Category > FilmReviews
Red Tails is a film that has been George Lucas’s passion project for the past two decades. The problem with passion projects is that they can be hard to finance. The other issue inherent with making a passion project like Red Tails is that it stars an all African-American cast, and studio executives don’t believe that a film with minorities as the main characters can appeal to an international audience.
| While writing parts one and two of this series, I learned that Chester Street Bar has weekly drag shows, and I hadn’t seen any of them! Well, this could not stand. So, immediately following our long, winter break, I contacted Tommy Williams — the assistant manager and organizer of drag shows at C-Street — and asked to attend a show. He responded with not just a friendly “yes,” but also an offer to comp. my ticket and set me up …
Until very recently, my limited knowledge of drag shows came from films like Victor/Victoria and The Birdcage. I wasn’t avoiding the shows of course, but I hadn't attended any locally, and traveling to Chicago to see them wasn’t really in my budget. Eventually, through some friends, I came across the name Leiloni Stars. She was this fabulous woman who often posted on a friend’s Facebook page. One day, she said something funny on my friend’s page, and I joked with …
My Ántonia, now playing at the Station Theatre in Urbana, takes Willa Cather’s classic novel about the struggles of pioneers on the plains of Nebraska and brings it beautifully to life. The play, adapted by Urbana native Jarrett Dapier and directed by Gary Ambler and Joi Hoffsommer, excels in both performances and technical aspects, and I recommend it to everyone, whether you’re familiar with the novel or not.
Way Off Broadway follows a group of community theater actors as they put on a show for a visiting Broadway producer, in the hopes of hitting it big. The show was written and directed by Mike Trippiedi, who has been acting, directing, and writing at the Station since 1975. Before seeing the play, and after I’d read a summary of the show, I was instantly reminded of the plot of Christopher Guest’s mockumentary Waiting for Guffman. So, while the concept …
I need to be up front about the fact that I’m not as familiar with Tennessee Williams as I should be. And this is triply shameful: I majored in English in college; I grew up in the South; I’m queer. But here I am, reviewing Tennessee Williams’ Battle of Angels. Fortunately, the director of this play (Tom Mitchell) is an expert. This is the fifth early play by Williams that he’s directed for the Department of Theatre, so we’re in …
Dead Man’s Cell Phone, playing this weekend and next week at Parkland Community College, takes perhaps the most universal and harrowing question — what happens when we die? — and constructs a quirky narrative that examines our relationships with one another and the way our ever-growing obsession with technology is dividing, rather than uniting us.
Earth root him near meEarth make him stayEarth root him near meNever go away (Toulou in Hoodoo Love) Most of us are surely familiar with the deep-seated discrimination and wretched poverty that African Americans endured in the south during the 1930s: The Jim Crow laws that kept them disenfranchised and ignorant for decades, the casual violence, and the institutional discrimination that caused such desperate poverty. In her play Hoodoo Love, Katori Hall shows us that 1930s African American culture itself …
I wasn't sure what to expect when I walked into Urbana's Station Theater last Thursday night to see the premier of Yasmina Reza's, God of Carnage. Given the title, I had the vague notion that the play was to be some kind of ancient Greek epic with elevated dialogue and lengthy battles that resulted in the bursting of hundreds of blood packets. Naturally I was surprised, and even a little bit relived, to find the stage set up as a …
One of the most influential and prolific playwrights of the 20th century, Tennessee Williams didn't just write classics like A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. He was also a poet, novelist, and screenwriter, and wrote more than 70 one-act plays. This week, Parkland Theatre brings eight of those one-acts to life in Tennessee at 100. Two separate performances feature four plays each, as well as readings of Williams' poetry and prose interspersed …
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great. another TGIF documentary.
This movie is a throwback in the best possible way. Such a delight. By the last scene, I was actually grinning ear to ear!
