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Cincinnati World Cinema
 

Worth seeing: Riding Shotgun

Mamet meets Tarantino in Riding Shotgun, a pedal-to-the-metal drama by award-winning writer/director Greg Newberry.


 

Riding Shotgun takes a simple premise about a reunion and road trip, adds tension, suspense, plot twists and excellent character development to produce a dramatic two-act essay on the meaning of friendship, loyalty and trust.  An experienced writer, Newberry has a penchant for wry, deceptive twists, and he excels at creating characters who, like peeling back an onion, are revealed a layer at a time.

Presented at the NKU Corbett Theatre, the world premiere of Riding Shotgun will have four performances, Fridays and Saturdays, August 6 - 7 and 13 - 14, at 8 pm. 

 

Tickets and complete details are available at the website, www.ridingshotguntheplay.com

 

Before attending a recent rehearsal, I had the chance to talk with writer/director Greg Newberry about his creation.  The Q & A below offers insight into the process and the production. 


  • Who should see RIDING SHOTGUN?


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Posted August 2, 2010 by worldcinema 
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Indigo Girls - and Greaves - shine in concert

A bit of Heaven, for audience and artist alike.

When it comes to top-notch musical venues, Greaves Concert Hall at Northern Kentucky University may be one of the best kept secrets in the Tri-State area. The sold-out concert by the Indigo Girls on Tuesday July 27 brought back the glory of this versatile performance space, stirring recollection of other similar and equally memorable concerts in Greaves over the years: Christine Lavin and Garnet Rogers in '93, Bruce Cockburn in '99 and the fabulous Moxie Fruvous a few years later.

The Indigo Girls, performing without their band and playing acoustic guitars with minimal amplification, brought that folkie intimacy back to Greaves in a convincing way. The audience were all fans, knowing and singing the lyrics to the songs. A concert review in the Enquirer called it a 'love fest' and indeed it was.

There was another star that evening - the venue. Describing the 650 seat Greaves Concert Hall as "intimate" is not a misapplication of terms - it feels much smaller than it really is. Not cramped or crowded, but comfy and well, intimate, like a cozy cabaret or a really, really big living room.

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Filed under  //   Greaves Concert Hall   Indigo Girls   NKU   Northern Kentucky   music   venue  
Posted July 28, 2010 by worldcinema 
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Best Documentary: THE COVE

Cincinnati Screening June 15

I’ve previously lamented the absence of this outstanding documentary from area movie screens – it’s a shame it could not have played somewhere for at least a week or two.  Then suddenly, a few weeks ago, with little notice and even less publicity, it appeared at the U.C. Main Street Cinema for a single screening.  Admission was free and the $7.00 parking charge was a small price to pay for a chance to see The Cove in HD on a 25-foot screen. 

It was presented by the UC Sustainability Group -- kudos to Shawn Tubb, Sustainability Coordinator in UC’s Office of Planning, Design & Construction. (They do a lot of worthwhile things, visit www.uc.edu/sustainability and get on their listserv.)

And now, Cincinnatians have another one-time chance to see the film in a public venue. The Greater Cincinnati and Hamilton County Library will show it at the Main Library Branch, downtown, on Tuesday June 15 at 7 pm. It will screen in the Huenefeld Tower Room and admission is FREE.

Winner, Sundance Audience Award ~ "Part environmental documentary, part horror film, part spy thriller,

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Filed under  //   Dolphins   Japan   documentary   film  
Posted June 7, 2010 by worldcinema 
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The Brutal Torture at Conklin Dairy Farm

  Those with even a casual grasp of history are familiar with the Holocaust and the genocide in Armenia, Rwanda, Iraq, Darfur and elsewhere, and doubtless find it abhorrent. But when similar acts of brutality, directed against helpless animals, occur within 150 miles of home the impact seems more pronounced.

 
After watching the undercover footage from the Conklin Dairy Farm at http://www.mercyforanimals.org/ohdairy/ I've been unable to shake overwhelming feelings of anguish, despair and anger.   Anguish at the pain and suffering inflicted upon innocent creatures.  Despair at the realization of what some members of the human race have become.   Anger to the point of wishing to see an equal amount of pain inflicted upon the perpetrators.
 
The video is hard to watch and may require several attempts to get all the way through it. This is not a one-time incident with one person abusing one animal.  But rather, several people routinely torturing many animals over a period of time; then bragging and joking about it.  All captured on video. 
 

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Filed under  //   animals   crime   society  
Posted May 28, 2010 by worldcinema 
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Oscar Shorts survey results and DVD winners

Please click on the link below for Oscar Shorts 2010 audience survey results and DVD winners.

http://www.cincyworldcinema.org/download/Oscar Shorts 2010 Audience Survey Results.pdf

Larry asked what the odds are of winning something in the CWC survey drawings.  Well, this time we had  responses from 556 individuals.  Minus those without names and/or contact info, the net population was 504. With 4 DVDs to distribute that means the overall odds are 1-in-126 of winning.

