Jan 9-15, 2013

Jan 9-15, 2013 / Vol. 26 / No. 46

Cover Story

The (fashionably late) year in review: 2012

Some might say 2012 was a good year for Charlotte. The craft beer scene blew up. The Democratic National Convention came and went. The Panthers finished with a not-so-horrible record this season. The “end of the world” passed relatively quietly. Hell, Creative Loafing even celebrated a milestone – its 25th anniversary. But 2012 was also…

CL Staff

Taking it off for No Pants Day

I don’t usually run around town in my underwear. Frankly, people don’t need to see the dimples in my thighs or how pale they are. But I broke my rule on Sunday to join the 50 or so people who showed up at the Scaleybark Light Rail Station in boxers, briefs or panties for Charlotte’s…

Joanne Spataro

3 questions with Kelly Oyama, owner of Meatballs on Main

Cultures from around the world have their own recipes and methods for making meatballs. Served up using various meats and other ingredients on top of pastas, in soups, on sticks or in sandwiches — the variations are endless. Meatballs on Main (www.meatballsonmain.com) — located in a bright pink, historic home in downtown Cornelius — offer…

Anita Overcash

Bizarre crimes from Charlotte police files (Jan. 10)

Dog the Bounty Hunter: A 21-year-old woman called police after a mysterious man stole a dog from her and her four roommates. The woman told officers that an unknown man knocked on the back door of their University area rental home. When she opened the door, the man walked straight past her and into a…

Ryan Pitkin

Zero Dark Thirty an assault on the senses

ZERO DARK THIRTY ***1/2 DIRECTED BY Kathryn Bigelow STARS Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty is bold, provocative and challenging in ways not even attempted by other current award contenders like Lincoln and my 2012 fave Argo. The film recalls what President Woodrow Wilson reportedly said after screening D.W. Griffith’s The Birth…

Matt Brunson

Gangster Squad shoots blanks

GANGSTER SQUAD *1/2 DIRECTED BY Ruben Fleischer STARS Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling Is it professional laziness to dismiss Gangster Squad with the simple declaration that it’s nothing more than a dim-witted cross between L.A. Confidential and The Untouchables? Perhaps, but such an action is still nowhere near as lazy as those exhibited by the makers…

Matt Brunson

The Impossible: Soggy second half mars tense drama

THE IMPOSSIBLE **1/2 DIRECTED BY Juan Antonio Bayona STARS Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor One of the deadliest natural disasters in history, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami obliterated several countries’ coastlines and resulted in more than 230,000 deaths. It touched people all over the globe, those who were moved enough to contribute financially (global donations reportedly…

Matt Brunson

Hyde Park on Hudson worthy of impeachment

HYDE PARK ON HUDSON *1/2 DIRECTED BY Roger Michell STARS Bill Murray, Laura Linney The next time anyone blathers about “liberal Hollywood,” remind them that in 2012 alone, the film factory released one movie that paid tribute to the greatest Republican president and another that made a mockery of the greatest Democratic president. In Lincoln,…

Matt Brunson

Promised Land suffers from narrative drought

PROMISED LAND *1/2 DIRECTED BY Gus Van Sant STARS Matt Damon, Frances McDormand By all accounts, Matt Damon is a smart fellow and a sincere progressive, but it would be nice if he left his politics off the screen. It’s not that I object to filmmakers dragging their beliefs onto the screen, but if one…

Matt Brunson

2013: Your annual horoscope, part II

Aries: Your sign continues to be highlighted because Uranus, the planet of changes remains with you for six more years. Each of these years will be eventful, but particularly those between 2011 through 2015. You are learning to expect sudden shifts and adapting to those. Innovation and a need for independence are prominent. Many have…

Vivian Carol

Parenting the parents: No place for sissies

Lately I’ve been extraordinarily busy — to the point of exhaustion at times — doing something I never thought I’d write about: taking care of my aging parents. Then again, I’ve heard from enough fellow baby boomers who’ve been immersed in that unsettling netherworld to feel that someone might get something from reading my version…

John Grooms

Hail to the chiefs in Frost/Nixon

Ordinarily, we can tell you precisely how long a local theatrical production will keep you in your seat. But on the VIP opening night of Frost/Nixon at Carolina Actors Studio Theatre last Friday, my iPhone stopwatch proved to be an inadequate instrument. It was impossible to determine when exactly the CAST production was supposed to…

Perry Tannenbaum

Film 2012: The Best & Worst

Did I somehow overlook the Charlotte movie theater that was screening all the great films of 2012? Reading the opinions of other film critics across the country, the consensus seems to be that this was a damn fine year for cinema, packed with motion pictures that deserve a place in (film) history. Yet out of…

Matt Brunson

Best books of 2012

No book critic — or none I’ve ever heard of — can read all of the most acclaimed books of any year. These days, there’s also the gradual melding of literary fiction with some genre fiction to consider, as well as the ever-growing overall quality of graphic novels (which can also include comics-based nonfiction, which…

John Grooms

Dining in Charlotte: The remix

In late 2012, the building on North Sharon Amity that housed the Knife & Fork restaurant, once a Charlotte landmark, was razed for the widening of Independence Boulevard. On the other side of the city, The Riverview Inn on the Catawba River, which opened in 1945 and was one of the last fish camps in…

Tricia Childress

Obama’s new year’s resolution

Amidst the White House and congressional theatrics surrounding the so-called fiscal-cliff negotiations, a number of bills were signed into law by President Barack Obama that renew some of the worst excesses of the Bush years. Largely ignored by the media, these laws further entrench odious policies like indefinite detention, warrantless wiretapping and the continued operation…

Amy Goodman

Why do we compile the classic ‘Year in Review’ issue?

The year in review. It’s a media tradition. Why? Because we’re a list-making species. It doesn’t take a doctorate in sociology to figure out why every media outlet in the free world, from staid old Rolling Stone and VH1 to Pitchfork, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, all produce variations on The Year’s Best [Fill in the…

Mark Kemp

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