01 Sep 2015

What's Happenin': Fall 2015

By Mike Schulz

Celtic Woman -- October 17Events

Adler Theatre

September through November

 

"Mademoiselles, messieurs: It is with deepest pride, and greatest pleasure, that we welcome you tonight. And now we invite you to relax, let us pull up some chairs, as the Adler Theatre proudly presents - your autumn!" Okay, so that may not be the official greeting at the Davenport venue these days. But the Adler could do worse than steal from the candlestick Lumiere's "Be Our Guest" intro, considering how many fall events the theatre will be proudly presenting - among them the touring production of the Tony-winning fairytale musical Beauty & the Beast (November 3).

01 Sep 2015

What's Happenin': Thursday, September 3, through Wednesday, September 15

By Mike Schulz

Brushville @ RIBCO - September 5MUSIC

Friday, September 4 - Nashville Pussy. Atlanta-based hard-rock musicians in concert, with opening sets by Valient Thorr and Heavyweight. Rock Island Brewing Company (1815 Second Avenue, Rock Island). 8 p.m. $15 advance tickets. For information, call (309)793-1999 or visit RIBCO.com.

Friday, September 4 - Andrew Landers. Concert with the Americana and folk musician, with an opening set by The Dupont Brothers. The Redstone Room (129 Main Street, Davenport). 7 p.m. $10 plus $1.50-2 fees. For tickets and information, call (563)326-1333 or visit RiverMusicExperience.org.

Saturday, September 5 - Festival of Praise. High Praise Unlimited presents an evening of fellowship with outdoor concert sets by MercyMe and Justin Rizzo. LeClaire Park (400 Beiderbecke Drive, Davenport). 7 p.m. $17-20, ages 12 and under free. For information, call (563)359-7617 or visit NewAnthem.com.

Saturday, September 5 - Brushville. Outdoor concert with the country musicians, with an opening set by Just Chords. Rock Island Brewing Company (1815 Second Avenue, Rock Island). 8 p.m. $5-10. For information, call (309)793-1999 or visit RIBCO.com.

30 Aug 2015

The Wails of August: "War Room," "We Are Your Friends," "The Diary of a Teenage Girl," and "No Escape"

By Mike Schulz

Karen Abercrombie and Priscilla C. Shirer in War RoomFriday, August 28, 10 a.m.-ish: The day begins with the pro-faith drama War Room, in which a harried working mom is guided - or more accurately bullied - into surrendering to God's will and forgiving her husband for his inattentive, verbally abusive, potentially adulterous ways. It's kind of exactly the movie you expect. It's also one of the most revolutionary movies of its type yet produced, because even a few years ago, it would've been unimaginable for a film skewing to America's religious right to feature an African-American family at its core.

23 Aug 2015

A Supposedly Fun Thing He'll Never Do Again: "The End of the Tour," "Tangerine," and "The Tribe"

By Mike Schulz

Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel in The End of the TourTHE END OF THE TOUR

An interviewer for Rolling Stone travels to Bloomington, Illinois, to meet his subject: an author embarking on the last leg of his book tour. They make small talk at the author's house. They smoke incessantly. They gorge on junk food. They travel to Minnesota for a reading and radio segment. They visit the Mall of America. They catch a multiplex movie. They hang out with a couple of young women. They consume more junk food. They return to Bloomington. They part ways.

In broad outline, that is the entire plot of director James Ponsoldt's and screenwriter Donald Margulies' The End of the Tour. And with the possible exception of Mad Max: Fury Road, no other 2015 release, to date, has entertained, thrilled, and devastated me quite as much as this one. (The film is currently playing at Iowa City's Marcus Sycamore Cinema.) I'll concede that much of the reason for my enjoyment might be strictly personal, or at least intensely specific. But I also don't think anyone needs to have been an interviewer, or an interviewee, to be dazzled by the film's intelligence, emotional complexity, and deep empathy, or by the insight it demonstrates regarding the oddly fraught practice of the celebrity profile. You probably also don't need to be an admirer of David Foster Wallace to find yourself frequently moved to tears, but if you are one, consider yourself warned.