 

 

Posted April 30, 2010 by worldcinema 
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The #1 Movie in America?

The other day I was scanning the local newspaper's movie section and saw a display ad for Kick-Ass, touted as "The #1 Movie in America!"  I checked the numbers, and so it was - at the box office - leading an undistinguished pack with roughly $20 Million in ticket sales for its opening weekend of April 16.

Curious, I turned to the paper's Movie Guide to learn more.  Of the thirty films listed only three were given an "A" grade, one of which was Kick-Ass with an A-minus.  The summary did not provide much of a clue:  "Rated R; brutal violence, language, sexual content, nudity, drugs." That could apply to almost any film.  The "Lowdown" was a bit more revealing:  "Father-daughter caped-crusaders team up with superhero wannabe Kick-Ass to fight a crime boss in a belly-laugher of an action comedy."

A day later, I was reading The New Yorker which included Anthony Lane's review of Kick-Ass.  The full review is also on the web, http://tinyurl.com/y5v6z3v, and here are some excerpts just to whet your appetite:

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Filed under  //   cinema   film  
Posted April 24, 2010 by worldcinema 
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Philips Mounts New Short Film Series

After a year-long run and millions of views, last week Philips took down Carousel.  The director's cut, without the interactive hotspots, can be found at Stink Digital - http://beta.stinkdigital.tv/work/view/selected/carousel-(directors-cut).  If you're into it, suggest watching it several times - each time you'll see something different.

Now, in conjunction with Ridley Scott, Philips has launched Parallel Lines - 5 very different films, each utilizing a key element (a unicorn) and key phrases (Get away; I'm sorry).

Quite similar to the 48-hour and college film fest concepts, except that these filmmakers had lots of money, state-of-the-art equipment and no time limitations.

Unlike Carousel, with the new crop of films you have to sit through a bit of feature related advertising before the films start. But several of the films are worth the wait... http://www.cinema.philips.com/.

Filed under  //   cinema   shorts  
Posted April 16, 2010 by worldcinema 
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Oscar Shorts Review

Did you have a favorite film? Did you like one program more than another? Have a question about one of the short films? Post your comments here.

For my pick for the Best Live-Action short film Oscar, I've chosen an unlikely candidate.  Here's  why:

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Filed under  //   Oscars   Reviews   cinema   shorts  
Posted April 12, 2010 by worldcinema 
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Worth seeing: Bury the Dead

 

Irwin Shaw's books and screenplays have given us many remarkable films:  The Young Lions, Talk of the Town, Desire Under the Elms, Fire Down Below, Two Weeks in Another Town, Easy Living and Rich Man, Poor Man.
 
In the mid-1930s, around the time he was writing and scripting the popular radio show, Dick Tracy, Shaw wrote his first play, Bury the Dead, bringing to the stage a brand of expressionism also seen in the paintings of Edvard Munch - a riveting, subjective emotional experience that leaves no viewer untouched. Alternating between humor and rage, Shaw's characters bring a highly personal perspective to the futility of war.
 
Co-produced by The Carnegie and the CCM Drama Department and directed by Cincinnati legend Michael Burnham, Bury the Dead features well-known local talents Jim Stump, Regina Pugh, Derek Snow and Ken Early, plus a host of others.
 
Tickets are very affordable - $14-16-18 and the drama runs April 8-24 at the Carnegie Arts Center in Covington.  Don't miss it!  http://www.thecarnegie.com/

Filed under  //   Drama   Expressionism   Irwin Shaw   The Carnegie  
Posted April 5, 2010 by worldcinema 
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Tilda Swinton on Volunteer Cinema

"Going to the cinema now is all about guarantees:  Did it get good reviews? How is it doing at the box office? Will I get comfortable seats, and be able to buy toxic-waste sweets?" says Scotish actress Tilda Swinton (Benjamin Button, Burn After Reading, Michael Clayton, Broken Flowers, The Deep End, Teknolust, Vanilla Sky).

In contrast, the small, single-screen, volunteer-run cinema Swinton has opened in Nairn, Scotland is like, she says, "going to a restaurant that you trust and saying, 'Feed me'. People are coming -- not because they know all the films we are showing -- but out of trust."

Their audience is certainly in agreement, if sheer numbers are anything to go by: the films are being shown twice to accommodate the demand. "I am loving the feeling of collective experience," said one attendee. "For once, you can happily look around and actually make eye contact with people. It's the shared enthusiasm that's so compelling."

... Sounds like CWC, yes?

Filed under  //   Scotland   cinema   cwc   film   volunteer  
Posted March 4, 2010 by worldcinema 
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