To Rome With Love at Vinegar Hill Theatre

The eternal city hosts an aspiring cast that includes Alessandro Tiberi, Roberto Della Casa, and Penélope Cruz in Woody Allen’s To Rome With Love. (Sony Pictures Classics) For some of us, Woody Allen could film the phone book and we’d find pleasure in it: How nice all those listings might look in his signature white-on-black […]

Independence Day, “Insane Coaster Wars,” “Perception”

Independence Day Wednesday 8pm, AMC Celebrate our nation’s birthday by watching Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, and President Bill Pullman save the world by taking out a bunch of squid-looking aliens. Believe it or not, the blockbuster popcorn flick is 16 years old. If it was a person it could be getting a driver’s license. This […]

The Arts: Creativity’s top players

The Arts The Charlottesville arts community, with support from the Charlottesville and Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau, recently took part in Arts & Economic Prosperity IV, the largest-ever national study of “the economic impact of nonprofit arts and culture organizations and their audiences.” The study, which included participation from 112 arts organizations and thousands of […]

Navigating the labyrinth of local arts influence

Sneak Reviews has been a treasure trove for local film fans for almost 20 years. (Photo by John Robinson) Merriam-Webster defines power as “possession of control, authority, or influence over others.” Some kinds, like political or economic, are easy to measure, even if that power is elusive and can shift unpredictably. The recent and ongoing […]

“Hollywood Wives,” “Anger Management,” “Weeds”

 “Hollywood Exes” Wednesday 9pm, VH1 VH1 has found its latest niche in super-trashy versions of Bravo’s “Real Housewives” franchises. There’s “Basketball Wives” and its Los Angeles-based spin-off; “Mob Wives” and its Chicago spin-off (and another spin-off in the wings for fan favorite Big Ang); and now this series that follows the lives of a bunch […]

Live Review: Explosions in the Sky 

I’m a kid now, but when I saw Explosions in the Sky three years ago, I was truly a kid. Nineteen, I guess, at Merriweather Post Pavilion, stretched out on the wet grass of the lawn section and soaking up their opening set before Flaming Lips came on. Seeing them again at the Jefferson felt […]