The Phoenix

RISD’s hockey team turns the dick joke into high art — OK, low art
Go Nads! - BY DAVID SCHARFENBERG

Trinity’s delicately balanced Merchant of Venice

The light and the dark
The Merchant of Venice gives modern audiences a lot to think and talk about — including, we can forget, a surprising amount of comedy. But the main concern is it being such a head-shaking case study of the era's anti-Semitism.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | February 15, 2012

A supersized Mary Poppins at PPAC

The bitter and the sweet
There's no secret why the hit musical Mary Poppins has filled more than 9 million seats around the world over the last seven years.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | February 15, 2012

The ‘2012 RISCA Fellowship Exhibition’

Bright spots
Last weekend The New York Times proclaimed Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning , the debut video game of former Red Sox pitcher and outspoken Republican millionaire Curt Schilling's 38 Studios, "one of the finest action role-playing games yet made."

By: GREG COOK | February 15, 2012

Deleted Arrows’ The Body As a Wasteland is a sonic beast

Total control
Deleted Arrows released its must-hear full-length debut a few weeks back, a sonic beast titled The Body As a Wasteland .

By: CHRIS CONTI | February 14, 2012

Review: The Darkness II

The heart of the matter
Have you ever felt a rage so powerful and consuming that it seemed to be operating under its own control? That's the Darkness.

By: MITCH KRPATA | February 15, 2012

Craig Finn | Clear Heart, Full Eyes

Vagrant
In the near-decade he's spent as frontman-lyricist of bar-rock saviors the Hold Steady, Craig Finn has hardly been labeled a happy camper.

By: RYAN REED | February 14, 2012

Cotton Mather | Kontiki [Deluxe Edition]

Star Apple Kingdom
When it was released in 1997, Cotton Mather's sophomore album racked up glowing critical huzzahs across the pond (not to mention big-ups from Oasis), yet dudded here in the States.

By: ZETH LUNDY | February 14, 2012

Field Music | Plumb

Memphis Industries (2012)
The buzz about Britain's Field Music has been growing for some time.

By: JONATHAN DONALDSON | February 15, 2012

Cursive | I Am Gemini

Saddle Creek
Cursive blew their chance to get out of this town a long time ago when they let cellist Gretta Cohn go.

By: DAN WEISS | February 15, 2012

Band of Skulls | Sweet Sour

Electric Blues/Vagrant
Band of Skulls aren't innovators, and they probably won't ever be.

By: REYAN ALI | February 15, 2012

Anti-Flag | The General Strike

SideOneDummy
It wouldn't be easy for Anti-Flag to stay relevant nearly a quarter century into their careers, but it's as if they're not even trying anymore.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | February 15, 2012

Review: Safe House

Daniel Espinosa's spy thriller
Daniel Espinosa's over-edited but engaging spy thriller delves into edgy territory untouched by any of the numerous movies it imitates: it has Brendan Gleeson do an American accent.

By: PETER KEOUGH | February 15, 2012

Review: The Vow

Notebook knock-off
Michael Sucsy's The Vow's tag line, "based on a true story," is the only sincere moment in a film that will bring you to tears — of boredom.

By: MONICA CASTILLO | February 15, 2012

Review: Rampart

Oren Moverman's portrait of a rotten cop
The rotten cop flick has become a mini-genre of sorts, a subset of noir, going back at least to Orson Welles's Touch of Evil .

By: PETER KEOUGH | February 15, 2012

Interview: Alice Bag of Stay at Home Bomb

Once a punk rocker, always a punk rocker
Alice Bag (nee Armendariz), who shone bright in the Los Angeles punk scene of the late-1970s, will be in town Saturday to read from her book Violence Girl: East L.A. Rage to Hollywood Stage and to play a few tunes at 7 pm at Rochambeau Library.

By: DAVID SCHARFENBERG | February 10, 2012

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