Women In Film: Jane Craig in ‘Broadcast News’ in the Spotlight

Women In Film: Jane Craig in ‘Broadcast News’ in the Spotlight

During the month of March, PopLifeSTL.com will recognize significant female contributions in filmmaking.

By Lynn Venhaus
“Strong, complex, fully realized women characters with their own stories to tell have lasting impact in our culture and at the box office,” wrote Jennifer Merin, Alliance of Women Film Journalists’ co-founder and president, and co-organizer of the Wonder Women project, back in 2016l

“AWFJ members delighted in focusing on women characters whose stories that have impacted our own lives. We recommend them as essential viewing for women and girls and anyone who is interested in film,” Merin said.

To coincide with Wonder Woman celebrating her 75th year as a superhero in the D.C. Comics, we had begun the project the summer before. Fellow members of the national women’s organization were polled to select 100 women film characters that were inspiring, and live on in our hearts and minds.

AWFJ members nominated more than 500 characters from as early as 1915 to as recent as today. Real women, such as Queen Elizabeth II and Erin Brockovich, were eliminated to better showcase the writers who understood and created authentic fictional female characters with depth. The final group comprises 55 filmic wonder women who range from professionals to single mothers pursuing higher education and con artists. There are also warriors, divas, flirts and gals who love to kick up their heels.

In the last half of 2015, we compiled a master list of 250, then took another vote and whittled it down to a tidy 55. The list was announced in 2016 in a countdown revealed over several weeks. So many trailblazers and role models!

This countdown of the most fascinating, inspiring and singular fictional female characters who have appeared in movies as selected by the AWFJ membership. The project, AWFJ’s Wonder Women, commemorates the 10th anniversary of the organization’s founding.

Merin said the project’s title pays homage to Wonder Woman, the comic book heroine who debuted more than 70 years ago to offer young readers, then and now, a female character of substance. Like Wonder Woman, the characters on the AWFJ list are headstrong, loving, fierce, willful, confident,  good-hearted champions of justice, equality and peace, and they are not afraid to mix it up.

“The staying power of Wonder Woman is proof that audiences need and welcome robust female characters in popular culture. Since our beat is cinema, we decided it was time we remind the public and the movie industry about other ‘wonder women’ that audiences have embraced over the years,” said AWFJ member and project co-organizer Marilyn Ferdinand.

All of the characters on the Wonder Women list are annotated by AWFJ members Thelma Adams, Marina Antunes, Linda Barnard, Liz Braun, Anne Brodie, Carol Cling, Laura Emerick, Marilyn Ferdinand, Candice Frederick, Susan Granger, MaryAnn Johanson, Cate Marquis, Jennifer Merin, Nell Minow, Rebecca Murray, Betsy Pickle, Lynn Venhaus, Liz Whittemore and Susan Wloszczyna.

I was honored to participate, and wrote three of the blurbs — #47 – Jane Craig of “Broadcast News” (Holly Hunter), #35 – Alice Hyatt of “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” (Ellen Burstyn) and #26 – Hermione Granger of the Harry Potter Series (Emma Watson).

Film Background

“Broadcast News” was released in a small number of theaters on Dec. 16, 1987, and went wide on Christmas Day. The romantic comedy-drama

Fun Facts: Journalist and news producer Susan Zinnsky was the role model for the character. Zinnsky served as an associate producer and technical advisor on the film.

Originally Debra Winger was supposed to play Jane, as she had worked with James L. Brooks in “Terms of Endearment,” but she found out she was pregnant (with son Noah Hutton), and was replaced by Holly Hunter.

“Broadcast News” Character Description (description credited to Wikipedia):
Jane Craig is a talented but intense news producer whose life revolves around her work. She is passionate about reporting, and abhors the trend towards soft news in news broadcasts. Her best friend and collaborator, Aaron Altman, is a gifted writer and reporter, but is lacking in many social skills. The two work in the Washington, D.C. bureau of a national TV network. The bureau hires Tom Grunick, a local news anchorman who started his career in sports. Tom is tall, handsome, likable, and telegenic, but lacks news experience and isn’t especially bright. He constantly seeks help from Jane to assist him with his reporting, who resents his lack of qualifications, but finds herself attracted to him. Tom is also attracted to Jane, but is intimidated by her skills and intensity.

This is what I wrote about Jane Craig for the AWFJ.org website:

47. JANE CRAIG from Broadcast News (1987)

Holly Hunter

Jane, Jane, Jane. We’ve all been there. After all, we have a pulse—and hormones. Broadcast News addressed the age-old heart vs. head dilemma in the battle of the sexes. A tiny dynamo, Jane is good—no great—at her job. She’s an intense, tightly wound network news producer in our nation’s capital, with fierce devotion to her career. As impeccable as she is about work, single-lady Jane is a neurotic hot mess socially. Against her better judgment, she falls for the new pretty-boy anchorman. He’s been hired to boost ratings as the news focus shifts to more entertainment razz-a-ma-tazz. Outspoken Jane despises the style-over-substance trend. She commiserates with her best friend, a real newsman who is secretly in love with her. Oh, it gets complicated. But Jane comes to her senses when, in good conscience. an ethical breach can’t be ignored She may have temporarily lost her head, intoxicated by romance, but a grounded workaholic like Jane had to wise up, see the light. Holly Hunter is luminous as Jane, and we can see her sharp mind at work. With a quick wit and verve to spare, Jane remains steadfast about what she stands for, no matter what it costs. Integrity never goes out of style, and Jane Craig is an enduring poster girl for it. —Lynn Venhaus

Awards Run and Film Accolades
“Broadcast News” was one of the top films of 1987 — placed on 67 major Top Ten Lists that year — and I reviewed it for the Belleville News-Democrat (not available at that time digitally). I will have to dig it up to see what I said then, but today, the film has had a lasting impact. After William Hurt died last week, many people cited it as their favorite movie of his. As a longtime journalist, the movie resonates so much about the news media.

Although it did not win an Oscar for any of its seven nominations, it was second behind eventual winner “The Last Emperor,” which won all nine of its nominations), and recognized as a nominee for Best Picture, James L. Brooks for original screenplay, and three acting nods for Hunter, Hurt and Albert Brooks, as well as editing and cinematography. Hunter won Best Actress from both the New York Film Critics and the Los Angeles Film Critics. (Besides “The Last Emperor for film and Oscars that year went to Michael Douglas for “Wall Street,” Cher for “Moonstruck” and Sean Connery for “The Untouchables.”)

