“The moment Idealism gets out of line with conduct, it becomes just another vice.” The face of Ryan Gosling, suddenly ubiquitous on our movie screens, is ideal for that of an actor: almost mask-like and concealing (if seemingly bland), but capable of startling changes in the characters played by this long-time actor. He has, in the last few years, played a neo-Nazi, a conventional protagonist, a get-away criminal, a kindly narcissist and so on, and all of them well.
OpeningContinuingDoris Duke TheatreMovie MuseumMovie Cafe A selection of films currently playing in island theaters. Unattributed film synopses indicate movies not yet reviewed by HW staff.
Leave It on the Floor The esoteric world of drag queens, the transgendered and all-around gays in vogue runway contests is the scene of this inventive “musical” with original songs and music. Alienated, usually impoverished gays, many driven from home, form “clubs” to compete for trophies in dance/music competitions, while establishing new friendships.
It’s rare to see Asian imports who suck since American distributors wouldn’t want to waste their money. This makes the US release of 1911 so perplexing; it really freaking blows.
Director/cameraman/editor Steven Soderbergh is one of our most adventurous moviemakers, ranging from obscure indies to experimental narratives, from big glossy entertainments to serious dramas. All those approaches payoff in sheer craft; shooting his own productions with (mostly) digital cameras at amazing speed.
So awful it isn’t boring and incoherent to the point of near-genius, the new Halloween horror thriller Dream House entraps some A-list players–Daniel Craig (shirtless and clueless), Naomi Watts (what is she doing in this movie?), Rachel Weisz and helmer Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot)–in an addlepated “mystery” that can best be described as chaos in search of frenzy. It’s like watching a slo-mo train wreck: You should turn away but it’s too negatively fascinating.
OpeningDoris Duke TheatreMovie MuseumMovie Cafe A selection of films currently playing in island theaters. Unattributed film synopses indicate movies not yet reviewed by HW staff.
Moneyball is a film with a socialist agenda, a complicated pedigree and a hidden Hawaiian angle. It shouts “Sports Movie!” and can be enjoyed like a light beer on a hot day.
The Japanese import Haru’s Journey, originally shown at the HIFF 2011 Spring Showcase, returns to Hawaii’s theaters but those looking for this year’s Departures will be sorely disappointed. The film is a quiet tale of an elderly fisherman who is cared for by his 19-year-old grandchild, Haru.
Film Blurbs / OpeningContinuingDoris Duke TheatreMovie MuseumMovie Cafe A selection of films currently playing in island theaters. Unattributed film synopses indicate movies not yet reviewed by HW staff.
OpeningDoris Duke TheatreMovie MuseumMovie Cafe A selection of films currently playing in island theaters. Unattributed film synopses indicate movies not yet reviewed by HW staff.
Film Review / Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, Chinese action director Tsui Hark’s martial arts epic, is an unusual melding of the usual wire-fu, slo-mo acrobatics with the detective film genre, and the results feel downright innovative and engrossing. Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau (Infernal Affairs) plays Detective Dee, a former Supreme Court investigator tasked by the soon-to-be inaugurated Empress Wu, the first female emperor, to solve a serious of murders in 689 AD.
Film Review / If someone smart would chop off the last 10 minutes of the crime-thriller/drama Drive, we would have been left with a minor classic of the genre, the “existential” heist movie, full of atmospherics and featuring a near-mythological main character. When he played the right kind of gangster in The Petrified Forest, Humphrey Bogart, an obscure second lead, became a star.
OpeningDoris Duke TheatreMovie MuseumMovie Cafe A selection of films currently playing in island theaters. Unattributed film synopses indicate movies not yet reviewed by HW staff.
If there were ever a movie that should not be synopsized–story and plot-line given–it is the English-language The Debt, a vast improvement over the Israeli film of the same name several years ago. This version, with more depth and assiduousness to the Israeli characters, is a terrific thriller, full of legitimate surprises, twists and turns that make sense, ones that deepen the story.
Doris Duke Theatre’s monthlong celebration of International Peace Day continues with The Interrupters, the latest project from master documentarian Steve James (Hoop Dreams). This time, in the span of one year, James examines the epidemic of the youth violence crippling the city of Chicago.
In Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, there’s this spooky old house, rife with secrets, once belonging to a nature illustrator named Blackwood, but now it’s being restored by a hotshot restorer (Guy Pearce) and his girlfriend (Katie Holmes). For all their expertise, they don’t discover a full basement there until the restorer’s moody 10-year-old daughter (Shot-in-Hawaii Just Go With It’s Bailee Madison) stumbles across it and inadvertently unleashes latent dark forces.
