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Wrestling played out in good guy, bad guy terms.

Heels Focuses on One Family in the Glory Days of Small Town Wrestling

By Jamil David

Aug 31, 2021

Professional wrestling is a production. It’s a show with character arcs and a narrative. “Fake” is what most people would classify it as if that’s some profound revelation. It is “fake,” but to its fans, it’s extremely powerful, and it’s all thanks to the people putting on the show, the...

Acclaimed musician Archie Bell, Founding Member of the R&B group Archie Bell & the Drells, with film director Isaac Yowman (right) and producer Greg Carter (left) on set for the filming of Memory Builds the Monument documentary.

Memory Builds The Monument: Documentary Celebrates Fifth Ward's Club Matinee

By Gladys Fuentes

Aug 25, 2021

Last September the State of Texas officially honored Houston’s Fifth Ward by designating it as a Cultural Arts District, making Houston the city with the most Cultural Arts districts with a total of seven neighborhoods. “This area down Lyons that is just known for its history and heritage,” says Harrison...

Looking for a way out of Oklahoma, in sometimes hilarious fashion.

The Teens on Reservation Dogs Want Out, But on Their Own (Sometimes Comic) Terms

By Jamil David

Aug 19, 2021

Reservation Dogs is Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo’s Native American-centered comedy about a group of teens living on a reservation in Oklahoma. Harjo, a native American filmmaker, and Waititi, one of the most in-demand entertainment entities, have created a hilarious and uncompromising, true-to-life series about Native American life. The Quentin...

Kaelen Ohm's "15 Step" Program for Creative Success

By Jesse Sendejas Jr.

Aug 4, 2021

There’s a song of particular brilliance in Kaelen Ohm’s life, one she claims “completely turns the energy up in my body to like 100, you know? It’s like every cell and bone and tissue in my body is just going crazy with this song.” Ohm is a busy actress, filmmaker...

Jagari with Jacco Gardner and Nic Mauskovic at their first meeting.

Zamrock Doc Celebrates Spell of the WITCH

By Bob Ruggiero

Aug 2, 2021

It seems that the 1970’s transmitted more musical styles into the public’s ears than any other in history: disco, punk, funk, new wave, heavy metal, reggae, glam, prog and the beginnings of rap. One genre that had a small but dedicated following is Zamrock. It originated in the country of...

Visit a Different Kind of Hawaii With The White Lotus Comedy/Drama on HBO

By Jamil David

Jul 19, 2021

The White Lotus is HBO’s new comedy/drama miniseries created by Mike White, most known for writing School of Rock and the underrated HBO drama Enlightened. The White Lotus begins with its presumed end, a body being loaded on a plane, a tragic end to a vacation at a beautiful Hawaiian...

Lauren Lakis Sculpts a Music Career

By Jesse Sendejas Jr.

Jul 16, 2021

Lauren Lakis thought back to her first encounters with all things artistic. “I’m lucky because I had a mom who definitely encouraged all of that creative energy, as well as one of my mom’s sisters, my Aunt Marian — super encouraging in that regard. I mean, they had me with...

If You Haven't Watched Hacks Then You're Missing Something Spectacular

By Jamil David

Jun 29, 2021

Hacks is HBO Max’s breakout comedy that follows Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), an aging comedy legend with a Vegas residency and all the money in the world that is by circumstance forced to work with a young comedy writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder), who has been pseudo-black-listed in the writing world...

KISS Rocks and Rolls All Nite for Two Nights on A&E Doc

By Bob Ruggiero

Jun 25, 2021

Though he was born in 1973 – a bit too late to experience the impact of the band at its commercial and cultural peak – young D.J. Viola nevertheless became a hardcore KISS fan. Though he knows it wasn’t always easy for other kids to sneak that fandom past a...

Reviews For The Easily Distracted:
F9: The Fast Saga

By Pete Vonder Haar

Jun 25, 2021

Title: F9: The Fast Saga Describe This Movie Like Stefon from SNL: STEFON: New York's hottest new club is "F9." Director Justin Lin has gone *all out.* This place has everything: hot rods, motorcycles, child endangerment, throw-up music, beefy fisticuffs, and wish nonfulfillment. SETH: I'm sorry, "wish nonfulfillment?" STEFON: That's...

