Film

through the Scary

Normally I INtervIew aNd wrIte through

the Scary. But I believe Angela, a friend of mine, can speak for herself, and for many parents. In Angela’s words: My day began exceptionally. I attended my eldest daughter’s baby shower, a day created by time honored friends and one that I will add to my memory treasure box. While watching Tina open her last baby gift, my cell phone rings, “Will you come and visit me“, she asks? Numb, I agree. I use my windshield wipers to see the building as the rain begins to fall. I soon find myself a hall, passing doors with large locks to a cold gray room displaying strange artwork. I wonder about the “artists” and what brought them here. I try to focus; I can‘t catch my breath. She finally appears in the doorway, my daughter, the little girl that just a few years ago was swinging safely in our back yard. I almost don’t recognize her, my mind becomes flooded with questions and I begin to swell with emotion. How can a day begin with such joy and end, surrounded in so much pain? What am I to say? How did she end up here? Will she ever allow life to teach her? Taking another glance down the hall I ask myself “can anything good possibly come of this? We hug, we sit, we walk, as she uses the sleeves on her shirt to wipe up her tears. I have so much to say, yet, find it easy to just listen, as the sound of her voice calms me. She begins to reveal things and I learn so much. The scenarios that brought her here, are so interesting, so profound, that I wonder how on earth, she is walking and talking. Then it happens…so instant and unexpected, my sorrow and fear miraculously turn to acceptance and I am overcome with gratitude. Gratitude that we are not planning a funeral, gratitude that her body remains whole, gratitude she is safe, at least for today, grateful that we can feel some peace in a place that looks and sounds so hopeless and, of course, grateful that there is a plan for “All” who fall short, and a reassurance that someone with a view and perspective greater than my own… is in charge.

I walk outSIde aNd See that the SuN IS ShININg.

Let’s help each other Through the Scary. Please share your successes. Contact me at

Laura.Newman8888@gmail.com.

Need helP Now? JTNN offers weekly meetings with THE PARENT GROUP, 6:00pm Thursdays at 505 S. Arlington. Confidential, FREE, and run by a licensed counselor.

laura Newman – JtNN Board 775-324-7557

Off track

Rush

The story of the epic Formula One rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda in the ’70s is an epic one, full of seemingly impossible twists and turns. Rush, Ron Howard’s film chronicling that rivalry, doesn’t serve this incredible story well. It’s one of those period pieces where you notice every wig and every attempt to establish its time through savvy soundtrack choices. Howard’s movie never feels authentic. It comes off as some decent actors playing dress up. And it serves up a heaping pile of romantic melodrama that sends the movie off the track and into the bleachers. Rush is supposed to be a movie about Formula One racing, yet the performers spend surprisingly little time behind the wheel. The focus is on their lives off the track, and while that warrants some interest, come on. Show us more races, and less of Hunt’s boring marital woes. Hemsworth keeps his Thor hair to play Hunt, a superstar car-racing English playboy who’s tearing it up on the tracks when egotistical rich boy Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) buys his way into the sport. It turns out Lauda happens to be a decent driver, and their rivalry eventually leads to Formula One competition, where the two push themselves mightily during the 1976 season. On a rainy day in Germany, Lauda crashed his car in a near fatal accident, suffering major burns to his head. The wreck also damaged his lungs in a life threatening way. Amazingly, Lauda came back to race only six weeks later, his head covered with bloody bandages, to try to preserve the lead he had before the crash. So, with a premise like that, a crazy real-life scenario that astonishes on all levels,

it would seem a movie based on the events would kill. Bruhl, saddled with some pretty big false teeth to physically resemble Lauda, is excellent as the obsessive Austrian. His Lauda is easily the film’s most compelling character, even when his storyline goes into Lauda’s humdrum love life. Hemsworth’s Hunt is everything to be by Bob Grimm expected and little more. He likes to party before and after races. He likes to vomit before bgrimm@ races because he’s “really” stoked. He likes to newsreview.com wield his mighty hammer and save the human race from invading alien forces. OK, that’s 2 in the Avengers. It’s just my wiseass way of saying what he does here isn’t far removed from his performance as Thor. Hemsworth actually catches the mannerisms of Hunt quite accurately. A look at footage of the real Hunt shows that Hemsworth manages a pretty good impersonation. That said, Hunt comes off as a predictable dullard in many ways. Fault the screenplay for that. Ron Howard allegedly got just south of $40 million to make this movie and this, perhaps, accounts for the surprising lack of sustained racing sequences. That’s not a lot of money for a movie that demands a lot of vroom-vroom. This would probably be the reason why too much screen time is spent on Hunt’s blasé marriage to model Suzy Miller (Olivia Wilde, so very good in this year’s Drinking Buddies). Howard ends the film strangely, with Bruhl’s Lauda narrating over footage of the actual Lauda and Hunt, including the paths their lives took after the movie. To have the actor talking over footage of the character he just played strikes me as a little odd. It also had me wishing that the movie was just a documentary about Lauda, who is still alive, and Hunt, who passed away from a heart attack at the age of 45. The story is so amazing, and footage of the crucial racing events exists. How about just interviewing those involved with the story, splicing it all together with race footage, and calling it a day rather than blowing $40 million? As it turns out, the BBC did a documentary episode on Hunt and Lauda for their Clash of the Titans series. It’s available on YouTube, along with a few other documentary looks. Rush is a poser movie with a great premise whose tires go bald well before the finish line. Ω

Hopefully, this photo doesn’t spoil the ending ...

