31 Jan 2006

2005 Oscar Nominees - What They Got and Where to Find Them

By Mike Schulz

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (R) -Here's something that rarely happens: The movie that received the most Oscar nominations - eight in all - actually deserved to receive the most Oscar nominations. Ang Lee's agonizingly fine romantic western makes the mystery and heartache of love come alive in ways you may have forgotten movies were capable of. Nominated for Best Picture, Director, Actor (Heath Ledger), Supporting Actor (Jake Gyllenhaal), Supporting Actress (Michelle Williams), Screenplay Adaptation, Cinematography, and Original Score ... and, to be honest, a few others - Best Film Editing, Art Direction, maybe even Best Supporting Actress for Anne Hathaway - wouldn't have been out of line. (Great Escape Theatre, Showcase 53)

24 Jan 2006

Black Hawk College Forms a New Gay-Straight Alliance

By Mike Schulz
Viewed less as a movie than as a cultural phenomenon, one of the most refreshing aspects of Brokeback Mountain is the matter-of-factness with which it tells its gay love story, as this revolutionary work treats its protagonists' romance with the same dignity and consideration that has accompanied heterosexual screen romances since the dawn of cinema.
24 Jan 2006

Not (Just) the Next Yo-Yo Ma

By Mike Schulz
Cellist Wendy Law, currently in the area as part of the Quad City Arts Visiting Artist Series, has received the sort of plaudits - both in America and abroad - that most professional performers would kill for. Benjamin Zander, conductor for the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, raved that "Wendy Law is one of the best young cellists of her generation," and called her playing "riveting and profoundly artistic.
24 Jan 2006

Hoffman Dazzles in a Remarkable "Capote": Also, "Hoodwinked" and "The New World"

By Mike Schulz

Philip Seymour Hoffman in CapoteCAPOTE

When I first saw Bennett Miller's Capote back in November, I was so knocked out by Philip Seymour Hoffman's portrayal that I fear I may have undervalued the movie itself; Hoffman's channeling of this singular author was so extraordinary that, although the film itself wouldn't fit anyone's definition of "feel-good," I'm not sure I stopped smiling once through its two-hour running length. (Performances of this quality have a way of putting me in a fantastic mood, regardless of a movie's subject matter.) But on a return visit to Capote this past weekend, I was able to more fully luxuriate in the brilliance of its design and the strength of its presentation; what could have been a "mere" performance piece proves, in the hands of Miller and screenwriter Dan Futterman, to be a work of rare artistry and depth. Capote is so beautifully crafted - thematically rich, psychologically insightful, and mordantly funny - that you might be embarrassed by what a fine time you're having at it.

17 Jan 2006

A Pleasant-Enough Trek "Through the Woods": "Over the River & Through the Woods" at the Playcrafters Barn Theatre

By Mike Schulz
Joe DiPietro's Over the River & Through the Woods is a charming stage sitcom, and based on a final dress rehearsal held January 10, the production of it that opened the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's 2006 season is perfectly charming, too. The large, invited audience of (mostly) seniors who attended the rehearsal seemed to have a terrific time; the show's punchlines, more often than not, got their laughs, and there was no denying the sweetness of spirit that emanated from the show - if smiles were audible, it would have been deafening in the Barn Theatre.
17 Jan 2006

The "Road" Always Traveled: "Glory Road," "Hostel," and "Casanova"

By Mike Schulz

Josh Lucas in Glory RoadGLORY ROAD

Is it just a coincidence, or do you think there's an annual meeting wherein Disney shareholders tell the studio's executives, "Bring us this year's feel-good, triumph-of-the-underdog sports flick, and if you can find one that's more formulaic, clichéd, and shameless than last year's, all the better!" A couple of years back, we endured Kurt Russell guiding a bunch of interchangeable skaters to Olympic victory in the hockey drama Miracle, and my head is still reeling from the moribund sentimentality - and beyond-obnoxious miniature caddie - of The Greatest Game Ever Played, which managed to make golf look about five times less exciting than the sport's reputation would suggest.

17 Jan 2006

Revenge of the Nerds: "Grease" at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse

By Mike Schulz
The most telling moment in the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's splendid re-imagining of Grease is a minor one, and - like most of this production's finest moments - nowhere to be found in the original script. (It's actually an invention of director/choreographer Ann Nieman's, designed to cover a scene change.) Danny (Jeremy Jonet) and Cha-Cha (Nicole Polzella) have just won Rydell High's dance competition, yet instead of relishing the victory, Danny runs off to re-claim the heart of his true love, Sandy (Cheryl Hoffman). As the decorations come down and the stragglers depart, Cha-Cha - who has even been rebuffed by the nerdy Eugene (Mark D. Lingenfelter) - finds herself alone, and she takes a beat, gazes at the suddenly meaningless trophy in her hands, and quietly, sadly walks off stage.
10 Jan 2006

Holmes, Sweet Holmes

By Mike Schulz
It's tempting to label the musical accomplishments of the Holmes Brothers as "unclassifiable," but that's not entirely accurate. Their sound is easily classifiable. As blues. And gospel. And rock.
10 Jan 2006

More Real Than a Photograph: Writer-Director David Riker

By Mike Schulz

Years before he became a filmmaker, writer-director David Riker worked as a photojournalist, and found himself especially haunted and moved by the plight of immigrants in Manhattan's Latin American neighborhoods.

10 Jan 2006

Western Union: "Brokeback Mountain"

By Mike Schulz

Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback MountainBROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

In Ang Lee's agonizingly fine romantic western Brokeback Mountain, two taciturn young men - Ennis del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) - are hired, in the summer of 1963, to tend flocks of sheep on a Wyoming expanse. During the early days of their tenure, the men barely speak. Yet as the months pass, they form a solid friendship, and on one particularly cold night atop the mountain, Ennis and Jack share a bottle of whiskey and a sleeping bag, and - experiencing wordless, nearly aggressive desire - have sex. Despite the inevitability of the encounter, the sheer, naked hunger of the scene is startling, but a greater surprise comes some 20 minutes (and four years of screen time) later, in a scene so powerfully, emotionally true that - like much of Lee's transcendently moving work - it hits like a slap in the face.

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