Month: December 2008

Categories
Arts

Capsule Reviews

Australia (PG-13, 175 minutes) Moulin Rouge! director Baz Luhrmann directs Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman in a romantic historical western. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6

Bedtime Stories (PG, 99 minutes) Adam Sandler plays a storytelling uncle whose stories surprise him by coming true. A presumably family-friendly adventure-comedy co-starring Courtney Cox Arquette, Lucy Lawless, Guy Pearce and Kerry Russell. Playing at Regal Seminole Square 4

Bolt (PG, 96 minutes) In Disney’s 48th animated feature, a Hollywood dog who plays a canine superhero on TV, and thinks he actually is one, winds up in New York by mistake and must make an incredible journey home. John Travolta, Miley Cyrus and Malcolm McDowell, among others, lend their voice talents. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (PG-13, 168 minutes) Brad Pitt starts off young at heart and old in age, then switches it up in David Fincher’s version of the F. Scott Fitzgerald story. Playing at Regal Seminole Square 4

The Day the Earth Stood Still (PG-13, 92 minutes) In this update of the 1951 sci-fi staple, Keanu Reeves and his robot visit Earth from afar with a message of “Knock off the violence or you’ll see some something fierce.” Jennifer Connelly and Kathy Bates co-star. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

Doubt (PG-13, 104 minutes) Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep face off on matters of faith, principle, morality and more in John Patrick Shanley’s film of his own award-winning play. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

Four Christmases (PG-13, 82 minutes) Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon play a couple accustomed to sneaking away together for Christmas but compelled this year to visit all four of their divorced parents on that one day. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

Marley & Me (PG, 123 minutes) In this adaptation of John Grogan’s bestseller, a young couple (Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson) adopt an adorable yellow lab puppy, who proves to be quite a handful—and, yes, to teach them what really matters in life. Read C-VILLE’s full review here. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6

Milk (R, 128 minutes) Sean Pennn turns in a miraculous performance as San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk, the nation’s first openly gay elected official. Emile Hirsch, James Franco and Josh Brolin round out the stellar cast, and Gus Van Sant directs. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

Seven Pounds (PG-13, 124 minutes) Will Smith plays an IRS agent who did something really bad once (his words) and may redeem himself by changing the lives of seven strangers. Presumably not by auditing them. Rosario Dawson and Woody Harrelson co-star. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6

Slumdog Millionaire (R, 120 minutes) Director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) returns with a story about an impoverished Indian teen’s uncanny performance on a gameshow. Playing at Vinegar Hill Theatre

The Spirit (PG-13, 103 minutes) Sin City’s Frank Miller adapts Will Eisner’s beloved comic, in which a righteous cop returns from the dead as a masked, red-necktied crime-fighter in a very dark city. Starring Gabriel Macht and Samuel L. Jackson as the hero and villain, and Scarlett Johansson and Eva Mendes as two of several babes. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

The Tale of Despereaux (G, 94 minutes) The animated adventure, based on Kate DiCamillo’s book, of a small mouse with big ears and big courage who must rescue a kidnapped princess. With voices by Matthew Broderick, Emma Watson, Dustin Hoffman and Sigourney Weaver, among others. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6

Twilight (PG-13, 120 minutes) Director Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown) adapts Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling novel about the romance between a teenage girl (Kristen Stewart) and a well-coiffed vampire (Robert Pattinson). Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

Valkyrie (PG-13, 120 minutes) The true story of a Nazi colonel who tried to assassinate Hitler, with Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson and Terence Stamp. Directed by Superman Returns’ Bryan Singer. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

Yes Man (PG-13, 104 minutes) Jim Carrey plays a guy whose life changes—a lot—when a self-help program compels him to start saying yes to everything. Remember Liar, Liar? Yes, you do. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6

Fun with acronyms: CLAW gets press, DMB gets sax

The February 2009 issue of Virginia Living features an article about those bruising belles, the Charlottesville Lady Arm Wrestlers. (Yes, by now, I’ve used every alliterative possibility to tell you that these women kick ass.)

Co-founder Jennifer Hoyt Tidwell offers up some interesting insights about the future of CLAW, including the organization’s current hiatus and possible resurrection for "an annual reunion extravaganza-blowout-a-palooza smackdown spectacular." Sounds like a CLAW match to me! Take a gander at C-VILLE’s CLAW cover story here.

And since we’re talking futures, here, the Dave Matthews Band fansite WeeklyDavespeak reports that Jeff Coffin, saxophone honker for the likes of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones and a touring member of DMB since member Leroi Moore’s death, will join the band full-time. Coffin’s site has the announcement. Do Dave fans have room in their hearts for a Flecktone?

