Oscar Said This Movie Was Good is a movie review series by Ozarks native Kaitlyn Vaughan. She is not a professional movie critic by any means — and not even really a writer — but wanted to improve her movie buffness by watching all 9 films nominated by the Academy Awards for Best Picture. Then she said she wanted to write about them. We said, “Fine. Whatever.” So, if these reviews suck, it’s not our fault. But, if they’re good, we deserve all the credit.

Let’s get right to it. George Clooney is the man. You can’t argue with his track record: O Brother Where Art Thou, Ocean’s Eleven, all that time on ER, and the cherry on top, One Fine Day. (What woman didn’t want to be the struggling single mother, Michelle Pfeiffer in that movie?)

Add The Descendants to George’s greatest hits list.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Take Clooney, pair him with breakout star Shailene Woodley (good to know she can do more than be a pregnant hooligan on The Secret Life of an American Teenager), put them in a storyline anyone can relate to, throw the whole thing in Hawaii, and you’ve got yourself a winner.

Speaking of Hawaii, the setting of this movie was fantastic. Not only were the visuals spectacular, but the Hawaiian locale gave the film a little something different, a vibe that you can’t get from a story set in New York City or Los Angeles. If you’ve been to Hawaii, you totally get it. If you haven’t, you definitely can appreciate it.

We all know George can play a wide array of characters, but now we can put vulnerability on the list. I could feel the anguish and heartbreak he struggled with throughout the entire movie. He was just a dad doing the best he could in a really crappy situation. His out-of-control 17- and 10-year-old daughters added a nice level of comedic relief to the storyline. Shailene’s character, Alex’s, harsh attitude and vulgar nature were downright funny at times and seriously, as much as you don’t want to admit it, watching kids under the age of 12 swear and say inappropriate things is hilarious. The dynamic between Matt, Alex, and the little sister Scottie (weird name, by the way) was spot on, although I’m not sure why Alex’s friend Sid was involved as much as he was. Whatever, it was all worth it to see Grandpa sucker punch him.

This movie had the potential to get boring. Mom is in a life-threatening accident, Dad has to assume responsibility for the children, Dad brings problem child back home from reform school, the family finds a newfound respect for each other in light of the tragedy, blah blah blah. But, wait, finding out Mom had been cheating on Dad for months before the accident throws an interesting wrench in things. We spend the rest of the movie watching Matt and Alex stalk and track down Mom’s lover while she lay in a hospital bed in a vegetative state. Father and daughter, working together to find the man who was about to ruin their family to tell him his mistress is brain dead. Surprise. Turns out Lover Boy is married, to a hot bodied Judy Greer, who, for some reason, made an impression on me. I could sympathize with her character and enjoyed her nature, especially when she came to visit her husband’s mistress in the hospital because he was too much of a coward to do it himself. Bam.

Of course, at the end, they unplug the mother from life support and they all say their goodbyes and watch her die. Matt and his girls come together with newfound love for each other. I cried. Duh. If you weren’t crying by the end of that thing, you’re heart is made of stone.

I’ve heard from others they thought this movie was too depressing. I say this movie was real life, and real life can be depressing. I was more than happy to pay the $10 to see this movie in the theater (although I didn’t because I had a free pass. What’s up?). You killed it, George. I would love to see you get Best Actor, especially over Brad Pitt in Moneyball (gross).

You were right, Oscar. This movie was good.

Other movies Oscar said were good (and were reviewed):

• The Artist
• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
• The Help
• Hugo
• Midnight in Paris
• Moneyball
• The Tree of Life
• War Horse

Oscar Said This Movie Was Good is a movie review series by Ozarks native Kaitlyn Vaughan. She is not a professional movie critic by any means — and not even really a writer — but wanted to improve her movie buffness by watching all 9 films nominated by the Academy Awards for Best Picture. Then she said she wanted to write about them. We said, “Fine. Whatever.” So, if these reviews suck, it’s not our fault. But, if they’re good, we deserve all the credit.

SGF native Brad Pitt might be the only redeeming thing about Moneyball.

I am an avid lover of sports movie. While I am not the most athletic girl on the playground, Remember the Titans, The Mighty Ducks and A League of Their Own rank high on my list of favorite movies. (Please do not judge.) Prior to watching, I did not hear good things about this film. But, being the sports movie fanatic I am, I wanted to believe in you, Moneyball.

I shouldn’t have.

First of all, this movie was slow. As in, the speed of your internet when you had dial up, SGF traffic when it’s raining SGF traffic at any time, the McDonald’s drive thru line at noon, slow. As I mentioned, I wanted to believe in this film, but how many times can you watch Brad and Jonah Hill stare at standard deviation, long division, and computer screens from the early nineties before you start checking your Facebook?

As someone who has enough knowledge to enjoy the World Series, but not enough to know what constitutes a decent batting average, I found myself struggling to relate to the majority of the story. I’m sure someone with a respectable background in the sport would understand the jargon, calculations, and shorthand, but since Legends of the Fall heartthrob and SGF native son Brad Pitt starred in this movie, I guarantee I was not the only female to feel lost, and a little deceived, while watching it. On a positive note, however, I could relate to the old man scouts sitting around a table, gossiping (that’s what I call it) about every player in baseball. “His girlfriend is ugly. He’s getting a big around the middle. He parties too much.” Sounds strangely familiar to a girls’ night.

(Side note: How about when the Kansas City Royals make a killer comeback during what was supposed to be a crucial game for the Oakland Athletics? We all know things like that never happen to the Royals in real life so it was nice to see.)

In addition to be slow and confusing, this film lacked some serious character development. For how many people were involved in this story, I found myself caring for only one: Billy Beane’s 12-year-old daughter, Casey. Her musical talent, unusual wisdom, and justified worry for her father made her someone you wanted to care about. I didn’t flinch when players were traded or cut. I didn’t feel bad when Billy’s world was crashing down around him. But I couldn’t stop smiling when Casey played the guitar and sang her daddy a song.

Let’s talk about the ending. OK, Billy, so you don’t take the gazillion dollars Boston is offering you and then they win without you. And Oakland continues to not win a World Series under your management. And you’re still divorced and alone. And then you file for bankruptcy and your house floods. I mean, seriously. Let’s make this movie more depressing. I know it was based on a true story, and I figured the real story wasn’t all cotton candy and pizza for breakfast, but come on. Give a girl a little smile everyone once in a while.

In conclusion, I was not impressed with this movie. I am glad I chose to pay the $1.29 (way to raise your prices, Redbox) to rent this movie rather than pay $10 to see it at a movie theater.

Oscar was wrong. This movie was not good.

Mexico, 1991: A crash Senna walked away from.

Full disclosure: This review marks my second occasion for seeing this movie. The first was its one-day-only screening in St. Louis in September, which happened to coincide with a trip into the city to visit friends. The reasons for the second viewing, however, were very different than the first. It was no longer about seeing a movie about the life and death of one of the most transcendent and enigmatic international sports stars of my childhood, a man I remember getting up at 6 a.m. on Sunday mornings to watch, live from somewhere in the world, turn a marathon of violent, skittish, edge-of-physics motion into something resembling art. The second viewing of Senna was about none of that. It was about therapy.

What happened to legendary Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna on May 1, 1994 happened again recently to another successful driver, 2011 Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon, in Las Vegas: a powerful, horrifying death broadcast second for heart-rending second on live television. No other popular sport puts its participants and followers through even the possibility of such a bloody outcome. It’s not something that has to be dealt with often anymore; thankfully, advancements in safety technology have seen to that. In the world of Formula One racing, the most-watched form of motor sport in the world, that is largely due, for better and for worse, to the last man to die behind the wheel of one of its cars: Ayrton Senna. And it’s Senna himself who offers here, through his eyes and his words, as redemptive–and defiant–an explanation of why a racing driver does what he does as has ever been laid out. For him, he tells us, it’s ultimately about pushing into different dimensions of the mind, a sort of meditation at breakneck speed. Riding along at eye level with him as he rattles and surges around the streets of Monte Carlo in 1988 while he tells it, it’s hard not to believe along with him.

That’s the real coup director Asif Kapadia (Far North, The Warrior) pulls off with this documentary: Senna, 17 years dead, is not only the protagonist of the film but the principal narrator. Because of the media age he came up in, the fame he received as a three-time world champion and his polarizing passion, Senna was one of the most publicly and privately documented drivers Formula One has ever known. The movie Kapadia has made is a phenomenal piece of video and audio editing at a blink-and-it’s-over 106 minutes long. The reason is the lack of that great documentary film convention: Static present-day interviews. The people who knew Senna are not telling his story while sitting in a cushy chair in a black room and facing the camera. You hear their voices, but what you see is all action. When someone is facing the camera and talking into a microphone it’s Senna, speaking in footage from one of his countless press conferences and other interviews. His eloquence in these situations lets him carry the film, and that eloquence came from his obvious passion for what he did.

