Critics’ Picks: April 22 - April 28, 2016

'Fireworks Wednesday'

Though set in Iran, this fine early drama by "A Separation" director Asghar Farhadi compels with the universality of the emotions its characters display, and the familiarity of the situations they find themselves in. (In Persian with English Subtitles) Read more

'Embrace of the Serpent'

This Oscar-nominated Colombia film is a strikingly photographed black-and-white epic that intertwines a passionate attack on the depredations of invasive capitalism with a potent adventure story. Read more

'Hail, Caesar!'

A droll Coen brothers tribute to and spoof of Hollywood past that amuses from beginning to end with its site specific re-creation of the studio system and the movies that made it famous. Read more

'Midnight Special'

A Michael Shannon-starring drama that announces the arrival of Jeff Nichols as a filmmaker in total control of his technique as well as our emotions. A bravura science fiction thriller that explores emotional areas like parenthood and the nature of belief, it's a riveting genre exercise as well as something more. Read more

'Spotlight'

The saga of how the Boston Globe won the Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for uncovering sexual abuse by Catholic priests, "Spotlight" is mightily impressive not only because of the importance of the story it tells but also because of how much effort and skill went into bringing it to the screen in the best possible way. Read more

'El Vato'

The first scripted series from the Spanish-language network — Spanglish-language network, more precisely — is a kind of a telenovelistic take on "Entourage" but with a slant and flavor of its own. Set in Los Angeles, Hollywood and Beverly Hills but also in Whittier, the 10-episode miniseries is almost entirely in Spanish, with a little English; and though there no subtitles, its narrative practice is so firmly rooted in established principals and narrative tropes that even for one who speaks little Spanish, it's easy to tell who is who and what's going on. You could turn down the sound, in fact, and still have a fair idea, but then you'd miss the music. (Robert Lloyd) (NBC Universo, Sundays) Read more

'Washington D.C. Live Bald Eagle Cam'

Live from a relatively remote corner of the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C., two 24-hour cams focus on the nest of the mated bald eagles known since 2014, when they first arrived, as Mr. President and the First Lady. One egg hatched Wednesday; a second is expected to hatch this weekend. It's as if, as national birds, they're trying to remind the body impolitic that there's more to this country than the weird noises emanating from the current presidential campaign, halls of Congress, etc., something that predates and hopefully will survive human fecklessness. (Still, it was people who put these cameras up; there may be hope for us yet.) ( www.DCEagleCam.eagles.org, anytime) (Robert Lloyd) Read more

'Night Class'

Something's up at the network that, for its high concentration of World War II documentaries, has been called the Hitler Channel — a new streak of comedy, spearheaded by Craig Ferguson's historical panel show "Join or Die" and now joined by the weekly half-hour, after-hours omnibus "Night Class." I imagine a Big Boss (mutton chops, watch chain) waving an article on Comedy Channel's "Drunk History" at his subordinates, demanding, "Why wasn't this on our network? Get me one of these!" They have instead got two of those, gathered together as "Night Class" (it airs at 11:30 p.m.): Elizabeth Shapiro's "Crossroads of History," which elaborates upon real moments that changed the world for the worse, and "Great Minds With Dan Harmon," in which the creator of "Community" and "Rick & Morty" summons famous people temporarily back from the dead. Possibly as a nod to that network nickname, "Crossroads" began with Hitler (Josh Fadem) being turned down for a place in art school (Paul Scheer and Shapiro herself are the examiners who make him imitate Charlie Chaplin, then reject him, in terms suggestive of a new path: "I think you need some work on your execution skills.") In "Great Minds," Harmon, playing the difficult, dissolute version of himself you may know from his "Harmontown" podcasts, among other self-revealing, -lacerating or -referential appearances, has built himself a kind of time machine that lets the spiritual energy of figures from the past briefly inhabit a "simulacrum" of themselves. (They arrive naked, like the Terminator.) Beethoven (Jack Black) wonders why no one sings the lyrics to the Fifth Symphony or "Für Elise." (Robert Lloyd) (History Channel, Thursdays). Read more

‘Dry Land’

