12 Mar 2023

Big Apple Slices: “Scream VI,” “Champions,” “65,” and “Navalny”

By Mike Schulz

As a rule, horror sequels aren't supposed to be good. Fifth sequels in any genre aren't supposed to be good. Sequels whose basic M.O. is “Let's do what we've always done … but in a different city!” aren't supposed to be good. And yet, almost preposterously, Scream VI proves to be very, very good – though if that praise seems suspect, I'd be willing to amend it to “very, very entertaining.”

06 Mar 2023

Bout Time: “Creed III” and “Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre”

By Mike Schulz

It's still incredibly early in his career to ask this, but is there anything Jonathan Majors can't do?

01 Mar 2023

The Everything Bagel, with Locks: Predicting the 2023 Academy Award Winners

By Mike Schulz

It feels odd to preface a lengthy article devoted to my predictions for the 95th Annual Academy Awards by asking you to not listen to me. But this year? If you want to win your Oscars pool? Don't listen to me.

27 Feb 2023

It Had Some Coke, and You'll Smile: ”Cocaine Bear” and “Jesus Revolution”

By Mike Schulz

While Cocaine Beat is both less stupid that it could have been and less stupid than it should have been, I had a surprisingly agreeable time – and so did a high-schooler friend of mine, and my 50-something bestie, and my octogenarian mother.

18 Feb 2023

It's a Smaller World, After All: “Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania” and “Marlowe”

By Mike Schulz

Of the three showcases to date for Paul Rudd's alternately diminutive and behemoth superhero, Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania is the one I dislike the least. As I see it, credit for that is due to precisely two elements. Compared to Ant-Man & the Wasp, this new adventure has roughly 75-percent more Michelle Pfeiffer; and compared to the 2018 sequel and 2015's original Ant-Man, it has 100-percent more Jonathan Majors.

15 Feb 2023

Haus of Ruckus' “Are We There Yeti?”, March 3 through 12

By Mike Schulz

Over their past year-plus of productions, the Haus of Ruckus team of T. Green and Calvin Vo have treated audiences to no end of surprises: blends of classical-Greek and disco stylings; mixed martial arts competitions peppered with video-game sound effects and glow-in-the-dark puppets; a talking cactus. But with their latest comedy Are We There Yeti?, running March 3 through 12, Green and Vo have made a most unexpected presentational switch: They've gone educational. Sort of.

13 Feb 2023

A Real Grind: “Magic Mike's Last Dance,” “Consecration,” “Your Place or Mine,” and “You People”

By Mike Schulz

In a recent Vulture interview, Steven Soderbergh, director of 2012's original Magic Mike, stated that until he saw and adored the movie's London-stage-revue version in 2018, he found “no compelling reason to make a third film.” So now we have the Soderbergh-helmed Magic Mike's Last Dance … and this sequel feels like it still has no compelling reason to exist.

07 Feb 2023

Gig o' Bytes: “Atanasoff: Father of the Computer,” at Augustana College on February 23

By Mike Schulz

A doc can get away with an unexciting, even bland presentation so long as the story it tells captures and holds your interest, and directors Mila Aung-Thwin's and Daniel Cross' 2014 documentary Atanasoff: Father of the Computer kept me interested, and quite invested, through the whole of its too-short 45 minutes.

06 Feb 2023

Jersey Girls: “80 for Brady,” “Knock at the Cabin,” and “The Amazing Maurice”

By Mike Schulz

Among the quartet of living legends who star in 80 for Brady, Jane Fonda plays a romance-hungry author of steamy, football-themed fan fiction. Director Kyle Marvin's buddy comedy could hardly be called steamy, but it, too, is football-themed fan fiction, and about as winning as movies of its type ever get.

31 Jan 2023

Ballet Quad Cities' “Love Stories,” February 10 and 11

By Mike Schulz

With the professional company's annual, yet all-new, presentation of Love Stories – being staged at Davenport's Outing Club on February 10 and 11 – audiences for the 2023 edition will be treated to a little bit of everything: classical dance, modern dance, lyrical dance; Bach, Debussy, Sonny Rollins with the Modern Jazz Quartet. But while the performances come with either a served dinner or desserts available for purchase, Artistic Director Courtney Lyon has has another food reference for what patrons can expect: “It's kind of like a buffet,” she says. “You get to try to a lot of different things.”

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