Cinema

​Famuyiwa deals uneven “Dope”

July 1st, 2015

A sticky mashup of broad comedy, contemplated quirk and stylish pretentiousness, the latter of which doubles as writer-director Rick Famuyiwa’s heart-on-sleeve love letter to his formative years, “Dope” operates a little bit like “Risky Business” meets “Friday.” Fishtailing between tonal shifts as rapid-fire as some of the semiautomatic weapons brandished in the story, the film’s greatest success hangs out in the fresh design and the throwback songs on the soundtrack –…

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Just in time for the Fourth: ‘1776’ on Blu-ray

July 1st, 2015

Independence Day weekend is almost upon us, with picnics, concerts, programs and, of course, nighttime fireworks typically scheduled to commemorate the founding of the United States nearly 240 years ago. It’s also a great time to find a good movie set during that time period, but for whatever reason, relatively few films deal with this country’s very beginnings, and those that do are not well-promoted and remain hard to find, especially on Blu-ray.

Last fall Warner Brothers released…

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Golden girl: Danner delights in “I’ll See You in My Dreams”

June 24th, 2015

A luminous Blythe Danner portrays one of the warmest and most inviting characters of her long career in “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” a quiet and seductive movie about the contours of friendship and the parameters of solitude. Danner’s Carol Petersen resists the entreaties of her trio of pals (Rhea Perlman, Mary Kay Place and June Squibb) to sell her house and join them at the snazzy retirement community/country club where they socialize over cards and the occasional medical…

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Classic British novel revisited on screen and on Blu-ray

June 24th, 2015

The latest film adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s novel “Far from the Madding Crowd” is currently winding down its limited theatrical run, which started May 1 in just ten theatres, expanded slightly over the next few weeks and is now back to a few hundred screens. It did manage to play in Fargo and East Grand Forks, but for those who missed it in theatres, this epic period romance will come out on Blu-ray August 4.

Thomas Vinterberg’s film has much to recommend it, especially its…

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​Sciamma’s “Girlhood” shines bright like a diamond

June 17th, 2015

"Girlhood,” Céline Sciamma’s third feature and the conclusion of what the filmmaker considers a coming-of-age trilogy, continues her engagement with the bildungsroman. Not as contained as debut “Water Lilies” or as directly preoccupied with gender as “Tomboy,” “Girlhood” follows the trajectory of teenager Marieme (Karidja Touré), a bright young woman whose grades are nevertheless inadequate to secure her a continuing spot in school. The alternative, placement in a…

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​John Wayne fans can add two more on Blu-ray

June 17th, 2015

Two 1973 westerns from late in John Wayne’s career came out on Blu-ray this month from Warner Home Video, “Cahill United States Marshal” and “The Train Robbers.” While neither ranks among the iconic actor’s best work, both are underrated, solid examples of the genre. Just three years before his final film, both show Wayne doing what he’s best-remembered for. Both also stage and frame their action effectively for the wide Panavision screen. But public tastes and western…

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Local Film ‘Aura’ Blurs the Lines Between Good and Evil

June 17th, 2015

Local rapper turned moviemaker Charles Mauk will release his very first feature-length movie, “Aura,” this Saturday, June 27 at The Fargo Theatre.

The locally made low-budget mob movie takes on the unthinkable task of depicting our small and friendly city of Fargo as a metropolitan-sized, crime-ridden city. Remarkably enough, Mauk found a way to pull it off.

Though not surprisingly, given the circumstances, there are some discernible imperfections in the film. Nevertheless, “Aura”…

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The maligned “E.T.” videogame phones home in “Atari: Game Over”

June 10th, 2015

When Microsoft’s subsidiary Xbox Entertainment Studios ceased operations, only one episode of the planned series “Signal to Noise” had been produced.

The first cycle of the show was originally slated to include six documentaries on various aspects of videogame culture and the videogame industry.

Screenwriter and director Zak Penn, known equally for his work on the stories and scripts of popular Marvel comic book adaptations and his 2004 Werner Herzog team-up “Incident at Loch…

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​Beyond formula: three ambitious B-westerns on Blu-ray

June 10th, 2015

Movies that fall into easily categorized genre labels, such as western, horror, science-fiction, war, etc., are often critically dismissed as simple entertainment aimed at specific fan bases rather than as serious filmmaking. Yet a substantial number of “genre” films are, to various degrees, actually thinly-disguised sociopolitical statements, psychological character explorations, and/or philosophical meditations no less powerful than a more critically-esteemed social issue drama or…

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​Death Letter: Jarecki Finds His Perfect “Jinx”

June 3rd, 2015

The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (2015)

WARNING: The following review reveals key plot information. Read only if you have seen “The Jinx.”

The bombshell revelation that concludes Andrew Jarecki’s HBO series “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst” occurs when the title subject uses the bathroom while wearing a hot mic. Hilariously, weirdly, but somehow not surprisingly, the incident mirrors the gag in “The Naked Gun” when Leslie Nielsen’s Frank Drebin…

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