Movies
Pop Culture
Liberace and His Rhinestone Rappers
On the eve of a Soderbergh biopic, looking back to the OG of ghetto glitter
May 21st, 2013
When Macklemore raps, Yo, that’s $50 for a T-shirt, of his Gucci-sporting contemporaries in newfound cultural touchstone “Thrift Shop,” he just sounds so damn sad. Read more »
Movies
Apocalypse Soon
According to seven movies this summer, we’re on borrowed time. But don’t fret—'Linda Lovelace' and the 'Smurfs' are here to distract you.
May 21st, 2013
Since “summer” is swiftly ceasing to mean anything as a time of year, what with the soaring temperatures from April through October and the ever-increasing chance of giant ice-ball rain (also known as hail) in July, it is all the more crucial that we take our cues from popular culture, letting the most anticipated movies act as our seasonal barometer. Three-hour historical biopic starring Philip Seymour Hoffman? Wear a sweater; it’s getting nippy. Really horrible-looking thriller starring a Wahlberg? Happy President’s Day! The Hangover Part III followed by a reboot of the Superman franchise? Slap on some sunscreen, because it’s time to stick an upside-down Corona in your frozen margarita. Read more »
Movies
‘Star Trek’ is Fleet Footed
J.J. Abrams’ reboot is fast and fun
May 17th, 2013
It’s lame and sort of geeky to compare franchise apples to oranges. Oh, well. Star Trek Into Darkness does everything Iron Man 3 tries to do, in the realm of global terrorism imagery reprocessed for popcorn kicks, but with a little more style, a dash more brio and invention. Read more »
Movies
Funny ‘Peeples’
‘Meet The Parents’ knock-off follows a charming formula
May 10th, 2013
Peeples is an African-American Meet the Parents that slips funnyman Craig Robinson into the Ben Stiller role. Casting the musically minded Robinson in this formula comedy about screwing up your first encounter with your potential in-laws is like replacing Stiller’s Greg Focker with Jack Black. Read more »
Movies
The Not-So-Great ‘Gatsby’
Baz Luhrmann’s novel adaptation chooses 3-D style over substance
May 10th, 2013
Even if it’s true, let’s forget the “great American novel” business regarding The Great Gatsby for a minute. What makes F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, published in the spring of 1925 but set three years earlier, such a haunted portrait of a time, a place and a Lost Generation dream? Read more »
Movies
UNLV Prof Helped Keep 'The Great Gatsby' Costumers Accurate
May 7th, 2013
Deirdre Clemente combined her passion for vintage fashion with her love of Jazz Age chronicler F. Scott Fitzgerald to become the leading expert in the topic. Little surprise that the associate director of the UNLV public history program was tapped to costume-consult on the upcoming The Great Gatsby. No literary purist, Clemente loves director Baz Luhrmann and can’t wait to see his interpretation of the classic book. Fans of fashion past can visit Clemente’s website FitzgeraldAndFashion.com, or her Vegas Style show at Nevada State Museum at the Springs Preserve through May 31. And, no, she didn’t get to meet Leonardo DiCaprio. Read more »
Movies
Iron Man 3 Offers Enough Fun to Keep Series Alive
May 3rd, 2013
A little too much and a little not enough, director and co-writer Shane Black’s Iron Man 3 nonetheless has everything Disney and Marvel need to keep the Avengers superhero constellation shining and regenerating well into the 23rd century. Read more »
Movies
'The Big Wedding' is a Big Bore
Like real weddings, you sit through the event for the sake of the actors involved
April 26th, 2013
The diversions in the ensemble comedy The Big Wedding (that title flat enough for you?) are strictly actor-related, which is usually the case at the movies. For example, the way Diane Keaton selects an asparagus spear at a country club buffet while delivering some dutiful expositional something or other. Or the rumpled panache with which Robert De Niro, playing the Keaton character’s ex-husband, adapts to a different sort of role than he’s used to playing: that of the unreliable horndog trying to get by on charm. Read more »
Movies
'Pain & Gain' is Jacked Up
This is director Michael Bay’s brain on steroids
April 26th, 2013
In America, you’re either a “doer” or a “don’t-er.” So says the hostile motivational speaker played by Ken Jeong, one of several supporting sleazebags tipping around the edges of director Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain. Read more »
Movies
End of Days (and Ideas)
Tom Cruise stars in post-apocalyptic sci-fi rehash 'Oblivion'
April 19th, 2013
Something’s wrong. Tom Cruise, or rather, Jack Harper, his character in the placid new science-fiction adventure Oblivion, can’t shake his dreams of a woman giving him the big eyes on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Read more »
