"Curse of the Golden Flower" is probably the most lavish costume drama in history, equaling or outdoing director Zhang Yimou’s other spectaculars, such as "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers." It’s a sea of gold, red, blue, silver, with Yee Chung Man’s improbably luxurious costumes. Armies clash, warriors fly, the imperial family self-destructs and the Shakespearean plotting, feuding and killing never stop.
Read More
Evangeline Lilly has survived disaster on "Lost," and she just narrowly averted one in real life as well. Her rented Oahu, Hawaii, house near the "Lost" set went up in flames Wednesday morning.The fire was reported around 6:45 a.m. by neighbors who heard "loud popping sounds, like something electrical," one told The Honolulu Advertiser. By the time firefighters raced to the scene six minutes later, "the house was fully engulfed," fire Capt. Kenison Tejada said.
Read More
Rarely has so much talent gone to waste. The credits of "Night at the Museum" read like a who’s-who of comedy: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan, Ricky Gervais, Paul Rudd and Robin Williams, to name a few. So where are the laughs? Buried, perhaps, beneath the endless reels of effects that have been heaped on a story rich with promise.
Read More
"The Good Shepherd," an espionage saga directed by Robert De Niro, takes us through a quarter-century of intelligence history, transpiring in a modern-times warp teeming with Nazi sympathizers, Soviet adversaries, Cuban perils, LSD experiments and other ingredients of the spy pie. It’s a terrifically ambitious movie whose wealth of detail should appeal to children of the Cold War. But for all its intrigue, it is too staid and stuffed to emotionally satisfy.
Read More
Getting dumped is bad enough. But imagine being incessantly bombarded with pictures of your ex and his impossibly gorgeous, confident and successful new babe. Such is the fate of Jennifer Aniston. In the wake of her own breakup from Vince Vaughn, she’s been forced to endure an onslaught of publicity about former husband Brad Pitt’s charmed life with"Good Shepherd" star Angelina Jolie.
Read More
A familiar name to longtime San Francisco jazz fans, sax man Noel Jewkes, has performed and recorded with just about everyone in the Bay Area. John Hendricks, Wesla Whitfield, Mary Stallings, Lavay Smith, Mimi Fox, Larry Vuckovich and Paula West are among his many collborators. He’s been at it for decades; he was even onstage at the legendary Fillmore Street nightspot Bob City and played a role in the late-’60s San Francisco rock scene.
Read More
En masse they arrive with boomboxes at their side, waiting for the maestro’s cue. Upon word from New York-based composer Phil Kline, the stereo-lugging public collectively presses "play" to unleash a cacophony in the streets. The result isn’t some unruly disturbance; it’s a modern-day caroling of sorts known across the globe as "Unsilent Night."
Read More
Nothing soothes and restores like a bowl of congee, silken Chinese porridge made only with rice and water. Porridge King, a cheerfully efficient congee house in a happening Asian shopping center, makes an excellent one with preserved pork and salted egg ($5.50). The salty pork and egg give the porridge richness and depth. And if you throw in hunks of a long, unsweetened Chinese doughnut ($1.50), warm from the fryer, you have the ultimate satisfaction of chewiness and crispness with a creamy hot soup.
Read More
For a guy whose film career launched more than 40 years ago, Robert De Niro is hardly showing any signs of creative fatigue. The quintessential method actor has six upcoming films in pre-production, one directed by Jodie Foster, another by Barry Levinson. This month, the two-time Oscar-winner turns heads in a place many wouldn’t expect to find him: behind the camera, directing "The Good Shepherd," which opens Friday.
Read More
Former Stray Cat Brian Setzer is as hot as ever. The Brian Setzer Orchestra even has been nominated for a Grammy Award: "My Favorite Things," off "Dig That Crazy Christmas" on Surfdog Records, is up for best pop instrumental performance. Setzer performs live with his 18-piece rockin’ big band in the popular fifth annual "Brian Setzer Orchestra Extravaganza." The show, which features holiday classics and other music, is onstage at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and 8 p.m. Friday at the Fox Theatre, 2215 Broadway, Redwood City.
Read More
URL: http://www.sfexaminer.com/archive/21?page=750%2C0%2C0%2C1
