- Issue Archive for
- Feb 18-24, 2010
- Vol. 20, No. 7
News+Features
The Hot Button
This week's issue: Should the city be honoring Bush's wiretapping czar?
State of Reform
Can Harrisburg do for health care what leaders in D.C. could not?
Union Jacked
Mellon Arena workers not guaranteed jobs, or union, in new arena
Remaking the Political Map
Interested in politics, but think being a district judge is too glamorous? A party committee spot might be for you -- and there are plenty available
Food+Drink
Round Corner Cantina
A revamped Lawrenceville institution now pairs hot modern tacos with cold refreshing drinks
Music
DIY venue The Mr. Roboto Project closes its doors, hunts for new location
"We'd like to grow more, and the current space is kind of stagnant."
Scotts Roger debuts new EP and new name: The Wreckids
"Chubby girls are better in the sack / I know I'm in for something good when baby got back,"
A Conversation with St. Vincent
"I was going for something that felt cinematic and felt like Technicolor and whimsy and magic."
Brownie Mary guitarist Rich Jacques releases CD of straight-to-soundtrack songs
The album is so airlessly professional and relentlessly likeable, you find yourself hoping for a revealing fracture, some moment of musical crisis.
Newly formed industrial duo Black 13 performs at Most Wanted Fine Art
"A certain movie will [catalyze] a song -- we'll get a whole bunch of snippets from it and use that as our basis."
Melissa Ferrick's "An Evening With" show at Club Café draws on large catalog
Though a gifted musician who spent her youth playing a variety of instruments and attending music schools, it took time for her to mature as a songwriter.
On Screen
Oscar-Nominated Shorts
It's always a pleasure to relax and enjoy the short films, live action and animated, that compete for Oscars. Of course, they all try to say something, but so much has already been said that it takes a special talent to say it better. The two standouts in the live-action category include "Miracle Fish," from Australia, an eerie and effective contemplation on a disquieting phenomenon of childhood; and "Instead of Abracadabra," Patrik Eklund's whimsical tale of an inept 25-year-old magician who lives with his parents in a Swedish suburb. The animation headliner, and the longest film in the show, is "A Matter of Loaf and Death," Nick Park's new Wallace and Gromit caper. There's not much left in these characters, so you can really only enjoy Park's deft stop-motion animation and amusing visual puns. And from a trio of playful French animators, there's the delightful "Logorama," a comic action thriller set in a world where everything and everyone is a brand-name product. Live-action and animated films are shown in separate programs. In English, and various languages, with subtitles. Starts Fri., Feb. 19. Regent Square (Harry Kloman) [2.5 out of 4 stars]
The Wolfman
Actor Lawrence Talbot (Benicio del Toro) hasn't returned to his ancestral home since he was a boy, but a letter from his brother's fiancée, Gwen (Emily Blunt), draws him back. His brother has been horribly murdered, and yet his father, John Talbot (Anthony Hopkins), seems nonplussed. While investigating, Lawrence is attacked by the creature. Now when the moon is full -- which happens a lot in this film -- he turns into a wolf and goes on killing sprees. Joe Johnston's film falls short of delivering a satisfying package. A few tweaks work -- the story is now set in Victorian England, a good time for the intersection of native superstition and scientific inquiry. But other changes, such as fleshing out the protagonist's family history, are hokey and clunkily delivered. And for a film with plenty of internal organs on display, it's noticeably missing heart. The characters are so thinly sketched, it's hard to care about whether any of them live or die, much less what internal anguish they go through. The plot is timeless, but The Wolfman winds up dreary without being soulful, pedantically plotted, and -- other than better gore -- offers no improvement over the classic film. (Al Hoff) [2 out of 4 stars]
The Last Station
This endless snowy weather may have you pining to curl up on the divan with, say, a gigantic Russian novel, brimming with politics and family turmoil. But allow me to offer a similar, if shorter alternative: an entertaining parlor drama about the Russian novelist, and the complications that arise from tensions between his relatives and acolytes of his philosophy.
Michael Hoffman's film recounts the last few months of Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer) at his country manor. There, he fights with his passionate wife, Sofya (Helen Mirren), over the ultimate resolution of his lucrative estate. Having founded a movement to reject personal property, Tolstoy, with the sycophantic prodding of his colleague Chertkov (Paul Giamatti), is inclined to leave the rights to his works to the Russian people; Sofya derides such intent as posturing, and argues that his supportive family should benefit. Caught in the middle is Valentin (James McAvoy), a devout Tolstoyan who comes to serve as the master's secretary (as well as double agent for both Chertkov and Sofya).
It's all handsomely filmed, well acted, and chockfull of beguiling landscapes, the quirky interiors of the intelligentsia, and even, attractive clothes. (Count Leo is nonetheless the dashing nobleman, even in drab peasant's garb.) Foreknowledge of Tolstoy, his novels and political edicts isn't necessary: Hoffman, working from Jay Parini's novel, favors domestic crises, so Last Station can be enjoyed as a high-minded period soap opera. Plummer and Mirren have been nominated for Best Actor awards for their work here, and both are a pleasure to watch. Starts Fri., Feb. 19. Manor (Al Hoff) [3 out of 4 stars]
