Film review: This is 40

There’s a lot going on in writer-director Judd Apatow’s This is 40, including bickering siblings, failing businesses, grand theft, and one or two big surprises. Perhaps this is Apatow’s achievement: He’s made a watchable movie in which the emotional content mirrors real life so closely he doesn’t need a conventional narrative. The ups and downs of human existence are plenty.

A quick guide to New Year’s Eve in Charlottesville

Whether you decide to spend your New Year’s Eve with talented student filmmakers, passionate performing artists, or rocking out to big band sounds, you’re guaranteed to ring in 2013 with a newfound love of Charlottesville’s arts scene. First Night is an annual “celebration of the arts” that began in Charlottesville in 1983 with dozens of family-friendly […]

ARTS Pick: The Fifth Annual Rock and Roll Christmas

Welcome friends Three albums in and Sons of Bill remains true to its roots. Blending classic rock and traditional Virginian folksiness with emotional resonance, the brothers (and friends) have crafted their own sound. 2012’s Sirens opens with a quotation lifted from a William Faulkner speech, and sets the tone for a collection of powerhouse tunes […]