Movies & TV - May 21, 2013
What happens in Vegas ... gets put in these five memorable Sin City movies
According to Hollywood movies, Las Vegas is either the greatest place on Earth or the worst place on Earth and everything that's wrong with America. I've never been to Vegas so I couldn't really say from first-hand experience what I think of Sin City, but I have seen several movies featuring the legendary town. So it's almost like I've been there. Kind of. Barely. Anyways, in honor of "The Hangover Part III," here are five of the most memorable films featuring the city that truly never sleeps.

Movies & TV - May 17, 2013
"Star Trek Into Darkness" both a rollicking and rocky mission
With all of that in place, it would seem the sequel's phasers would be all set to stun. But something's off. There's a sequence where the starship Enterprise is flying at warp speed when a big, clunky-looking vessel comes up from behind and nudges it off its exhilarating track. That's pretty much "Star Trek Into Darkness" in a nutshell, except replace the big, clumsy vessel with a big, clumsy story.

Movies & TV - May 15, 2013
A horror director and a high school student team up for Collaborative Cinema
Michael Viers is a horror movie junkie, but his upcoming project, "Love You Still," is less boogeyman and more "Old Man and the Sea." The most shocking part, however, is that the story - a tale of an old fisherman reflecting back on his life - comes courtesy of a junior in high school. It may seem like a strange combination, but for Milwaukee Film and their Collaborative Cinema educational program, it's just another exciting year of locally-bred film and hopefully a sign of more to come.

Movies & TV - May 14, 2013
Five movies about college that graduate with honors
After four years, several all-nighters and an embarrassing amount of ramen, Hot Pockets and Dr. Pepper for dinner, I - alongside thousands of others across the country - am finally making the triumphant walk across the graduation stage from childhood to adulthood, snagging a diploma along the way. If I ever get nostalgic for the university lifestyle, however, I can pop in one of these great college movies.

Movies & TV - May 10, 2013
"The Great Gatsby" gets drunk on its own intoxicating excess and flash
Now there's Baz Luhrmann's rendition of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby," done up as the big, loud extravagant 3-D summer blockbuster I doubt Fitzgerald had in mind when he wrote his time-honored critique of the vapid lifestyles of the rich and the growing emptiness of the American dream. The end result feels a bit too much like one of Gatsby's parties: a whole lot of razzle dazzle with a hollow emotional core.

Arts & Entertainment - May 8, 2013
Funny or Die: A chat with Matt Braunger and Johnny Pemberton
Funny or Die and Old Milwaukee are bringing stand-up comedians Matt Braunger and Johnny Pemberton to Turner Hall tomorrow night. Braunger is most known for his reoccurring role as Gene on NBC's "Up All Night" and his Comedy Central special "Shovel Fighter." Pemberton appeared in "21 Jump Street" and "The Watch," and currently stars as Mason on ABC's new sitcom "Family Tools." We got a chance to talk with the duo of comedians about the tour, memories of Milwaukee and messing with random people on the road.

Movies & TV - May 7, 2013
Is the book really better than the movie? Five great novels' transition to film
"Moulin Rouge" director Baz Luhrmann is the latest to attempt to cash in on classic literature with his slick, shiny 3-D rendition of "The Great Gatsby," coming out Friday. Before we see how Luhrmann's second attempt at working with legendary source material goes, let's take a peek at five other films that boldly attempted to abolish the phrase, "the book is always better than the movie," out of audience's minds.

Movies & TV - May 3, 2013
"Iron Man 3" a soaring start to the summer movie season
The first question I had walking out of "The Avengers" last summer was, "How freaking awesome was that?" The second question - a bit more difficult to answer - was, "How is any comic book superhero movie ever going to be able to compete with that?" Pretty easily, as it turns out. "Iron Man 3" may not fly as high as its star-studded combo platter predecessor, but it still makes for a great start to the summer.

Movies & TV - May 2, 2013
Milwaukee Underground Film Festival brings new side to summer movie season
While one of the biggest studio films of the year will be announcing the yearly stampede of other, equally massive studio features on Friday, UWM and its film department will head in the other direction with the 13th Milwaukee Underground Film Festival, starting this Friday and running through the rest of the weekend.