While hurt had already won an Oscar and Hunter would win for “The Piano” several years later, Brooks has not — but that performance as the heavy-sweating Aaron is one of his finest, and had not Sean Connery won for “The Untouchables,” I have a feeling Brooks would be an Oscar winner today.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 98% rating from 52 critics. The site’s consensus states: “Blockbuster dramatist James L. Brooks delivers with Broadcast News, fully entertaining with deft, deep characterization.”

On Metacritic, the film has an 84 average, based on 16 reviews, indicating “universal acclaim.”

Just a good solid movie that holds up in repeat viewings.

In his review in the Chicago Reader, Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote about Hunter’s performance: “something of a revelation: her short, feisty, socially gauche, aggressive-compulsive character may be the most intricately layered portrait of a career woman that contemporary Hollywood has given us”.

AWFJ Total List
https://awfj.org/awfjs-top-100-films-list-2007/awfjs-top-100-films-list/awfj-wonder-women-55-best-fictional-female-characters/

http://awfj.org/blog/2016/07/31/awfj-wonder-women-countdown-55-through-44/
:Numbers 55-44 as voted by the AWFJ membership are Olivia Evans from “Boyhood,” Elle Reid from “Grandma,” Katniss Everdeen from “The Hunger Games” series, Mammy from “Gone with the Wind,” Jean Harrington/Lady Eve Sidwich from “The Lady Eve,” Laine Hanson from “The Contender,” Ada McGrath from “The Piano,” Tess McGill from “Working Girl,” Jane Craig from “Broadcast News,” Lucy Honeychurch from “A Room with a View,” Sally Bowles from “I Am a Camera/Cabaret” and The Bride from “Kill Bill: Vols. 1 & 2.”

AWFJ Wonder Women Countdown – Characters 43 through 34

AWFJ WONDER WOMEN: 55 Best Fictional Female Characters

Oscar Best Picture Nominee: ‘CODA’ Earns Its Way Into Your Heart

Oscar Best Picture Nominee: ‘CODA’ Earns Its Way Into Your Heart

By Lynn Venhaus
For 10 days preceding the 94th annual Academy Awards on March 27, we are spotlighting each of the 10 Best Picture nominees.by running a review from when the movie opened locally, and then add awards season news and other tidbits.

As a “CODA” (Child of Deaf Adults), Ruby (Emilia Jones) is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family’s fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her love of music and her fear of abandoning her parents (Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur). Rated  PG-13 for strong sexual content and language, and drug use, it is 1 hour, 51 minutes and directed by Sian Heder.

2021-2022 Awards:

It won an unprecedented four awards at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival — Grand Jury Prize, Audience Award, Best Directing and Special Award for Ensemble Cast.

It is nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor Troy Kotsur.

Troy Kotsur, who plays the deaf husband and father, has won Best Supporting Actor from the Screen Actors Guild, Critics Choice Awards, BAFTAs, Film Independent Spirit Awards and the Gotham Awards.

The film won the SAG Award for Best Ensemble.and the BAFTA Award for Adapted Screenplay (Sian Heder).

Of the groups I belong to — Emilia Jones won Best Breakthrough Performance in the EDA Female Focus Awards from the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, Best Supporting Actor for Troy Kotsur and was nominated for three others (Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay and Best Young Actor/Actress (Emilia Jones), and was nominated for adapted screenplay by SLFCA. It was nominated for four Critics Choice Awards.

On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 95% rating on the Tomatometer from 266 critics (I am an approved critic and gave it an A-) and a 93% audience score.

This review appeared in the Webster-Kirkwood Times on Aug. 13. It was released in theaters and exclusively streaming on Apple TV +, where it can be found today.

Sure, it’s predictable, but “CODA” earns its way into your heart with a touching family coming-of-age story that makes it impossible not to be moved by it.

With warmth, humor and a strong cast, “CODA” has turned a conventional family dynamic and an oft-told tale of a teenager pursuing her dream into something special. Not original, it is a remake of a 2014 French film, “The Belier Family,” but setting it in America translates well.

The film has an appealing lived-in atmosphere. The solid sense of place, set in a New England fishing village — Gloucester, Mass., is one of this small film’s charms. Cinematographer Paula Hidobro deftly handles land and sea.

The family has earned its living as fishermen. Dad Frank, Mom Jackie and son Leo are all deaf, and the local fishing business is going through economic struggles, which affects their home life. Ruby helps, but she has high school and can’t be there all the time.

Because she loves to sing, the shy and awkward teen signs up for choir, surprising her best friend and family – and herself. Her mother doesn’t understand this need to pursue a hobby – and underestimates Ruby’s passion.

A tough music teacher, Bernardo Villalobos recognizes her natural talent and pushes her to succeed, although she is her own worst enemy because of her lack of confidence, not commitment.

A graduate of the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston, Mr. V has arranged auditions for a bright star, Miles (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), and decides to do the same for Ruby.

But the family’s dependence on Ruby is so overwhelming that she feels that she can’t pursue her dreams. Well, open the waterworks, because there will be bumps in the road, and baby steps, to finding a way to keep her time slot – not only as an individual, but also as a family.

Emilia Jones

Director-writer Sian Heder has presented the challenges of deaf adults in a hearing world with compassion and accuracy. Through her sharp observations, we can see what hardships that hearing-impaired people face daily. She demonstrates it effectively throughout the film, but a later scene at a concert, shot with complete silence, is a stunner.

Heder won the directing award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Like “Minari” last year, “CODA” was honored with both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award. Apple Studios purchased it for a record-breaking $25 million. I hope it will have a broader reach than arthouses.

Oscar winner Matlin, now 55 and the mother of four children, has been an active spokeswoman for the National Captioning Institute. In 1995, she was instrumental in Congress passing a law requiring all television sets that are 13 inches or larger to be manufactured with built-in chips for closed captioning capabilities on their screens.

After winning the Academy Award for her debut screen performance in “Children of a Lesser God,” she has represented the deaf community for breakthroughs large and small.

Her visibility here, as an imperfect mother seeking to be more sensitive to her hearing daughter, is immeasurable, and she does a fine job.

As the sexy mom, she has a playfulness with deaf actor Troy Kotsur, whose portrayal of a gruff but soft-around-the-edges dad is believable. They provide a light-hearted touch, as does deaf actor Daniel Durant as big brother Leo, who tussles with his baby sister like brothers naturally do.

