All Over Creation: Two-Stepping With Lyndon

To play historical figures like LBJ and Groucho, actors ought to dance with them

"...Now, historical figures in drama come burdened with more baggage than..."

Aug. 10, 2012 Arts Column by Robert Faires

Gods and Monsters

The final days of the man behind Hollywood's Frankenstein

"...Condon's film also shows great sensitivity to the characters and events depicted here; it never tramples on the..."

Jan. 1, 1999 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Hours and Times

"...a soon-to-happen feeling, a mood appropriate to both the historical facts of the pre-Beatles hysteria and the ambiguous relationship..."

Aug. 7, 1992 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Braveheart

Gibson directs and stars in this rousing 13th century epic about the Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace.

"...be bought with land or money. There is a historical person. Then there is this splendid, rousing adventure by..."

May 26, 1995 Movie Review by Louis Black

Bad Girls

"...the run who carry no baggage other than their historical baggage as former prostitutes, these four desperadoes scam more..."

April 29, 1994 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Vortex Repertory Company's Underground

Driven by Lisa B. Thompson's powerful text and masterful acting, this new drama drops a truth bomb

"...impromptu reunion at Mason's brownstone in Albany, N.Y., (a historical landmark, as it was once a stop on the..."

March 31, 2017 Arts Review by T. Lynn Mikeska

The Hidden Room Theatre's The Duchess of Malfi

In staging John Webster's revenge tragedy, the company strikes a delightful balance between historical authenticity and genuine emotion

"...John Webster's 1614 drama of love and revenge with historical genuineness. In addition to live music, replicated candlelight, and..."

Oct. 11, 2019 Arts Review by Trey Gutierrez

MACC Mommy

Managing the busy new Mexican American Cultural Center is inspiring work for Amparo Garcia-Crow

"...personal credits includes multiple recognitions for her theatre work (acting, directing, writing) by the Austin Circle of Theaters and..."

Sept. 14, 2007 Arts Feature by Belinda Acosta

No Hollywood Fluff, Please – We're Polish

Cinema tackles the tumult of history at the Austin Polish Film Festival

"...Poland. Production values are uniformly exceptional, as is the acting. The characters, across genres, tend to be multidimensional, often..."

Nov. 2, 2012 Screens Feature by Anne S. Lewis

A Runaway Red Carpet

Thursday night's premiere brought out stars Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart and original Runaway Cherie Currie

"...me as a lot younger just because I’ve been acting for a long time,” said Fanning. But at the..."

March 19, 2010 Screens Post by Ashley Moreno

Hidden Room Theatre Resurrects King Lear

The once-popular but now obscure revision of Shakespeare's play by Nahum Tate is revived, complete with happy ending

"..."This particular type of acting has not been done in our era," Burns says...."

Nov. 6, 2015 Arts Feature by Stephanie Carll

Pieces of Time

The legendary Peter Bogdanovich discusses his latest film, The Cat's Meow, about a hush-hush Hearst scandal of long ago.

"...this incident. These are also the same kinds of characters that inform the background atmosphere of Citizen Kane, Welles'..."

March 1, 2002 Screens Feature by Marjorie Baumgarten

Film Reviews

Recommended

"...to watch Snipes and Swayze transform themselves into their characters Noxeema Jackson and Vida Boheme, contestants in the annual..."

Sept. 8, 1995 News Feature

SXSW Film Conference and Festival '98 Further Reflections

"...pictures, footage, and endless interviews make it at least historically intriguing. The problem is that the film fails to..."

March 27, 1998 Screens Feature

The Method Gun

The Rude Mechs' latest pays at times comic, at times touching tribute to the strange craft of acting and its practitioners

"...by Shawn Sides. It purports to re-create from the historical record the efforts of five disciples of the mysterious..."

April 11, 2008 Arts Review by Robert Faires

Letters at 3AM

They may not truthfully reflect the way we live, but sometimes the big and small screen present honest explorations of the way we dream. The year 2000 gave us some exceptionally fine works in this regard.

