Harold and the Purple Crayon review – garish and charmless kids fantasy dud | Movies
PMany actors say they only want to star in the occasional family film, to make work that their own kids will enjoy. Meanwhile, filmmakers often specialize in the form, becoming the go-to directors and screenwriters to help crack the keys to all-ages entertainment. So why are there so many family-friendly movies that seem made with […]
Atomic People review – the quietly devastating truth about surviving Hiroshima | Television
TThe survivors of the atomic bombs dropped by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki said,Atomic bomb survivorsAtomic People combines interviews with several of them (all of them at least 80 years old, most in their 90s, and a few over 100) with period footage of President Harry Truman praising the achievements of the Manhattan […]
Death of England: The Plays review – Brexit-voting bailiff electrifies this post-Boris revamp | Theatre
TThe world has changed since Clint Dyer and Roy Williams’ foul-mouthed, dysfunctional inner circle first delivered a fast-paced, dramatic monologue about how their lives have been shaped by Brexit. As a triptych, it begins with Michael, the son of a racist flower seller played by Rafe Spall, telling his strange story at his father’s funeral. […]
MTV, Miley Cyrus, VMA Awards Ratings, Tweets & Review. FOX Sells Out Super Bowl. The TV News
MTV, Miley Cyrus and VMA ratings and reviews – all in one place! FOX Sports announces the SuperBowl 48 to be held in NY is … source
Cruz seeks to ‘safeguard’ schools from CCP influence, require parental review of foreign curricula
Exclusive: Sen. Ted Cruz is set to introduce legislation on Monday aimed at curbing the influence of China and other malign actors in U.S. schools. Cruz, R-Texas, authored the Senate version of the Transparency in Reporting Adversarial Contributions to Education (TRACE) Act. The law requires schools to allow parents to review, or “trace,” any curriculum […]
The week in classical: BBC Proms week one review – hallelujahs all round | Classical music
circleImagine the difference an election could make. BBC Proms This has been a year of hope and relief – with the culture wars over and the licence fee declared safe, people’s hearts must be lifted. BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus The first night, BBC SingersAfter coming under threat of dissolution last year, the ensemble that […]
Paris Olympics opening ceremony review – soaring ambition deflated by patchy delivery | Television
TThe perfect staging of Tokyo’s opening ceremony was always going to be a challenge for any successor, and Paris made the wise decision not to try to replicate the stadium spectacle or high-tech trappings (remember the menacing array of 1,800 drones?). The ceremony’s creative director, Thomas Joly, had the bright idea to play up the […]
Waxahatchee review – warm, rousing anthems about embracing change | Waxahatchee
circleaxahatchee’s fifth album, Saint Cloud, was released on March 27th, 2020, and emerged into a changed world. Having made a name for herself with crunchy indie rock, Katie Crutchfield here draws on the country music of her youth in Alabama and the storytelling Americana of Lucinda Williams, an influence in her formative years. It’s a […]
Alice in Wonderland review – down the rabbit hole and into the woods | Theatre
circleLewis Carroll’s classic children’s book is difficult to stage, with more incident than drama; the fun logic games of the novel can feel haphazard when performed, and Alice can come across as overly passive, the helpless center of a chaotic world. Playwright Andrew Pollard’s solution for Duke’s annual promenade around Williamson Park was to portray […]
War Crimes of the Confederates and Post-War Democrats (From the Rogue Review)
Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes Below are sections from an article published in full at my column on The Rogue Review. It is a tremendously important article on a subject that is vitally important today, because we are living in a world created by the losers of the Civil War, not the winners—we are still […]