Cinema

​Pinky Push-ups and Weaponized Lapdogs: The Daniels Take a Spin Through the Multiverse

April 10th, 2022

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

The Daniels – Kwan and Scheinert – further cement their cult status with the hellzapoppin and appropriately titled “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” the team’s follow-up to “Swiss Army Man.” That joint theatrical feature debut, the buzziest word-of-mouth must-see at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, remains the finest film ever made about a friendship between a marooned loner and a flatulent corpse. So what do you do for an encore?…

Read more...


​The Milk of Kindness: Andrea Arnold’s ‘Cow’

April 3rd, 2022

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

“Cow,” Andrea Arnold’s first nonfiction feature, opens theatrically and on-demand in the United States on April 8. The talented writer-director, whose “Red Road,” “Fish Tank,” and “American Honey” received jury prizes at Cannes, spent more than four years working on the project.

The result of the filmmaker’s labor is as beautiful as it is painful. “Cow” is a stirring, contemplative, and observational examination of the life of…

Read more...


​Bermúdez Peels ‘A Forbidden Orange’

March 27th, 2022

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmial.com

Abiding enthusiasm for continued discussion of the life and work of Stanley Kubrick manifests once again in feature-length documentary “A Forbidden Orange” (also known by its original Spanish title “La naranja prohibida”). Delving into the exhibition history of “A Clockwork Orange” in Spain, director Pedro González Bermúdez shines his flashlight into all kinds of nooks and crannies, but the movie – now available to watch in the United…

Read more...


​Ver Linden Debuts ‘Alice’

March 21st, 2022

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

Krystin Ver Linden's feature debut "Alice" premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and arrived in theaters March 18.

The Sundance press notes described the movie as "equal parts earthy Southern Gothic and soulful Blaxploitation," but critical reactions since its January debut have been decidedly mixed. The imaginative genre-mashup works in fits and starts, but there is no question about the quality of…

Read more...


​Smokler and Boone Invite Viewers to Visit ‘Vinyl Nation’

March 13th, 2022

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

Filmmakers Kevin Smokler and Christopher Boone have added a worthwhile document to the group of movies devoted in one way or another to the world of record collecting. “Vinyl Nation” will appeal principally to those already familiar with the activity, but the directors make clear a desire to reach beyond the hobby’s traditional demographic of middle-age white men by including the voices of those who have been marginalized for a long time.…

Read more...


​Horror Fans Will Devour Mimi Cave’s ‘Fresh’

February 27th, 2022

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

Director Mimi Cave’s feature debut “Fresh” was one of the highlights of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival’s Midnight section. Working from a wicked screenplay by Lauryn Kahn, Cave’s jet-black satire lands exclusively on Hulu starting March 4. Most definitely not for the faint of heart, “Fresh” joins a handful of classic cannibal films that tiptoe along the edges of the comic and the horrific. Echoes of wide-ranging precedents like…

Read more...


​W. Kamau Bell Shows Why ‘We Need to Talk About Cosby’

February 27th, 2022

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

The complexities and contradictions of Bill Cosby are the very essence of W. Kamau Bell’s incredible “We Need to Talk About Cosby,” a four-part meditation, examination, and true deep dive on the decades-long saga of the fallen icon that pulls off the nearly impossible task of bearing witness to the power and joy of so many of the performer’s artistic milestones and achievements while reckoning with the legacy of a credibly-accused serial…

Read more...


​Time Machine: Bianca Stigter’s ‘Three Minutes: A Lengthening’

February 23rd, 2022

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

The only nonfiction film to be selected for the 2022 Sundance Film Festival’s Spotlight section – a prestige category highlighting movies that have already premiered to acclaim elsewhere – Bianca Stigter’s feature-length directorial debut “Three Minutes: A Lengthening” is an inspired piece of cinematic archaeology. Stigter does exactly what the title of the piece invitingly and enigmatically implies: she examines a short section of 16mm…

Read more...


