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Home - Film
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The Edge of Patience - |

Edge of Darkness treads a well-worn path
by Justin Senkbile
Director Martin Campbell’s Edge of Darkness (an adaptation of his own BBC miniseries) is a movie we’ve all seen. Grumpy cops fight slimy politicians with a bunch of guns, and violence is avenged with even more intense violence. Beyond the clearly suspect message (and this movie definitely has a message, although perhaps not the one it thinks), it’s a formula that any director would have a tough time kicking any life into.
Boston detective Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson) is rushing his suddenly ill daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic) to the hospital when she’s brutally gunned down outside his house. Everyone assumes the killer was targeting the detective, but when Craven starts following his own leads, he begins unraveling something much more complicated. |
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Slowed Odes - |

Bright Star is pretty, poetic and plodding
by Ryan Syrek
If the main players were slightly more angular and the subject matter were significantly less British, writer/director Jane Campion’s Bright Star could pass for a Nicholas Sparks adaptation. Thankfully, this tale of poesy and profundity exceeds the wading pool Sparks frequents. It dives head first into deeper waters. Campion’s stylish staging of the love between John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish) is almost enough to make a General Studies student switch to an English major. |
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Dude, Where's My Guitar? - |

Bridges’ vocal range is better than his acting range
by Ben Coffman If you put Jeff Bridges in a bowling alley and hand him a pair of shades and a drink, you can’t help but think of his iconic character “The Dude” in The Big Lebowski. So, if you’re a first-time director (like Scott Cooper) using an actor like Bridges, wouldn’t you do everything in your power to avoid those almost inevitable comparisons? Unless, of course, you’re cashing in on the popularity of that character, and the man that played him.
In the first scene of Cooper’s Crazy Heart, we watch Bridges’ character, roots rocker Bad Blake, sidle into a bowling alley, plop down on a stool and order a drink. Thankfully, it isn’t a White Russian. Instead, Blake has a penchant for whiskey. Amazingly talented and perpetually down on his luck, Blake just pulled into Pueblo in his ’78 Chevy Suburban for a small-time gig. |
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Cutting Room: Film Room - |
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After a mere 62 years, the Director’s Guild of America has discovered the female sex. Kathryn Bigelow’s success at the DGA Awards makes her the first non-penis owner to win, which bodes well for her chances (and The Hurt Locker’s) at the Academy Awards, which has yet to admit that women can direct. Only six times in 60 years has the DGA winner’s film not won the Oscar for Best Picture, and only twice in the last 60 years has the DGA winner not won Best Director. Note to James Cameron (Bigelow’s ex-husband): As the kids say, you just “got served.” The kids still say that, right? |
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About Last Year - |

The best and worst films of 2009
by Ryan Syrek
Pretentious writers who glorify films of yesteryear to lord their false sense of superiority over younger generations can suck it: 2009 was one of the all-time great years for movies. Over the last 12 months, a bevy of mainstream films studied hard and brought home a report card so decorated with one vowel that it should be proudly hung on the cultural fridge as proof that our best days aren’t necessarily behind us. Heck, even 2009’s missteps went full tilt; they weren’t merely bad, they were racist and evil. So if you hear someone kvetching about “the state of movies these days,” smack them upside the head with the following lists. |
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Cutting Room - |
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By Tuesday, Feb. 2, at 7 p.m., we will know the prophecies made by the groundhog that controls our weather, allowing us to enjoy a one-time screening of Throw Down Your Heart. Film Streams at the Ruth Sokolof Theater is joining with Omaha Performing Arts to show the documentary about Bela Fleck’s trip to Africa to explore the banjo’s origins. Also, beginning Thursday, Feb. 11, Film Streams is partnering with the Werner Institute for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution (please let their acronym be WIND) to show a three-film series called Conflict in Films. Post-show discussions will follow screenings of The Story of Qiu Ju, The Sweet Hereafter and 9500 Liberty. For more information, head to filmstreams.org. For less information, ask a groundhog. |
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A Second and Third Oppinion - |
Hey, don’t take my word for how great this year was. Here are two other perspectives from Reader writers on the brilliance of 2009.
Justin Senkbile’s Top 5 Movies of 2009 5. The Fantastic Mr. Fox Since when does a director’s most commercial film end up being his best? Drenched in detail and digging deeper into family complexities, Wes Anderson’s latest is, above all, amazingly fun. |
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Age of Innocence, Aborted - |