Emilia Jones’ pitch-perfect performance is the necessary glue, and fully engaged, she does not overplay the teenage angst and range of feelings.

Supporting players also appear comfortable in their roles, particularly Eugenio Derbez, known for comedies in his native Mexico, showing his drama skills as the no-nonsense choir director.

He’s relatable, as is Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, so terrific in 2016’s sublime “Sing Street,” as Ruby’s duet partner Miles. So is Amy Forsyth, notable as Ruby’s best friend Gertie.

A crowd-pleaser in the mold of “Billy Elliot,” “CODA” resonates because it takes a familiar story and amplifies it through a different perspective.

Oscar Best Picture Nominee: ‘Belfast’ Is Branagh’s Family Memory Piece

Oscar Best Picture Nominee: ‘Belfast’ Is Branagh’s Family Memory Piece

By Lynn Venhaus
For 10 days preceding the 94th annual Academy Awards on March 27, we are spotlighting each of the 10 Best Picture nominees.by running a review from when the movie opened locally, and then add awards season news and other tidbits.

“Belfast” is a semi-autobiographical account of Kenneth Branagh’s early childhood in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, around the time “The Troubles” began in his neighborhood, in summer of 1969. His family was Protestant, but they didn’t want any harm done to their Catholic neighbors.

Rated: PG-13 for some violence and strong language, “Belfast” is directed by Kenneth Branagh and stars Jamie Dornan, Caitriona Balfe, Ciaran Hinds, Judi Dench, Jude Hill, and Lewis McCaskie. It runs 1 hour, 37 minutes.

It is now available on DVD-Blu-Ray and digital and video on demand..

2021-2022 Awards: “Belfast” is nominated for 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound, Best Song (Van Morrison, “Down to Joy”), Ciaran Hinds for Best Supporting Actor and Judi Dench for Best Supporting Actress as the grandparents. March 27

At the BAFTAs on March 13, it won Outstanding British Film of the Year.

It won the People’s Choice Award at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival.

Of the critics’ groups I belong to — Critics Choice Association Awards – Best Young Actor/Actress Jude Hill, Best Ensemble and Best Original Screenplay March 13; Alliance of Women Film Journalists – EDA Award for Best Original Screenplay; and St. Louis Film Critics Association — it was nominated for eight awards, but no wins.

I ranked it No. 8 on my Top Ten List on KTRS Radio (and in alphabetical order in the Webster-Kirkwood Times). I wrote: “Dramatically charged and filled with gentle humor, writer-director Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical account of his early childhood in Northern Ireland when “The Troubles” began in the summer of 1969 shows how being exposed to turbulence changes your life forever.”

On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a Tomatometer rating of 87% from 303 critics (I am an approved critic and gave it B+) and an Audience Score of 92%.

Caitriona Balfe

This review appeared in the Webster-Kirkwood Times on Nov. 15. The movie opened Nov. 12, and was shown a week earlier at the St. Louis International Film Festival on Nov. 5.

Somewhere in his memories, Kenneth Branagh has processed what it was like to be 9 years old at a tumultuous time of change. Turns out you can go home again.

During the lockdown, he wrote “Belfast,” and his film memory piece is a warm reflection about family and community. Because it’s so personal, he understands your family is your home, after all.

Through the eyes of a child, Branagh also expresses how being exposed to turbulence where you live changes you forever.

This Belfast clan is not unlike Tevye’s family leaving Anatevka in “Fiddler on the Roof,” or over the past decades, countless ex-patriates from Africa and the Middle East who sought refuge in other lands after their lives were disrupted by war. The decisions are tough but sadly, increasingly necessary for survival.

Elevated by a pitch-perfect ensemble, evocative black-and-white cinematography and a score/soundtrack by Van Morrison, “Belfast” is both dramatically charged and filled with gentle humor.

As the director, Branagh has coaxed an unaffected performance from the lovable Jude Hill as his alter ego. In his first film, the young actor is masterful observing his surrounding, confiding in his grandpa and being delightful in interactions with his family and friends.

When he is frozen in the streets as he hears approaching rioters and is genuinely afraid of what he is witnessing, he is our eyes and ears. That moment crystalizes this film, and is one of the best scenes of the year. You feel what you feel.

This is a story with a wide range of emotions, as the parents, portrayed by Jamie Dornan and Caitriona Balfe, struggle with finances and raising a family during threats to their safety.

Balfe is impressive as the devoted mother, strong while the father is away working in England, and courageous about protecting her family. She is most certain to be a nominee for Best Supporting Actress.

Also memorable are Judi Dench and Ciaran Hinds as the wise and loving grandparents. Dench displays a sardonic wit as Granny while Hinds is the “Pops” with a special relationship with his grandson who advises with common sense.

Branagh, who frequently works on stage and in front of the camera, deftly handles actors. He has worked with Dench multiple times, and while she always excels, she is particularly poignant here.

Branagh has been nominated for five Academy Awards, the first man to be nominated for five different categories (director and actor for “Henry V,” supporting actor for “My Week with Marilyn,” adapted screenplay “Hamlet,” and live action short “Swan Song.” As a producer on “Belfast,” he could make history if he is nominated for Best Picture.

Considering how his last movie was the universally panned “Artemis Fowl” in 2020, this would be a remarkable turnaround – although he has been acclaimed for his Shakespeare adaptations and other works.

The film’s sights and sounds are noteworthy, with spot-on vintage outfits, retro tunes and scenic look. “Belfast” includes fine work by production designer Jim Clay, who worked with Branagh on “Murder on the Orient Express” in 2017, and costume designer Charlotte Walter.

This year, there are several films shot in black-and-white, but “Belfast” is a hybrid with color for contemporary scenes, and cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos has handled the transitions beautifully.

What is lacking is character development, for these roles are only snapshots from a child’s point of view.

And if you are unfamiliar with “The Troubles,” which refers to the Northern Ireland conflict from the late 1960s to the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, then you will not find any historical information in this film.

The Troubles, primarily political and nationalistic, had two sides referred to as Protestants and Catholics, but it was not a religious conflict. The key issue was the status of the country – Unionists and loyalists who wanted Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom were mostly Ulster Protestants while Irish nationalists and republicans who wanted to leave the UK and join a united Ireland, were mostly Irish Catholics. About 3,500 people were killed, with more than half civilians, during those 30 years.

