Coralville Courier

New page on the Coralville Courier - movie time link

The Coralville Courier is pleased to announce a new page on the site, providing a link to Coralville and Iowa City move theatre show times.  Check here for the latest movies and start times!

http://coralvillecourier.typepad.com/community/area-theatres.html

Movie Review: GI Joe Rise of Cobra

By Daniel Thayer

My buddy Josh and I went to the opening day matinee showing of GI Joe at the Coral Ridge Mall on Friday.

A big-screen adaptation of the timeless action figures, comic books and TV cartoon series, this movie doesn't meet expectations and gets an average rating .  The main reason:  Although the action scenes were excellent, there just weren't enough of them.  The animation is great, so if you're into that you should see this movie, the effects are extremely good.

This movie rates 3 out of 5 stars.

Liberal elitist garbage: Megan Fox says, 'Take Out the White Trash'

Actress Megan Fox of "Transformers" fame spews liberal nonsense in interview

When asked by reporters how she would stop the evil and ruthless Megatron from demolishing the world, Fox first said that she would “barter with him.” If that's not liberal enough, she then went on to say, “... and instead of the entire planet, can you just take out all of the white trash, hillbilly, anti-gay, super bible-beating people in Middle America?"

She's hot, but her obvious intolerance is a serious character flaw.

Star Trek Teaser

Here's a trailer for what is predicted to be the biggest blockbuster hit of the summer - Star Trek:

Movie Screening at ICPL: Twilight for Teens, PLUS an Encore Showing for all Ages

IOWA CITY, IA. -- Area teens, Grades 7-12, can come to the Iowa City Public Library Saturday, March 28 for a special screening of the movie Twilight. The Library will provide snacks, vampire-related temporary tattoos, and the ingredients to make sparkly vampire body glitter. Teens are encouraged to come dressed in their favorite vampire gear, and door prizes will be given, including a copy of Twilight on DVD. The program will be held in Meeting Room A from 4:00-7:00 pm. For more information, call the Fiction Desk, 356-5200, option 4 or email teens@icpl.org.

Due to the large number of requests from adults to see this film we've added a special encore showing on Thursday, April 2 from 7:00-9:00 pm in Meeting Room A. Parents should note that this movie is rated PG-13. For more information, call the Fiction Desk, 356-5200, option 4 or email fiction@icpl.org.

Editor's Note:  These things cost money to put on folks.  In these lean economic times and not to mention flood recovery needs, is the city of Iowa City looking at this area for any possible budget cuts?  Noooooooooo, city response is, "Just raise taxes!"

Raskin will screen his Academy Award finalist at the UI March 11

Documentary filmmaker Josh Raskin, winner of the 2008 Essay Prize and a finalist for the Academy Award, will screen his award-winning animated documentary, "I Met the Walrus," at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 11, in the Iowa Memorial Union's Bijou Theater. The event, sponsored by the University of Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program, will be free and open to the public.

Screened at more than a dozen film festivals including Sundance, the American Film Institute, the Brooklyn Film Festival, San Francisco Shorts, the Ottawa International Animation Festival and the Middle East International Film Festival in the United Arab Emirates, "I Met the Walrus" has won five best-documentary film awards and was a finalist for the 2008 Academy Award for Best Animated Short.

The film is based on the audio recording of a 1969 interview that John Lennon gave to a 14-year-old boy named Jerry Levitan. Obsessed with Lennon, Levitan set out to meet his favorite Beatle when he heard that Lennon would be touring Canada with Yoko Ono for a series of "bed-in" protests against the Vietnam War. Upon hearing that Lennon would visit Toronto, Levitan borrowed his father's reel-to-reel recorder, took a bus to the city's fanciest hotel and started roaming the guest floors for some glimpse of his hero.

When a housekeeper asked the boy, "Are you looking for the Beatle?" Levitan said, "Yes," and followed the woman to an open door, outside of which he found Yoko's daughter coloring in the hallway. Levitan walked into the room, took out his reel-to-reel, and sat down on a couch to await Lennon's arrival. After having ignored reporters for months during this period, Lennon supposedly laughed at the 14-year-old's intrusion and agreed to an interview for the next 40 minutes.

