Since the Oscar nominations were announced last month, gold-derby prognosticators have referred to Philomena as “the ninth nominee” in the Best Picture field. Their implication is that among all those films up for Hollywood’s highest honor, the British dramedy is the one least likely to win and least deserving of being there. That’s insane, of […]
review
Posted inArts & Culture
Haunter
Abigail Breslin (August: Osage County) stars as Lisa, a teen who’s the only one in her happy family of four to notice that for some reason, they’re re-living the same foggy Sunday in the ’80s over and over and over and over. Keeping her forever 15, it’s a cyclical grind of missing laundry, Atari Pac-Man, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Blind Date
In his first movie role, Bruce Willis exhibits some of that easygoing charisma that then was serving him well as TV’s Moonlighting and, just one year later, rocketed him to the stratosphere in Die Hard. At the time hot off 9 1/2 Weeks, but not yet cast in Batman, future Oscar winner Kim Basinger also […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Witchboard / Night of the Demons
Written and directed by Kevin S. Tenney, the 1986 chiller begins at a party held by couple Jim (Todd Allen, Django Unchained) and Linda (Whitesnake video vixen Tawny Kitaen). Her ex (soap actor Stephen Nichols) brings a Ouija board, proceeds to contact the spirit of a 10-year-old boy, and thus uncorks a shitstorm of trouble. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Escape Plan
The world of 2013, however, is a mighty different landscape; Escape Plan bombed. That’s too bad, because it’s pretty good for what it sets out to be: a big, dumb action movie, in the style of its stars’ big, dumb bread-and-butter recipe of yesteryear. Stallone’s Breslin works as a security expert hired to go undercover […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Reel Zombies / Sorority Party Massacre
Just now getting a DVD release (through Synapse Films), 2008’s Reel Zombies is a feature mockumentary with a welcome twist: Its filmmakers are poking fun at themselves, acknowledging how terrible their previous two (real) movies were. The shot-on-video “epics” in question are 2003’s Zombie Night and its 2006 sequel. The concept behind Reel Zombies is […]
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Judges Creed
Not too long ago, someone who works at Oklahoma Gazette asked, “Does anyone in Oklahoma City make movies besides Mickey Reece?” My answer was, “Of course,” supplemented with several caveats, one of which is that the local filmmaker generally makes more feature films in a year than my parents see within the same time frame. […]
Posted inMusic
PLSTKNOVA — Lights
His second EP, Lights, is an entrancing odyssey through the sleep cycle, pouring an ethereal dream-pop fog over mind-bending down-tempo bass grooves. Taking cues from Tycho, Baths and Four Tet, the seven-track effort focuses on aural world-building delicately built brick by brick. The adventurous but contained record is melodic and gripping all the same, its […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Odd men out
An ancient theatrical relic is on display in the Plaza District under the auspices of Lyric Theatre. The historical artifact in question is a comedy from A.D. 1965 titled The Odd Couple (you may have heard of it) by a popular playwright of that era named Neil Simon (who, for the record, is still alive). […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Postman Always Rings Twice
Most of the sordid story unfolds at the Twin Oaks Tavern, a sparsely attended roadside diner owned by a Greek man (John Colicos, The Changeling) whose prized possession is either the place, his record player or his much-younger wife, Cora (Lange, TV’s American Horror Story). Much bored, she perks up when Frank (Nicholson) drifts in. […]