Movies

Theatre in the Round's "Treasure Island" and the power of imagination

By Jay Gabler, Front Row Seat

A 1911 Treasure Island illustration by N.C. Wyeth

I try not to let commenters bug me, but one who did succeed in getting my dander up was an anonymous (of course) commenter on my negative review of the Jungle Theater's Noises Off. In the review I said that people would be better off watching the 1992 film adaptation, and this commenter condescendingly sneered that comparing a theatrical production to a movie was patent evidence of my incompentence as a critic. "No critic worth anything would compare stage to screen. They're completely different mediums and completely different techniques are used to accomplish them. I'm amazed that someone with two masters degrees doesn't know that."

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Hava Nagila (The Movie) will be screened May 23 at the Riverview Theater in Minneapolis

By Mordecai Specktor, American Jewish World

Hava nagila, hava nagila (Let us rejoice, let us rejoice) / Hava nagila ve-nismecha (Let us rejoice and be glad)

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"The Great Gatsby" and the Great Pumpkin: Writers who wrestled with their Minnesota pasts

By Jay Gabler, Front Row Seat

Leonardo DiCaprio in Baz Luhrmann's new film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.

It was my friend Eric Bennett who drew my attention to a reference made by Bob Dylan to his fellow Minnesota escapee, F. Scott Fitzgerald. In Dylan’s song “Summer Days,” from 2001’s Love and Theft, a woman looking into the narrator’s eyes and holding his hand tells him he can’t repeat the past. “You can’t?” he replies. “What do you mean, you can’t? Of course you can.”

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Summer blockbusters: The movies that will be hits, and the movies that should be

By Jim Brunzell III, The Optimistic Pessimist

Alice Eve as molecular biologist Dr. Carol Marcus in Star Trek Into Darkness.

It appears our winter has finally ended in the Twin Cities. This marks the start of the summer movie extravaganza with the monstrous opening of Robert Downey Jr. mega-hit franchise installment Iron Man 3, to the tune of $175 million over its opening weekend. That's the second highest opening weekend ever, after a little action film from last year, The Avengers, also starring Robert Downey Jr. Since Iron Man 3 opened overseas a week ahead of its U.S. release date, the film in 12 days has amassed an eye-opening $500 million. That makes it a bona-fide blockbuster, and the total will only continue to grow.

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MOVIE REVIEW | "Iron Man 3" punches the clock

By Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet

You can see what they were thinking with Iron Man 3. After the escalating robotic carnage of the first two films in the franchise, followed by the grand fracas of The Avengers—in which Iron Man went through a wormhole to another part of the universe, then plopped back down to the pavement just in time for happy hour at Guy Fieri’s—it must have seemed like it was time for a relatively low-key outing, getting Robert Downey Jr. out of the suit and going back to basics. Maybe a subplot involving a cute kid.

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2013 Newport Beach Film Festival: What it's like to be a juror

By Jim Brunzell III, The Optimistic Pessimist

Welcome to the Jungle

The 14th annual Newport Beach Film Festival started April 25 and ends this Thursday, May 2. After the extravagant weeklong festival ends, they will have screened over 350 films, screening at five different venues and at times occupying 12 screens at once. I knew very little about this festival, other than a few key programmers—Max Naylor, Amanda Salazar, Adam Gentry, Jay Winterstein, and executive director Gregg Schwenk—whom I had met in previous years attending Sundance standing in lines, sitting near one another at screenings, and meeting up at parties. (On opening night, I was blown away by the fact there were some announced 500 volunteers that would work over 50,000+ hours, year-round and during the festival to make this event happen!) This past January at Sundance, I was asked to participate at the festival as a jury member and there was no way I was going to say no.

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Movies that could become blockbusters in the sweet, sweaty days of summer 2013

By Derek Anderson, Tuesday Movie Men

In the days of spring, you can hear them coming. Stand in a movie theater lobby and cock your head to the side just right, and you’ll feel more than hear a rumble emanating from the horizon. Okay, so it’s more likely the sound of movie trailers in nearby theaters that you’ll be hearing and feeling, but isn’t it more epic if the noise comes from the mystical regions of beyond? At any rate, the roar of the summer blockbuster cannot be ignored when April and May spring upon you. For decades the warm summer months have been a time when even on the sunniest of days and the most star-streaked of perfect nights, people have chosen to retreat to the air conditioned caverns of movie theaters. So what compels us to discard perfect outdoor conditions in favor of a cushioned seat in a dark room? The answer: summer blockbusters.

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Tuesday Movie Men

May 17: 'Labor Movie Night' series presents 'Matewan,' tale of West Virginia mineworkers

By Staff, Minneapolis Labor Review

The story of a union organizing drive in a 1920 West Virginia coal mining community, “Matewan” will be the next film in the new “Labor Movie Night” series presented by AFSCME Local 3800 and AFSCME Next Wave.

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