Reviewer’s grade: A Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush and more pirates than you can shake a cutlass at weigh anchor for box-office heaven in this final chapter in the “Pirates” trilogy – yeah, right. Our gang of soft-core cutthroats sets sail to rescue Depp’s Capt. Jack Sparrow from the Land of […]
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Waitress
Reviewer’s grade: B+ A quirky cross between Jennifer Aniston’s “The Good Girl” and Renée Zellweger’s “Nurse Betty,” “Waitress” tells the story of working-class wife Keri Russell in an unhappy marriage. Featuring relatable themes and recognizable characters, the independent film’s strong cast and solid performances are a recipe for an enjoyable cinematic experience. Russell leads […]
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Update
Last year, a BBC News correspondent in Sudan reported that village elders in the Upper Nile state had punished Charles Tombe, who had been caught being amorous with a goat, by requiring him to pay a dowry to the goat’s owner, to endure a “wedding” to the goat, and to treat the goat as his […]
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Into Great Silence
Reviewer’s grade: B+ Less documentary and more atmospheric experience, Philip Gröning’s “Into Great Silence” ventures into the quiet of the French Alps’ Grande Chartreuse monastery. The work – for which Gröning waited 16 years for permission to make – immerses viewers in the minutiae of the monks’ daily life without score or voice-over. It’s […]
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The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Reviewer’s grade: A The British/Irish “troubles” of 1916-21 and the civil war that followed the peace treaty provide the backdrop to this tale of the loss of humanity war requires. Cillian Murphy stars as Damien, a young Irishman who joins the guerilla movement to chase the English back to their own country and never realizes […]
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Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares
Gary D. Rhodes with Richard SheffieldCollectables Press Gary D. Rhodes, the premier Bela Lugosi scholar, already has published two books on the world’s most popular Dracula. This new biography concentrates on the last period of Lugosi’s life, the “Ed Wood years.” After his identification with the horror genre became set in stone, Lugosi’s film career […]
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Your Government in Action
Among the long-term disabilities that have been drawing compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs (at a time when the returning wounded from Iraq and Afghanistan are meeting bureaucratic delays in getting their own disabilities properly compensated): 124,000 veterans receiving monthly checks because of hemorrhoids (according to a March Scripps Howard News Service report) and […]
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Signs of the Times
The University of Minnesota campus newspaper reported in February that some students are combining trips to the blood bank to make donations with quick trips to local bars for a drink or two, because they report a quicker and more powerful “high” immediately after blood loss. Said one, “As soon as the needle’s out of […]
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Local stages offering mix of summer productions
Summer theater in Oklahoma City is gearing up for the state’s 100th birthday with a slew of big, crowd-pleasing musicals; a newly located Shakespearean stage; and a handful of plays ranging from historical classics to the downright goofy. Lyric Theatre at the Civic Center Music Hall: ” “Oklahoma!,” June 26-30” “Evita,” July 10-14” “Singin’ in […]
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The White Giraffe
Lauren St. JohnDial Her father had just asserted that things happen for a reason when a house fire kills 11-year-old Martine’s parents. Shipped to a South African game preserve, Martine moves in with an unknown grandmother who reluctantly welcomes her. In this strange, new world, Martine is cut off “? from her grandmother, the cliquish […]