|
· Cover
· News
· Music
· Lazy I
· Film
· Theater
· Art
· Sports
· Lifestyle
· Dish
· Books
· Culture
· 8 Days
· Heartland Healing
· Hoodoo Blues
· MoJoPo
· News of the Weird
· Television
· Letters
|
|
|
Home - Film
|
When Nebraska Mattered - |
Documentary examines election year ’68
by Leo Adam Biga
The tight race for the Democratic presidential nomination is making every presidential primary and caucus uncommonly important. Nebraska hasn’t been a factor in presidential politics for years and there is no reason to think its status will improve. But the Cornhusker electorate was critically important 40 years ago, and its prominence in one of the nation’s most historic years is the subject of a new NET documentary: ’68: The Year Nebraska Mattered.
Producer-writer Bill Kelly uses rich archival film footage to place the candidates in Nebraska that seminal election year when America burned with social fervor. Civil rights. Vietnam. Riots. Drugs. Rebellion. Sexual revolution. The local angle is anchored in new interviews with some who were there as campaign workers, supporters or journalists.
Priceless images abound. Robert Kennedy swarmed by adoring blacks on North 24th Street. Bobby and Ethel on a whistle-stop tour aboard a special Union Pacific train. Well-wishers lined the tracks. George Wallace belligerently on stage at the Civic Auditorium. His appearance sparked violence in the hall and on the streets.
For Kelly, “the footage that has the most power by far is Kennedy’s visit to north Omaha.” |
|
|
|
Take That, Dokken! - |
Iron Man proves heavy metal need not suck
by Ryan Syrek
After all the cyclical, depressing coverage of celebrity rehabbing and subsequent re-rehabbing, how great is it to see the resurrection of Robert Downey Jr? Despite consistently brilliant recent performances, most have come in lesser-seen roles (for example, see Kiss Kiss Bang Bang … yes, right now, read the rest of this later), and Downey was in danger of being forgotten as an actor but forever remembered for trying to have an uninvited slumber party with a neighbor.
That is, until Iron Man showed up and saved his career … now that’s a superhero.
Iron Man would have been entertaining with almost anyone inside him, but Downey elevates the film from mere entertainment. Downey’s Tony Stark, a billionaire CEO of a weapons manufacturing corporation and genius inventor, is a unique pastiche of hubris and humor. He is hilariously self-absorbed and transparently lonely. He is colossally flawed and exceedingly lovable, traits with which Downey is likely intimately familiar.
|
|
|
|
Cutting Room - |
Proving how unbelievably out of touch I am with young folks (I turn 30 soon, so I officially can say “young folks”), I hadn’t heard of Twilight before cinematical.com unveiled the first cast photo. I was unaware that, for some tweens/teens/bleens (OK, I made up that last one), this film is the single most important event in their lives other than the time their parents totally grounded them for no reason. The film about teenage vampires is based on an insanely popular book, and the first trailer comes out this weekend. Wow, so kids like vampires these days? Man, you leave Anne Rice as a nanny to one generation and look what happens.
|
|
|
|
You May Kiss the Dempsey - |
Made of Honor’s beautiful people fall in and out of love
by Justin Senkbile
As far as escapism goes, nothing beats a romantic comedy full of good-looking people, beautiful locales and plotlines that make even the most hardened of cynics weep into a bucket of Chubby Hubby. Sometimes they’re even good. All it takes is a bit of truth or real emotional dimension thrown into the mix; both of these, and plenty more, are sorely lacking in Made of Honor, a movie more interested in hairstyles than heart which tests the patience of even the most die-hard “chick flick” fan.
|
|
|
|
Sad Money - |
Chop Shop makes me appreciate child labor laws
by Ben Coffman
One of the reasons I don’t listen to rap is that I distrust people who have an unmitigated lust for money. Most rappers fetishize the almighty dollar, and I find it a little creepy. To them, cash no longer represents dreams. Instead, it’s just another accessory, like women, cars or Donald Trump’s hairpiece. In the movie Chop Shop, the main character Ale (Alejandro Polanco) has a similar drive for financial security. So what makes him likable? Well, for one, he’s 12 years old.
