Friday news and reviews
Phew! Today's list took a while to compile, thanks to Colin Covert and Chris Hewitt's warring movie reviews. Enjoy the pun-ishment of their headlines...
Art
For art thief, temptation trumped 'Honesty'
A sculpture with 316 dollar bills disappeared from Normandale Community College's gallery.
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- Mary Abbe, Star Tribune
Nicholas Harper: 100 CreativesPicking out a piece by painter Nicholas Harper in a lineup should always an easy task. His spin on classical portraiture is eye-catching, to say the least.
- Jessica Armbruster, City Pages
Dance
Lightsey Darst reflects on the phenomenon of performance as museum piece, in particular this fall's dance/visual art installation by Eiko and Koma at the Walker, with a brief notation on Laurie Van Wieren's retrospective, "Who Made These Videotapes?"
- mnartists.org
Dance Film Project artists talk process
Contemporary artists from dance, film, and other artistic disciplines are now exploring innovative directions as to how dance can be experienced.
- Sheila Regan, City Pages
Movies
"The Fighter": Wahlberg and Bale in a total knockout
The boxing-movie formula takes a hit in this gutsy, casual masterpiece.
- Colin Covert, Star Tribune
The odd and appealing thing about "The Fighter" is that it's an awards-baiting inspirational drama that is also a parody of awards-baiting inspirational dramas.
- Chris Hewitt, Pioneer Press
Jeff Bridges. 3-D. Music of Daft Punk. The elements are there, but the movie proves a high-tech hodge-podge.
- Colin Covert, Star Tribune
"Tron: Legacy" review: Videogame adventure turns clunky and dull in sequel
"Tron: Legacy"? How about "Tron: Tedious," instead? Clunky, episodic and dull, "Tron: Legacy" constantly interrupts the action for dopey philosophical mumbo-jumbo, so it feels like an adventure movie as written by Deepak Chopra.
- Chris Hewitt, Pioneer Press
"TRON: Legacy" honors, but doesn't extend, the 1982 original
The 2010 reboot is a sequel rather than a remake, and for the most part writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and director Joseph Kosinski are content with replicating and modestly extending that original world.
- Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet
Carrey makes the silly sublime in "Phillip Morris"
In an outrageous tale, Carrey the con man keeps us laughing.
- Colin Covert, Star Tribune
Carrey's character gets carried away - and that's OK
Carrey gives one of his most deeply felt performances in the based-on-true "Phillip Morris"... The trouble is that, while Carrey is transforming himself into a guy who fills a hole in his soul with a big big love, Ewan McGregor is barely skimming the surface of his (admittedly underwritten) nice-guy role.
- Chris Hewitt, Pioneer Press
Danger and dread will dig into your gutIsabelle Huppert stars in "White Material," a film built on unsettling contrasts. One of the many quietly shocking things in "White Material" is the title itself.
- Chris Hewitt, Pioneer Press
Director Julie Taymor employs a kitchen sink full of visual effects in her Shakespeare movie, and still manages to miss the point.
- Colin Covert, Star Tribune
Who reads a Shakespearean play and thinks, "What this crap needs is lots of special effects and fetish-wear costumes?" Julie Taymor, that's who.
- Chris Hewitt, Pioneer Press
"How Do You Know" has good rom-com cast, but no fizz
In James Brooks' nothing sandwich, Reese Witherspoon must decide between two guys. We don't care.
- Colin Covert, Star Tribune
You don't know, but you can't help but like it
Somehow or other, they made it all the way through the filming and release of "How Do You Know" without noticing that somebody accidentally switched the scripts Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson were using.
- Chris Hewitt, Pioneer Press
It wouldn't be a boo-boo to see this
"Yogi Bear" resurrects the long-hibernating title character with a fair amount of skill.
- Chris Hewitt, Pioneer Press
Music
Ronnie Spector: Won't you be my Christmas baby?
The Ronettes singer brings her love of the holidays to Minneapolis for a rock 'n' roll "Sleigh Ride" at the Dakota.
- Jon Bream, Star Tribune
Twin Cities Year in Music 2010: The highlights
A month by month re-cap of the local music scene.
- Andrea Swenson, City Pages
Theater
'All is Calm' recreates real Christmas miracle
Often times, holiday shows are either too schmaltzy or cynical. All is Calm strips any of that away.
- Ed Huyck, City Pages
'All Is Calm' peers into soldiers' hearts amid horror of war
Musical theater is an art form that customarily asks you to suspend your disbelief. After all, real life rarely involves people bursting into song to express their feelings or tell a story. But "All Is Calm" is something else. It has the kind of slice-of-reality feel that you might expect from a documentary film.
- Rob Hubbard, Pioneer Press
Acting while the holidays are hot
For performers Kevin Dutcher and Ross Young, being an elf or doing a Christmas comedy is all part of the season.
- Rohan Preston, Star Tribune
All five Billys get a kick out of playing Twin Cities
The young actors who play Billy Elliot gathered at the Orpheum in Minneapolis for a chat and a leap of joy.
- Rohan Preston, Star Tribune
Max About Town
Doc Severinsen at Orchestra Hall; Hello Kitty at an ice bar; Jimmy Stewart goes gun crazy
- Maz Sparber, MinnPost.com