​Collecting Movies with Nicole Rodenburg

February 19th, 2022

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

Nicole Rodenburg is the New York-based actor, writer and director. She’s known for her work developing new plays with our most groundbreaking and lauded contemporary playwrights, starring in Annie Baker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Flick,” Samuel D. Hunter’s “The Whale,” and Ming Peiffer’s “Usual Girls” at the Roundabout Theatre Company.

“Glob Lessons,” written with longtime collaborator Colin Froeber, received the Prairie…

Read more...


​After Two Years of Online-Only Streaming, the Fargo Film Festival Is Back

February 16th, 2022

This March, the 22nd Fargo Film Festival will be in person at the Fargo Theatre, after two years of virtual screenings and events. The celebration of independent film begins March 15 and will conclude March 19.

By Dominic Erickson

dominicerickson00@gmail.com

FFF22 is once again coordinated by Emily Beck, who has been the executive director at the Fargo Theatre since 2011. “I think that for most movie fans, nothing can replace the experience of seeing films in a cinema with an…

Read more...


Tracker Pixel for Entry Blackbird Tracker Pixel for Entry Bismarck Tracker Pixel for Entry Empire Tracker Pixel for Entry Hjemkomst Tracker Pixel for Entry FPL

Recently in:

By Bryce Vincent Haugen By all accounts, Democratic-Farmer-Labor U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar — first elected in 2006 — is the most popular active politician in Minnesota, whether she’s judged by polling or by her four electoral…

Saturday, June 13, 10 a.m.- 5 p.m.Paradox Comics-N-Cards, 814 Main Ave., FargoCalling all nerds: it’s time to get down and nerdy with vendors aplenty, who are selling comics, toys, video games, board games, various collectibles…

June 6-7StatewideYou grab a line and I’ll grab a pole — and if you’re a North Dakota resident, you can head on down to your favorite fishing hole, no license needed (for this weekend, anyway). All other rules still apply…

By John Strand It took us over 30 years for us to reach out and ask for your help. The High Plains Reader has always been subscription free and paywall free. Our content has — and always will be — free to access for all of our…

By Ed RaymondWere women created to do the work of God?One of the first requests made by new Pope Leo XIV was to invite an expert on the alt-right conservative Catholic organization known as Opus Dei to brief him about its…

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 GionThe scarfing of canned fish and seafood products by online food influencer types is hard to miss on social media these days. Some of the consumed morsels range from exquisite to downright nasty. However, there are many…

By Bryce Vincent Haugen The curtain has come down on Jade Presents. Fargo-Moorhead’s largest event promoter has brought thousands of shows — more than 150 per year — and hundreds of artists to the area over the past 36 years. On…

By Greg Carlson Steven Spielberg, who will turn 80 this December, returns to the subject of aliens among us in “Disclosure Day,” his first feature since “The Fabelmans” in 2022. Now closer to the end than the beginning of…

By Jacinta Zens I recently sat down for a chat with ceramicist Louie Albertson, Clay and Studio Program Manager at the Plains Art Museum. Before the interview, I had the pleasure of getting to know him a bit as a colleague when I…

Saturday, January 31, 6:30-9 p.m.Transfiguration Fitness, 764 34th St. N., Unit P, FargoAn enchanting evening celebrating movement and creativity in a staff-student showcase. This is a family-friendly event showcasing pole, aerial…

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 Eli Liverani Cholesterol is probably one of the first molecules I have ever heard of in my childhood. Most of the relatives on my mother's side had high cholesterol in their blood, and apparently, levels above a certain range…

January 31, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.Viking Ship Park, 202 1st Ave. N., Moorhead2026 marks 10 years of frosty fun! Enjoy sauna sessions with Log the Sauna, try Snowga (yoga in the snow), take a guided snowshoe nature hike, listen to live…

Chris M. Stoner I was recently dismissed from my role as drag show director and emcee for Dakota OutRight, a role I had been fulfilling for more than two decades. The reason given? My political commentary during shows, while…