08 Sep 2014

The King, and More Royal Subjects: "The Identical," "Locke," "Only Lovers Left Alive," "The Normal Heart," and "The Spoils of Babylon"

By Mike Schulz

Blake Rayne, Ashley Judd, and Ray Liotta in The IdenticalDirector Dustin Marcellino's The Identical is for anyone who ever wanted to see a fictionalized account of the birth of the Elvis-impersonator movement. Or anyone who'd enjoy Presley's songs more if their melodies weren't so complex and their lyrics weren't so depraved. Or anyone who's been yearning to see Ray Liotta play a devout evangelist who explains to his congregation why he just lit eight candles on a menorah, when, as we can see, he clearly lit nine.

04 Sep 2014

Another Level of Vulnerability: Janiva Magness, September 11 at the Redstone Room

By Mike Schulz

Janiva MagnessVocalist Janiva Magness is a four-time recipient of the Blues Music Award for "Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year" and the 2009 winner of the "B.B. King Entertainer of the Year" citation, and an overview of the artist's biography suggests that her life story could be its own blues song. But it's really more like its own blues album, liner notes included.

02 Sep 2014

What's Happenin': Thursday, September 4, through Wednesday, September 17

By Mike Schulz

Tommy Emmanuel, photo by Allan ClarkeMusic

Tommy Emmanuel

Adler Theatre

Wednesday, September 10, 7:30 p.m.

 

Guitar virtuoso Tommy Emmanuel performs at the Adler Theatre on September 10, and as fans of the two-time Grammy nominee can attest, he's famed for perfecting a complex playing technique called "fingerstyle." That's what I used to call my talent for eating jarred peanut butter without a spoon, but I'm betting Emmanuel's fingerstyle never got him kicked out of the family kitchen.

02 Sep 2014

What's Happenin': Fall 2014

By Mike Schulz

Cher, October 22Events

i wireless Center

September through November

 

Let's take a poll: Out of all of the exciting, hotly anticipated events coming to Moline's i wireless Center this fall, which do you think will give patrons the most bang for their bucks?

31 Aug 2014

Midnight Below Paris: "As Above, So Below" and "The November Man"

By Mike Schulz

Marion Lambert and Perdita Weeks in As Above, So BelowAS ABOVE, SO BELOW

Sometimes, because our expectations for it are usually so low, all a horror film needs to get by is a really juicy setting. Of course, it helps if there's also some talent involved, and I'm pleased to report that John Erick Dowdle's As Above, So Below actually has both. This claustrophobic creep-out may be frequently silly and too inscrutable for its own good, but it boasts a spectacularly eerie locale in its Parisian catacombs (home to the remains of 6 million deceased), and Quarantine and Devil director Dowdle continues his impressive run of lending superb craftsmanship to routine scare-flick scenarios.

24 Aug 2014

Gridiron Man: "When the Game Stands Tall" and "If I Stay"

By Mike Schulz

When the Game Stands TallWHEN THE GAME STANDS TALL

Inspirational sports dramas, particularly inspirational high-school-sports dramas, can boast many virtues, and even the crummier ones can be a lot of fun. But one thing they're not generally known for is surprise, which is why it's all the more flabbergasting that When the Game Stands Tall has such a doozy of one at its center: the leading performance, and maybe the finest one yet, by Jim Caviezel. Director Thomas Carter's football saga is actually pretty terrific for a number of reasons. Yet despite working within a formula, and with the type of role, in which beats and arcs so often feel preordained, Caviezel provides one happy surprise after another, principally - and misleadingly - by appearing to do next to nothing at all.

24 Aug 2014

Noir Is the Dullest Color: "Sin City: A Dame to Kill for" and "Island of Lemurs: Madagascar"

By Mike Schulz

Eva Green in Sin City: A Dame to Kill forSIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR

Let's cut to the chase: I don't like Sin City: A Dame to Kill for. But what I especially don't like is knowing that I'll eventually have to watch at least a portion of it again, because the only things I really cared for in this stylized noir were the scenes with Eva Green, and after waking from my brief and unanticipated nap, she was gone from the movie and never returned. What the hell happened to her? And if I was enjoying Green's performance as much as I thought I was, why did I fall asleep in the first place?

19 Aug 2014

What's Happenin': Thursday, August 21, through Wednesday, September 3

By Mike Schulz

Lydia LovelessMusic

Lydia Loveless

Rock Island Brewing Company

Saturday, August 23, 9 p.m.

 

Alternative-country musician Lydia Loveless is August 23's headliner at the Rock Island Brewing Company, and as a longtime resident of the city, I'm proud to say that her list of notable performances begins and ends in Rock Island.

Don't believe me? Check out the artist's Wikipedia page: Both the first and last inclusions in the "Notable Performances" section are recording sessions that took place at Rock Island's Daytrotter studio. Now she's playing RIBCO, where she also performed in June of 2012. Loveless? Hell, we sure seem to love her!

17 Aug 2014

They're Getting Too Old for This S--- : "The Expendables 3"

By Mike Schulz

Sylvester Stallone in The Expendables 3THE EXPENDABLES 3

To date, Sylvester Stallone has played Rocky Balboa on-screen six times, John Rambo four times, and, with the release of The Expendables 3, Barney Ross three times. According to the Internet Movie Database, Rambo V, with Stallone writing and starring, is currently in pre-production, and Rocky is set to return in a new feature titled Creed. In other words, Sylvester Stallone is the very last man you'd want handling the remains of your beloved dead horse.

17 Aug 2014

Limp Woody: "Magic in the Moonlight," "The Giver," and "Let's Be Cops"

By Mike Schulz

Emma Stone and Colin Firth in Magic in the MoonlightMAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT

It would be wonderful to say that Woody Allen's Magic in the Moonlight, the lighthearted tale of a stuffy British magician (Colin Firth) who attempts to disprove the gifts of a convincing psychic (Emma Stone) in 1928 Paris, was a throwback to the auteur's oft-referenced early, funny movies - the ones, such as Sleeper and Love & Death, that we fans enjoy returning to again and again. (In the case of Love & Death, for me, "again and again" multiplied by about 20.) Unfortunately, it's more of a throwback to the writer/director's less-referenced early-autumnal period, and its not-so-funny movies - the ones, such as The Curse of the Jade Scorpion and Hollywood Ending, that even we die-hards didn't really care about the first time around.

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