Beyond movies In trying times, cinemas expand their offerings Jay Rath on Friday 07/03/2009 It used to be that you'd go to the movies to...see a movie. Maybe neck. Who has time for that now, when you go to have drinks or a fine meal before an eye-popping 3-D IMAX "experience," or even see a live performance in real time as it's performed half a continent away? >MorePublic Enemies: Not quite money in the bank Johnny Depp doesn't rescue rambling film Kenneth Burns on Friday 07/03/2009 Man, you should have seen that party. Tuesday evening at the downtown Hilton, revelers celebrating the premiere of Public Enemies wore 1930s clothes and laughed and clinked cocktail glasses. Outside the fete, which benefited Film Wisconsin and Arts Wisconsin, passersby ogled beautiful vintage cars, on one of which a guy wearing spats leaned cinematically. >More
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen brings more noise Marjorie Baumgarten on Friday 06/26/2009, (1) Comment Michael Bay's follow-up to his international smash hit of 2007 ups the ante on big and dumb. His new Transformers movie, whose extraterrestrials are based on the Hasbro toys which can morph from cars and other prosaic metal objects into awesome fighting machines, aims for impact over sense, clobbering viewers with its sensory overload and bludgeoning us into weary submission. >MoreThe Proposal: My boss, my wife Co-workers cook up a marriage of convenience Kimberley Jones on Friday 06/19/2009 Only rarely do romantic comedies reinvent the wheel, which is why whole decades passed between Annie Hall, When Harry Met Sally... and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The Proposal is just another studio product, which means it rises or falls on the likability of the leads. >More
The Taking of Pelham 123 is a train wreck Denzel Washington can't redeem hysterical remake Scott Renshaw on Friday 06/12/2009 How does one of the most universally respected actors of this generation -- Denzel Washington -- come to trust director Tony Scott and his obvious fascination with style over substance? Since their first collaboration on Crimson Tide in 1995, Washington and Scott have teamed up in recent years for Man on Fire, Dèjá Vu and now the remake of The Taking of Pelham 123. >MoreImagine That: Bad dad Marc Savlov on Friday 06/12/2009 With Imagine That, Eddie Murphy has made a family-friendly film without a single fart joke. True, he does put his foot in a cow patty at one point, but Imagine That is refreshingly free of Murphy's usual penchant for antic toilet humor and howling bad taste. >More
Wilmington on DVD: Woodstock, Jack Lemmon, and Confessions of a Shopaholic Mike Wilmington on Wednesday 06/24/2009 10:00 am Both a great rock concert movie and a superb documentary on youth culture in the Vietnam War Years, Michael Wadleigh's Woodstock -- shot at the legendary 1969 Aquarian gathering at Max Yasgur's farm at Bethel, N.Y. (not the nearby Woodstock) -- brings back the era and all its pot-fumed tenderness, horror, humor, beauty, ugliness, and glorious absurdities, as few other movies can. >MoreWilmington on DVD: The Seventh Seal, At the Death House Door, and Gary Cooper Mike Wilmington on Wednesday 06/17/2009 10:00 am The Seventh Seal is the quintessential Ingmar Bergman film, which -- along with his other major 1956-57 festival prize-winners, Smiles of a Summer Night and Wild Strawberries -- made his huge initial international reputation while also creating a new audience in the U.S. for art house cinema. >More
Wisconsin Film Festival announces 2009 audience awards, attendance up once again Busy days over, more ahead for fest director Meg Hamel Kenneth Burns on Thursday 04/09/2009 5:00 pm, (4) Recommendations What is Meg Hamel's most vivid memory of this year's festival? It's the audience members who enthusiastically sang along with the Wisconsin Film Festival trailer. That kind of participation is a good sign. "It's hard for any festival to create a trailer people won't mock," she says. >More
