Author: christine

Gary Oldman’s amazing transformation into Winston Churchill is nothing short of amazing. Within days of becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill (Academy Award nominee Gary Oldman) must face one of his most turbulent and defining trials: exploring a negotiated peace treaty with Nazi Germany, or standing firm to fight for the ideals, liberty and freedom of a nation. As the unstoppable Nazi forces roll across Western Europe and the threat of invasion is imminent, and with an unprepared public, a skeptical King, and his own party plotting against him, Churchill must withstand his darkest hour, rally a nation,…

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By Carla Sanchez Taylor (RiPple PuDdle)The term ‘revolution’ has an etymology that can furthest be connected to the movement of celestial bodies. The legendary musician, Prince, fearlessly collected star musicians to lead the movement of popular music into the future. His band of eccentrics, The Revolution, came to embody a synergistic capsule of time, the crosswind of culture and the unique location that held it all: the city of Minneapolis. I got a chance to speak to long standing Revolution bassist, Mark Brown (better known as BrownMark), about the formation of the group, the long ties to their original sound,…

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Oliver Stone’s interviews with Vladimir Putin and the deposed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych show the current troubles of  Ukraine are rooted in how the resource-rich country and logistically important city Odessa has long been eyed as an asset by more powerful countries, who constantly seek to control/use/conquer the region for their own purposes. “I was a supporter of the 2004 Orange revolution. But, over time I (and others) began to realize that this “revolution” like so many others, was scripted and staged with big money and intervention by foreign government,” – Director Igor Lopatonok One of those countries is The United…

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From the very start of the show, Broadway In America’s Lion King was a visual and auditory feast at Houston’s Hobby Center Thursday June 29th.  From the opening number by the incredible Buyi Zama’s beautiful vocals combined with the “click language” Xhosa (one of seven languages spoken throughout the play) to the closing song “Circle Of Life,” the audience was enraptured. The interactive show had fantastically dressed animal puppets cavorting through the aisles and in the balconies  in Houston’s Hobby Center, with percussionists on both and left and right side of the theater.  The result was a real-life surround-sound of…

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We sat down with comedians Kumail Nanjiani and wife Emily V. Gordon to ask about how THE BIG SICK ,  which was written by Kumail and Emily and stars Kumail, Zoe Kazan, Ray Romano and Holly Hunter. When compared to their real story – it’s pretty close.  The charming, heartwarming story of two people overcoming culture clashes in today’s alarmingly reactive world is a good lesson, and well worth considering among this week’s slate of films in the theater. *Apologies for the crackling at my end of the audio…the camera failed but we saved audio. We love this film so…

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As a former theater fiend (and MFA-wielder), I love to see the stage cast its shadow of influence over the cinema.  Maybe it’s in a three character, contained-set film that in former days would have been done as a play, like YESTERDAY LAST YEAR, which we just screened at Other Worlds Austin.  Maybe it’s the magic realism of LA LA LAND or BIG FISH. Maybe it’s award winning playwrights like David Lindsay-Abair and Tom Stoppard crafting genre-defying screenplays.  With that in mind, I offer you BLOOD PROSE, a smart and fierce crime short that mixes noir with William Shakespeare, and…

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By Carla Sanchez Taylor (RIPple Puddle) There is a creative visualization practice that works for identifying beauty that many of us don’t realize we employ regularly. The world around us is good or bad to varying degrees, depending on our perspective and circumstance. But we all know when we experience the “ping” of something uniquely good. Fantasy soul singer, QUIÑ knows how to deliver that ping. To say that comparatively she sounds similar to the soulful Erykah Badu would be dismissive of both unique talents, but the vocal semblance is difficult to avoid, as is the familiar warmth it draws…

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