STAR TREK, (2009, directed by J.J. Abrams, 126 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC No doubt about it, audiences are going to be purring like Tribbles as they step aboard this refitted Enterprise to go boldly back to the future to witness the formation of Captain Kirk’s legendary crew. Blessed with that rarest of qualities, CGI effects that actually dazzle, Star Trek‘s rebooted new voyage zips around with the giddy energy you wish had enlivened the last Star Wars trilogy. Amid all this energy (and surprisingly, scads of slapstick shtick) one can’t help but mourn the passing of the […]
BEING THERE: The Good News Flower Hour
This week: The last pig in Afghanistan, shit blowing up in Pakistan, anal torture in the UAE, face transplants in the USA, and Joe the Plumber is an assclown. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll come and go. Episode 20 coming later today.
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR In his new film Outrage, Academy Award-nominated director Kirby Dick (This Film Is Not Yet Rated) turns his camera on some of the nation’s most powerful policymakers — politicians, in both legislatures and executive suites, who live what some say are closeted gay lives while chalking up what activists describe as deplorably anti-gay voting records. Dick says he wants to “highlight the hypocrisy” by consulting openly gay politicians and journalists for their insights while talking to insiders about what they know. Dicks previous documentary films include This Film is Not Yet Rated, which looks at the byzantine world […]
EXIT THE FATMAN: Dom Deluise Dead At 75
WASHINGTON POST: Dom DeLuise, 75, the rotund comic actor whose frequent television appearances in the 1960s and 1970s helped propel a career in films in which he often teamed with director Mel Brooks and actor Burt Reynolds, died May 4 at a hospital in Santa Monica, Calif. He had high blood pressure and diabetes, a family spokesman said. Mr. DeLuise had a broad, slapstick style of physical humor that was derived largely from his idol, Jackie Gleason. He was a master improviser of throwaway lines, gestures and bug-eyed looks of surprise delivered with casually perfect timing. He often played outlandish […]
Feds Probe John Edwards Hush Money Allegations
WASHINGTON POST: The news that former senator John Edwards is under federal investigation for possibly using campaign dollars as hush money for his mistress is simply the latest blow to a man who rose faster and fell harder than almost anyone in modern political history. The North Carolina Democrat acknowledged in a statement to the Raleigh News & Observer that the U.S. Attorney’s office is looking into whether any of the money donated to his campaign was used to keep film maker Rielle Hunter, with whom Edwards had admitted an affair, quiet about their relationship. “I am confident that no […]
WEEK IN REVIEW: The Good News Flower Hour
The Good News Flower Hour #19 The week that was in just five minutes! Prepare to smile. You know you wanna.
CINEMA: Heavy Metal Blunder
ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL (2009, directed by Sacha Gervasi, 90 minutes, U.S.) X-MEN ORIGINS: THE WOLVERINE (2009, directed by Gavin Hood, 107 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Audiences seem torn between laughter and admiration when introduced to the Canadian metal band Anvil, the unlikely stars of this critically acclaimed new documentary. In the early 80’s the band briefly ran with giants like Metallica and Bon Jovi. Where many bands around them climbed the highest peaks of success, Anvil has soldiered on through a couple of decades of unbroken decline, still playing regularly at sports bars and weddings, […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR In his new documentary, called simply Tyson, filmmaker James Toback turns his camera on Mike Tyson — the controversial former heavyweight boxing champion. Tyson, infamous for taking a bite out of Evander Holyfield’s ear in 1997 — and for his 1992 rape conviction — talks directly to Toback’s camera, telling his own story in between excerpts of archival footage from his life and career. Toback, the screenwriter behind Bugsy and director of films including Two Girls and a Guy, has been Tyson’s friend since the boxer was 19 years old; Tyson premiered in 2008 at the Cannes Film […]
TONY CONRAD Q&A: Minimalism Is Less Than Zero
BY JONATHAN VALANIA In 1965 Tony Conrad moved out of his New York City apartment, and like many people moving out he left behind a few items, one of which was a book. This is notable for three reasons: First, his roommate was John Cale, a classically-trained violist with a taste for the avant garde who, like Conrad, was a member of the Theater Of Eternal Music, a downtown collective of music-makers exploring infinite drone, endless improvisation and multi-media freakouts. Second, when Conrad moved out, Lou Reed moved in. Third, the book he left behind was a smutty S&M novel […]
WEEKEND UPDATE: The Good News Flower Hour
The Good News Flower Hour #18 Oh noes!
CINEMA: One Is The Loneliest Number You’ll Ever Do
THE SOLOIST (2009, directed by Joe Wright, 109 minutes, U.S.) EARTH (2007, directed by Alastair Fothergill & Mark Linfield, 96 MIinutes, U.S./U.K.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC This is what Oscar-bait looks like when things go wrong. A true story based on the popular best seller of the same name, The Soloist stars Jaime Foxx as Nathaniel Ayers, a mentally ill former Julliard student who is discovered playing music on the streets by L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.). Over time they strike up a mutually beneficial friendship which supplies the homeless Mr. Ayers with some much-needed stability […]
WEEK IN REVIEW: The Good News Flower Hour
The Good News Flower Hour #17 Better late than never. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you might even learn something.
CINEMA: Triple Play!
STATE OF PLAY (2009, directed by Kevin McDonald, 127 minutes, U.S.) IN A DREAM (2008, directed by Jeremiah Zagar, 80 minutes, U.S.) AMARCORD (1973, directed by Federico Fellini, 127 minutes, Italy) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Russell Crowe is the gladiator of the fictional Washington Globe in State of Play, a new thriller based on the BBC miniseries of the same name. From the bustling newsroom we glide through in the film’s opening to the montage of headlines going to press at the close, this unimaginative yet sturdy whodunit seems almost quaint in the face of the collapse of print […]