These two unrelated news posts prompt a rather obvious question: Which member of Dave Matthews Band do you think would reign supreme in an arm wrestling tournament? My money’s on Boyd Tinsley, hands down.

Ready, set, wrassle! CLAW co-founder Jennifer Hoyt Tidwell hints at CLAW’s triumphant return next summer.

NEW C-VILLE COVER STORY: Aaron Farrington snaps trash and glitter

What’s left? That’s what Aaron Farrington considers in his photos for C-VILLE this week that over the past year captured six local parties after the party’s over. As you ring out the old and ring in the new, consider the residue.

And, related to leftovers, here’s what hit the cutting room floor from C-VILLE’s 2008 videos.

Politico lists Perriello vs. Goode in “Top 10 Political Upsets of 2008”

This year’s elections were full of surprises. The victory of Democratic candidate Tom Perriello over incumbent Virgil Goode in Virginia’s Fifth District Congressional race was certainly one for the books. At least, Politico thinks so.

The news blog ranked the "Top 10 Political Upsets of 2008," and in the midst of Mike Huckabee winning the Iowa Republican caucus, Kay Hagan unseating incumbent Senator Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina and the recent victory of Anh “Joseph” Cao for Louisiana Second District against William Jefferson, the "Perriello versus Goode" bout found its place close to the top.

And Politico gets nice and local in its numbers. “When all the ballots were cast, counted and then recounted, Perriello’s strong margin among the progressive-minded university community around Charlottesville helped propel him to victory by less than 1,000 votes,” writes Alexander Burns of Politico.

Perriello won with a 727-vote edge over Goode.

According to Politico, even liberal bloggers who supported Perriello "conceded" that he was a longshot.

Editor of Edible Blue Ridge talks local to national readership

Charlottesville’s own Natalie Ermann Russell, editor of Edible Blue Ridge, a new magazine about eating local, made her point yesterday in USA Weekend Magazine: buying local supports the community. Among the local examples she gives are Plan 9 and New Dominion Bookshop.  Read her article here.
 

 

Are weeds natural?

I’m reading some early Michael Pollan right now. It’s like listening to Michael Pollan on vinyl. It’s his book Second Nature, published in 1991, when I was in eighth grade and first hearing scary reports about global warming, which then inspired me to write frantic articles on the youth page of the local newspaper. (How far I have come.)

Had I been reading Michael Pollan at the time, I may have had a more nuanced view.

One thing you gotta love about the guy is the way he can talk to environmentalists without adopting some of our more annoying pieties. He’s really interested in the intersection of human culture with nature, and he doesn’t see the two as separate kingdoms. We’re heading into a new year, which (here comes the frantic) will be as crucial a moment in that nature/culture intersection as we’ve ever seen. In honor of that, and the nuanced thinking it’ll require, here’s a little excerpt from Pollan on vinyl.

"It’s hard to imagine the American landscape without St.-John’s-wort, daisies, dandelions, crabgrass, timothy, clover, pigweed, lamb’s-quarters, buttercup, mullein, Queen Anne’s lace, lantain, or yarrow, but not one of these species grew here before the Puritans landed. America in fact had few indigenous weeds, for the simple reason taht it had little disturbed ground. The Indians lived so lightly on the land that they created few habitats for weeds to take hold in. No plow, no bindweed. But by as early as 1663, when John Josselyn compiled a list ‘of such plantes as have sprung up since the English planted and kept cattle in New England,’ he found, among others, couch grass, dandelion, sow thistle, shepherd’s purse, groundsel, dock, mullein, plantain, and chickweed.

"Some of these weeds were brought over deliberately; the colonists prized dandelion as a salad green, and used plantain (which is millet) to make bread. Other weed seeds, though came by accident—in forage, in the earth used for shipboard ballast, even in pants cuffs and cracked boot soles. Once here, the weeds spread like wildfire. According to Alfred W. Crosby, the ecological historian, the Indians considered the Englishman a botanical Midas, able to change the flora with his touch…Though most weeds traveled with white men, some, like the dandelion, raced west of their own accord (or possibly with the help of the Indians, who quickly discovered the plant’s virtues), arriving well ahead of the pioneers. Thus the supposedly virgin landscape upon which the westward settlers gazed had already been marked by their civilization."

Happy 2009, folks. In the new year, let’s not take anything for granted.

Court of Appeals overturns guilty verdict for Quality Inn killer

The guilty verdict against Anthony Dale Crawford, 49, of Manassas was overturned on Tuesday, December 23 by the Virginia Court of Appeals.

Crawford was convicted in February 2007 of killing his wife, 33-year-old Sarah Louise Crawford, in 2004.

The Daily Progress reports today that the decision reversed all of Crawford’s convictions in the Charlottesville Circuit Court except for one: grand larceny.

