Folk Medicine

Nueva Canción: Chile raises a new voice in Pittsburgh

• by Aaron Jentzen

Sex Line

Will charging kids with sex crimes actually stop 'sexting'

• by Melissa Meinzer

Touchdown Steelerbaby

Artist backs down in fight against local designer

• by Chris Young

Past Lives

Some bothered by endorsed Dem judicial candidate's time in GOP

• by Marty Levine

Me Lyng

Vietnamese comfort food: a big bowl of pho

• by Al Hoff

Bayleaf Indian Cuisine

Together at last: northern and southern Indian cuisines share one restaurant

• by Angelique Bamberg and Jason Roth

Pittsburgh musicians pack their bags for Austin's South By Southwest music festival

"I haven't figured out if I'm packing a pillow or not."

• by Aaron Jentzen

Why Are Music experimental series continues on Saturdays in March

"Experimental music expects more of the audience and needs to be in a low-key place that's not worried about draw."

• by Manny Theiner

Rumble Club brings psychobilly swing to 31^st Street

• by Manny Theiner

Dumpstaphunk brings the New Orleans and the Nevilles

Ivan has a long, illustrious history as a sideman and solo artist going back to the 1980s.

• by Chris Parker

Che: The Argentine

Eschewing the easy romanticism that might drive such an epic biographical feature (screened in two parts, over two weeks), Soderbergh makes a concerted effort to downplay the myth of Che Guevara and the scope of his life. It's an intriguing approach, but I'm not sure what to make of this film that provides no background on Guevara or historical context; ditches the heroic Che but fails to fill out this stripped-down character; and chooses not to tell a particularly coherent narrative? Part 1 takes place mostly during 1957-59. From the Cuban countryside, the rebels, including nascent leaders Fidel Castro and Guevara, plan and execute their takeover of the Bautista regime. Soderbergh intercuts this regularly with a recreation of Guevara's trip to New York City in 1964, during which he addresses the U.N. Soderbergh shoots the NYC footage in black and white, like a newsreel, and these sequences fill in much of Guevara's revolutionary philosophy. In essence, these two strands represent the inward and the outward -- from the successful micro focus of the revolution toward the pinpoint of power in Havana, to Guevara's 1964 mission where he sought to export the revolution to other nations. What really keeps the frequently frustrating Che afloat is Del Toro, who is one of those actors who can make an often taciturn, stoic protagonist still feel compelling. Del Toro carries a lot of film's dead weight and transcends its idiosyncrasies. In some English, and Spanish, with subtitles. Part 1: The Argentine starts Fri., March 20. Part 2: Guerrilla starts Fri., March 27. Harris (AH) [2.5 out of 4 stars]

• by Al Hoff

The Pittsburgh Jewish-Israeli Film Festival

The annual festival offers films from Israel and around the world representing Jewish experiences from the comic to the dramatic to the inspirational.

• by CP Staff

I Love You, Man

No hints, no sub-texts, no sly winks: John Hamburg's romantic comedy is officially and openly a bromance. Sure, after some very brief conflict, the guy gets the girl, but after even more life-altering highs and lows, the guy also gets the guy -- and that's what really matters. Peter (Paul Rudd) is more of a girls-guy, and, with no male buddies, he's missing a best man for his upcoming wedding to Zooey (Rashida Jones). A series of man-dates go predictably (and hilariously) wrong, until fate delivers him Sydney (Jason Segal), an oafish alpha. Syd the Big Kid takes Peter under his meaty wing for tacos, career advice and impromptu Rush jams (now there is a guy-centric pursuit). Hamburg's comedy is in the mode of recent cheerfully vulgar Apatow-style hits, but its R-rating is simply for profanity and sex talk. And for a rather silly idea, the film has a fair amount of heart: It helps that the major characters are likable (and well played) and that I Love You's emphasis on men means very little of that shrilly, frilly nonsense that plagues chick-flicks. So men -- take your guy, or take your girl, or both. Starts Fri., March 20. (AH) [2.5 out of 4 stars]

• by Al Hoff

Race to Witch Mountain

This remake of the 1970s Disney film about alien teens stranded on Earth has all the updates you'd expect: snarky kids; scads of digital effects; product placement; a headliner star; in-jokes for the adults; and lots of frenetic action in lieu of plot development. A Las Vegas cab driver (Dwayne Johnson) picks up the two cute-aliens-on-the-run (Annasophia Robb and Alexander Ludwig) -- and then they all hurtle from underground lab to small-town diner to UFO convention to super-secret military bunker. But Andy Fickman's family adventure is all junk food -- fast and flashy enough to keep the kiddies entertained, but with little substance. (We actually learn more about the cabbie's adult troubles than what the alien kids are about.) And for a PG-rated film, Race is pretty violent, with lots of heavy combat, colossal vehicular crashes and an executioner robot blasting fire at the kids. (AH) [2 out of 4 stars]

• by Al Hoff

An exhibit explores Zippy the Pinhead's relationship with Pittsburgh.

While these events could have been set anywhere, it's Pittsburgh that Griffith casts as his bourgeois purgatory.

• by Curt Riegelnegg

This Just In: March 19 - 26

Highlights from the local TV news: A banner week for thieves.

• by Frances Sansig Monahan

Why do so many Pittsburghers think that the city is their personal dump site?

Question submitted by: Ann Rosenthal, Bloomfield

Spokes Models

• by CP Staff

A Feeling in the Bones

Michael Hickey gives new life to discarded items

• by Melissa Meinzer

A Shade of Genius

A local entrepreneur devises an eye-opening invention

• by Melissa Meinzer

Creative Nonfiction's off-with-their-heads experiment asks where a story really begins.

"I felt duly chastised and grateful that an editorial staff had saved me from myself."

• by Jessica Dailey

I Nipoti

Kevin Brown, as Fields, is the perfect mixture of subtle and outrageous humor; this play is never more interesting than when Brown has a joke in his sights and is bearing down on it.

• by Ted Hoover

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre rolls out a new doo-wop tribute, plus older pieces inspired by Cole Porter and Bruce Springsteen.

"Step Touch," a half-hour group work, is set to put a new spin on some old classics.

• by Steve Sucato

The World Goes 'Round

What's on stage at the Public is a happy time.

• by Alan W. Petrucelli

The Conservatory Dance Company's annual Byham showcase mixes classics and contemporary work.

Set to music by Les Tambours du Bronx that sounds like a cross between the oil-barrel drumming of STOMP and Nine Inch Nails, Battle's work drips with primal intensity and power.

• by Steve Sucato