August 20th, 2024
By Greg Carlson
Set between the events of the original 1979 “Alien” and its propulsive 1986 sequel “Aliens,” the latest installment in the long-running series is called “Alien: Romulus.” Uruguayan-born director and co-writer Fede Alvarez, no stranger to franchise filmmaking, understands Disney/Fox’s assignment: “Romulus” functions as a blend of standard genre beats and as a loose refresh of Ridley Scott’s classic. The result is a mostly…
August 12th, 2024
By Greg Carlson
The behind-the-scenes drama swirling around Vera Drew’s feature directorial debut “The People’s Joker” has provided nearly as much excitement as the movie itself, an entertaining DIY bildungsroman built from bits and pieces of the decades-long media juggernaut driven by the mythology surrounding the most consistently popular American comic book character of the last century: Bruce Wayne’s Gotham City alter ego we know as the Batman. In…
August 6th, 2024
By Greg Carlson
Vivacious, candid, and magnetic as ever, the now 83-year-old silver screen legend Faye Dunaway is profiled in a feature length documentary by veteran Laurent Bouzereau for HBO. With the full participation of the outspoken star and her son Liam, Bouzereau’s “Faye” cherry-picks key milestones that form a serviceable overview of one of the most electrifying American movie icons to emerge in the class of late 1960s New Hollywood talents. The most…
August 3rd, 2024
By Greg Carlson
Writer/director/performer Kit Zauhar’s indieworld ascendancy continues its upward trajectory with sophomore feature “This Closeness,” which enjoyed a limited theatrical release this summer following a world premiere at South by Southwest in 2023. The movie is now available on streaming platform MUBI. The action unfolds in a cheap, two-bedroom apartment in Philadelphia that is being offered by Adam (Ian Edlund) as a kind of Airbnb/homestay spot…
July 26th, 2024
By Greg Carlson
Even though he is only fifty years old, Osgood “Oz” Perkins has been linked to the legacy of his father’s titanic portrayal of Norman Bates for more than four decades, when he appeared onscreen in 1983 as the younger version of Bates in “Psycho II.” As an adult, Perkins has now put together a trio of attention-grabbing feature projects as writer-director (with another, an adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Monkey,” on the way). “
July 8th, 2024
By Greg Carlson
With the welcome participation of several actors who gave their giddy all in the more exuberant fantasia of “Poor Things,” the follow-up from Greek auteur Yorgos Lanthimos returns to the more measured melancholy and surrealist stylings of “The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” “The Lobster,” and “Dogtooth.” “Kinds of Kindness” is an anthology of three dark and woeful tales in which the central cast members play new roles each time the…
July 7th, 2024
By Greg Carlson
Originally conceived by writer-director Christy Hall as a stage play, the movie “Daddio” premiered in September of 2023 at the Telluride Film Festival. Featuring Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn as the only two significant characters with spoken dialogue in a credited cast of four (a curbside valet connects rider to car and we briefly glimpse a little girl in an adjacent vehicle), the story traces a late-night, near real-time journey from JFK to a…
June 24th, 2024
By Greg Carlson
German filmmaker Julia von Heinz aims for the poignant and the sincere in “Treasure,” starring Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry as daughter and father travelers coming to grips with the terrible past and their strained relationship. Based on Australian writer Lily Brett’s semi-autobiographical novel “Too Many Men,” the adaptation has, in no small measure due to its blend of the tragic and the comic, divided viewers and critics. Set at the…
June 17th, 2024
Daina Pusić’s feature narrative debut “Tuesday” premiered at the 2023 Telluride Film Festival last September. A joint production of A24, BBC Film and the British Film Institute, the movie stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Lola Petticrew as mother and child on a journey toward the death of the latter from a terminal illness. In an unorthodox bit of character design, the principal performers are joined by the manifestation of Death as a CGI-enhanced macaw voiced with a gravelly rasp by…
June 17th, 2024
By Greg Carlson
In their previous feature, the 2021 Sundance Film Festival Next selection “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair,” director Jane Schoenbrun shaped the raw materials of electronically-mediated internet communication to explore thresholds, boundaries, and the construction of identities. “I Saw the TV Glow,” while no less raw and unsettling, marks a significant step in the filmmaker’s evolution, shifting from the more directly participatory…
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By Winona LaDukewinona@winonaladuke.com The business of Indian Hating is a lucrative one. It’s historically been designed to dehumanize Native people so that it’s easier to take their land. ‘Kill the Indian, save the man,”…
SHSND delves into their ornament collectionBy Jenny Yearoushistory@nd.govIn 2017 we received Christmas ornaments from the North Dakota Former Governors’ Residence. The ornaments were gifts from local chapters of the Germans from…
Saturday, December 21, 7 p.m.Drekker Brewing, 1666 1st Avenue N, FargoEmbrace the naughty and celebrate the dark side of the solstice. From 7-close, Drekker’s mavens of mischief transform their taproom. There’s a photo booth,…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com I’m really sick of the “Nobody wants to work anymore” narrative. Like, really sick. I can’t hide the eye rolls and I don’t even try to hide them anymore. In fact, I feel like they’ll…
By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comA new type of Civil War: “smash-and grab” capitalism and healthcare The Divided States of America has the greatest economic inequality among wealthy nations on Planet Earth and has birthed a…
By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…
By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com In this land of hotdish and ham, the knoephla soup of German-Russian heritage seems to reign supreme. In my opinion though, the French have the superior soup. With a cheesy top layer, toasted baguette…
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By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.com Local band Zero Place has been making quite a name for itself locally and regionally in the last few years. Despite getting its start during a time it seemed the whole world was coming to…
By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com Writer-director Nicole Riegel’s sophomore feature “Dandelion” is now playing in theaters following a world premiere at South by Southwest in March. The movie stars KiKi Layne as the…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comIn 1974, the Jamestown Arts Center started as a small space above a downtown drugstore. It has grown to host multiple classrooms, a gallery, performance studio, ceramic studio and outdoor art park.…
By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.comHigh Plains Reader had the opportunity to interview two mysterious new game show hosts named Milt and Bradley Barker about an upcoming event they will be putting on at Brewhalla. What…
By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…
By Josette Ciceronunapologeticallyanxiousme@gmail.com What does it mean to truly live in a community —or should I say, among community? It’s a question I have been wrestling with since I moved to Fargo-Moorhead in February 2022.…
By Faye Seidlerfayeseidler@gmail.com On Dec 5, the Turning Point USA chapter at North Dakota State University hosted an event called BisonFest. This event featured Chloe Cole, a former trans kid, known for detransitioning and…
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By Curtis W. Stofferahn, Ph.D.Curtis.stofferahn@email.und.edu In June, two events markedly contrasted the difference between two different visions of agriculture: precision agriculture and regenerative agriculture. The dedication…
