Jul 2-8, 2014

Jul 2-8, 2014 / Vol. 28 / No. 19

Transformers: Age of Extinction: Preferable to syphilis

TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION *1/2 DIRECTED BY Michael Bay STARS Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci As evidenced by the endurance test known as Transformers: Age of Extinction, Michael Bay’s contempt for his audience continues to be matched only by his contempt for the medium of film itself. And if he’s going to be so half-assed in…

Matt Brunson

Begin Again: Once was not enough

BEGIN AGAIN *** DIRECTED BY John Carney STARS Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo Writer-director John Carmey struck indie gold with 2006’s Once, a gentle whisper of a film that touched many a hipster with its tale of a pair of struggling musicians. Figuring that Once is not enough, Carney now offers Begin Again, another tale centering…

Matt Brunson

Tammy not worth getting to know

TAMMY *1/2 DIRECTED BY Ben Falcone STARS Melissa McCarthy, Susan Sarandon It’s fitting that family dysfunction is at the center of Tammy, since a different sort of familial discord was responsible for this dud being made in the first place. Melissa McCarthy stars in the picture, her husband Ben Falcone handled directorial duties, and the…

Matt Brunson

Earth to Echo: Lost signal

EARTH TO ECHO ** DIRECTED BY Dave Green STARS Teo Halm, Brian “Astro” Bradley How do we know that the film industry’s love for the found-footage format (or variations thereof) has reached its ridiculous nadir? Because here we have a children’s movie employing this filmmaking fad for no discernible reason. What’s next? A found-footage animated…

Matt Brunson

Bizarre crime from Charlotte police files (July 3)

Zero-percent interest: A 57-year-old woman filed a police report after a call from a fake VISA representative turned weird very quickly. The woman told police that someone called claiming he could lower the interest rate on her credit card. When she refused to give the man any of her personal information, he decided to give…

Ryan Pitkin

Weekly horoscope (July 3-9)

For All Signs: We enter July with all the personal planets (Mercury, Venus and Mars) direct. Given that one or the other has been in retrograde territory since last December, the whole tenor of business and forward motion resumes a normal pace. War and/or uprisings are occurring in many places on the globe. When the…

Vivian Carol

All work and no pay

I’m weaving through a maze of nondescript concrete buildings, searching for my photographer and for our subject, Aprill Yakubu. It’s hot, and I’m late. I call Yakubu for directions to her office space, but my cellphone reception is so bad I only hear every tenth word. As each wrong turn sharpens the edge in my…

Ana McKenzie

Back From The Dead — again

It’s happened to me just about every day in Charlotte since I returned to town from Washington, D.C., early last year, after having left in 2001. I’ll be going about my daily routine somewhere when along comes a stranger who reaches out to shake my hand and asks — sometimes sheepishly, sometimes with what seems…

Jerry Klein

Book review: Natchez Burning

A hefty novel balancing Civil Rights history with murder, hate crimes, conspiracy and family secrets makes for a great summer read, if not quite an escape. After all, much of what Greg Iles writes and recounts either happened or could have happened. In Iles’ latest novel, Natchez Burning, Penn Cage, a prosecutor and writer in…

Erik Spanberg

Le Chef a sweet treat

LE CHEF *** DIRECTED BY Daniel Cohen STARS Jean Reno, Michaël Youn In the world of culinary cinema, if the Oscar-winning Babette’s Feast is a 10-oz. filet mignon and Ang Lee’s Eat Drink Man Woman is a 4-lb. lobster, then the French import Le Chef registers as a delectable bonbon, small and insignificant but nevertheless…

Matt Brunson

Roadkill Ghost Choir’s twists and turns

If there is one rule of thumb to keep in mind with rockers Roadkill Ghost Choir, it is that you should expect the unexpected. “When we first started, we were pretty much an alt-country band; it was really, really twangy,” says singer/guitarist Andy Shepard. “And then the first time we ever went to record for…

Brian Palmer

Pullman Strike’s Daniel Beckham adjusts to fatherhood

On June 8, Pullman Strike drummer Daniel Beckham’s daughter, Miller, was born — and he became the only dad in the band (though he jokes the others may have “something they don’t know about”). Accordingly, the Americana-rock outfit stopped practicing in his basement and are taking a few weeks off. They’ll be back July 4…

Corbie Hill

CD Review: Bakalao Stars’ Afrodijiak

On its first new CD in four years, Afrodijiak, Charlotte rock en español veterans Bakalao Stars leads off with the dancehall-inflected powder keg “Boom.” Over rubbery bass and swarming horns, Mista Reggaeman’s roughed-up rhymes get up front and personal: “To start the revolution, make your own evolution.” Serving up rock-steady Latin reggae since 2002, the…

Michael Walsh

The odiousness of local theater’s boards of directors

As individuals and as a society, we almost universally admire and glorify the achievements of scientists, inventors, entrepreneurs and artists. Merely 25 years after his death, Romare Bearden Park was opened here in Charlotte in memory of America’s greatest master of collage. Yet for all the lip service we give to the icons — the…

Perry Tannenbaum

Charlotte needs mocktails

Before I exhaust my word count on this particular issue, you must first know a few things about me. Namely, that I am a grown-ass woman with grown-ass interests. I like to dress like a lady. I pay my bills. And, after a hard week’s work, I like to join my friends for a nice…

Keia Mastrianni

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