A&E
Art
Abstract Nature
February 24th, 2011
On March 5, the Southern Nevada Museum of Fine Art will present Forms Environmental, a collection of large-scale acrylic paintings by artist Marlene Tseng Yu. Although the museum’s location, on the second level of Neonopolis Complex, may scream “tourist attraction,” this nonprofit organization has been bringing fine art to locals since 2003. Read more »
Movie Review
Three Weddings and a Bohemian
Despite Giamatti’s presence, Barney’s Version loses its focus
February 24th, 2011
We’ve all heard somebody say that so-and-so’s life story should be made into a movie. But just because a producer thinks Mordecai Richler’s faux autobiography is worthy of cinematic interpretation doesn’t make it so. Debut director Richard J. Lewis gets saddled with deceptively less fertile source material in Barney’s Version than must have appeared to Paul Giamatti on paper. Giamatti plays Barney Panofsky, a nonpracticing Jew living a bohemian lifestyle in ’70s-era Italy with his bipolar wife, whose suicide sends him back to his hometown in Canada to find work as a television producer. Read more »
Movie Review
Just Plain Gross
The Farrelly Brothers flunk out with this disgusting tale of a vacation from marriage
February 24th, 2011
Hall Pass is garbage waiting for the dump truck. The latest assault on public decency from the pathetic oeuvre of the Farrelly Brothers is the same old swill, wrapped in odor-resistant disposable trash bags. What, you expected more? You thought they swallowed elegance pills? Any Farrelly Brothers flick (the word “film” does not apply) that doesn’t pander to the lowest depths of taste and intelligence would have the cinematic effect of convulsive electro-shock treatments in an insane asylum. Since no thought has been wasted on plot, narrative coherence, character development, direction, acting, technical artistry or anything that might pass for cleverness, I don’t see a point in discussing any aspect of this stinker in depth. Read more »
Movie Review
Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (G)
★★☆☆☆
February 24th, 2011
This is not a movie; it’s a very long and boring commercial. Cheesy manufactured bubble-gum-pop meets puppy love as Bieber’s 16 years are poured over in a worshipful scrapbook format. Read more »
Music
CD Reviews
Love & War, Return to the Ugly Side and Little Me Will Start a Storm
February 24th, 2011
Civet, Love & War (Hellcat); Malachai, Return to the Ugly Side (Domino); Lomond, Little Me Will Start a Storm (Tender Loving Empire) Read more »
Movie Review
Just Go With It (PG-13)
★★☆☆☆
February 24th, 2011
This often ridiculous but occasionally entertaining farce unites Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler on the big screen for the first time. Turns out, the stars have natural chemistry, but it’s not quite enough to elevate this tale—about a plastic surgeon who, caught in a lie, invents a fake marriage and casts his assistant as his wife—to anything more than a mediocre date movie. Read more »
Movie Review
Unknown (PG-13)
★★★☆☆
February 24th, 2011
This fish-out-of-water thriller is not an especially memorable film, but Liam Neeson’s performance as Dr. Martin Harris makes it entertaining. After a car accident, Martin awakens with enough memory intact to retrace his steps back to his hotel in Germany. But Martin’s wife (January Jones) doesn’t recognize him and an imposter (Aidan Quinn) has taken his place. Read more »
Movie Review
Earth Boys Aren’t Easy
A hunky alien fights for his life in the fun but dumb I Am Number Four
February 24th, 2011
It could be argued that everyone feels alien in high school. But none more so than John Smith, the protagonist of I Am Number Four, a slight but surprisingly entertaining movie based on the young adult novel of the same name by Jobie Hughes and James Frey, Oprah’s favorite memoir-exaggerating whipping boy. See, John actually is an alien (albeit one who could double for a California surfer boy) who hails from the fictional planet Lorien. Not only that, but he and the few remaining Loriens who’ve sought refuge on Earth are being hunted down and killed by a fearsome tribe of tall, tattooed predators, the Mogadorians, who invaded Lorien and extinguished its populace some years before. John is one of nine teens who were saved in order to protect their special powers, but as it turns out, Earth maybe isn’t the best hiding place. The Mogadorians have already killed off the first three. And John, well ... you know the title. Read more »
Art
A New Way to See the City
Vegas Vantage is a curated art event that builds its own synergy
February 17th, 2011
Wendy Kveck is a curator, and curators make choices. When they make inspired choices, they can guide culture forward. So in creating Vantage Vegas, Kveck’s choice of visual artists Ginger Bruner and Lisa Stamanis was only the beginning. Her culture-propelling genius was adding culinary artist Michael Jordan, poet Dayvid Figler and mixologist Michael Shetler to the mix. The theme is Las Vegas, and by choosing this group of artists, Kveck has tapped into an important curatorial practice in contemporary art—one that seeks to merge and blur the lines between art forms, reminding us that all forms are somehow related and we can embrace them together. Read more »
Music
We’ll Be Here Awhile
Even with a lower overhead, 311 keeps aiming high
February 17th, 2011
If you’re need proof that the music industry is going through some changes, look no further than 311. The superstar rock/reggae/ska band that sold 3 million copies of its 1995 self-titled album and put eight subsequent albums into Billboard’s Top 15 is without a record label. But if you’re looking for a band that will vent its spleen about the state of things in interviews, you’re looking in the wrong place. Read more »
