Walk into this cavernous Chinese restaurant in Richfield and you’ll lose all sense of self-importance. There’s no prime seating for players, no celebrity chef to beckon—you are just one among the lucky masses. Sitting down, you’ll be further humbled by the quantities of dim sum brought to your table by smiling and friendly servers. Shrimp … Read more
If you work downtown, this place is the ideal escape for lunch. Tucked into the fabulous new Guthrie Theater, Level Five’s long, narrow room with dark glass walls is like a tonic for those subjected to fluorescent office lighting. And then, just as your hunched shoulders begin relaxing, the food comes. The local, seasonal menu … Read more
Dufner’s humbly makes a fantastic sandwich. Located in an unsexy Plymouth strip mall, it’s the destination for anyone looking for something beyond the average sub. First of all, the breads are fresh. And moving on from the basic deli menu, which includes tasty homemade soups, are serious offerings like the grilled salami hoagie with Swiss … Read more
Michel Gondry has used his camera to view the world with an inquisitive and child-like vision in features like Human Nature and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which he collaborated on with writer Charlie Kaufman. The Science of Sleep, in which the Frenchman also took on screenwriting duties, is another exercise in topsy-turvy reality. … Read more
“God will forgive them. He’ll forgive them and allow them into heaven. I can’t allow that.” So begins Shane Meadows’ haunting and violent revenge thriller, Dead Man’s Shoes. When a British soldier returns to his backwater Midlands village to find his mentally challenged brother has been violated by a gang of local goons, he takes … Read more
Even though it was filmed here and directed by a Norwegian native, Factotum, based on the Charles Bukowski novel, is anything but Minnesota Nice. Like this spring’s film version of Ask The Dust—based on the novel that got Bukowski started as a writer—Factotum offers up Hollywood beauties playing the bums. This time it’s Matt Dillon … Read more
Showing as part of the Heights Theater’s eightieth-anniversary celebration, Vincente Minnelli’s masterpiece is not to be missed on the big screen. For all its nostalgic kitsch, this musical—one of the golden era’s finest—is surprisingly powerful. The gossamer plot, involving nothing more than Father Smith landing a job in New York, thus forcing his family to … Read more
All The King’s Men provokes more questions than interest: Why another version of Robert Rossen’s Oscar-winning 1949 film? To show that Sean Penn can outdo Broderick Crawford’s iconic Willie Stark? To introduce Robert Penn Warren’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel to modern audiences, and perhaps draw likenesses to the stumblebum currently in the White House? If so, … Read more
Coming up from the rambunctious Hijackers: a duet exploring the “unique gender” of male figure skaters, and a ballet set to tunes from a polka songstress called Lady Hard On. By boldly approaching modern dance with a certain irreverence, the veteran duo of Kristin Van Loon and Arwen Wilder have become widely known, and quite … Read more
This show was initially set to wrap in July. But after critics laid it on thick with praise and audiences started lining up for their sultry Tennessee Williams fix, the Torch Theater cleared the way for a run into September. No doubt one of the production’s biggest attractions is Stacia Rice, who wowed audiences a … Read more