That passion is also at the heart of the film’s conflict, namely Senna’s poisonous rivalry with fellow champion and onetime teammate Alain Prost of France. If it seems weird to use movie terms such as “conflict” and “protagonist” when talking about a documentary, that’s because the movie suffers from one significant flaw, and it’s in discussing this rivalry that the flaw is most exposed. The events of Senna’s career would be a Hollywood movie script if they weren’t real happenings; watch the sequence where he wins his home race in Brazil in 1991, riddled with pain from muscle spams caused by wrestling a car with only sixth gear, and see for yourself. But Kapadia, in trying to make the story accessible to people who don’t know the story, makes a clear narrative with a hero (Senna) and villains (Prost and the sport’s biggest power broker, International Automobile Federation President Jean-Marie Balestre) out to get him. The story fits to a degree, especially when Prost (allegedly) deliberately crashes himself and Senna out of a race in Japan in 1989 to make it happen. But when Senna returns the favor a year later it’s a reminder he was not a saint in this, either, though that’s where the movie’s examination of it ends. Maybe it’s out of respect for the deceased; maybe it’s to avoid angering fans who waited years for a proper telling of the driver’s life’s story. But to gloss over the faults of a man whose reputation as mercurial and notoriously hard on his teammates (Prost wasn’t the only cohort Senna drove away, just the most successful) sort of takes the “document” out of “documentary.”

Such debates fade away quickly, however, when the tragic events of 1994 take over the narrative. Kapadia holds nothing back when taking you through the weekend of the Grand Prix of San Marino, the weekend best known for Senna’s death but that also claimed the life of Roland Ratzenberger and nearly took fellow Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, too. It’s all there, in chilling, unflinching detail. Leave it to Kapadia, though, to bring a touching full-circle conclusion to things with another deft piece of editing. Let’s just say Terry Fullerton should be proud.

For longtime racing fans, Senna is a way to remember a once-in-a-lifetime talent at his best: as the pride of Brazil, and as a man who saw his profession and his sport with eyes open and loved it without reservation. For younger fans, it’s not only a look at the Michael Jordan of his sport at a time when it’s now in the midst of its Kobe Bryants and LeBron Jameses, but also a way to come to grips with racing’s darkest side through one of its staunchest supporters and most famous victims. It may play best, though, to those who were never into the sport at all. Most people who see Senna will never understand what it’s like to drive a racing car, but they will understand the need of a son to get a hug from his dad at one of the most important–if painful–times in his life. They will understand a mother’s conflict in wanting her son’s safety but not getting in the way of his dream. They will understand, in some way, giving everything they have for success even when others try to stop them. Senna is an engrossing reminder that, in a sport so reliant on machines, it is humanity we ultimately root for, and for which we ultimately weep.

Senna is currently showing at Moxie Cinema. For show times and ticket details, click here.

The Banff Mountain Film Festival will be in more than 36 countries on its international tour. Thursday it will make the stop in SGF at the Gillioz Theatre, being the (only?) major film festival to come to town. The theme of the movies included in the festival is outdoor sporting. Local organizers hope to bring the event back to town annually. Tickets for the event are $20, information.

The Swiss Machine

Dream Result

Into Darkness

Life Cycles

Last Paradise

The family-safe outdoor movie series is back at Founders Park for the summer, with a nice tie for local filmmakers. A selection of shorts produced for this year’s SATO 48 competition will run with Saturday showings, starting with the event’s Best Picture winner Start With A Story. Movies begin each weekend at dusk. Hit Founders Park online for ticket details.

2011 Movies at Founders Park Lineup

• July 8 – “Shrek Forever After” (PG)
• July 9 – “Meet Me in St. Louis” (N/A) • SATO 48: “Start With A Story” & “wavelengths”
• July 15 – “Nanny McPhee Returns” (PG)
• July 16 – “Burlesque” (PG-13)• SATO 48: “Le Squid Noir” & “Corrugated”
• July 22 – “Letters to Juliet” (PG)
• July 23 – “August Light: Wilson’s Creek and the Battle for Missouri” (G)
• July 29 – “Rango” (PG)
• July 30 – “The Social Network” (PG-13) • SATO 48: “Synchronicity” & “Drop Job” & “The String”
• August 5 – “Gnomeo and Juliet” (G)
• August 6 – “Just Go With It” (PG-13) • SATO 48: “Love in Cliché” & “Lily’s Petals”
• August 12 – “Tangled” (PG)
• August 13 – “Tron Legacy” (PG-13) • SATO 48: “The Cowboy Warrior of Golf City” & “Dream ‘Scapes”
• August 19 – “Toy Story 3” (G)
• August 20 – “Inception” (PG-13) • SATO 48: “The Refuge” & “Vic-Six” & “The String”
• August 26 – “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” (PG)
• August 27 – “West Side Story” (N/A)

The final phase of SATO 48 2011 is upon us, and it looks pretty fancy. The Gillioz Theatre hosts tonight’s award ceremony which serves as the final chapter of the year’s local filmmaking competition. There will be live entertainment, the awards (of course), and a free after party at Jekyll & Hyde’s. The evening kicks off at 7:30 p.m. If you don’t know SATO 48, here’s the premise …

Phase 1: Teams of filmmakers create a 5-minute film based on an inspiration package

Phase 2: Films (more than 70 this year) are viewed, judged and narrowed by local critics. Then 10 are selected per category (all phases of filmmaking, a la Academy Awards) and shipped to international experts in each.

Phase 3: Awards announced at red carpet event hosted by the Gillioz (aka “get handsome and enjoy the show”).

Admission is only $5. Check back at TAGsgf.com for red carpet photo galleries, award announcements, video interviews and any other shenanigans that could take place.

Tonight brings you the fifth and final installment of the monthly Queen City Cinema series at Moxie Cinema, a five-month chance to see local filmmakers’ work on the big screen at the Moxie at no cost to you courtesy of the Missouri Film Alliance of Springfield. This time around, it’s time to scare your pants off.* Horror cinema is the theme for May, beginning with two local short films starting at 9 p.m., namely Brook Linder Finds a Monster In His Backyard, directed by–you guessed it–Brook Linder (whom you might also know from this), and Jason Gets Fired, directed by Johnno Zee:

After that, it’s time for a screening of American Scary, a documentary written and produced by SGFer Sandy Clark (who will host a Q&A session before the documentary starts) looking at the rise, fall and sort-of return of the localized horror-movie program host. (Think Joe Bob Briggs from TNT’s MonsterVision, except usually horror characters themselves and based in your town.) Here’s the trailer:

*Please keep your pants on.

If you weren’t able to get to Moxie Cinema this past weekend for the sixth annual Springfield and the Ozarks 48-hour Film Festival, aka SATO48, well, it’s over. The seven groups of short films, all filmed the weekend of April 15-17, finished screening yesterday, so your next chance to participate won’t come until the awards are handed out on May 5 at Gillioz Theatre. However, that does not mean you can’t see the movies. Many SGF filmmakers have already uploaded their finished work to the Internet, with more sure to come. So if you Easter plans, a weekend-long date with your couch or other reasons you couldn’t attend, it’s time to raise the volume and recline in your favorite theater-substitute chair. Here comes the current collection of every 2011 SATO48 film we can find, posted in alphabetical order:

A Way Out:

The Cowboy Warrior of Gold City:

Dream ‘Scapes:

Drop Job:

The Hitch:

I’m In a Relationship… and It’s Complicated!:

Mistaken (preview):

Over Easy:

Retirement:

SATO48:

Vulker’s Egress:

Zombie Hunters 2 (trailer):

The film-making portion, or phase one of the sixth edition Springfield And The Ozarks 48 is in progress. Registered teams have two days to write, shoot, edit, render, edit, render …….. complete and deliver a 5-minute film. No part of the film could be produced before the clock started Friday night, and scripts were yet to be created. Event organizers Jeff Clinkenbeard and Kyaw Tha Hla hand out “inspiration packages” which could be anything — a prop, a storyline, a dialogue requirement, or even a prohibition. One year teams weren’t allowed to use guns, even by reference.

Phase two is next weekend (April 23, 24) when the finished projects are screened at the Moxie. It is designed so the public can get involved and see the films. Meanwhile, scattered throughout the audience are members of a local selection committee. As with the big-time movie awards, each judge will focus on one aspect of each film (art direction, cinematography, etc.). The top ten films in each category are shipped to professionals around the world to decide the winners.

May 5 marks the final phase — the party. Hosted by Gillioz Theatre, it’s the Ozarks’ Oscars, if you will, the award ceremony. “When you look at the audience at the Academy Awards, 99% have no stake in what’s going on,” Clinkenbeard said. “They’re there, because that’s the place to be in Hollywood. We want to bring the same feel to (the awards ceremony) in Springfield.”

The success of SATO 48 reaches beyond what’s on film — it’s advancing careers. According to Clinkenbeard, former SATO competitor Shawn Matthews “can’t do (the event this year) because he got ‘real work.” Clinkenbeard said Matthews sold an original reality TV show to a major network with details coming soon.

Clinkenbeard said there wasn’t a favorite in the crop, because it all depends on how the inspiration package resonates with each crew. “Every year is different, teams can be different,” Clinkenbeard said. “Last year, a film that took home three or four major awards was a SATO 48 newcomers.”

