Nollaig Shona, everybody! That’s Irish for Merry Christmas!
This year’s movie awards season is off to a lukewarm start. The year’s sure-fire motion picture hits include “A Star Is Born,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and “Green Book.” A trio of cinematic misses is still garnering Golden Globe nominations ahead of next month’s Oscar announcements. These strike…
No matter the country, audiences understand Estas Tonne. His guitar playing is both ethereal and grounded, spiritual and human. Relentlessly playing his hypnotic acoustic style, Tonne grew from a street performer to a world traveler, now in the midst of his first U.S. tour.
Brace yourselves for one of the most gritty and praise-worthy films of 2018. Thirty-nine-year-old director Barry Jenkins returns to his Oscar-winning form as he presents us with a period drama focused on the wrongful imprisonment of a young African-American from Harlem.
Danny Lyon first photo-graphed Ferny Jaramillo way back in the early 1970s, when Ferny was a beautiful young boy.
editor's pickspotlight
Maybe a story about a con man rolling into a small town to take advantage of a group of good-natured people doesn’t sound like what you need this holiday season. But a story about a con man who, through the power of love, finds it in him to step up and become a better person? That sounds lik…
A sensational cast transforms this true story about two men dealing with racial tensions back in 1962 into one of 2018’s funniest and best films. Using well-timed comedy relief throughout to offset deeply rooted racial tensions that flare up, “Green Book” emotionally navigates the heartfelt …
The Christmas season has come to Dickensville, and all of the town’s residents are excitedly preparing for their favorite time of year—with one exception.
Entering the final five weeks of awards season for 2018, movie enthusiasts can bank on seeing top-notch casts and productions with regularity. These Golden Globe and Academy Awards wannabes will flood theaters this holiday season to give moviegoers difficult choices to muster at the box offi…
The acclaimed painter Bailey Doogan endured a debilitating bout of depression for more than a year a decade ago.
This latest original feature film from Netflix takes viewers back to the bloody 14th century battlefields of Scotland, where a fight for independence from England continues under the leadership of one Robert Bruce.
Guests will be laughing from beginning to end at “The Odd Couple,” female version, staged by The Oro Valley Theatre Company on Nov. 14, 15 and 18, artistic director Judi Rodman believes.
Martha Graham is sometimes known as the Picasso of dance.
Stomp your feet and clap your hands: “Bohemian Rhapsody” will rock you. This spectacular biographical film on the legendary British rock band Queen and its lead singer Freddie Mercury quickly escalates from a historic, powerful music story to an enduring human narrative that touches your sou…
A young girl with piercing green eyes and a rust-colored veil caught the world’s attention back in 1985.
One of this year’s most awe-inspiring and uplifting movies is a National Geographic Documentary Films presentation following nine high school students from around the world, all competing for the top prize at the international science fair. This competitive journey among some of the best and…
Unfortunately, diehard fans of the western film genre will find the catchy-titled “The Sisters Brothers” movie bland and underwhelming.
It’s Halloween, and that means the orange leaves are falling as fast as the temperature itself. At least, that’s what we’ve heard happens, here in Tucson it’s business as usual.
A trio of Ironwood Ridge High School students rip through a myriad of ’90s rock favorites inside a high-ceiling living room. The three fresh-faced musicians are cutting loose in the early evening hours, playing the music their parents introduced them to as children.
Earlier this year, “First Man” was predicted by many within the film industry to be the heavy favorite for “Movie of the Year” honors. With Academy Award-winning director Damien Chazelle teaming up once again with leading man Ryan Gosling, the duo was supposed to shock and awe moviegoers wit…
In 1636, the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez painted a heroic picture of Count Duke Olivares astride a bucking horse, against a backdrop of stormy skies and billowing wind.
Fans of the 2015 climbing documentary “Meru”, the heart-pounding expedition up the 21,000-foot Shark’s Fin in northern India, will find this newest production from that film’s directors just as nerve-wrecking and free-spiriting.
Hola Hemp tamales are not medicinal edibles. Let’s get that cleared up right at the start. The notion that any item containing hemp will get you high is based on disinformation and basic old-fashioned preconception.
Ballet Tucson opens its 15th pro season with a musical dive into the past.
editor's pickspotlighttop story
Tucson was destined for diversity before Tucson even existed. The Sonoran Desert is one of the most taxonomically rich environments in the world; with thousands of species of plants alone, the landscape draws in members of any and every culture. The population has grown and regrown so many t…
“Our Sister’s Keeper” tells stories of strength in indigenous cultures and developing countries.
