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Alex Bentley

Alex Bentley

Associate Editor

Alex Bentley isn’t a Dallas-Fort Worth native, but with all his experience in the area, he’s the next best thing. He received his bachelor’s degree from TCU, and after a five-year sojourn to work for the Florida Marlins in Miami, he returned to the area to get his master’s degree at UNT. Prior to joining CultureMap, he worked for Pegasus News, helping deliver hyper-local news to the internet masses. He uses that experience to make CultureMap the go-to site for everything to see and do in Dallas.

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Movie Talk

Hangover III could be year's most disappointing movie: Why it's so bad

By Alex Bentley

05.24.13 | 12:36 pm

Sequels to comedies are almost never a good idea, which is probably why there’s been such a scarcity of them. Although action, horror and animated films lend themselves nicely ...


Dubya on Canvas

First look: George W. Bush and Tony Blair come together in new presidential library portrait

By Alex Bentley

04.22.13 | 5:21 pm

The official opening for the George W. Bush Presidential Center is Thursday, where Bush will be joined by the four other living American presidents, including Barack Obama. Former British Prime ...


Movie Heroics

Here's to you Mr. Robinson: 42 honors bravest baseball player America has ever known

By Alex Bentley

04.14.13 | 10:11 am

Making a movie about baseball/civil rights pioneer Jackie Robinson is such an obvious idea that it’s a wonder it hasn’t been done many times before. But, in ...


Honda Civic Tour

Odd couple? Maroon 5 and Kelly Clarkson plan joint Houston concert appearance

By Alex Bentley

04.01.13 | 4:27 pm

Fans of Maroon 5 and Kelly Clarkson have a reason to be excited. The two superstar acts have announced that they will team up for a co-headlining tour that will ...


People are People

'80s love: Depeche Mode plans Houston concert after release of best album of their career

By Alex Bentley

03.31.13 | 4:02 pm

The 2013 calendar for the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion has slowly but surely filled up over the last few months, bringing a nice array of big-name country, rock and pop ...


Mum's the Word

Big summer concert: Grammy winners Mumford & Sons plan Houston stop on Texas tour

By Alex Bentley

03.30.13 | 3:20 pm

Houston fans of the folk rock group Mumford & Sons have been waiting a long time for the band to head this way again. But their patience will be rewarded when ...


Goodbye to a Legend

The Texan who conquered Russia: Legendary pianist Van Cliburn dies at Fort Worth home

By Alex Bentley

02.27.13 | 9:07 pm

Van Cliburn, the legendary pianist whose eponymous competition has been bringing world-class musicians to Fort Worth for more than 50 years, died on Wednesday. He was 78. Cliburn was born ...


Movie Time

Bruce Willis loses his Die Hard touch: Latest installment explodes into a blaze of bore

By Alex Bentley

02.15.13 | 1:09 pm

It's been 25 years since Die Hard, labeled by many as the best action movie of all time, catapulted Bruce Willis from middling success on television to movie superstardom ...


Zombie-rrific

Zombies in love: Warm Bodies is unlike any romantic comedy you've ever seen

By Alex Bentley

02.02.13 | 4:44 pm

If you’re going to make a zombie-centric movie at this point, you’d better have something special. Straight-up horror movies are a dime a dozen — and now outdone by ...


Movie Magic

Need inspiration? Five can't miss movies that will uplift your spirit not crush it

By Alex Bentley

01.27.13 | 4:31 pm

Even the most optimistic among us could use a little inspiration sometimes. Here are five movies that will lift your spirit. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) A Best ...


All action and no creativity

Perfunctory action scenes dim the big-name stars in Gangster Squad

By Alex Bentley

01.13.13 | 3:00 pm

January is shaping up to be quite a strange month for movie releases. On one hand, you have prestige movies such as The Impossible and Zero Dark Thirty expanding into ...


War on Terror

Fascinating and harrowing, Zero Dark Thirty deserves to be named Best Picture of the Year

By Alex Bentley

01.11.13 | 12:14 pm

It’s been a little more than 11 years since 9/11, and the film community has slowly but surely used its creative powers to depict both the events of ...


Cover your eyes — and your ears

Do you agree? Magic Mike and The Avengers are among 10 worst movies of 2012

By Alex Bentley

01.06.13 | 10:22 am

Almost everybody loves to recount their favorite movies. But it takes a brave soul to remember the worst movies of the year.


Hope amidst tragedy

The ultimate survival story: Great acting and depiction of tsunami make The Impossible riveting

By Alex Bentley

01.04.13 | 4:04 pm

Making films about horrific events will always be tricky. How soon is too soon? If you’re dealing with actual victims, how personal is too personal? Conversely, if you’re ...


Dream the dream

Magic of Les Misérables is lost in translation from stage to screen but theater diehards will love it

By Alex Bentley

12.26.12 | 12:53 pm

Since the dawn of the 21st century, the movie musical has been slowly but surely been making a comeback. The relative failures of films like A Chorus Line and Little ...


Who needs to get older?

This Is 40 is a downer, but Megan Fox — and her breasts — show comedic talent

By Alex Bentley

12.25.12 | 4:19 pm

Judd Apatow is such a ubiquitous name in comedy these days that it’s easy to forget what a Johnny-come-lately he is. Aside from a couple of one-offs in the ...


Bloody Christmas

Quentin Tarantino's latest, Django Unchained, is an uneasy mix of action comedy and violence

By Alex Bentley

12.25.12 | 9:00 am

Of all the A-list directors working today, Quentin Tarantino seems the least likely to have made it to that lofty spot. Yes, he has a knack for writing snappy dialogue ...


The return of Middle Earth

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey shares a lot with Lord of the Rings, but misses its magic

By Alex Bentley

12.14.12 | 10:12 am

In the wake of the massive success of The Lord of Rings trilogy, speculation naturally turned to if and when director Peter Jackson would adapt its prequel, The Hobbit. Nine ...


Good evening

Hopkins and Mirren give Oscar-caliber performances in Hitchcock, but it's no Psycho

By Alex Bentley

12.09.12 | 8:00 am

Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most well-known movie directors of all time, famous for films such as Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest and Psycho. His personal life is ...


Around Texas

Take a tour of the new insanely interactive Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas

By Alex Bentley

12.08.12 | 9:33 am

The new Perot Museum of Nature and Science could outshine all of Dallas' latest additions. Here's why.


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