Check out some 2010 SATO 48 Entries

Wehrenberg Campbell 16

• Scream 4 (R) – 5:05 6:50 7:30 9:20 10:10 11:45
• Hop (PG) – 7:15, 9:35
• Arthur (PG-13) – 5:05 6:05 7:45 10:20
• Your Highness (R) – 5:10 7:40 10:15p
• Rio 3D (G) – 5:25 6:10 7:50 10:15p
• Rio (G) – 5:10 7:40 10:10
• Source Code (PG-13) – 7:05 9:20 11:35
• Hanna (PG-13) – 7:15 10:00p
• Soul Surfer (PG) – 5:00 7:30 10:00
• Insidious (PG-13) – 7:00 9:25 11:50pm
• Limitless (PG-13) – 6:45 9:15 11:45pm
• The Lincoln Lawyer (R) – 9:15
• The Conspirator (PG-13) – 7:00 9:45pm
• Sucker Punch (PG-13) – 8:35 11:00
• Atlas Shrugged: Part 1 (PG-13) 7:10, 9:30

Hollywood Theatres College Station 14

• Arthur (PG-13) – 7:05 9:35
• Hanna (PG-13) – 6:50 9:25
• Hop (PG) – 6:40 9:15
• Insidious (PG-13) – 7:20 9:55
• Limitless (PG-13) – 7:25 10:00
• Rio 3D (G) – 6:55 7:15 9:30 9:50
• Rio (G) – 6:35 9:10
• Scream 4 (R) – 5:05 7:10 7:40 9:45 10:15
• Soul Surfer (PG) – 6:45 9:20
• Source Code (PG-13) – 5:00 7:35 10:10
• The Lincoln Lawyer (R) – 6:50 9:40
• Your Highness (R) – 7:30 10:05

Palace Theatres

• The Exorcist (R) – 11:00
• Gnomeo and Juliet (G) – 5:15 7:10 9:00
• The Green Hornet (PG) – 6:40 9:05 11:25
• Hall Pass (R) – 7:15 9:25 11:45
• Just Go With It (PG-13) – 6:45 9:10 11:30
• No Strings Attached (R) – 5:05 7:20 9:30 11:40
• Tangled (PG) – 6:30 8:40
• True Grit (PG-13) – 6:50 9:15 11:35

The Moxie Cinema

• I Saw the Devin (NR) – 8:30
• Cold Weather (NR) – 9:30
• Cedar Rapids (R) – 6:30
• The Music Never Stopped (PG) – 7:00

Showplex Cinemas Springfield 8

• Scream 4 (R) – 7:30 9:50
• Hop (PG) – 7:00 9:25
• Arthur (PG-13) – 7:25 9:55
• Your Highness (R) – 7:15 9:40
• Rio 3D (G) – 7:20 9:30
• Rio (G) – 7:00 9:45
• Hanna (PG-13) – 7:10 9:45
• Soul Sufer (PG) – 7:05 9:35

A FrankCritic.com review by Frank C. Bailey

A directly proportional relationship exists between your enthusiasm for Easter and how much you will enjoy this film. By your enthusiasm for Easter, I am speaking of nothing to do with the death and resurrection of Jesus or anything else with the slightest relationship to the Christian faith. Easter, as it is secularized in the United States to be about bunnies, baby chicks, pastels, and various kinds of savory and confectionary eggs, has even less to do with any of the world’s great monotheisms than Christmas in the United States does. Despite Christmas’ associations with the pagan festival of Yule, its generic similarity to similar winter solstices celebrated in most cultures, and its prominent role as an engine of the economy taking undeniable precedence over any savior’s birth, it is, at least, still in the fight to be a Christian holiday integrated into mainstream secular culture. Santa Claus is based upon the real Saint Nicholas Agios, Nativity scenes remain common in town squares, and plenty of the Christmas carols mention Jesus, angels, or some such thing. With Easter though, it’s another story entirely. Any Christian church with any integrity at all is going to make sure Easter is celebrated with the proper acknowledgement of Christ having died for one’s sins, his involvement in a miraculous resurrection three days later, and may even encourage something of a solemn approach to the celebration of the holiday. Some, but not all, also include the secular elements of the holiday. However, secular participating in the holiday, especially the children participating, never even get the slightest notion that the holiday is about Jesus, and why should they? It’s not about Jesus, it’s about bunnies, candy, and pretty colors. That is the Easter you need to love in order to love Hop.

Although it will sound like a spoiler to say so, James Marsden’s character Fred O’Hare, and yes O’Hare is the character’s name and also the sort of humor you ought to get used to with the film, becomes The Easter Bunny. He is the first human ever to do so and this destiny is stated at literally the first thing the film does, which is why it’s not a spoiler to say so. Fred’s story is really the actual story of the film, as he is meant to be the kid-like character actual kids in the audience can relate to the best. Like Blythe Danner’s character in Paul, his whole life was changed by his encounter with something fantastic visiting his home as a child, and his high standards for greatness have doomed him to being something of a loser as an adult. When we first meet him, he is around his more successful siblings, some of whom are still children, and his deeply disappointed and sardonic parents, who are enthusiastically discussing kicking him out of the house due to his seemingly chronic inability to get a job because he refuses to settle. In fact, Fred is only not homeless throughout most of the film because he is housesitting for a wealthy person. Meanwhile, The Easter Bunny, voiced by Hugh Laurie, is dealing with his rebellious son’s running away from home to avoid his destiny of assuming the mantle of The Easter Bunny.

The creatively named E.B., voiced pretty much as you’d expect by Russell Brand, is obsessed with having fun and trying to make it as a professional rock n’ roll drummer. So, of course, Fred and E.B. meet and what is essentially a buddy movie comes to fruition. A lot of the time, their interactions reminded me of The Odd Couple, with the responsible and driven Fred playing the Felix Unger role and the laid-back and irresponsible E.B. playing the Oscar Madison role. Having recently watched Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, it also reminded me a great deal of Harry having to deal with Dobby the house elf constantly causing him trouble for what he assured Harry were good reasons. E.B doesn’t say he has good reasons for causing Fred trouble, exactly, but he does insist that everything will be fine or that he is somehow justified.

I don’t normally talk about parental concerns too much in film reviews, but Hop seems innocuous enough that parents could be forgiven for not being concerned. For one thing, E.B. poops candy as one of his established abilities. While kids are likely to think this scatological bit of business is hilarious, and this is doubtless why it was included, it’s still a sort of scatological humor and those who disapprove ought to be aware. What concerns me more is that E.B. is enough of a selfish anarchist, and largely gets away with his abuse of Fred, which includes everything from trashing the home Fred is housesitting to framing him for murder sort of accidentally on purpose, that it renders the character a poor role model.

At the end of the film, while he and Fred have been through enough together for him to be unlikely to abuse him anymore, E.B. seems to have basically learned nothing about how his earlier behavior in the film was wrong. Hank Azaria plays the villain, a chick named Carlos whose villainy should be obvious from his earliest appearance if not the trailers themselves, and his position that E.B. is a spoiled brat who doesn’t deserve either to be the Easter Bunny or to have all the privilege he does is difficult to not sympathize with. Carlos is made petty and given ridiculous ideas about how he thinks Easter should be run so the audience is forced to root against him, but I do start to question things when the villain of a piece makes as many good points as he does here. Brand’s anarchic shtick perhaps well serves projects like Get Him To The Greek and Arthur, but in a kid’s movie his persona makes the cute little bunny difficult to root for. Despicable Me’s minions briefly appear before the film and basically had the same effect on me Natalie Portman did in No Strings Attached by reminding me of greatness during an otherwise mediocre project.

Benjamain "Coach" Wade

A black-tie event will serve as the world premiere of 180, shot last year in SGF. Starring Bolivar’s Benjamin “Coach” Wade in his screen debut as Gavin Larson, 180 is the story a Rock-god who was the only survivor of a plane crash that killed the rest of his band. You might also remember Wade as “Dragon Slayer” from a couple different seasons of Survivor, which cost his job as Southwest Baptist University’s head women’s soccer coach.

The viewing is at the Gillioz Theatre Friday, June 17 with live acoustic performances by Steve Ewing, formerly of The Urge, and Randy Evans, whose band (The Indifference) is responsible for 180′s original music score. Ewing and Evans also have roles in the film.

180 was co-produced by Lunch Truck Productions out of Los Angeles and Springfield’s Easy Water Films.

Tickets

180 Trailer

Opening Day is almost here and the TAG staff is giddy. We are holed up in anticipation and are relying on film to get us fired up (and the MLB TV Game Center, not that we are obsessed). We brought in SGFer and professional baseballer Mike Kickham who pitched for the Missouri State Bears, and now is a farmhand in the San Francisco Giants organization to help settle the debate of best baseball movie. This is a theatrical movie, so documentaries are excluded, though that would be a great debate as well. Think our list is wrong? Tell us about it in comments.

As of Monday morning Kickham had not been assigned, so keep an eye on TAG throughout the week the news of where he will begin the 2011 campaign.

