Public Art Critics

Muralist at odds with community groups over Beechview painting

• by Melissa Meinzer

Outside Agitators

"We might be approaching a time when it is no longer normal or expected for kids to go outside to watch the leaves move."

• by Bill O'Driscoll

Media: P-G offering buyouts; layoffs looming

• by Marty Levine

Arts: Ousted TRAF director says festival structure, funding in need of overhaul

• by Bill O'Driscoll

Police: Activists call on council for Taser controls

• by Marty Levine

Making a Better Lemonade

A local company wants lemonade to be delicious ... and nutritious.

• by Melissa Meinzer

The Flame BBQ

Barbecue can be difficult to judge. The best of it is extraordinary, but there's a vast middle ground of competently cooked meat, unremarkable sauce, and sides of varying quality. The Flame rose above this with its least typical offerings.

• by Angelique Bamberg and Jason Roth

Centipede Eest releases new album Confluence at Gooski's

"There's no mission statement we're working toward."

• by Andy Mulkerin

Adriana Helbig adds zest to Pitt's ethnomusicology program

"A lot of global rappers are part of social movements, just like the way it developed in the Bronx."

• by Manny Theiner

The Shack*Shakers' fiery frontman burns down the house

"I was one of these nerdy kids that pledged support to public radio so I can 'hear more great blues and the jazz show and the bluegrass show.'"

• by Chris Parker

Famed U.K. DJ and producer LTJ Bukem visits the BBT

In the early '90s, he almost single-handedly created a smooth, atmospheric subgenre called "intelligent drum 'n' bass."

• by Manny Theiner

Langhorne Slim rollicks and rambles into Club Café

"I was going to either wind up in jail or be some kind of entertainer."

• by Chris Parker

Rhyme Calisthenics combines freestyle skills and game-show challenges

"We're trying to get people to exercise their vocabulary, their thought process, their rhythm, and it's going to make them a better emcee."

• by Cindy Yogmas

Choke

It's good to see a film with ideas ... or perhaps just notions: about sin and redemption, love and trust, and the dual (and dueling) nature inside all of us. Clark Gregg's adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel covers these themes in a mostly realistic scenario about a sex addict (Sam Rockwell), who also enjoys faking choking in restaurants. From this fanciful plot comes a Palahniukian rumination on loneliness, emotional paralysis and split personalities. There are no answers, mostly because Choke is more of a romp than a think piece. It's randy enough for people who won't get it, but probably not smart enough for those who will. The acting in Choke is lovely -- unusually gentle and somber -- and the actors never gun the material. It's also darkly funny, and consistently so, at least until it begins to wind down. (Harry Kloman) [3 out of 4 stars]

• by Harry Kloman

Miracle at St. Anna

The director's new movie recounts the experiences of black American soldiers trapped in Italy during the waning days of World War II. Lee wants to shred racist stereotypes about WW II, but he also wants to tell a ripping war yarn, and to cap it all with a redemptive, quasi-magical ending. The sum of his efforts overburdens a laudable project. The material is powerful stuff, and Lee should have let it speak for itself. Instead, every reel or so Lee stops the story dead for a ponderous speech or dialogue, to make sure we don't miss the point. Still, point made: Black soldiers, too, were hailed "GI! GI!" while tossing Hershey bars to European rugrats. And like soldiers of any color, they killed and died. Ably enough, Lee's put a Hollywood face to that history. (Bill O'Driscoll) [2.5 out of 4 stars]

• by Bill O'Driscoll

Chris & Don: A Love Story

In purely cinematic terms, the death in 1986 of Christopher Isherwood seems little hindrance to Guido Santi and Tina Mascara's heartfelt documentary about the British writer's long romantic partnership with Don Bachardy, an American 30 years his junior. Bachardy, now a trim septugenarian, mostly narrates what happened starting in the early '50s, when Isherwood (who wrote the novel that became Cabaret) met a teen-age Southern California movie nut. Friends like actress Leslie Caron chip in on Isherwood's mentorship, Bachardy's struggle to find himself as a man and artist, and their lives as privileged anomalies: out queers in 1960s Hollywood. But this film's glory just might be the beautiful, silent color home movies of the lovers' days together. There is also some touching interpretative animation, while Bachardy's achingly poignant portraits of Isherwood in his final months balance any nostalgia with clear-eyed empathy. Sat., Oct. 4, through Thu., Oct. 9. Harris (Bill O'Driscoll) [3 out of 4 stars]

• by Bill O'Driscoll

Eagle Eye

Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) is a slacker working at a low-end copy store, shadowed by his overachieving identical twin, a high-level Air Force officer. Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan) is a down-to-earth single mom with an 8-year-old son. Each receives a phone call from a woman who issues commands in the detached, pleasant voice of a prerecorded customer-service rep -- except that she says things like: "You have been activated" and "Do not disobey." Blackmailed by the mysterious woman, who seemingly controls everyday technology like traffic signals, cranes and telephones, the pair becomes the nation's most-wanted criminals. This thriller from D.J. Caruso (Disturbia) has all the ingredients of a good action film: spectacular explosions, stunt sequences and car chases. Set in a fearful post- 9/11 atmosphere, Eagle Eye combines enough technophobia, conspiracy theory and sci-fi to keep you on the edge of your seat. (Jessica Lam) [3 out of 4 stars]

