“God Went Surfing with the Devil”
The surfing documentary has been a cinema staple ever since Bruce Brown’s “Endless Summer” back in 1966, but I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything quite like “God Went Surfing with the Devil,” professional skateboarder Alexander Klein’s heady blend of Middle Eastern politics and wave-catching abandon.
Klein’s doc follows activists with Surfing4Peace who are attempting to do their small part for world peace by shepherding a shipment of surfboards into Gaza. They envision Arab enthusiasts joining their Jewish counterparts in riding the waves of Gaza’s sandy beaches.
Sounds like an easy enough task, Continue Reading »
Posted in Cinema Espanol, Documentaries, New on DVD | Tagged Alexander Klein, Fidel Castro, Gaza, Guy Pearce, Israel, Miranda Otto, Oliver Stone, role playing, Ruth Bradley, Sam Neill, surfing | Leave a Comment »
“INCENDIES” My rating: A
120 minutes | No MPAA rating | French and Arabic with subtitles.
Twelve hours after watching Denis Villeneuve’s “Incendies,” I’m still on a cinema high and more certain than ever that this is some sort of masterpiece.
The Oscar-nominated (for foreign language film) “Incendies” (French for “fires”) is about war and peace, about family and forgiveness. It has more pure horror and more unforced emotional beauty than any film I’ve seen in ages, yet it delivers its potent payload with a minimum of sentimentality and filmic melodrama.
It’s the story of one life, but also about how the ripples from that life Continue Reading »
Posted in Art house fare | Tagged Denis Villeneuve, Lebanon | 1 Comment »
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS My rating: B-
132 minutes | MPAA rating: PG-13
There are moments in “X-Men: First Class” that are so good they almost don’t belong in a superhero movie.
This is a backhanded compliment, I know. But that’s how I feel about the genre — the less it’s like a superhero movie, the better.
And before it backslides into the usual cliches, “First Class” delivers some very interesting stuff.
Continue Reading »
Posted in Popcorn movies | Tagged James McAvoy, January Jones, Jennifer Lawrence, Marvel, Michael Fassbender, superheroes, X-Men | Leave a Comment »
“Forks Over Knives” My rating: B
90 minutes | No MPAA rating
Eat your veggies.
That’s the message of “Forks Over Knives,” a new documentary that argues that most of the physical maladies afflicting modern man — obesity, diabetes, cancer, pulmonary disease — could be hugely reduced if we steered clear of meat and dairy and chowed down on fresh vegetables, fruit and whole grains.
Lee Fulkerson’s film joins a growing list of titles (“Food, Inc.,” etc.) pushing for a radical rethinking of America’s diet. It presents a thorough, hard-to-refute case based largely on decades of research by two physicians, Caldwell Esselstyn Jr. and T. Colin Campbell, both of whom grew up on dairy farms and later rejected the dietary wisdom of their youths.
“Forks…” is convincing, citing research Continue Reading »
Posted in Art house fare, Documentaries | Tagged Caldwell Esselstyn, Caldwell Esselstyn Jr., dairy, Lee Fulkerson, meat, T. Colin Campbell, vegan, veganism, vegetarianism | Leave a Comment »
JUNE 2:
Wes Studi and Fred Andrews at the 2009 film festival
Fred Andrews, founder of the Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee, announced today that he was stepping down from the helm of the organization he has run for 15 years.
At a meeting requested by Andrews and attended by about 20 persons — mostly members of the Jublilee’s board of directors, advisory board and volunteers — Andrews said his resignation was effective immediately.
He said his decision was prompted both by his health — two years ago he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer — and by the belief of at least some board members that it was time for him to leave.
Andrews said he recently was approached by a long-time associate of the Jubilee “who told me I needed to step down. I’d have preferred it to be handled differently, in a conversation rather than an ultimatum.”
Continue Reading »
Posted in KC Film Scene | Tagged Fred Andrews, Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee | Leave a Comment »
For a long time gay cinema had basically one story: the coming-out tale.
But the liberalization of public attitudes about homosexuality (for most people under age 40 it’s simply not an issue) has meant that a “gay movie” now can be many things.
At the center of the Peruvian feature “Undertow” (on DVD May 31) is a same-sex relationship, but you’d be doing the picture a disservice by pigeonholing it as a gay movie.
Writer/director Javier Fuentes-Leon packs this feature with all sorts of good stuff. It’s a very realistic Continue Reading »
Posted in Art house fare, Cinema Espanol, New on DVD | Leave a Comment »
“KUNG FU PANDA 2” My rating: C
minutes | Rating: G
“Kung Fu Panda 2” is one of the most beautiful animated films ever, with fantastic action scenes, astonishingly detailed “sets” and a filmic sense worthy of any live-action epic.
It’s a good thing it’s so gorgeous, because dramatically it’s pretty much a wash.
Not awful. But not memorable.
This sequel assembles most of the voices from the first “Panda,” especially Jack Black Continue Reading »
Posted in Popcorn movies | Tagged Angelina Jolie, Dennis Haysbert, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Oldman, Jack Black, Jean Claude van Damme, Kung Fu Panda, Seth Rogen | Leave a Comment »
“THE FIRST GRADER” My rating: C
103 minutes | PG-13
“The First Grader” is well-meaning, sincere and a bit dull.
Too bad. It had the makings of a real emotional powerhouse, but somehow all the juice in this fact-based tale dried up on the way to the screen
Oliver Litono as "The First Grader'
Ann Peacock’s screenplay is based on events in the life of Kimani N’gan’ga Maruge, a Kenyan who at the age of 84 decided he wanted to learn to read and write.
His efforts to get an education set off a firestorm of controversy, Continue Reading »
Posted in Art house fare | Tagged Naomie Harris, Oliver Litono | Leave a Comment »
“QUEEN TO PLAY” My rating: B+
97 minutes | No MPAA rating | French with subtitles.
“Queen to Play” is a devastatingly romantic movie about a woman falling in love.
Not with a man. With the game of chess. And with herself.
Sandrine Bonnaire (“Vagabond,” “M. Hire”) is Helene, a working-class wife and mother. Her husband Ange (Francis Renaud) works construction, while Helene is a maid at a small hotel on their spectacularly beautiful island of Corsica. She also cleans houses.
Early in Caroline Bottaro’s debut feature, Continue Reading »
Posted in Art house fare | Tagged Caroline Bottaro, chess, Corsica, Kevin Kline, Sandrine Bonnaire | 1 Comment »
“THE HANGOVER PART II” My rating: B
102 minutes | Rating: R
In comedy funny trumps everything else.
“The Hangover Part II” isn’t smarter than, say, “Bridesmaids.” And it has little of the emotional heft of a truly great comedy like “Local Hero” or “Groundhog Day.”
But it’s still about the funniest thing to hit the screen in a long while — providing you’ve got a high threshold for raunchy outrageousness.
You can’t accuse its makers of messing around too much with a successful format. Despite a change of locale — sinful Bangkok takes the role previously played by sinful Las Vegas — this sequel is a recycling of characters and incidents from the first film. That might be a liability if it wasn’t so damn hilarious.
Continue Reading »
Posted in Popcorn movies | Tagged bangkok, bradley cooper, ed helms, hangover, ken Jeong, thailand, zach galifianakis | 1 Comment »
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The surfing documentary has been a cinema staple ever since Bruce Brown’s “Endless Summer” back in 1966, but I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything quite like “God Went Surfing with the Devil,” professional skateboarder Alexander Klein’s heady blend of Middle Eastern politics and wave-catching abandon.
Butler's Cinema Scene 