New Releases
Slumdog Millionaire, the Best Picture Oscar winner and BAM’s number one movie of last year, is finally out on DVD this week. In books this week, there were several memoirs released, the most notable of which is Michael J. Fox’s follow up to his previous book Lucky Man. On the music front, Keith Urban’s newest CD hit stores.
New releases by category:
Movies
Bedtime Stories
Marley & Me
Seven Pounds
Tell No One
Slumdog Millionaire
Books
Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist by Michael J. Fox
Growing Up Again: Life, Loves, and Oh Yeah, Diabetes by Mary Tyler Moore
Healing and Preventing Autism: A Complete Guide by Jenny McCarthy and Dr. Jerry Kartzinel
Long Lost by Harlan Coben
Crazy Love by Leslie Morgan Steiner
Music
Defying Gravity by Keith Urban
It’s Blitz! by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The Soundstage Sessions by Stevie Nicks
Quiet Nights by Diana Krall
Live in London by Leonard Cohen
-3D
Box Office Report
After a few weeks of down business, the box office rebounded this week with the premiere of Monsters vs Aliens. Thanks to the pricier 3D tickets, this family friendly fare had the biggest debut of the year at $59.3 million.
Also having a good first week was the horror offering The Haunting in Connecticut with a better than expected $23 million. The action film 12 Rounds suffered a first round knockout with only $5.3 million.
The total box office numbers for the top ten films this week:
1.) Monsters vs Aliens $59.3 million
2.) The Haunting in Connecticut $23 million
3.) Knowing $14.7 million
4.) I Love You, Man $12.7 million
5.) Duplicity $7.67 million
6.) Race to Witch Mountain $5.8 million
7.) 12 Rounds $5.33 million
8.) Watchmen $2.73 million
9.) Taken $2.7 million
10.) The Last House on the Left $2.64 million
-3D
Monday Catchy Quote
Hello there entertainment fans. Loyal BAM’s Blog reader 3D here. While BAM is out sick, I will be trying to fill her formidable shoes and give you the content you’ve come to expect.
Here’s your pithy quote from a movie, tv show, or other source:
Wadsworth: You see? Like the Mounties, we always get our man.
Mr. Green: Mrs. Peacock was a man?
[Colonel Mustard slaps Mr. Green, who turns to get slapped by Wadsworth]
-Click here to learn the source
-3D
What to do in Oklahoma on March 30
Today’s featured event:
Check out the life-size animatronic dinosaurs, dinosaur skeletons and fossils at the special exhibit “Dinosaurs Unearthed” at the Oklahoma City Zoo, 2101 NE 50. The exhibit will be on display daily through June 30.
Check out this NewsOK story by my colleague Carrie Coppern0ll for more on the exhibit.
For more information, go to www.okczoo.com.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
Book review: “Look & See!” board books
From Sunday’s Life section of The Oklahoman.
Book Review: Inferior rhyming mars innovation
Children
Layers of spiraling holes give a distinctive appearance and feel to the “Look & See!” series of board books for babies and toddlers (Sterling Publishing, $6.95).
In the best of the four books, “A Circus of Colors!,” the different-shaped holes, which start out big and get smaller as you turn the pages, form a clown’s red drum, a crocodile’s green balloon and a magician’s blue trick box.
Irregularly shaped spirals in “The Curious Cat” become the hole in a top hat, mouth of a large frog and opening to a mole’s tunnel.
In “Amazing Animals!,” an inquisitive dormouse introduces himself to a range of fellow creatures, from kangaroos to koalas, with the holes in the book forming the critters’ noses.
“The Green Caterpillar” searches for a proper meal, munching holes in a mushroom, eggplant, chestnut and more before a kindly frog suggests he try eating leaves.
Tots will enjoy probing the books’ spiraled openings with their tiny fingers and watching the holes get littler as the pages turn.
But there’s a reason no authors are listed on the “Look & See!” books, as style clearly has priority over substance. The storylines are engaging enough for the first few reads, but for parents, the tales won’t hold up with repeated readings. The rhyming verses often seem forced and contrived; they don’t have the flow or finesse of poetry.
The “Look & See!” books provide a novel visual experience, but with stronger writers the series could have been truly innovative.
- BAM
What to do in Oklahoma on March 29
The Wicked Witch of the West (Emily Fine) tries to get Dorothy’s (Stephanie Foraker) ruby slippers in the Oklahoma City Ballet production of “The Wizard of Oz.” (Photo by Doug Hoke/The Oklahoman)
Take a walk on the Yellow Brick Road with the Oklahoma City Ballet’s production of “The Wizard of Oz” at 2 p.m. today at the Civic Center, 201 N Walker.
For more information, call 848-8637 or go to www.balletoklahoma.com.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
Shakespearean vampires, Indian shrines and more in Dallas
DALLAS – On my final full day on my jaunt to Texas, I spent more time at some of the city’s arts attractions as well as at the AFI film festival.
In the last 24 hours, I’ve taken in two disparate movies that packed theaters at the AFI International Film Festival. I spent the final hours of Friday and early hours of Saturday at the late screening at the AMC Northpark 15 of “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead.” The fun and unusual horror-comedy drew an enthusiastic audience.
