Armond White on how ‘Killing Them Softly’ amps political movie war Brad Pitt in ‘Killing Them Softly’ Killing Them Softly earns a footnote in cultural history for being the first dramatic film to question the Obama cult. It happens in a thrilling climactic moment that is part of director Andrew Dominik’s scheme examining America’s current financial 
PIETY WRECKS ANG LEE’S ‘LIFE OF PI’ By Armond White No one can make a dull film like Ang Lee can. His new Life of Pi doesn’t settle for being a 3D extravaganza. At a reported cost of $70 million and three years in production, it is intended to combine philosophical rumination with a tent-pole thrill ride. 
By Angela Barbuti Bruce Springsteen gets a lot of play—literally. Even President Obama has said, “I’m the president, but he’s the Boss.” And now, after more than 30 years of research, Peter Ames Carlin finally put his respect for the musician down on paper. Replete with interviews from Bruce’s family, the E Street Band and 
EXPLORING THE BEAUTY OF IRIS DEMENT’S ‘SING THE DELTA’ To hear Iris DeMent is to be moved. She sings so close to her emotions—and with such artistry—that her meanings can be understood even if the lyrics are soaked in Southern and Midwestern dialect. Her new albumSing the Delta evokes experience and wonder—life, death and very complicated 
CRAFTS, ART FAIR AND OFF THE MAIN IN NYC By GREGORY SOLMAN Roosters never sleep—especially if they’re the colorful, kinetic steel cocks-of-the-walk sculpted by Fredrick Prescott. “I used to show at Art Expo, but this show is different,” says Prescott, who tells CityArts that the two-ton wild animal sculptures sent from his two-and-a-half-acre Santa Fe studio to Manhattan, 
AN ‘ELIXIR’ WITHOUT FIZZ AND A MODEL ‘CARMINA BURANA’ The Metropolitan Opera opened its 2012-13 season with a new production of The Elixir of Love, Donizetti’s offbeat romantic comedy. For 20 years, the Met had a production by John Copley: goofy, whimsical, endearing—like The Elixir of Love. It looked like an old-fashioned Valentine’s Day card. At the 
By Angela Barbuti Ed Asner is still acting in his eighties. But his quick wit and unique outlook on life make him able to transcend the age gap. An entertainer for all generations, he has played endearing roles for the younger set such as Santa Claus in Elf and Carl in Up. But others will 
Wegman Throws Sincerity A Bone Irony is one the most overused conceits in contemporary art. So much so that the term “ironic hipster” has become part of our current lexicon. I’m tired of ironic hipster art, minimal drawings coupled with what are meant to be pearls of wisdom encapsulated in a tagline. The current show 
‘WON’T BACK DOWN’ CONTRIBUTES TO THE EDUCATION CRISIS A dyslexic child looks into the camera at the end of Won’t Back Down and correctly pronounces a word she had previously stumbled over: “Hope.” Thank God for the smart-aleck in the audience who loudly responded: “Boo!” Whether or not that raspberry came from a member of 
