks to John Whitlow, Marc Carraway and Vaughan Mairs, the guys who make up Scuffletown, a high-energy acoustic trio. “During the Depression, Scuffletown was a lively, blue collar place that […]
Give her a home where the buffalo roam and Christen Borgman Yates will paint the iconic American beast every day. Her original contemporary works in oil and watercolor ask viewers to consider how they relate to landscapes and livestock in an increasingly urbanized world. Her most recent series, “Agrarian Icons,” on display at WVTF & […]
No movie star is as big as Will Smith, and nobody knows that better than Smith himself. With a swagger that rarely plays as charming, and the most enviable blockbuster-to-bomb ratio in Hollywood, Smith has carried duds to box office success through sheer star power and willed megabudget vanity projects into existence for the sole […]
“It is September, before a rainfall…a perfect time to be in love,” sets the stage for The Fantasticks, the world’s longest-running musical. The show, which ran off-Broadway for 42 years, portrays the machinations of two feuding fathers and the love story that unfolds between one’s son and the other’s daughter. The tale is humorous and […]
BANFF Mountain Film Festival’s World Tour is the greatest trip you can take without leaving your seat. Presented by Blue Ridge Mountain Sports, the two-day event features 18 films that span the worlds of skiing, climbing, kayaking, mountain biking and more. Though each film is unique, they all strive to protect the planet. Proceeds benefit […]