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4Blue Caprice Isaiah Washington is terrifyingly good as John Allen Muhammad, the sick mind behind the 2002 sniper attacks that plunged Washington, D.C., Virginia and the surrounding region into a living hell. The title of the film refers to the assassin’s vehicle of choice, a blue Caprice with a hole in the trunk to allow for a sniper rifle. Tequan Richmond is equally chilling as Lee, the simpleton who followed Muhammad’s advice, learned to fire a weapon, and participated in the killing of 10 people. Director Alexandre Moors builds a compelling story as to why these morons did what they did, with Washington and Richmond delivering convincing, disturbing performances. This film will stick in your craw long after you’ve seen it. Available for rental on iTunes and Amazon.com.

5Blue Jasmine There was a time in film history when Woody Allen was consistently making the best movies in the business. His latest, one of many movies he has made in the last 10 years, is that return to form that some of us former Allen fans have been waiting for, thanks in large part to a phenomenal central performance by the sure-to-be-Oscarnominated Cate Blanchett. Blanchett plays Jasmine, the wife of a Bernie Madoff-type financier (Alec Baldwin) who must relocate from New York to San Francisco after she is bankrupted and emotionally destroyed. She gulps martinis, criticizes her helpful sister (Sally Hawkins), and, quite frighteningly, is prone to bouts of talking to herself. Allen finds the dark humor in the story, and employs a supporting cast that includes comedians Bobby Cannavale, Louis C.K. and, most astonishingly, Andrew Dice Clay, who, doggone it, delivers one amazing performance as Ginger’s financially destroyed ex-husband, Augie. Above and beyond the humor, Allen makes his film a parable about how some deeds are irredeemable, and some folks are simply doomed. It’s as bittersweet as any movie you will see this, or any, year, for that matter. As far as the Allen film canon goes, it’s a top five installment. It’s one of those films where everything pulls together perfectly, with Blanchett at its powerful center.

4Don Jon Joseph Gordon-Levitt writes, directs and stars in this frank sex comedy about a sex addict who thinks porn is better than true romance. Gordon-Levitt is excellent and consistently funny as the title character, a Jersey boy who’s quite the stud, yet finds himself jerking off to internet porn within mere minutes of finishing with a live woman. His little problem comes to the forefront when he meets Barbara (Scarlett Johansson), the first real love of his life, a woman with high standards who doesn’t approve of the porn thing. The movie is full of porno clips, so don’t see it with kids or a first date, unless you and that first date already have some sort of naughty understanding. Gordon-Levitt has given us something akin to a funnier Saturday Night Fever, with porn replacing disco. Julianne Moore is her usual excellent self in a supporting role, and the shock casting of Tony Danza as Don’s dad proves smart. Danza gets to show some cinematic comedy chops that he hasn’t been able to show off before. This is an overall triumph for Gordon-Levitt.

1Insidious: Chapter 2 Director James Wan was on a bit of a roll with the first film in this series and his recent The Conjuring. That roll doesn’t simply come to a halt with this film. That roll crashes into a concrete, steel enforced wall that Jesus himself built while reminiscing about his carpentry days. This latest attempt to make a haunted house movie with next to no money is a hilarious catastrophe. Wan basically uses the same tricks, including smoke machines, green lights, practical makeup and crappy music, to try and get scares out of a formula that clearly had a short shelf life. This one involves Josh (Patrick Wilson), the father from the first film acting a little strange after his trip into another dimension to retrieve his son. His wife (Rose Byrne) suspects that, gosh darn it, something must be wrong because there are still funny things happening with her baby monitor. The movie wants to be a poor man’s The Shining, with Wilson going all Nicholson wacky and Byrne doing her best Shelley Duvall impersonation. It’s terrible, but it’s a big moneymaker, so, as with the Paranormal Activity films, this isn’t going to stop anytime soon.

3Lee Daniels’ The Butler Director Lee Daniels, prominently mentioned in the film’s title after a much publicized lawsuit, delivers a fine emotional wallop with this historical epic very loosely based on the life of Eugene Allen, a butler at the White House for 34 years. Those going to this film for its true historical significance take note: the film contains much fiction. Allen is renamed Cecil (played by Forest Whitaker), and is given a fictional son in order to depict a family conflict regarding the Civil Rights movement. So, this film, which shows the butler interacting with presidents from Eisenhower (Robin Williams) thru Ronald Reagan (Alan Rickman), is mostly made up. That doesn’t hurt the film’s dramatic significance. It’s an ultimately moving experience. What does damage the film a bit is horrible makeup, especially a goofy fake nose for John Cusack as Richard Nixon. The makeup is sometimes so bad that the film turns into unintentional comedy when some characters are on screen. Whitaker holds the whole thing together, and Oprah Winfrey, in her first starring role since her excellent turn in Beloved, does strong work as Cecil’s wife. Other stars playing presidents include a relatively makeup-free James Marsden as John F. Kennedy, and an absolutely covered Liev Schreiber as Lyndon B. Johnson.