As we dissolve to the current Belfast landscape, there is a dedication to those who left and those who stayed. But no information card on the conflict.

Yet, the film stays true to its perspective. While it might be specific geographically, it has a universal appeal.

Two Lost Souls Adrift in Vague Tale on Connection in ‘Compartment No. 6’

Two Lost Souls Adrift in Vague Tale on Connection in ‘Compartment No. 6’

By Lynn Venhaus
In a world where so much is about timing, perhaps this isn’t an ideal time to watch “Compartment Number 6,” a rather bleak, dreary, and chilly film that lurches its way through a dour Russia.

As a train weaves its way up to the arctic port of Murmansk, two disparate strangers share a journey. An adventurous but shy, rather blank student Laura (Seidi Haarla) from Finland shares the long ride with a coarse but somewhat friendly and helpful Russian miner Ljoha (Yuriy Borisov).

These two lonely people are in a cramped second-class sleeping car – he’s a crude laborer on his way to a job and she’s a fish-out-of-water, an archeology student (she says) from Finland who wants to see petroglyphs, which are ancient carvings on rocks. The pair look at each other warily, skeptically, disinterested.

Each with their own issues, the bottled-up pair engage in minimal conversation as they take smoke breaks. The people in this movie smoke a lot and drink a lot. In these drab quarters, she sketches and films the falling snow with a clunky video camera. He peels tangerines and drinks to excess. His boorish behavior is unsettling to her, but even reporting it doesn’t seem to matter.

Neither are who they appear to be, showing a public side different from their private life. Eventually, Ljoha tries to reach out, but his social skills are clumsy and awkward. However, he will help her and show out-of-his-way kindness that’s unexpected. She’s more reserved, guarded.

Writer-director Juho Kuosmanen wrote a screenplay “inspired” by Rosa Liksom’s 2021 novel, along with writer-actor Andris Feldmanis and Livia Ullman, setting it in the 1990s instead of the ‘80s, in a post-Soviet Union dismantling.

Finland’s short-listed entry for the Oscar Best International Film – but was not nominated, “Compartment No. 6” won the Grand Prix at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.

It received much acclaim for its meditation on human connection – and it is aiming to be profound, deep, and enlightening. But ultimately is disappointing, with its ambiguous ending and lack of clearly defined characters. They oh-so-slowly reveal things about each other, but at this point, does it matter, as it certainly isn’t enough to engage.

The director appears to emulate Richard Linklater’s “Before Sunrise,” but this neither has the charm nor the sparkling conversation between Jesse and Celine – and there is zero chemistry, unlike Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy.

Charitably, this 1 hour, 47-minute film unfolds at a glacial pace.  Besides being incredibly slow, it did not have much to say. We are tasked with reading between the lines. The characters are thinly drawn and hard to warm up to – and the weather is brutal and demoralizing.

We’ve just been through a tough winter ourselves – and know the isolated feeling. As miserable as the train appears, the outside seems even gloomier. This isn’t exactly the Orient Express – although there is some mystery to different characters, particularly a fellow Finlandia guy who plays guitar and seems more sensitive than Ljoha.

Laura had been staying in a room in Moscow with an older Russian woman, Irina, a literature professor whose home is a gathering spot for artists and intellectuals every evening. That Irina (Dinara Drukarova) is charismatic. She’s a fun one, dancing, turning up the music, drinking and engaging in stimulating conversation – and the young one is drawn to her, practically idolizes her. Laura, here to study Russian, yearns to be a Bohemian, but also a sophisticate – and she’s pliable, ready to please. They are lovers but one senses the mercurial older woman isn’t going to commit.

But any move towards a romance here between the solo travelers wouldn’t be authentic – for now, anyway. There would have to be more developments.

Kousmanen is a fan of the Steadicam and its use becomes an aggravation, particularly after an evening of shots as they maneuver through the modest home of Ljoha’s foster mom. Lidia Kostina is terrific in dispensing hard-knocks wisdom.

The movie is assembled in fragments, with fits and starts that are frustrating, and the tone jumps throughout. The cinematography by C-P Passi is interesting, and a nostalgiac synth-pop score adds a nice touch.

“Compartment No. 6” needed more to be compelling. Somewhere inside, these characters are interesting – we just needed those inner selves to be outwardly displayed for better understanding of the point the filmmaker is trying to make.

“Compartment No. 6” is a 2021 international film drama from Finland, directed by Juho Kousmanen and starring Seidi Haarla, Yuriy Borisov, Dinara Drukarova and Lidia Kostina. Rated R for language and some sexual references, its run time is 1 hour, 47 minutes. It opened in local theaters on March 18. Lynn’s Grade: C.

Seidi Haarla, Yuriy Borisov

Past Meets Future in Jaunty ‘The Adam Project’ Time-Travel Movie

Past Meets Future in Jaunty ‘The Adam Project’ Time-Travel Movie

By Lynn Venhaus

With nods to “Back to the Future,” “The Terminator” and “Field of Dreams,” not to mention a 1949 hit song “Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think)” by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadiens, “The Adam Project” has a familiar but fun retro vibe that relies on its gifted cast to save the day.

This personality-driven science-fiction drama is a combo plate of movie themes set in a sci-fi time-travel world. The action is more video game than epic but has a sincere emotional center, working in a grieving family’s healing.

Pre-teen Adam Reed is small for his age but is quick with quips, and trying to cope with the death of his science professor dad Louis (Mark Ruffalo), who may have accidentally created time travel, as is his exasperated mom Ellie (Jennifer Garner). While home alone, a spacecraft lands in his backyard, piloted by his now-40-year-old buff self (Ryan Reynolds). “Big Adam” has come back from 2050 to find his endangered wife Laura (Zoe Saldana) but was aiming for 2018. They must work together to save the world, each other and strengthen their family ties.

Reuniting cheeky monkey Ryan Reynolds with his “Free Guy” director Shawn Levy, who has a knack for crowd pleasers (“A Night at the Museum,” “Stranger Things” TV series), this film capitalizes on the star’s strengths.

Reynolds, who looks like the Homecoming King but acts like the class clown who’s on the honor roll, rapidly delivers sarcasm and wisecracks in a jaunty way. He easily slips into renegade roles. Both Reynolds and Levy are producers here, and they demonstrate a collaborative spark (just announced that they will work on “Deadpool 3” together).

