Out in the Street

by Justin Senkbile

“I had no plans to make a film like this,” says director Matt Porterfield. He's speaking from Los Angeles, where he's promoting his latest picture, Putty Hill, which has its Omaha premiere on Friday at Film Streams. It's his second feature, after Hamilton in 2006 (which will screen on Sunday), and it has gotten quite a lot of good attention lately, not least from Richard Brody of The New...

Cutting Room for April 6

by Ryan Syrek

• While theologians and atheists continue to spar over the existence of an eternal creator, The Reader can officially confirm that the devil is 100 percent real. The proof? Ashton Kutcher is teaming up with Justin Bieber in a romantic comedy. No, they won’t play each other’s love interests, as that would be too original and creative. Seriously, Brokeback-ing rom-coms with something like, I...

Brontë-saurus

by Ben Coffman

Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre gets around a lot.

I’m referring, of course, to the oft-told story of Jane Eyre. The chaste, highly moral character of Jane Eyre, created by Charlotte Brontë and first published in 1847, doesn’t get around at all; in fact, she yearns to be her own woman. But Jane’s story has legs — at least five film versions of Jane Eyre were released prior to 1930. Since then, dozens more...

Rope-a-Dopey

by Ryan Syrek

Sucker Punch

The tagline for Sucker Punch is “You will be unprepared.” Eh, not so much. Every trailer for the film showed copious slow-motion sequences of girls clothed as if nerd fetishists established a global dress code. The near-dialogue-free previews gave little-to-no impression as to how the hell these seemingly disconnected visual sequences, ripped from a hardcore gamer’s wet dreams, possibly fit...

Cutting Room for March 30

by Ryan Syrek

• Although I don’t need an excuse to be overly communicative, the University of Nebraska at Omaha is giving me one the last week of April. The school will recognize it as “Communication Week,” and one of the cool happenings during this celebration of all things communicatively connected will take place at the Aksarben Cinema. On Tuesday, April 26 at 5:30 p.m., the theater will screen DuSable...

L.A. Law

by Justin Senkbile

The Lincoln Lawyer

Based on the novel by Michael Connelly, The Lincoln Lawyer is one loud, swaggering showoff of a thriller. It is well-acted and decently written … but there's something about director Brad Furman's approach that invites us to ignore all of that and just revel in the surface excitement. Bursting at the seams with flashy photography, attractive people and the usual courtroom dramatics, this movie...

Cutting Room for March 23

by Ryan Syrek

• I think I accidentally mentally combined the two events that Film Streams at the Ruth Sokolof Theater (filmstreams.org) have planned for April 1 to June 16. They’re doing another installment of two film series: “Forever Young Family and Children’s Series” and “Great Directors.” But I’m pretty sure that kids won’t be rushing to see 8 1/2 and that Pete’s Dragon wasn’t a Fellini...