The ups and downs of The Lovely Bones
by Justin Senkbile
Teen angst takes a particularly twisted turn in Peter “Lord of the Rings” Jackson’s The Lovely Bones. Adapted from the much-loved novel by Alice Sebold, the film is a grade-A tearjerker that’s unfortunately undercut by its famously visionary director’s digital flights of fancy.
Smack in the middle of awkward adolescence and on the eve of her first date, 14-year-old Suzie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) is brutally murdered by her inconspicuous neighbor George Harvey (Stanley Tucci). From a netherworld limbo, Suzie observes life on earth continuing without her. Her devoted father, Jack (Mark Wahlberg), becomes obsessed with finding her murderer; eventually causing Suzie’s mother Abigail (Rachel Weisz) to leave. Little sister Lindsey (Rose McIver) becomes a relatively well-adjusted star student, and Mr. Harvey goes unnoticed, slowly, quietly planning his next abduction. |
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Prophet Sharing - |

Washington plays a futuristic warrior poet in The Book of Eli
by Ben Coffman
Several recent movies have taken a crack at depicting a post-apocalyptic world. In The Road, director John Hillcoat’s after-disaster America was dead and impossibly bleak, with its few remaining residents starving. 2012 showed us the shiny, happy version of the end of days in which the apocalypse served as an almost painless means of population control. And in the Hughes brothers’ The Book of Eli, we see the future as a dry, cratered landscape, where everyone dresses in Road Warrior chic that is, heavy on fashion accessories.
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An ‘Ordinary’ Life - |

That’s all A Single Man wants
by Michael J. Krainak With Avatar’s recent win at the Golden Globes reconfiguring the Oscar race and the “face of film,” A Single Man is the odd man out in more ways than one.
Retro to the max, the first film directed by famed fashion designer Tom Ford tells the wrenching story of George (Colin Firth) who loses his beloved partner Jim (Matthew Goode) in the early ’60s. America may be on the cusp of a cultural revolution, but George flaunts neither his sexual orientation nor his grief in this don’t ask, don’t tell environment. |
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Cutting Room: Film News - |
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If you have four hours, a lust for fame and access to adequate transportation, get down to Film Streams at the Ruth Sokolof Theater Saturday, Jan. 23 at 10 a.m. Why? Because Howard Rosenman, a film and TV producer who worked on Father of the Bride and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” is telling stories, giving out lessons and taking pitches (as in ideas for movies and shows, not fastballs). The lecture, titled “The Hollywood Sell,” will shed light on the ins and outs of the industry and will likely make you think, “I can do that!” Even if you can’t. Tickets are available at thehollywoodsell.com. |
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Youthful Indiscretions - |

Revolt is fun, not too revolting
by Ben Coffman
In the canon of coming-of-age/teenage hornball flicks, Youth in Revolt> stands apart from the crowd for several reasons. First, there isn’t a single hole (peep, glory or otherwise) drilled into a wall. There’s also a sinful lack of gross-out comedy, which has come to define the genre (think American Pie). Finally, the film’s actually pretty smart, an attribute missing among most of the genre.
At first blush and I mean that literally, as the film begins with some rather private exploits Michael Cera (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist) seems to be portraying your average, sex-deprived teenager. However, we soon discover that his character, Nick Twisp, is a bit of an old soul. He loves Frank Sinatra records and classic novels, and, as the film’s narrator, is much more literary-minded than today’s texting teens. |
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Morality Playtime - |

Do not pass on Parnassus
by Ryan Syrek
Terry Gilliam is cilantro. Those who love him covet his wild flavor; those who don’t loathe his odd aftertaste, spitting him out after the first bite. Unsurprisingly, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is not Gilliam’s evangelical masterwork and will fail to convert a single critic into a devotee. It will, however, breathe fire back into the bellies of the believers with its subtle fragrance of Brazil and whimsical hints of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Virtually mocking the “advancements” of James Cameron and his ilk, the imagery and narrative of Parnassus speaks as much about good and evil as the responsibility of storytellers to literally sustain the universe with imagination. No pressure. |
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Cinemanifesto - |

