by Michelle Keenan & Chip Kaufmann – Ant-Man **** Short Take: A refreshingly light superhero movie with big heart and lots of laughs. REEL TAKE: In the interest of full disclosure, I’m not the half of Reel Takes that usually reviews the superhero movies. The last comic book I readContinue Reading
Film Festival and Benefit The Best of The Controlled Chaos Film Festival takes place Saturday, August 15, 2015 at the Martin Lipscomb Performing Arts Center in the Highlands. The festival showcases the best of Western Carolina University student films from its Film and Television Productions Program’s annual campus-based Controlled ChaosContinue Reading
Chip Kaufmann’s Pick: Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) This film was brought to mind by the recent release of the film Mr. Holmes (see my review this issue) about an elderly Sherlock Holmes. Thirty years ago producer Steven Spielberg and director Barry Levinson concocted this fanciful tale about how Holmes andContinue Reading
Dope **** ½ Short Take: A precocious trio of misfits from ‘the Bottoms’ inadvertently end up with a backpack full of drugs, a gun and a wild ride. Reel Take: Dope is a little movie that may or may not still be in local theaters by the time you readContinue Reading
by Chip Kaufmann I first encountered Christopher Lee in 1962 when I was 10 years old. I didn’t know who he was, having not yet seen any of the classic Hammer horror pictures. I had gone to see Boris Karloff in a movie called Corridors of Blood which was setContinue Reading
Chip Kaufmann’s Pick: The Wicker Man (1973) It is “singularly unfortunate” (to quote my son) that for most people the title of The Wicker Man conjures up the 2006 abomination featuring Nicholas Cage. This original version from 1973 is in a different league altogether. In fact there are several criticsContinue Reading
Four free programs take place in the Lord Auditorium at Pack Library in downtown Asheville. The movies at Pack Library feature the four artists highlighted during this year’s Chautauqua, America at the Movies, which takes place June 16-19, 2015 at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa. Wednesday, June 3 from 6-7:30Continue Reading
Avengers: The Age of Ultron *** ½ Short Take: An unbelievably convoluted plot, too many characters, and overbearing special effects made this a real endurance contest for me, but fans of the series will feel differently. Reel Take: “The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things,Continue Reading
“America’s Sweetheart” and So Much More by Chip Kaufmann Mention the name Mary Pickford to anyone and if they have heard of her at all, the image of “the girl with the golden curls” is what immediately comes to mind. There are countless variations on this image much like CharlieContinue Reading
