GAROFALO MAINTAINS A KEEN EDGE; ACTRESS GOES BACK TO HER STAND-UP ROOTS FOR AN ENTERTAINING NIGHT AT THE WARFIELD IN S.F.T
Whatever might be said of the golden age for actresses, at least the studios knew when to typecast the perfect character. Janeane Garofalo would have been the wise-cracking best friend with the cocked hat, brittle with wit, snarling with the best throwaway lines in the script and contentiously falling for…
STARS TEND TO DISTRACT IN “MONOLOGUES”; THE PRESENCE OF MINOR CELEBRITIES CAN CLOUD THE MESSAGE OF ENSLER’S FRANK AND FUNNY PRODUCTION
Witnessing Susan Anton re-enact a surprise triple-orgasm moan is a surreal theater experience. She’s one of three actresses who have split duties for Eve Ensler’s award-winning one-woman play, “The Vagina Monologues.” This second San Francisco celebrity engagement follows Ensler’s own appearance last winter. But while the playwright could dive right…
“DEBUT” ENGAGING, BUT LACKS EXPERIENCE
The best way to describe San Jose native Gene Cajayon’s “The Debut” is crowd-pleasing. At the Hawaii film festival, it beat out competitors such as “George Washington” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” for the audience award. The coming-of-age tale of a boy and of an American minority culture has proven…
FREEMAN DRIVES “SPIDER” MYSTERY; THIS PREQUEL TO “KISS THE GIRLS” BREAKS OUT OF THE PEDESTRIAN MOLD, THANKS TO THE GIFTED ACTOR
Early on in the mystery “Along Came a Spider,” the bewildered mother of a kidnap victim asks Morgan Freeman reprising his role as famed profiler Alex Cross “Why are you here?” “I don’t know,” he answers simply, but everyone knows why. As detective Cross, who has shed light into the…
SEINFELD NEEDLES PARAMOUNT INTO LAUGHS
“Yes, I picked Oakland. Why shouldn’t I come to Oakland? I like Oakland.” With that declaration, Jerry Seinfeld endeared himself to a sell-out Thursday night crowd at the Paramount Theatre. Not that he had to kiss up; a standing ovation greeted him before he strode over to the microphone and…
“WINNERS” ARE LOSERS: TAKE BACK THEIR OSCARS
YOU CAN already feel the tension building. You know what we mean: the backlash, should “Gladiator” take home the top prize at tonight’s Oscar ceremony. If “Gladiator” does indeed win, it won’t go down in history as the only controversial Oscar-winner. Throughout the decades of Oscar, there have been jeers…
MOVIE TOO MILD? SAY IT ISN’T SO
The Farrelly brothers have finally gone and done it. They’ve become soft. That’s right, soft as in tame and mild-mannered. The same guys who made every man and woman in America cross their legs during the excruciating zipper scene in “There’s Something About Mary” have bogged down in their own…
REVIEW: “SERIES 7” CHILLINGLY SPOOFS REALITY TV
It’s the seventh season of “The Contenders,” the highly-rated series that conscripts six strangers (drawing their name at random in a lottery), equips them with an arsenal and sends them out to kill one another. Reigning champion Dawn Lagarta (Brooke Smith), with “10 kills in two tours,” can win her…
REVIEW: “15 MINUTES” IS A WASTE OF TIME; FILM SKEWERING MEDIA IS RIDDLED WITH INCONSISTENCIES, WEAK DETAILS AND BAD PACING, DESPITE ITS ALL-STAR CAST
You’d have to be an awful shot to miss an obvious target like the media. There’s so much from which to choose. There’s the rush to judgment (otherwise known as news analysis and commentary). One could harp on the obsession with images: If a tree falls in the forest and…
A DEMOGRAPHIC IS STRICKEN BY CUPID’S BOW AND ARROWS
I AM SIFTING through the crimson ashes of unsold Valentine’s Day cards and See’s chocolate boxes, sticky from melted rejects. As usual, I’ve missed the Saint’s Day, although not without some deliberation. Over the years and the boyfriends, I’ve learned to dodge the cloying fusillade of chocolate and flower ads….