The decision resulted from a technicality. The Appeals Court opinion argued that, because the Commonwealth’s Attorney presented as evidence an affidavit sworn by Sarah Crawford as part of a restraining order against her husband, the court violated the defendant’s Sixth Amendment rights. The Confrontation Clause gives defendants the right to face their accusers.

In 2007, Crawford was sentenced to two life prison terms and an added 67 years for murder, abduction with the intent to defile, rape, grand larceny and use of a firearm. Crawford shot his estranged wife, raped her and left her body in a Charlottesville hotel room.

 

A history of violence: Anthony Dale Crawford, whose Charlottesville murder conviction was overturned this week, somehow avoided a rape conviction in South Carolina even after a videotape surfaced of him having sex with his first wife while she was hog-tied and her mouth was duct-taped.

‘Tis the seasonings: Pepper spray at Sons of Bill gig

Plenty of people tear up during the holidays; haven’t you people listened to Burl Ives tell the story of Rudolph?

Unfortunately for the crowd at Sons of Bill’s December 23 gig at Fry’s Spring Beach Club, the tears were a little less "holly jolly." A few songs into Sons of Bill’s headlining set, security personnel from Fry’s Spring used pepper spray to subdue a crowd member. And, since trying to hit a single target with pepper spray is like trying to eat a single Pringle—"Once you pop, the fun don’t stop"—audience members and the band had to clear the room to let the pepper settle before taking the stage again. More after the picture.

Sons of Bill: I’m a pepper, you’re a pepper, he’s a pepper, she’s a pepper…

The rest of the concert seems to’ve gone off without a hitch. "Besides," one fan commented on Sons of Bill’s MySpace page, "it’s just not Christmas without tasers and pepper spray ;)."

But the incident does prompt questions about what security measures are appropriate for venues around town. How soon does one pull out the Mace? Any SOB fans catch the incident?

Additionally, Fry’s Spring stood a decent chance of being a stellar-if-occasional venue for local music until spots like the Jefferson Theater open. Would any musicians out there think twice about playing the space after the pepper spray incident? Would any audience members hesitate before seeing a gig there again?

Brad Pitt loves the Cradle to Cradle philosophy

There are two very good reasons to pick up January’s edition of Architectural Digest. First, Brad Pitt is on the cover. Second, Brad Pitt is on the cover. Well, close enough. The second reason has more to do with Charlottesville: architect William McDonough’s take on sustainability.

The cover story highlights the work Pitt has done to rebuild the Lower Ninth Ward in battered New Orleans. Huge Hollywood star by day, and architecture aficionado by night, Pitt has devoted time and $5 million out of his own pocket to construct affordable, sustainable homes that are elevated and feature rooftop escape hatches. The cost of the homes won’t exceed $150,000.

Who better to help Pitt in this endeavor, but Charlottesville’s own William McDonough?

“Why can’t we redefine how we do things?” said Pitt. “Not to change our way of life, but to change the way we do things.” In fact, McDonough’s Cradle to Cradle philosophy starts with thinking of the future as recyclable.

“My job,” McDonough told C-VILLE back in 2006, “is to speak of the future in the present tense. And to imagine the exquisitely perfect in order to achieve the practically impossible.”

Pitt admits to Architectural Digest that his star power gets him access to other hot shots when he wants it. “I know that there are people out there who will take my calls,” he said. McDonough was one of them.

If Brad Pitt were calling, would you pick up the phone?

 

Brad Pitt fell for New Orleans while filming Interview with the Vampire in the 1990s. Pitt’s new movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, was also shot in the Big Easy, where he’s focusing his efforts as a design-minded philanthropist with the help of local eco-architect William McDonough.
 

City bellringers raise thousands of dollars

That the economy made it tough for all of us to do our holiday shopping is, alas, a reality. But its even harder for those who are less fortunate. To the rescue: Salvation Army bellringers.

According to the Newsplex, bellringers stationed at 25 different locations around Charlottesville have this year raised thousands of dollars. The money goes to families and children in need.

To be exact, the Salvation Army’s goal for this holiday season was $125,000 and with the generosity of all of you out there, it was shattered.

A bellringer outside CVS on the Downtown Mall says that even on Christmas Eve people were donating. "Business is good," he says. "Business is excellent."

Although the Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign is more than 100 years old, new technology to enhance the fundraising efforts is coming. In an experiment, some  North Texas bellringers started taking credit cards. Donations are processed on a small wireless credit card machine attached to a tripod.

Interesting. Are they coming to Charlottesville any time soon?

“I am not sure at this point, I am hoping we will,” says Flora Orser, a woman who works at the Salvation Army. Hey, if it makes giving easier…

Merry Christmas everybody!
 

Bellringers on the Downtown Mall say "business is good."