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...

Where’s Whoopi?

by Ryan Syrek

The Last Lions

Throaty and sleepy, Jeremy Irons begins his narration of the wildlife documentary The Last Lions as if awoken from a crumpet-induced nap. Any electricity that’s felt by once more having Irons’ voice laid atop images of lions is blunted by a delivery that sounds like Irons is auditioning for a British sex chat line. His dulcet tones seem at odds with a surprisingly riveting story of survival;...

What Happens in Iowa…

by Justin Senkbile

Cedar Rapids

Just as Glengarry Glen Ross was for real estate agents, director Miguel Arteta's Cedar Rapids is an ode to the desperate, lonely life of the insurance salesman. Of course, there are a lot more jokes here than in David Mamet’s play, but there’s no avoiding that big melancholic heart beating at the center. And the feeling of defeat is easily sensed around these lively, ordinary people as they...

Black Hawk Clowns

by Ryan Syrek

Battle: Los Angeles

Amidst a sea of fallen comrades, facing almost certain death at the hands of an incomprehensible foe, Staff Sgt. Michael Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) gets inches from the face of Cpl. Jason Lockett (Cory Hardrict) and begins to bellow a five-minute rant without missing a single military cliché. Seemingly exhausted by covering every base from “good men died out there” to “Marines don’t quit,”...

Cutting Room for March 9

by Ryan Syrek

• Close friends of mine are afraid of birds. Those folks should prepare to be terrified, as Film Streams at the Ruth Sokolof Theater is taking your feathered nemeses one terrifying step further. Ghost Bird, a documentary about the discovery of the long-extinct ivory-billed woodpecker, should be intimidating to avian-phobes on title alone. On March 15, a collaboration with the Nebraska Chapter of...