Yo-Ho, Ho-Hum: Pirates of the Caribbean — Dead Men Tell No Tales, reviewed.

Johnny Depp doesn't exactly strain himself in Pirates 5, not that we'd want that. (Disney)

Sitting down to review the new Pirates of the Caribbean, I knew for a fact that I'd seen all four of the prior movies but I couldn't remember a thing about any of them, except that one had Keith Richards in it for a minute. I expect I'll forget this one, too, though I wouldn't be averse to catching it on a double or triple-bill on a nice summer night at the Bengies Drive-In.

Handling the Fingering: Alien: Covenant, reviewed.

Katherine Waterston is more heavily armed than Sigourney Weaver was in her first xenomorph encounter. (Fox)

My fanboyish impulses mostly come out whenever there's a new ALIEN. Mostly.

I tried not to splash too much corrosive blood on the deck in my dissection of Alien: Covenant.

Of Most Rare Note

Can a working actor get famous in one of Shakespeare's least-famous plays? In this week's Washington City Paper, available wherever finer alt-weeklies are given away gratis, I profile the hardworking and versatile titan of stage and stage Mr. Ian Merrill Peakes. He's currently appearing in the Folger Theatre's Timon of Athens, the "Hey Bulldog" of the Shakespearean canon.

Presenting My Fourth Annual Village Voice Summer Movie Preview

It's a tradition! Here once again I choose a dozen movies due in the next three months for which I've got medium-high hopes.

Taking Trump Literally: Building the Wall, reviewed.

Tracey Conyer Lee and Eric Messner. (Teresa Castracane/Forum Theatre)

Robert Schenkkahn's Building the Wall, a terrifyingly plausible future-history of the Trump Administration that Forum Theatre has scrambled to shoehorn into their season, is a cry of warning that requires little suspension of disbelief.

I saw the show at Arena Stage last week in the first part of its bifurcated, two-venue run. It's at Forum's Silver Spring performance space May 18-17. Go. My review is in this week's Washington City Paper, along with one of The Shakespeare Theatre's Company's more-is-less Macbeth.

A Split Decision for Chuck

Liev Schreiber and Ron Perlman in Philippe Falardeau's Chuck Wepner biopic. (Sarah Shatz/IFC)

Here's my NPR review of Chuck, a biopic about Chuck Wepner, the self-sabotaging New Jersey boxer who inspired Sylvester Stallone to write Rocky.  It ain't bad, but I wanted to love it. Anyway, Rocky already has a wonderful latter-day lega-sequel.

Tinker, Swinger, Playwright, Spy: Or, reviewed.

Erin Weaver and Holly Twyford (Grace Toulotte)

Given that Aaron Posner's 2009 production of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia at the Folger Theatre, starring Holly Twyford and Erin Weaver (and Cody Nickell and Eric Hissom) remains one of my favorite theatrical experiences, it's a cinch I'd be susceptible to Posner's reteaming with Twyford and Weaver in Or, Liz Duffy Adams' erudite farce about seminal British playwright Aphra Behn. Here's my Washington City Paper review.