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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
News / Boomer with Attitude City's new "security" rules for DNC are a pile of crap
Posted By John Grooms on Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 5:26 PM
Decisions made at city council Monday night about security measures during the Democratic convention are not much different from those made four years ago in Denver, when that city hosted the DNC. After police in Denver scared everyone by saying that 90 zillion crazies would soon endanger the city, law enforcement officers were essentially given carte blanche to do whatever they wanted — and woe to the traitor who doesn’t think protecting political delegates from a few anarchists is worth ignoring the U.S. Constitution.
At least negotiators in Charlotte were able to get the city to discontinue the “special measures” immediately after the convention, but uptown Charlotte will still be a semi-police state during one of the major political functions of the Land of the Free. That’s not a good idea when you’re dealing with a police force that has racked up numerous instances of recklessness, including over-tasering and running people down in high-speed chases.
Film / Film Reviews Sweet Smell of film screening
Posted By Matt Brunson on Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 3:04 PM
- MGM/UA
- Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster in Sweet Smell of Success
By Matt Brunson
SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957)
***1/2
DIRECTED BY Alexander Mackendrick
STARS Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis
Even a three-course meal consisting of lobster bisque, a medium-rare steak and crème brulee doesn't come close to matching the exquisite, juicy taste of the dialogue slung around in this riveting drama written by no less than Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman.
Practically everything clicks in this brutal exercise in which unscrupulous press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) will do just about anything to curry favor with powerful newspaper columnist J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster). So when Hunsecker's sister (Susan Harrison) falls for a clean-cut musician (Martin Milner), J.J. becomes jealous (perhaps not since Scarface's Tony Montana has a movie character displayed such an unhealthy attraction toward his own sibling) and orders Sidney to drive them apart through malicious gossip and outright lies.
The contributions of two industry titans, cinematographer James Wong Howe and composer Elmer Bernstein, are key to the film's success — the jazzy score works in tandem with the evocative NYC location shooting — and while Curtis generally leaves me cold, his performance as Falco is arguably his greatest. Yet the rapid-fire dialogue is this film's truly astonishing component, from the classic lines (both from J.J. to Sidney) "I'd hate to take a bite out of you; you're a cookie full of arsenic" and "Match me, Sidney" to lesser known but equally impressive snatches of cynicism (I've always been partial to J.J. opining that "Sidney lives in moral twilight"). The film's only significant debit is its ending, which feels rushed, incomplete and therefore not entirely satisfying.
(Sweet Smell of Success will be screened as part of the "Extra! Extra! Celebrating the Newspaper Picture" film series at 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, at ImaginOn. Admission is free.)
Arts / Today's Top Five Today's Top 5: Tuesday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 8:00 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Jan. 24, 2012 — as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
• Love, Loss and What I Wore at McGlohon Theatre
• 5th Annual Stout Pull at Coyote Joe's
• One God? Yours or Mine: A Provocative Look at the Concept of God - The Islamic Perspective Lecture at Temple Beth El
• Janet Williams aka The Tennessee Tramp at The Comedy Zone Lake Norman
• Madama Butterfly at Belk Theater
Monday, January 23, 2012
Film / Film News / Film Reviews Universal celebration gets off the ground with To Kill a Mockingbird
Posted By Matt Brunson on Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 4:22 PM
- Universal
- Gregory Peck and Brock Peters in To Kill a Mockingbird
By Matt Brunson
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962)
****
DIRECTED BY Robert Mulligan
STARS Gregory Peck, Mary Badham
Forget James Bond and Indiana Jones: When the American Film Institute offered its picks of the top movie heroes in its 100 Greatest Heroes and Villains special in 2003, it was Atticus Finch, the soft-spoken protagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird, who emerged at the top of the list. It was a fitting tribute not only to the memorable character created by Harper Lee in her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel but also to the actor who played him: Gregory Peck, who passed away nine days after the AFI's picks were revealed.
Peck's performance is the bedrock of this classic film, one of those rare instances when a movie perfectly captured the essence of its source material without compromising it in any way. One of the best films ever made about children and the unique way in which they view the world around them, this also benefits from the perceptive work by Mary Badham as Scout, Atticus' young daughter who learns about justice and integrity by watching her lawyer dad defend a black man (Brock Peters) against fraudulent rape charges in a small Southern town.