Chop Shop begins with skinny Ale standing on a New York City sidewalk with day laborers waiting for a chance to work. After being passed over, Ale jumps in the back of the crew truck anyway. He is later caught and kicked out, but we quickly learn that Ale will do anything for a buck.
|
|
|
|
Report Card - |
21 — C+
MIT students con Vegas; Vegas beats up MIT students.
Baby Mama — C
Amy Poehler carrying Tina Fey’s baby should be funnier
than this.
Beaufort — C-
Israeli film proves war is hell … eventually.
READER RECOMMENDS
The Counterfeiters (Die Falscher) — A-
A unique Holocaust tale — “The Sopranos” meets
Schindler’s List.
The Duchess of Langeais — D+
Who would have thought a French film about unrequited
love would be boring?
Forgetting Sarah Marshall — A-
When a dude gets dumped, he goes to Hawaii and
shows his genitals.
Leatherheads — B
In the 1920s, George Clooney plays with pigskin and Renee Zellweger.
Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay — B
Social commentary from stoner comedians.
Smart People — F
Romantic comedy that aims for quirky but ends up stupid.
Street Kings — D
Keanu Reeves deals with dirty cops in a filthy, awful movie.
Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna) — D
Schmaltzy immigration film that should be deported. |
|
|
|
Formula-Fed - |
Baby Mama features Odd Couple with ovaries
by Ryan Syrek
Like the promises of deposed Nigerian royalty and the success of Snakes on a Plane, the buzz lighting up the internet about “Tina Fey–tigue” is a dirty lie.
Dreamed up by the self-righteous hipsters who lambasted screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno) for creating a well-received film headlined by a female, the implicitly misogynistic vocal minority engaging in this backlash must not have seen “30 Rock,” forgot Fey’s run as head writer on “Saturday Night Live” and ignored Mean Girls. Dissenting opinions are one thing, but this position feels motivated by more than an assessment of humor.
Of course, Fey could have really helped squash this by making Baby Mama, you know, funny.
Instead, Fey and former “SNL” buddy Amy Poehler give a mostly chuckle-funny rendition of what The Odd Couple would look like if Felix had a bum uterus and Oscar was incredibly fertile. |
|
|
|
Munchies and Morality - |
Harold and Kumar set their sights higher
by Jonathan Tvrdik
In the wake of Judd Apatow’s Hollywood takeover, audiences are again warming to R-rated comedies. Tasteless humor is king, and the flaccid male penis is its scepter. So if the original Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle was a modest hit before Apatow’s revolution, then surely a sequel, pulling no punches and upping the vulgarity ante, was inevitable.
With one of the boldest titles in years, Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay begins with a case of mistaken identity for this 21st-century Cheech and Chong. Profiled as terrorists, their bong labeled a bomb, Harold and Kumar (John Cho and Kal Penn, respectively) are escorted off an Amsterdam-bound flight and thrown into Guantanamo. Through dumb luck, the boys escape to Texas, in hopes of having Kumar’s ex and her fiancé help them clear their names. |
|
|
|
Full Courtship Press - |
Duchess makes Balzac uncomfortable
by Ben Coffman
Dusting off my junior high French, we find the film title Ne touchez pas la hache loosely translates to “No touchy to be made,” an apt title for the The Duchess of Langeais. (Although one alternative English-language title that I find particularly amusing is Don’t Touch the Axe.) |
|
|
|
Report Card - |
21 — C+
MIT students con Vegas; Vegas beats up MIT students.
Beaufort — C-
Israeli film proves war is hell … eventually.
The Counterfeiters (Die Falscher) — A-
A unique Holocaust tale — “The Sopranos” meets
Schindler’s List.
READER RECOMMENDS
Forgetting Sarah Marshall — A-
When a dude gets dumped, he goes to Hawaii and
shows his genitals.
Leatherheads — B
In the 1920s, George Clooney plays with pigskin and Renee Zellweger.