TAG 5

1. Bull Durham — 14 (1)*
2. The Sandlot — 13 (2)*
3. Major League — 13*
4. Field of Dreams — 10 (1)
5. The Natural — 6

Others receiving vote:

Mr. Baseball — 2, *61 — 2.

Variety is the name of the game for the March edition of the Missouri Film Alliance of Springfield‘s Queen City Cinema tonight at Moxie Cinema, with two very different and somewhat quirky films showing the more farcical and darkly amusing sides of SGF-area filmmaking. There’s also a late addition providing a look ahead at another local movie often mentioned in the media. Take a look:

Highway Pirates

Jim Bultas‘s film about landlocked pirates and a death-defying drive to deliver a package gets its time on the big screen. Here’s the trailer:

The Death of Alfred Bailey

A student film about a cynical, pessimistic young man plans to end his life only to screw it up and have to endure the efforts of a young woman to show him what he has to live for. Trailerage:

Finally, added on for extra intrigue is the full-length trailer for the locally filmed movie 180 about a rocker trying to turn his life around after a brush with death. In case you can’t make it in person to see it on the giant screen with killer sound, here’s it is:

Remember, Queen City Cinema is FREE to get into and movies begin at 8 p.m.

At TAG, we might not be the most “fashion savvy” but as I pointed out during Sunday’s Oscars watch party live blog, we know attractive (even though we can never find it in the mirror). Our top five today is the female winners from last night’s red carpet and award show. The usual suspects, of course, are there, but what about the hostess? Anne Hathaway kept our interest peaked throughout the long ceremony for the TAG 5 crown.

TAG 5

As of Feb. 28, 2011
1. Anne Hathaway — 14 (2)
2. Halle Berry — 11 (1)
3. Mila Kunis — 9.5 (1)*
4. Jennifer Lawrence — 9
5. Scarlett Johansson — 6
* — unanimous

Others receiving votes:
Natalie Portman — 4, Jennifer Hudson — 3, Reese Witherspoon — 3, Amy Adams — .5.

TAG Votes

Chris DeRosier
1. Anne Hathaway
2. Jennifer Lawrence
3. Natalie Portman
4. Halle Berry
5. Amy Adams/Mila Kunis

Brett Johnston
1. Mila Kunis
2. Halle Berry
3. Jennifer Lawrence
4. Scarlett Johansson
5. Natalie Portman

David Norman
1. Halle Berry
2. Anne Hathaway
3. Jennifer Hudson
4. Mila Kunis
5. Jennifer Lawrence

Allen Vaughan
1. Anne Hathaway
2. Scarlett Johansson
3. Reese Witherspoon
4. Mila Kunis
5. Jennifer Lawrence

Award season is always a special and weird time of year. For those who have seen the movies or heard the songs and albums nominated for awards it’s a chance at validation, and validation is special. Who doesn’t love to root for something that succeeds? It’s also weird because the people doing most of the rooting and hoping for validation are not directly involved in the film or album they’re rooting for; the vested interest comes entirely from experiencing the finished product and not at all from the making of. This weekend is your chance to change that–a little, anyway–during the biggest awards show of the year.

The Missouri Film Alliance of Springfield (MFAS) and TAGsgf.com are bringing you an Oscars watch party this Sunday at the Creamery Arts Center (411 N. Sherman Pkwy. across from Hammons Field, or click here for a map) with a real reason to root. Last year’s most publicized SGF film, Winter’s Bone, is nominated for four Academy Awards (Actor in a Supporting Role for John Hawkes, Actress in a Leading Role for Jennifer Lawrence, Writing (Adapted Screenplay) and the all-important Best Picture) and members of the film’s cast and crew will be in attendance at the party to see if their own movie picks up a prized statuette or four. You can party with them, bringing you one step closer not only to having real vested interest in the movie’s success but to the possibility of witnessing history, as no movie with ties to SGF has ever walked away with an Oscar. The cost for this opportunity is $5 for general public and FREE for MFAS members (How do I become an MFAS member, Chris? Glad you asked) and is shaping up to be the spot to watch the Academy Awards and get all the validation you could want. Here’s a breakdown of what you’re in for:

The Room: The Creamery Arts Center’s spacious conference room is the spot, replete with 65″ flat-screen TV and surround sound and plenty of seating room for patrons. The setup is also a screening room for local filmmakers and happens to be a stone’s throw away from the brand-new editing bay for member filmmakers. Basically, it’s one-stop shopping for SGFers wanting to create and present their latest visual works. Tonight, though, it’s your customizable, flex-seating theater.

Who’s Gonna Be There: Not only will cast and crew members from Winter’s Bone be present, but MFAS members and the public at large. Additionally, the TAGsgf crew will be present with Live Blog at the ready to chronicle the night’s proceedings, both in the room and on the screen.

What’s Gonna Happen: This isn’t just walking into a big room and staring at a big screen. There will be a costume contest with prizes for the person best-dressed as his or her favorite nominated movie character. There will also be contests for picking the night’s winners and a round of Oscars/Missouri film trivia we’re told will be quite the challenge. Eat your heart out, Trebek. Food and drink will be provided by those coming to the party (i.e. potluck and BYOB), so you have the chance to make the snack tray and refreshments table (cups and ice provided) as awesome as you want it to be.

What’s At Stake: History, man/lady. History. Watch this:

All of those films have some sort of tie to Missouri, and none of them have one of those pretty gold statuettes from the Academy to call their own. One independent film, based on local author Daniel Woodrell‘s novel by the same name, has the chance to end that unfortunate streak Sunday night. You won’t want to miss it.

Friday Night Movie Times

Several films make their theater debuts tonight including I Am Number Four, Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son and Unknown. Last week Just Go With It, starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston had the highest sales total.  We’ll see if any of the new films this weekend can overtake the number one position.  Also, keep in touch with a comment below if these movie times helped you or if you loved/hated a movie you saw this weekend. We always enjoy your feedback. — Chris Cahill

Last Week’s Top Movies

1. Just Go With It – $30.5M
2. Justin Bieber: Never Say Never – $29.5M
3. Gnomeo and Juliet – $25.5M
4. The Eagle – $8.6M

Dickinson 8

I Am Number Four (PG-13)
7:10, 9:30

Unknown (PG-13)
7:00, 9:20

The Eagle (PG-13)
7:25, 9:50

Gnomeo and Juliet (G)
7:30, 9:25

Just Go With It (PG-13)
7:15, 9:45

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never 3D (G)
7:05, 9:35

Sanctum (R)
9:30

The King’s Speech (R)
7:00

Hollywood Theaters

Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (PG-13)
7:40, 10:05

I Am Number Four (PG-13)
7:15, 7:45, 9:50

Unknown (PG-13)
6:50, 9:30

The Eagle (PG-13)
7:05, 9:45

Gnomeo & Juliet (G)
6:55, 9:25

Gnomeo & Juliet 3D (G)
7:25, 9:55

Just Go With It (PG-13)
7:00, 7:30, 9:40, 10:10

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (G)
7:15, 10:05

Justin Bieber Never Say Never 3D (G)
6:45, 9:35

The Roommate (PG-13)
7:35, 10:15

Sanctum 3D (R)
10:20

No Strings Attached (R)
7:10, 9:50

True Grit (PG-13)
6:40, 9:20

The Moxie

I Love You Phillip Morris (R)
9:45

Barney’s Version (R)
6:30

Blue Valentine (R)
7:00, 9:30

Palace Theatre

Labyrinth (PG)
11:00

Chronicles of Narnia: Dawn Treader (PG)
6:40, 9:20, 11:50

Due Date (R)
7:00, 9:15, 11:25

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1 (PG-13)
8:00, 11:05

How Do You Know (PG-13)
6:35, 9:05, 11:40

Life As We Know It (PG-13)
6:45, 9:25, 11:55

Megamind (PG)
6:20, 8:40

The Tourist (PG-13)
6:35, 9:00, 11:15

Tron: Legacy (PG)
6:30, 9:10, 11:45

Wehrenberg Campbell 16

Just Go With It (PG-13)
6:30, 7:15, 9:15, 10:00, 11:55

I Am Number Four (PG-13)
6:35, 7:35, 9:10, 10:10, 11:45

Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (PG-13)
6:50, 9:25, 11:55

Unknown (PG-13)
7:20, 9:55

Justin Bieber Never Say Never 3D (G)
7:00, 9:30

Justin Bieber Never Say Never (G)
6:15, 8:50, 11:20

The Eagle (PG-13)
7:15, 9:55

The Roommate (PG-13)
6:50, 9:10, 11:25

Gnomeo and Juliet 3D (G)
6:25, 8:45

Gnomeo & Juliet (G)
7:10, 9:20

No Strings Attached (R)
7:45, 10:15

True Grit (PG-13)
7:30, 10:00

Sanctum 3D (R)
10:05

The Rite (PG-13)
9:50

Black Swan (R)
7:25

The Green Hornet 3D (PG-13)
7:20

The accolades for the locally filmed and mostly locally acted Winter’s Bone continue to pile up. And it just went from a great local story to a national powerhouse, thanks to four Oscar nominations announced this morning.

