Arts

News Brief: Trump Invites Putin To Washington, Comic-Con Preview

1:46pm July 20, 2018

Top Trump administration officials publicly diverge from their boss. A new surprise: Trump invites Vladimir Putin to Washington. And Comic-Con in San Diego brings costumes, cameos and creativity.

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Longtime friends Daveed Diggs (left) and Rafael Casal co-wrote and co-star in the film Blindspotting.

Arts

Oakland Gets A Starring Role In 2 Genre-Busting Films About Race And Inequality

12:54pm July 20, 2018

by Justin Chang

Critic Justin Chang says the city is experiencing a renaissance moment in film. Blindspotting and Sorry to Bother You are just two of the latest — both about young black men on quests for survival.

Arts

Brady Bunch House Goes On The Market For $1.88 Million

8:55am July 20, 2018

by Neda Ulaby

The house used for exteriors in the original Brady Bunch TV series is on the market for $1.88 million. Realtors expect a lot of lookers, if not buyers, for the Studio City, Calif., ranch-style house.

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The Mount Dora City Council unanimously agreed on Tuesday that homeowners, Nancy Nemhauser and Lubomir Jastrzebski, can keep a mural interpretation of Vincent Van Gogh's The Starry Night, to end the nearly yearlong code-enforcement case.

Florida Couple Settles Legal Battle To Keep 'The Starry Night' House

5:32pm July 19, 2018

by Vanessa Romo

The homeowners were fined thousands of dollars by Mount Dora officials for making their two-story house and surrounding wall look like Van Gogh's famous painting. On Tuesday, the mayor apologized.

Business Needs A Lyft, Crooks To Be Erased: The gig economy catches up with McCall (Denzel Washington) as he sets out to make things equal in the sequel.

Arts

Denzel Has No Fury Like 'The Equalizer 2'

5:01pm July 19, 2018

by Chris Klimek

Despite the lazy cliché that triggers its plot, The Equalizer 2 is a "reasonably well-written and (of course) beautifully acted serving of geriatric-virility violence porn." If that's your thing.

In Generation Wealth, documentarian Lauren Greenfield profiles the obscenely wealthy and revisits several people she photographed in the 1990s for a book on L.A. youth culture, like those seen here.

Arts

'Generation Wealth' Offers Scattershot Glimpses Of Cultural Decadence

5:01pm July 19, 2018

by Scott Tobias

Photographer/documentarian Lauren Greenfield (The Queen of Versailles) offers many examples of excessive wealth around the globe, but the resulting portrait lacks a clear point of view.

L to R: Jack and Bob Allnutt are featured in Rachel Dretzin's Far From The Tree.

Arts

Parents Just Don't Understand: 'Far From The Tree' Profiles Kids Who Confound Expectations

5:01pm July 19, 2018

by Mark Jenkins

Rachel Dretzin's sometimes poignant film, inspired by Andrew Solomon's book, takes a narrowly focused look at kids who turned out differently than their parents thought they would.

Without Breaking New Ground, 'The Death Of Truth' Is Convincing

4:11pm July 19, 2018

by Michael Schaub

In her new book, former New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani suggests that truth should be added to the list of casualties of the Trump administration.

Books
Arts

Nostalgia (And Norovirus) Make For A Novel 'Last Cruise'

2:12pm July 19, 2018

by Maureen Corrigan

A vintage ocean liner stops dead in the water in Kate Christensen's latest. Critic Maureen Corrigan says the voyage is an "entertaining and elegantly written story about social class."

Pesto and pulled jackfruit tacos. In Southern California, working-class Mexican-American chefs are giving traditionally meaty dishes a vegan spin.

Carne Asada, Hold The Meat: Why Latinos Are Embracing Vegan-Mexican Cuisine

1:21pm July 19, 2018

by Gustavo Arellano

Meat-heavy dishes are a mainstay of Mexican cooking. But spurred by health and environmental concerns, working-class Mexican-American chefs are giving traditional dishes a plant-based makeover.