http://www.thedailypage.com/movies Movie content from ISTHMUS | The Daily Page webmaster@isthmus.com (Webmaster) Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:03:36 CDT Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=23236 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=23236 After 'lt;i'gt;Iron Man'lt;/i'gt; and 'lt;i'gt;Hancock'lt;/i'gt;, you wouldn't think there's much left to say about superheroes who've neglected to go to finishing school. But now here's 'lt;i'gt;Hellboy II: The Golden Army'lt;/i'gt;, a sequel to 2004's 'lt;i'gt;Hellboy'lt;/i'gt;, and not only has writer-director Guillermo del Toro come up with something to say, he's said it in so extravagant a way that, if I were Batman, I'd consider holing up in the Batcave until this thing blows over. Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=23237 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=23237 'lt;p'gt; What goes around comes around. That's the message I'm taking from 'lt;i'gt;Ripple Effect'lt;/i'gt;, Philippe Caland's karma-driven account of an L.A.-based fashion designer (Caland himself) who can't hit the big-time until he's cleared the accounts on a hit-and-run accident he was involved in 15 years ago. Perhaps only in La La Land would money play such a major role in the interconnectedness of things. But Caland, who also produced the movie and wrote the script, tries to avoid the charge of complete cravenness by making the story about caring for something other than money - you know, like people and stuff. Of course, this is a guy who once made a movie (Hollywood Buddha) about not having landed a major distributor for his previous movie (Dead Girl), so he may have a slightly different meaning for the phrase 'quot;pay it forward.'quot; 'lt;/p'gt; Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=23171 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=23171 What can you say about the legendary Hunter S. Thompson that hasn't been said a thousand times before? He was a red Cadillac speeding down the highways and byways of the American Dream, his turbo-charged prose fueled by alcohol and.... Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=23173 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=23173 They don't make 'em like they used to, but they keep tryin'. 'lt;i'gt;The Children of Huang Shi'lt;/i'gt; is supposed to be one of those large-canvas, exotic-locations, cast-of-thousands epics à la 'lt;i'gt;Lawrence of Arabia'lt;/i'gt;. And, technically speaking, the ingredients are all there. The canvas is suitably large, the locations are suitably exotic, and the cast includes hundreds, if not thousands, of Japanese and Chinese extras. But the script's a real turkey. Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=23117 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=23117 You've got to hand it to Pixar, the friendly folks behind such movies as 'lt;i'gt;Toy Story'lt;/i'gt;, 'lt;i'gt;Finding Nemo'lt;/i'gt;, 'lt;i'gt;The Incredibles'lt;/i'gt; and 'lt;i'gt;Ratatouille'lt;/i'gt;: They never rest on their laurels. They've revolutionized the world of animation and made billions of dollars doing it, but they keep pushing themselves and keep pushing us. ('lt;i'gt;Ratatouille'lt;/i'gt; was a rat, for crissakes.) With 'lt;i'gt;WALL-E'lt;/i'gt;, their latest release, they almost seem to be pushing us aside. Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=23118 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=23118 What do you get when you mix a superhero with an anti-hero? Super-Anti-Hero-Man! And although that idea was already floated this summer, with great success, in Iron Man, here's Hancock, an action-comedy that features a superhero so anti-heroic even kids, who should love him, think he's an asshole. We first see Hancock on a Los Angeles street, out cold, sleeping off the night before, like some derelict who just happens to have super-strength and the ability to fly. But the fact that he's played by Will Smith, the most likable guy on the face of the planet right now, suggests that a makeover is in the offing. Indeed it is, in a movie that, like Hancock himself, has its share of problems but nevertheless rises to the occasion, soaring above our comic-book-movie expectations. Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=23053 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=23053 One of these days we'll run out of old TV shows to resurrect, and then what will we do? In its late-'60s heyday, 'lt;i'gt;Get Smart'lt;/i'gt; was always good for a laugh. Don Adams delivered his lines like they were stray bullets whizzing toward the wrong targets, and the spy-versus-spy high jinks engaged in by CONTROL and KAOS were a nice joke on the similar shenanigans engaged in by the CIA and the KGB. But that was then, and this is now -- well, maybe not. Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=23054 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=23054 Claude Lelouch is the Robin Leach of French cinema, a gold-plated peephole into the lives of the rich and famous, with their yachts and caviar and graceful lunges toward l'amour. He's still best known in this country for that old tub of Dream Whip, 1966's A Man and a Woman. But with Roman de Gare, his latest opus to come our way, Lelouch seems to have reinvented himself - literally, in the sense that he wrote and directed it under a pseudonym, metaphorically in the sense that this isn't the kind of movie we expect from him. Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=22993 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=22993 Something's happening in 'lt;i'gt;The Happening'lt;/i'gt;, a mystery that nobody can adequately explain, and I'm not talking about the airborne toxin that's turning the industrial Northeast into a mass grave of suicide victims. I'm talking about the complete disintegration of M. Night Shyamalan as a director. Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:00:00 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=22994 http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=22994 Like a cork borne along by the tide, Jellyfish floats toward you for 78 minutes, then goes on its bleakly merry way. Why it's called Jellyfish I'm not quite sure, since it doesn't have much of a sting. But it's surprisingly buoyant for a movie about the lost connections between parents and children, husbands and wives, who we'd like to be and who we turned out to be. Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:23:25 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=23281 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=23281 The latest visit to Madison by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to consecrate the new temple at Deer Park Buddhist Center is attracting plenty of interest this week. The Dane County Coliseum was filled for a public talk by the eminent religious leader last Saturday, while the grounds of the Alliant Energy Center have been busy since with teachings, athletic competitions, and cultural programs for the Tibetan Buddhist community in Wisconsin. The media has been following the visit too, though it's not merely local and religious outlets that are paying attention. Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:00:38 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=23259 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=23259 Roger Donaldson, that top-chop Aussie-bred action/crime director, tools up a really good one with 'lt;i'gt;The Bank Job'lt;/i'gt;: a fast, slick, smart and very entertaining heist/crime thriller that works on nearly very level. Set in the '70s and based on fact, it's the story of a seemingly ordinary bank robbery that goes shockingly awry when the robbers (led by Jason Statham) accidentally stumble onto safety deposit boxes that contain explosive material: high-level scandals and dark secrets for which some of the owners are ready to kill. Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:25:34 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=23216 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=23216 It's Christmas in July for gamers, as the video game industry holds the annual E3 Media and Business Summit this week in Los Angeles. Developers showcase and promote their latest releases to retailers and gaming media at the tradeshow, as well as announce upcoming games still in the production pipeline, an event that's become wildly successful at building buzz in this growing universe of entertainment culture. One new title drawing attention is 'lt;i'gt;Singularity'lt;/i'gt;, the latest big game that can call Madison its birthplace. Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:12:21 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=23210 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=23210 Last summer on the final day of August, the Madison-based rock label Crustacean Records hosted a showcase at the High Noon Saloon featuring performances by the bands Screamin' Cyn Cyn 'amp; the Pons, Ouija Radio, The Gusto, Droids Attack and Things Fall Apart. Several months later in the middle of last December, the label presented John Kruth 'amp; the Destructone Orchestra, Drunk Drivers, Awesome Snakes, The Skintones and Mad Trucker Gone Mad for another special show at the east side venue. All ten bands' performances at both concerts were shot live for a new DVD being released by the label. Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:30:11 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=22832 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=22832 Shawn Johnson got an unexpected query back on February 11. The Director of Edgewood College Career Services was expecting a Monday like any other when a call from Chicago came into her office. Joan Philo Casting needed student interns to help with selecting extras for the production of 'lt;i'gt;Public Enemies'lt;/i'gt; in Wisconsin, and needed them fast. Tue, 06 May 2008 12:19:02 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=22550 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=22550 As the 'lt;i'gt;Public Enemies'lt;/i'gt; production took over the Capitol Square on Monday, crowds gathered along the sidewalks and peripheries of the set to watch the spectacle. As the morning progressed, my fellow onlookers' morning coffee kicked in and their hunger for celebrity sightings intensified. Though many in the crowd hoped for a peek at Christian Bale or Billy Crudup, others sat patiently looking for their loved ones in the swarm of cast and crew members. Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:47:01 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=23062 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=23062 Awkward sexual harassment in the workplace reenactment videos, flamboyant 1980s exercise tapes, and ridiculous home movies unite in the latest edition of the Found Footage Festival, a touring collection of discarded video clips that are, usually unintentionally, gut-bustingly funny. Returning Madison for the third time with their show, Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett meld ironic chuckles with the 'quot;old school charm'quot; of stumbling upon strange discoveries. Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:15:09 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=22851 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=22851 'quot;If you show it, they will come.'quot; That's been Tom Yoshikami's experience with Rooftop Cinema at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art over the last couple of years. The UW-Madison grad student who has helped program the Wisconsin Film Festival and UW Cinematheque in recent years launched a summer series of outdoor film screenings on the roof of the downtown museum shortly after its 2006 opening. The response was immediate and enthusiastic, with capacity crowds viewing a variety of short experimental and avant-garde films under the stars both that summer and last. Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:03:27 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=23065 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=23065 Modern film noir with an Irish-British twist is served up with tough grace and skill in playwright and short-film Oscar-winner Martin McDonagh's 'lt;i'gt;In Bruges'lt;/i'gt;, a sweet, salty thriller about two Irish hired killers (nervy Colin Farrell, melancholy Brendan Gleeson) who bungle a job and are stashed for a while, at Christmas, in the stunning Belgian medieval city, Bruges, by their infuriated Brit/London boss (Ralph Fiennes). Like most really good noirs, 'lt;i'gt;In Bruges'lt;/i'gt; is obviously hell-bent and doom-drenched. Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:18:43 -0500 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=23002 http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=23002 Carmen Miranda, the Brazilian bombshell of 20th Century Fox's '40s musicals, was the ultimate showstopper. Though she was a genuine star -- and one of Hollywood's main trump cards in grabbing a share of the wartime South American market -- she never really played leads. Instead, she acted as an explosive sidekick for the Alice Fayes and Betty Grables, or as a femme fatale, either way deliberately fracturing the English language, rattling off Portuguese dialogue a mile a minute and then coming on and blowing away audiences with her fruit bowl hats, tight tropical dresses and machine gun delivery.