10 May 2021

Billy the Kidder: “Here Today,” “Wrath of Man,” and “Raya & the Last Dragon”

By Mike Schulz

While there are certainly more noxious performance traits than an obvious, incessant need to be loved, Billy Crystal expends so much energy strong-arming us for adoration and sympathy in this sentimental dramedy that I occasionally found it hard to even look at him. At least Tiffany Haddish is on hand to occasionally make the guy look good – and by “good,” I really mean “less insufferable.”

03 May 2021

Silicon Folly: “The Mitchells vs the Machines,” “Separation,” “Things Heard & Seen,” and “Triumph”

By Mike Schulz

It turns out that the preview goosing us with the promise of Incredibles-esque fun isn't at all necessary, because TMvtM proves so clever, so exciting, and so consistently riotous that it already feels like a computer-animated comedy classic. It's literally been years since I've laughed so hard at a movie, and I didn't even need a crowd of equally delighted cineplex patrons to keep me roaring – though I sure wouldn't have minded one.

28 Apr 2021

Ballet Quad Cities: “For America,” May 6

By Mike Schulz

Returning to Davenport's Figge Art Museum for a unique live performance held in conjunction with a hugely popular exhibit, the professional talents of Ballet Quad Cities deliver original choreography with wide-ranging themes in For America, a May 6 celebration of dance and art specifically inspired by works in the museum's For America: 200 Years of Painting from the National Academy of Design.

26 Apr 2021

You Can't Force an Oscar Moment: Notes on the 2021 Academy Awards Telecast

By Mike Schulz

Oh, Oscars. You just keep finding new and creative ways to screw things up, don't you?

24 Apr 2021

Baby Boon: “Together Together” and “Mortal Kombat”

By Mike Schulz

Honestly, I didn't mean to eavesdrop. But while heading toward the cineplex auditorium housing the non-rom-com Together Together, I found myself walking about 15 feet behind a couple whose conversation practically brought me to (happy) tears.

21 Apr 2021

Ballet Quad Cities' “Alice in Wonderland,” April 30 through May 2

By Mike Schulz

A Lewis Carroll storybook classic will soon be given stage treatment by the professional talents of Ballet Quad Cities, with the Rock Island company delivering four performances of Alice in Wonderland from April 30 through May 2. But unlike so many live entertainments of late, the decision to bring the ballet to Davenport's Outing Club, as Artistic Director and Alice choreographer Courtney Lyon states, had little to do with the current pandemic. It had more to do with a three-year-old snowstorm.

19 Apr 2021

Hit or Miscreant: “Thunder Force” and “In the Earth”

By Mike Schulz

By all means, enjoy the big trademarked ape laying into the big trademarked lizard, or all nine-and-a-half hours of the reconstructed Justice League. Crummy movie or not, I'd rather spend my time watching Thunder Force's Jason Bateman attempt to hold a wine glass with enormous crab claws, or Melissa McCarthy imitate Jodie Foster in Nell a quarter-century past that gag's expiration date.

12 Apr 2021

Lord of the Fliers: “Voyagers,” “The Girl Who Believes in Miracles,” and “Tina”

By Mike Schulz

While Voyagers' PG-13 rating is already a hint that Neil Burger's futuristic thriller won't emerge as the daring, nasty good time it keeps threatening to be, the problem isn't so much the movie's rating as it is its blandness. Thanks to Alien, we know the deal with screams. But as it turns out, in space, no one can hear you yawn, either.

08 Apr 2021

The Show Will Go On … "Nomad"-er What: Predicting the 2021 Academy Award Winners

By Mike Schulz

What better way to conclude one of the strangest movie seasons in history – hell, one of the strangest years in history – than with a free-for-all ceremony that will, I venture, see 18 different movies awarded over 23 categories, and the night's only mortal lock a female Chinese-American director winning a category that men, most of them white men, have won 90 times out of 91?

04 Apr 2021

Monster Mush: "Godzilla vs. Kong," "French Exit," and "The Unholy"

By Mike Schulz

Near as I can recall, the last cineplex release that caused me to accidentally fall asleep was 2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and I'm on-record as having nodded off not once, but twice, during 2014's Godzilla. I wish I could say those were the only two mutant-lizard flicks over the years to make me conk out, but alas, we're now confronted with Godzilla vs. Kong both on the big screen and via HBO Max. At least this time, my snoring was confined to my apartment.

Pages

Subscribe & Listen to Reader Podcasts

On Stands Now

 

Tagged Content

Two Ways to Subscribe

1. Subscribe to free weekly e-mail content updates.

You'll get both the current official narrative challenge and What's Happenin' in the Quad Cities.
(Did you know we publish a new Amy Alkon Advice Goddess, Real Astrology, Red Meat cartoon and RCR Crossword every week?) 

* indicates required

View previous campaigns.

2. Get 12 monthly issues mailed first class for $48

Get 12 issues mailed monthly for $48 per year.

Get the printed Reader edition mailed to you (or anyone you want) first-class for 12 months for $48.
$24 goes to postage and handling, $24 goes to keeping the doors open!

Click this link to Subscribe now.