Steve Walker

Arts Reporter

Since 1998, Steve Walker has contributed stories and interviews about theater, visual arts, and music as an arts reporter at KCUR. He's also one Up to Date's regular trio of critics who discuss the latest in art, independent and documentary films playing on area screens.

In addition, Walker has taught creative writing and film criticism classes at the Kansas City Art Institute and currently teaches at the University of Kansas. His writing has appeared nationally in The Sondheim Review, The Advocate and Theater Week, and locally in The Kansas City Star, The Kansas City Business Journal, Ingram's, The Pitch and Review.

Ten Years After 9/11, Retaliation Starts At 'Zero Dark Thirty'

Credit www.eurweb.com / KCUR

Jessica Chastain in "Zero Dark Thirty"

By Steve Walker

We may never know the whole truth of what led to the killing of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011, but the chronology and intricate plotting on display in Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty - as controversial as they have proven to be - make for riveting cinema. It's a movie whose heart pulses at a rapid rate that, in certain scenes, will match your own.

6:00 pm

Thu January 10, 2013

What's Showing In Independent, Foreign & Documentary Film

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Any Day Now

Brooklyn Castle

Hyde Park on Hudson

Not Fade Away

Zero Dark Thirty

Promised Land

The House I Live In

The Impossible

By Beth Lipoff and Steve Walker and Bob Butler

Visit a small town, ripe for fracking exploitation, and zip down Central Park West with FDR. Feel the pain of a gay couple in the 1970s as they fight to care for an abandoned, mentally ill teenager.

11:58 am

Fri January 4, 2013

Up To Date's Indie, Foreign & Doc Critics' 'Three To See,' January 4-6, 2013

By Stephen Steigman and Steve Walker

Looking for a great independent, foreign, or documentary film to see the week of January 4-6, 2013?

11:39 am

Fri December 28, 2012

Up To Date's Indie, Foreign & Doc Critics' 'Three To See,' Dec. 28-30, 2012

By Stephen Steigman and Steve Walker and Cynthia Haines

Looking for a great independent, foreign, or documentary film to see the week of December 28-30, 2012?

2:03 pm

Fri December 21, 2012

Up To Date's Indie, Foreign & Doc Critics' 'Three To See,' Dec. 21-27, 2012

Credit Carole Bethuel / Cohen Media Group

From 'Farewell My Queen.'

By Stephen Steigman and Steve Walker and Cynthia Haines

Looking for a great independent, foreign, or documentary film to see the week of December 21-27, 2012?

9:54 am

Wed December 19, 2012

Up To Date's Indie, Foreign, and Doc Critics' 'Three To See' December 14-21, 2012

Credit Nicolas Guiraud

Paul (Romain Duris) takes a dead man’s identity and heads to Croatia in 'The Big Picture.'

By Stephen Steigman and Steve Walker

Looking for a great independent, foreign, or documentary film to see the week of December 14-21, 2012?

5:18 am

Mon December 17, 2012

KC Film Critics Circle Splits Honors Among 'The Master,' 'Lincoln' & 'Les Mis'

Credit The Weinstein Company

Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman in "The Master," the Kansas City Film Critics Circle's Best Film of 2012.

By Steve Walker

At the 46th annual gathering of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle honoring achievements in film in 2012, Paul Thomas Anderson's fictitious take on a Scientology-like cult The Master squeaked out a Best Picture win over Life of Pi.

11:52 am

Fri December 14, 2012

The Best In Independent, Foreign & Documentary Film 2012

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Moonrise Kingdom

Credit ipmawards.com

By Beth Lipoff, Steve Kraske and Steve Walker and Bob Butler and Cynthia Haines

Our critics have made their lists for the best independent, foreign and documentary films of 2012. See their choices below, and get a preview of each film with our trailer playlist.

10:17 am

Tue December 11, 2012

Up To Date's Indie, Foreign, & Doc Critics' 'Three To See' December 7-14, 2012

By Stephen Steigman and Steve Walker and Cynthia Haines and steve walker

Looking for a great independent, foreign, or documentary film to see the week of December 7-14, 2012?

