The tenth annual Fargo Film Festival kicks off today (Tues, March 2

The tenth annual Fargo Film Festival kicks of today (Tues, March 2) night with two invited films, Imbued at 7PM by Rob Nilsson from Los Angeles California and Into Temptation at 8:45 by Patrick Coyle of Minneapolis

The tenth annual Fargo Film Festival kicks of today (Tues, March 2) night with two invited films, Imbued at 7PM by Rob Nilsson from Los Angeles California and Into Temptation at 8:45 by Patrick Coyle of Minneapolis.  There will be an opening press conference at the Fargo theater and a Pre-Party at Monte's at 5. Nilsson has had films in the Festival from its inception. He will be present at this showing.  Imbvued is about a losing gambler that ... Read More

Cormac McCarthy(Brokeback Mountain, No Country for Old Men), The Road, is no playing on the off Broadway screen at the Fargo Theatre.

Script: B
Acting: A
Cinematography: B
Relavance: Depends on how you want to view it. A to C.
Necesity to suspend disbelief: Shouldn’t be a problem.

Another movie from Cormac McCarthy(Brokeback Mountain, No Country for Old Men), The Road, is no playing on the off Broadway screen at the Fargo Theatre. The Road of the title is apparently the path taken by the few surviving humans after an unspecified global disaster.  There are apparently few human survivors, and many are sick with an unspecified malady which could be radiation poisoning.  But it could also not be.  The idea of a nuclear holocaust isn't born out by the fact that ... Read More

The Coen brother’s, Fargo, Blood Simple, Reservoir Dogs, among many others, recent effort, “A Serious Man,” is possibly their darkest film.

Script A
Casting A
Acting B+
Necessity to suspend disbelief A
Social Relevance B
Educational Value B
Entertainment Value Depends
Ability to lift the audiences spirits F

The Coen brother's, Fargo, Blood Simple, Reservoir Dogs, among many others, recent effort, "A Serious Man," is possibly their darkest film.  Given their penchant for darkness, this is saying something.  Many of the Coen's films are shown at art houses, but not this one, although I think it has already left the Fargo-Moorhead area. The film is billed as a semi-autobiography of the Coen's childhood in St. Louis Park, a suburb of Minneapolis during the 1960's.  At that time, I was a graduate student ... Read More

Lorna’s Silence, a Belgian offering from Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne.

Acting: B+
Story: B-
Relevance: B+

Just left the Fargo Theatre is the just released Lorna's Silence, a Belgian offering from Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne.  Lorna's won best screenplay at Cannes and was s 2008 Toronto Film Festival Selection.  Pretty impressive credentials. Before describing the movie, perhaps a little background is in order.  Obne way to gain citizenship in, for example, the United States is to marry a US Citizen.  There are actually people in the business of arranging such "marriages," often for Russians or other Eastern Europeans, ... Read More

Now showing at the Fargo, Paraormal Activity, is a low budget(I’ve heard/read $11k and $15k) horror show

Entertainment: B+
CGI N/A
Susoense: B
Acting: A-

Now showing at the Fargo, Paraormal Activity, is a low budget(I've heard/read $11k and $15k) horror in the same genre as The Blair Witch Project.  The only thing is that, stepping out of character, in my opinion, the former is at least 10 times better than the latter. As a general rule, I don't like "scary" movies for the very simple reason that I don't generally get emotionally involved with the movies.  It is,. after all, "only a movie."  Supernatural activity also does ... Read More

Fargo Moorhead Opera performed Giacomo Puccini’s famous opera La Boheme.

The next performance of the Fargo Moorhead Opera is Amahl and the NIght Visitors, December 12th and 13th at the Fargo Theatre.

This weekend just past the Fargo Moorhead Opera performed Giacomo Puccini's famous opera La Boheme. There were two performances, on Friday night and Sunday afternoon.  I accompanied some college aged friends of mine and viewed and heard the opera in the cheap rush seats, two rows from the back of Festival Hall on the NDSU campus. I'm not a frequent opera attendee, but I must remark on the contrasts.  When I first started attending the Arts in the F-M area in the early ... Read More

Fargo-Moorhead movie buffs were treated to several showings of the Manhatten Short Film Festival.

This past weekend Fargo-Moorhead movie buffs were treated to several showings of the Manhatten Short Film Festival. Fargo was the only city in North Dakota to screen this “festival.” There were 173 screenings world wide on five continents.

This past weekend Fargo-Moorhead movie buffs were treated to several showings of the Manhatten Short Film Festival.  Fargo was the only city in North Dakota to screen this "festival."  There were 173 screenings world wide on five continents.  There were screenings in all 50 United States, with additional screenings in Mexico and Canada to make up the North America screenings.  The other continents were Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. The Manhattan Short began 12 years ago with outdoor screenings on ... Read More

Army of Darkness, a cult favorite of most of our entourage.

Entertainment value: B
Relevance: None at all
Necessity toi suspend disbelief: total.
Army of Darkness is the third in the “Evil Dead” trilogy, began in 1982 with “Evil Dead” by Sam Raimi. There followed “Evil Dead 2,” and then in 1992, the climax, “Army of Darkness.”

Well, it's fall again, time for the Fargo Theatre to start screening their midnight Friday and Saturday cult film classics.  Now, I'm not much iof a cult film buff, and midnight is getting a bit late for me(I'm not as young as I once was or wish I still were), fo I don't make many of these.  But when I do, it's always a hoot because the audience is usually so into the film and not taking it at all seriously. This ... Read More

Animated children’s movie Ice Age, Dawn of the Dinosaurs

When I say children’s movie, I mean it: I would say the appropriate target ages would be 5 – 10,
Story: B+
Animation: A
Relevance: Good question.
Entertainment value: B+

Released in July and now playing at Century Ten is the animated children's movie Ice Age, Dawn of the Dinosaurs. When I say children's movie, I mean it: I would say the appropriate target ages would be 5 - 10, although one of my companions was 12, and he seemed to enjoy the movie a lot.  There is, of course, the usual humor directed at the adults accompanying the kids, but this movie is a little light on that.  Nonetheless, I enjoyed ... Read More

A Bit of late summer fun by Todd Phillips(Old School) called Hangover.

Script: B
Acting: B+
Necessity to suspend disbelief: Total, but who cares.

The movie is about four young adult friends, one of which, Doug, played by Justin Bartha is soon to be married.  His friends(Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifonakis) decide to haul Doug off to Las Vegas for a super bachelor party the night before the wedding Los Angeles.  After a night of who knows what, they wake up in their $4200 a night villa in the sky with Doug missing, a tiger in their bathrooms and assorted other inconsistencies.  The movie is about ... Read More