Oscar-nominated shorts coming soon
If you’re a fan of the Magic Lantern – and most lovers of alternative cinema are – you need to know that Spokane’s only movie arthouse won’t be opening anything new today. But in the same message, manager Jonathan Abramson announced that on Jan. 30, the theater will open the 2015 Oscar-nominated live-action and animated shorts.
Dan Webster
We’re already two weeks into the new year, and that means that many of the films that have opened elsewhere – those special seven-day, Oscar-hopeful screenings in New York and L.A. – are finally arriving here in the hinterlands. Two of those films, plus a number of others – as well as a couple of Golden Globe-mentioned second runs – are on today’s movie release schedule.
Today’s openings are as follows:
“ American Sniper” (IMAX and regular): Clint Eastwood directed this look at Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper), the man billed as “the most lethal sniper in U.S history.” Expect a few flags to be waved.
“ Foxcatcher” Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo star as the Olympic wrestling Schultz brothers (Tatum and Ruffalo) who become involved with the emotionally unstable billionaire heir John du Pont (Carell). Somebody doesn’t make it to the third round.
“ The Wedding Ringer” Having no one else to turn to, a shy kind of guy (Josh Gad) hires a professional wedding planner (Kevin Hart) to be his best man. Two words: Kevin Hart.
“ Blackhat” Michael Mann gives us this story of a hacker so devious that the government enlists the services of a genius Internet criminal (Chris Hemsworth) to battle him. What, Edward Snowden wasn’t available?
“ Paddington” Based on Michael Bond’s popular children’s book character, this PG-rated movie follows a talking bear that finds refuge with a London family – and predictable mayhem ensues. Think of what might have happened had the family adopted Babar the elephant.
The second-run Golden Globe winners are “ Boyhood” (Best Dramatic Motion Picture, Best Director Richard Linklater) and “ Whiplash” (Best Supporting Actor J.K. Simmons), while “ Nightcrawler” was a nominee (Best Actor in a Motion Picture Jake Gyllenhaal).
The good movies are still coming. So go see one. And enjoy.
Dan Webster
I know next to nothing about jazz. Even though my iPod boasts the work of musicians such as Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck and Chet Baker, I would be lost in any discussion about their respective abilities, their styles or especially what influence each has had. As with most people, I suspect, I just listen to what I like.
So I approached the music documentary “Keep On Keepin’ On” with as open a mind as I could muster. The film, which is showing at the Magic Lantern, is an exploration of the life, the career and that elusive legacy known as the jazz trumpeter Clark Terry.
A native of St. Louis, Terry rose above a dirt-poor childhood that saw him so obsessed with the trumpet that he built one of his own, connecting a length of scrap tubing to a lead mouthpiece. The sound was so ear-splitting that friends and family collected money to buy the boy a real horn. Fast-forward a few years and, after learning the basics of his instrument, he began playing professionally. By the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, Terry was working with such bandleaders as Count Basie and Duke Ellington.
Produced in part by Quincy Jones, who credits Terry for helping him jump-start his own career, “Keep On Keepin’ On” is a tribute documentary. You’ll find nothing critical here, nothing controversial – save maybe for a brief appearance by Bill Cosby, who, along with other Terry fans such as Herbie Hancock and Arturo Sandoval, attests to Terry’s talents.
Yet the film’s sentiment never feels forced. As I say, I know next to nothing about jazz. But I know enough to say that, like the music that both Clark Terry and Justin Kauflin create, “Keep On Keepin’ On” stays unerringly on key.
Dan Webster