Houston Ballet’s David Rivera and Aoi Fujiwara filming Stanton Welch’s ADROIT: clever or skillful in using the hands or mind.

Houston Ballet Dances to A Little Night Music at MFAH's Kinder Building

By Margaret Downing

Jun 16, 2021

Among all the unexpected side effects of the prolonged pandemic, was the swing from live shows to filmed productions for many of the performance groups in Houston. For Daniel Rivera, Houston Ballet’s Associate Director of Audio and Visual Services, it meant a rather sizeable leap from making in-house and short promotional...

Disney + invests in another Marvel TV show, this time: Loki.

Now Stream This: New and Returning Shows You Want to Give a Try

By Jamil David

Jun 14, 2021

The summer is here, and there are many television shows on the horizon. Summers can be a drag without a major series that captures everyone’s attention. This summer has a couple of series that have the chance to be the weekly point of fascination and some that might surprise and...

Reviews For The Uneasily Quarantined:
In The Heights

By Pete Vonder Haar

Jun 11, 2021

Title: In the Heights Describe This Movie In One Life is Worth Losing Quote: GEORGE CARLIN: That's why they call it the American Dream: because you have to be asleep to believe it. Brief Plot Synopsis: There are eight million stories in the naked city, here are two (or three) of them...

Comicpalooza 2021 Announces Stars From The Mandalorian Will Be at This Year's Event

By Houston Press

Jun 9, 2021

Comicpalooza organizers have just announced that Giancarlo Esposito, Carl Weathers, Katee Sackhoff, and Ming-Na Wen from Disney's The Mandalorian will be part of the lineup at this year's comicon at the George R. Brown on Saturday and Sunday, July 17 and 18. “We’re excited about the Mandalorian lineup not only...

Through the pandemic, to infinity and beyond!

Apple TV+'s Mythic Quest Goes Where No Video Game Developer Stories Have Gone Before

By Jamil David

Jun 4, 2021

Mythic Quest is Apple TV+’s game development workplace comedy starring It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Rob McElhenney. Apple TV+ is one of many streaming services trying to carve out its content library, but it doesn’t have the name recognition of Netflix. Surprisingly the service has some robust offerings from For...

Installation view of "Allora & Calzadilla: Specters of Noon."

Best Virtual Bets: HAAPIFEST, Pariah, and Love Motels for Insects

By Natalie de la Garza

Jun 3, 2021

If you're at a loss for what to do this weekend, check out this week’s list of best virtual (and some outdoor) events.

New DJ Screw Movie to Begin Filming in Houston This Week

By Carlos Brandon

Jun 2, 2021

A new film about DJ Screw and the S.U.C. is set to begin filming in Houston this week.

Reviews For The Uneasily Quarantined:
Army Of The Dead

By Pete Vonder Haar

May 21, 2021

Title: Army of the Dead Describe This Movie In One (Bastardized) "The Hollow Men" Quote: T.S. ELIOT: This is the way the world ends, Not with a bang, but a beej Brief Plot Synopsis: When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will hit the buffet. Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The...

Only a few years after the real-life assassination attempts or successes against John Lennon, Ronald Reagan, and Pope John Paul II, Eddie Murphy's "SNL" sketches on the murder of his Buckwheat character got big laughs.

How Soon is "Too Soon" for TV Comedy to Address Tragedy and Trauma?

By Bob Ruggiero

May 17, 2021

Tragedy Plus Time: National Trauma and Television Comedy By Philip Scepanski 280 pp. $50 University of Texas Press On September 29, 2001, just a little over two weeks after the terrorist attack on 9/11, the New York Friars Club and Comedy Central went ahead with a planned “roast” of Hugh...

Folake Olowofoyeku Dances Into the Light

By Jesse Sendejas Jr.

May 17, 2021

In her youth, Folake Olowofoyeku danced behind closed doors, hidden from her family and friends, those who may never have suspected just how badly she desired to express herself through art. That was a world away ago in Lagos, Nigeria and years before her acting career led her to the...

Film and TV

Music, Storytelling Shore Up 'The Living Coast' Film

Thanks To You Unvaccinated Jerks, Here's What's Left Of 2021's Movie Releases

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