Winter’s Bone earned nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay. Of course, it won the Grand Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and picked up steam from there.

To access our previous coverage of Winter’s Bone, click here. We wrote our official review, plus featured a Q&A with the cast and crew, a video Q&A with actress Lauren Sweetser, and its deep local music roots.

You can click here to find the movie’s official website, and the film is out on DVD. Here is just one online store where you can purchase it.

Here are the nominations:

Best picture

• 127 Hours
• Black Swan
• The Fighter
• Inception
• The Kids Are All Right
• The King’s Speech
• The Social Network
• Toy Story 3
• True Grit
• Winter’s Bone

The Academy Awards are Feb. 27 on ABC.

• Inception — 11
• Winter’s Bone — 8 (1)
• Black Swan — 5 (1)
• Despicable — 5 (1)
• Lbs. — 5 (1)
• Due Date — 4
• The Killer Inside Me — 4
• Get Him to the Greek — 3
• Grown Ups — 3
• Tron: Legacy — 2
• Cyrus — 2
• Shutter Island — 2
• You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger — 2
• Wall Street — 1
• Greenberg — 1
• The Social Network — 1
• Hesher — 1

Little Fockers

Last Week’s Leaders

(12/17/10-12/23/10)
1. Tron: Legacy — $44.0M
2. Yogi Bear — $16.4M
3. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader — $12.3M
4. The Fighter — $12.1M
5. Tangled — $8.7M

This weeks trailers

Movie Times

Dickinson Springfield 8

Little Fockers (PG-13):
11:15 a.m., 1:30, 4:25, 7:20
True Grit (PG-13):
11:20 a.m., 1:55, 4:30, 7:25
The Fighter (R):
11:40 a.m., 2:10, 4:40, 7:15
Tron: Legacy (PG):
3D: 11:00 a.m., 1:40, 4:20, 7:00
Yogi Bear (PG):
11:05 a.m., 1:15, 4:05, 7:30
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (PG):
11:35 a.m., 2:05, 4:35, 7:05
The Tourist (PG-13):
11:30 a.m., 1:50, 4:45, 7:10
Tangled (PG):
11:10 a.m., 1:45, 4:15, 7:10

Hollywood Theaters — College Station

Little Fockers (PG-13):
11:15 a.m., 1:15, 1:45, 3:45, 4:15, 6:30, 7:00
True Grit (PG-13):
11:00 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:30, 2:00, 4:00, 4:30, 6:45, 7:15
The Fighter (R:
11:10 a.m., 1:55, 4:40, 7:40
How Do You Know (PG-13):
1:10, 3:55, 6:50
Tron: Legacy (PG):
3D: 10:50, 1:05, 1:40, 4:00, 4:35, 6:55, 7:30
Yogi Bear (PG):
11:25 a.m., 1:35, 4:25, 6:45
3D: 11:55 a.m., 2:05, 5:00, 7:15,
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (PG):
3D: 1:20, 4:20, 7:10
The Tourist (PG-13):
12:00, 2:25, 4:55, 7:25
Tangled (PG):
11:40 a.m., 2:20, 4:45, 7:05
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (PG-13):
1:00, 4:10, 7:20

Moxie Cinema

127 Hours (R):
4:30
Tamara Drewe (R):
2:00 p.m.
Black Swan (R):
1:30, 4:00
Times subject to change, check here.

Palace Theater

Saw: The Final Chapter (R):
1:50, 4:10
Jackass 3 (R):
2:10, 4:35
Red (PG-13):
1:45, 4:05
Easy A (PG-13):
2:00, 4:40
Inception (PG-13):
1:40, 4:30
Despicable Me (PG):
1:55, 4:15

Wehrenberg Campbell 16

Little Fockers (PG-13)
10:00 a.m., 11:10 a.m., 12:25, 1:40, 2:50, 4:10, 5:15, 6:40
True Grit (PG-13):
10:45 a.m., 12:35, 1:50, 3:00, 4:20, 5:25, 6:50
The Fighter (R):
10:15, a.m., 1:00, 3:45, 6:30
How Do You Know (PG-13):
10:45 a.m., 1:35, 4:25, 7:15
Tron: Legacy (PG):
10:30 a.m., 1:30, 4:30, 7:30
3D: 10:00 a.m., 1:00, 4:05, 7:00
Yogi Bear (PG):
11:45 a.m., 1:50, 3:55, 6:00
3D: 10:00 a.m., 12:05, 2:20, 4:35, 6:45
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (PG):
11:00 a.m., 1:45, 4:30, 7:05
3D: 10:00 a.m., 1:05, 3:40, 6:15
The Tourist (PG-13):
10:15 a.m., 1:10, 4:15, 7:00
Black Swan (R):
10:10 a.m., 12:30, 2:50, 5:15, 7:30
Tangled(PG):
10:30 a.m., 12:55, 3:20, 6:00
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (PG-13):
10:25 a.m., 2:50, 6:15

When Calvin Klein finished the titular sentence to name arguably its most famous fragrance, it also laid out a deceptive and unforgiving spectrum for the human mind to navigate. How far is too far? How and when do you come to love something too much? Where do the boundaries end and you stumble, tumble, lurch and bang headlong into the darkest, most monstrous corners of the mind? And when do those corners stop being just corners?

The mind of Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is a spinning plate, sane because she makes it be. She is young, extraordinarily coddled both physically and emotionally, sexually repressed and is hyperfocused on one thing in her life: dancing ballet. Nina’s mother (played by Barbara Hershey) was herself a ballerina, one who left her… love behind in order to have a child–Nina, whom she has molded into not only the ballerina she never got to be herself but also a young woman in terminally arrested development. She falls asleep every night to the sound of a music box, keeps a room full of pink hearts and stuffed animals and is… obsessively attended to and cared for by the woman she calls “Mommy.” She literally dreams of dancing as Odette the Swan Princess in Tchaikovsky‘s “Swan Lake,” among the most pressure-filled roles in classical ballet, and when the production comes to Nina’s dance company she’s ready. She has learned every step until she’s perfect at them. She wants the role. But what Nina didn’t dream of was dancing as Odette’s evil twin Odile, who steals Odette’s prince away, leaving Odette trapped in a spell as a swan the rest of her life. The same dancer must inhabit both roles, and according to Nina’s company director Thomas (a dickish, cheauvanistic, womanizing Vincent Cassel) she’s perfect for the innocent, virginal White Swan but doesn’t have what it takes to play Odile, the Black Swan. Nina is too uptight, to scared, too prudish; he wants sexual, raw, dangerous. Nina, he says, hasn’t learned how to lose herself in her performance. He rolls the dice and gives her the lead anyway, even though all the qualities he wants from the Black Swan are evident in newcomer Lily (Mila Kunis), whom Nina is almost immediately suspicious of as a rival as well as quietly taken with. And from there Nina’s plate slowly… stops… spinning.

What director Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler) has made is an unnerving, claustrophobic, paranoid, borderline-schizophrenic parallel to Swan Lake and a trip into the dark corners of the mind I mentioned earlier, which he’s not going out of his way to light for you. Most of the movie is shot uncomfortably close to the subjects’ faces on shaking, twitching hand-held cameras. It seems every glance into a mirror or closing of a door comes with a glimpse of some mind-bending “Did you just see that?!” visual you can barely process before it’s gone. The moments of violence are few but unsettling. The film is also unflinchingly harsh in showing the brutal physical toll of ballet. Oh, you’ll flinch when it shows Portman splitting toenails, having her diaphragm worked on and puking in toilets before and after tryouts; it’s the camera that doesn’t. And those aren’t even close to the most cringeworthy scenes. The whole second half of the movie plays out as a long-form dance of metamorphosis, sexuality and psychosis as Nina’s… love of her new role and terror over potentially losing it to someone else leave her spinning plate of sanity teetering closer and closer to… madness. When the plate finally falls the climax is positively jaw-dropping, both horrifying and darkly beautiful. Like a lot of what leads up to it, it will spin through your mind after it’s off screen.

Some of Aronofsky’s storytelling tricks feel over-the-top and sort of gratuitous until they reveal their true nature near the film’s end, and to pull it all off he must put an enormous amount of faith in Portman to believably seem both sheltered and emotionally brittle as well as increasingly unhinged. For her part, Portman gives what has to be the performance of her career so far–which, as long as we’re discounting the Star Wars prequels, is saying something. Kunis, Cassell and Hershey all put in vital work, and Wynona Ryder‘s brief onscreen time as the wrecked outgoing ballet star to Nina’s incoming one is also impactful, but Portman owns Black Swan from start to finish in a way I haven’t seen since Daniel Day Lewis did in There Will Be Blood. She is captivating, disarming, sweet and scary as hell. You’ll want to help her right up to the moment you’ll want to run from her. And you had better run, because when her love and madness collapse upon each other and her plate stops spinning and falls there is no telling what will shatter with it.

Mark Wahlberg and The Fighter is already in award talks.

