I do admit that St. Louis may not exactly be the most happening place in the US of A, but if you keep track, there is always a bunch of stuff happening over the weekend. One of our favorite things is to keep track of the University Theater circuit. There are still student performances and some good visiting actor groups. Here is a round-up of a few that we caught! The Crucible (Production by USML)…
Culture
Directed by Kamal Amrohi, Mahal is one of the first gothic horror movies to be made in Bollywood which would later inspire a series of Haweli main bhatakti aatma genre of movies. It also launched the careers of Lata Mangeshkar with her haunting rendition of ‘Aayega, Aayega’ and Madhubala with her expressive face. The review contains spoilers and if you plan to watch the movie don’t read ahead. So, What’s it about? Our hero, Hari…
The plot is based a decade or more after the French revolution and the Age of Terror, just after Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo. The story follows a young medical student, Daniel Connor into the bedlam of Paris. Paris then, is the beating heart of Europe – the scientific, cultural and political center. As the city is coming to terms with the new regime, students from all over Europe are travelling to Paris to make their…
It takes a truly talented mind to take the day to day life of a country house wife and convert it into a journal of light satire and human observation. It is a little wonder why The Diary of a Provincial Lady was a bestseller when it was published in 1933 and why the reprints are still so popular. To be honest, when I got through the first fifty pages or so, I wasn’t entirely…
As the winter keeps you at home, it’s a great time to catch up with movies you have wanted to watch but could never make time for. The Princess & the frog was one such movie on my bucket list. I had seen its trailers a few months ago, but hadn’t gotten around to watching it. I am honestly a little bored with the animation genre. The graphics are improving, but sadly not the story…
I am betting you have never heard of this movie, I certainly hadn’t, which is why it was such a surprise when it turned out to be gripping. Exam starts in a dark, modernly furnished room where eight people are waiting. It becomes clear, shortly, that they are about to take an exam. The tension is palpable and we learn that this group of people are the finalists for a very coveted position. These eight people have reached…
Already considered a shoo-in for the Oscars, Darren Aronfsky’s Black Swan is the critics’ favorite movie this winter. So it was with high expectations that I entered the theater. Two hours later I walked away impressed but definitely not swept away. Black Swan is what it promises to be; a dark psychological thriller. Set in the highly competitive scene of the New York ballet scene, the story is about a young and ambitious company dancer…
I had recently returned from a visit to Washington, and one of my friends suggested I might like Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol. It was to Washington DC what Da Vinci Code was to Paris. Now, I am always a sucker for thrillers that are geographically centered, as it satisfies both my love of mysteries and traveling. So I gave it a shot. The Lost Symbol has the usual Dan Brown trademarks — Robert Langdon…