Latest from The Spokesman-Review

• Review: ‘Dixie Swim Club’ sidesteps stereotype

  May 5, 2013 in City, Features on Page B7 Since they were in college together, the self-appointed members of the Dixie Swim Club have been inseparable. They’re five headstrong Southern women, all grappling with middle age in their own …

• Review: Civic Theatre’s ’Treasure Island’ offers energetic family fun

  April 7, 2013 in City on Page B2 It’s safe to say that “Treasure Island” is one of the most influential pieces of genre literature ever produced. Since its publication in 1883, elements of Robert Louis Stevenson’s swashbuckling …

• Review: ‘War Horse’ artfully staged, performed

  March 7, 2013 in City, Features on Page A6 At its core, “War Horse” is a simple story about a boy and his horse.

• Theater review: ‘Drowsy Chaperone’ not a play to sleep on

  February 24, 2013 in City, Features on Page B9 “The Drowsy Chaperone,” which opened Friday at Spokane’s Civic Theatre, is a trifle, an entertainment, one that lets its audience in on the joke, is free with the winks and …

• Book review: ‘Tribes of Hattie’ truly heartbreaking

  December 30, 2012 in Features on Page D6 The Lord has spoken. “The Twelve Tribes of Hattie,” a debut novel by Ayana Mathis, is the next choice of the Oprah 2.0 Book Club. Iowa Writers Workshop graduate Mathis …

• Review: Symphony returns in style for Holiday Pops concert

  December 17, 2012 in City, Features on Page A6 Leading Saturday’s Holiday Pops concert by the Spokane Symphony and Spokane Symphony Chorale at the Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox was the orchestra’s resident conductor, Morihiko Nakahara. His impish …

• Review: ‘The Producers’ finds comedy in taboo places

  September 23, 2012 in City, Features on Page B9 Leave it to comedy legend Mel Brooks to conceive a musical with material so offensive it becomes downright hysterical. Thus, the major ingredient in Brooks’ multi-Tony Award-winning musical, “The Producers.” …

• Review: ‘Spring Awakening’ rocks tradition in bold musical

  August 2, 2012 in City on Page A6 Conveyed with raw intensity, Lake City Playhouse presents its preseason production, “Spring Awakening.” The mature-themed rock musical by Duncan Sheik (music) and Steven Sater (book and lyrics), adapted from Frank …

• A ‘sweeping’ departure from comfort zone

  June 10, 2012 in Features on Page D1 The following descriptions have rarely, if ever, been applied to previous Jess Walter novels: “love story,” “sweeping” and “intergenerational.” “Gritty” and “darkly comic” were more like it.

• Review: Clunky at times, but a rich story is told in ‘Privilege’

  February 27, 2011 in City on Page B7 One of the biggest surprises about “Privilege,” the funny and thought-provoking Paul Weitz play at Interplayers, is that most of it isn’t about privilege – it’s about nonprivilege. The story …

• Dining experience hits the jackpot at Masselow’s

  February 2, 2011 in Food on Page C1 Dining at Masselow’s Restaurant at Northern Quest Resort and Casino is all in the approach. If you aren’t staying at the hotel, but want intimate fine dining, here’s my advice: …

• Actor Caine shines in ‘Harry’

  August 6, 2010 in Features on Page D4 “Harry Brown” lets Michael Caine show us his action-hero side one more time in a film that Charles Bronson would have been proud to call his own. This British “Death …

• ‘Step Up 3D’ mixes hot effects, cold clichés

  August 6, 2010 in Features on Page D2 “Step Up 3D” is, in one significant respect, a step up. That is, in contrast to the recent spate of post-production 3-D conversions (“The Last Airbender,” “Clash of the Titans”), …

• Film gets close to Rivers

  August 6, 2010 in Features on Page D4 What makes Joan Rivers run? Take your pick: relentless drive, switchblade wit, ever-simmering insecurity, anger, lust for attention and a lifestyle that would bankrupt an oil sheik. “Joan Rivers: A …

