Dinner, deaths, and fetishism of the dollar in new L.A. comedy
Her play is loosely based on the Bernard Madoff scandal, the former stockbroker and investment adviser who thrived in the roaring George W. years until the bubble burst in 2008.
"Eye in the Sky": an eye for an eye
The contrast between board rooms and slums reminds us that when geopolitica imbalance reaches a certain level, life and death decisions can be made as easily in one venue as another.
A desire to change the world: Author Gary Murrell on Herbert Aptheker
During the height of the "Red Scare," Aptheker was considered by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover as the "most dangerous communist in the United States."
Spy parenting 101: Deadly decisions on “The Americans”
Characters Philip and Elizabeth Jennings are good parents. That is their baseline identity.
“Batman v Superman”: It’s hero vs. hero, but the audience loses
This film is the cinematic equivalent of a child slamming two plastic toy dinosaurs into one another.
“Madame Butterfly”: The racial/sexual politics of cross-cultural concubinage
LA Opera's current production of Giacomo Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" hits not only a homer, but a grand slam.
“The Americans”: Hostility between two world powers in new episode
We return to larger considerations and smaller links in this drama between Philip and Elizabeth, and their loving, yet emotionally torn daughter.
Spies, lies, and glanders: “The Americans” season four premiere
Season four of FX's The Americans begins with a troubling image from character Philip Jennings' past.
"Summer and Smoke": Tennessee's waltz and the blindness of neighbors
Tara Battani's is among the finest acting I've ever seen on the L.A. boards, and is by itself worth the price of admission.
Last tango in Kabul? “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” and the embedded reporter
"Tango" perpetuates that age-old Hollywood tradition of setting stories in the "exotic" Third World.