Last Week’s Leaders

(12/10/10-12/16/10)
1. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader — $24.0M
2. The Tourist — $16.4M
3. Tangled — $14.3M
4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 — $8.4M
5. Unstoppable— $3.7M

This weeks trailers

Movie Times

Dickinson Springfield 8

The Fighter (R:
11:40 a.m., 2:10, 4:40, 7:15, 9:55
Tron: Legacy (PG):
3D: 11:00 a.m., 1:40, 4:20, 7:00, 9:40
Yogi Bear (PG):
11:05 a.m., 1:15, 4:05, 7:30, 9:30
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (PG):
11:35 a.m., 2:05, 4:35, 7:05, 9:35
The Tourist (PG-13):
11:30 a.m., 1:50, 4:45, 7:35, 10:05
Burlesque (PG-13):
7:10, 9:50
Tangled (PG):
11:10 a.m., 1:45, 4:15, 7:25, 9:45
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (PG-13):
1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00
Megamind (PG):
11:15 a.m., 1:30, 4:10

Hollywood Theaters — College Station

The Fighter (R:
1:55, 4:40, 7:40, 10:20
How Do You Know (PG-13):
1:10, 3:55, 6:50, 9:45
Tron: Legacy (PG):
3D: 1:05, 1:40, 4:00, 4:35, 6:55, 7:30, 9:50, 10:25
Yogi Bear (PG):
1:30, 4:25, 6:45, 9:05
3D: 2:05, 5:00, 7:15, 9:35
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (PG):
2:00, 4:50, 7:45, 10:35
3D: 1:20, 4:20, 7:10, 10:05
The Tourist (PG-13):
2:25, 4:55, 7:25, 10:00
Burlesque (PG-13):
1:45, 4:30, 7:15, 10:10
Tangled (PG):
2:20, 4:45, 7:05, 9:40
3D: 1:50, 4:15, 6:40, 9:10
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (PG-13):
1:00, 4:10, 7:20, 10:30
Due Date (R):
2:55, 5:15, 7:35, 9:55

Moxie Cinema

127 Hours (R):
3:45, 6:00, 8:15
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (R):
10:30 p.m.
Black Swan (R):
4:30, 7:00, 9:30
Times subject to change, check here.

Palace Theater

Paranormal Activity 2 (R:
1:50, 4:10, 7:00, 9:20, 11:15
Hereafter (2010) (PG-13):
1:30, 4:00, 6:30, 9:10, 11:40
Red (PG-13):
1:45, 4:05, 6:50, 8:55, 11:00
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (PG):
2:15, 4:20
You Again (PG):
2:10, 4:30, 6:50, 9:05, 11:20
Easy A (PG-13):
2:00, 4:40, 7:10, 9:15, 11:25
The Other Guys (PG-13):
6:40, 9:00, 11:30
Inception (PG-13):
1:40, 4:45, 7:45, 10:40
Despicable Me (PG):
1:55, 4:15, 6:45

Wehrenberg Campbell 16

How Do You Know (PG-13):
10:45 a.m., 1:35, 4:25, 7:15, 10:05
Tron: Legacy (PG):
10:30 a.m., 1:30, 4:30, 7:30, 10:30
3D: 10:00 a.m., 1:00, 4:05, 7:00, 10:00, 11:15
Yogi Bear (PG):
10:15 a.m., 12:35, 2:50, 5:05, 7:15, 9:35
3D: 10:00 a.m., 12:05, 2:20, 4:35, 6:45, 9:00
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (PG):
11:00 a.m., 1:45, 4:30, 7:05, 9:50
3D: 10:00 a.m., 1:05, 3:40, 6:15, 8:50, 11:30
The Tourist (PG-13):
10:15 a.m., 1:10, 4:15, 7:00, 9:30, 11:55
Black Swan (R):
10:10 a.m., 12:30, 2:50, 5:15, 7:45, 10:10
Burlesque (PG-13):
12:45, 6:20, 11:40
Faster (R):
10:20 a.m., 3:30, 9:10
Love and Other Drugs (R):
1:15, 6:25, 11:25
Tangled(PG):
11:10 a.m., 1:50, 4:15, 6:45, 9:10, 11:35
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (PG-13):
10:25 a.m., 2:50, 6:15, 6:50, 9:35
127 Hours (R):
10:15 a.m., 12:30, 2:45, 5:00, 7:15, 9:30, 11:45
Unstoppable (PG-13):
10:45 a.m., 4:00, 9:05
Due Date (R):
11:20 a.m., 1:50, 4:15, 6:40, 9:10, 11:35
Fighter (NR):
10:15 a.m., 1:00, 3:45, 6:30, 9:10, 11:50

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader opens today.

Last Week’s Leaders

(12/3/10-12/9/10)
1. Tangled — $21.6M
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 — $17.0M
3. Burlesque — $6.1M
4. Unstoppable— $5.9M
5. Love and Other Drugs – $5.6M

This weeks trailers

Movie Times

Dickinson Springfield 8

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (PG):
11:35 a.m., 2:05, 4:35, 7:05, 9:35
The Tourist (PG-13):
11:30 a.m., 1:50, 4:40, 7:30, 9:55
Burlesque (PG-13):
11:05 a.m., 1:55, 4:30, 7:15, 9:50
Love and Other Drugs (R):
11:40 a.m., 2:10, 4:45, 7:20, 10:00
Tangled (PG):
3D: 11:10 a.m., 1:45, 4:15, 7:25, 9:45
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (PG-13):
1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00
The Next Three Days (PG-13):
1:15, 4:05, 7:05
Unstoppable (PG-13):
11:20 a.m., 1:35, 4:25, 7:10, 9:25
Megamind (PG):
11:15 a.m., 1:30, 4:00, 7:00, 9:15

Hollywood Theaters — College Station

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (PG):
2:00, 4:50, 7:45, 10:35
3D: 12:45, 1:20, 3:40, 4:15, 6:35, 7:10, 9:30, 10:05
The Tourist (PG-13):
2:25, 4:55, 7:30, 10:00
The Warrior’s Way (R):
2:10, 4:35, 7:25, 9:45
Burlesque (PG-13):
1:45, 4:25, 7:15, 10:10
Faster (R):
2:05, 4:30, 7:30, 10:05
Love and Other Drugs (R):
1:30, 4:20, 6:55, 9:50
Tangled (PG):
2:20, 4:45, 7:10, 9:40
3D: 1:50, 4:15, 6:40, 9:10
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (PG-13):
1:00, 4:10, 7:20, 10:30
Unstoppable (PG-13):
1:35, 4:05, 6:45, 9:20
Due Date (R):
2:55, 5:15, 7:35, 9:55
Megamind (PG):
3D: 2:20, 4:40, 7:00, 9:20

Moxie Cinema

127 Hours (R):
4:30, 7:00, 9:30
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (R):
7:30
Waiting for Superman (PG):
5:00
Times subject to change, check here.

Palace Theater

Skyline (PG-13):
1:50, 4:10, 7:00, 9:20, 11:00
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (PG):
1:45, 4:05, 6:50, 8:55, 11:00
You Again (PG):
2:10, 4:30, 6:50, 9:05, 11:20
Alpha and Omega (PG):
2:15, 4:20
Easy A (PG-13):
2:00, 4:40, 7:10, 9:15, 11:25
The Town (R):
1:30, 4:00, 6:30, 9:10, 11:40
The Other Guys (PG-13):
6:40, 9:00, 11:30
Inception (PG-13):
1:40, 4:45, 7:45, 10:40
Despicable Me (PG):
1:55, 4:15, 6:45

Wehrenberg Campbell 16

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (PG):
12:25, 3:10, 5:45, 8:20, 11:00
3D: 10:00 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:05, 2:05, 3:40, 4:40, 6:15, 7:15, 8:50, 9:50, 11:30
The Tourist (PG-13):
10:15 a.m., 1:10, 4:15, 7:00, 9:30, 11:55
The Warrior’s Way (R):
11:35 a.m., 2:00, 4:25, 6:55, 9:25, 11:45
Burlesque (PG-13):
10:45 a.m., 1:30, 4:15, 7:05, 9:55
Faster (R):
11:55 a.m., 2:20, 4:45, 7:25, 9:55
Love and Other Drugs (R):
10:50 a.m., 1:50, 4:15, 6:45, 9:25
Tangled(PG):
11:10 a.m., 1:50, 4:15, 6:45, 9:10, 11:35
3D: 11:40 a.m., 2:10, 4:45, 7:15, 9:40
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (PG-13):
10:00 a.m., 12:40, 2:50, 6:15, 6:50, 9:35
The Next Three Days (PG-13):
3:50, 10:00
127 Hours (R):
10:15 a.m., 12:30, 2:45, 5:00, 7:15, 9:30, 11:45
Unstoppable (PG-13):
12:15, 2:45, 5:15, 7:45, 10:15
Morning Glory (PG-13):
9:45
Due Date (R):
11:20 a.m., 1:50, 4:15, 6:40, 9:10, 11:35
Megamind (PG):
12:10, 2:30, 4:50, 7:10

Drury graduate Chris Beckman has been invited to attend the 2011 Sundance Film Festival where his video oops will be screened in the short film program. Beckman’s video was one of 81 short films chosen for the festival which will be held in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah January 20-30.