Smart People — F
Romantic comedy that aims for quirky but ends up stupid.
Stop Loss — C
Iraq vets are called back to duty set to an MTV-
produced soundtrack.
Street Kings — D
Keanu Reeves deals with dirty cops in a filthy, awful movie.
Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna) — D
Schmaltzy immigration film that should be deported. |
|
|
|
Ha-Why-He Expose Himself? - |
Forgetting Sarah Marshall features plenty of pork
by Ryan Syrek
What more need be said about the ribald humor of a film that rises and sets under the shadow of Jason Segel’s exposed genitals? Forgetting Sarah Marshall is the latest Judd Apatow–produced “bromantic comedy,” a self-proclaimed genre that gives women the romance they seek and men the wiener jokes they crave. This time, the source material is Segel’s script (based on personal events — his, not mine); the result is a laugh-o-meter score above Superbad but below Knocked Up.
Segel plays Peter, another in an increasingly long line of Apatow-sanctioned well-intentioned slackers. Peter is dating Sarah (Kristen Bell), star of the TV show “Crime Scene: Scene of the Crime,” for which he composes the incidental music. Although he dreams of completing his Dracula-based puppet musical, Peter spends more time eating giant bowls of fruit loops and acting like your college roommate. When Sarah drops the bombshell on a completely nude Peter that she is leaving him for British pop singer and STD magnet Aldous Snow (the scene-stealing Russell Brand), Peter is heartbroken … not heartbroken enough to cover Peter’s peter, but heartbroken nonetheless. |
|
|
|
Real Emotion - |
The Counterfeiters shines a new light on old horrors
by Jonathan Tvrdik
To speak directly about the depiction of the Holocaust in film is to point out the time-tested archetypal figures and characters used in the half-century old genre. There is now a moral imperative for filmmakers to find new ways to discuss this and other important events in human history.
The Counterfeitersi (Die Fälscher), the 2008 Academy Award–winning Best Foreign Film, offers a new and relevant perspective on the Holocaust: the perspective of an underworld crime boss. Based on actual events, the film chronicles Jewish mob boss Salomon Sorowitsch’s pre–war counterfeiting activities and his eventual imprisonment in a concentration camp. Once there, he is forced by his captors to help in one of Hitler’s various plans to annihilate the West by counterfeiting the British pound. |
|
|
|
Israeli Boring - |
Beaufort fails to engage
by Ben Coffman
War is hell. And, as we learned in Jarhead and Letters from Iwo Jima, it involves a lot of waiting around. Creating a realistic depiction of this “hurry up and wait” phenomenon means exposing your audience to the same things as the film’s characters — boredom — a risky proposition that does not pay off for the Israeli film Beaufort.
The film begins with Ziv (Ohad Knoller), a member of the bomb squad, being assigned to Beaufort Castle. He and the audience are then introduced to the post commander Liraz (Oshri Cohen) and life in southern Lebanon, which is a juxtaposition of beautiful scenery and ordnance that rains from the sky. |
|
|
|
Lost in America - |
Immigration takes back seat to cute
by Justin Senkbile
In the last couple of years, Mexico has proved capable of producing great films. With the recognition that films like Y Tu Mamá También have received, it seems the struggling film industry down south is finally getting some attention. That said, I wouldn’t get too excited about Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna). Unfortunately the latest import shies away from little more than garden-variety sentimentality. Under the Same Moon has the best of intentions; too bad that doesn’t guarantee a good movie. |
|
|
|
Report Card - |
4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days — A-
(Mary Riepma Ross Theatre) A haunting look at abortion
practices in ’80s Romania.
21 — C+
MIT students con Vegas; Vegas beats up MIT students.
10,000 B.C. — F
Prehistoric mammoth hunters invent racism.
READER RECOMMENDS
Leatherheads — B
In the 1920s, George Clooney plays with pigskin and Renee Zellweger.
Smart People — F
Romantic comedy that aims for quirky but ends up stupid.
Stop Loss — C
Iraq vets are called back to duty set to an
MTV-produced soundtrack.