Not for the faint of heart, Ruby Rae Spiegel’s play about the effects of an unwanted pregnancy on a tough but terrified teenage girl and her lonely new friend receives a taut and harrowing staging in this remount of Echo Theater Company’s 2016 production. (F. Kathleen Foley) (Ends Sunday, May 21) Read more

Kirk Douglas Theatre, 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City

‘eXtras’

Transposing the plot and central metaphor of “Stones in His Pockets” from Ireland to a California-Mexico border town, the English language premiere of this two-actor, multi-character tour de force brings timely relevance to the voices of the culturally dispossessed. (Philip Brandes) (Ends Sunday, May 1) Read more

Rubicon Theatre Company, 1006 E. Main St., Ventura

‘In Response’

Towne Street Theatre's multi-author answer to systemic racism throughout American history is a must-see. Some pieces are short and surreal, others realistic, and any fleeting collegiate aspects are trumped by the passion, variety and authenticity in evidence. Rarely does theater-by-committee convey such potent impact. (David C. Nichols) (Ends Sunday, May 1) Read more

Stella Adler Theatre, 6773 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood

‘Tempest Redux’

Purists beware: “Tempest Redux” at the Odyssey Theatre boldly transposes Shakespeare's play into a darker, more unsettling key, but its inventive staging and solid command of source text make for a vivid, memorable re-imagining. (Philip Brandes) (Ends Saturday, April 23) Read more

Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West L.A.

‘You Never Can Tell’

This buoyant, beautifully appointed take on George Bernard Shaw's early comedy is a textbook study in sprightly Shavian playing. Director Stephanie Shroyer understands that the secret to landing the ornate verbiage and ideological content is a light touch and absolute conviction of delivery. Her wonderful cast follows suit. The results, both elegant and tickling, are as definitive as we are likely to see any time soon. (David C. Nichols) (Ends Sunday, May 15) Read more

A Noise Within, 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena

'Man Covets Bird'

The 24th Street Theatre follows up last year's award-winning “Walking the Tightrope” with another play for families that touches on struggle and loss, “Man Covets Bird,” by the Australian playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer. If the storyline is a bit poetic and meandering, the performers are winsome and the production elements (including live music as well as charming, cartoony video projections) are beautifully designed. Both children 7 and up and adults will find something to enjoy in the experience. (Margaret Gray) (Ends Sunday, May 15) Read more

24th Street Theatre, 1117 W. 24th St., L.A.

Album: 'Anti'

You can't name your album "Anti" without inviting your audience to think about what you oppose. So what is Rihanna standing against on her eighth studio record? A smoothly choreographed product rollout, for one. After repeated delays, "Anti" finally appeared online Wednesday night, first in an apparently unauthorized leak, then as an exclusive on the streaming service Tidal; Samsung also gave away a limited number of free downloads through a complicated promotion. By Friday, the album was available for sale through iTunes (where it quickly topped the chart) and Tidal, though it hasn't yet shown up on other streaming services such as Spotify, and a physical release date has yet to be announced. (Mikael Wood) Read more

Album: 'Blackstar'

There's something delightfully perverse that David Bowie waited until he was 69 to release what's being described as his first jazz album. It was at that age too when veteran rock stars who include Rod Stewart and Paul McCartney took up with big bands or reached for the Great American Songbook to demonstrate their taste and hard-won stature. Even Bob Dylan got in on the act last year with "Shadows in the Night," his lovely (if desolate) tribute to Frank Sinatra. So when you hear that Bowie hooked up with a New York saxophonist and his crew for “Blackstar,” out Friday (just two days before his death from cancer), you think perhaps that Bowie has joined the club — that after cycling through countless styles and personas over his half-century career, he’s finally become a finger-snapping crooner with Count Basie on his mind. Ah, no. (Mikael Wood) Read more

Album: 'HitNRun Phase Two'

