The Bourne Legacy

This franchise reboot doesn't reinvent Bourne, but it does revive it to great effect.

"...The overthinking man’s filmmaker, Tony Gilroy may be too damn..."

Aug. 10, 2012 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

The Dialtones Break the Freeze with “Young Summer”

Experimental outfit donating single sales to Austin Mutual Aid

"...We’ve learned to expect the unexpected from Lauren Gurgiolo, one of Austin’s most ingenious..."

Feb. 22, 2021 Music Post by Kevin Curtin

The Boy Next Door

Jennifer Lopez stars in this brazenly dumb MILF thriller.

"...incandescent Judy Garland standing in a moonlit window in the 1944 screen musical Meet Me in St. Louis, wistfully..."

Jan. 23, 2015 Movie Review by Steve Davis

The Handmaiden's Tale

Sex, lies, and secrets in the U.S. premiere of Park Chan-wook's latest

"...high Gothic. Yet for his latest he truly embraces the romance aspect of Gothic romance with The Handmaiden. So..."

Sept. 23, 2016 Screens Feature by Richard Whittaker

Years of the Dead

The Mexico of now, David Garza writes, is not held only within the borders of Mexico itself. It has spread northward, re-entered its old space, in a sense. For so many of the Mexicans, displaced but still infatuated with the idea of spirit and ghost, the nation itself is a ghost in the back of the head.

"...The Years With Laura Díazby Carlos Fuentes translated by Alfred..."

Oct. 27, 2000 Books Feature by David Garza

The Seducer

Finally, English-speaking audiences find out what all the Norwegian fuss was about.

"...The Seducer..."

June 16, 2006 Books Review by Melanie Haupt

Busco Novio Para Mi Mujer

Mexican romantic comedy fails to seduce

"...Admittedly, I’m not familiar with the 2008 Argentinean film Un Novio Para Mi Mujer on..."

Feb. 26, 2016 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Alfie

Jude Law's new Alfie is less tramp and more scamp: the modern metrosexual.

"...Epps, Sienna Miller and Jane Krakowski. This remake of the 1966 hit, which starred Michael Caine as a Cockney..."

Nov. 5, 2004 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

Palo Alto

Gia Coppola, the latest voice heard from in that ridiculously talented filmmaking family, makes an auspicious directing debut with this teen drama based on stories from a collection by James Franco.

"...The characters in the dreamlike Palo Alto seemingly float in..."

May 30, 2014 Movie Review by Steve Davis

Chavela

A tribute to the life of iconic ranchera singer

"...Directed by: Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi...."

Nov. 21, 2017 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Anna Karenina

Joe Wright's bold but empty imagining of Tolstoy's classic is set mostly within the walls of a theatre.

"...Starring: Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Domhnall Gleeson, Matthew Macfadyen, Kelly Macdonald, Alicia Vikander, Ruth Wilson and Olivia..."

Nov. 30, 2012 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

ACL Live Review: Amber Mark

Main stage opener preps for headlining status

"...fell to relatively unknown opener Amber Mark to christen the day’s illustrious tone...."

Oct. 15, 2018 Music Post by Isabella Castro-Cota

‘Downton Abbey’ Watch

Lady problems

"...a little pokey about getting this recap up, but then last night’s episode lacked urgency, too – especially when..."

Jan. 21, 2013 Screens Post by Kimberley Jones

Stormy Weather

AFS Essential Cinema presents Fire Beneath the Ice: Films of Iceland

"...Is there a Scandinavian essence? Americans glean what they can of..."

Nov. 19, 2010 Screens Feature by Kimberley Jones

"Heroines, Harlots, and Hussies: Old Testament Women in Renaissance and Baroque Prints"

The prints and drawings in the Blanton Museum's "Heroines, Harlots, and Hussies: Old Testament Women in Renaissance and Baroque Prints" illuminate the way women shape biblical history, even though it's often through their misbehavior

"...Like so many other literature lovers, I'm a great fan of the Old..."

May 21, 2004 Arts Review by Molly Beth Brenner

Nonfiction and Memoir

Justin St. Germain, Stephen Harrigan, and more delight with these true tomes

"...How do the places we're from shape who we are and, in..."

Oct. 25, 2013 Books Feature

A Life in Fragments

The Eloquence of Betye Saar's Art Assemblages

"...beautiful, carefully crafted and crisply presented assemblages, in which the artist recontextualizes found objects and fragments from her own..."

July 26, 1996 Arts Feature by Rebecca S. Cohen

Arrebato

Addicted to filmmaking in this newly restored Spanish horror

"...whose Possession has also had a recent long-overdue restoration. There's the same sense of corruption, of mental and physical..."

Oct. 8, 2021 Movie Review by Richard Whittaker

Honky

"...Austin's favorite Southern-fried rock trio returns for a sixth helping of superfast..."

Nov. 23, 2012 Music Review by Kevin Curtin

SXSW 2011 Film Reviews

"...Chronicle readers will know Diana Welch’s 2009 story, “The Informant,” the tale of two young men from Texas..."

March 18, 2011 Screens Feature by Michael King

Ghost of a Smile: Stories

"...The erotics of fiction are splendidly varied. And unlike the..."

April 13, 2001 Books Review by Katherine Catmull

Heat

"...I Luv Video, Vulcan Video, and Waterloo Video for their help in providing videos, laser discs, and DVDs.)HeatD: Paul..."

Sept. 1, 2000 Screens Review by Bryan Poyser

DVDanger: Appetites

Romantic comedy, serial killer style

"...A girl. A boy. She's home, caring for her brother after their parents die. He's a feckless drifter, ready..."

Aug. 11, 2015 Screens Post by Richard Whittaker

The Merry Wives of Windsor

Stuffed to bursting with outrageous characters, broad reactions, and slapstick, The Merry Wives of Windsor as mounted by the Austin Shakespeare Festival and Austin Playhouse is big on big comedy, and the crisp comic work of the cast makes it a sizable pleasure.

"...The Merry Wives of Windsor: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad,..."

Jan. 24, 2003 Arts Review by Robert Faires

Porno Re-examined

Vice Dreams

"...Bound and Gagged: Pornography and the Politics of Fantasy in America..."

Oct. 18, 1996 Books Feature by Lars Eighner

Screamlines

"...The notion of extend-ing "Scanlines" for Halloween seemed like a..."

Oct. 30, 1998 Screens Feature