Movies playing in town

Movies playing in town21 (PG-13, 123 minutes) Inspired by the book Bringing Down the House, this fact-based (let’s not go all the way to “true”) story introduces us to hotshot young M.I.T. student Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess, Across the Universe). Our boy Ben’s a math wizard, but he’s too poor to afford tuition. Enter evil […]

Yeux’re outta here!

In 2000, Les Yeux du Monde gallery owner Lyn Warren curated a site-specific exhibit for the UVA Art Museum, titled “Hindsight/Fore-site: Art for the New Millennium.” The show featured works by many artists that Warren and her gallery represent currently, from Megan Marlatt and UVA associate art professor William Bennett to Rosemarie Fiore and Lydia […]

Golden oldies

In the world of documentary filmmaking, it’s rare to come across a story containing more than mere topical analysis tinged with one or more of the following: hip music, radical activism, gratuitously artistic shots, dry humor and/or cool graphics. Absorbing human drama tends to be more elusive and reserved for works of fiction, while the […]

Finale, finally

“American Idol”Tuesday and Wednesday 8pm, Fox I dropped “Idol” this year before it hit the Top 10; I think it was the second Beatles week that turned me off the show for the first time since Season 3. It’s not that the kids this time were untalented. But…they were unlikable. I mean, as human beings. […]

Movies playing in town

Movies playing in town21 (PG-13, 123 minutes) Inspired by the book Bringing Down the House, this fact-based (let’s not go all the way to “true”) story introduces us to hotshot young M.I.T. student Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess, Across the Universe). Our boy Ben’s a math wizard, but he’s too poor to afford tuition. Enter evil […]

Need for Speed?

In their first writing/directing effort since the conclusion of the epic Matrix trilogy, the Wachowski brothers grab the wheel in Speed Racer, a live-action adaptation of the classic Japanese cartoon from the ’60s. Given the groundbreaking, if audience-splitting, work the Wachowskis did on the techno-mythical Matrix films, Speed Racer seems like a somewhat junior-grade assignment. […]

Bill and Dave’s excellent adventure

David Alan Harvey thrives on what you bring to him, not on what you take from him. Interpretations of his photographs—moments of intimate family life caught in vibrant, often violent expression—depend on how you perceive intimacy, or family, or violence.

Don’t stand on Superman’s cape

“Smallville”Thursday 8pm, CW I’m a comic geek, so this show frustrates me to no end. It’s not that it changes things from the comics. It’s that all of the changes are stupid. The initial premise was to show Clark Kent’s life as a pre-Super teen and, for the first couple seasons, that made for a […]