Beckman describes his video as, “A lucid, seamless voyage through the Internet’s infinite repository of ‘throwaway’ social documentation and into the humanity of everyday life – via YouTube’s clumsiest videographers.”

Beckman began the project by selecting 100-150 videos off of YouTube of people doing accidental things, such as, dropping the camera. Eventually, Beckman used portions of 40-45 YouTube videos. “It’s cool that people feel free enough to upload videos of them dropping the camera,” Beckman said. “It’s another thing that kind of attracted me to the videos. Salvaging almost useless things to make something that people want to watch.”

Beckman, who graduated from Drury in May 2010 with a degree in Fine Arts in the Department of Art and Art History, originally created the piece for a class called Video Art co-taught by Drury professors Blaine Whisenhunt and Greg Booker with assistance from Brian Shipman, a Drury video instructor.

On being selected for Sundance, Beckman said, “I was really surprised. Definitely pleased. When I first started this project I thought it was a class assignment that I could expand to play in a gallery. The fact that it got a life of its own and all kinds of people appreciate it kind of floored me. It’s exciting.”

Earlier this year, oops won a Vimeo Award, which honors videos that premiere online. Beckman’s video can be viewed at: http://vimeo.com/awards/about#experimental

Beckman plans to attend the Sundance Film Festival next month. Eventually, he hopes to go to graduate school where he will study film or art.

Read the full news release from the Sundance Film Festival at: http://www.sundance.org/press-center/release/2011-short-film-program-announced/

oops from Chris Beckman on Vimeo.

Last Week’s Leaders

(11/26/10-12/2/10)
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 — $49.0M
2. Tangled — $48.7M
3. Megamind — $12.5M
4. Burlesque — $11.9M
5. Unstoppable— $11.4M

This weeks trailers

Movie Times

Dickinson Springfield 8

Burlesque (PG-13):
11:05 a.m., 1:55, 4:35, 7:15, 9:50
Love and Other Drugs (R):
11:40 a.m., 2:10, 4:45, 7:20, 10:00
Tangled (PG):
3D: 11:10 a.m., 1:45, 4:15, 7:25, 9:45
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (PG-13):
1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00
The Next Three Days (PG-13):
1:15, 4:05, 7:05
Unstoppable (PG-13):
11:20 a.m., 1:35, 4:25, 7:10, 9:25
Morning Glory (PG-13):
11:25 a.m., 1:50, 4:20, 7:30, 9:55
Due Date (R):
11:30 a.m., 2:00, 4:40, 7:25, 9:40
Megamind (PG):
11:15 a.m., 1:30, 4:00, 7:00, 9:15

Hollywood Theaters College Station

The Warrior’s Way (R:
2:10, 4:35, 7:25, 9:45
Burlesque (PG-13):
1:45, 4:25, 7:15, 10:10
Faster (R):
2:05, 4:30, 7:30, 10:05
Love and Other Drugs (R):
1:30, 4:20, 6:55, 9:50
Tangled (PG):
2:20, 4:45, 7:10, 9:40
3D: 1:50, 4:15, 6:40, 9:10
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (PG-13):
1:00, 3:10, 3:40, 4:10, 6:20, 6:50, 7:20, 9:30, 10:00, 10:30
The Next Three Days (PG-13):
2:35, 7:05, 10:15
Unstoppable (PG-13):
1:35, 4:05, 6:45, 9:20
Morning Glory (PG-13):
1:40, 4:15, 6:50, 9:25
Due Date (R):
2:55, 5:15, 7:35, 9:55
Megamind (PG):
3D: 2:20, 4:40, 7:00, 9:20

Moxie Cinema

127 Hours (R):
4:30, 7:00, 9:30
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (R):
9:30, 12:00 a.m.
Times subject to change, check here.

Palace Theater

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (PG):
1:45, 4:05, 6:50, 8:55, 11:00
You Again (PG):
2:10, 4:30, 6:50, 9:05, 11:20
Alpha and Omega (PG):
2:15, 7:00
Easy A (PG-13):
2:00, 4:40, 7:10, 9:20, 11:25
The Town (R):
1:30, 4:00, 6:30, 9:10, 11:40
The Switch (PG-13):
6:40, 8:50, 11:00
The Other Guys (PG-13):
4:20, 9:00, 11:30
Inception (PG-13):
1:40, 4:45, 7:45, 10:40
Despicable Me (PG):
1:55, 4:10, 6:45
Toy Story 3 (G):
1:50, 4:15

Wehrenberg Campbell 16

The Warrior’s Way (R):
11:45 a.m., 2:00, 4:25, 6:55, 9:25, 11:45
Burlesque (PG-13):
10:45 a.m., 1:30, 4:15, 7:05, 9:55
Faster (R):
11:55 a.m., 2:20, 4:55, 7:25, 9:55
Tangled(PG):
11:35 a.m., 1:50, 4:15, 6:45, 9:10, 11:35
3D: 10:00 a.m., 11:40 a.m., 12:55, 2:10, 3:25, 4:45, 6:00, 7:15, 9:40
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (PG-13):
12:40, 3:50, 5:45, 7:05, 9:00, 10:15
Digital Projection: 10:00 a.m., 2:50, 6:15, 8:25, 9:35, 11:30
The Next Three Days (PG-13):
12:35, 3:35, 6:35, 9:35
127 Hours (R):
10:15 a.m., 12:30, 2:45, 5:00, 7:15, 9:30, 11:45
Unstoppable (PG-13):
12:15, 2:45, 5:15, 7:45, 10:15
Morning Glory (PG-13):
11:30 a.m., 2:00, 4:30, 7:35, 10:10
Due Date (R):
11:20 a.m., 1:50, 4:15, 6:40, 9:10, 11:35
Megamind (PG):
10:20 a.m., 12:50, 3:20
3D: 12:10, 2:30, 4:50, 7:10, 9:30

Last Week’s Leaders

(10/5/10-11/11/10)
1. Megamind 3D – $46.0M
2. Due Date – $32.6M
3. For Colored Girls – $19.4M
4. Red – $8.6M
5. Saw 3D: The Final Chapter – $7.7M

This weeks trailers

Movie Times

Dickinson Springfield 8

Skyline (PG-13):
11:00 a.m., 1:25, 4:10, 7:05, 9:30
Unstoppable (PG-13):
11:20 a.m., 1:35, 4:25, 7:10, 9:25
Morning Glory (PG-13):
11:25 a.m., 1:50, 4:20, 7:30, 9:55
Due Date (R):
11:30 a.m., 2:00, 4:40, 7:25, 9:40
For Colored Girls (R):
4:15, 9:50
Megamind (PG):
11:15 a.m., 1:30, 4:00, 7:00, 9:15
3D: 11:50 a.m., 2:05, 4:35, 7:30, 9:35
Red (PG-13):
11:45 a.m., 2:15, 4:45, 7:15, 9:45
Secretariat (PG):
1:20, 7:10

Hollywood Theaters College Station

Skyline (PG-13):
1:20, 3:55, 7:10, 9:50
Unstoppable (PG-13):
12:50, 3:35, 6:45, 9:25
Morning Glory (PG-13):
1:10, 4:00, 6:50, 9:45
Due Date (R):
1:15, 1:45, 3:40, 4:10, 7:15, 7:45, 9:35, 10:05
For Colored Girls (R):
1:05, 4:05, 7:05, 10:05
Megamind (PG):
12:45, 3:05, 6:15, 8:35
3D: 1:00, 1:30, 2:00, 3:20, 3:50, 4:20, 6:30, 7:00, 8:50, 9:50
Saw 3D: The Final Chapter (R):
3D:: 1:25, 4:25, 7:20, 9:40
Paranormal Activity 2 (R):
1:35, 4:15, 7:40, 10:00
Hereafter (2010) (PG-13):
1:10, 4:00, 6:50, 9:45
Jackass 3 (R):
3D: 7:25, 10:10
Red (PG-13):
1:40, 4:10, 6:55, 9:55
Secretariat (PG):
12:55, 3:45, 6:35, 9:30

Moxie Cinema

It’s Kind of a Funny Story (PG-13):
9:15
Inside Job (PG-13):
6:30
Catfish (PG-13):
7:00, 9:30
Times subject to change, check here.

