Arts

In the 1950s, as movie directors were trying to offer TV watchers something they couldn't get on a small screen, Cinerama films threw three simultaneous images onto a curved screen to create peripheral vision. Two classic Cinerama films — This Is Cinerama and Windjammer — are now out on DVD.

The notion of guardian angels dates back to antiquity, and modern tributes include Clarence in “It's a Wonderful Life”, Wim Wender's “Wings of Desire”, and “Angels in America”.

The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Sweet is anything but sweet. In Jamaica Kincaid's first new novel in 10 years, she traces the unraveling of a marriage. See Now Then follows the joy, pain and destruction that time can wreak on a union.

Actor-writer-director Alex Karpovsky could watch Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch Drunk Love a million times. "I saw it with a friend of mine, and we both absolutely loved it and immediately started quoting it," he says.

In her memoir, Mary Robinson speaks of her experience advocating for social causes and her personal convictions after growing up in a deeply Catholic family.

A slew of new fairy tale films is on the way to your nearest cineplex, but the intended audience might not be what you'd think. Bob Mondello explains how these movies, like their audiences, are growing up, taking on adult themes and dealing with the fears of a new generation of young adults.

When 18th century Jewish peddler Jacob Cerf reappears in the 21st century, he finds he can read minds and will people to do his bidding — but he's also a common housefly. Rebecca Miller's Jacob's Folly traces Jacob's mission to get back at God.

Brad Leithauser likes to look for poetry in graveyards. An author and poet himself, there's something he values greatly in tombstone epitaphs: brevity. In a piece for The New Yorker's Page-Turner blog, Leithauser cites tiny works that speak volumes.

This week on Triad Arts Weekend, David delves into film, comedy, a new variation on Romeo and Juliet, and new music from Caleb Caudle.  And check out our new feature: extended audio of complete interviews!

The film is ripe with a creepy-crawly feel that would be affecting if the tone weren't so arch. Directed by Park Chan-wook, written by Wentworth Miller and starring Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska and Matthew Goode, Stoker is a vile little chamber horror, says critic David Edelstein.