Movie Review: "Hugo"

Set in 1930’s Paris, this mystery is about an orphan who lives in the walls of a Parisian train station. After the death of his watchmaker father, he spends his days clandestinely maintaining all the time pieces of the train station. His father has left him a broken robot that he assumes has left him a secret message. He is befriended by an orphan girl whose god father (Ben Kingsley) runs a small toy shop in the station. The movie is a wonderful story of redemption and self discovery. The acting, particularly Ben Kingsley and Chloe Moretz as the orphan girl, are superb.

Review: “Reformation Era Bibles and Prints”

This display is a small, but high quality collection of mainly prints and two Geneva Bibles. Most of the 15th & 16th century prints are by the German artists Albrecht Durer and Heinrich Aldegrever. Durer is arguably the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance. Most of the prints are apocalyptic or scenes of Christ’ Passion. The 16th century Geneva Bible preceded the popular King James Version by over 50 years. It was the first mass produced English language bible and is regarded as the primary bible of the Protestant movement. Two very nice examples are displayed in the middle of the gallery. This exhibition is currently in the Special Exhibitions Gallery at the Brooks Museum until 1/8/2012.

Movie Reivew: "In Time"

This Sci-Fi adventure film stars Memphis’ Justin Timberlake as Will Salas, a down and out worker in a futuristic ghetto. Cillian Murphy plays a policeman or “Time Keeper” in perpetual pursuit of Salas. In the near future, humans are genetically engineered to only live 25 years. To live beyond 24 years, life is extended by purchasing time- a literal time is money. The working masses eek out small extensions of life by toiling away in industries controlled by a wealthy few. Salas obtains a large extension of time from a wealthy donor. After abducting a wealthy sympathetic heiress he attempts to bring down a corrupt establishment that keeps the masses enslaved to the wealthy few.

The premise is interesting. Timberlake’s acting is marginal. The plot could have been developed better.

Review: “Jean Louis Forain: La Comedie Parisienne”

This current exhibit at the Dixon Museum includes over 130 works of Impressionist artist, Jean Louis Forain. This assemblage of water colors, paintings, and prints produced in partnership with Paris’ Petit Palais includes museum and private holdings. His works include numerous late nineteenth century Parisian theater scenes, periodical illustrations, war scenes, prints of biblical stories and even commercial mosaics. Of interest, is his style change and focus after his “rediscovery” of Christianity. My personal favorite is the sketch of Christ on the road to Emmaus. The exhibit will be ending October 9.

Movie Review: "Seven Days in Utopia"

A young professional golfer, Luke Chisholm, washes out during his professional debut. He unexpectedly ends up stranded on the small hill country Texas town of Utopia. There he encounters an eccentric rancher, Johnny Crawford, played by Robert Duvall. Over the period of one week, he learns about life, golf and faith. Lucas Bear gives a stellar performance in his portrayal of Luke Chisholm. Duvall, as usual, is as good as his recent roles in “Get Low” and “Second Hand Lions.” Unlike many “faith based” movies, this has a fairly good script, good production quality and great performances.

Movie Review: "Buck"

This film is basically a documentary about horse trainer Buck Brannaman. He is the inspiration for the book and movie “Horse Whisperer.” He also served as technical director to Robert Redford in the movie of the same name. I am not really a horse enthusiast, but found the movie fascinating. Buck and his brother were child prodigies in the 1960’s and 1970’s in trick roping circles. After his mother died, he and his brother were removed from their abusive father and raised by foster parents.

Horse breaking and training methods are often a result of the owner’s personality and conflicts. How Buck interacts with owners is as interesting as his almost magical way with horses.

Movie Review: "Super 8"

This movie is best described as “Goonies” meets “ET.” A group or peripubescent friends get together in a Middle American town in 1979 to make a movie about zombies. In the course of the movie making, they witness a mysterious train crash. A series of mysterious and catastrophic events follow. The child acting is superb- especially Elle Fanning. The plot is fairly predictable. Special effects are good, but are not used to carry the story line. If you’re looking for simple summer entertainment that will not shock your sensibilities, this movie is worth seeing.

Movie Review: X-Men: First Class

This latest installation of the X-Men series chronicles events leading to the formation of X-Men. The movie starts during and immediately after WWII. Charles Xavier meets the future Mystique, graduates from Oxford and then forms the collection of mutants known as X-men. The future Dynamo is discovered in a Nazi concentration camp by a Mengele type character played by Kevin Bacon.

Unlike many sequels, this film is probably the best of the series. Similar in talent, scope and story line to the latest Star Trek sequel.

Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

This is the fourth installation of the Johnny Depp and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Jack Sparrow and his sometimes nemesis, Barbossa, embark on a quest to find Ponce de Leon’s fountain of youth. Penelope Cruz plays Blackbeard’s daughter. She and Blackbeard struggle with Captain Jack Sparrow, Barbossa and now the King of Spain for the waters of the legendary fountain.

This episode has similar elements of the original movie. Unlike the third film of the series, this film does not rely as heavily on special effects to carry the plot. There is considerably more closure at movie's end than the last movie.

Movie Review: "Hanna"

This film is an action thriller about a 16 year old girl, played by Saoirse Ronan (Atonement), who is raised by her assassin father in an isolated wilderness near the Arctic Circle. After being separated for the first time from her father, their reunion takes her on a mission across Europe. Cate Blanchett plays an evil, formidable CIA officer who is bent on the destruction of Hanna and her father. The choreography is creative and violence, which occurs often, is not vulgar.

Movie Review: "Of gods and Men"

This recently released film recounts the real life drama of eight French Trappist monks living in a remote monastery in the Algerian Atlas Mountains. The monastery serves an impoverished Moslem village. They offer free medical care to the villagers and sell produce and honey. During the Algerian Civil War of the 1990’s, the monks are called on to treat villagers and terrorists alike. After other foreigners are murdered, they are urged by the Algerian government to evacuate to France. They decide to stay in the monastery, despite the danger of being killed by the Islamic terrorists.

Unlike many films, this story line holds very accurately to the actual events, setting and rituals of the characters- monks and villagers alike. Dialogue is fairly sparse, but not needed. The faith of the monks is fairly accurately expressed by the characters.

Movie Review: “Unknown”

Liam Neeson stars in this international action thriller as beleaguered American biologist, Martin Harris, who has a terrible accident after just arriving in Berlin for an international conference. Upon awakening from a coma, he discovers that he is either not who he remembers being or that there is a vast conspiracy to eliminate his identity. The plot is fairly sophisticated. Story development is a little slow. The movie runs over two hours. As usual, Liam Neeson’s acting is superb. Bruno Ganz’s portrayal of former Stasi agent Ernst Jürgen was superb.

Review: “Joe Jones: Radical Painter of the American Scene

January 23 through April 17, The Dixon Museum is hosting a display of paintings lithographs and murals by Joe Jones of St. Louis. Jones lived from 1909 to 1963. The exhibition displays portraits, landscapes as well as magazine covers. His style has been described as “Regionalist”- a combination of cubism, realism- with art deco thrown in for good measure. The most interesting pieces are his portraits. There is none of the distracting abstraction found in some modernist work. Reproductions of some of his murals that are at Commonwealth College in Mena, Arkansas and in a Missouri radio station were also on display.