Inform and Entertain
Ed Rampell
Romeo & Juliet Ballet Review: Shakespeare and Prokofiev’s Elixir of Love “O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou, Romeo?” Why, along with his gal pal Juliet, he’s at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion through Sunday, July 13, as the National Ballet of Canada presents Sergei Prokofiev’s version of Romeo and Juliet Ballet. Alexei Ratmansky, the Bolshoi Ballet’s […]
The Beatles LOVE: All You Still Need is Love: Viva a Magical Vegas Mystery Tour As a reviewer of all things cinematic, operatic and theatrical I recently went to see a couple of shows in Las Vegas, which is, after all, one of America’s top showcases of live entertainment. Cirque du Soleil’s The Beatles LOVE […]
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service with Personal Appearance by LAZENBY, GEORGE LAZENBY From Switzerland With Love: The Majestic James Bond Epic Returns to the Big Screen With 007 In Person Unlike James Bond’s martinis, the July 8 screening at the Landmark of the 1969 Swiss-shot 007 thriller On Her Majesty’s Secret Service with star George Lazenby […]
The Pleasures of Being Out of Step: All That Jazz: Ingrained To Be Against the Grain The L.A. release of The Pleasures of Being Out of Step: Notes on the Life of Nat Hentoff on July 4th is serendipitous, in the same way, say, that opening a horror movie on Halloween would be. The longtime, […]
All’s Well That End’s Well – High Sexual Anxiety: Make War, Not Love Shakespearean scholars at Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum — which is celebrating the dramatist’s 450th birthday this summer — including artistic director Ellen Geer tell your humble scribe that All’s Well That Ends Well is one of the more “difficult” of the playwright’s […]
The Internets Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz Film Review Big Brother and the Holder Company: A Case Study in DOJ Malicious, Overzealous, SELECTIVE Prosecution and Persecution The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz is required viewing for anyone who values free speech and justice. Brian Knappenberger’s riveting documentary is also a […]
A Coffee in Berlin aka Oh Boy Film Review An Aryan Woody Allen? Woody Allen is arguably the New York Jews’ poet laureate, so it’s a surprising delight to discover a similar bittersweet sensibility in German writer/director Jan Ole Gerster’s award winning feature debut, A Coffee in Berlin (originally titled Oh Boy). This dramedy stars Tom […]
2014 LA Film Festival: Jimi: All By My Side The Screen Cries Jimi: ’Scuse Me While I Kiss the Cinema John Ridley has followed up his 2014 Oscar-winning screenplay for 12 Years a Slave by writing and directing a must-see Jimi Hendrix (rapper André Benjamin, aka André 3000) biopic, one of LA Film Festival’s most highly […]
The Last Confession Theatre Review TV’s Poirot, Suchet, Sleuths and Shoots the Papal Bull Roger Crane’s The Last Confession is first rate drama at its best. Not only does it tackle the big issues but it also has a top notch cast that delivers solid, riveting performances. The ensemble is rather cannily led by David […]
2014 LA Film Festival: Last Days in Vietnam President Kennedy’s Niece Directs Vietnam Propaganda Piece As U.S. foreign policy in Iraq faces its biggest defeat since the Indochina Wars the niece of President Kennedy — who escalated the U.S. presence in Vietnam — has directed the cinematic equivalent of putting a blossom on a turd. Rory […]
