Out for Equality

Residents, activists, politicians rally in preparation for battle with county over anti-discrimination legislation

• by Marty Levine

Burning Desire

With the consequences of climate change becoming more apparent, Barack Obama's inauguration gives us our last chance to light a fire under our leaders.

• by Bill O'Driscoll

Neighborhoods: South Side Hospital closure might not yet be done deal

• by Chris Young

Meet Lindsay Baxter, the city's new sustainability coordinator.

"If we could make [the building] super-efficient, healthy for its employees, it could really be a showcase for other building owners around the country, to see you don't have to have new construction to be efficient," says Baxter.

• by Bill O'Driscoll

Media: P-G buyouts may still not be deep enough to avoid layoffs

• by Marty Levine

Dinette

Fresh, innovative pizzas mark this new California-inspired kitchen.

• by Angelique Bamberg and Jason Roth

S&D Polish Deli

A Polish deli in the Strip District provides the tastes of the Old Country.

• by Melissa Meinzer

Local bands gear up for Maximum Who-Phoria

You'll see exactly zero original members of the band, but likely some of the same primal guitar-smashing, drum-detonating energy of the progenitors.

• by Aaron Jentzen

A conversation with singer-songwriter Chuck Prophet

"We all think that our defects make us charming somehow."

• by Aaron Jentzen

Brooklyn's Deleted Scenes play MLK Day celebration

The band shows that pleasant polyrhythms can set up a song without veering too far into Graceland territory.

• by Andy Mulkerin

CP Remixed returns for second installment, curated by Girl Talk

Girl Talk selected three musical performers or groups and a DJ that would make up his local "dream lineup."

• by Aaron Jentzen

Gran Torino

In his new movie set in working-class Detroit, Clint Eastwood plays a septuagenarian and newly widowed Korean War veteran named Walt. He's emotionally distant from his selfish sons, and he hates his "gook" neighbors. Truth is, he really hates everybody. But after a bungled robbery, Walt slowly becomes a protector of his two teen-age Hmong neighbors. Gran Torino rounds up the usual themes of a social-issue movie (breaking down barriers, understanding difference), but it does so in the most benign way possible. Gran Torino also gets laughs from the kind of epithets that Archie Bunker used to entertain us almost 40 years ago. We're left with a well-intentioned, superficial character study of a man we shouldn't tolerate or find amusing, and an issue movie that knows a mainstream audience can tolerate only so much without having to think too hard. In English and Hmong, with subtitles. (HK) [2.5 out of 4 stars]

• by Harry Kloman

Revolutionary Road

Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and April Wheeler (Kate Winslet) are the golden young couple of the late 1950s: They are also miserable -- separately and together. With its meticulously rendered costumes, settings and traditional mid-century mores Sam Mendes' handsomely filmed work initially suggest that Revolutionary Road will be about how life was before we all got hip to the reputedly suffocating nature of the suburbs. But Yates' themes are more complex, and still resonate sharply. This is a character study, not just of these two unhappy archetypes, but of the rise of an entitled class in mid-century America. It's a place where every self-professed individual deserves the happiness of being fulfilled -- even as much of that yearning takes such vague forms as to virtually guarantee disappointment. A two-hour film can't hope to convey the depth of savage detail of banality and sly digs that Yates heaps upon the Wheelers. Mendes is clearly working to capture the detached observational tone of the book, but that choice does make watching the film more of an intellectual exercise than an emotional experience. [3 out of 4 stars]

• by Al Hoff

Chop Shop

Those who enjoyed Ramin Bahrani's Man Push Cart, about a struggling immigrant street vendor in Manhattan, will likely consider this another worthy chapter detailing unseen lives in New York City. Alejandro's world is the dodgy auto-repair yards in Willet's Point, Queens, where the parentless pre-teen hustles odd jobs, sleeps in a garage and dreams of owning his own food van. Bahrani's spare but beautifully shot film is heartbreaking but largely unsentimental. As is little Alejandro, who confronts his tough reality head-on, but with a certain hard-won, fiercely maintained pluck. Now, he has the innate optimism of youth, but like the once-shiny vehicles that pull into his street worn down into beaters, this hopefulness seems likely to fall away. Mon., Jan. 19, through Thu., Jan. 22. Harris (AH) [3 out of 4 stars]

