31 Dec 2012

Vox Populi: "Les Misérables" and "Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away"

By Mike Schulz

Isabelle Allen and Hugh Jackman in Les MiserablesLES MISÉRABLES

Director Tom Hooper's take on the über-beloved musical Les Misérables is, in numerous regards, a maddeningly weak stage-to-screen transfer. Scenes have been bluntly presented with no discernible invention or style. The incessant employment of closeups creates stagnancy in sequences and numbers that beg for breathing room. The movie's two most prominent actors are cast in roles for which they can't nearly do vocal justice. And, so help me, I ravenously gobbled up every last, unsubtle, frequently disappointing morsel of the thing.

31 Dec 2012

Mad About You: "Silver Linings Playbook," "Django Unchained," and "Parental Guidance"

By Mike Schulz

Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings PlaybookSILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook is a modern romantic comedy, which means that, in essence, its storyline would fit rather snugly alongside those of many offerings in the cinematic oeuvres of Katherine Heigl and Kate Hudson. But allow me to blow your minds with this little nugget of information: While its narrative arc may seem familiar, even insultingly so, almost nothing in the movie happens the way you think it will. Somehow, using author Matthew Quick's 2008 novel as a blueprint, Russell has taken a tale involving two impossibly good-looking near-lovers, an emotionally distant family, and a big dance contest, and has ensured that you truly can't predict whether the seemingly de rigueur unions and reconciliations and victories will actually transpire. What's the deal with this Russell guy? Doesn't he know that's not the way things are done in Hollywood?

31 Dec 2012

Critical Mass: Mike Schulz and Thom White Discuss Area Theatre in 2012

By Mike Schulz

Mitch Donahue, Alexander Robin Kass, Samantha Pauly, Kristin Gilbert, and Tristan Layne Tapscott in the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's Legally Blonde: The MusicalFor our third-annual conversation on the Year in Theatre, Thom White - the Reader's chief theatre reviewer - and I thought we'd shake things up a bit. So instead of meeting for an hours-long breakfast to discuss the area stage scene, we met for an hours-long dinner to discuss the area stage scene.

And while I managed to keep things lively by spilling a completely full glass of water not 10 minutes after sitting down, we also managed to touch on many of the varied experiences that Thom (occasionally accompanied by his partner's daughter Madison) and/or I had during another eventful year for fans of the theatre. Pack a lunch, sit back, and dive in ... .

23 Dec 2012

A Star Is Reborn: "The Guilt Trip," "This Is 40," and "Jack Reacher"

By Mike Schulz

Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand in The Guilt TripTHE GUILT TRIP

Aside from her appearances as Ben Stiller's hippie mom in those increasingly labored Meet the Parents sequels, Barbra Steisand hasn't been seen in a film since her 1996 directorial effort The Mirror Has Two Faces, and considering what an ego-fueled embarrassment that picture was, some of us have been grateful for the break. It's worth remembering, though, that when her material doesn't let her down (and she's not directing her own star vehicles), Streisand can still be a fantastically smart and inventive comedienne - which, happily, she's allowed to be in nearly every scene of The Guilt Trip.

18 Dec 2012

What's Happenin' on New Year's Eve 2012

By Mike Schulz

The Candymakers @ The Redstone Room"Happy Holidays, Jeff!"

"Happy Holidays yourself, Mike. I can only guess that you're here to turn in your annual What's Happenin' on New Year's Eve article."

"I most certainly am, good sir! As usual, we're devoting this issue's What's Happenin' pages to a rundown on all of the area venues - as of press time - that will be hosting musicians, DJ services, or karaoke on Monday, December 31!"

16 Dec 2012

Hobbit Forming: "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"

By Mike Schulz

Andy Serkis in The Hobbit: An Unexpected JourneyTHE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY

In all honesty, I was a little bored by Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey before the movie even started. A nearly three-hour fantasy adventure with a colon in the title based on (one-third of) a beloved J.R.R. Tolkein title? A tale of dwarfs and elves, and a kindly old wizard played by Ian McKellen, concerning a perilous trek across New Zealand? An epic narrative involving an innocent's coming of age, and inanimate objects that prove surprisingly ambulatory, and a shriveled schizophrenic with bulging eyes who mourns the loss of his "Precious-s-s-s"? Haven't we all been here before? And beyond securing gazillions of dollars for New Line Cinema, was there really any need to go back?

10 Dec 2012

Got MILF?: "Playing for Keeps" and "Anna Karenina"

By Mike Schulz

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Gerard Butler in Playing for KeepsPLAYING FOR KEEPS

In director Gabriele Muccino's dramatic comedy Playing for Keeps, Gerard Butler portrays a former star athlete who hopes to reconnect with his ex-wife and son by coaching the kid's pee-wee soccer team, and who is consequently forced to (try to) resist the advances of a trio of beautiful, aggressive, lascivious soccer moms who can't keep their hands off him. This, in the language of Hollywood screenwriters, is what is known as "a problem."

04 Dec 2012

What's Happenin': Thursday, December 6, through Wednesday, January 9

By Mike Schulz

The Harlem GlobetrottersSports

Harlem Globetrotters

i wireless Center

Saturday, January 5, 7 p.m.

 

Welcome to the What's Happenin' edition of "Name That Tune"! For 100 points, what's the title of the famous ditty featuring this unforgettable refrain?

"Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-whee-e-e-e-wh-wh-whoo-o-o-o!"

Give up? Why it's "Sweet Georgia Brown," of course - the signature song for the Harlem Globetrotters! How embarrassing for you!

03 Dec 2012

Ho Ho Horrible: "Rise of the Guardians," "Killing Them Softly," and "The Collection"

By Mike Schulz

Rise of the GuardiansRISE OF THE GUARDIANS

There appears to be a certain amount of bafflement, among those who track such things, as to why Rise of the Guardians has failed to make its expected dent on the late-autumn box office. Did the action comedy open too soon after the release of the similarly animated Wreck-It Ralph, thereby splintering its audience? Was the casting of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy as makeshift superheroes an idea deemed too juvenile for viewers over the age of three? Was the film's title generic and confusing, leading potential crowds to expect the arrival of the owls of Ga'Hoole?

If I may, I'd like to posit a different, simpler theory: The movie just sucks.

25 Nov 2012

Tiger Beat: "Life of Pi" and "Red Dawn"

By Mike Schulz

Suraj Sharma in Life of PiLIFE OF PI

Some 45 minutes into director Ang Lee's Life of Pi, there's an image that's so deeply resonant and beautiful and sad - one that's presented with so little melodrama or fuss - that I immediately welled up and felt compelled to stifle a sob. I remember the image clearly because I rarely stopped feeling that way for almost the entire hour-and-a-half that followed.

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