Peter Schilling IT’S A WONDERFUL MENACE “Slither”, 2006. Written and directed by James Gunn. Starring Michael Rooker, Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks, Gregg Henry, Tania Shaulnier, Brenda James, Don Thompson, and a boatload of b-movie mainstays. Now playing at local theaters and hopefully at every small town screen in America. There’s a reason why space aliens so often … Read more
…but what about the soul that grows in darkness, embossed by silvery images… –Frank O’Hara, “Ave Maria” When I first saw Citizen Kane, at the glorious Temple Theatre in old downtown Saginaw, Michigan, I didn’t quite get the thing. I was twelve years old and not aware that it was the greatest film ever made, … Read more
Tom Letness could cease his never-ending renovation of the Heights Theatre, in Columbia Heights, and it would remain the finest movie house in the Twin Cities, bar none. Yet he keeps fiddling with it. He knows its history inside and out—from a bombing back in the late twenties at the hands of a disgruntled former … Read more
Like any budding artisan, Omar Ansari spoke with great pride when he offered a visitor a taste of his creation. “Try that,” he said, pulling a shot of Furious Ale from one of the giant stainless steel tanks. “What do you think?” I think the Surly Brewing Company, the Twin Cities’ newest producer of craft … Read more
There’s usually no problem finding a good movie to see in the Twin Cities—between the imperiled Oak Street Cinema, the Heights, Walker Art Center, and Landmark Theatres, there’s plenty to choose from that doesn’t insult one’s intelligence or batter one with sound and C.G.I. Sometimes, though, you get the urge to shut down your brain … Read more
If you need guidance in repairing the clutch in your ’57 Ford pickup, quieting your stuttering Edsel, or locating the lubrication specs for that turn-of-the-last-century Stanley Steamer in the garage, here’s a suggestion: Check out the Minneapolis Public Library. The Central Library downtown is the proud possessor of an automotive manual collection that is second … Read more
Every year there’s a ritual in my house: My wife gathers all of her Jane Austen novels from the bookshelf and reads them in chronological order. Once that liturgy is complete, she devours all five hours of the landmark BBC production of Pride and Prejudice, or Bridget Jones’s Diary, the Laurence Olivier Pride, Bride and … Read more
Robert Altman didn’t see much of Minnesota. During his month-long stay in St. Paul this summer, he ventured beyond the Fitzgerald Theater and his hotel but once or twice. He came, though, and even if he didn’t see much, it seems as if he was out to conquer. He left for Hollywood with footage for … Read more
Jarrett Murphy, in the Village Voice today, complains that the media was quick to cover the infamous NBA brawl, and to put it into saturation rotation. He enumerates the coverage in newspapers and TV broadcasts, inferring that it was as salacious as it was unwarranted. (Not “hard news!” Not hard news! Foul! Is anyone listening?) … Read more
One of the things we miss most about TMFTML was his Monday-morning quarterbacking of the Sunday New York Times. (The critic became the critiqued, and that’s a helluva promotion! We like to believe we beat the Times to the punch bowl, though.) TMFTML somehow managed to scan and summarize the whole paper—usually in the yellow … Read more