When Jimmy Carter Came to the Theater
I never met Jimmy Carter, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning former President who died Sunday at 100. But I was at Arena Stage in D.C. for the premiere of a play…
Some Other Things I Wrote This Year
Here are some of the things I've written over the last eight months that hadn't otherwise appeared on this blog. An interview with Damon Wayans, pictured here, about his new…
A Movie Selling a Series: ‘Homestead’
A nuclear bomb hitting Los Angeles at the outset of the film “Homestead” seems its most minor concern. Mostly, it’s a pretext for finally getting to use those go-bags that…
Film Review: Low Budget, Lowbrow ‘Con Job’
Former health care software developer Ian Niles began his film career in such teeny roles as “Repeat Offender,” “First Officer” and “Guy.” Lately, he’s been developing his own string of…
Film Review: Bonhoeffer Gets a Gun
The brave German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who railed against the Nazis and his church for doing nothing in the face of Hitler, is well-known in theological circles for his own…
Film: ‘Escape from Extinction: Rewilding’
It begins with the usual montage of environmental catastrophe: crashing glaciers, devastating storms, widespread drought, pollution-choked skies. All of it coming so fast, it triggers the usual knee-jerk helplessness and…
Movie: Luke Wilson’s Own ‘Bad News Bears’
Inspirational sports movies are practically a genre to themselves, from “Rocky” and “Hoosiers” to “The Natural” and “Field of Dreams.” Even the success in recent years of the streaming series…
Film Review: ‘Protocol 17’s Bad Medicine
There’s no question that propaganda films can sometimes also be entertaining. Even if the premise is extreme to the point of amusement, there may be good kitsch value in, say,…
Review: Awa Sal Secka Sings ‘Summertime’
Signature Theatre is serving up a refreshing tonic for this summer’s unbearable heat in the form of a swinging cabaret show, “Summertime: Awa Sal Secka Sings Ladies of Jazz.” The…
Theatre Review: Faction of Fools’ ‘The Moors’
The Faction of Fools Theatre Company specializes in the arcane form of the Italian Renaissance, commedia dell’arte, with elaborate masks, exaggerated movements and a kind of extreme reading of what…