If you’re like us, you couldn’t help but wince at Gosford Park director Robert Altman’s loss to Richie Cunningham at this year’s Academy Awards, if only because Altman must have an all-time classic Oscar acceptance speech in him that’s just dying to get out. With any luck, he’ll get another shot before the decade is … Read more
The last time John Woo directed Nicolas Cage, it was in Face/Off, a hammy sci-fi shoot-em-up sandwiched between Cage’s throwaway turns in the clumsy flicks Con Air and City of Angels. Now the Hong Kong action specialist re-teams with his most vexing leading man for (of all things) a World War II flick—not the most … Read more
It’s too bad that Akira Kurosawa’s last film isn’t one of his best; it feels slow and contrived and a bit too steeped in self-congratulation in the same way the later works of his hero John Ford did. But this story of a retired teacher and his devoted students is a fitting testament in other … Read more
Those among us who spend too much time combing the shelves at video stores are all looking for the same score—the little movie we neglected to check out, or never heard of, that turns out to be a revelation. This one registered first as a curiosity: What, an Albert Brooks movie released straight to video? … Read more
While HBO continues to congratulate itself (deservedly so, we’ll admit) over the steamrolling successes of Sex and the City, The Sopranos, and Six Feet Under, it has neglected one of the most gifted and talented kids in the family. Showcasing the wonderfully reckless comedy of Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, the network’s Mr. Show series … Read more
Over the course of my life I have belonged to several fringe groups: The Lutheran Church, the Actors Guild, and the Depot Bar’s Wednesday night dart league to name a few. Membership has its privileges, whether it’s 25 cents off tap beers between nine and 11, full coverage on tooth capping, or salvation with a … Read more
A lot of godly folk seem to forget that the Lord’s first miracle was turning water into wine. But it was a minister from the Western Isles of Scotland who pointed out that this was hardly remarkable. In his part of the world, he opined, the Good Lord turns water into whiskey every day. Of … Read more
I’m 12 years old, scooted up to my dad’s octagonal dining table, the backs of my thighs sticking unpleasantly to the vinyl kitchen chair on a sweltering August day. Stepmom Debbie has prepared her specialty, Swedish sausage, a gray tube of meat-like substance that looks a lot like the photo my health teacher Ms. Nick … Read more
It took eight years to catch the man who killed Linda Jensen in her Big Lake home—even though two other men had already confessed to the crime. Sherburne County 15 crosses the Elk River just north of highway 10, then takes the first of several gentle curves west toward Big Lake. It’s the kind of … Read more
A cold river rushes by, and cottonwood trees have toppled in along the bank. On a sandstone bluff, 20 feet up, there’s a dancing Shiva carved deeply into the rock. The Hindu God of Destruction has been defaced by kids, farmers, fundamentalists. When Jim Langford carved it 15 years ago, a few Faribault evangelicals mobilized. … Read more