5:00 am

Wed December 5, 2012

Ron Simonian Takes Leap Of Faith With 'The Soul Collector'

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Credit Cynthia Levin / Unicorn Theatre

Playwright Ron Simonian as the Rev. Lester Dupree in "The Soul Collector."

Credit Unicorn Theatre

In Simonian's "The Soul Collector," "the end of the world is on the horizon."

Credit Courtesty of pitch.com / KCUR

Ron Simonian (left), Jessica Dressler "Dirty Dorothy" and The Emerald City All-Stars

Credit courtesy actorsequity.org / KCUR

Dean Vivian, Scott Cordes and Tom Moriarty in Simonian's "The Sting of Love"

By Steve Walker and Steve

Kansas City playwright Ron Simonian had his first play produced in 1992 in a warehouse in the Crossroads District.

12:21 pm

Fri November 30, 2012

Up to Date's Indie, Foreign, and Documentary Critics' "Three to See" November 30-December 2, 2012

By Stephen Steigman and Steve Walker and Cynthia Haines and Steve

Looking for a great independent, foreign, or documentary film to see the weekend of November 30 to December 2, 2012?

9:52 am

Fri November 30, 2012

In 'Anna Karenina,' Passion Rewarded With Punishment

Credit filmofilia.com / KCUR

Keira Knightly and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as lovers that can't be in "Anna Karenina"

By Steve Walker and Steve

Leo Tolstoy's classic novel Anna Karenina has been filmed, televised and musicalized enough that a 2012 version had to shake things up.

5:00 am

Wed November 28, 2012

The Monocle Launches A Living Gallery Of Performing Artists

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Credit Steve Walker / KCUR

The Monocle, from left: Christian Hankel, Katie Gilchrist, Shay Estes, and Nathan Granner.

Credit Steve Walker / KCUR

At the home of Retro Inferno's Rod Parks, members of The Monocle introduce themselves to potential patrons.

Credit Steve Walker / KCUR

Actor and director Katie Gilchrist at the launch of The Monocle.

Credit Steve Walker / KCUR

The Monocle co-founder Christian Hankel.

Credit Steve Walker / KCUR

The central living space of Rod Parks's octagonal home where The Monocle introduced itself.

By Steve Walker and Steve

When a visual artist paints or sculpts something "on commission," it means a gallery, company, or private collector has contracted that artist to create something very specific to their particular wants or needs.

5:15 am

Thu November 22, 2012

Holding Off The Dark With A 'Silver Linings Playbook'

Credit The Weinstein Company / KCUR

Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence in "Silver Linings Playbook"

By Steve Walker and Steve Walker

Writer/Director David O. Russell, who turned the 2010 boxing movie The Fighter into a devastating drama about a high-strung, high-maintenance family with Shakespearean flaws, is exactly the right person to be at the helm of the new black comedy Silver Linings Playbook.

7:00 am

Wed November 21, 2012

Victor & Penny: Antique Pop Icons

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Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR

The band Victor & Penny practice in a small studio in Columbus Park.

Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR

Jeff Freling jumps in on guitar.

Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR

Erin McGrane sings during a rehearsal.

Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR

Jeff Freling strums his vintage guitar.

Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR

Erin McGrane on ukulele looks to Jeff Freling for advice while rehearsing.

Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR

Jeff Freling sings a refrain.

Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR

Jeff Harshbarger grooves on bass.

Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR

Jeff Freling on guitar.

Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR

Jeff Freling looks over the set list.

Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR

Jeff Freling (at left) and Erin McGrane, on ukulele, sing a duet.

Credit Courtesy/Victor & Penny

Credit Courtesy/Dave Steele

McGrane and Freling perform a child's birthday party in the Dumbo section of New York City.

Credit Steve Walker / KCUR

A Renee Cinderhouse installation provides the backdrop for a Victor & Penny show at la Esquina.

Credit Steve Walker / KCUR

Victor & Penny perform upon an installation by Renee Cinderhouse at la Esquina, an Urban Culture project space.

By Steve Walker and Julie Denesha

The term for a musical or artistic piece consisting of motifs or techniques borrowed from other sources is "pastiche."

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