Arts and Culture (All)

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Davina Grace Hill - 6/7/12

Stones in His Pocket

Two actors expand themselves into 15 characters in this Dignity Players performance

Stones in His Pockets, now at Dignity Players, has a wonderful premise: an American film crew comes back to the Irish town where The Quiet Man was filmed decades ago to make another movie. The return provides for a clash of cultures and nationalities, heightened by the incongruities of filmmaking and stereotypical star and fan behaviors. Stones in His Pockets was written by Marie Jones, a writer celebrated in Ireland and the United Kingdom and deserving of greater American...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 5/31/12

Bernie

Nice guys get a pass

In the small town of Carthage, Texas, the most popular guy in town is the man who puts you to rest. Mortician’s assistant Bernie Tiede (Jack Black: Kung Fu Panda 2) sings in the church choir, gives care packages to new widows and delivers inspirational speeches to Little League teams. So it’s understandable that the town forgives Bernie his one, itty-bitty transgression: shooting a rich widow in the back and keeping her body in a freezer for nine months. You see...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 5/31/12

Men in Black III

Third time’s the charm for this space spoof

Men in Black agents J (Will Smith: Seven Pounds) and K (Tommy Lee Jones: Captain America) have worked together for over a decade managing Earth’s alien population. This hasn’t made them close, as K won’t share his life story with his more effusive partner. Still, when J wakes up after an argument to find out that K has seemingly been dead for 40 years, he’s pretty upset about the whole thing. Turns out an evil assassin named Boris the Animal (Jemaine...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 5/31/12

Anything Goes

Shining stars illuminate the night with great singing, dancing, Vaudevillian humor and escapist glamour in Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre’s opener

If you hear thunder in historic downtown one of these balmy evenings, don’t run for cover. It might just be the thunder of a synchronized 21-tap salute. The heat is on and so is Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre, opening a 46th season with Cole Porter’s 1934 nautical classic Anything Goes. The predictable collides with the absurd, spinning madcap confusion whose sole purpose is to showcase great singing, dancing, Vaudevillian humor and escapist glamour. Think The...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 5/24/12

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Remember: Running away to exotic lands fixes all your problems

When seven British retirees find that life didn’t work out the way they expected in stodgy England, they hightail it to India, where they assume they’ll live out their golden years in some Victorian-colonialist dream. What they get is a decaying hotel, food that charges the digestive tract without mercy and a culture shock that there are, gasp, Indians living in India. It’s easy to pick apart The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel for its...

Article - Arts and Culture; by Paul Lagasse - 5/24/12

Science Fiction’s Family Reunion

A trip to Balticon is like cozying up to the bar at a Star Wars cantina

Science fiction fans love technology, so it’s no surprise that they stay in touch with each other using Twitter, Facebook and Skype. But they also enjoy getting together in person. One of the biggest destinations is just around the corner: Balticon, the annual convention of the venerable Baltimore Science Fiction Society. Every Memorial Day weekend for 46 years, Balticon has hosted the luminaries of science fiction: Isaac Asimov, Neil Gaiman, Anne McCaffrey, Ben Bova...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 5/17/12

Dark Shadows

Don’t lead women on, or you’ll turn into a vampire

Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp: The Rum Diary) has two curses in his life: He’s irresistible to women, and he’s a vampire. One might seem more serious than the other, but his callous treatment of chambermaid/witch Angelique (Eva Green: Camelot) is the cause of his undead undoing. This cautionary dating tale starts in 1772, when young fishing magnate Barnabas sows his wild oats with Angelique before settling down with his one true love, Josette (Bella Heathcote: In...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 5/10/12

The Avengers

When in doubt, Hulk Smash!

Banished from Asgard by brother Thor, Loki (Tom Hiddleston: The Deep Blue Sea) is a god without subjects. So he takes a page from his brother’s book, traveling to Earth. Sadly, Loki is no God of Thunder. So instead of romancing winsome astrophysicists, the God of Mischief makes a deal with an alien nation to subjugate humanity. All Loki has to do is steal a mysterious energy source held by the government and trade it for an alien army. When an alien...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 5/10/12

Going to St. Ives

You’ll see Colonial Players at its best in the cat-and-mouse game of two women

What could be more suitable for Mothers Day than the tale of two mothers sharing tea and sympathy over Blue Willow china: helping each other deal with life’s unexpected twists and turns, bartering favors tit for tat — life for death? Over the past three years, Annapolis stages have featured four plays by the prolific Pulitzer- and Tony-nominated playwright Lee Blessing: Chesapeake, Two Rooms, Fortinbras and now Going to St. Ives, showing through May 19 at Colonial Players. His work...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 5/3/12

The Pirates! Band of Misfits

Yo-ho! Yo-ho! A claymation life for me!

The pirate captain (Hugh Grant: Did You Hear About the Morgans?) is having a bad year. As the Pirate of the Year competition looms large, the good captain has little to show for his pillaging. Other pirates like Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek: Puss in Boots), Peg Leg Hastings (Lenny Henry: Tinga Tinga Tales) and Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven: Entourage) boast rare jewels and mountains of gold. The pirate captain? He has a lustrous beard and a very fat parrot. He’s the joke of...