• by Al Hoff

I've Loved You So Long

The directorial debut of French novelist Phillipe Claudel is a domestic melodrama interwoven with a mystery. Two adult sisters reunite, after one of them, Juliette (Kristin Scott Thomas), returns from a 15-year prison term to stay with the other, the trusting Léa (Elsa Zylberstein), who was a child when Juliette was sent away. The narrative gradually reveals Juliette's crime, its consequences and, finally, its origins. As the layers peel away from Juliette's past, so too do she and those close to her appear to blossom, when, of course, truths are finally confronted. This is tricky material that could have tipped into bathos, but is handled with restraint. (I even forgave the clichés: Must all contemporary French dramas be set among lively academics with gourmet kitchens in charming old homes?) Claudel's film is chiefly a showcase for Scott Thomas, whose unadorned face runs a full gamut of emotions, even as her character remains mostly taciturn. In French, with subtitles. Regent Square. Starts Fri., Jan. 16. (AH) [3 out of 4 stars]

• by Al Hoff

Last Chance Harvey

It's a rarity of sorts: a romantic comedy set over the course of a wedding weekend without any profanity, nudity, sexual situations, underwear scenes, upended cakes or "stars" known only to regular watchers of teen-oriented TV. Joel Hopkins' light but earnest film matches the perennially single, somewhat defeated Londoner Kate (Emma Thompson) with Harvey (Dustin Hoffman), the somewhat defeated jingle-composer in town for his daughter's wedding. After meeting at the airport, the two mostly just amble around the Thames chatting -- it's a bit like Before Sunrise for the over-40 set -- while you root for these two lonely souls to make a connection. Lately, vets Thompson and Hoffman have been more apt to appear in exaggerated comic supporting roles, so it's a pleasure to see them turning in fine, low-key work here, even if Harvey on the whole seems perfunctory. Starts Fri., Jan. 16. (AH) [2.5 stars]

• by Al Hoff

Not Easily Broken

One hates to dump on a movie that has its heart in the right place -- one that encourages steadiness; goal-setting; the value of friends, family, marriage and spirituality; and physical fitness. But Bill Dukes' inspirational dramedy, adapted from Rev. T.D. Jakes' novel, generated more laughs and catcalls from the audience than tears and heartfelt "amens." The marriage of Dave (Morris Chestnut) and Clarice (Taraji P. Henson) is getting' wobbly -- and it's decidedly not helped by a car accident that puts another hurtin' on the couple's lack of communication. It does bring in the world's nastiest mother-in-law (Jennifer Lewis), whom viewers found nearly as funny as the intended comic relief: Kevin Hart, portraying a blithering hen-pecked husband. Jakes' works are meant as stealth sermons, to get you thinking about living better, but Broken just had me ticking off the clichés, groaning at bad dialogue and disbelieving all the tidy resolutions. (AH) [2 out of 4 stars]

• by Al Hoff

Photographer Martin Weber powerfully documents dreams in troubled societies.

Pathos remains in the gap between the opportunities that we perceive these people to have and the dreams they express.

• by Melissa Kuntz

This Just In: January 15 - 22

Dispatches from the local TV news: Dog wash has Dave Crawley in a lather.

• by Frances Sansig Monahan

Jersey Boys

This production, directed by Des McAnuff, is one of the most brilliantly directed musicals I've ever seen.

• by Ted Hoover

There's more to the Public's Metamorphoses than the onstage pool.

"One of the things she does is remind us that these myths are still relevant to us today."

• by Bill O'Driscoll