Is this becoming a habit? That's the question Prince raised Saturday morning when without warning he released a new album, "HitNRun Phase Two," on the streaming-music service Tidal. As its title suggests, the 12-track set follows an earlier album, "HitNRun Phase One," which Prince had made available in similar fashion in September — proof, it would seem, that this legendary control freak has shed his once-famous disdain for the unruly Internet. Maybe this double-shot system is how Prince, as prolific as he's ever been, intends to roll from here on out. Works for me. A proudly organic companion to the EDM-inflected "Phase One," Prince's latest album shows that he hasn't lost his interest in (or his knack for) the creeping funk and lush R&B balladry he was making in the early 1990s on records like the great "Diamonds and Pearls." Read more

Album: '25'

When Adele sings on her new album, "25," about an emotional experience so vivid that "It was just like a movie / It was just like a song," she's probably thinking of a tune by one of her idols: Roberta Flack, say, or Stevie Nicks. But for fans of this 27-year-old British singer, such a moment could only be captured by one thing: an Adele song. With her big hair and bigger voice, Adele broke out in 2008 as part of the British retro-soul craze that also included Duffy and Amy Winehouse. Her debut album, "19," spawned a hit single in "Chasing Pavements" and led to a Grammy Award for best new artist. Yet she outgrew any style or scene with the smash follow-up, "21," which presented Adele as a great crystallizer of complicated feelings, an artist writing intimately about her own life (in this case about a devastating breakup) in a way that somehow made the music feel universal. Clearly, the pressure is on to duplicate that commercial success with "25," which comes after a long period of public quiet in which Adele recovered from throat surgery and gave birth to a son (and tweeted no more than a few dozen times). "Hello," the record's brooding lead single, set a record when it was released last month, racking up 1.1 million downloads in a week. But the song's enthusiastic embrace only underscored the other, more pressing demand on the singer as she returns: that her music still provide its trademark catharsis. Put another way, Adele's fans have been waiting for years for new Adele songs to explain their experiences to them. And they get a worthy batch on "25." (Mikael Wood) Read more

Album: 'Bob Dylan — The Cutting Edge'

Among the many things Thomas Edison famously said, he remarked that "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration," and he also insisted that "I have not failed once. I have simply found 10,000 ways that do not work." Both precepts are clearly evident in "1965-1966: Bootleg Series Vol. 12," the revelatory latest release of Dylan archival recordings that comes out Nov. 6. Culling a mind- and ear-boggling wealth of outtakes, alternate versions and rehearsal snippets during sessions over the 14 months of an astonishingly fertile period for Dylan, which yielded three of the most influential albums in rock history — "Bringing It All Back Home," "Highway 61 Revisited" and "Blonde on Blonde" — the new set throws open a panoramic window into the creative process of one of the 20th century's greatest artists. (Randy Lewis) Read more

Jonathan Gold's 101 Best Restaurants, 2015

Your next great meal in Southern California is as likely to come from that tiny storefront next to the 7-Eleven as it is from a Beverly Hills gastronomic palace. Los Angeles, which is both where American ideas about food tend to be formulated and where they come back eventually to die, can be a spectacular place to eat. Read more

10 best dishes of 2015

A decade or two from now, when line-caught sea bass will seem as rare and unobtainable as sturgeon caviar is now, drive-through windows sell more lentil bowls than cheeseburgers and we have gotten used to the idea of Taylor Swift as the governor of Pennsylvania, 2015 may well seem in retrospect a fairly important year in Los Angeles restaurants. Menus just seemed to be mostly vegetarian without anybody talking about it much, and even French chefs began to talk among themselves about the primacy of Mexican cooking. The differences between high and low cuisine, which had started to crumble as far back as the 1980s, were utterly annihilated. Exotic fermentation techniques began to creep out of the lab. The idea of abolishing the practice of tipping took hold. And as always, there were 10 dishes that attempted to encapsulate it all. Read more

Pok Pok

Is it possible to become converted in a single bite? Because with a single fried chicken wing at the original Portland Pok Pok in 2007, I dropped my prejudices about non-European cooking in Oregon, the crossover potential of extreme Asian funk, and the ability of a non-Thai to prepare anything like upcountry Thai food. So eight years, many affiliated restaurants, a James Beard award, a Michelin star and a Chinatown noodle stand later, here we are at Pok Pok Los Angeles, an enormous restaurant in the old Fu Ling space in the Mandarin Plaza at the relatively deserted north end of Chinatown. Chef Andy Ricker's gift is the ability to make Thai food seem new again, to take it out of that comfortable place in the suburban strip mall, where it has become the default takeout comfort food for a huge chunk of Los Angeles, and put it back into the roadside stands and rural villages of Northern Thailand. Read more

