‘Arts’ Archives
Casablanca: “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
by Howard McQuitter ***** 1942 Warner Brothers Parkway Theater Drama/Romance/Mystery Running time: 102 minutes B/W, English, French, German Director: Michael Curtiz “Casablanca” is one of those special films I have seen many times over the last 50 years, but every time I see it, the feeling is like the first time. The first time over many times, the Humphrey Bogart/Ingrid Bergman duo, the cynical Claude Rains as Captain Renault, the Czech freedom fighter and escapee from a Nazi concentration camp, the memorable piano player “playing” “As Time Goes By” in Bogart”'s character Rick Blaines”' Rick”'s Café American, and so forth. However, as many times as I have seen “Casablanca”, there were things I didn”'t know until now. At a showing of “Casablanca” at the Parkway Theater in South Minneapolis last month, poet par excellence John Flynn explained that there were 35 nationalities [...]
The Fantastic Mr. Fox & Sherlock Holmes
Fantastic Mr. Fox ***** Twentieth Century Fox Animation Lagoon Running Time: 81 minutes Rated: PG Director: Wes Anderson The adaptation of Roald Dahl”'s book to a movie by the same title, “Fantastic Mr. Fox”, directed by Wes Anderson and written by Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach, is an ambitious and delightful project. The old saying “sly like a fox” is more than apt for extroverted Mr. Fox (George Clooney). Barely escaping from a few chickens napping and a newly pregnant wife, Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep), he promises to stop stealing chickens. After a hiatus, Mr. Fox returns to the scenes of the crimes by raiding coops of Boggis, Bunce and Bean, three farmers who ban together to destroy Mr. Fox and all his cohorts. Bean owns a cider factory which was broken into by Mr. Fox and his friends Badger (Mr. Murray) and Kylie (Wally Wolodarksy), to steal the bottles of cider. Will they get caught or will they outfox (pardon the pun) the farmers? Ash [...]
Ninja Assassin
By Howard McQuitter II Demon from Hell surprises Raizo (Rain) and his party of men and some women in a warehouse suite slaughtering the men except Raizo, of course, the main character. From the opening scenes, the body count begins to soar and so does the martial arts in conjunction with sanguineous displays. Raizo is raised in an orphanage where the caretakers treat the children like slaves even murdering children deemed as traitors. The orphanage is run by a cruel master Lord Ozuni (Sho Kosugi) to whom Raizo becomes his archenemy. Raizo strikes out on his own but one thinks Lord Ozuni instills in him: hate all weakness. Raizo rents a large apartment with spare furnishings where he can practice his martial arts Raizo, unlikely ally Agent Mika Coretti (Naomi Harris), find themselves in dangerous circumstances as ninjas seem to be coming from all directions. Her cohort Agent Ryan Maslow (Ben Miles) reluctant to believe early in the goings Raizo is the “good [...]