22 Aug 2015

Deputy Dogged: "Sinister 2," "Hitman: Agent 47," and "American Ultra"

By Mike Schulz

James Ransone in Sinister 2SINISTER 2

You know the feeling you get when you go to summer camp and make a great new friend, but he/she isn't there the next summer, or the summer after that, and you end up forgetting about that friend until the next summer, when, all of a sudden, there he/she is? I don't, because I never went to summer camp. But I'm betting that sensation is similar to what I felt in the first minutes of Sinister 2 once I recognized James Ransone, who played Ethan Hawke's adorably dippy deputy pal in 2012's Sinister. Although the actor has amassed a bunch of film and TV credits since then (albeit not in anything I've seen), I can't say I've thought of him even once since the release of that low-budget horror hit. Yet the second Ransone's character showed up in director Cirián Foy's follow-up, with his chronic awkwardness and puppy-dog eyes and intense likability, it was like being reunited with a long-lost buddy whom you're ashamed to have let slip away. Ransone's presence here - as our romantic lead, no less! - was a hugely welcome surprise. That Sinister 2 didn't at all suck might've been a bigger one.

18 Aug 2015

What's Happenin': Thursday, August 20, through Wednesday, September 2

By Mike Schulz

Still StandingMusic

Still Standing & Friends Benefit Concert

River Music Experience

Saturday, August 22, 1:30 - 9:15 p.m.

 

"When we started this band," says Still Standing co-founder/guitarist Justin Young, "we decided that we didn't want to just make music that we love. We also wanted to reach out and make a positive impact on our community." On August 22, Young and his bandmates will be doing just that, and have recruited some friends to help. Actually, many, many, many friends.

16 Aug 2015

Rap Sessions: "Straight Outta Compton" and "The Man from U.N.C.L.E."

By Mike Schulz

Aldis Hodge, Neil Brown Jr., Jason Mitchell, O'Shea Jackson Jr., and Corey Hawkins in Straight Outta ComptonSTRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON

In the N.W.A. bio-pic Straight Outta Compton, long after the professional and personal flame-outs between Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell) and Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson Jr., playing his real-life father), the two rappers run into each other at a club, and Eazy, seeking reconciliation, tells Cube he saw him in Boyz n the Hood. Cube reminds his former friend that Eazy publicly called the movie "an after-school special," and Eazy, knowing he's caught, simply grins and says, "Man, you know I like after-school specials." (As it must, this initially tense encounter ends in a hug.) Given the film's expectedly harsh language, constant threats of violence, and poolisde and hotel-room debaucheries that only platinum-selling albums can buy, I was amazed to find its own resemblence to an after-school special the most surprising thing about director F. Gary Gray's musical drama. But whatever - I, too, like after-school specials.

15 Aug 2015

War and ... . Wait. Where'd She Go?: "Peace," at Lincoln Park through August 16

By Mike Schulz

Bob Hanske, Doug Adkins, Gary Adkins, and Stephen Laurel in PeaceSomewhere near the midpoint of Genesius Guild's Peace, the leading character Trygaeus - as characters routinely do in Lincoln Park's late-summer slapsticks - suddenly realizes that the play he's in doesn't really have a plot. One of his scene partners, though, tells him that perhaps that's a good thing. After all, if they don't have a plot, "maybe we won't get reviewed." Nice try, Guild.

10 Aug 2015

Septet-à-tête: "Shaun the Sheep Movie," "Ricki & the Flash," "Fantastic Four," "Irrational Man," "The Gift," "Infinitely Polar Bear," and "Amy"

By Mike Schulz

Shaun the Sheep MovieYou can tell it's August at the cineplex, not because the newly released movies are so terrible (though a couple of them definitely are), but because there are so many of them. This annual dumping-ground month for films generally considered too weak to score summer-blockbuster dollars and too insignificant to pass as autumnal prestige fare has also, in recent years, become the cinematic equivalent of a Sam's Club or Costco: a little bit of everything, in bulk. And over four consecutive days, I caught up with seven of these debuting area titles - a collective experience that ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous ... and back to the sublime.

04 Aug 2015

What's Happenin': Thursday, August 6, through Wednesday, August 19

By Mike Schulz

Devon AllmanMusic

Devon Allman

Redstone Room

Friday, August 14, 8:30 p.m.

 

Considering the 42-year-old has spent his entire career forging his own musical path, and considering he didn't even meet the über-famous Gregg until he was 15, blues rocker Devon Allman can hardly be accused of riding his father's coattails. That said, when you hear Devin's soulful blues growl during August 14's Redstone Room concert, and witness his mad guitar skills, you'll likely concede that there's something to be said for genetics. As someone who, from his own dad, merely inherited a proclivity for inappropriate singing and the complete lack of an ass, I gotta say I'm envious.

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