As Adam Reed, once a scrawny, nerdy kid with nimble verbal skills who grows up to be a buff fighter pilot, Reynolds quips and cajoles with the skills he’s shown in “Deadpool,” “Red Notice” and last summer’s surprise hit “Free Guy.”

He meets his match when he comes face-to-face with smart young Adam, his 12-year-old self in 2022 — Walker Scobell making his film debut, who is truly Reynolds’ mini-me. Together, they are very entertaining and use their powers for good.

It gets a little head-trippy when they go back to 2018, “Big” Adam’s intended target, and their dad is still alive. They have reason to believe his tech project financier Maya Sorian (Catherine Keener) is an unethical megalomaniac with only dollar signs in mind. Despite a brief appearance, Mark Ruffalo’s scruffy workaholic professor lends both gravitas and heart to the story.

Relatable Jennifer Garner plays Ellie Reed, Adam’s overwhelmed widowed mom, while Zoe Saldana, who knows a thing or two about sci-fi, having been in “Avatar” and the “Guardians of the Galaxy” series, effortlessly appears as Adam’s fierce warrior wife Laura, who has been missing and presumed dead.

That’s the thing about time travel – logic goes out the window, and the more you think about connecting the dots, the more your head hurts. Your brain needn’t work that hard about wormholes, quantum leaps, electro-magnetic particles, and time streams.

Four screenwriters are credited, starting with Jonathan Tropper, who adapted his novel for the 2014 film “This Is Where I Leave You,” starring Jason Bateman, Adam Driver, Corey Stoll and Tina Fey as siblings sitting shiva after their father’s death, which was directed by Levy.

T.S. Nowlin, who wrote “The Maze Runner” series, and Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin, who were Emmy-nominated for the “Big Mouth” animated series, were brought on board.

The dialogue is zippy and the action has genuine peril, although Sorian’s henchmen look more like Daft Punk than Stormtroopers.

As is the digital-age custom – and following James Gunn’s lead in the “Guardians” movies, all action scenes are accompanied by radio-friendly classic rock hits. There’s Boston’s “Long Time,” Led Zeppelin’s “Good Times Bad Times” and Spencer Davis Group’s “Gimme Some Lovin’” – sense a time theme? That clever touch carries over to a scene when you can discern Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” as the instrumental music heard in the drug store.

The past meets the future – or is it the future meets the past? — in this amiable film, but the sci-fi takes a back seat to the family story that matters more, illustrated by a dad playing catch with his sons. As “Field of Dreams” still shows to this day, when grown men blubber about a baseball field surrounded by cornfields, something so elemental from childhood can be so profound.

“Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think
Enjoy yourself, while you’re still in the pink
The years go by, as quickly as a wink”

“The Adam Project” is a 2022 sci-fi action-adventure comedy directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Reynolds, Walker Scobell, Jennifer Garner, Zoe Saldana, Mark Ruffalo and Catherine Keener. It is rated PG-13 for violence/action, language and suggestive references and it runs 1 hour, 46 minutes. Streaming on Netflix beginning March 11. Lynn’s Grade: B.

Darker Knight Marks New Direction for DC’s Younger Emo ‘The Batman’

Darker Knight Marks New Direction for DC’s Younger Emo ‘The Batman’

By Lynn Venhaus
The grittiest, gloomiest, and most pitch-black of the entire Caped Crusader canon, “The Batman” expands the compelling mythology with a neo-noir approach and very gothic Gotham look.

Now in his second year as masked crime-fighter Batman, reclusive billionaire Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) wades deeper into Gotham City’s underworld after The Riddler (Paul Dano) leaves a trail of cryptic clues, cyber messages and greeting cards addressed to The Batman. Wayne uncovers rampant corruption and abuse of power that has long plagued the metropolis while he seeks to apprehend a deranged killer.

Director Matt Reeves has set the iconic DC comic book character into year two of his “Batman Project,” where the scion of Wayne Enterprises, Bruce Wayne, calls himself “Vengeance” and roams at night, throwing punches with the “drophead” drug addicts and hoodlums overtaking his town.

His nocturnal alter-ego somberly narrates the film from his journals. “They think I’m hiding in the shadows, but I am the shadows,” he says in an intense, hushed tone.

This Batman works as a vigilante, delving into the detective work with Police Commissioner Gordon, played with his customary gravitas by Jeffrey Wright. After all, DC stands for Detective Comics, which Batman has been a part of since 1943.

Reeves, who helmed the found-footage thriller “Cloverfield” and two of the three “Apes” prequels “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” in 2014 and “War for the Planet of the Apes” in 2017, taps into modern-day fears here, much like a horror film. It’s not science that’s created an aberration, but human nature at its bleakest, because evil has seeped into the everyday fabric of big-city life.

Reeves and co-screenwriter Peter Craig, who specializes in gutsy action (Oscar nominee for “The Town,” the upcoming “Top Gun: Maverick”) take a page from Todd Phillips’ 2019 bold and menacing “Joker,” which depicted Gotham City’s slide into lawlessness as greed and sadistic forces rose.

No one out-broods actor Robert Pattinson, and he inhabits the Batsuit with an imposing physique – although a human one, battle-scars on his back. This superhero’s physical prowess is on full display in fierce fight sequences.  

The Bat and The Cat

He has the Bat “toys” at his disposal – a very cool Batmobile makes a splashy entrance and he uses a turbo-charged Batcycle in hot pursuit of justice.

Pattinson, who broke out as sensitive heartthrob and tortured vampire Edward Cullen in the “Twilight” Saga (2008-2012), took a few years to find his way in post-blockbuster projects but has been memorable in interesting but odd indies – “The Lost City of Z,” “High Life,” “The Devil All the Time,” and his acclaimed “Good Time” and “The Lighthouse” (Independent Spirit Awards nominations).  He projects vulnerability and an inner strength along with the physicality.

His re-imagined Bruce is even more emotionally bruised and psychologically battered than any previous characterization, although Christian Bale came the closest in the masterful Christopher Nolan trilogy (“Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight” and “The Dark Knight Rises”).

For 80 years, the dynamic hero has grown a passionate fanbase and many spin-offs – including TV shows, animated series, and video games. Since Tim Burton’s “Batman” in 1989, there have been many incarnations of the Caped Crusader, each with their own take.

