Magic Touch

Written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, Pan’s Labyrinth is something alchemical. To an astonishing degree, the 42-year-old Mexican filmmaker best known for his contribution to the Blade and Hellboy franchises has transformed the horror of mid-twentieth-century European history into a boldly fanciful example of what surrealists would call le…

Old Man’s Still Got It

Maurice Russell, a septuagenarian actor facing the end of his career and life, gazes raptly at the present that fate has given him: the company of a sullen but strangely desirable teenage girl. At first, his appraising looks give her the creeps, but something about his courtliness piques her curiosity…

Now Playing

Given what an awful stiff Somerset Maugham can be, it’s remarkable how many movies have been made of his uptight tales of civil servants sweating it out in British colonies (48 for the big screen alone). John Curran’s fresh take on Maugham’s novel The Painted Veil, from a crisp script…

Thin Tizzy

In an age when thousands of sickly young women gush over stick-figure starlets like Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie for “thinspiration,” Daniela Edburg knocks the teeth out with a headlong plunge into the evils of obsessive dieting. “Bittersweet,” her solo exhibit at Kunsthaus Miami, is a walloping commentary on the…

Art Capsules

Oscar Bony, Leon Ferrari, and Tracey Snelling: Perfumed by the scent of fresh paint and sparkling floors, Pan American’s newly hatched Wynwood digs open with the muscular work of Argentine conceptualists Leon Ferrari and Oscar Bony in the capacious main space and multimedia pieces by California’s Tracey Snelling in the…

Hold Your Horses

Bandidas (Fox) This review is not long enough for a suitable treatment of the beauty of Penélope Cruz and Salma Hayek. The makers of Bandidas would certainly prefer I tried, though, than to discuss this plodding cliché of a western featuring the two. You could write the script right now…

Whip Smart

It’s been 20 years since the first Castlevania bewitched gamers with its gothic horror. Twenty years of vampire hunters going fist to fang with Lord Dracula. With almost two dozen titles in the series, Castlevania is one of the most enduring and beloved game franchises of all time. Castlevania: Portrait…

New Times‘s Top DVD Picks for the Week of January 9, 2007

America’s Funniest Home Videos: Salute to Romance (Shout Factory) Behind the Mask (Good Times) Broken Bridges (Paramount) Color of the Cross (Fox) Conversations With Other Women (Hart Sharp) Crank (Lions Gate) Everybody Says I’m Fine (BFS) Good Morning World (S’More) Hello Kitty’s Animation Theater: Complete Collection (ADV) Live Nude Girls…

Still Dreaming

When he declared in 1963 he had a dream, America was captivated. As racially embroiled as the nation was, the dream of change resonated. Whether it was the Vietnam War or the civil rights movement, change was on the minds of many. Today, when speakers blare that gripping, sermonlike speech,…

This Ain’t the Salvation Army Store

You’ll find no broken toasters or semi-used exercise equipment here; the most exclusive garage sale ever to hit the shores of Miami Beach is the real deal. More than 1000 exhibitors from around the globe will hit the Miami Beach Convention Center for the Original Miami Beach Antique Show. For…

Sun and Spice

Different name, but just as sweet. In its 30th year, what was previously called the Redland Natural Arts Festival is now the Redland Festival, and what was once fun for the whole family still is. This three-day event celebrates the deep culture and history of the Fruit and Spice Park,…

Let the Festivals Begin

It’s the beginning of festival season, and the weather is bright and pleasantly breezy. The temperature will find its way back to scorching before you know it. Now is the time to enjoy the great outdoorsy events that will be taking place throughout the city. Start today at the seventeenth…

Dance, Exciting and New

Ballet’s poetic movements are pages of a story gracefully unfolding onstage. It tells of love, loss, and passion. Miami City Ballet, one of the largest companies in the nation, invites you to indulge in the troupe’s art. Program II features the premiere of Liturgy by the acclaimed resident choreographer of…

All Blasphemy Aside

John Lennon almost got himself crucified in 1966 when he made an offhand remark about the Beatles being more popular than Jesus. Quite a number of records were destroyed.8 before the controversy died down. That was 40 years ago. Can one still create a buzz when comparing oneself to the…

Fried Rice and Frijoles

Here in Miami, where pastel-color buildings are our birthright, we tend to think of Art Deco architecture as an inimitably local thing. At the 30th annual Art Deco Weekend, event organizers will be celebrating distinctive art and architecture in an opposite corner of the world. This year’s theme is East…

The Keys’ Kindest Month

March, April, and May are beautiful but scorching. Hurricane season stretches from June to November, threatening devastation to delicate tropical life. Really the ideal time to visit the Florida Keys is in January, when deliciously cool weather makes for perfect camping and kayaking conditions. Besides the outdoorsy fun to be…

This Ain’t the Salvation Army Store

You’ll find no broken toasters or semi-used exercise equipment here; the most exclusive garage sale ever to hit the shores of Miami Beach is the real deal. More than 1000 exhibitors from around the globe will hit the Miami Beach Convention Center for the Original Miami Beach Antique Show. For…

Sun and Spice

Different name, but just as sweet. In its 30th year, what was previously called the Redland Natural Arts Festival is now the Redland Festival, and what was once fun for the whole family still is. This three-day event celebrates the deep culture and history of the Fruit and Spice Park,…

Let the Festivals Begin

It’s the beginning of festival season, and the weather is bright and pleasantly breezy. The temperature will find its way back to scorching before you know it. Now is the time to enjoy the great outdoorsy events that will be taking place throughout the city. Start today at the seventeenth…

Subversive Emergence

If you like your beats served with synthetic suave and your compositions tinged with minimalist genius, then chances are you’re a fan of techno music. Although once part of a scene that was primarily underground, techno has become much like the eager groundhog at the onset of spring, emerging from…

More than Socks

Remember Lamb Chop? Shari Lewis’s sock puppet with the weird hair was kinda scary, but Pablo Cano’s Musical Marionettes put that little lady to shame. Using objects that have been discarded by people with zero artistic vision, Cano creates puppets, large and small, that tell stories through song and jerky…

Gypsy Kings and Queens

Forced to convert to Christianity in 1492, the persecuted people of Granada in southern Spain turned to dance and music to express their raw emotions and tell their stories. Their haunting, rhythmic, intense singing and dancing became the flamenco. The soul and fire of those Andalusian gypsies, whose musical traditions…