January 18th, 2017
Master director Chan-wook Park’s diabolically pleasurable “The Handmaiden” delights the eye with its sumptuous costumes, production design, and photography, and also tickles the imagination with its structural gamesmanship. While it seems that the majority of films tagged “erotic psychological thrillers” fail to satisfy even one of that trio of descriptors, Park – at the top of his strong game – delivers the goods and then some. Inspired by Sarah Waters’ novel…
January 18th, 2017
Jodie Foster today is known primarily as a film director and as an Oscar-winning actress for “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991) and “The Accused” (1988). Some may also remember her as a child actress in TV and children’s films of the 1960s and 70s.
Mature for her age, by age 13 she broke into serious and adult roles as a key supporting character in Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” (1976) and the lesser-known but even more challenging and complex title role in the…
January 11th, 2017
Last summer marked the ten-year anniversary that the Blu-ray home video format has been on the market. Despite the fact that many people are switching to online streaming options for watching movies, and others continue to remain satisfied with DVD or even VHS quality, the high-definition Blu-ray format has built a solid collector base and has become the medium of choice for discriminating viewers, especially those with home theatres and HD projectors.
As in the past two years, 2016 saw…
January 11th, 2017
A completely engaging adventure on each of its multiple levels, Otto Bell’s “The Eagle Huntress” combines old-fashioned nature documentary with both a rousing sports competition angle and a front-and-center challenge to gender role expectations that translate universally beyond the remote Mongolian setting. Aisholpan Nurgaiv, a 13-year-old Kazakh girl, is instantly likable: a no-nonsense kid who earns top marks at her boarding school and can pin any and all of the boys at…
December 21st, 2016
Partially avoiding the sophomore slump, renaissance man Tom Ford’s “Nocturnal Animals” is less rewarding and accomplished than “A Single Man.” Adapted by the director from Austin Wright’s 1993 novel “Tony and Susan,” “Nocturnal Animals” is a stylishly designed noir that alternates between the terror of a West Texas road nightmare and the misfortunes of an icy Los Angeles gallerist in a precarious, toxic marriage.
Ford can be commended for allowing the menagerie of…
December 21st, 2016
Although the commercial celebration began the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve is this Saturday night (coincidentally this year, also the first night of Hanukkah). The holiday season of a week or so features religious observances, sharing of traditional activities, memories, food, and fun. It is also typically a vacation time for relaxing with family and friends, often watching movies together.
The various cable TV channels are rife with repeated showings of favorite Christmas…
December 14th, 2016
With the October 2016 announcement that he would no longer attend international shows to meet fans and sign autographs in person, David Prowse closed a chapter of his life that some “Star Wars” aficionados had anticipated since a 2009 cancer diagnosis and a controversial 2014 claim that the Darth Vader portrayer had been suffering from dementia.
Prowse, whose sour grapes and willingness to communicate with the press have run afoul of Lucasfilm gatekeepers on multiple occasions over…
December 14th, 2016
Most fans of international cinema are probably familiar with the names of Luis Buñuel, Pedro Almodóvar, and Alejandro Amenábar. Other important Spanish directors such as Luis García Berlanga, however, are little-known outside of Spain, even though Berlanga’s “Plácido” (1961) was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film.
The film that Spanish filmmakers, critics, and Berlanga himself consider his masterpiece, “El Verdugo” (“The Executioner”) (1963), recently…
December 7th, 2016
Three Stooges fans probably already know that all 190 of their Columbia shorts are on DVD in a multi-disc collection and in eight individual volumes. Although remastered in HD, sadly none are yet on Blu-ray. That will change next month when the two 1953 shorts they filmed in 3-D will be bonuses on the 3-D restoration of Vincent Price’s “The Mad Magician” (1954), coming to 3-D Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
Meanwhile, last year Mill Creek Entertainment released two triple-feature…
December 7th, 2016
Master filmmaker Kelly Reichardt’s “Certain Women,” based on stories by Maile Meloy, shares the quiet fortunes and misfortunes of three protagonists and the friends, family, and strangers in orbit around them.
Set in Montana, the film moves at the director’s deliberately measured pace, a technique that suits Reichardt’s alliance with the western, the genre that perhaps best describes her body of work.
As taciturn, secretive, and enigmatic as her best films, “Certain Women”…
_(1)__293px-wide.jpg)
__293px-wide.png)
By Bryce Vincent Haugen By his own account, Edwin Chinchilla is lucky to still be in the United States. As a 12-year-old Salvadoran, he and his brother were packed into a semi with a couple dozen other people and given fake…
By Michael M. Miller Rev. Salomon Joachim, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church, Beulah, North Dakota., delivered an address to the Western Conference of the Dakota District of the American Lutheran Church in 1939. His presentation was…
Wednesday, March 25, Group lesson 7 p.m., Dance 9 p.m.Sons of Norway, 722 2nd Avenue North, FargoCare to dance? If you don’t already know how to dance, the Northern Lights Dance Club can show you a thing or two about social…
By John StrandDisclaimer: This editorial is the work of someone who’s spent most of his adult life working in the media — most of those years co-owning this very entity, the High Plains Reader, since 1996. The notion that folks…
By Ed RaymondThe bells are ringing for everybody on the planet As ICE, the worst of the worst law enforcement agencies in the Divided States of America, continues to use unconstitutional procedures to find the worst of the worst…
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 Sabrina Hornung There’s a Bosnian saying that states simply, “It’s a sin to throw away bread,” which really resonates with me — especially growing up with grandparents who lived through the Second World War and the Great…
The Slow Death at The AquariumSaturday, March 21, doors at 7:30 p.m. The Aquarium above Dempsey’s, 226 N. Broadway, FargoThe Slow Death is a punk supergroup led by Jesse Thorson, with members and collaborators that include…
By Sabrina HornungJD Provorse is a horror movie enthusiast and Fargo-based podcast host. Both he and cohost Michelle Roller have a comedy background and started the wildly entertaining podcast “We Watch Shudder” in 2022 as an…
By Jacinta ZensGraffiti is something we all see routinely on trains as they pass through the metro. If you pay attention even a little bit, you will notice that some graffiti pieces on train cars look much better than others in…
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 Ellie Liverani In November 2025, the FDA initiated the removal of the “black box” warning from Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). The “black box” warning is a FAD safety warning for healthcare providers and patients…
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…
By Jim FuglieI’m feeling a little mean right now. It doesn’t happen often, but I tend to pay attention to politics and politicians and I’m pretty disappointed in one of our politicians right now. So I’m going to be mean to…
