FAILURE TO LAUNCH
Frustrated parents (Kathy Baker and Terry Bradshaw) hire Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker), a professional dater, to help shift their charming but feckless thirty-something son, Tripp (Matthew McConaughey), out of their house. The first half of Tom Dey’s romantic comedy has its wry charms, riffing on the reality of some of today’s coddled youth who are…
TopDog on the Strip
Location: 50 21st Street, Strip District. 412-288-9595 Winter Hours: Mon.-Fri. 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 10 p.m.-4 a.m. Prices: $1.75-5.50 Fare: Hot dogs and hamburgers Atmosphere: Hot-dog-centric diner Liquor: None Pittsburgh palates are sophisticated when it comes to central European peasant food, particularly kielbasa. As with any food dear to the people, debates are spirited as…
MANDERLAY
In the second film of his (anti-)American trilogy, Lars von Trier takes us to a slave-holding plantation — circa 1930s (sic). The South hasn’t exactly risen again because at Manderlay — a hotbed of shocking secrets — it never fell. The slaves, led by Wilhelm (Danny Glover), are freed upon the arrival of Grace (Bryce…
No Parole for Proles
My old walking partner called the other day to let me know he recently joined the ranks of ex-convicts. We congratulated one another for finally being able to talk on the phone without Big Brother listening in — or so we assume, anyway — and kicked the bobo around for a while. We talked about…
16 BLOCKS
Director Richard Donner, like lead actor Bruce Willis, is no stranger to films about cops on the edge — he directed the Lethal Weapon series. Here, Willis plays alcoholic cop (again) Jack Mosley who’s committed to saving a convict Eddie Bunker (Mos Def) who witnessed some bad cop biz. Bunker is set to testify at…
Personal Foul: Rene Portland
When the history books are written about the coming of age of women’s basketball, Penn State Lady Lions coach Rene Portland may well be a footnote. Or worse. Portland threatens to leave behind a shameful legacy for everybody — particularly Portland herself, who had such promise when JoePa hired her. A three-time NCAA champion as…
WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW: DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
This updated version of 2004’s word-of-mouth hit contains new animated sequences, more interviews (including with author Lynne McTaggart) and a fresh opening. Though longer, it’s still a new-age ramble, quantum physics discussion, light sex comedy and rallying cry for personal growth, all in one. Filmmakers William Arntz, Betsy Chasse and Mark Vicente tackle who, what…
Was there an Asian influence in Pittsburgh’s history?
This is the kind of question you hate to answer “no” to. And if you ever stop by the Homewood Cemetery, you’ll see enough Chinese-language tombstones in the “Chinese plot” to realize they’ve been around for some time. But at least until recently, Asians have had a minimal impact on Pittsburgh history. Unless, of course,…
MOUCHETTE
Gorgeously filmed in luminous black and white, Robert Bresson’s 1967 lyrical, austere drama depicts a few days in the life of a young French girl who lives in poverty in a rural village. Mouchette (Nadine Nortier) endures indignities both tiny and gravely shattering, eventually finding solace in a decisive act that while deeply pathetic and…
Storm Relief Surge
In November, when a small group of Pittsburghers joined Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in New Orleans and Waveland, Miss., they found a unique collaboration between the Rainbow Tribe and evangelical churches — polar opposites joining to aid survivors where FEMA had failed to tread (see City Paper main feature, Dec. 21, “Wholly Spirited”).…
Iraq War: “Three Years Too Many,” Say Anti-War Forces
The third anniversary of the start of the Iraq War on March 19, 2003, will be marked here by nearly a month’s worth of exhibits, concerts and protests — all to be centered around an anti-war march and a military recruitment protest on March 17 and 18. The gatherings start Wednesday, Mar. 8, with…
Game of the Name
Head GamesNaming RitesA Conversation with tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCEName Game Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes! Mr. and Mrs. Whatever The more self-centered our culture has become, the harder it is to say who we really are. Even the most seemingly stable thing about us – our name – has become slippery, subject to endless change. Blame technology, if you want.…
Sports: Apparently We Beat Baltimore in Super Bowl Too
Like any Steelers fan, North Hills native Susan Reimer wanted to share her joy at the team’s Super Bowl appearance with the neighbors. It’s just that her neighbors are in Baltimore … and Reimer, a journalist, chose to share her joy in the newspaper column she penned for the Feb. 5 Baltimore Sun. In…
Finally, Intelligent Design
“You cannot step twice into the same river,” Heraclitus famously stated. But if you build along the banks, you’re stuck with the results for quite a while. So despite laudable ongoing efforts by the Riverlife Task Force, astonishing blunders have persisted along the rivers. We’re still left to wonder how on earth Heinz could build…
Black War Vets To Document Another War
When WQED-TV talk-show host and documentary maker Chris Moore reconnected with two Vietnam War buddies four years ago, they got together to tell some stories, “tell some lies,” he admits, and joke about pissing out of toilet-less planes, dancing with cobras and fearing the jungle’s huge orangutans were the enemy closing in. Now Moore has…
A Conversation with Todd Eckert
Todd Eckert is a unique breed of bi-coastal these days: a film producer and video-game financer splitting his time not between New York and L.A., but mainly between London, Manchester, Berlin … and Pittsburgh. He’s currently producing the much-anticipated film about Ian Curtis — the singer of seminal Manchester group Joy Division –…
Mixdown
When Strict Flow went the way of Three Rivers back in ’03, the group’s prodigy Ron Noodles suddenly found himself an orphan, forced immediately to grow himself from opening act to headliner. Luckily, he’s battle-tested and cipher-circulated enough to hold his own, without having to be introduced or validated by anybody. One of his…
Industry in Art: Pittsburgh 1812-1920
Pittsburgh’s insecurity about its industrial heritage, it seems, is almost as old as the heritage itself. Or so one concludes from Industry in Art, Rina Youngner’s soon-to-be-released survey of early depictions of Pittsburgh. In canvassing these images, Youngner offers up a portrait of her own: of a city that celebrates its industry while…
Why We Fight
Peace, freedom, justice, democracy: Such valorous but vague reasons are among those we proffer in response to Why We Fight, both the title and central query of Eugene Jarecki’s documentary. It’s a provocative look at the creation and growth of a permanent military establishment in the United States. Jarecki, who previously examined one small…
Nightwatch
Nightwatch is likely the first Russian-made film to reach U.S. multiplexes. The supernatural thriller is both an obvious and an interesting choice for such a distinction: Its surface flash shrieks box-office, while its morally murky characters promise to gobsmack a mass audience stateside. The story we’re told begins in 1992 –…
The Libertine
What creates a man like John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester, circa 1670s England? He’s wealthy, privileged, bitter, unhappy, and a rabid bon vivant who gorges himself with wine and then gorges myriad lovers with himself. “Allow me to be frank at the commencement,” Wilmot (Johnny to his friend) confesses…
The Man Who Shot ‘Sliberty
Chris Ivey came to Pittsburgh to make movies. Eleven years later, that’s one reason he’s still here. But it’s not the only reason. He also wants to make a difference. The chronically enthused Ivey, often operating as Hyperboy Media, is a familiar face on Pittsburgh’s art scene. His credits include music…
COWBOY DEL AMOR
Michele Ohayon’s low-key and entertaining documentary follows New Mexican Ivan Thompson, the self-proclaimed “Cowboy Cupid,” who for a fee finds Mexican brides for American men. It sounds sleazy, but Thompson — himself a crusty, but romantic old cowboy with his own relationship troubles — seems genuinely motivated to put lonely people, the majority of them…