Street Kings — D
Keanu Reeves deals with dirty cops in a filthy, awful movie.
|
|
|
|
Royal Courtesy Flush - |
Street Kings need a plunger
by Ryan Syrek
Free million-dollar idea: a pillow with a compartment for alcoholic, renegade cops to keep their guns in. Hey, if the princess can’t get over a pea, how is a down-and-out officer ever supposed to get any shuteye on top of a Smith and Wesson lump? These are the things you think about when watching Street Kings, That is that is to say you spend more time dreaming up Ron Popiel-esque inventions than giving two ounces of damn about what is happening on the screen.
Director David Ayers’ sophomore effort opens with the now officially ubiquitous drunken mourning cop routine, wherein Detective Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves) wakes, pukes, contemplates suicide, buys more alcohol and still manages to perform a heroic act. Ludlow shoots some Korean kidnappers, plants some evidence and gets kudos from his vice unit buddies. The squad is run by Captain Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker) who suffers from the rare condition “Denzel-Washington-in-Training-Day–itis,” which forces him to scream and spit all dialogue.
|
|
|
|
False Advertising - |
Smart People is light on the smarts and the people
by Jonathan Tvrdik
The freshness of the cute, quirky, indie dramedy genre is waning and some of the first dismal copycats from the next generation are starting to rear their dreary heads. Enter Smart People, a film as wretchedly arrogant and misguided as any first-time director has snuck into wide release. Director Noam Murro rushes his characters through emotional arc after arc, such that little knowledge is ever gained about these one-dimensional puppets; sadly, his cast seems equally clueless.
Wearing an insultingly obvious fat pad under layers of sweaters and collared shirts, Dennis Quaid plays Lawrence. Larry can’t publish his crappy manuscript, can’t connect with women and is an unappreciated genius. Hey Murro, we loved Sideways, too.
|
|
|
|
Cutting Room - |
|
We don’t get to talk much about books in this section … you do remember books, right? Oh, those are the things that they base movies on. If you head down to Film Streams (filmstreams.org) Monday, April 21 at 7 p.m., you’ll have a chance to meet Scott Heim, who wrote the book Mysterious Skin (relax, they’re showing the movie version first, so it’s not like you have to read it or anything). In partnership with the Nebraska Summer Writers’ Conference and Omaha Lit Fest, Heim will discuss director Gregg Araki’s film version and will be promoting his new novel We Disappear, which I will tell you all about after they make it into a movie. |
|
|
|
Skate or Die - |
What a long, strange guilt trip it’s been
by Ben Coffman
Few things are worse than waiting to be punished, particularly in high school. There’s already so much uncertainty in the world, but getting into trouble just causes that much more. Will your friends rat you out? How will your parents react? The pit of your stomach gnaws at you as you wonder if you’ll soon be called into the principal’s office. Luckily for most of us, these were small-time crimes, and the most punishment any of us received was a few days of in-school suspension (or perhaps out-of-school suspension). It’s not like we ever killed anybody, right?
Gus Van Sant captures this feeling very well in Paranoid Park. The story unfolds in epistolary fashion as the main character, Alex (Gabe Nevins), privately journals in an attempt to unburden himself of guilt and despair. We learn the source of his angst early on: the eternal struggle between skater and security guard.
|
|
|
|
Report Card - |
21 — C+
MIT students con Vegas; Vegas beats up MIT students.
10,000 B.C. —F
Prehistoric mammoth hunters invent racism.
Drillbit Taylor —D
Owen Wilson helps kids with bullies, harms audiences
instead.
Leatherheads —B
In the 1920s, George Clooney plays with pigskin and Renee Zellweger.
Run Fatboy Run —C+
Chubby bunny Simon Pegg tries to win back his ex by
running a marathon.
READER RECOMMENDS
Shine a Light —B
Martin Scorsese documents the Rolling Stones; yep, still alive.
Stop Loss —C
Iraq vets are called back to duty set to an MTV-produced soundtrack. |
|
|
<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Next >>
|
|
|