For one night only, the Doris Duke theater will screen the restored version of the rarely seen 1948 documentary, Nuremberg: Its Lessons for Today. The film was commissioned by the US War Department to document the trial of 20 top Nazi leaders after the fall of Hitler.
OpeningDoris Duke TheatreMovie MuseumMovie Cafe A selection of films currently playing in island theaters. Unattributed film synopses indicate movies not yet reviewed by HW staff.
John Sayles is the dean of American independent film, writing, directing and editing a series of 17 tough films, the most accessible of which is Lone Star. In the last few years, Sayles has been on a losing streak, creating films, some of which he has financed himself, that the American public, charmed by special effects, has largely ignored.
The remake of Conan the Barbarian is exactly what it should be: two hours of utterly stupid, ridiculous fun. Local boy Jason Momoa and his muscles step into Arnie’s fur-lined boots, and coupled with his stint on HBO’s Game of Thrones, he should have a glorious career, akin to the Rock.
OpeningDoris Duke TheatreMovie MuseumMovie Cafe A selection of films currently playing in island theaters. Unattributed film synopses indicate movies not yet reviewed by HW staff.
As the vampire Jerry, recently transplanted into a brand-new Las Vegas suburb, Colin Farrell, a twinkle in his eye and shooting one-liners from the hip, is bliss itself about his trade; he’s a blood-sucker who is happy in his work. He’s a charmer to boot and quite interested in his new neighbor (Toni Collette, yet) and her teenage son (Anton Yelchin, Chekov from Star Trek); but sonny is onto Jerry pronto.
With a title like 3D Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy, one would think the movie would be arousing or at least tantric-ly titillating in a zen kinda way. Wrong-o.
Film Review / It’s no secret to anyone who’s accessed my Twitter account: Me and Glee aren’t exactly BFFs. Here’s what it comes down to and what’s at the crux of my beef: There are moments when the show is sharp and funny and poignant all at the same time.
After retiring from public service in 2002, Ben Cayetano seemed to be taking it easy on the political scene–until 2005, that is, when then-Mayor Mufi Hannemann revived the long-lapsed idea of a Honolulu heavy rail project. Needless to say, Cayetano did not concur.
Last Thursday, the House Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection had a busy session hearing several controversial bills relating to geothermal energy. Chairman Denny Coffman introduced HB2689, which seeks to exempt slim-hole, or exploratory, geothermal test wells from any sort of environmental review as is currently required under Chapter 343 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes.
On Feb. 1, the Hawaii State House Agriculture Committee heard testimony on HB2703, dubbed the Food Self-Sufficiency Bill.
Mega-developer Castle & Cooke has re-filed an application with the Land Use Commission (LUC) seeking to convert approximately 768 acres of Ag land–currently in cultivation–into a “master-planned community” entitled Koa Ridge. If successful, the project will consist of two parcels–Koa Ridge Makai and Castle & Cooke Waiawa.
Office of Hawaiian Affairs holds a second round of community meetings to discuss the latest updates on the Kakaako land settlement. Stevenson Middle School, 1202 Prospect St., Wed., 2/8, 6:30pm; Waimanalo Community Center, 41-253 Ilauhole St., Thu., 2/9, 6:30pm City Council committees on Zoning and Planningand Transportation will take public testimony on agenda items.
[Feb. 1: “Kinda Kona”] The trade secret argument would fall to the wayside if it would read “10 percent Kona Coffee 90 percent Foreign Coffee,” or something to that effect.
If they are choosing the cheapest coffee from anywhere, then the “trade secret” is that they are adding crap and not a sp
[Feb. 1: “Rail Boss Wanted”] $300,000?
[Jan. 4: “Boss GMO] Dean Okimoto is a sell out and a criminal.
Monsanto is a major component of the NWO drive to reduce the world’s population in a global genocide program that includes the poisoning of the water, air and food. This criminal activity must be stopped.
Lets be real here, Dean Okimoto is not interested in anything other then keeping the status quo of industrial Ag. He is merely a puppet, playing it safe, a small game of following the money and corrupt political trail.
[Jan. 25: “Weaving the Future on Molokai”] Good luck to all those who possess the ability to balance long-term vision with short term opportunity.
[Dec. 21: “Underground Railroad”] This is, indeed, a “lunatic project,” as pointed out by a professor at the University of Hawaii.
This is such a bad idea for the overall architecture of Oahu. I visit here because my family is here and part of the charm is taking the bus or driving.
I cannot imagine how anyone can think this is a smart idea. I’ve lived in places with rail, but this Honolulu Rail Transit is stupid, plain stupid.
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