Crime wave and heat wave collide: Madison in the era of Public Enemies A look back at life in the city during the summer of 1934 David Medaris on Thursday 07/02/2009 10:00 am, (4) Recommendations In 1934, as the feds were closing in on John Dillinger and other gangsters, Madison was a small capital city in the grip of a spring drought and a summer heat wave. This weeks release of the Michael Mann drama, Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp, makes for a good excuse to go back and page through old newspapers and phone books to get a glimpse of what the Mad City was like 75 years ago. >MoreJohnny Depp doesn't rescue Public Enemies Not quite money in the bank Kenneth Burns on Wednesday 07/01/2009 12:57 pm, (5) Recommendations A better -- and shorter, and more vividly dramatic -- film would focus more on searing Dillinger moments. But Public Enemies is rambling and, dare I say, a little dull. >MorePublic Enemies extras celebrate Madison premiere Jessica Slicer on Wednesday 07/01/2009 10:52 am, (3) Recommendations Old-fashioned cars lined East Wilson Street Tuesday night, ladies smeared on bright red lipstick and pinned back their hair and a few gentlemen even sported top hats and canes. Celebrating the release of the ultra-hyped movie, Public Enemies, locals who worked as extras in the movie along with their families and friends joined Arts Wisconsin and Film Wisconsin at a release party at the Hilton Monona Terrace. >MoreWilmington on DVD: Two Lovers, My Dinner With Andre, Barfly and Taxi Blues Mike Wilmington on Wednesday 07/01/2009 9:00 am Joaquin Phoenix, in various weird ways, has suggested that James Gray's Brooklyn romance Two Lovers may be his last movie as an actor. I hope he reconsiders and comes back. >MoreBryan Burrough brings the Dirty Thirties to life in Public Enemies A review of the cops versus robbers book that inspired the movie Kenneth Burns on Tuesday 06/30/2009 1:00 pm, (8) Recommendations Don't let anyone tell you criminality means sloppy dressing. According to Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34 by Bryan Burrough, legendary gangster John Dillinger was the nattiest of bank robbers. >MorePublic Enemies exhibit opens at the Oshkosh Public Museum Collection highlights actual history and film reproduction of Dillinger's era Kyle Nabilcy on Monday 06/29/2009 3:00 pm, (2) Comments, (9) Recommendations It hardly seems like it's been over a year since Public Enemies, opening in theaters nationwide on July 1, was filming in the streets and buildings of cities across Wisconsin. But while that time flew by for me, at least, the folks at the Oshkosh Public Museum were busy using it to compile and coordinate an impressive collection of Public Enemies-related artifacts and reproductions for a new exhibit. >More
Working with Johnny Depp: Public Enemies extras tell their stories Amelia Cook on Friday 06/26/2009, (1) Comment, (7) Recommendations Scott Rawson is one of hundreds of local folks who got a taste of Hollywood glamour -- and, in some cases, Hollywood cigarettes -- as extras in Public Enemies. I tracked down some of them and asked them to reminisce. >MorePublic Enemies set builder recalls production challenges and triumphs A conversation with a member of Madison Stagehands and Projectionists union Clare Milliken on Sunday 06/28/2009 12:00 pm, (8) Recommendations When friends and family learn that Chris Kilgour worked on the Public Enemies set, they are most excited to hear about his interactions with Johnny Depp and other big name celebrities. But what the Madison set builder wants people to know is not how stars talk, walk and act when the cameras aren’t rolling, but that there is a whole lot of hard work put in behind the scenes, and it all deserves recognition. >More
MadVideos: Watch a trailer for Baraboo by Mary Sweeney Kristian Knutsen on Tuesday 06/16/2009 4:00 pm, (6) Recommendations There is more than one major Wisconsin-made movie directed by a onetime Madisonian resident that is premiering in June. While that one gangster movie with the movie stars may be breaking the bank in terms of attention, a new indie feature titled Baraboo -- written, directed, and edited by Mary Sweeney -- is also gearing up for its moment on the big screen. >MoreThe Schlachtenhaufen cousins visualize a superhero origin story in Wayne Kristian Knutsen on Friday 06/12/2009 3:00 pm, (21) Recommendations "What would Batman be like if Bruce Wayne didn't have any money?" That's the question filmmaker Andy Schlachtenhaufen explores in his new film Wayne. Shot a year ago at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Madison, and starring his cousin Dave as the title character, the short offers an understated yet striking version of the iconic superhero origin story. >More
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