Pok Pok, 978 N. Broadway, Los Angeles

Five of the tastiest Chinese restaurants in the SGV with the name 'Tasty'

In last week's column, I alluded to the flood of San Gabriel Valley Chinese restaurants with the word "Tasty'" tucked somewhere into their English-language names. Depending on whether you count doughnut shops, burger stands or branches of the same restaurant as Tasty, Not-Tasty or Tasty in their own right – well, there are a lot of them. Here are five of the tastiest. Read more

Scott Anderson: Supper Club

The artist's eight new paintings are not particularly attractive. Ugly colors, cluttered compositions and ham-fisted paint-handling make for works in which rudimentary images burble up from unsettled backgrounds awhirl with undigested restlessness. Anderson's oils on canvas are also intellectually sophisticated, physiologically complex and psychologically ambivalent (David Pagel) (Through May 14) Read more

CES Gallery, 711 Mateo St., Los Angeles

The Ocular Bowl: Alex Olson, Agnes Pelton, Linda Stark

Mystery whispers through all of the works in this group exhibition. Its Realism is magical, a matter of making connections — and fostering relationships — between ordinarily overlooked intuitions and the things from which they spring (David Pagel) (May 28) Read more

Kayne Griffin Corcoran, 1201 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles

Waldemar Zimbelmann: My Hands Have Vanished

At a time when too many people spend too much time multitasking and too many paintings are thin and one-dimensional, it's exciting to see Zimbelmann's first solo show in the United States. Each of the eight paintings multitasks so effectively that you forget you are looking at static objects and you begin to imagine that you're witnessing time-lapse performances (David Pagel) (Through May 14) Read more

China Art Objects Galleries, 6086 Comey Ave., Los Angeles

Kim Abeles: Portraits and Autobiographies

Abeles has been poking at the material residue of identity and extensions of the self for nearly 40 years, in tandem with her work relating to broader social and environmental concerns. This show thoughtfully surveys the more introspective strand of the Los Angeles artist's spirited practice. (Leah Ollman) (Through May 21)

PØST, 1206 Maple Ave., No. 515, Los Angeles

Ezra Johnson

In Johnson's stop-motion animations, each iteration of a painted canvas becomes a filmed frame. The magnetically compelling works are driven by the momentum of their own ceaseless making. With a shaggy, restless style, Johnson holds the eye and snags the soul. (Leah Ollman) (Through June 3) Read more

Young Projects at Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave., B230, Los Angeles

Erasing, Tracing, Racing Paint: Polly Apfelbaum & Dona Nelson

During the last 10 years an approach to art-making has been gathering force and gaining traction. It's called Deserted Island Abstraction, and its ethos is vividly displayed in one of the best two-person exhibitions to be staged recently. One glance at the wickedly wonderful stews of stuff each artist works with makes it clear that the two New Yorkers would paint and sculpt even if they were shipwrecked and had to scavenge for supplies on a deserted island. (David Pagel) (Through May 7) Read more

Michael Benevento Gallery, 3712 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles

Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College 1933-1957

The fit is ideal: A large and absorbing exhibition analyzes a legendary school that had a profound influence on the emergence of the midcentury American avant garde, and it opens in the city now known for a proliferation of first-rate art schools that have had a profound influence on the shape of late 20th and early 21st century international art. "Leap" offers an engrossing bit of back story to where we are today. Ends May 15. Read more

Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd

'Making Waves: Japanese American Photography, 1920-1940'

One of the most fascinating chapters in American art from the first half of the 20th century is also among the least known. An absorbing, must-see exhibition goes far in bringing the episode back into long-awaited view. Simply put: Issei photographers, most of whom immigrated to Los Angeles from Japan while still in their teens, went on to make some of the most adventurous avant-garde photographs in the years between the two World Wars. (Christopher Knight) (Through June 26) Read more