3Prisoners For a good part of its running time, this one seems as if it could wind up being one of 2013’s best pictures. Alas, it frays at the end, with a finale as stupid as the rest of the film is gripping. Hugh Jackman delivers a fierce performance as Keller Dover, a survivalist who goes into vigilante mode after his daughter and her friend are kidnapped. When a semi-irritable detective (Jake Gyllenhaal) apprehends a mentally challenged suspect (Paul Dano), Dover and the detective go head-to-head on how to deal with matters. When the suspect is set free, Dover captures and tortures him. This part of the film is solid, dealing with the lengths a parent would go to find a child. As for the film’s mystery element, that’s where things fall apart. Gyllenhaal is quite good here, even when the screenplay lets him down. The movie was shot by Roger Deakins, so it always looks good. It’s worth seeing, but it’s a bit of a disappointment.

3We’re the Millers Jason Sudeikis plays a small-time drug dealer who gets in over his head and is forced by his boss (Ed Helms) to smuggle drugs from Mexico. Realizing that border agents seem to go easy on families, he hires a fake family to make the trip in an RV. The family includes a wife (a stripper played by Jennifer Aniston), a daughter (a homeless girl played by Emma Roberts) and a son (a hapless neighbor played by Will Poulter). The film has a Vacation movie vibe, especially because Sudeikis is charming in a way that Chevy Chase was for a brief time in his career. Aniston plays a mighty good stripper, for sure. She has another calling in case the whole acting thing doesn’t work out. Roberts gets perhaps her best role yet as Casey, delivering some great eye-rolling moments. As for Poulter, he steals scenes nearly every time he speaks, and his encounter with a tarantula is priceless. Sure, the movie gets a little gooey and sentimental by the time it plays out, but we’ve come to like the characters by then so it’s OK. It’s not a grand cinematic effort by any means, but it does provide some good laughs, with a fair share of them being quite shocking.

I wanted to showcase how important world music is, and open people’s eyes to new sound that they might not have explored. Much of it is just as good and interesting as what we know.”

~ Reylon Yount, Davidson Fellow - 2011

Classix Two

Reylon Yount | Yangqin (Chinese Dulcimer)Reylon Yount | YangqinR l Y t ang nn (Chinese Dulcimer)( i D Dl i )e mer

The Reno Philharmonic Orchestra with Laura Jackson, Music Director

~ and ~

Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts, 100 South Virginia Street, Reno, Nevada

Reylon Yount, Yangqin

HUANG: Spirit of the Yellow Earth-Concerto for Yangqin and Orchestra Suite from Appalachian Spring Symphony No. 12, op. 112 “The Year of 1917”

Classix Two is generously sponsored by the Davidson Institute for Talent Development.

TICKETS FROM $26 PLUS FEES - (775) 323-6393 OR RENOPHIL.COM

Subscriptions are still available. The Classix series offers the best in symphonic classics performed by a superb orchestra with world-renowned guest soloists. Each performance in the six-concert series is a unique and memorable experience. Let us share them with you.

Classix One

September 8 & 10, 2013

TCHAIKOVSKY

Jennifer Koh, Violin

Classix Two

October 6 & 8, 2013

COPLAND | HUANG | SHOSTAKOVICH Reylon Yount, Yangqin Classix Three

November 3 & 5, 2013

HAGEN | BEETHOVEN | DVOŘÁK Zuill Bailey, Cello

Classix Four

January 12 & 14, 2014

BACH | RESPIGHI | BRAHMS Neil Tatman, Oboe Classix Five

March 2 & 4, 2014

STRAVINSKY | RACHMANINOFF Conrad Tao, Piano

Classix Six

April 6 & 8, 2014

HAYDN | VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Reno Philharmonic Chorus

PRORATED CLASSIX SERIES SUBSCRIPTIONS ARE NOW AVAILABLE. LOCK-IN GREAT SEATS — SAVE! Only available directly through the Reno Phil Box Office. Details at www.renophil.com/subscribe or (775) 323-6393.

Family Concert

Free Concert - Voices of America

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Hands-On Activities Concert Begins

Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts, 100 S. Virginia St., Reno

COPLAND: Fanfare for the Common ManCOPLAND: Fanfare f HUANG: HUANG: Spirit of the Yellow Earth Spirit of the Concerto for Yangqin and Orchestra Concerto for Yangqin Chesapeake: Summer of 1814 (Abridged) Che Ch hC sape

Pre-concert activities provided by Maytan Music Center and the Terry Lee Wells Nevada Discovery Museum

This free concert is generously sponsored by The Nell J. Redfield Foundation

Subscriptions and Tickets: Reno Philharmonic Box Office Subscriptions (775) 323-6393 (775) 3 | RENOPHIL.COM