31 May 2015

Hawaiian Punch: "Aloha," "San Andreas," and "Far from the Madding Crowd"

By Mike Schulz

Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone in AlohaALOHA

On three separate occasions this past weekend, after mentioning that I'd seen Cameron Crowe's Aloha, I had friends or family members reply with some variant on "Ugh, how bad was it?" That's usually the response I get after telling people I just came back from the latest Happy Madison flick or Paranormal Activity: Yup, We're Still Churning These Out. But to hear that kind of pitying condolence regarding a new Crowe endeavor was troubling. Sure, the reviews were largely dreadful, and the previews leaned toward the achingly twee, and the movie's reputation in the hacked Sony e-mails ("the script is ridiculous") didn't help matters. Beyond all that, though, is the collective disappointment of Vanilla Sky, Elizabethtown, and We Bought a Zoo so pervasive and infuriating that it overwhelms the memory of Say Anything ... , Jerry Maguire, and Almost Famous?

28 May 2015

Funny Businesses: Patrick Adamson, Andrew King, and George Strader Discuss the Area-Comedy Renaissance

By Mike Schulz

George Strader, Andrew King, and Patrick Adamson"Is that ahi tuna?"

"No. It's a-ha tuna. This is a comedy interview."

So went a not-atypical exchange during my recent conversation with area comedians George Strader, Patrick Adamson, and Andrew King. (It was George who asked about the tuna and Patrick who ordered it. If you were wondering, Andrew had a burger.) But while the jokes and laughs tended to come fast and furious during our chat, there was one thing this trio was dead-serious about: The Quad Cities' comedy scene has, since the beginning of this decade, been enjoying a pretty dramatic renaissance. A pretty inspiring one, too.

26 May 2015

What's Happenin': Thursday, May 28, through Wednesday, June 10

By Mike Schulz

Bruce KatzMusic

Bruce Katz

The Muddy Waters

Saturday, June 6, 8:30 p.m.

 

Good news, gang: Summer is fast approaching! As opposed to previous summers, however, we'll have to wait a little longer for this year's Mississippi Valley Blues Festival, the traditional Fourth-of-July-weekend event that's now a Labor-Day-weekend event.

But fret not, blues fans! The Mississippi Valley Blues Society is ready to ease your impatience with a bunch of summertime concerts held at The Muddy Waters in Bettendorf, beginning with the June 6 engagement featuring Bruce Katz. A four-time Blues Music Award nominee for Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year, the pianist, organist, and bass guitarist has been described by JazzTimes magazine as "a multi-directional cat with a lot of music inside him." Much like my parents' cat, but you really don't wanna know what's inside him.

25 May 2015

It's a Pall World After All: "Tomorrowland" and "Poltergeist"

By Mike Schulz

Britt Robertson in TomorrowlandTOMORROWLAND

To the credit of Disney's marketing team, the intriguingly vague previews for Tomorrowland provided just enough (a grizzled George Clooney, "directed by Brad Bird" in the credits, no number at the title's end or colon in its middle) to make the film appear promising without explicitly stating what it was about, or whom it was meant for. Having now seen Bird's futuristic adventure, I know what it's about - mainly because, from its first seconds, Disney's latest live-action endeavor keeps spelling out its themes in big block letters. Whom it's meant for, however, remains a mystery.

17 May 2015

The Fast and the Furiosa: "Mad Max: Fury Road"

By Mike Schulz

Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury RoadMAD MAX: FURY ROAD

Tom Hardy plays the title character in Mad Max: Fury Road, director George Miller's continuation-slash-reboot of his legendary post-apocalyptic action series that began in 1979, and a movie boasting a central figure who might be the most powerful, intimidating, and deeply empathetic ass-kicker of 21st Century cinema. It's not Hardy, but he's pretty great, too.

17 May 2015

Off-Key: "Pitch Perfect 2" and "Where Hope Grows"

By Mike Schulz

Hailee Steinfeld, Anna Kendrick, and Rebel Wilson in Pitch Perfect 2PITCH PERFECT 2

Pitch Perfect 2 opens strongly, with the peerlessly funny Elizabeth Banks (who also directed the film) and John Michael Higgins performing an a cappella rendition of the Universal Pictures theme song and launching into the hilariously bitchy byplay that made their vocal-contest judges among Pitch Perfect's many highlights. And while it's true that this musical-comedy follow-up, like director Jason Moore's 2012 predecessor, is set in the world of collegiate a cappella groups - and specifically the world of Anna Kendrick's fledgling mash-up artist Beca - it's more accurately set atop a steep precipice. Because although it starts promisingly, as the saying goes, it's all downhill from there.

12 May 2015

What's Happenin': Thursday, May 14, through Wednesday, May 27

By Mike Schulz

Mona MansourTheatre

The Way West

Village Theatre

Friday, May 15, through Sunday, May 24

 

The final production in New Ground Theatre's 2014-15 season is author Mona Mansour's The Way West, which runs at the Village Theatre May 15 through 24. The Chicago Tribute wrote that Mansour's 2013 play "captures how fast technology reveals the skeletons in our closet." The Windy City Times called it an exploration of how "poor judgment can squander millions in stocks or pennies in a jam jar."

New Ground director Christina Myatt, however, has her own description: "Family dysfunction, old boyfriends, bad business schemes, financial distress ... . You know, a lot of comedy." And she's not being sarcastic.

10 May 2015

Feminine Protection: "Hot Pursuit" and "Clouds of Sils Maria"

By Mike Schulz

Sofia Vergara and Reese Witherspoon in Hot PursuitHOT PURSUIT

All movies provide at least one reason to feel grateful, because even the worst movies eventually, mercifully end. Director Anne Fletcher's action comedy Hot Pursuit provides exactly one reason to feel grateful.

01 May 2015

Super Salad: "Avengers: Age of Ultron"

By Mike Schulz

Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth in Avengers: Age of UltronAVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

Whatever your feelings about Avengers: Age of Ultron, even if your feelings can be summed up in a succinct "Meh," you can't say that writer/director Joss Whedon is merely giving audiences an exact replica of 2012's comic-book behemoth The Avengers. There's some romance here, for one thing. There's also a lot more plot, now that we're spared its predecessor's hour-plus of super-team origin story. And rather than being granted all of his film's best, most thrillingly unexpected moments, that rampaging mass of CGI id known as the Hulk is instead stuck with the worst scene in the movie - which, unfortunately, also happens to be its most prototypical one.

28 Apr 2015

What's Happenin': Thursday, April 30, through Wednesday, May 13

By Mike Schulz

Erin FoleyComedy

Erin Foley

Radisson Quad City Plaza

Thursday, May 7, 5:30 p.m.

 

The Women's Connection's 11th-Annual "Celebrate a Special Woman" Signature Event will take place at Davenport's Radisson Quad City Plaza on May 7, and the celebration's featured speaker is actress and comedienne Erin Foley. At the Internet Movie Database, you'll notice that Foley's first film credit was Cameron Crowe's Oscar-winning Almost Famous, in which she played "Alison the Fact Checker." With 15 years having now passed, Crowe could easily cast Foley as the lead in that movie's sequel - so long as its title found Crowe ditching the "Almost."

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