Nov 24 – Dec 1, 2015

Nov 24 - Dec 1, 2015 / Vol. 29 / No. 40

Cover Stories

The Good Dinosaur a lumbering dino-bore

THE GOOD DINOSAUR ** (out of four) DIRECTED BY Peter Sohn STARS Jeffrey Wright, Frances McDormand It’s a situation worthy of an Alanis Morrisette song. Isn’t it ironic that in the same week I pen an article ranking all the previous Pixar movies and noting that all of them are recommended to some degree, along…

Matt Brunson

Ranking The Pixar Pix

Choosing favorite Pixar flicks is as daunting a task as, say, singling out favorite Beatles tunes or naming favorite Shakespeare quotes — when the high quality comes flying fast and furious, it’s hard to get a bead on the best. The company’s latest animated effort, The Good Dinosaur, is being released on Nov. 25, the…

Matt Brunson

Concert review: Charlotte Symphony’s Fauré’s Requiem

The Charlotte Symphony’s most recent concert was designed by music director Christopher Warren-Green to be a seasonally appropriate tribute to the brave men-in-arms who serve and sacrifice for our nation in our military. Between Veterans Day on November 11 and the first of three concerts at Belk Theater on November 19-21, history intruded in Paris…

Perry Tannenbaum

Trumbo: History in the breaking

TRUMBO **** (out of four) DIRECTED BY Jay Roach STARS Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane The best movies are often the ones that educate as well as entertain, and with the magnificent Trumbo, we have a film that succeeds on both fronts. And the most important movies are often the ones that, regardless of setting or…

Matt Brunson

Brooklyn not to be dodged

BROOKLYN ***1/2 (out of four) DIRECTED BY John Crowley STARS Saoirse Ronan, Emory Cohen For once, the Ugly American didn’t have to leave U.S. soil to fully earn this designation — with the vile and decidedly unchristian decision by most citizens to side with opportunistic politicians seeking to block the acceptance of foreign immigrants in…

Matt Brunson

Creed breeds familiarity

CREED **1/2 (out of four) DIRECTED BY Ryan Coogler STARS Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone For a stretch of 30 years (1976-2006), Sylvester Stallone wrote the scripts for six Rocky films — if ever a series could have benefitted from fresh blood, it was this one. The franchise has been gifted to writer-director Ryan Coogler,…

Matt Brunson

Victor Frankenstein: Paging Frau Blücher

VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN ** (out of four) DIRECTED BY Paul McGuigan STARS James McAvoy, Daniel Radcliffe The new horror opus Victor Frankenstein cites Paul McGuigan (Lucky Number Slevin) as its director, but it’s entirely possible he’s only covering for Guy Ritchie. That’s because in its approach and execution, it plays like an exact copy of Ritchie’s…

Matt Brunson

Weekly horoscope (Nov. 26-Dec. 2)

For All Signs: For the last three weeks I wrote about the critically important arrangement of Saturn and Neptune. This is a theme that lasts through 2016 so I will be referring to it often. Saturn rules hard core reality, the rules, and limits of our lives. Neptune rules the spiritual, the ethereal, that which…

Vivian Carol

Bizarre crime from Charlotte police files (Nov. 25)

Catch me if you can: A woman was caught shoplifting from a south Charlotte-area Walmart last week, despite her ingenious plan for escape. Employees told officers the woman shoved lipstick, candy and eyeliner into her pockets and made a break for it. Employees were still in for a surprise, though, as they followed her out…

Ryan Pitkin

Seasonal release blues

I’ve written about the wonderful bottle shops of Charlotte before, and how they stock a plethora of uncommon beers you won’t find in the aisle of your average grocery store. What I neglected to mention is that these shops are open year­-round and should be visited thusly, not just when the latest liquid hot commodity…

Jonathan Wells

Keeping an eye on the dangers in our own borders

Watching folks wage a virtual war of ideologies on social media in reference to the recent Syrian refugee crisis has been both entertaining and exhausting. I’m not sure what I am more amused by; the “good” religious folks who seem to only have empathy for those in need who look like them; or minority groups…

Charles Easley

The New Familiars stage their own last waltz

Often voted one of the greatest concert films of all time, The Last Waltz is the ultimate going-out-on-a-high-note band documentary. Billed as a farewell show, The Band brought plenty of their friends on stage for a celebration featuring Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Dr. John, Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton and a long list of others. Now,…

Jeff Hahne

Three Questions for Jill Marcus, Mother Earth Group

As the president of Mother Earth Group, Jill Marcus has used her free spirit to form restaurants and cafes that grow into fresh, innovative beings. She started out with her catering business, Something Classic Café, and later launched restaurants Halcyon: Flavors from the Earth and Fern. Her newest venture, Modern Café has a placid spot…

Anita Overcash

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