Too Much Is Not Enough: Bad Dog and Alice in Wondlerland, reviewed.

My reviews of Bad Dog, a tough new comedy about alcoholism from prestige-TV writer Jennifer Hoppe-House, and Alice in Wonderland, Synetic Theatre's watery take on the Lewis Carroll classic as reinterpreted by former Washington Post film & theatre critic Lloyd Rose, are in today's Washington City Paper. I got paid to write them but you can read them for free. Everybody wins.

Let the Children Lose It, Let the Children Use It: The Martian, reviewed.

Good Matt Damon in The Martian. (Aidan Monaghan/20th Century Fox)

"There are a bunch of severe psychological effects that would happen to someone being isolated for almost two years. And also the anxiety and stress of being on the verge of death from various problems for so long—most people would not be able to handle that. The loneliness, the isolation, the anxiety, and stress—I mean, it would take an enormous psychological toll. And I didn’t deal with any of that. I just said like, 'Nope, that’s not how Mark Watney rolls.' So he has almost superhuman ability to deal with stress and solitude.

"And the reason I did that was because I didn’t want the book to be a deep character study of crippling loneliness and depression—that’s not what I wanted! So the biggest challenge were the psychological aspects, and I just didn’t address them and I hope the reader doesn’t notice."

— Novelist Andy Weir, to Ars Technica's Lee Hutchinson, last year.

"Let the children lose it

Let the children use it

Let all the children boogie."

— David Bowie, "Starman," 1972.

My review of The Martian, screenwriter Drew Goddard and director Ridley Scott's inspiring and so-good-I'm-mad-it's-not-great adaptation of Andy Weir's superb novel, is up at NPR now. Further Reading: My interview with Martian star Matt Damon for Air & Space / Smithsonian.

Personal Is Geopolitical: Chimerica and Women Laughing Alone with Salad, reviewed.

My review of the U.S. debut of Lucy Kirkwood's sprawling, ambitious drama Chimerica at the Studio Theatre is in today's Washington City Paper. Also reviewed: Women Laughing Alone with Salad, a surreal feminist comedy from Sheila Callaghan making its world premiere at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. For those keeping score, that's one great play by a woman that's not officially part of the Women's Voices Theatre Festival, and one pretty good play that is. Read those pieces here, or pick up a dead-tree WCP, available wherever finer alt-weeklies are given away gratis — and you don't even need to have an Amazon Prime subscription!

Each of these shows contain very specific plot and/or production elements I expect their playwrights and directors would prefer for audiences to discover for themselves, but if you abhor surprises and would like to have these things spoiled for you, by all means, go find their Washington Post reviews instead.

Period Piece: The Man from U.N.C.L.E., reviewed.

Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer (Daniel Smith/Warner Bros.)

I'm a sucker for sixties spy shit, and that Guy Ritchie's new big-screen version of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is, unlike most reboots of stuff from the period, actually set in the period is a big selling point for me. It luxuriates in the clothes, cars, and music of the era, updating only the sexual politics. My NPR review spends an unlikely sum of real estate discussing Dirty Dancing.

Gun Play: One in the Chamber, reviewed.

Grace Doughy, Adrienne Nelson, and Dwight Tolar. (Ian Armstrong)

Director Michael R. Piazza's new production of Marja-Lewis Ryan's all-medicine, no-sugar play about the long aftermath of an accidental shooting is a tough sit, but well-performed. Does that matter? My review is in today's Washington City Paper.