Palace Theater

Case 39 (R):
2:15, 4:35, 6:50, 9:05, 11:25
Let Me In (R):
2:00, 4:20, 6:40, 9:00, 11:20
Devil (PG-13):
4:50, 9:20
Takers (PG-13):
2:10, 4:30, 6:55, 9:10, 11:30
The Switch (PG-13):
2:25, 4:40, 7:00, 9:15, 11:40
The Other Guys (PG-13):
2:20, 7:10, 11:15
Inception (PG-13):
1:45, 4:45, 8:00, 11:00
Despicable Me (PG):
1:55, 4:10, 6:35, 8:45
Toy Story 3 (G):
1:50, 4:15, 6:30

Wehrenberg Campbell 16

Skyline (PG-13):
11:45 a.m., 2:10, 4:35, 7:05, 9:50
Unstoppable (PG-13):
12:15, 1:15, 2:45, 3:45, 5:15, 6:15, 7:45, 8:45, 10:15, 11:10
Morning Glory (PG-13):
11:50 a.m., 2:25, 4:55, 7:35, 10:10
Due Date (R):
11:20 a.m., 12:10, 1:50, 2:35, 4:15, 5:00, 6:40, 7:25, 9:10, 9:55, 11:35
For Colored Girls (R):
11:00 a.m., 2:00, 5:00, 8:00, 11:00
Megamind (PG):
12:50, 3:20, 5:45, 8:15, 10:40
3D: 11:10 a.m., 11:40 a.m., 1:40, 2:10, 4:00, 4:35, 6:20, 7:00, 9:30
Saw 3D: The Final Chapter (R):
3D: 11:45 a.m, 2:15, 4:25, 6:50, 9:15, 11:30
Paranormal Activity 2 (R):
11:55 a.m., 2:15, 4:30, 6:45, 9:05, 11:20
Conviction (R):
11:00 a.m., 1:30, 4:25, 6:55, 9:30
Hereafter (2010) (PG-13):
2:25, 8:05
Jackass 3 (R):
3D: 8:45, 11:15
Red (PG-13):
11:25, 2:00, 4:45, 7:25, 10:05
Life As We Know It (PG-13):
11:40 a.m., 5:25, 11:00
Secretariat (PG):
11:05 a.m., 1:50, 4:40
Easy A (PG-13):
7:30, 9:45

Robert Downey Jr and Zach Galifianakis in a scene from Due Date

Last Week’s Leaders

(10/29/10-11/4/10)
1. Saw 3D: The Final Chapter – $22.5M
2. Paranormal Activity 2 – $16.5M
3. Red – $10.8M
4. Jackass 3D – $8.4M
5. Hereafter – $6.3M

This weeks trailers

Movie Times

Dickinson Springfield 8

Due Date (R):
11:30 a.m., 2:00, 4:40, 7:25, 9:40
For Colored Girls (R):
11:10 a.m., 1:50, 4:30, 7:20, 9:55
Megamind (PG):
11:15 a.m., 1:30, 4:00, 7:00, 9:15
3D: 11:50 a.m., 2:05, 4:35, 7:30, 9:40
Paranormal Activity 2 (R):
11:50 a.m., 2:05, 4:35, 7:05, 9:20
Hereafter (2010) (PG-13):
1:10, 4:10, 7:00, 10:00
Red (PG-13):
11:45 a.m., 2:15, 4:45, 7:15, 9:45
Secretariat (PG):
1:20, 4:20, 7:10, 9:50

Hollywood Theaters College Station

Due Date (R):
1:15, 1:45, 3:40, 4:10, 7:15, 7:45, 9:35, 10:05
For Colored Girls (R):
1:05, 4:05, 7:05, 10:05
Megamind (PG):
3:05, 6:15, 8:35
3D: 1:00, 1:30, 2:00, 2:30, 3:20, 3:50, 4:20, 6:30, 7:00, 7:30, 8:50, 9:20, 9:50
Saw 3D: The Final Chapter (R):
3D:: 1:25, 4:25, 7:20, 9:40
Paranormal Activity 2 (R):
1:35, 4:15, 7:40, 10:00
Hereafter (2010) (PG-13):
1:10, 4:00, 6:50, 9:45
Jackass 3 (R):
3D: 2:05, 4:35, 7:25, 10:10
Red (PG-13):
1:40, 4:10, 6:55, 9:55
Life As We Know It (PG-13):
1:20, 3:55, 6:40, 9:25
Secretariat (PG):
12:55, 3:45, 6:35, 9:30

Moxie Cinema

It’s Kind of a Funny Story (PG-13):
6:45, 9:15
Heartbreaker (NR):
7:00
A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop (R):
9:30
Times subject to change, check here.

Palace Theater

Case 39 (R):
2:15, 4:35, 6:50, 9:05, 11:25
Devil (PG-13):
4:50, 9:50
Machete (R):
2:00, 4:20, 6:35, 8:55, 11:10
Takers (PG-13):
2:10, 4:30, 6:55, 9:10, 11:30
The Switch (PG-13):
2:25, 4:40, 7:00, 9:15, 11:40
The Other Guys (PG-13):
2:20, 7:10, 11:15
Inception (PG-13):
1:45, 4:45, 8:00, 11:00
Despicable Me (PG):
1:55, 4:10, 6:40, 8:45
Toy Story 3 (G):
1:50, 4:15, 6:30

Wehrenberg Campbell 16

Due Date (R):
11:20 a.m., 12:10, 1:50, 2:35, 4:15, 5:00, 6:40, 7:25, 9:10, 9:55, 11:35
For Colored Girls (R):
11:00 a.m., 1:45, 4:30, 7:15, 10:00
Megamind (PG):
12:50, 3:20, 5:45, 8:15, 10:40
3D: 11:10 a.m., 11:40 a.m., 1:40, 2:05, 4:00, 4:35, 6:20, 9:15, 11:30
Saw 3D: The Final Chapter (R):
11:45 a.m, 2:05, 4:25, 6:50, 9:15, 11:30
Conviction (R):
4:00, 6:30, 9:00
Paranormal Activity 2 (R):
11:55 a.m., 2:15, 4:30, 6:45, 9:05, 11:20
Hereafter (2010) (PG-13):
12:00, 3:00, 6:30, 9:40
Jackass 3 (R):
3D: 8:45, 11:15
Red (PG-13):
11:25, 2:00, 4:45, 7:25, 10:05
Life As We Know It (PG-13):
11:05 a.m., 1:45, 4:25, 7:05, 9:45
Secretariat (PG):
11:05 a.m., 1:50, 4:35, 7:20, 10:05
The Social Network (PG-13):
1:35, 4:20, 7:20, 10:10
Easy A (PG-13):
12:45, 3:00, 5:15, 7:40, 9:55
Waiting Supe (NR):
11:10 a.m., 1:35, 4:05, 6:35, 9:00

Saw 3D

Last Week’s Leaders

(10/22/10-10/28/10)
1. Paranormal Activity 2 – $40.6M
2. Jackass 3D – $21.3M
3. Red – $15.0M
4. Hereafter – $12.0M
5. The Social Network – $10.3M

This weeks trailers

Movie Times

Dickinson Springfield 8

Paranormal Activity 2 (R):
11:50 a.m., 2:00, 4:30, 7:05, 9:20
Hereafter (2010) (PG-13):
1:10, 4:10, 7:00, 9:50
Jackass 3D (R):
12:20, 2:35, 4:55, 7:25, 9:35
Red (PG-13):
11:45 a.m., 2:15, 4:45, 7:15, 9:45
Life As We Know It (PG-13):
11:55 a.m., 2:25, 5:00, 7:30, 10:00
My Soul To Take (R):
12:10, 2:30, 4:50, 7:20, 9:55
Secretariat (PG):
1:20, 4:20, 7:10, 9:50
The Social Network (PG-13):
12:05, 2:45, 5:10, 7:35, 10:05

Hollywood Theaters College Station

Saw 3D: The Final Chapter (R):
3D:: 1:25, 4:25, 7:20, 9:50
Paranormal Activity 2 (R):
1:05, 1:35, 3:50, 4:20, 7:10, 7:40, 9:30, 10:00
Hereafter (2010) (PG-13):
1:10, 4:00, 6:50, 9:45
Jackass 3 (R):
1:05, 3:35, 6:25, 9:10
3D: 1:35, 2:05, 4:05, 4:35, 6:55, 7:25, 9:40, 10:10
Red (PG-13):
1:40, 4:10, 7:05, 9:55
Life As We Know It (PG-13):
1:20, 3:55, 6:40, 9:25
My Soul To Take (R):
3D: 9:30
Secretariat (PG):
1:00, 3:45, 6:30, 9:20
The Social Network (PG-13):
1:50, 4:30, 7:10, 9:50
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (PG):
3D: 1:55, 4:20, 7:00
Easy A (PG-13):
1:45, 4:15, 7:15, 10:05
The Town (R):
1:15, 4:00, 6:45, 9:35

Moxie Cinema

Let Me In (R):
9:00
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (R):
9:15
Never Let Me Go (R):
6:30
Lebanon (R):
7:00
Times subject to change, check here.

Palace Theater

Devil (PG-13):
2:20, 4:50, 7:10, 9:20, 11:35
The American (R):
2:00, 4:20, 6:45, 8:55, 11:10
The Last Exorcism (PG-13):
2:10, 4:30, 6:50, 9:10, 11:20
The Expendables (R):
4:40, 9:05
The Other Guys (PG-13):
2:15, 4:35, 7:00, 9:15, 11:40
Inception (PG-13):
1:45, 4:45, 8:00, 11:00
Despicable Me (PG):
1:55, 4:10, 6:40, 8:45
Grown Ups (PG-13):
2:30, 6:55, 11:25
Toy Story 3 (G):
1:50, 4:15, 6:30