The highlight of my Sleepless Night, the cultural Miami Beach potluck Saturday, was a brain-slurping Mexican horror flick. So the next day I wandered over to the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, a lush enclave amid the concrete-mania of the Miami Beach Convention Center. The garden hosted a free South Beach…
The Amicus Collection (Dark Sky) Angel: Complete Series Collector’s Set (Fox) Beastie Boys: The Complete Story (Video Music) Benny Hill: The Complete Megaset (A&E) A Christmas Story (Warner Bros.) CSI Miami: The Fifth Season (Paramount) The Cup (Festival Media) Day Watch (Fox) Dear Jesse (Sovereign) The Devil Came on Horseback…
No End in Sight (Magnolia) Charles Ferguson’s debut doc, easily the most important in a year full of notable fact-gathering films, assembles some of the key players behind the invasion and occupation of Iraq and seems to ask them but one question: “What went wrong?” In short: everything. But Ferguson’s…
In her beautiful new show, Wendy Wischer has harnessed light to conjure an enchanting atmosphere where visitors might feel as if they’re floating within the canopy of the night sky. Her luminous mirrored sculptures become the scaffolding for the constant interplay between light, spectators, and space in a darkened room…
Goya: The Engravings of the Caixanova Collection: The Spanish master’s skull-staving series of etchings created during the later stages of his career is on view for the first time in the United States in this must-see exhibit. The four series include Los Caprichos (The Caprices), 1799; Los Desastres de la…
Dressed in black from head to toe, author Walter Mosley stood out easily against the rich tones of the Mandarin Oriental’s lobby and its equally overhued patrons. As he walked toward me, ebony fedora tipped to one side, visions of his most well-known character, Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, came to mind…
American Gangster is a movie with obvious gravitas and a familiar argument: Organized crime is outsider capitalism. As archetypal as its title, Ridley Scott’s would-be epic aspires to enshrine Harlem dope king Frank Lucas in Hollywood heaven, heir to Scarface and the Godfather. Or, as suggested by the Mark Jacobson…
John Cusack, who more or less began his career sneaking a peek at Molly Ringwald’s panties in Sixteen Candles, has finally become an onscreen daddy — only took, what, 23 years? Except he’s not exactly the most fortunate family man on film: First, in Martian Child he plays a widower…
An irresistible subject for a documentary: the charming celebrity of Marla Olmstead, an artist from upstate New York whose talent for impossibly confident abstractions triggered a media frenzy and five-figure price tags. Unveiled at a local coffee shop, Marla’s middling AbEx doodles might not have inspired more than a glance…
It must have been a scorching summer day when the game developer stared at his thermometer and realized “Sweet sassy molassey, this would make a helluva game!” How else to explain the existence of the quirky puzzle series Mercury Meltdown? Debuting on the PSP, the original Mercury Meltdown turned Marble…
Little Shop of Horrors: Huge carnivorous plants from outer space really capture the imagination. Witness how Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s Little Shop was launched twice in SoFla in the past month — once in a very amateur production in Hollywood, and now here, at much-less amateur (though still nonprofessional)…
It always amuses us when so-called young people show their ageist underbelly. Yelling at old drivers on the highway. Glaring angrily and cussing under their breath as elderly shoppers slowly meander down the middle of the supermarket aisle. Making dismissive references to shuffleboard as the game of the aged. We’ll…
Believe it or not, it is possible for you to exist in this world and abandon that endless chain of cigarettes and your nightly vodka routine. We’re not judging; cross our black liver with nicotine-stained fingers and hope to die. But there is one habit you can feel good about…
Is it time for us to feel sorry for Jennifer Lopez yet? If you’ve been following her career — avidly or reluctantly – you’ve likely experienced the Five Stages of J.Lo. Stage one: We loved her as the scrappy Fly Girl on In Living Color. The film Selena sealed the…
In Florida we’re lucky to be able to buy wine from a number of places, and knowing you, we suspect you’ve probably purchased vino from the finest CVS, Publix, and 7-Eleven locations in the state. But we think it’s high time you step outside your convenience store comfort zone and…
Certain events kick off the holiday season: the tree-lighting in Rockefeller Center, clearance sales on strappy sandals at your favorite secret shoe spot, and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular Starring the Rockettes. Sure, as a girl you wanted to be a Rockette. Now as an adult you’re still tempted to…
What do you get when you combine three rings, a big top, some dexterous elephants, and a guy with a bodacious top hat? No, not overambitious hard-core porn. It’s the circus! And though you might think you’ve seen it all before, this ain’t no Ringling Bros.; it’s the Cole Bros…
Sugar skulls, marigolds, mariachis, and tequila are part of the Mexican Day of the Dead celebrations with which most gringos associate the ancient Aztec holiday. At dinner tonight at Rosa Mexicano Restaurant, Executive Chef Omar Covarrubias aims to change that during his Día de los Muertos weekend fiesta, by serving…
According to Care Resource (www.careresource.org), Miami-Dade ranks number one in reported HIV/AIDS cases out of all Florida counties. Broward comes in a close second, and let’s not forget Palm Beach County pulling up the rear at number three. In an effort to slow the spread of HIV all over the…
Miami sports fans haven’t had much to get excited about lately. The Marlins recently concluded a last-place finish in a season that saw attendance averages rival that of the Hialeah Bingo Hall. Wayne Huizenga and company have abused the Dolphins so badly that Greenpeace should protest outside the stadium. Rumor…
Since the early Sixties, when saxophonist Stan Getz introduced American audiences to the poptastic sounds of bossa nova, Brazilian jazz has been a staple for a cool and sophisticated evening. The aptly named Nosso Trio (Portuguese for “our trio”) belongs to that long tradition of gifted musicians who skillfully mix…
Ladies, let’s chat about a scenario that’s happened to all of us. It starts like this: You and your boyfriend break up because he lives on some dude’s couch and can’t hold a job — you grew weary of picking up both the check and his dirty laundry. A week…