Thirty-eight years later, Raskin wove that historic interview into a five-minute-long documentary that romances Lennon's every word. Using hand-drawn images and stop-motion animation collaged with the recording, Raskin created a cascading flood of imagery, a free-associating visual map of Lennon's train of thought, and perhaps also a glimpse into the mind of his interviewer -- the 14-year-old boy who stands in for all of us -- his imagination unloosed by a life-changing encounter.

Raskin will screen several other short documentary films and then sit down for a discussion with UI faculty member Jeff Porter about the intersection of films and essays.

The Essay Prize, which prompted Raskin's UI visit, is an annual award given to a work of art that best demonstrates "the art of essaying." Nominations for this award are made anonymously by a rotating committee of 20 artists who work in a variety of media. The winner of the Essay Prize is selected from those nominations by graduate students in the UI Nonfiction Writing Program.

The Nonfiction Writing Program is a graduate program in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

For UI arts information and calendar updates, visit http://www.uiowa.edu/artsiowa. To receive UI arts news by e-mail, go to http://list.uiowa.edu/archives/acr-news.html, click the link "Join or leave the list (or change settings)" and follow the instructions.

Movie Review: Bedtime Stories

By Daniel Thayer

This movie was really good, hysterical at times.  In this movie, Uncle Skeeter (Played by Adam Sandler) tells his niece and nephew some bedtime stories.  When the niece and nephew "add" to Uncle Skeeter's stories, they magically start to come true.  It's LOL funny!  My favorite character was Russell Brand as Mickey, because he doesn't really know anything and whenever he talks he is just so hilarious.

Four Stars!

Movie Review: 'Marley & Me' not worth price of admission

By Daniel Thayer

You will only like this movie if you are a major dog fan.  Not even worth a look when it comes out on DVD via Netflix, Marley & Me was way over-hyped in advertising.  It's one of those, "the only good parts of the movie are in the trailer advertising" kind of movies.  Additionally, the movie was rated PG, but due to some of the visual content it should have been rated PG-13.  This movie rates just one star.

Movie Review: The Day The Earth Stood Still

By Daniel Thayer

In this movie about the at risk state of the world, the human race is threatened with annihilation by an alien race if the people of earth don't stop their wars.  The alien race say humans are destroying the earth and are a threat to other planets.

Overall this movie was good, providing a few unexpected twists.  The beginning didn’t make a lot of sense and the end left me and my buddies Josh Brennaman and Joey Farinelli a little disappointed. 

 

The Day The Earth Stood Still scores three and a half stars.

 

Hulu.com Opens to Public, Offers Free Streams of Hit TV Shows, Movies and Clips

Company Announces New Licensing Deals with the Warner Bros. Television Group, Lionsgate, NBA, NHL and More

LOS ANGELES - March 12, 2008- Hulu, an online video service, today announced the public launch of its Web site, Hulu.com (http://www.hulu.com/). Beginning today, consumers in the U.S. can go to Hulu.com to watch a large selection of hit TV shows, movies, clips and more in high-quality – anytime, for free. In addition, Hulu announced new content partnerships with the Warner Bros. Television Group, Lionsgate, NBA, NHL and more than 20 other top content providers. New content additions to Hulu’s library will include: feature films like The Usual Suspects and Ice Age, shows like Dirt, The Incredible Hulk, Babylon 5, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and The Dick Van Dyke Show, nightly highlights, top plays and full-length games from the NBA and the NHL, popular made for web programming such as Prom Queen and Onion News Network, and much more.

On Hulu.com, consumers can enjoy one of the largest selections of legal, free videos from more than 50 top broadcast networks, cable networks, movie studios and web-centric content providers. Hulu’s library offers full-length episodes from more than 250 TV series - from current hits like The Simpsons, The Office and Prison Break to classics like Arrested Development, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Miami Vice. In addition, Hulu offers 100 full-length feature films such as The Big Lebowski, Me, Myself & Irene, Some Like It Hot, Mulholland Drive and Three Amigos!. Hulu also provides short clips from 150 more TV series like Saturday Night Live and In Living Color as well as 50 additional films such as Napoleon Dynamite, Little Miss Sunshine, Die Hard, Vertigo, and The Mummy.

“Today, Hulu is crossing a milestone in its mission to help people find and enjoy the world’s premium content, when where and how they want it,” said Jason Kilar, chief executive officer of Hulu. “With full-length episodes of current and archived television shows, feature films, sports and news, we believe the Hulu service is a step forward in giving consumers entertainment on their terms.”