• by Jessica Lam

Flash of Genius

This is, without question, the most gripping film about intermittent windshield wipers ever made. Greg Kinnear plays engineer Robert Kearns, who created the mechanism in 1967, only to see it end up in the hands of the Ford Motor Company. Directed by Marc Abraham and based on a New Yorker magazine story, Flash is a pedestrian (sorry) David-sues-Goliath courtroom drama, albeit with some nuance. Kinnear captures the off-putting monomania that can afflict crusaders, and Flash suggests that corporate America was rotting long before its industrial collapse. (Who fears Ford these days?) There's bittersweet family drama too, which benefits from Lauren Graham's portrayal of the girl-next-door wife. But still ... we're talking about windshield wipers, and the plot moves as predictably as the invention itself. There are also inevitable "based on a true story" distortions, though Flash does capture the price Kearns paid: As his daughter said after Kearns' death, in 2005, "His life was simply this battle." (Chris Potter) [2 out of 4 stars]

• by Chris Potter

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Broken-hearted New Jersey emo kid Nick (Michael Cera, Juno's baby-daddy) putt-putts in his jokey Yugo around New York one night, bouncing between his queer-core band buddies, his ex-girlfriend and a potentially new soulmate, Norah (Kat Dennings). A healthy -- though hardly infinite -- selection of indie pop laments stitches the slender plot together, while the hackneyed comic plot device of Crazy Drunk Friend continually undermines the film's intended wispy charms. (I'm old enough to think of Nick and Norah as the less-talented offspring of Scorsese's one-kooky-night-in-NYC comedy, After Hours, and the arty-teens-in-love classic Say Anything.) Ultimately, Paul Sollett's romantic teen comedy is much like the tunes on its soundtrack -- inoffensive, a little catchy and not destined to be remembered an hour from now. Cera is adorable -- he's this season's go-to nerd hero -- but I look forward to seeing him play a new tune. (Al Hoff ) [2.5 out of 4 stars]

• by Al Hoff

Religulous

Fans of comedian and talk-show host Bill Maher are familiar with his rants and riffs on religion. This film essay from Larry Charles (Borat) is simply an extended comic bit -- with stock footage and guest stars -- designed to bolster Maher's belief that religion is weird, hypocritical, potentially dangerous and certainly worth laughing at. Maher is relatively equal-opportunity, hitting almost all the major faiths (Hindus and Buddhists get a pass). He travels to sacred spots such as Vatican City, Jerusalem and The Holy Land Experience, in Orlando, and interviews true believers who cheerfully provide the gleefully acerbic Maher with set-up after set-up for punchlines. Maher picks a lot of low-hanging fruit and unearths some real oddballs. At best, Religulous is only mildly provocative, and Maher feels no obligation to present any reasonable defense from the other side, or even question why religion is so pervasive. Sympathizers with Maher will laugh; the faithful are apt to be offended, though there's some chance you'll find another religion besides your own bizarre and worth mocking. That's the weird thing about religion. (Al Hoff) [2.5 out of 4 stars]

• by Al Hoff

PCA Emerging Artist of the Year Adam Welch makes a strong showing.

Nothing seems to lead to happiness, but bits like "it's all about me" and "cranky pants" impart enough self-awareness by the artist to indicate we don't need to take it all so seriously.

• by Lissa Brennan

An artful addition appends an artist's studio to a traditional Pittsburgh house.

"At one point, Paul said, 'We just need to chop off the back and build a box.'"

• by Charles Rosenblum

This Just In: October 2 - 9

Highlights from the local TV news: Massaging the facts.

• by Frances Sansig Monahan

Edwidge Danticat revisits her formative experiences in Haiti at the Drue Heinz Lectures.

Although she is their flesh-and-blood, her parents, like the place, then seemed deeply "other."

• by Melissa Meinzer

Cartoonist Mike Konopacki discusses adapting Howard Zinn's A People's History.

"Throughout U.S. history, our military has been used not for moral purposes but to expand economic, political, and military power," says the illustrated Zinn.

• by Bill O'Driscoll

The Creative Nonfiction conference is revamped to focus on the craft and business of writing.

The event was recast to fulfill working writers' desire for more short-format courses about specific topics.

Chatham University's new literary festival hears voices from other countries.

There's also an impressive array of other visitors, many from the Middle East.

• by Bill O'Driscoll

The Apple Tree

Director Elizabeth Matthews keeps the production fresh, modest and well paced, concentrating on getting good performers who more than just fill the bill.

• by Michelle Pilecki

The Sea Horse

Randolph and Shahen do a terrific job of making us understand the hunger for human contact and love consuming their characters from the inside.

• by Ted Hoover

The Kitchen Witches

Both characters are drama queens, and the actresses jump in with both feet, not to mention hand slaps and hair pulls when the slapstick starts.

• by Michelle Pilecki

The final installment of August Wilson's epic Pittsburgh Cycle premieres at the Public.

Radio Golf takes place in the 1990s, but it speaks of our most current identity crises.

• by Robert Isenberg