October 12th, 2016
By Christopher P. Jacobs
christopher.jacobs@email.und.edu
Continuing in the vein of Halloween-appropriate horror/sci-fi/fantasy films for October is a new Blu-ray released last week and at an unexpected bargain price of only $8 - $10 (currently available only from Best Buy in the U.S.).
“It Came From Outer Space” (1953) has long been considered one of the major science-fiction films of the 1950s, largely due to its thoughtful story by Ray Bradbury, polished direction by Jack Arnold,…
October 12th, 2016
By Greg Carlson
gregcarlson1@gmail.com
An intuitive and energetic coming of age drama that trades the Val Melaina neighborhood of Vittorio De Sica’s Rome in “Bicycle Thieves” for current day Richmond in the Bay Area, Justin Tipping’s “Kicks” marks one of the year’s most memorable features. Tipping’s directorial debut, “Kicks” hovers over the shoulder of teenager Brandon (Jahking Guillory) through an incident that quickly escalates to a series of choices that lead to…
October 5th, 2016
Based on Ron Suskind’s 2014 book “Life, Animated: A Story of Sidekicks, Heroes, and Autism,” the documentary feature “Life, Animated” tells the story of Suskind’s son Owen, who at the age of three withdrew into a nonverbal world that devastated his family.
Diagnosed with a Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Owen speaks only what his parents describe as “gibberish” until a viewing of “The Little Mermaid” reveals that Owen is capable of cognitively sophisticated…
October 5th, 2016
October is well-known as the Halloween season, inspiring numerous screenings of horror films or films with horror-fantasy elements. Last week I reviewed “Chandu the Magician” (1932), a kind of off-beat semi-horror film with Bela Lugosi, new to Blu-ray. This week I’ll continue the horror theme with a low-budget obscurity from the late 1950s that deserves a second look.
But October is more than horror movie month. It’s also the end of the major league baseball season and the…
September 28th, 2016
By Greg Carlson
Winner of the grand jury prize for best documentary at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg’s “Weiner” is one of 2016’s must-see features.
Following the unbelievable NYC mayoral campaign of disgraced politician Anthony D. Weiner from the inside, Kriegman and Steinberg’s movie boasts a compelling up-close-and-personal take on high stakes elections and higher risk narcissism.
Granted incredible all-access passes to Weiner’s…
September 28th, 2016
There are plenty of more artistic, edifying, or thought-provoking films to watch, but genre films tend to be the cinematic equivalent of comfort food, that can be returned to repeatedly for an entertaining hour or two.
The crisp clarity of a high-definition image makes the attraction to revisit favorites even stronger. Genres may be westerns, musicals, action-adventures, mystery-thrillers, or others, but this time of year tends to inspire watching horror/sci-fi movies, and especially…
September 21st, 2016
Legendary Hollywood icon Clark Gable is best-remembered as Rhett Butler opposite Vivien Leigh’s Scarlett O’Hara in the epic “Gone With the Wind” (1939), and as Fletcher Christian opposite Charles Laughton’s Captain Bligh in MGM’s “Mutiny On the Bounty” (1935), both of which won Academy Awards for Best Picture (and both on excellent Blu-ray editions from Warner Home Video). He won the Best Actor Oscar opposite Claudette Colbert’s Best Actress performance in Frank…
September 21st, 2016
Longtime admirers of filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan will celebrate his third effort as writer-director when “Manchester by the Sea” moves into theaters, bringing with it plenty of buzz surrounding the performances of Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams.
Extending his reputation for astonishing voices and unforgettable characters, Lonergan also continues his unflinching affair with the darkness. Affleck’s morose, taciturn loner Lee Chandler faces a deeply buried personal tragedy when…
September 14th, 2016
Building his narrative around a pair of onstage conversations between directors and friends Mike Nichols and Jack O’Brien just four months before the death of Nichols in 2014, Douglas McGrath creates an intimate, pleasurable portrait of the early years and first two movies of the emergent filmmaker and future EGOT collector.
While several critics, including Guy Lodge in “Variety,” have cited the film’s abbreviated 72-minute length as a liability, McGrath’s sharp focus on the…
September 14th, 2016
Last month Kino Lorber released a pair of Randolph Scott westerns to Blu-ray, recently restored with some difficulty to their original Cinecolor hues. Cinecolor was a less-costly alternative to Technicolor, based upon two complementary colors instead of three primary colors. It was still relatively rare for lower-budget movies to shoot in color 65 and more years ago, and later reissues by other distributors were often in black-and-white. The camera negatives had been lost over the years…
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By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.com Ten North Dakota communities will participate in the nationwide No Kings Day of Peaceful Action on October 18. The grassroots movement is a nonviolent protest against President Trump’s…
By Michael M. Millermichael.miller@ndsu.edu I would like to recognize some of the scholarly Germans from Russia from Canada and USA shared on the GRHC website. There are additional names not included here. If you have suggestions…
Friday, October 31, doors 8 p.m. show starts at 8:30 p.m.The Aquarium above Dempey’s, 226 N. Broadway, FargoThe annual Aquarium Halloween Cover Show is back and it is stacked. And this time there are a limited amount of presale…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com At the end of September, downtown Fargo said goodbye to another old friend; the Spirit Room closed its doors, marking the end of an era. The Spirit Room room has been a fixture downtown for the…
By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comAnother public health crisis besides guns: lack of empathyThe Sisters of Charity have finally had enough of their Trumper boss, Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. One of the most…
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 Gion and Nichole Hensenrickgion@gmail.com The wait is finally over. Those who have visited Nichole’s Fine Pastry & Cafe lately know about the recent major additions and renovations that have taken place over the past…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com Dakotah Faye is a hip-hop artist from Minot, North Dakota, and he’s had a busy year. He’s released two albums. This summer he opened for Tech N9ne in Sturgis and will be opening for Bone…
By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.comNoémie Merlant, working from a script she wrote with Pauline Munier and her “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” collaborator Celine Sciamma, directs herself in “The Balconettes” (the…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com Gallery 4 downtown recently celebrated its 50 year anniversary, making it one of the longest consecutively running galleries in the country. With different membership tiers, there are 17 primary…
Press release“Shakespeare with a sharpened edge.” To launch its 2025 – 2026 season, Theatre NDSU is thrilled to team up with Moorhead-based organization Theatre B to perform a co-production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and…
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 Ellie Liveranieli.liverani.ra@gmail.com When we are sick, all we want is a cure. You go to the doctor, they give you a pill, you take it for a bit, then you are cured. It happens. But unfortunately, it is not always the case. …
By Alicia Underlee NelsonProtests against President Trump’s policies and the cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are planned across North Dakota and western Minnesota Friday, April 4 and…
By Vern Thompsonvern.thompson@rocketmail.comMoral accountability and the crisis of leadership As a recovering person living one day at a time for the last 35 years, I have learned not to judge others because I have not walked in…
