Cinema

​“Rez Comedy” aims to break the mainstream barrier

June 22nd, 2016

By Kaley Sievert

“With this film, we hope to show the mainstream that Native American comedians are just as funny as Dave Chappelle, Louis C.K., and Gabriel Iglesias,” says Jon Roberts, comedian and member of the Red Lake band of Ojibwe. “If given the opportunity, [Native Americans] can give America a look at something they never knew existed.”

Roberts and Rob Fairbanks, comedian and member of the Leech Lake band of Ojibwe, are two Minnesota competitors in Project Greenlight, a…

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​Off-beat noir defies 1950s stereotypes

June 22nd, 2016

Sam Fuller’s “House of Bamboo” seems to be pretty much under the radar of many film fans, but is interesting and unusual on several levels, as a social commentary and twisting the film noir “rules” by being shot in color and CinemaScope with stereo sound, as well as for reversing a number of traditional roles expected in the genre. It received a very good Blu-ray release last summer.

Samuel Fuller was an independent-minded, often-perverse maverick filmmaker, noted for some…

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​All my future crimes: Prince and Batman

June 22nd, 2016

Following “Sign o’ the Times,” his third theatrically-released feature as performer and second as director, Prince’s next cinematic surprise was the soundtrack to Tim Burton’s juggernaut “Batman” in 1989. Unfortunately, the prolific artist did not appear in the film, even though I recall discussing with friends the wildly nerdy notion (rumor?) that Prince would kill it in a violet cowboy hat as Shame should he get a later shot as a “guest villain.”

As funky, lush, and…

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​Consumer Blu-ray technology celebrates a decade

June 15th, 2016

High-definition video options now make it possible for home viewers to experience movies at home with a picture and sound quality comparable to commercial movie theatres, and even to own a theatre-quality copy for the price of one or two movie tickets.

Internet video streaming and intangible cloud-based “digital copies” have become increasingly popular over the past few years among those who love movies, but would rather not build a personal collection of discs (which can take…

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​Excellent choice: Lanthimos feasts on “The Lobster”

June 15th, 2016

Pitch-black absurdist Yorgos Lanthimos uncorks another of his signature brain-scramblers in “The Lobster,” an allegorical examination and satire of human behavior, framed by the filmmaker’s speculative imagination.

As divisive as any of his previous films, “The Lobster” marks the Greek auteur’s first principally English-language feature, as well as his first to employ several actors well-known to Hollywood, including Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, and John C. Reilly.

“The…

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Forever in my life

June 8th, 2016

The third theatrically released feature starring Prince, as well as his second directorial effort, “Sign o’ the Times” remains a concert film par excellence.

The movie’s curious production history has been marked by stories that the vast majority of the visual content was captured at Paisley Park, when footage from shows in Rotterdam and Antwerp didn’t pass muster. Message boards on Prince fansites turn up spirited discussions addressing the movie’s questionable status as a…

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​Fritz Lang silent classics on Blu-ray

June 1st, 2016

Austrian-born director Fritz Lang is best known for his massive silent science-fiction epic “Metropolis” (1927) and his moody, influential crime thriller “M” (1931), both made in Germany.

He started writing films as early as 1916 and directed over 40 features in various genres between 1919 and 1960. Among Lang’s finest work are his last two silent features, which made their U.S. Blu-ray debuts this February from Kino, filling in the gap between his legendary “Metropolis”…

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​Black merges slapstick and sleuthing in ‘The Nice Guys’

June 1st, 2016

Shane Black’s most satisfying film to date, “The Nice Guys” absolutely pulverizes lurid period milieu, shaggy dog private investigation, “Chinatown” corruption narrative, odd couple buddy bromance, and slapstick noir parody in an industrial blender set to emulsify on maximum torque.

Pairing Ryan Gosling – as the world’s worst shamus – with a teddy bearish and relaxed Russell Crowe as a stone-faced straight man, “The Nice Guys” works, against the odds, as a…

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​A Very funny, very Maria Bamford look at mental illness.

May 30th, 2016

By Alex Huntsberger

ahuntsberger@gmail.com

Comedian Maria Bamford isn’t shy about her mental illness; she’s talked openly in her act and in interviews about being diagnosed with Bipolar II (hypomanic episodes) and OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder). In fact, Bamford is quite the opposite of shy. She’s upfront and forthright and working to destigmatize mental illness in society-at-large.

But this doesn’t mean that Bamford’s new show, Lady Dynamite, which dropped on Netflix last…

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​Visit the islands with classic tropical ‘docufiction’

May 25th, 2016

Now that summery weather has arrived, people are thinking about vacations, but travel remains both expensive and increasingly inconvenient. Movies, however, provide instant low-cost mini-vacations from troubles of the real world. The tropical south-seas island settings of two recent Blu-ray releases from Kino make ideal escapes from the familiar ND-MN environment and provide vivid glimpses of indigenous cultures. Last December new restorations of the film classics “Moana With Sound”…

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