Bonfire of the Vanitas: De Palma, reviewed.

1987's The Untouchables exhibits director Brian De Palma's dazzling skill, but not his (or screenwriter David Mamet's) obsessions. It's probably the least challenging film he's made, but I love it still. (Paramount)

For NPR, I reviewed Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow's documentary De Palma, wherein the man behind Carrie and Dressed to Kill and The Untouchables and about three dozen other features walks us through his long, idiosyncratic career. This film won't change anyone's mind about the guy, but it's a candid, briskly edited retrospective. I enjoyed it.

The Man Trap: STC's The Taming of the Shrew and Mosaic Theatre's When January Feels Like Summer, reviewed.

Maulik Pancholy as Katherina and Peter Gadiot as Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew. (Scott Suchman)

The cast and audience at the intermezzo of The Taming of the Shrew. (Scott Suchman)

Rick Hammerly as the Contessa, Peter Gadiot as Petruchio, Maulik Pancholy as Katherina, and Oliver Thornton as Bianca in The Taming of the Shrew. (Scott Suchman) 

Lynette Rathnam and Jason B. McIntosh in When January Feels Like Summer. (Stan Barouh)

Vaughn Ryan Midder and Jeremy Keith Hunter in When January Feels Like Summer. (Stan Barouh)

Shravan Amin and Jeremy Keith Hunter in When January Feels Like Summer. (Stan Barouh)

Directors have reckoned with the misogyny of The Taming of the Shrew in many ways. Ed Sylvanus Iskandar's fix — cast only men, and let the female characters express themselves via covers of old songs from Duncan Sheik, a man — is at least, and most, strange. I review Iskandar's perplexing boys-only Shakespeare Theatre Company Shrew in today's Washington City Paper.

Also reviewed: Mosaic Theatre of DC's When January Feels Like Summer, a shaky play featuring a rock-steady cast. Jeremy Keith Hunter apparently had a small role in Studio Theatre's Chimerica, a show I loved last year, but I don't remember him from that. He's brilliant in January, though.

Something Borrowed, Something Blue. X-Men: Apocalypse, reviewed.

Apparently that's Oscar Isaac under there. (Twentieth Century Fox)

I've enjoyed these last couple of period-piece X-Men movies, but with the 1980s-set Apocalypse, the DeLorean may at last have run out of Plutonium. Here's my NPR review.

Wanna see a terrific movie this weekend? I recommend The Nice Guys or, if you've got the constitution for it, The Lobster.

Air-Conditioned Fun in the Summertime 3: Presenting My Third Annual Village Voice Summer Movie Want-List

The Nice Guys, which I expect history shall remember as my favorite film of the summer of 2016, came out last week; Captain America: Civil War, probably the best of the Marvel bunch, is old news. But Memorial Day weekend is still the traditional start of the summer movie season. Here, for the third consecutive Memorial Day weekend, is my Village Voice list of summer movies I want to see. Light up a phone in any of these and you'll hear from me.

Enjoy those X-Men, everybody! I'll be observing the holiday at the AFI, taking in Spartacus in its 212-minute entirety.

Bucky (and Everybody) with the Good Hair: Captain America: Civil War, reviewed.

Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans try to talk it out. (Marvel)

For NPR: The 13th Marvel movie/third Captain America movie/third Avengers movie/fourth Iron Man movie/exciting Spider-Man & Black Panther teaser trailer is as good as you've heard. The first notices went up after this screened a month ago (not in DC), so all I could do was try to write the Blade II of Marvel movie reviews.

The lack of memorable music in these films is a stubborn and inexplicable problem, though. Yo, Kevin Feige: Hire Michael Giacchino or somebody. You can afford him. 

Captain America: The First Avenger, set during World War II, had a stirring theme. I suspect Feige or someone deemed it too old-fashioned to be retained for Cap's present-day adventures. Too bad. 

Unconvention Centers: The Welders' Transmission and Solas Nua's Wild Sky, reviewed.

Dylan Morrison Myers and Megan Graves play young revolutionaries in Wild Sky (Solas Nua).

In today's Washington City Paper, I review two new plays being staged in unusual environments. The Welders' Transmission, by playwright/performer Gwydion Suilebhan, is a thoughtful meditation on the hazards of storytelling, while Deirdre Kinahan's Wild Sky is a human-scale look back at a pivotal moment in Ireland's struggle for self-governance. It's also the first show from Solas Nua in five years. I'm glad they're back.