- Issue Archive for
- Apr 23-29, 2009
- Vol. 19, No. 16
News+Features
There Will Be Crud
Natural-gas drillers promise big dollars to Pennsylvania ... but environmentalists worry about the price to be paid.
Learning Curve
A school for troubled students is making progress, but officials say it may still need improvement.
No Comment
Public investigation into 911 center closed off by gag order
Still Fighting
Pa. LGBT anti-discrimination bill is alive, but facing more opposition
Food+Drink
Kaya Happy Hour
Half-priced drinks - and inventive veggie snacks -- deliver full enjoyment.
Red Oak Cafe
Food-as-politics matters here but this spot for quick fare trades mainly in food-as-healthy-fuel
Music
Local trio Mother Sun releases expansive debut EP
"Phantasmagoria" is easily as good as anything Sigur Rós has concocted lately.
Three Rivers Arts Festival announces schedule for "learning year"
"We want to try to have a little bit of everything. We also try to push the envelope -- a little bit."
Black Moth Super Rainbow plays free CMU show, prepares new release
"I know a sampler and a computer are essentially the same thing, but a sampler feels more real, and I can't really explain why."
Philadelphia band Dr. Dog digs PA, pop and pork products
Dr. Dog certainly pulls off that "Who is that? It's good"-Beta Band effect.
Pittsburgh's Human Quena Orchestra unleashes apocalyptic doom without the gloom
This isn't a band looking to take down humanity -- it's a band looking to pick up the pieces when humanity destroys itself.
On Screen
State of Play
Hollywood never tires of trotting out stories that pit tenacious reporters against various political conspiracies. The latest iteration is State of Play, adapted from the 2003 BBC mini-series of the same name, and directed by Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland). The story - a web of interconnected shadowy interests, power grabs and murders -- has been shifted from London to present-day Washington, D.C., and severely truncated (from six hours to just over two). State of Play's detail-packed plot makes watching the film like reading a comic book, where every panel boasts breathless action with little space in between for reflection, context, motivation or character development. So even though State has some worthy actors on its slate, nobody gets much to do other than dispensing enough queries and answers to keep the twisty plot corkscrewing forward. Everything feels very rote; there's no sense that the characters really have anything at stake, other than meeting a deadline. Still, I'm a fan of political thrillers, even when they're in the so-so zone, like this one. I wish this one had been better, but it was just another reasonably entertaining, don't-think-too-hard time-killer. (AH) [2 out of 4 stars]
Katyn
In September 1939, Poland found itself between the Germans and the Russians: Which way should people run? Who could they better trust with their lives? Andrzej Wajda begins his story with exactly this dilemma, which results in 20,000 Polish officers being taken prisoner by the Russians, as the Germans occupy the country. The officers were later executed, and years of cover-up commenced. Katyn is a historical drama with a straightforward agenda at its core, and it's almost too beautiful for its subject matter: the cinematography, while dark, has crisp edges and painterly shadows. Wajda and his co-scenarists write some nuanced dialogue early on before settling into dramatic exposition. The climax of Katyn returns to 1940, where one officer's diary walks us through the massacre, which is as stark as it could be. Wajda follows it with a full minute of a black screen and the sound of a dirge, and then, the closing credits and silence. His message in Katyn is clear: Fascism and communism are the same thing, and Poland needs to write its own history. If he's a little redundant in telling us this, it can't hurt to hear it again, especially from this lion of Polish cinema. In Polish, German and Russian, with subtitles. Starts Fri., April 24. Regent Square (HK) [3 out of 4 stars]
Gooby
Wilson Coneybeare's movie doesn't bring anything new or exciting to the genre. But its basic tale of a kid who learns to better manage his fears, friends and parents is harmless enough. Willy is petrified about moving to a new house, but finds his troubles smoothed by the appearance of his childhood bear, Gooby, now a 6-foot-tall, talking, furry mischief-maker. (Gooby is voiced by Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane, and I'm sure associations to his other role as Harry Potter's huge, hairy, mischief-making friend, Hagrid, are welcome.) Adults won't get many surprises, but the family-affirming story, while a bit clunky, is well paced and free of product placement. Starts Mon., April 27. Carmike 10 (South Hills) and Wynnsong 12 (Delmont). (AH) [2 out if 4 stars]
