As Ava, a marriage counselor who’s newly married herself, Moore shines. As her husband, Charlie (Kellan Lutz, those damn “Twilight” movies), doesn’t; he’s as dull as his name is awkward. He doesn’t even look real. Anyway, their post-honeymoon bliss starts to wear off quickly as her parents (James Brolin and Jane Seymour) separate just shy […]
Rod Lott
Posted inArts & Culture
A Horrible Way to Die
And yet, this one has something most mumblecore does not: an actual story. The loose structure of mumblecore feels like on-the-fly moviemaking: continual bobbing of the handheld camera, zooming without worrying about pulling focus, unobstructed views of Swanberg’s penis. Here, director Adam Wingard (“Pop Skull”) sacrifices shots of full-frontal Swanberg. In its place: in-your-face Swanberg […]
Posted inMusic
Heroes of the Old West
One inexpensive way to find out: Mill Creek Entertainment’s release of “Heroes of the Old West.” Let’s run the numbers: For less than $10, you get almost 22 hours of material on four DVDs. That’s 10 feature films, 20 television shows and, hopefully, one happy camper. With the exception of John Wayne in 1963’s “McLintock!,” […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Live from Tokyo
The live scene is healthy, although with so many bands, there aren’t enough rewards to go ’round. As with here, the Internet has taken a huge bite out of CDs, but low album sales doesn’t mean a lot of people aren’t listening. They are. And thanks to the Internet, followings can be built overseas without […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
But let’s give credit where credit is due: This is a remake of a fondly remembered, made-for-TV movie in 1973. Although effects have come a long, long way, baby, I still prefer the original. Living underneath the new-to-them Rhode Island mansion of architect Alex (Guy Pearce, “Animal Kingdom”); interior-designer girlfriend Kim (Katie Holmes, TV’s “The […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Cry Terror!
Man 1: “Well, suddenly, we’ve got a problem on our hands, and it’s a dilly: the prankster.” Man 2: “Oh, no, not another one.” Man 1: “The fifth character to pull this sort of stunt in the last 60 days alone.” Man 2: “Used to be the joker who turned in the phony fire alarms. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
X
The differing characters whose lives crash head-on are Holly, a high-priced pro on the verge of retirement, and Shay, a 17-year-old street amateur desperate for cash. They’re played, respectively, by Viva Bianca (TV’s “Spartacus: Blood and Sand”) and Hanna Mangan Lawrence (“The Square”). Holly gets hundreds of dollars to do her thing with only the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Man from Atlantis: The Complete TV Movies Collection / The Complete Television Series
Those fans — and the curious, like me — should embrace Warner Archives’ pair of releases that bring the show to the DVD surface for the first time: “The Complete TV Movies Collection” and “The Complete Television Series,” at two and four discs, respectively. Yes, before NBC made it an official series, the fantasy first […]
Posted inNews
‘The Guard’
And here it is, only it’s called “The Guard.” I call it darkly funny. The Irish crime comedy opens Friday exclusively at AMC Quail Springs Mall 24, 2501 W. Memorial. Brendan Gleeson (“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1”) relishes every drop of his juicy title role as Sgt. Gerry Boyle, a guy who’s […]
Posted inArts & Culture
World on a Wire
From “The Matrix” to “Inception” to “Source Code,” the concept of a constructed reality is a popular trope in today’s science-fiction films, but you’ve never seen it tackled as it is in “World on a Wire.” In fact, few have. “No one’s actually seen this before in the United States,” said Brian Belovarac of Janus […]