May 6th, 2016
“Green Room,” writer-director Jeremy Saulnier’s follow-up to the taut and terrific revenge thriller “Blue Ruin,” is one of the year’s best, an elegantly crafted nightmare directed with savvy and smarts.
The simple logline – a touring punk quartet runs afoul of a gang of murderous, racist skinheads – belies the level of craft Saulnier brings to what could so easily be another Old Dark House/And Then There Were None genre exercise. In my 2014 review of “Blue Ruin,” I…
April 29th, 2016
The first words I wrote for the High Plains Reader covered Prince’s December 8, 1997 Fargodome concert. Editor John Lamb knew I was a big fan, and asked me to say something about the show. John’s gesture meant a great deal to me, and my work for HPR has been an important part of my life ever since that memorable winter.
Purple-blooded followers of the Minnesota Vikings know that their devotion is anything but easy, and after the Revolution disbanded and especially into the new…
April 27th, 2016
While students prepare to survive final exams and end-of-semester projects over the next few weeks, two underrated films dealing with more extreme types of survival just came out on Blu-ray this April 5 and 19.
A British film released in the U.S. in 1955, “The Purple Plain” (1954) is a well-produced and often-moving J. Arthur Rank production starring Gregory Peck as a Canadian pilot serving with the British in Burma during World War II. None of his fellow flyers want to fly with him…
April 20th, 2016
At the Sundance Film Festival, writer-director Todd Solondz described drawing his inspiration for “Wiener-Dog” from an unlikely pair of cinematic hallmarks: Robert Bresson’s “Au Hasard Balthazar” (1966) and Joe Camp’s “Benji” (1974). Solondz’s movie, as dark, hilarious, and observant as any of the features in his deeply impressive filmography, does indeed borrow from those two movies, aligning with Bresson’s unflinching examination of life’s cruelties and Camp’s…
April 13th, 2016
Following its Locarno Film Festival premiere in August of 2015, the great Chantal Akerman’s final work, “No Home Movie,” now makes its way to limited theatrical release and digital platforms in the United States.
Currently viewable on Fandor – a fitting small-screen residence – the nonfiction meditation featuring Akerman’s mother Natalia in her twilight takes on new shades of meaning and acute pangs of melancholy in light of Akerman’s October 2015 suicide. Natalia died in…
April 7th, 2016
For those who were unable to make it to this year’s Fargo Film Festival, two movies released to Blu-ray March 8 by Kino-Lorber Video should prove satisfying. Both had little theatrical play beyond the rounds of film festivals last year.
Sebastian Schipper’s rather audacious slice-of-life heist thriller “Victoria” is most impressive for its concept, the logistics needed to carry it out, and its sustained performances without a single cut. It hopes to involve the viewer as a…
April 6th, 2016
Werner Herzog shares another meditation on humanity in “Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World.” Lit with the master filmmaker’s blazing curiosity, the fascinating documentary ponders a wide variety of digital-era conundrums and curiosities via ten chapters.
Bouncing from topic to topic, “Lo and Behold” accomplishes the showman’s trick that leaves the audience salivating for more – many of the sections could sustain feature-length examinations on their own.
From…
March 30th, 2016
At 63 years of age, Paul Reubens completes a minor miracle with the return of beloved, iconic manchild Pee-wee Herman, the eccentric creation whose appeal to grown-ups and children hit the bullseye in Tim Burton’s feature directorial debut “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and on television in “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.”
“Pee-wee’s Big Holiday” fails to top the 1980s incarnation of the character, but longtime fans will smile at several of the movie’s colorful gags. Produced by…
March 30th, 2016
Sports fans of the Upper Midwest may have special interest in a classic film released to Bluray this month, since the title is “The Vikings” and one of the sequences features fighting hawks. The Norse setting also depicts the ancient heritage and culture of many North Dakota-Minnesota-Wisconsin families.
Serious analysts might identify some interesting subtext in the 1958 film “The Vikings,” dealing with class, gender, religion, and tribal/cultural relationships to compare…
March 24th, 2016
Craig Cobb, the white supremacist who purchased properties in Leith, North Dakota as part of a warped plan to establish a community for like‐minded racial separatists, takes center stage in “Welcome to Leith,” recipient of the Bill Snyder Award for Documentary Filmmaking at the 2016 Fargo Film Festival.
Principally examining the period during which Cobb’s actions and publicity‐seeking behavior ran afoul of the townspeople (depending how you count, not more than two dozen souls)…
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,”…
By Johnathan Campbell history@nd.gov Since Halloween is just around the corner, I thought I’d share three mysterious — and mildly creepy folktales — that have been shared about the Former Governors' Mansion State Historic Site,…
November 1-2, 9 p.m.Downtown VFW, 202 N Broadway, FargoEden Parker hosts two nights of music and mayhem with everything from original music, piano bar sing-alongs, to Halloween hymns. Dress up for the costume contest, drink up and…
By Jim Fugliejimfuglie920@gmail.com As a political columnist, I know I should be writing an election preview for the issue of this paper that comes out just a couple weeks before what is being labeled, once again, as “the most…
By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comCitizens United Turned Billionaires Into Oligarchs, Dictators, and KingsWe have reached a stage in Divided States of America politics where if the Democratic Party decreed that zebras have black…
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…
North Dakota’s All Star Tribute to John Prine at the Fargo TheatreBy Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comOn November 3, The Radio Stars are rounding up a number of North Dakota’s finest musicians from Watford City to the Red River…
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…
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By HPR Contributorssubmit@hpr1.com They are the inventive, passionate, adaptable, resourceful, sometimes over-enthusiastic, wack-tacular people who create art in our community, and they’re opening their studio doors to you for…
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 John Showalter john.d.showalter@gmail.comThey sell fentanyl test strips and kits to harm-reduction organizations and…
Rynn WillgohsJanuary 25, 1972-October 8, 2024 Rynn Azerial Willgohs, age 52, of Vantaa, Finland, died by suicide on October 8, 2024. Rynn became her true-self March 31, 2020. She immediately became a vocal and involved activist…
By Curtis Stofferahncurtis.stofferahn@email.und.edu In1915, Arthur Townley, an organizer for North Dakota's Socialist Party, witnessed a session of the state legislature where legislators were poised to discuss the establishment of…