Boomer with Attitude Highway tree destruction, brought to you by the GOP
Posted By John Grooms on Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 1:15 PM
There’s an old joke about a guy who brags that he’s the greatest lumberjack of all time: “Why, I was the lead 'jack in the Sahara Forest.”
His companion: “You mean the Sahara Desert.”
Lumberjack: “Yeah, now . . .”
A proud N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis may be telling that joke a lot in the near future. You’ll understand when you see the results of the pro-billboard industry law that Tillis helped ram-rod through the General Assembly last year. The specifics of the law, which is set to go into effect this spring, are being hashed out by the state Rules Review Committee. So far, according to ProgressivePulse, the committee has “approved temporary rules to allow clear-cutting of tens of thousands of trees in publicly owned roadsides in order to make billboards more visible.” Well, isn't that just great? Tens of thousands of trees - gone — just so you'll be able to fully appreciate the wonderful messages and images along the highway.
Boomer with Attitude You can't make this up: Santorum launches C.U.M.
Posted By John Grooms on Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 12:51 PM
As Pam Spaulding of Pam’s House Blend blog succinctly describes it, “This comes from the land of 'You can’t make this shit up.'” Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum is the rabidly anti-gay presidential candidate who placed third in Saturday’s S.C. GOP primary. He has already been the subject (aka the butt) of sexual jokes, most notably the coining of a new noun based on his family name, which created the senator’s famous “Google problem.” Now, as revealed by Daily Kos writer Scott Wooledge on Twitter, Santorum has started a new fundraising group called — ready? — Conservatives United Moneybomb, or, for short, C.U.M. I didn’t know anyone was still this clueless, but you’ve got to hand it to Santorum: He’s probably going to raise big wads of cash, hand over fist.
Arts / Today's Top Five Today's Top 5: Monday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 11:12 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Jan. 23, 2012 — as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
• Monday Funday at Dixie's Tavern
• Weekend Nachos at Milestone
• Find Your Muse Open Mic at The Evening Muse
• Mummies of the World exhibit at Discovery Place
• Cash Crop exhibit at Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture
Friday, January 20, 2012
Arts Theater review: The Amen Corner
Posted By Perry Tannenbaum on Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 5:19 PM
Plenty of amens can be heard in the opening scene at a corner Pentacostal Church, as playwright James Baldwin signals to us that he’s no less interested in immersing us in the spirit of this church’s worship than he is in telling the story of its anointed pastor, Sister Margaret. I had fully anticipated a baptism of amens as soon as I saw that half the stage in Nathanial Rorie’s aptly rickety set design had been devoted to the choir loft and pulpit, with ample space provided downstage for the congregation and meetings of the church elders. What surprised me was that there was no respite from the shower of amens when we adjourned to Sister Margaret’s kitchen. That’s where we learn about her domestic crises, past and present, and the oncoming turmoil in her church, where she will be called to battle if she wishes to maintain her leadership.
Since Sister Margaret’s apartment and the church are only separated by a staircase, there is steady traffic in the kitchen from the pillars of the congregation — and a steady stream of amens in their discourse. These come chiefly from the sternly virginal Sister Moore, who clearly wishes to snatch the pulpit from Margaret’s grasp, and her chief supporter, Sister Boxer, who carries a couple of personal grudges: the pastor has forbidden her husband to take a job driving a liquor truck, and she overtly envies Margaret’s marvelous new GE fridge. When these two loquacious malcontents speak, there are as many amens in their declarations as there are commas and periods.
Arts Genome unveils new art
Posted By Anita Overcash on Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 4:44 PM
The hip Genome Gallery is spotlighting the surreal works of two artists in its upcoming exhibit, The Art of Cleonique Hilsaca & Alexandra Loesser. The showcase opens this Saturday with an evening reception at 6 p.m.
Loesser paints raw realistic sights (such as the nude person with a bucket covering their head - pictured above), while Hilsaca uses acrylics, inks and ... tea (Yep! We said tea!) to create spirited and slightly odd, illustrative paintings (like the pictured works “Sisters” and "Audio Love" - below).
Film / Film Reviews Friday Film Reviews: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close; Shame; Contraband
Posted By Matt Brunson on Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 4:41 PM
- Fox Searchlight
- Shame
Click on the link to be taken directly to the review.