Movies & TV - May 1, 2013
"Pain and Gain" a bizarrely entertaining tale of beefcakes and blood
"Pain and Gain" is the Michael Bay-iest movie Michael Bay has ever made. A large portion of readers, weary of Bay's signature bloated, "explosions are awesome KABOOM!," go-big-or-go-home brand, likely just read that last sentence and shuddered in fear. But here's the twist: It turns out "Pain and Gain" is a roided-out freak-child of a film that's a lot of bizarre fun.

Movies & TV - April 28, 2013
Ambition makes "The Place Beyond the Pines" easily worth a visit
"The Place Beyond the Pines," represents a massive leap for "Blue Valentine" director Derek Cianfrance. Its lofty aspirations come with their share of flaws, but they also come with a sense of exhilaration. To borrow a phrase from one of the film's costars, it rides like lightning but avoids crashing like thunder.

Movies & TV - April 24, 2013
Adoption documentary "Stuck" finds temporary home in Milwaukee
Craig Juntunen's personal experience with adoption led him to take a closer look into the process. What he found unnerved and motivated him to voice his concerns across the nation with "Stuck," a feature-length documentary he produced through his Both Ends Burning Campaign. The campaign facilitates adoption reform dedicated to stopping the decline of adoption and the ensuing increase in orphaned and abandoned children.

Movies & TV - April 23, 2013
You are cordially invited to the five best movie weddings
While the big climactic wedding has become the romantic comedy cliché to end all clichés, some films have still managed to turn marital vows into movie magic. In honor of this weekend's "The Big Wedding," here are five cinematic weddings that are worth getting down on one knee and spending the rest of your life with - or at least a quiet Saturday night.

Movies & TV - April 22, 2013
"The Sapphires" sings a sweet feel-good number
A good song gets in your bones when you hear it. Even if the lyrics are dumb or vapid, sometimes a song just makes you feel good, good enough to sing along and dance - or at least tap your feet or sway a bit if you're in public. The Australian music dramedy "The Sapphires" is that sensation in film form.

Movies & TV - April 21, 2013
Remarkable sights meet routine story in "Oblivion"
"Oblivion," Tom Cruise's first dip into sci-fi since "War of the Worlds" as well as the year's first big blockbuster, may technically be an original sci-fi story, but it's in name only. The movie drives over well-tread ground, but it does so with such visual panache and slick beauty that it almost doesn't matter. Almost.

Movies & TV - April 19, 2013
"Trance" teases, but then tires the brain
I'd like to think I'm a fairly smart guy (when it comes to movies, not calculus or anything like that), but "Trance" eludes me. "Slumdog Millionaire" director Danny Boyle creates a puzzle in which each piece is another, smaller puzzle, and every couple of minutes, the pieces change shape, and you have to start all over again. It's a fairly exhilarating experience at first, but by the end, that exhilaration turns into exhaustion. But it's still an experience.

Music - April 17, 2013
Bay View band uses "deluxe download" format to bring digital to life
In most cases, music comes in the form of quick click and a download bar. Album art has become a lost art, and elements like liner notes, which used to provide a connection between the artists, the listeners and their inspirations, have mostly gone the way of the 8-track player. Gian Pogliano, guitarist for the Bay View "surf-dance-punk" band The Jones Island Flood, is hoping he may have found the ideal solution: a concept he calls the deluxe download.

Movies & TV - April 16, 2013
From apes to xenomorphs: My five favorite sci-fi movies
When done well, the science fiction genre not only entertains but immerses the viewer into an imaginative world of fascinating ideas, exciting action and memorable characters. Sci-fi gets the mind going just as much as the pulse ... when it's done right. And these five films definitely do it right.

Movies & TV - April 13, 2013
"42" a not-so heroic telling of an American hero's tale
When Jackie Robinson came into professional baseball in 1947, he broke the rules. "42," on the other hand, follows all of the rules. It delivers everything you expect from a sports biopic and everything you already knew walking in without adding much new life or perspective. The story is powerful, if not the storytelling.

Movies & TV - April 10, 2013
Even 20 years later, "Jurassic Park" still has the power to awe
You would think that a movie like a 3-D conversion re-release like "Jurassic Park 3D" would be the opposite of a cure. After all, what could generate more cynicism than a 3-D re-release, the modern definition of a Hollywood money grab? Yet somehow, "Jurassic Park 3D" is exactly what weary moviegoers needed, still showing the power film has to stir the imagination and invigorate our sense of wonder.