FargoReviews.com

One of the potential summer blockbusters  Ridley Scott's Robin Hood,  a revisionist telling of the English folk tale.  Revisionist in that is based on revisionist history and the original folklore, even though it is really a "prequel" to the original tale. The movie begins with King Richard the Lionhearted getting himself killed as he and his army, which contains Robin Longstride, played by Russell Crowe, who eventually becomes Robin Hood, as he returns from the crusades by pillaging ... Read More

Recently, possibly in response to a sluggish economy, there have been a couple of changes in local chain restaurants that are worthy of menu Things began happening when, a couple of years ago, IHOP purchased Applebee's. until then, Applebee's was not on my list of restaurant stops  Immediately., the menu offerings, service and food quality improved.  But what I wish to comment on their relatively "two for twenty."  For twenty bucks you and a partner get an appetizer, ... Read More

Now showing at the Fargo Theatre is a Scandinavian film by Niels Arden Opely, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. A production of the film industries of all three Scandanavian countries, the screenplay, by Nikolau Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg, is based on the novel by Steig Larsson.  In some ways, the film is similar to the recently departed Ghostwriter by  super director Roman Polanski.  The genre is similar, is not exactly the same, being a mystery/adventure/mild horror ... Read More

Well, the school year is winding down.  For some institutions, like NDSU, it has already over.  Usually, this time of year I'd be writing about a college graduation, a traveling highs school choral concert or some such.  But not this year.  Just none of that on my plate.  But .this spring I attended a lot of elementary and middle school events.  True to my philosophy that if an event is worth attending, it's worth writing ... Read More

Add to the growing list of Mexican Restaurants Jalapenos in the former Krolls Diner on west main avenue in Fargo. I won't get into the question of authenticity, possible addressing that in a separate review, but it is owned or at  least managed by two very similar looking Mexicans I suspect are brothers. Jalapeño's menu is probably the most varied in the area.  It has everything the others Mexican places have and  a lot more.   That is ... Read More

Ewan McGregor heads a strong cast as a so-so writer that is asked to complete the memoirs of ex British Prime Minister Adam Lang(Pierce Brosnan). who is living out his retirement on an island off the American Atlantic coast.  The previous ghost writer having died under mysterious circumstances.Only a few scenes are filmed in  Great Britain(London, in fact), most of the rest being filmed on the aforementioned island. Almost immediately after McGregor accepts the assignment, strange events ... Read More

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

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.  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

Possibly the second summer blockbuster is Inglorious Basterds, now showing at the Century 10.  This is a World War II adventure starring Brad Pitt as the Lieutenant leading a squad of Jewish American soldiers parachuted into Nazi occupied France with the mission of wiping out the Nazi high command.  The movie is directed by Quentin Tarentino, and much of the discussion of this movie is about comparisons to his other works.  I'm going to avoid that, and review this movie as a ... Read More