Here’s how producer Mike Landry describes the film at IMDB: “Julian Marsh (Jake Hoffman) is an out-of-work ladies’ man who lands a job directing a bizarre adaptation of ‘Hamlet.’ After casting his best friend (Kris Lemche) and his ex-girlfriend (Devon Aoki) in the show, Julian finds himself in the middle of a 2,000-year-old conspiracy that explains the connection between Shakespeare, the Holy Grail and some seriously sexy vampires.”
Landry, who also plays Guildenstern in the play-within-the-movie; Aoki, who played the silent warrior Miho in “Sin City,” and writer-director Jordan Galland, who makes his feature film debut with the movie, all hung around until the screening was over for a Q&A.
One of the best aspects of film festivals are the opportunity to see such a variety of films. I followed up cinematic Shakespearan vampires with the Saturday night centerpiece screening of “The Hurt Locker.” The film focuses on an Army bomb squad unit trying to stay alive in Iraq.
Before the screening at the Magnolia Theater, “The Hurt Locker” director Kathryn Bigelow (”Point Break”) received one of the 2009 AFI Dallas Star Awards. Bigelow, star Jeremy Renner (”The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”) and screenwriter Mark Boal (”In the Valley of Elah”) also fielded questions from the audience after the intense war drama.
Per usual, I can’t reveal my reviews of the films until they get their theatrical release, but keep your eye out for more on those two movies.
In addition, I spent part of Saturday revisiting a couple of Dallas arts attractions that I didn’t get enough of on my earlier stop.
The expansive galleries at the Dallas Museum of Art warranted my full attention; on Friday, we limited our visit there to just a tour of the special exhibit “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs.”
The museum’s impressive galleries feature an incredible array of artwork, including American art from ancient to modern times; decorative arts; African, Asian and Pacific Island works; ancient Greek and Roman items; and more.
I also ventured back over to the Crow Collection of Asian Art, where I got to explore more of the Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Nepalese and other works. The highlights range from tiny, intricate Japanese bottles to large Indian architectural pieces, including a white marble shrine and red sandstone facade from an 18th century residence. The gallery has a special exhibit of contemporary Japanese quilts on display through mid-April, too.
Despite the unseasonably cold and windy weather, Saturday’s activities also included a trip to the Dallas Arboretum, where a range of colorful flowers were unperturbed by the chilly gusts. The 66-acre nature attraction also includes the historic DeGolyer Home and a display of playhouses based on classic children’s stories, which were designed and built by local architects.
I’m heading back to Oklahoma City early Sunday, but I’ll be writing various stories from my trip in the coming weeks.
-BAM
What to do in Oklahoma on March 28
Jennifer Koch Wells as Elizabeth Bennett and Tyler Woods as Fitzwilliam Darcy in Reduxion Theatre Company’s “Pride and Prejudice.”
Today’s featured event:
See Reduxion Theatre Company’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” at 8 p.m. today at City Arts Center Theater at State Fair Park. It’s your last chance to see the second production of the theater company’s inaugural season in Oklahoma City. Reduxion Theatre Company’s Managing Director Erin Woods directs from her original script, and it’s the world premiere of her version of the classic Austen story.
For more information, call 651-3191 or go to www.reduxiontheatre.com.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
Frontier City delays season opening to Sunday due to inclement weather
People ride the Steel Lasso at Frontier City in this 2008 photo. (Photo by Chris Landsberger/The Oklahoman Archives)
The unseasonably wintry weather has forced Frontier City officials to delay the Oklahoma City theme park’s opening, according to a NewsOK story.
The theme park was set to open for the 2009 season Saturday morning, but it has been delayed due to the winter storm moving through the state.
Frontier City will now open at noon Sunday.
For more information, go to www.frontiercity.com.
-BAM
Friday Featured Tracks
The songs that have been on my brain the most this week:
- “Circles,” Colourmusic, from their 2008 album “f, monday, orange, february, venus, lunatic, 1 or 13.”
AND
- “All Together Now,” The Beatles, from the 1969 soundtrack to the animated film “Yellow Submarine.”
Besides The Beatles’ obvious influence on Colourmusic’s indie pop-rock sound, there is another commonality between these two songs. Both of them have a “1, 2, 3″ count in their lyrics. The counting lyrics make these two songs favorite sing-along songs for my 2-year-old son, Gabe the Babe.
He’s been singing along with these two songs quite a bit in the past few days for a couple of reasons. First, my dad recently introduced him to the trippy animated movie “Yellow Submarine,” and like his older brother before him, Gabe loves the “mod,” musical adventures of the Fab 4 through the Sea of Science, Nowhereland and Pepperland.
The opening lines of “All Together Now,” a children’s song penned by the magical combination of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, are “1, 2, 3, 4/Can I have a little more/5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10/I love you.”
As for Colourmusic, there bright music is my ideal soundtrack for spring, so I’ve been listening to the Stillwater Brit-pop’s album quite a bit, particularly in the car, where it helps my commute move a bit better. Part of the lyrics of “Circles” are “1, 2, 3/1, 2, 3/on 2, 3, let’s all come to tea.” Again, the rhythmic counting prompts my toddler to chant along enthusiastically. OK, so it gets me singing along, too.
And singing along with my 2-year-old to a couple of really great songs, that’s a good thing.
So, all together now …
-BAM
