23 Jun 2013

"Ga-a-ah!"s and Monsters: "World War Z" and "Monsters University"

By Mike Schulz

Mireille Enos and Brad Pitt in World War ZWORLD WAR Z

Beginning with the fact that it's directed by Marc Forster - a competent-enough craftsman whose previous works (including Finding Neverland, The Kite Runner, and the deadening James Bond entry Quantum of Solace) have hardly been known to quicken one's pulse - practically everything about the suspenseful and exciting zombie chiller World War Z feels a little bit off, and that's what I liked about it.

17 Jun 2013

The Unnecessarily Dark Knight: "Man of Steel" and "This Is the End"

By Mike Schulz

Henry Cavill in Man of SteelMAN OF STEEL

During the final third of director Zack Snyder's Superman reboot Man of Steel, Henry Cavill's caped crusader and Michael Shannon's villainous General Zod take turns pummeling each other into Smallville storefronts and Metropolis skyscrapers, and the combined force of their Kryptonian blows routinely causes the edifices to tumble to the ground. For most of the length of this relentlessly noisy and dour superhero outing, it felt as though they were tumbling directly on my head.

17 Jun 2013

Walking the Walk, Talking the Talk: "Before Midnight"

By Mike Schulz

Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke in Before MidnightBEFORE MIDNIGHT

Richard Linklater's Before Midnight - the third and possibly final installment in the director's ongoing screen romance that began with 1995's Before Sunrise and continued with 2004's Before Sunset - climaxes with a half-hour-long fight. You could, of course, say the same about most every superhero or Transformers picture released nowadays. The big difference, however, is that this particular battle royale takes place in the confines of one room and involves all of two characters. The bigger difference, speaking personally, is that this is one 30-minute screen fight that I actually wished would go on forever - though an eternal loop of the movie's first 70 minutes wouldn't have been unwelcome, either.

11 Jun 2013

What's Happenin': Thursday, June 13, through Wednesday, June 26

By Mike Schulz

Souls of MischiefMusic

Souls of Mischief

Rock Island Brewing Company

Saturday, June 22, 8:30 p.m.

 

Do you consider yourself a big fan of the hip-hop ensemble Souls of Mischief? Do you consider yourself such a big fan that you could recite every word in the group's 93 'til Infinity album by memory? Then prove it, smart guy! Prove it!

What I mean is that you can prove it if you attend Souls of Mischief's June 22 concert at the Rock Island Brewing Company, and mouth along while the artists perform 93 'til Infinity in its entirety. Sorry if that "Prove it!" came off a little confrontational. I would've followed it with a wink-y emoticon, but I think that looks kinda stupid in print.

09 Jun 2013

Lawless Execution: "The Purge" and "The Internship"

By Mike Schulz

Ethan Hawke in The PurgeTHE PURGE

If you blended The Hunger Games, David Fincher's Panic Room, and Shirley Jackson's classic short story "The Lottery" with generous helpings of ice, you'd wind up with the scare-flick smoothie that is The Purge. An eventually underwhelming yet bluntly effective chiller by writer/director James DeMonaco, the movie, admittedly, does lose its way before its 90 minutes are up. But considering how few modern releases in its genre find their way at all, it's hard to deny the primal pleasures of DeMonaco's outing, even if the film remains more thought-provoking in concept than it proves to be on-screen.

02 Jun 2013

Hocus Bogus: "Now You See Me" and "After Earth"

By Mike Schulz

Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, and Dave Franco in Now You See MeNOW YOU SEE ME

Given its premise, its cast, and the fact that it's a summertime release without a superhero or a number (or both) in the title, it was easy to feel jazzed about the prospect of Now You See Me, director Louis Leterrier's effects-driven caper about larcenous Las Vegas magicians scoring the heist of the century. Unfortunately, it took all of three minutes for that anticipatory excitement to turn, for me, into irritation, which then turned into active aggravation, which then turned into a disengaged torpor that lasted until the end credits rolled. Ta da.

28 May 2013

What's Happenin': Thursday, May 30, through Wednesday, June 12

By Mike Schulz

Jessica Warren-AcostaMusic

Jessica Warren-Acosta & Marguerite Lynn Williams

Figge Art Museum

Saturday, June 1, 6:30 p.m.

 

If you're looking to enjoy an afternoon of musical entertainment and cultural enrichment, I urge you to take this article's information to heart. Why? Because I've got principals.

No, that's not a misspelling. What I mean is that I have news about a special concert featuring Jessica Warren-Acosta, the principal flutist for the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, and Marguerite Lynn Williams, the principal harpist for the Lyric Opera of Chicago. If I actually had principles, I wouldn't make you suffer through lame What's Happenin' puns every two weeks.

27 May 2013

Exit, Pursued by a Bear Girl: The Prenzie Players Stage a Debuting Native American Drama, June 14 through 22 at the QC Theatre Workshop

By Mike Schulz

Beth Woolley in Bear GirlThe local theatre troupe the Prenzie Players is most commonly known for stylistically bold, occasionally gender-bending takes on classical dramas and comedies, principally the works of William Shakespeare. But the company is about to embark on a particularly challenging experiment with its forthcoming production of the debuting Bear Girl - and the play's author, Prenzie co-founder J.C. Luxton, could hardly be accused of aiming too low.

"If you think of Shakespeare's Henriad," says Luxton, referencing the Bard's historical trilogy of Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V, "it's kind of the epic of England. An epic story of who we are and how we came to be. And I think what I'm trying to do with Bear Girl is the beginnings of something similar for the Quad Cities area."

26 May 2013

Dead Sober: "The Hangover Part III," "Epic," and "Fast & Furious 6"

By Mike Schulz

Bradley Cooper, Zach Gailianakis, and Ed Helms in The Hangover Part IIITHE HANGOVER PART III

Not long into The Hangover Part III, our mishap-prone heroes portrayed by Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis are seen sipping beers at a karaoke bar, discussing the best way to handle their latest mess initiated by Ken Jeong's eccentric gangster/eternal thorn-in-the-side Mr. Chow. Though this might constitute a minor spoiler, the casual drinks consumed in this scene are, to my recollection, the only drinks - indeed, the only judgment-impairing substances of any kind - consumed in the entire movie. That makes director Todd Phillips' outing a Hangover without hangovers. In the end, it's also a Hangover without The Hangover.

18 May 2013

Lively, Long, and Prosperous: "Star Trek Into Darkness"

By Mike Schulz

Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine in Star Trek Into DarknessSTAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

Star Trek Into Darkness opens on a note of frenzied, almost satiric busyness. For reasons initially left unexplained, and in a set piece suggesting a futuristic Raiders of the Lost Ark, Captain Kirk and "Bones" McCoy are first seen racing through a jungle of crimson foliage on a foreign planet, attempting to escape the clutches of dozens of yowling savages with black eyeballs and papier-mâché skin. The chase eventually leads the pair to the edge of a cliff where they leap into the water below, just as Mr. Spock - much to the concern of his unusually panicked fellow crew members - beams into the belly of an active, ready-to-burst volcano. Director J.J. Abrams' franchise extender isn't even five minutes old, and between the shouting, the manically staged mayhem, the whiplash editing, and composer Michael Giacchino's pummeling score, it already feels like a typically overstuffed blockbuster sequel, yet one without any of the wit that Abrams brought to 2009's terrifically witty Star Trek reboot. But then something wonderful happens.

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