"...Hidden Dragon would not accept the same content and acting if it were set in their own culture. Such..."

Jan. 5, 2001 Column by Michael Ventura

Green Book

Jim Crow road trip may be simplistic, but it's heartfelt

"...Their pas de deux is a master class in acting, and the twosome’s give and take provides good company..."

Nov. 21, 2018 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Freeheld

Julianne Moore and Ellen Page are adrift in this gay-rights drama

"...Jonathan Demme. Julianne Moore and Ellen Page are no acting slouches either, but they definitely seem miscast in Freeheld...."

Oct. 16, 2015 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Argo

Ben Affleck directs this entertaining thriller about an unbelievable-but-true mission to extricate American hostages from Iran in 1980.

"...Ben Affleck, the star with the tarnished acting reputation, has managed to reinvent himself over the last..."

Oct. 12, 2012 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Focus

"...Loaf (who uses the surname Aday in his formal acting career) plays the movie's heavy. On the other hand,..."

Dec. 7, 2001 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Screens Top 10s

The Chronicle's film critics talk about their favorite movies of the year

"...The Pool, U2 3D, Cadillac Records ACTING KUDOS (MALE)..."

Jan. 2, 2009 Screens Feature

Texas in Bold, Dark Strokes

Artist/Historian Jack Jackson

"...work to telling the untold, true sagas of Texas historical figures Quanah Parker, the last chief of the Comanches..."

Nov. 15, 1996 Books Feature by Jesse Sublett

Letters at 3AM

In 2002, cinema has been the healthiest of our arts. The movies' range and variety relieve what has otherwise been a bleak time for our culture and our Constitution.

"...Gates in Vincente Minnelli's Some Came Running (1959); the acting (not the writing) of Mark Robson's Peyton Place (1957);..."

Jan. 3, 2003 Column by Michael Ventura

DVD Watch: 'To Be or Not to Be'

Lubitsch's 1952 film casts Jack Benny as a Nazi?

"...upside-down by the Nazi invasion, the Turas use their acting chops to infiltrate the invading force with comedic results..."

Aug. 27, 2013 Screens Post by James Renovitch

Remembering 'Easy Rider' and 'The Last Movie'

CinemaTexas program notes

"...and reality. It's along the lines of Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author. It is a film..."

June 4, 2010 Screens Feature

The Traveling Lady

With The Traveling Lady, Different Stages has mounted a pleasant, innocuous little drama by Texas playwright Horton Foote, but while the actors are honest and heartfelt in portraying its awkward, kind-hearted small-town souls, the scenes sometimes play out in ways that betray the intimacy of small-town life.

"...novel, so light is the play's theatrical impact. The characters of Foote's small coastal Texas town are struggling --..."

April 11, 2003 Arts Review by Robi Polgar

Cabaret: Blinding Furnace

The revamped revival of John Kander and Fred Ebb's Cabaret, in its national tour, may not reproduce the intimacy of the original production's environmental design, but its strong performances and overt theatricality still grip the audience.

"...the Nazis taking control and its effect on the characters is what gives this musical its breathtaking impact, but..."

Sept. 22, 2000 Arts Review by Robi Polgar

Show and Tell

Spring Previews 2000

"...exploring the human condition through a host of neurotic characters. (Mar. 3)..."

Feb. 25, 2000 Screens Feature by Marjorie Baumgarten

My Favorite Year

In an extraordinary season of four premieres, playwright Robert Schenkkan brings UT, his old school, a new screwball comedy

"...Now, if you know The Kentucky Cycle, that sweeping historical epic for which Schenkkan was awarded the 1992 Pulitzer,..."

Nov. 4, 2005 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

You Should Start a Web Site ...

Though they claim to only answer to their man-on-the-streets tastes, both these Web sites demonstrate how diverse the dialogue on arts becomes when just the right voices cut in.

"...highbrow (nothing close to an academic explication, analysis, or historical background offered here), and it may not require a..."

Sept. 29, 2000 Screens Feature by David Garza

1   2     NEXT ›    2 »