Japanese American National Museum, 100 N. Central Ave., Los Angele

'Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women'

Sometimes the seemingly simple act of occupying space can be a radical, profoundly political act. Space invasion is the savvy artistic subject of the fine inaugural exhibition at the sixth outpost for the Zurich-based Hauser & Wirth, which also has powerhouse galleries in London and New York. (Ends Sun. Sept. 4. Read more

Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, 901 E. Third St., Los Angeles

Keith Sonnier

The artist calls his new wall drawings in neon, wire and electrical transformers "portals," and their design motifs and titles do refer to forms from ancient Roman and medieval architecture, often ecclesiastical. Elegant and deceptively simple, they display a masterful hand. Through May 7. Read more

Maccarone Gallery, 300 S. Mission Road, Los Angeles

Lily Stockman: Pollinator

The artist's strikingly simple geometric abstractions possess a mysterious confidence. Her softly curved lozenges, U-shapes and circles, rendered in a mostly muted palette of grays, yellows and pinks, refer to 1970s feminist abstraction but also feel strangely unique (Sharon Mizota) (Through May 7)

Gavlak, 1034 N. Highland Ave., Los Angeles

Woven Gold: Tapestries of Louis XIV

Over the course of nearly 17 years, before he finally assumed the throne as Louis XIV in 1661, little Louis-Dieudonné had a front-row seat in the practical methods of pulling the levers of power. As an imposing exhibition at the Getty Museum shows with splendid pomp and circumstance, big and elaborately woven tapestries were one useful tool. Through May 1. Read more

The Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles

'The Bazaar of Bad Dreams'

Stephen King, I've come to think, is at his most adept when writing in the midlength range. His big novels — "The Stand," "It," "11/22/63" — have always felt a little baggy to me, while his shortest work (he has published more than 200 stories, gathered in a number of collections) can feel sketchy, more idea than nuanced narrative. That middle zone, however: His finest efforts emerge from this territory, shorter novels "Misery," "Joyland" and "The Shining," novellas such as "The Body" or the chilling "A Good Marriage." In this material, King has the breadth to do what he does best, which is to evoke the very human underpinnings of terror, while also remaining constrained by certain limitations of space. As he explains in "The Bazaar of Bad Dreams," which gathers 20 pieces of fiction, along with brief reflections on their composition, "Only through fiction can we think about the unthinkable, and perhaps obtain some sort of closure." The key word there is not the unthinkable in which King traffics but "closure," the closure of the midrange form. Read more

'Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink'

New wave rocker, country crooner, balladeer, collaborator and showman: Elvis Costello has been all of these and more in the course of what is now a 40-year run. Of all the first-generation punkers, he remains (with Patti Smith and possibly David Byrne) among the few who can claim the longevity and diversity of, say, Bob Dylan or Joni Mitchell, both of whom appear in this book. Like minds, perhaps, or water seeking its level. Either way, this is the company to which Costello belongs. And yet, if "Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink" has anything to tell us, it is that its author remains a fan. Here he is, for instance, on his first experience singing with Paul McCartney, a rehearsal duet on "All My Loving": "I locked on to the vocal harmony the second time around, as I'd done a thousand times before while singing along to the record. It never really occurred to me that learning to sing either vocal part on a Beatles record was any kind of musical education. I was just a kid singing along with the radio in our front room." Or this, recalling a good-natured cutting contest, trading lyrics with Bob Dylan: "It was just fun to be in the ring with the champ for a minute or two." Read more

'Rocket League'

Dave Hagewood didn't set out to create the next big thing in electronic sports. Ten years ago he simply envisioned a game in which cars did crazy things. Cars with rockets on them. The result was the breakout independent game of 2015, "Rocket League." The key to its success was one simple addition to Hagewood's original vision: a giant, bouncy soccer ball. Thus, a zany game in which cars crashed into one another became something else entirely, a madcap sport. "Rocket League" has now reached more than 12 million players, with revenue topping $70 million. In late February, the game — already a hit on Sony's PlayStation 4 and computing platform Steam — arrived on Microsoft's Xbox One, where in less than a month it attracted more than 1 million players. Read more

