The MTV Video Music Awards were televised yesterday, and, as always, the ceremony was quite the self-congratulatory spectacle and bastion of controversy, with the douchebaggery highlight of the evening going to Kanye West, as he confirmed to the world that he is an egocentric, dim-witted, poor-mannered loser when he upstaged Taylor Swift’s Best Female Video winner’s speech. Thankfully, West was booed out of the auditorium and received a glut of negative Tweets about his unsportsmanlike behavior, the best of which …
Month: September 2009
Utah State has a bye this weekend and all three local high schools have away games. What better weekend to head out to the local cinema, your DVD rental store or the Redbox and indulge in the hearty, butt-widening pastime of savoring some good old fashioned couch potato shenanigans. In theaters: The Hurt Locker (R, The Logan Art Cinema): Go see this immediately. Easily one of, if not the, best movies of 2009. Inglourious Basterds (R, University Stadium 6): Best …
Director Shane Acker, heretofore unknown, aside from his short animated films, gets a chance to bask in the limelight this week as his best-known and award-winning animated short, 9, hits the big screen revved up and strung from top-to-bottom with big-name Hollywood voice talent. And you know what? It works. From start to finish, 9 is taught, simple, exciting, not to mention lavishly animated with elaborate texture and detail. Better yet, this is all wrapped nicely into an hour and …
I only have two things to say about the the Twilight-themed corn maze at Black Island Farms in Syracuse, Utah. One, mazing around Team Jacob and Team Edward corn might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen and a definite sign that Jesus is nanoseconds from torching the earth. Two, I tip my hat to the powers-that-be at Black Island Farms because this is one damn fine marketing idea. The Twihards are going to flock to this like the maze …
Last night’s viewing of 9 was a pleasurable one from a theater-going perspective. Loud-mouthed jokers kept their traps shut, cell phones were kept silent and dark and the only loud whispering was when I told Andy to get his hand off my thigh. Buuuut… as my “assault and battery with dirty words and glances” record can attest, that’s not always the case. Especially when attending movies locally– and for a second there, I thought I might be overstating unfair aspersions, …
I absolutely loved Cormac McCarthy’s novel, The Road. Yes, it’s haunting, terrifying, disturbing and even a tad bit depressing, but it’s also full of love, care and hope. As a father, the story affected me greatly. Something about the innocence and optimism of youth buoyed in the unconditional love between a father and son and the sacrifices noble parents make to ensure their children are taught well, disciplined, safe and loved. At any rate, the film adaptation, directed by John …
Shane Acker, director of 9*, has a problem. While his student film and Oscar-nominated short of the same name is mysterious, unconventional and wondrously imaginative, it’s also very narrow-cast—an avante guard project appealing to Acker’s sensibilities and a niche handful of others who enjoy dark, fantastical settings and Hot Topic shopping sprees. The theatrical release exudes the same vibe: too dark and mature for kids, too bleak and somber for mass audience appeal and too short to build an audience …
The Hurt Locker, arguably the best film of the year, comes to the Logan Art Cinema this Friday. This is a must-see movie and I’d bet the response and traffic will be so large the head honchos at the Westates move The Hurt Locker to Movies 5 or University Stadium 6. The Logan Art Cinema is located at 785 North Main, directly west from Smith’s Marketplace. Showtime is 7:00 PM and 9:30 PM. I highly encourage you to catch this …
A new image from The Twilight Saga: New Moon hit the web today and it gets a hearty double meh from me, but probably three cartwheels and some gibbley-infested underpants from the Twihards. What does this image show or tell us? Absolutely nothing and yet everything. I don’t know about you, but I’m basking in the pasty furriness that is Edward’s (Robert Pattinson) face and the stoic, ganja-induced haze over Bella’s (Kristen Stewart) countenance. This is probably a scene in …
This March, to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope, IMAX and IMAX 3D theaters will present Hubble 3D to audiences in select IMAX cities. The movie chronicles last May’s Space Shuttle mission to repair and service the telescope, and also presents “breathtaking” imagery of distant stars, solar systems and all kinds of interstellar shenanigans. The film’s director, Toni Meyers, said this: “We have waited a long time to get the IMAX camera back into space and …