This weekend, Tucson Local Media Executive Editor Jim Nintzel will stand on a stage before family, friends, acquaintances (and possibly enemies), and tell a story about the time he went to jail.
Bradley Cooper makes his stunning directorial debut with this third remake of the 1937 original “A Star Is Born.” Forty-two years after the Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson rock ’n’ roll hit version of 1976, comes Cooper’s romantic musical vision co-starring Lady Gaga and film vetera…
It all started a few years back. October in Oro Valley used to be just like any other month, calm and peaceful. Sure, we had the regular run-ins with the common spine-tingling desert dwellers like rattlesnakes, scorpions, tarantulas and other creepy crawlies. But the things that inhabit Oro …
In 1896, Frank and Warren Allison established the Flowing Wells Ranch. Over a hundred years later, Kevin and Marie Daily released their book “Flowing Wells,” documenting in pictures the history of Flowing Wells from all the years in between. This book presents some never-before-seen pictures…
Leave it to the creator and executive producer of the NBC hit drama series “This Is Us” to provide one of this year’s most thought-provoking and emotional films.
The Tucson Symphony Orchestra Chorus, directed by Bruce Chamberlain, will hold auditions for new chorus members Monday, Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Symphony Center, 2175 N. Sixth Ave. All performances are with the TSO.
Calling all performers! The good people of Marana are in need of acts to perform at the annual Marana Holiday Festival and Christmas Tree Lighting.
He’s only two years old, but one day Jude Cryderman will tell his friends about the impact that his great, great, great, great grandmother had on the sausage scene in Southern Arizona.
As a self-described tough grader of films, I’m often asked what judging criteria I use to affix letter grades to movies?.There is no easy answer to this question. The best way to describe how I rate movies is to say that I measure how much a film emotionally connects with me from the time I …
Want to know what early life in Oro Valley was like? Jim Williams’ new book, “Claiming the Desert: Settlers, Homesteaders, and Ranchers in Oro Valley, Arizona 1865-1965,” paints a detailed picture of the desolate area and the first people who chose to settle down there.
The Gaslight Theatre has found a way to keep the vampire trope alive with its newest show, just in time to kick off the Halloween season. Aptly named “The Vampire,” this longtime fan-favorite has flown back to the stage, and is a re-imagined tale of the world’s most famous blood sucker, Coun…
This year’s benchmark for exciting, suspenseful action thrillers is easily “Mission: Impossible: Fallout.” With a star-studded cast of affable big-screen achievers, the Tom Cruise drama ducks and punches all the right movie moves—blistering action sequences and a fast-paced narrative that ke…
Orach is the old Scottish Gaelic word for “golden.”
In one of the most surprising films of the year comes a true story of three families, all unbelievably connected by horrific events dating back as far as the Rwandan Genocide of 1994.
Coming next month to Naranja Park, the Oro Valley Music Festival has added Cassadee Pope to it’s exciting lineup. The first female singer of The Voice is riding high on her hit song, “Wasting Away All These Tears,” and joins Chris Young, Danielle Bradbery, High Valley and Matt Farris in the …
Andrew W.K. might be the most interesting man in American rock-and-roll music, bringing more than a decade’s worth of hedonistic hits with an underlying theme of positivity.
What started out in 2005 as a way to celebrate Tucson’s musical past has evolved through twists and turns into an event centered on innovative, genre-spanning artists that points a way to the city’s future.
Wednesday, Aug. 29
Tucsonans love art, they adore parties, so naturally they go nuts over art parties. Luckily for the town’s party-hearty aesthetes, the visual art season opens with a sparkly series of soirees.
When I watched the red band trailer for “The Happytime Murders” a few months ago with a live audience, many of us placed this puppet movie on our “must-see” summer hit list. The preview for the dark comedy pushed the edges of what seemed to be a risqué and grotesque movie of sideshow humor—p…
If you think fall means leaves turning to reds and golds, a gentle nip in the air and the rotation in your closet from shorts to sweaters, Tucson is not the place for you. However, if you love the performing arts—theater, symphonies and such—fall in Tucson is the perfect place to be. That’s …
Artifact Dance Project is in love with story dances, and its season opener, Positions of Power, will tell two tales, both directed and choreographed by Claire Hancock.
To label “Crazy Rich Asians” merely a chick flick oversimplifies the film’s affluent international appeal and robust, always expanding subplots. An all-Asian cast flawlessly captures a heartwarming love story amidst gossiping family circles and a plush Singaporean skyline. This film is a rom…
