January 29th, 2016
Leading all Oscar challengers with a total of twelve nominations, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s “The Revenant” has to overcome a few daunting statistics reported by prognosticator Scott Feinberg in order to win Best Picture. Feinberg notes that only one movie in the last fifty years (“Titanic,” which, coincidentally starred Leonardo DiCaprio) snagged the top prize without a screenplay nomination. Additionally, “Braveheart” was the last film to collect…
January 24th, 2016
Mark Hartley’s “Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films” sprays viewers with an Uzi-like barrage of film clips, trailers, promo reels and talking heads to spin the tale of 1980s powerhouse schlock heavyweights — and cousins — Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. A competitor and companion to Hilla Medalia’s “The Go-Go Boys,” which, Hartley notes with some glee, beat “Electric Boogaloo” to market by three months, the feature documentary captures the…
January 21st, 2016
For the third consecutive year, local filmmakers Greg Carlson and Tucker Lucas have made the top 12 of the International Documentary/Film Fusion Challenge (IDC), an annual contest for short format documentary films. This year, they placed for their seven-minute documentary, “A Perfect Record,” featuring Fargo Record Fair founder Dean Sime.
Carlson is an associate professor in the Communication Studies and Theatre Art department at Concordia College and is also the director of film…
January 18th, 2016
by Greg Carlson
The meticulous Todd Haynes shares another engrossing 1950s tale of forbidden romance with “Carol,” a thematic sibling to the director’s career high point “Far from Heaven.” Adapted by Phyllis Nagy from Patricia Highsmith’s bracing novel “The Price of Salt,” “Carol” is every bit as feverish as the legendary anecdote describing the book’s origin. In the title role, Cate Blanchett is a well-to-do woman who might possibly be pursuing the distractions of…
January 14th, 2016
By Greg Carlson
Fans and admirers of Marlon Brando won’t require any coaxing to see Stevan Riley’s hugely entertaining documentary “Listen to Me Marlon,” but the film is compelling enough to transcend its status as “mere” Hollywood biography. A visual and aural odyssey that explores the actor’s well-known career highlights as well as intimacies selected from hundreds of hours of previously private personal recordings narrated by Brando, the movie delights in showcasing a…
December 28th, 2015
After nearly a decade on the market, the Blu-ray home video format has been relatively slow to capture the imagination (and wallets) of the general public. Nevertheless, it has built a solid collector base and has become the medium of choice for discriminating viewers, especially those with home theatres.
Many people may be switching to online streaming options for watching movies while others continue to remain satisfied with DVD quality, but just as in 2014 the year 2015 has seen an…
December 25th, 2015
Global treasure Guy Maddin detonates a cinematic depth charge in “The Forbidden Room,” a stunning cascade of images so gorgeous you might think you’ve stumbled upon some long-lost Yma Sumac record sleeve photo shoot leftovers as lensed by Willy Hameister. Bearing all the filmmaker’s signature stylistic fetishes and then some, “The Forbidden Room” was co-directed by Evan Johnson, who also co-scripted along with Maddin and Robert Kotyk. Additional, hilarious “How to Take a…
December 22nd, 2015
Obscure thriller lives again on Blu-ray
By Christopher P. Jacobs
It is not all that unusual to find some good acting and talented craftsmanship hidden away in otherwise forgettable movies that were made primarily to fill a movie screen for a week until the next release came out. Such a film is the moderately diverting crime thriller “Hell’s Five Hours” (1958), released to Blu-ray this past summer.
The low budget often shows through in this production from Allied Artists, which…
December 18th, 2015
Following the honorary Oscar he received last month at the Governors Awards (along with the blistering truth-to-power acceptance speech he made), Spike Lee doesn’t seem likely to pick up many competitive Academy Award nominations for “Chi-Raq,” even though he should.
Co-written with Kevin Willmott, whose diabolically good “C.S.A.: Confederate States of America” is an inspiration to every college professor who dreams of making it in the movies, “Chi-Raq” bears all the…
December 12th, 2015
American film actress Louise Brooks had a fairly minor career in Hollywood and is best remembered today for two films she made in Germany for noted director Georg Wilhelm Pabst, “Pandora’s Box” and “Diary of a Lost Girl,” both from 1929. Pabst also made “The White Hell of Pitz Palu” with Leni Riefenstahl the same year, and he is noted for “The Joyless Street” (1925) and “Secrets of a Soul” (1926), among others.
These films have been available on DVD for some time,…
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By Maddie Robinson maddierobi.mr@gmail.comIn order to get affordable child care for her son, Paulina Erbele has to drive from her work in Gackle,…
By John Showalter john.d.showalter@gmail.comphoto by Logan MacraeAnyone who lives in the Fargo-Moorhead area knows that its yearly weather is a sequence of…
Saturday, December 2, 20231st seating: 3:30pm, 2nd seating: 6pmSons of Norway, 722 2nd Ave N, FargoCelebrate the holidays with a four-course plated sit-down dinner and hosted by the one and only Frode Tilden. “If you love…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comRemember the legacy of the NPL.Last Saturday I had the opportunity to attend the annual meeting and dinner hosted by the Dakota Resource Council in Bismarck. I came in feeling a little defeated,…
By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comHow Many of Napoleon’s Hats Will Save Planet Earth for Homo Sapiens?Before I get into this week’s subject of why we need to double the number of college majors in English and Humanities if we…
We are looking for 55-gallon plastic food grade barrels, do you have ideas or connections?We use these barrels to teach our resilient yard workshop series including Make Your Own Rain Barrel and Make Your Own Compost Tumbler. If…
By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.comThe temperatures have dropped and so have the leaves in the Upper Midwest. That means it's now the holiday season. Part of the joy of this special season for me is eating. But first things first.…
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Dropkick Murphys Put Music to the Words of Woody GuthrieBy Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comPhoto by Dave StaubleWith the release of 2022’s “This Machine Still Kills Fascists” and 2023’s “Okemah Rising.” The Dropkick…
By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com“Saltburn,” the highly anticipated follow-up to “Promising Young Woman” – which earned Oscar gold for Best Original Screenplay – doesn’t quite equal the bite and sting of…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comA trio of Burleigh County artists are making their mark in Wing, North Dakota, to promote local foods and are quite literally painting the town, or at least the newly acquired Wing City Government…
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 John Showalter john.d.showalter@gmail.comThey sell fentanyl test strips and kits to harm-reduction organizations and…
JANUARY 19, 1967– MARCH 8, 2023 Brittney Leigh Goodman, 56, of Fargo, N.D., passed away unexpectedly at her home on March 8, 2023. Brittney was born January 19, 1967, to Ruth Wilson Pollock and Donald Ray Goodman, in Hardinsburg,…
By Faye Seidlerfayeseidler@gmail.com On the first day of the month I ask people to thank a journalist they know or someone who contributes to papers in some meaningful way. When I grew up, my best friend's father was a journalist…
