Friday news and reviews

Posted at 10:04 AM on February 18, 2011 by Marianne Combs
Filed under: News and reviews

Art

Take a trip inside Tut's tomb
A new show brings ancient Egyptian history to life at the Science Museum of Minnesota.
- MARY ABBE, Star Tribune

Introducing George Washington, who we bet you don't know
Many of the things we "know" about George Washington aren't true. He never chopped down a cherry tree as a child, and he didn't wear false wood teeth. In fact, the military leader of the Revolutionary War and our nation's first president is an enigma.
- Maja Beckstrom, Pioneer Press

Kinji 101
Artist Kevin Byrne offers an engaging, philosophically-minded primer-cum-tribute to his longtime friend and colleague at Minneapolis College of Art and Design, acclaimed designer and educator Kinji Akagawa.
- mnartists.org

The View from Here
Camille LeFevre reflects on two photography shows with distinct views on place-making, both at the Mpls Photo Center through February 21 - "Jonathon Wells: Earth Revealed" and the group show, "Urban View - Rural Sight."
- mnartists.org

Margit Schmitt and Kim Tschida Petters explore 'The Memory of Architecture'
Artists Margit Schmitt and Kim Tschida Petters have stories to tell, many of which are inspired by their memories of architecture.
- Coco Mault, City Pages

Movies

Where pathos and comedy meet
From the TV news truck to film school, "Cedar Rapids" writer Phil Johnston has focused on finding the funny in the everyday.
- COLIN COVERT, Star Tribune

Review: Characters uplifted; plot just lifted
There's nothing fresh about "Cedar Rapids." It's made from pieced-together parts of "The 40 Year Old Virgin" and Jonathan Demme's classic "Something Wild," and it's too willing to indulge in random jokes.
- Chris Hewitt, Pioneer Press

Getting wild (and wiser) in 'Cedar Rapids'
For Ed Helms as the comedy's wide-eyed hero, a convention offers a new outlook on life.
- COLIN COVERT, Star Tribune

Review: Full of hidden meaning, creepy chiller a revealing study of sly storytellingIn between its jaw-dropping opening and its jaw-dropping ending, "The Housemaid" has a lot more good stuff.
- Chris Hewitt, Pioneer Press

"The Housemaid"
A Korean suspense tale.
- COLIN COVERT, Star Tribune

"Twilight" with aliens
The high school hottie may look like a model, but he's a space-war refugee. Beware the Mogadorians.
- COLIN COVERT, Star Tribune

Review: Kid with superpowers has to save the world, yadda, yadda, yadda"I Am Number Four" feels less like a movie than a marketing plan.
- Chris Hewitt, Pioneer Press

Identity crisis
In a tense Euro-thriller, Liam Neeson's character fights to discover his identity after an accident.
- COLIN COVERT, Star Tribune

Review: At last! A suspense drama that's dramatic and suspenseful
Much like last year's "Taken," "Unknown" features Liam Neeson as an average American who single-handedly takes on the criminal underworld of a vaguely hostile-to-the-U.S. European nation. Unlike "Taken," "Unknown" is good.
- Chris Hewitt, Pioneer Press

Review: It takes a mighty big actor to wrestle so many subplots into submission
The movie "The Chaperone" is a whole multiplex full of movies.
- Chris Hewitt, Pioneer Press

Music

Lucinda Williams: Happily hitched, but riding solo here
To preview her new "Blessed" CD, the Americana queen is playing three rare solo shows at the Dakota.
- JON BREAM, Star Tribune

Dawn Upshaw in fine form navigating new, disparate works with St. Paul Chamber Orchestra
Dawn Upshaw has clearly revised her view of what she sees as her life's work. The soprano still is an international opera star, but she's evolved into a passionate advocate for new music.
- Rob Hubbard, Pioneer Press

Now it's Sims' turn
The Doomtree crew member's latest, "Bad Time Zoo," might be a hit with (or at) NPR listeners.
- CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER, Star Tribune

Every movement was heavy on the movement
Minnesota Orchestra conductor Osmo Vanska has a formidable challenger for the audience's attention at this weekend's concerts in Swedish clarinetist Martin Frost, who's every bit the conductor's equal as a master of movement.
- Rob Hubbard, Pioneer Press

Chooglin' head abroad for a two-week tour of France
It's a time of much traction for the 8-piece band.
- Danny Sigelman, City Pages

Blue Sky Blackout release 'John Hughes' EP tonight at Cause
Between them, Hunt and Erickson have decades of experience in the local music scene, although their sound -- stylish and sophisticated, much like the surroundings -- is deeply rooted in that of a very specific time period: the shoegaze and Britpop of the 1980s and early '90s.
- Jeff Gage, City Pages

Interview with Thomas KiviThomas Kivi celebrated the release of his CD Crying Child recently at the Fine Line cafe
- Michelle Los, Examiner.com

Stage

Demystifying the immigrant experience
Aditi Brennan Kapil goes beyond the romantic notions of starting over.
- ROHAN PRESTON, Star Tribune

Bad luck blues: Penumbra's 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' at the Guthrie
While there is great humanity in his plays, and great sympathy for his characters, Wilson was unafraid to show how racism can warp and twist both its perpetrators and its victims.
- Max Sparber, MinnPost.com

Score one for the ladies 'Girls Only: The Secret Comedy of Women' achieves its goal -- laughs
For the past 20 weeks, I spent Sunday afternoons watching men compete in the rough, sweaty game of football. With the NFL season finally finished, I spent this past Sunday afternoon at Hennepin Stages watching the lively "Girls Only: The Secret Comedy of Women." The two have more in common than you'd expect.
- Amy Nelson, Pioneer Press

Staging 'Jesus Christ Superstar' is theater director's idea of a miracle
For Michael Brindisi, bringing "Jesus Christ Superstar" to the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres main stage has been, well, a religious experience.
- Kathy Berdan, Pioneer Press

'Ring Round the Moon' at Theatre in the Round
​If the new love story performed by computer-animated gnomes has got you hankering to see a live-yet-classic romantic comedy played out in the theater, get over to Theatre in the Round for their latest production, Ring Round the Moon.
- Shelby Meyers, City Pages

Dykes Do Drag celebrates 12 years
Dykes Do Drag, the sexy cabaret that incorporates music, modern dance, film, and visual art is celebrating 12 years at Bryant-Lake Bowl this weekend with a romping evening of drag acts, burlesque, and "boy-lesque" performances.
- Sheila Regan, City Pages