Pittsburgh police officer subject of multiple allegations

Differing pictures of officer involved in $150,000 settlement

• by Lauren Daley

Ashes to Ashes

• by Jimmy Cvetic

Mix Things Up With Grapefruit Juice

Several Pittsburgh bars have begun offering new twists on the gin-grapefruit combo, which dates at least as far back as the 1940s.

• by Brian Tierney

Make Your own Granola Bars

Gets your oats in order with these easy-to-make snacks

Osteria 2350

You won't get better Italian cooking for your money than here

• by Angelique Bamberg and Jason Roth

Pittsburgh-via-Tokyo garage band Test Patterns plays one last show

"The show costs six bucks. Or bring a canned good for Yago. Or toilet paper."

• by Andy Mulkerin

Critics' Picks

Allderdice grad Mac Miller garners national attention with his latest mixtape

"The thing about Pittsburgh is, if you can't rap, no one likes you. You can't get by doing the minimum."

• by Patrick Bowman

Five Questions with State Radio's Chad Stokes

"Ultimately we're here to kind of create the dialogue, not to necessarily tell people what they should think."

• by Bethie Girmai

JFilm

Films from Israel and around the world representing Jewish experiences from the comic and dramatic to the inspirational

• by Al Hoff

Certified Copy

Many years ago, a teacher said something to me that I've always remembered: "I have many ideas, but very few beliefs." In Certified Copy, the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami plays with this and other notions, all worth cogitating, if you have a mind for that sort of enterprise and this sort of film. (Call it Last Year at Marienbad Lite.) Set in Italy, which we tour as the film unfolds, it's a casually staged, skillfully acted slice-of-life conversation between two people: a British writer (William Shimell) whose new book posits that a copy of a work of art can be just as valuable as the original; and a woman (Juliette Binoche) who's fascinated and "annoyed" by the idea. Her annoyance has mostly do with his determination to "prove the unprovable." And yet, he confesses that he wrote his book to persuade himself, thus engaging in the perilous act of turning ideas into beliefs, which is the basis of all religion. He's also destroyed his ability to appreciate life's experiences because he's too busy thinking about them. Kiarostami's film takes work, but it's intriguing to think that belief can be an act of fraud, and that authenticity, or the perception of it, can be so powerful. And now: Discuss. In French, English and Italian, with subtitles. Starts Fri., April 1. Regent Square (Harry Kloman) CP Approved

• by Harry Kloman

Insidious

A family moves into a new house, but it seems to be possessed by a malevolent spirit or two. Then, the eldest son falls into a coma-like state. Moving to a different house doesn't help -- the ghost-like things follow them. The parents (Rose Byrne, Patrick Wilson) call in the specialists, a medium (Lin Shaye) and two ghostbusters, to sort out what's happening. If you had an early bet on "demons loitering in the afterlife," you might be right. This creaky-floor, shadowy-figure-filled spook-fest is directed by James Wan, the man who gave us Saw, but rest assured, this is PG-13 and free of torture. On the downside, it doesn't have as interesting a premise: While the story makes a certain kind of sense (provided you believe in supernatural stuff), this is well-trod ground and fans of the genre won't get many surprises. It also has a low-lit, washed out look that didn't help bring the energy level up, nor does the awkward addition of some comic-relief characters. Starts Fri., April 1. (Al Hoff)

• by Al Hoff

Source Code

It's been a pretty good season for pretty good B-movies (Limitless, Lincoln Lawyer, Adjustment Bureau) -- and here comes another. Duncan Jones' thriller marries solid performances with a ridiculous but compact plot, delivering 90 minutes of popcorn-munching entertainment. Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up on a Chicago commuter train, in the body of another man who is traveling with his maybe-girlfriend (Michelle Monaghan). It seems Colter is a soldier whose consciousness has somehow been beamed into this scenario in order to catch a bomber: The train is just about to blow up. Colter only has 8 minutes, but can be re-sent to live those same 8 minutes, gaining knowledge each time. Controlling this bizarre anti-terrorism strategy are two military personnel (Jeffrey Wright, Vera Farmiga), who turn out to have conflicting attitudes about this action's morality. It's Groundhog Day plus Run Lola Run, with a splash of Primer -- and decidedly more than 8 minutes worth of twisty fun. Start Fri., April 1. (Al Hoff)

• by Al Hoff

Tornado Alley

Tornadoes seem tailor-made for IMAX's large-format 70 mm cameras. Sean Casey's Tornado Alley is a 43-minute, all-too-brief look at the U.S.'s "alley," where 80 percent of the world's tornadoes occur. The film focuses mainly on Casey, star of Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers, as he attempts to get the dream shot -- a tornado passing over his custom-built, 17,000-pound Tornado Intercept Vehicle. Sometimes slow, this film doesn't offer the nonstop action of Hollywood's Twister, Bill Paxton's narration notwithstanding. Nature shots are occasionally diminished by the score's insistence on treating the audience as if they didn't consider a tornado inherently suspenseful. However, it's all worth it for the moments when tornadoes, hail and even just fierce, blinding rain are shown in all their natural sound and fury. Ongoing. Rangos Omnimax, Carnegie Science Center, North Side (Lucy Steigerwald)

• by Lucy Steigerwald

As seen in a big Carnegie retrospective, artist Paul Thek explored connections between body and soul

Thek's work grappled with sex and spirituality, and understood each in terms of the other.

• by Chris Potter

Season starts for the Pittsburgh Power; enjoy them while they're still around

"Blackout Night" doesn't seem like a good play on words for a team named after electricity.

• by Jim Shearer

New productions of Elephant Man, Agnes of God and As You Like It, plus the local premiere of area playwright Amy Hartman's Mercy and the Firefly.

Four new stage productions to watch out for.

• by Bill O'Driscoll

Ben Munisteri Dance Project puts a fresh spin on traditional modern dance.

"We put our own meanings on human beings when they are half-naked onstage moving around."

• by Steve Sucato

Seussical the Musical

Seussical struggles and strains to hold everything packed inside it.

• by Ted Hoover

Short List: Week of March 31 - April 7