24 Feb 2013

The Agony of the Ecstasy: "Snitch" and "Escape from Planet Earth"

By Mike Schulz

Barry Pepper, Susan Sarandon, and Dwayne Johnson in SnitchSNITCH

As a film star, Dwayne Johnson possesses a lot of gifts - or, at least, sufficiently impressive gifts for what his résumé has required. Though God knows he's physically intimidating, Johnson is also our most thoroughly genial of ass-kickers, with even his most violent of big-screen endeavors leavened by a welcome lightness of touch and hint of amused self-mockery. And as he has proved in all those bland family entertainments over the years, Johnson still manages to appear game and committed in movies that don't deserve his considerable charisma, often salvaging entire scenes through unexpectedly silly gestures or readings that show just how inventive a comedian he can be. (I was happy for 10 whole minutes following his brief channeling of co-star Michael Caine in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. They were about the only 10 minutes during the movie in which I was happy.)

19 Feb 2013

What's Happenin': Thursday, February 21, through Wednesday, March 6

By Mike Schulz

Becca Brazel, Tim Stompanato, and Brooke Schelly in EurydiceTheatre

Eurydice

Galvin Fine Arts Center

Friday, February 22, through Sunday, February 24

 

It's the oldest of stories. Girl loves boy. Girl marries boy. Girl gets a letter from her late father and trips down the stairs and dies and takes an elevator to the underworld and lives in a room fashioned entirely of string and meets a trio of talking stones ... .

No, seriously, it's the oldest of stories. It's just being told in a new and strange and wonderful way.

17 Feb 2013

Caster Roiled: "Beautiful Creatures" and "A Good Day to Die Hard"

By Mike Schulz

Viola Davis, Alice Englert, and Alden Ehrenreich in Beautiful CreaturesBEAUTIFUL CREATURES

As it concerns a sensitive high-schooler who enters a world of trouble after falling for a moodier version of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, it should come as no shock to learn that the supernatural romance Beautiful Creatures is based on the first in a series of popular young-adult novels. But while I'd never argue that the YA-lit genre is completely humorless, surely the gender-reversed Twilight knock-off by co-authors Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl can't be as legitimately, intentionally hilarious as this big-screen adaptation, right?

17 Feb 2013

crazy/beautiful: "Safe Haven" and "Flight of the Butterflies"

By Mike Schulz

Mimi Kirkland, Josh Duhamel, and Julianne Hough in Safe HavenSAFE HAVEN

Whatever else it is, and it's not much else, Safe Haven is the least boring Nicholas Sparks adaptation I've yet seen, mostly because it's so unequivocally bonkers.

13 Feb 2013

"Argo" Fête Yourself: 2013 Oscar Predictions

By Mike Schulz

Ben Affleck in ArgoAs I only predicted 15 out of 24 categories correctly for the previous Academy Awards, obviously I have some making up to do for my prognostic abilities to again be taken seriously.

Of all freakin' times to attempt a comeback ... !

13 Feb 2013

Oscar-a-a-aziness: Analyzing the Trickiest Categories (and They're Big Ones) in the 2013 Academy Awards Race

By Mike Schulz

Don't tell anyone. But usually, when it comes to predicting the winners of the Academy Awards' major races, it doesn't take much to look like you know what you're talking about.

11 Feb 2013

It's Not Easy Being Teen: "bare," at the Center for Living Arts through February 16

By Mike Schulz

Becca Meumann and Doug Johnson in barePassion counts for a lot in drama, and sincerity counts for a lot plus, and both qualities are in welcome abundance in the Center for Living Arts' presentation of the adolescent-angst musical bare. Another theatrical commitment kept me away during opening weekend, but if you haven't yet caught up with the show, I heartily recommend taking advantage of its three-weekend run; you could conceivably ask for a stronger production, but only a complete boor would dare ask for a more heartfelt one, or one that exuded more enthusiasm and feeling from its clearly, beautifully invested participants.

11 Feb 2013

Lady and the Chump: "Identity Thief" and "Side Effects"

By Mike Schulz

Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman in Identity ThiefIDENTITY THIEF

Near the very start of the Jason Bateman/Melissa McCarthy comedy Identity Thief, Bateman's character, the mild-mannered businessman Sandy Patterson, is enjoying a birthday party thrown by his wife (Amanda Peet) and two adorable daughters. After blowing out his birthday candles, Sandy scoops his younger daughter in the air - she looks about four or five - and, in what seems like a totally improvised gesture, turns her upside down, playfully plopping her face-first into the cake. The whole family laughs, but no one laughs harder than that cake-smeared little girl, who takes a second to wipe frosting from her eyes and mouth before exclaiming, to our utter delight, "Oh my God!"

Just thought I'd share that in case you were curious about the movie's funny moments, because for me, that was the only one.

05 Feb 2013

What's Happenin': Thursday, February 7, through Wednesday, February 20

By Mike Schulz

David BurgessMusic

David Burgess

Redeemer Lutheran Church

Saturday, February 16, 7 p.m.

 

From the New York Times: "Technically in control and interpretively most persuasive."

From the Washington Post: "Impressive technique and a fine sense of style."

From Greenwich Time magazine: "Hauntingly beautiful, tastefully phrased with exquisite nuance, and yet with an aristocratic understatement that held his audience spellbound."

And no, I'm not starting yet another one of these What's Happenin' articles by talking about my own work. But I'm touched by your confusion.

03 Feb 2013

Eat and Greet: "Warm Bodies" and "Stand Up Guys"

By Mike Schulz

Rob Corddry and Nicholas Hoult in Warm BodiesWARM BODIES

See if this sounds familiar: A sweet, lonely, non-human - but decidedly male - being with a limited vocabulary toils through a portion of Earth all but completely devoid of life, performing the same mundane, regimented activities day after day. Occasionally, he augments the dreariness by collecting tchotchkes from more civilized days, which he stores in his makeshift home-slash-warehouse, and comforts himself by playing old music on a recognizably antiquated device. One day, a beautiful female enters his life, and although he's initially nervous about making contact, he proceeds to woo her by offering safety and shelter, making her laugh, and subtly expressing his undying devotion. The female, however, soon leaves, but our protagonist doesn't take her evacuation lying down. Instead, he follows his beloved, and subsequently sets into motion events that not only might reunite the pair, but might lead to the rejuvenation - indeed, the very survival - of the entire human race.

If you didn't know the movie in question was titled Warm Bodies, and didn't know it was a romantic comedy about a zombie who becomes enamored with a girl with a pulse, wouldn't that description sound just a teensy bit reminiscent of WALL•E?

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