'Fire Emblem Fates'

In my first 25 hours with Nintendo 3DS' "Fire Emblem Fates," families argued, attempts at flirting were rebuffed and relatives threw a fit over poorly cooked meals. Were it not for the swords and the spells and the half-fox/half-human, the game wouldn't be all that different from the last month or so of my life. Though there is sword and sorcery here, including a main character who has the ability to turn into a dragon, "Fire Emblem Fates" is really about family drama. In this case, it's about the pull of one's blood family versus the connection with an adopted one. Do you help the stepbrothers and stepsisters who always supported you, or the brothers and sisters you've only just met? The player's avatar, which can be male or female, was kidnapped at a young age and raised as a warrior prince/princess. Her (I chose a female avatar and named her Kes) adopted-but-criminal family took good care of her, and it's clear she's tight with her siblings. But her father — a.k.a. the king — is a monster. Read more

'Firewatch'

"Firewatch," set in the quiet Wyoming wilderness, is a game in which its main character does little more than walk. Yet at its heart this is a game about running. It's about running from our pasts, running from our emotional trials and running from the unknown. It's about how avoidance often makes things worse and how the road to conquering our fears can be downright frightening. And things get pretty bad in "Firewatch." Read more

'Leo's Red Carpet Rampage'

Winning an Academy Award, it proves, can be nearly an impossible task, at least according to the lighthearted Web game "Leo's Red Carpet Rampage." The game puts players in control of a mini, vintage-style Leonardo DiCaprio in a quest for an Oscar. And while the game is pure goofiness when it starts — simply mash a couple of buttons to run the red carpet and dodge photographers — it goes dark, and quickly. Read more

'The Witness'

Draw a line. It sounds simple, doesn't it? "The Witness," from a sort of zoned-out satellite view, is a game about drawing lines. To be even more precise, it is a game populated with puzzles, the bulk of them solved by drawing a line. Again, it all sounds so simple. Yet "The Witness" just so happens to be the rare puzzle game that's less about answers and more about mysteries and epiphanies. Read more

'Unravel'

Meet Yarny. Yarny doesn't look like much at a quick glance. Yarny is red, the size of an index finger with an alien, triangular face and nimble body made up of a single piece of, well, yarn. Yarny is quite fragile. Keep Yarny out of water, and don't let Yarny near a critter. A single claw of a crab will wreak havoc on Yarny. Yarny is also full of personality, the standout star of a new video game dubbed "Unravel." Those old family photographs collecting dust on a bookshelf? Yarny wants to explore them, transport inside them and make old connections feel new again. Among Yarny's likes is nostalgia. Dislikes? Families that drift apart. Read more

'Sporting Guide: Los Angeles, 1897'

With famed film mogul Sam Goldwyn as her grandfather, Liz Goldwyn's family name is practically synonymous with old-school Hollywood glamour. But it's Los Angeles before it became the capital of the motion picture industry that's the subject of the style maven's new book, "Sporting Guide: Los Angeles, 1897" (Regan Arts). The work of historical fiction looks back on the city's seedier past, with loosely connected stories about the madams, prostitutes, orphans, hustlers and tramps who roamed Alameda, Los Angeles and Spring streets. I chatted with Goldwyn about what drew her to this time period in L.A., her impressions of the book's rough characters, and what role women had in a culture where prostitution was tolerated. Read more

'Killer Heels: The Art of the High-Heeled Shoe'

Ladies, the next time you are teetering on high heels, you can blame men. But not for the reason you think. In Western fashion, high heels were popularized by men, starting in the court of Louis XIV where a talon rouge (red heel), identified a member of the privileged class centuries before Christian Louboutin made red soles the calling card of his luxury shoe brand. That's just one of the tasty tidbits in "Killer Heels: The Art of the High-Heeled Shoe," an exhibition scheduled to run through Dec. 13 at the Palm Springs Art Museum that examines the fashion accessory we all love to hate, including its history, its relation to gender identity, sex appeal and power. Read more

Palm Springs Art Museum, 101 Museum Drive, Palm Springs