19 Jun 2016

Well, Here’s Another Fin Mess You’ve Gotten Us Into: "Finding Dory" and "Central Intelligence"

By Mike Schulz

FINDING DORY

Taken on its own, Pixar’s Finding Dory is a delightful time: smart, clever, entertaining, gorgeously animated, and, Pixar being Pixar, all but guaranteed to get you weepy on at least three occasions. But I also can’t help feeling just a little bit pissed at it, if only because of how irrevocably it might change the experience of its predecessor.

13 Jun 2016

If at First You Don’t Succeed ... and Even If You Do ... : "Now You See Me 2," "The Conjuring 2," and "Warcraft"

By Mike Schulz

NOW YOU SEE ME 2

During its entire first hour, and at random times during its second, Now You See Me 2 is something I never thought it would be: fun.

13 Jun 2016

Animals/Husbandry: "The Lobster" and "Humpback Whales"

By Mike Schulz

Colin Farrell in The Lobster

THE LOBSTER

At nearly any given moment in its two-hour running length, Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster has the power to make you laugh or cry. If you choose to laugh out of derision or cry with frustration, that’s your business, and it’d be hard not to empathize with either reaction. If, however, you find yourself on Lanthimos’ and his movie’s shared, absurdist-deadpan wavelength, you might find the Greek writer/director’s latest tragicomedy – and first English-language one – both extraordinarily funny and almost embarrassingly moving. Never before has the mere sight of a Shetland pony made me chuckle, or well up once I registered exactly what it was I was chuckling at.

07 Jun 2016

What's Happenin': Summer 2016

By Mike Schulz

Events

Adler Theatre and iWireless Center

June through August

 

Like many of you, when we’re suffering the ravages of a Quad Cities winter, I can’t imagine what price I’d pay just for five seconds of summer. Moline’s iWireless center, however, actually has put a price tag on what five seconds of summer is worth: $29.95. Or up to $79.95 if you want to really feel the heat.

07 Jun 2016

What's Happenin': Thursday, June 9, through Wednesday, June 22

By Mike Schulz

MUSIC

Thursday, June 9 – Curtis Salgado. Award-winning vocalist/songwriter and harmonica icon performs in a concert in the Blues & Roots Series, preceded by a 4 p.m. blues workshop and an opening set with Craig Erickson. The Redstone Room (129 Main Street, Davenport). 7:30 p.m. $11.50-50. For tickets and information, call (563)326-1333 or visit RiverMusicExperience.org.

Friday, June 10, and Saturday, June 11 – Gumbo Ya Ya. Annual Mardi Gras celebration with Cajun, zydeco, and jazz bands on two stages, food and craft vendors, thousands of beads, and more. District of Rock Island. Friday 5 p.m. gates, Saturday 4 p.m. gates. $9 one-day pass, $14 two-day pass. For information, call (309)788-6311 or visit GumboYaYaFestival.com.

Friday, June 10 – Lil Wayne. Concert with the Grammy-winning hip-hop artist, with an opening set by O.T. Genesis. iWireless Center (1201 River Drive, Moline). 8 p.m. $48.50-68.50. For tickets, call (800)745-3000 or visit iWirelessCenter.com.

Friday, June 10 – River Music Experience 12th-Anniversary Show. Venue celebration with performances by The Giving Tree Band and Juliana & A Soul Purpose. RME Courtyard (131 West Second Street, Davenport). 4 p.m. $10-12, ages 12 and under free. For tickets and information, call (563)326-1333 or visit RiverMusicExperience.org.

Friday, June 10 – Chris Cain Band. Concert with the blues and jazz guitarist and his ensemble. Cabana’s Bar & Grille (2120 Fourth Avenue, Rock Island). 7 p.m. $10 at the door. For information, call (309)283-7564.

Friday, June 10, and Saturday, June 11 – Quad Cities Junetopia. Event to benefit Humility of Mary Inc. and Kings Harvest Ministries, with performances by more than two dozen indie-music acts and screenings by Motive Direct Pictures. Rozz-Tox (2108 Third Avenue, Rock Island). Friday 6 p.m., Saturday noon. $5-25. For information, call (309)200-0978 or visit RozzTox.com.