The Informers
Gregor Jordan's ensemble dramedy-cautionary tale-slick sleaze-fest is set among the rich movie-biz folks in Los Angeles circa 1983. (It's adapted from Bret Ellis Easton's novel, and Easton co-wrote the screenplay.) The beautiful youth (among them Jon Foster, Lou Taylor Pucci and a barely clothed Amber Heard) spend their time modeling Ray-Bans, doing drugs and having multi-partner sex. Whoo, we're dead inside. Their parents (among them Kim Basinger, Billy Bob Thornton and Chris Isaak) have already calcified into brittle, frantic has-beens. Circling this orbit are a TV newscaster (Winona Ryder), a bad guy from Barstow (Mickey Rourke) and a drug-addled British rock star (Mel Raido) and his manager (Rhys Ifans). I get that it's meant to be a portrait of assorted Neros fidldling -- heard about this new gay cancer? -- but really, who cares about these people? Watch if you must for the laughably bad scenes; the intertwining plots that dare to shock (ooh!) and then simply peter out; and the ample nudity. Ironically, most of the time The Informers simply resembles the shiny, shallow lifestyle it's purporting to critique. Starts Fri., April 24. (AH) [1.5 out of 4 stars]
Serbis
Brillante Mendoza's day-in-the-life Filipino drama is set almost entirely within the confines of a cavernous, decrepit movie theater, run by an extended family who also make their home within its crumbling warrens. It's an all-hands-on-deck affair, from selling tickets to declogging the toilet to running a street-level fast-food café. The venue shows heterosexual porn, but its primary clientele are gay men who use the interior's dark nooks for sexual assignations. The theater's open lobby is virtually the sidewalk, and purse-snatchers and goats have no trouble drifting in.
The concept and depiction of this curious live-work arrangement is fascinating, and perhaps more so than the lightly sketched plot, which mostly covers the banalities of the day. Mendoza's handheld cameras often follow the characters in real time, up so many stairs, in sequences that take longer than the film's few dramatic revelations. While Serbis may lack in plot, Mendoza chooses to compensate with murky and mucky atmosphere: The film resonates with street noise, as well as virtual humidity and funky smells you're almost sure your nose detects.
We just get fleeting depictions of the sprawling family, which is deteriorating much like the decades-old movie theater. It's no surprise to learn that it's the two older women, each of whom soldiers through her life's disappointments, who are buttressing each structure. The theater (named "Family") and its inhabitants seem allegorical, depicting some stratum of urban Filipinos not just stagnating, but likely sliding backward. Traffic passes by ceaselessly outside, while members of the family retreat into ever-darker corners. Ultimately, only one character makes a break for the outside. Maybe. In several Filipino dialects, with subtitles. Starts Fri., April 24. Harris (AH) [2.5 out of 4 stars]
17 Again
Yes girls -- Zac goes shirtless in the first minute, followed soon after by a cute, booty-shaking dance number. And while young Mr. Efron works hard for the rest of Burt Steer's switcheroo comedy, he's never quite as dreamy and adorable as when he's boogie-ing across the gym floor. (Hey, they should make a musical about high school!) An unhappy guy in his 30s (Matthew Perry), with an unhappy wife and two unhappy teen-age children, is magically turned into a perky 17-year-old (Efron). He still has his old-guy brain, so the new young dude sets out to repair the damage, befriending his kids (now his high school mates) and making his wife (now his friends' mom) feel special. All this intergenerational canoodling veers dangerously close to icky (and pretty much defies how anybody interacts in the real world). Efron has his charms -- this is likely just an inconsequential transitional movie for him -- but the story and his life-lessons are pretty shopworn. Reno 911's Thomas Lennon, as a nerd-turned-zillionaire, offers a few laughs and the odd bit of Elvish. (AH) [2 out of 4 stars]
Art
The Frick's The Road to Impressionism gorgeously illustrates a slice of painting history.
To weigh Breton's laughing peasant girls against Millet's tired, ruddy laborers is to juxtapose the smiling housewife from a Mr. Clean commercial with the Hazelwood woman on the 11 o'clock news.
Views
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Pittsburgh n'@
Dispatches from the local blogosphere: Pens fans pucked over by NBC.