There are plenty of war movies that do not show one second of fighting or death or blood. There are many feel good war movies. This movie is meant to be inspirational and uplifting. I don’t watch the boondocks because that show is degrading and racist. I…
I think Cameron and scorsese are addicted to the innovations of movies rather than the actual movies themselves. As we saw in Avatar. The look was amazing but the tale was as old as time haha. And as far as Scorsese is concerned he’s made plenty of…
thank gha’al for dan hill
You are right, the Scorsese “vision” of the future is much more horrifying. This actually surprises me because Cameron seems like the MOAR MOAR MOAR TECHNLOGY!!! guy. What does Scorsese even mean “there is no subject matter that can’t absorb 3D?” Yeah a sensitive love story could…
What type of war movie is a “feel good” movie. Look out Hitla, here we come!!!! That doesn’t make them seem as educated men like the Tuskeegee were. Take that Mista Hitla… It was garbage and a the Boondocks creator wrote the script. Have you ever heard…
Speaking of James Cameron…I was going to link this article but decided that the one with Scorsese was much more disheartening: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialsections/40th-anniversary/James-Cameron-on-the-Future-of-Cinema.html
This movie is in black and white (although it was shot in color and then postprocessed into B&W), is in a TV-style 4x3 aspect ratio, has nothing in the way of special effects, and nary a sound (beyond the musical score) is heard. Even the frame rate…
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Pamela - Are the roasteries in Seattle as clean as CSR? It always disturbs me a little that it is so clean in there.
Now you will be able to munch on pizza and shrimp cocktails in downtown Urbana (whilst a DJ spins?) after your dissolution of marriage http://www.news-gazette.com/news/business/features/its-your-business/2012-02-05/its-your-business-new-pizza-place-downtown-urban Is this a franchise of a Reno pizza joint, or just a coincidence of name? http://www.blackrockpizza.com
Signs someone is “fishing” for a factual anchor: 1. Starts call to radio with: “I’ve been an Illini fan for (XX) years” or “I’m a diehard fan,” as if somehow that unverifiable claim will justify the 5 minutes of B.S. that follows. 2. Makes reference to KenPom…
That’s what she said.
Black dog and Siam terrace is where I always go after my divorces.
Love CSR. Apart from making my way through the regular roasts in 1/2 pound increments, I also like to pick up some of the little sample packets of the flavored stuff for when the lady and I feel like getting crazy. Sticky Bun is pretty nice.
If you happen to be getting a divorce, or fighting a DUI prosecution, downtown Urbana is a great place to eat.
HUUUUUUGE fan of their Black Velvet roast…It makes up about 75% of my coffee intake. LOL CSR is definitely one of those Champaign institutions that I brag about to people not from here. :-)
We like CSR too! We french press at home and I leave the lid off while it steeps—letting the ground beans bloom. Then, like in your tasting, I scoop off the top layer before pressing. We really need to invest in a burr grinder though, as I…
Confidential? In this state? Hahahahahahahhahahaha
just confirmed: there will be white russians served. the art abides.
big lebowski at the art. mark it, dude.
There’s a great video promo out for “Company” too: http://vimeo.com/36077847
Wow, His Majesty took the time to answer your polite plea. It’s been a while since I spoke fluent arrogance, but allow this attempt at a translation: “I deeply regret the embarrassment…” = I wish we hadn’t got caught and it wasn’t a big deal really. “...and…
I love the Guitars
I had their tea at the Urbana Farmer’s Market when they first started out and it was great! Their tins recently caught my eye at Walnut Street Tea Company and my guests used it all up before I could even try it! Way to go Tiesta, stay…
Im fine with missing ingredients and of course they fixed things what restaurant fights with the customer over things like that anymore. ( the way social media could affect them) My problem is that I am visiting you place of business within the first week of opening.…
Thanks for that, Louis CK.
Your call to stay pissed is precisely why global warming fanatics will fail. Emotion has no place in hard science. The problem with the issue of global warming is that is has been pumped full of emotion and politics, and the science is becoming a by-product. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204301404577171531838421366.html?KEYWORDS=global+warming
Clearly the Postal Officials in favor of this cannot make an economic argument, as this saves the post office $0. What is their rationale?
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Soo is smile politely in the business of editing comments? Interesting. Way to preserve our 1st am.