06 Jun 2016

If Mama Was Harried: "Gypsy," at the Timber Lake Playhouse through June 12

By Mike Schulz
John B. Boss and Saundra Santiago in 'Gypsy'

There was much to love about the Timber Lake Playhouse’s opening-night presentation of Gypsy. But if pressed for a favorite moment in this dynamically entertaining musical, it might’ve been the one in Act II in which a third-rate burlesque show loses its featured stripper, and our protagonist Mama Rose, without apology or shame, volunteers her long-ignored, wallflower daughter Louise for the job. It wasn’t the narrative turn that got me; it was the response of Timber Lake’s audience, who released a collective “Oh no she didn’t!” gasp-and-laugh implying they were legitimately shocked – shocked! – at Rose’s readiness to pimp out her child. Was this crowd somehow under the impression that, despite all previous evidence, Mama was actually not a monster?

05 Jun 2016

Fun with Dork and Jane: "Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping," "Love & Friendship," "Me Before You," and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows"

By Mike Schulz

Friday, June 3, 10 a.m.-ish: Maybe it’s because I go the full eight-hours-plus without eating, but by the end of my latest quadruple feature, I can’t help but think of the day’s collective screenings as a cinematic four-course meal. In retrospect, I should’ve skipped dessert.

31 May 2016

Apocalypse? Nah. : “X-Men: Apocalypse,” “Alice through the Looking Glass,” and “A Bigger Splash”

By Mike Schulz

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE

Michael Fassbender in X-Men: Apocalypse

Everyone knows that when the world is imperiled in a comic-book movie, the world is never truly in peril; it’s not like costumed characters, after the Earth’s destruction, are gonna take their in-fighting to Mars for the inevitable sequel. But despite its foreboding title, the stakes in director Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Apocalypse are particularly low, given that the action takes place in 1983, a full 17 years before the events of Singer’s 2000 X-Men. Clearly, as evidenced by the franchise forebears, Michael Fassbender’s Magneto and James McAvoy’s Charles Xavier will survive the climactic devastation, considering they still need to turn into Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. Cyclops and Storm and Jean Grey are all on safe ground, as are Mystique and Beast and Nightcrawler. The winged bad guy Angel can probably go, unless he finds a way to remain a teenager for two-decades-plus and turn into 2006’s good-guy Angel. But are the filmmakers really going to kill off recent recruit Quicksilver when, as personified by Evan Peters, he’s been the best reason for the series’ last two films to exist?

24 May 2016

What's Happenin': Thursday, May 26, through Wednesday, June 8

By Mike Schulz

Music

Scott H. Biram / Rock Island Brewing Company / Tuesday, June 7, 8 p.m.

Blues, roots, punk, country, and heavy-metal musician Scott H. Biram – a.k.a. The Dirty Old One Man Band – performs at the Rock Island Brewing Company on June 7. NoDepression.com writes that Biram’s discography “is loaded with the kind of wild-eyed blues explosions that spark 4 a.m. stabbings at bathtub-gin joins.” AmericanSongwriter.com states, “Scott Biram has enough of the devil in him to sound like a full group playing in Hell.” Exclaim.ca calls the artist’s latest album Nothin’ but Blood “religious music for people who are too drunk and high to give a damn what God may think.”

23 May 2016

Art Out of Bar Tricks: "Crank Yankers" and "That Metal Show" Comedian Jim Florentine, June 1 at RIBCO

By Mike Schulz
Jim Florentine in Louie

On the final episode of the most recent season of FX’s comedy Louie, star Louis C.K.’s alter ego was performing stand-up in Oklahoma City, and forced to share a condo with his opening act, a hack comedian named Kenny. At first, Kenny seemed awful: He drank whiskey in the morning; he gave his barely legal chauffeur sexually explicit advice; his stand-up set was rife with masturbation and fart jokes (which, to Louie’s mortification, positively killed).

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