• ‘Other Guys’ gives old tale new twists

  August 6, 2010 in Features on Page D2 If the mismatched-buddy cop movie seems egregiously overdone, the idea of a parody of that genre would seem especially needless – which is what makes “The Other Guys” such a …

• New ‘Coco Chanel’ elegant, passionate

  July 30, 2010 in Features on Page D3 “Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky” opens with the fierce and furious premiere of the Russian composer’s “The Rite of Spring” in a Paris concert hall in 1913. The audience’s animated …

• ‘Kids Are All Right’ smart, funny

  July 30, 2010 in Features on Page D3 “The Kids Are All Right” is a smart, cheerful, character-driven relationship comedy. In other words, it’s a miracle. Imagine: a boldly funny film that doesn’t trade in meet-cutes and laugh-track …

• ‘Charlie St. Cloud’ a journey out of despair

  July 30, 2010 in Features on Page D2 Zac Efron and the rest of the crew behind “Charlie St. Cloud” want their movie to be weepy, soulful, inspirational, cathartic, ethereal, life-affirming and who knows what else on the …

• ‘Terribly Happy’

  July 30, 2010 in Features on Page D4 Years of moviegoing have familiarized us with tales of city folk waylaid in country towns – quirky Southern backwaters and dusty desert holes. “Terribly Happy,” the Danish foreign film submission … 1

• French farce remake weird, interesting

  July 30, 2010 in Features on Page D2 There’s a lot less bite in “Dinner for Schmucks” than there was in the classic French farce that was its inspiration. Whereas “The Dinner Game” (“Le Diner de Cons”) was …

• ‘Cats & Dogs’ sequel lacks laughs

  July 30, 2010 in Features on Page D2 Yeah, that’s Shirley “Goldfinger” Bassey singing over the opening credits of “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.” Kids won’t get it, though parents may chortle at the reference …

• Story of ‘Ramona and Beezus’ is truly ‘terrifical’

  July 23, 2010 in Features on Page D2 If Ramona, the spirited third-grader at the center of “Ramona and Beezus,” gave a one-word review of the movie about her love/hate relationship with her big sister, Beatrice, she would …

• Swinton in ‘Love’

  July 23, 2010 in Features on Page D2 Luca Guadagnino’s “I Am Love” is like a lavish Italian opera in which nobody sings, unashamedly melodramatic and gloriously over the top. There’s something about the film’s juicy, stirring close-ups …

• ‘Salt’ may try to shake you, but it’s really just a sham

  July 23, 2010 in Features on Page D2 “Salt” is, quite literally, a shaggy dog story. Despite the cryptic ads that pose the question, “Who Is Salt?” and regardless of the various twists and turns designed to throw …

• ‘Predators’ gets lost in chaos

  July 9, 2010 in Features on Page D2 They are dropped from the sky, with only a parachute to save them. They land in a lush green jungle whose topography seems to resemble no known place on Earth. …

• Review: ‘Waking Sleeping Beauty’

  July 9, 2010 in Features on Page D4 Oh, what simpler times they were when Disney was trotting out movies like “The Little Mermaid” and “The Lion King.” Those bright, colorful animations, arriving annually like clockwork, defined the …

• ‘Despicable Me’ funny, sweet

  July 9, 2010 in Features on Page D2 “Despicable Me” is this year’s “Up,” a film that has far more heart than the advance promotions suggest. It never reaches the heart-tugging levels of “Up,” but its serious side …

• ‘Grown Ups’ rolls without form, drive

  June 25, 2010 in Features on Page D2 There’s a practice among stand-up comedians called “emptying the notebook.” It’s a housecleaning exercise in which they get together, read off the jokes that didn’t fly and toss away the …

• ‘Mother and Child’ shows how we love and bond

  June 25, 2010 in Features on Page D2 Rodrigo Garcia’s “Mother and Child” considers what happens when those who don’t want babies get pregnant and those who do can’t. To the women in this poignant and exceptionally acted …

• Cruise shines in ‘Knight’

  June 25, 2010 in Features on Page D2 “Knight and Day” introduces us to an exciting new talent: Tom Cruise. Sure, we know Cruise after his three decades in the business. We know way too much about him, …

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