Almodσvar’s vision shines brightly in Broken Embraces
by Michael J. Krainak Once in the career of many independent filmmakers, they take a long look back at their oeuvre and make a movie that serves as a sort of “cinemanifesto,” which not only justifies where they’ve been, but also where they are going. Federico Fellini did this with 8 1/2, an autobiographical fantasy/nightmare about a tormented director in mid-film. So did Woody Allen with his wonderfully self-indulgent Stardust Memories, which justified the director’s determination to move beyond his “earlier, funny ones.” Even Robert Altman peaked with his brilliant The Player, an indie stance against the Hollywood studio system. |
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Cutting Room: Film News - |
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Brace yourself: I’m guaranteed to make at least one lame “star date” joke in the near future, as Paramount has set the date for the Star Trek sequel. The franchise follow-up I’m most looking forward to, Star Trek Dos (not the official title) will drop June 29, 2012, just in time to avoid the December date with Mayan Armageddon. The launch date signifies great confidence in the sequel, as it is primed for the Fourth of July weekend, a holiday when “star dates” stare lovingly together at fireworks. See, I knew I’d get it in there. |
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Never Go Full Avatar ’d - |

James Cameron and futuristic revisionist history
by Ryan Syrek
The volume of the near-biblical wailing and gnashing of teeth by nerd-dom after the trailer for Avatar unveiled hybrid Thundercat-Smurfs was quickly drowned out by unholy wailing and gnashing of teeth by studio execs who had shelled out $500 million. Both were soon eclipsed by the sound of writer/director/self-proclaimed-cinematic-messiah James Cameron chortling. After three weekends, Avatar is now fourth on the all-time global box office chart, trailing two sequels and a certain Titanic endeavor. It’s still Cameron’s world, bitches; we just pay him to live in it. |
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Let the Reitman In - |

Up in the Air has the director on the rise
by Ryan Syrek
Up in the Air is not the best movie of 2009. It is, however, the movie that best represents 2009.
Like a snapshot packed in a box in the attic or a note tucked inside a time capsule, revisiting writer/director Jason Reitman’s heart-warming/heart-breaking ode to corporate downsizing will, years from now, instantly transport viewers to a time when bad economic news was the only economic news. If not for a conflicted conclusion that longs to simultaneously question and reinforce the hierarchy of personal relationships and careers, the film would have found itself in the rarest of air. |
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Running On Empty - |

The Road highlights the perils of post- apocalyptic parenting
by Ben Coffman
Parenthood is a rough gig. It involves carefully ushering your children through their first 18 years of life and hoping that, thereafter, they’ve learned not to stick their heads into ovens. Now imagine how much tougher your job would be if, like in The Road, people want to stick your child’s head into an oven a situation I’m pretty sure Dr. Spock’s parenting guides never covered.
The Road, adapted from Cormac McCarthy’s 2006 novel (his follow-up to No Country for Old Men), follows an unnamed father (Viggo Mortensen) and son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) as they trek through a post-apocalyptic landscape. Eight years have elapsed since a vague man-made disaster turned the sky perpetually gray (as in a nuclear winter) and killed all of the Earth’s plant life. |
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Cutting Room - |
Film Streams’ Ruth Sokolof Theater is officially espousing immortality. At least, that’s what I gather from news that the theater is extending its “Forever Young” policy. Okay, I see now that “Forever Young” is a family and children’s film series that will continue from Jan. 9 to Mar. 18, with the Best of the New York International Children’s Film Festival, a touring series from the largest festival for children and teens in North America. The series will include a live-action comedy and four animated flicks, the details of which are all available at filmstreams.org. That’s cool and all, but I really would have preferred the immortal thing. I’m just saying.
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’09 Like Fine Wine - |

This year shall be fondly remembered
by Ryan Syrek
Like cheese, fine wine and the ex you shouldn’t have dumped, 2009 will age far better than you or me. In fact, Roger Ebert has gone so far as to claim via Twitter: “2009 is one of those magic movie years like 1939 or 1976.” Now, if Roger Clinton had said that, maybe I don’t take it seriously … but that was Roger Ebert, the godfather of modern movie criticism. How could he have known that even in our own little neck of the woods, 2009 “brought it,” to use the parlance of a fallen pop-icon turned reality singing competition judge? Indeed, Film Streams at the Ruth Sokolof Theater again delivered the cultural noise and socially significant funk, and Marcus’ Midtown Crossing Theater finally united dinner and movies into one experience after a century of date night segregation. From the local to national, if this year had done any better, we’d have to find a way to publicly tear it down. |
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