Martha Marcy May Marlene, a tight thriller with a tongue-twisting title, will launch the career to two young promising movie makers. One is director Sean Durkin, whose first feature comes at the heals of the success of his short film “Mary Last Seen,” which took home the SFR Short Film Award at Cannes in 2010. Like “Mary Last Seen,” Martha Marcy May Marlene, which we will call MMMM from here on out, is a focused, psychologically intense vignette – a ..read more

The Da Vinci Code for English majors, Anonymous might ruffle the feathers of a few literature professors if it actually felt like you could take its Shakespearean historical revisionism seriously. Director Roland Emmerich’s new film, written by John Orloff, commits literary blasphemy. According to the film, Shakespeare did not write Shakespeare; rather the “historical” Shakespeare was an illiterate actor playing the role of playwright to cover for the talents of Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford, who was truly the ..read more

I’m not sure how seriously we’re meant to take The Rum Diary.

Much of the movie plays like a kinda-sorta prequel to the 1998 Terry Gilliam film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Both are based on autobiographical novels by the famed gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, and both star Johnny Depp as a stand-in for Thompson. They each feature a collection of kooky, ne’er-do-well characters in stories meant to demonstrate that it’s really what’s considered “mainstream” in society that’s craziest. ..read more

As with The Truman Show and S1m0ne, writer/director Andrew Niccol creates a futuristic metaphor in In Time, which sets contemporary class-angst in the context of an imaginary future where money has been replaced by time and we are genetically engineered to live forever. The catch – there’s always a catch – is that a small number of rich have horded all of the “time,” which is stored in little stamp-like cassettes and in one’s body, tracked by glowing digital readers ..read more

Earnest and well-meaning, though relatively uneventful, Oranges and Sunshine plays like a TV movie of the week on a cable network for women. There’s no denying that the true story on which it is based is tragic. I only wish this film adaptation weren’t so oddly inert.

Margaret Humphreys (Emily Watson), an English social worker who stumbled upon a terrible secret of the British and Australian governments, deserves to be honored for the huge sacrifices she made during her crusade to ..read more

FRIDAY

Water Falls (One Arts Plaza): All the talk may be about Deep Ellum lately (or for years now, if we’re being honest), but don’t overlook Downtown itself as a highly desirable show-spot. As part of the programming for  Aurora, local act Water Falls will showcase its seemingly formless yet enveloping and ambient multimedia work, explained  thusly:

The band will perform among the plaza’s unique fountain and beautiful planted groves of gingko trees accompanied with video projections. You can sit amongst the ..read more

I was invited on to Good Morning Texas last week to share my top five horror movies of all time, and toss in a family favorite spook for good measure. First, a disclaimer. My fifth scary movie was dropped from the segment to due to time constraints. That pick was Herk Harvey’s Carnival of Souls (1962), the director’s only feature film and one that more or less soiled my pajamas when I saw it as a kid. Secondly, the list ..read more

Burleson’s own Kelly Clarkson released her fifth album this week. Stronger arrives ahead of a couple of significant milestones in her life: Next year will mark the 10th anniversary of her Season 1 American Idol win, and she’ll also turn 30. So, where does the new record find her? There’s no denying the girl can sang, but is she throwing her fans any curveballs a la My December? I’ll explore the new album track-by-track. For maximum fun, pull up Spotify and ..read more

We’re not too stuffy to get into the spirit of the season and offer a Halloween-inspired giveaway. So that’s exactly what we have for you this Thursday: a pair of tickets to The Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s Monsters of Film Music on October 30th. The concert features selections from Harry Potter, Star Wars, The Dark Knight, Gostbusters and others. Dress up, arrive early, and cash in on contests, arts and crafts. To get your hands on them all you have to ..read more