Bale perfectly embodied both the conflicted hero and suave bachelor, while glib charmers Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck played to their strengths as seasoned veterans. The OG, Endearing Adam West, of the landmark TV series and first movie in 1966, had fun with the kitschy camp and the bombastic cartoonish Joel Schumacher ones in the 1990s, with Val Kilmer and George Clooney, though charismatic, took a wrong turn.

With less to say and more to emote, Pattison is convincing as driven to restore order while wrestling with his demons. The poor little orphaned rich boy, traumatized by watching his parents murdered at age 10, has found a solitary life of purpose. He remains a lone wolf who doesn’t let people in easily – even his loyal butler Alfred.

After Michael Caine’s emotional turn in Nolan’s three, as a surrogate father and protector, to see a gruff Bruce keep Alfred at a distance is jarring. Andy Serkis, who was Caesar in Reeves’ “Ape” movies, is every bit the archetypal British gentleman and dutiful servant.

Nolan’s work remains the gold standard, but Reeves’ deeper dive into the crevices is interesting – and unrelentingly grim. The skies are either a gloomy gray or a foreboding hard downpour, reminiscent of “Blade Runner.”

Cinematographer Greig Fraser, Oscar-nominated for “Dune,” sets a moody atmosphere to emphasize the scummy cesspool, and uses very little daylight. Blood red punctuates the darkness.

Reeves has cast the ensemble well, with Zoe Kravitz intriguing as both Catwoman and Selina Kyle, who develops a complicated alliance with Batman.

While nothing will ever approach Heath Ledger’s fearsome Joker in “The Dark Knight,” the familiar villains here are fresh takes — Paul Dano plays The Riddler as a dangerous mastermind, revealing hard truths about the powerful and elite of Gotham, and exposing himself as an unhinged psychopath. He may not have the maniacal laugh of Frank Gorshin and Jim Carrey, but he will send shivers down your spine, nonetheless. You want more of his Edward Nashton.

The Riddler’s killing spree, brutally murdering political figures and lawmen as he baits Batman, ramps up the tension.

John Turturro excels as mob boss Carmine Falcone, a smooth operator who is as lethal with his words as his deeds.

Colin Farrell as The Penguin

Less successful is Colin Farrell, unrecognizable as the thuggish Penguin (Oswald Cobblepot). His sleazy character is not as developed as the other bad guys.

The tech work is solid, and production designer James Chinlund went farther with a crumbling Wayne Manor, a once-grand mansion that serves as a forlorn reminder of what all has been lost.

Reeves tapped his frequent collaborator Michael Giacchino to compose the score. Giacchino, who won an Oscar for “Up,” an Emmy for “Lost” and Grammy Awards for “Up” and “Ratatouille,” has created haunting character themes.

“The Batman” is one of the more complex reinventions in the DC-verse and signals a promising new story thread, but at 176 minutes, the pace is a detriment, for it seems unnecessarily slow. But it is rare that you get this much depth in a tentpole genre film.

“The Batman” is a 2022 action-adventure crime drama directed by Matt Reeves and stars Robert Pattinson, Zoe Kravitz, Paul Dano, John Turturro, Colin Farrell, Jeffrey Wright, Andy Serkis and Peter Sarsgaard. It is rated PG-13 for strong violent and disturbing content, drug content, strong language, and some suggestive material and runs 2 hours, 56 minutes. It is only in theaters starting March 4. Lynn’s Grade: B.

Women in Film: ‘The Miracle Worker’ and the Pair Behind the Story

Women in Film: ‘The Miracle Worker’ and the Pair Behind the Story

By Lynn Venhaus
During the month of March, PopLifeSTL.com will recognize significant female contributions in filmmaking.
Below, you will find a link to the Alliance of Women Film Journalists’ list of Real Reel Women, which we published in 2019, after whittling down a nominated list of 150 to 50 deserving candidates whose remarkable life was adapted into a film. All worth checking out this month.

I was privileged to write about Billie Jean King and Annie Sullivan.

On this day, March 3, in 1887, Helen Keller met Annie Sullivan, her “Miracle Worker.”

The following excerpt is what I wrote about Sullivan’s impact on Keller and the film for the AWFJ website.

Annie Sullivan (April 14, 1866 – Oct. 20, 1936)

Without the creative communication skills of Annie Sullivan, neither she nor her star pupil, blind and deaf Helen Keller, would be significant.

But their painful and uplifting struggles, as shown in “The Miracle Worker,” helped advance education.

William Gibson wrote it for TV’s “Playhouse 90” in 1957, then a stage adaptation in 1959, winning Tony Awards for Best Play and Anne Bancroft as Best Actress. For the 1962 film, director Arthur Penn was adamant, despite the studio wanting a bigger “name” than Bancroft and someone younger than 15-year-old Patty Duke to play Keller at age 7, the Broadway duo would recreate their physically demanding roles.

The pairing was dynamic on screen too, both winning Oscars for their honest, heart-wrenching performances.

Born Johanna Mansfield Sullivan, Annie overcame many obstacles and graduated valedictorian from the life-changing Perkins School for the Blind in Boston. Hired by Helen’s parents to avoid institutionalizing her, that ultimately successful journey in Alabama illuminated understanding.

The women became lifelong friends, living together even when Sullivan was married to John Macy for nine years.

They improved the quality of life for so many, it’s fitting they are together in eternity, interred at the Washington National Cathedral. Sullivan was the first woman so honored, in 1936.

Inga Swenson, Victor Jory, Andrew Prine, Patty Duke, Anne Bancroft

“The Miracle Worker”
Released on July 28, 1962, the film was a critical success and modest box office hit. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Director for Arthur Penn, who had also directed the Broadway play, Best Screenplay Adapted from another medium for playwright William Gibson, Best Actress for Anne Bancroft and Best Supporting Actress for Patty Duke. The women won, and Duke, at age 16, became the youngest competitive Oscar winner at that time.

The film ranked 15 on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Cheers: America’s Most Inspiring Movies in 2006. Currently, the film has a 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie critics site (Note: this writer is on the Tomatometer).

The film focuses on young Helen as a wild, stubborn child, prone to violent outbursts, and her frustrated, exasperated parents — Victor Jory as Captain Arthur Keller, a former Confederate office, and Inga Swenson as his wife Kate — hire a young teacher to help. A battle of wills ensues, but she gets through Helen’s wall of silence and darkness.

The 1962 movie was remade for television in 1979 with Patty Duke as Anne and Melissa Gilbert as Helen as well as in 2000 with Alison Elliott and Hallie Kate Eisenberg in the lead roles.

