Susie was raised Amish, the daughter of the dying woman we saw. The American girl's skills attract the one reasonably warm instructor there, Mme Blanc (Swinton again). Behind the walls of the dance troupe, the inner circle has a divisive vote on their leadership. Neither side is particularly happy with the outcome. The wit of David Kajganich's script is that organized religion, even the satanic Old Religion, is just politics by other means. Suspiria takes The Red Shoes or Black Swan to the next level of horror. » Read More

John S. Baird's biopic Stan & Ollie has a certain inflationary quality, regarding the appeal of a comedy team in their sunset years. But in lovingly re-creating Laurel and Hardy's mid-1950s tour of Britain, it's a film with lots of charm. The road is tough on two aging performers. It's bad when no one shows up at the music halls, and it's worse when they're congratulated for surviving their has-been status. At a seaside pavilion, the hostess toasts them: "Still going strong, and still using the same material!" Stan Laurel (Steve Coogan) is revealed as the sparkplug of the act, the writer who understood the formula. No matter who else was around them, on screen or stage, Laurel and Hardy needed to be the only person in the other's world. » Read More

Soon, we are introduced to Queequeg, an American Indian sailor who proceeds to wake up the rest of the ship with an indigenous ritual and dance. This leads to a religious argument between Queequeg and Greenhorn, the opera's main protagonist, who in the original book is called Ishmael. From there, we are introduced to the ship: There's the peg-legged, scarfaced Captain Ahab; his first mate, the shrewd but conflicted Starbuck; and their squadron of ragtag shiphands. This adaptation is a dramatic, visually impressive anthology of poignant moments that unfortunately don't add up to cohesive whole. While the performers bring their A-game, there are plenty of problems with this show, mostly stemming from the script. » Read More

An unspoken question that McNally implies but never articulates is, What if Katharine had been a loving mother who had accepted her gay son? Would Andre's life have turned out any differently? The playwright structures Mothers and Sons as a series of confrontations. Some of them develop into arguments. Others fizzle out. Some reveal truths about the past. Cal reminds Katharine that he cared for Andre during his illness. He fed and bathed him until he died, while the most she could bring herself to do was attend the funeral. After all these years, her son's death hasn't improved her disposition. Katharine is alternately cold or enraged and filled with bitterness. For Cal and Will, it's puzzling that she's chosen this moment to have a » Read More

Written by screenwriter and playwright Peter Morgan, the play premiered at the Donmar Warehouse theatre in London in August 2006. Combining snappy dialogue and a fast-paced plot, Frost/Nixon grabbed audiences by focusing on the battle of wits between a lightweight TV personality aiming to prove his mettle and a disgraced world leader seeking to redirect public opinion. » Read More

When Justin Pomariga turned 18 last year, he dragged his mother to San Francisco to shop with him at Mr. S, the legendary leather and fetish store. He'd been anticipating his birthday for months, awaiting the day he could legally jump into the BDSM scene after years of Internet research. "My mom is a very liberal person," he says. But she hadn't quite understood what her kid was into before they entered the store. "When she walked in there, she was like, 'Justin, look at this!'" he remembers. "She picked up a dildo, and I'm like, 'What are you doing with that? Put that away!'" » Read More

Out beyond the darkness and the light, there is a milieu of Tibetan prayer flags, cholo artwork, posters, mirrors, spiritual knickknacks and demon masks. To riff on Rumi, I will meet you there. To be more specific, I speak of Paco Excel's Death Before Dishonor tattoo studio, a fixture at the otherwise constantly changing area of Third and San Carlos in downtown San Jose. The multi-story faded brown Victorian house first housed the legendary New Skool Tattoo shop back in 1995 until a bifurcation of historic proportion spawned an offspring, Death Before Dishonor, in 2008. One room, the separate yet related Bodhidharma Gallery, will host an art show by Joe Demaree this Sunday from noon to 5pm. » Read More

Buss notes that there are some stumbling blocks for men in short-term mating mode. A major one is "the problem of avoiding commitment." That's where you older but still hot ladies sometimes come in. Older women are less likely to demand a relationship with an age-inappropriate partner, and are also likely to be sexually experienced and sexually adventuresome in a way younger women aren't. And unlike younger women, who are often shy about expressing what they want in bed, older women can stop just short of going all Gunnery Sgt. Hartman: "Faster, you maggot! And 3 millimeters up and a centimeter to the left!" » Read More

When directors of movies say, "It's a wrap," they mean that the shooting of a scene has been finished. They may use the same expression when the shooting of the entire film is completed. That's not the end of the creative process, of course. All the editing must still be done. Once that's accomplished, the producer may declare that the final product is "in the can," and ready to be released or broadcast. From what I can determine, Aries, you're on the verge of being able to say, "It's a wrap" for one of your own projects. There'll be more work before you're ready to assert, "It's in the can." » Read More