More on Helen and Annie

Anne Sullivan was hired to teach Helen Keller, then 6, who had lost her sight and hearing after a severe illness — they think it was either a bacterial meningitis or scarlet fever– when she was 1 year and seven months old. She could not hear, speak or see. Her parents contacted the Perkins Institution for the Blind, and they recommended Sullivan as a teacher. They lived on an estate, Ivy Green, in Tuscumbia, Alabama.

Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan

Sullivan pioneered a “touch teaching” technique, and because of her help, Keller had a breakthrough when she felt water from a pump and Sullivan spelled w-a-t-e-r in her palm. Keller learned how to read, write and speak. She attended Radcliffe College and graduated with honors in 1904.She became an activist, public speaker and published her first book, “The Story of My Life” in 1902.

Sullivan was born in 1866 in Massachusetts and had suffered loss of vision as a child because of an infection. She attended the Perkins Institution for the Blind, where she learned the manual alphabet. She eventually had several operations on her eyes, improving her sight.

Until her death in 1936, she was a companion and interpreter for Helen. At age 87, Helen Keller died on June 1, 1968, at her home in Connecticut.

Where to Find:
The 1962 film “The Miracle Worker” is available on the subscription streaming service Amazon Prime and for rental on multiple digital/video on demand platforms.

Women’s History Month Watch List: REAL REEL WOMEN

Lush Look, Songs of Longing and a Timeless Love Triangle in ‘Cyrano’

Lush Look, Songs of Longing and a Timeless Love Triangle in ‘Cyrano’

By Lynn Venhaus
A soaring symphony of romanticism, “Cyrano” is one of the most daring and best-looking films from last year.

Too self-conscious to woo Roxanne (Haley Bennett) himself, wordsmith Cyrano de Bergerac (Peter Dinklage) helps young Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) win her heart through love letters. The ruse will tangle their lives in unintended ways.

Sadly, its wider release wasn’t set until this February, although eligible for awards and played earlier elsewhere. The arthouse film just seemed to be one of the prestige awards-bait movies that got lost in the shuffle, so to speak. It is, however, nominated for three BAFTA awards, including Best Picture, and one Oscar nomination.

At once peculiar and precious, this film adaptation of Edmund Rostand’s 1897 play benefits from a breathtaking lush look. With his background in fine art, director Joe Wright has framed everything like a painting from the Renaissance – and moved the setting to Sicily.

The intricately detailed baroque production design is a wondrous sight to behold, outstanding craft work from Sarah Greenwood, and cinematographer Seamus McGarvey has beautifully lit the interiors with flickering candles while drenching the Mediterranean exteriors with sun.

Frequent Wright collaborator Jacqueline Durran, a two-time Oscar winner for “Anna Karenina” and “Little Women,” designed the costumes for Roxanne while Massimo Cantini Parrini did the rest, and they both share an Oscar nomination for the work. (She could have easily scored another one for “Spencer” this year).

Not only is this sumptuous film a feast for the eyes but also the ears, with an intimate musical score by twin brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner of the indie-rock group The National, with lyrics by fellow bandmate Matt Berninger and his wife Carin Besser. They had all collaborated on Erica Schmidt’s 2018 stage musical. A new song, “Somebody Desperate,” plays over the end credits.

The bittersweet songs are gracefully delivered, tinged with an aching tenderness, as if singers are revealing their intensely personal monologues.

The pitch-perfect cast is fully immersed in the 17th century story, which has been presented in countless forms over the years – as radio, television, opera, theater, dance, and film. While it has received modern treatments, this version is steeped in the original’s classicism, which suits the performers well.

The love triangle resonates emotionally because of the actors’ strengths. Bennett is luminous and Harrison earnest as the lovestruck pair. With his sad eyes, Dinklage’s melancholy demeanor deepens the title character’s pain about unrequited love.

Cyrano is convinced that his appearance makes him unworthy of his friend Roxanne’s affections and once she falls for Christian, he helps foster the romance through his words, writing dazzling love letters she assumes are penned by her suitor.

Dinklage, undaunted by all the acclaimed actors who’ve played the role before, demonstrates both the wordplay and swordplay with ease. The character loses nothing in the switch from the presumed hideous bulbous nose to a dwarf, conveying his perceived inferiority.

As the hopelessly romantic and endlessly disappointed poet, he’s just as heartbreaking as Oscar winner Jose Ferrer was in the 72-year-old film — and one can imagine on stage in his most famous role.

Both Bennett and Dinklage reprise their roles from Schmidt’s musical, initially staged at the Goodspeed in Connecticut, then moved to off-Broadway with Jasmine Cephas-Jones replacing Bennett in 2019.

Schmidt has adapted it here for the film, still cut-to-the-essentials. (Fun fact: Bennett is the significant other of the director).

One of the best young actors working today, Harrison’s soulfulness hits the right notes. He projects Christian’s love as noble and true, which is even more heart-wrenching after he is spitefully sent off to war.

Scorned by Roxanne, De Guiche, the reprehensible duke played with such arrogant cruelty by Ben Mendelsohn, pushes Christian into wartime service, and Cyrano accompanies him as a cadet.

Wright has often demonstrated a flair for long tracking shots – for example, the five-minute Dunkirk scene in “Atonement” that was better than Christopher Nolan’s entire 2017 film, and on display here.

But he runs hot and cold – as reminded in the woefully misguided “The Woman in the Window” on Netflix last year. Yet, his films always have a delectable visual appeal.

Because of the stripped-down script, Wright seems to rush the ending to what had been a thoughtful rumination on longing and desire. Still, some minor characters come and go with little relevance.

Nevertheless, Wright maintains the overarching theme of pride. More haunting than hopeful, this “Cyrano” is an ambitious work of art that may be flawed script-wise, but its stunning look and strong performances keep it timeless.

“Cyrano” is a 2021 romantic drama musical directed by Joe Wright and stars Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Ben Mendelsohn. It’s rated PG-13 for some strong violence, thematic and suggestive material, and brief language, and the run time is 2 hours 4 minutes..It opened in theaters on Feb. 25. Lynn’s Grade: B+

Superb Performances Dredge Up Uncomfortable Truths in Stray Dog’s Savvy ‘Good People’

Superb Performances Dredge Up Uncomfortable Truths in Stray Dog’s Savvy ‘Good People’

By Lynn Venhaus

Our turfs and our tribes. It’s what defines us.

Well, we like to think that, but maybe it’s our choices that shape us. David Lindsay-Abaire’s “Good People,” a brilliant examination of class, good fortune, and the struggles of those left behind, is getting a stimulating treatment at Stray Dog Theatre.

Talk about a conversation starter! With a superb cast led by the incomparable Lavonne Byers, the gritty “Good People” bluntly spells out the wide divide between the haves and have-nots, and not just financially, but in word, thoughts, and deeds.

Margie Walsh is a Southie, for she lives in South Boston’s Lower End, a primarily working-class Irish American neighborhood where the playwright grew up. So, he wrote with deep understanding and connection.

Byers conveys Margie’s toughness and anxiety, with an undercurrent of desperation that she tries not to show. Her weapon is sarcasm. Hardened by a hardscrabble life, she has fought, clawed, and scratched in a dog-eat-dog world. Stubborn and proud, sometimes she has made life more difficult for herself because she will not rely on anyone, but she is loyal to a fault.

After high school, she became a caretaker. It’s a lifetime ago, and that’s when her dreams died, if she had any. As the single working mother of a developmentally disabled adult daughter, she plugs away at minimum-wage jobs. After being late too many times waiting for her daughter’s sitter to show up, she is fired from working as a cashier at the dollar store.

Friends and neighbors gather at the church hall for Bingo in hopes of winning the jackpot and to socialize. Stephanie Merritt is amusing as ballsy Jean, mouthy but well-meaning; Liz Mischel is defensive as the indifferent landlady Dottie, who is also Joyce’s unreliable sitter; and Stephen Henley projects a sweetness as the decent, practical Stevie, her compassionate ex-manager.

The Southie accent is a difficult one, so the dialect work is to be commended, because it’s evident that the ensemble worked on getting it right.

Stephen Peirick and Lavonne Byers. Photo by John Lamb.

About to be evicted, Margie is hanging by a thread. She is not “lace curtain Irish.” Jean knows she needs a break and mentions that she ran into Margie’s old high school flame, Mike, now a doctor. Why doesn’t she ask him for a job, or his help in finding one?

“Mikey” is now a fertility specialist, and he lives with his elegant African American wife Kate and their daughter in Chestnut Hill, an affluent village six miles from downtown Boston. He doesn’t have any office openings. Caught off-guard by the visit 30 years after he last saw her, he prefers not to be reminded of his rough-and-tumble upbringing. She forces an invitation to his wife’s party. Maybe someone else can help with employment.

It’s cancelled, their daughter is sick, but Margie thinks he is blowing her off, and shows up anyway at the door, and Kate mistakes her for the caterer.

Stephen Peirick is Mike, now “Michael,” and Laurell Stevenson is Kate, who live comfortably, although see a couples’ therapist. Their nouveau riche lifestyle is worlds apart from his humble formative years in South Boston. Humble, he’s not.

There is more to the story, but it’s best the audience discover the developments on their own. Just know that pleasant social graces disappear when a confrontation gets ugly. Initial warmth gives way to a chilling coldness.

Under Gary F. Bell’s savvy direction, the trio nimbly escalates emotions that lead to a cruel climax. Peirick, not often playing a jerk, indicates “Michael” is increasingly uncomfortable to be confronted with his past with Margie’s presence.

With her customary confidence, Byers shows how Margie, while agitating, has more integrity in her pinkie finger than the arrogant Michael does. Although Kate is civil at first, and a liberal, she lives in a bubble. And who is ‘self-made’ here, anyway?

Bell heightens the tension while emphasizing “the sides,” and the actors maintain the on-edge feeling throughout the second act, especially in their body language.

At first unassuming but then richly textured, “Good People” is an outstanding production that accentuates that character matters. Your opinion may shift about who is ‘good people.’

Margie, with a hard “g,” clings to her dignity, hoping for a fresh new start, but realizing the dead end is likely where she will stay. She is at once hard to figure out but also completely recognizable.

Scenic designer Josh Smith’s economical set takes a back seat to the human drama unfolding, although there are certain props that are meaningful, such as googly-eyed bright pink bunnies that Dottie makes as her side hustle, and a very expensive vase in Dillon’s upscale home.

Justin Been’s sound design and Tyler Duenow’s lighting design are first-rate.

Lindsay-Abaire, who won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2007 for “Rabbit Hole,” draws his characters well, especially women, for Frances McDormand won a Tony for Lead Actress as Margie in “Good People” in 2011 and Cynthia Nixon won as Becca in “Rabbit Hole.”

In the 11 years since the play was produced on Broadway, the gulf seems wider, and the play, which was excellently produced at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis in January 2013, seems more pertinent than ever about struggles in hard times.

This is a cast that meets the challenge, and Stray Dog meets the moment in a tautly constructed drama of uncomfortable truths.

Lavonne Byers, Laurell Stephenson, Stephen Peirick. Photo by John Lamb

Stray Dog Theatre is presenting “Good People” Feb. 10-26 at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and an additional 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, Feb. 20, in the Tower Grove Abbey, 2336 Tennessee Avenue, St. Louis, Mo. 63104. For tickets or more information, visit. www.straydogtheatre.org

Special guidelines are in place for the health and safety of guests, actors and staff: Masks are required of all guests, regardless of vaccination status. They still encourage physical distancing throughout the theater. They recommend, but do not require, that all guests be vaccinated.

PopLifeSTL Teams Up with Arts For Life for Bon Jovi Concert Tickets Raffle

PopLifeSTL Teams Up with Arts For Life for Bon Jovi Concert Tickets Raffle

Are you ready to rock?

Want to see a Hall of Fame band in a Blaze of Glory?

Arts For Life & PopLifeSTL.com are giving away 2 pairs of mezzanine tickets for the Bon Jovi Spring Tour stopping at the Enterprise Center on April 21!

You can purchase $5.00 raffle tickets at the link below, with drawing on March 18.

Take a chance and you’re halfway there!

Proceeds benefit Arts For Life. For more information, visit www.artsforlife.org.

Visit here to purchase a $5 raffle ticket to enter the drawing for 2 sets of 2 tickets each for the Bon Jovi concert on April 21. Drawing March 18 on PopLifeSTL.com Presents podcast.https://arts-for-life-2.square.site/

Winner will be announced during the March 18 PopLifeSTL.com Presents…Podcast with Lynn Venhaus and Carl “The Intern” Middleman.