We have advance passes to see the new horror movie THE PURGE  on Tuesday, June 4 at Screenland Armour at 7:30 PM and we want you to have them!

All you have to do is register below for our random drawing and the winners will be notified by email.

Synopsis: If on one night every year, you could commit any crime without facing consequences, what would you do?  In The Purge, a speculative thriller that follows one family over the course of a single night, four people will be tested to see how far they will go to protect themselves when the vicious outside world breaks into their home. In an America wracked by crime and overcrowded prisons, the government has sanctioned an annual 12-hour period in which any and all criminal activity—including murder—becomes legal.  The police can’t be called.  Hospitals suspend help.  It’s one night when the citizenry regulates itself without thought of punishment.  On this night plagued by violence and an epidemic of crime, one family wrestles with the decision of who they will become when a stranger comes knocking.  When an intruder breaks into James Sandin’s (Ethan Hawke) gated community during the yearly lockdown, he begins a sequence of events that threatens to tear a family apart.  Now, it is up to James, his wife, Mary (Lena Headey), and their kids to make it through the night without turning into the monsters from whom they hide.

Opening Date:  Friday, June 7, 2013

Rating:  Rated R for strong disturbing violence and some language.

Official Website:  http://blumhouse.com/film/thepurge?c_url=thepurge

Good luck!

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The Kansas City Art Institute and Alamo Drafthouse have joined forces to bring you Film School, a weekly student curated film series. Film School brings important films back to the big screen for your viewing enjoyment. This June and July we’re focusing on B-movie, cult, and classic Summer movies. Heavy Metal, Point Blank and Armageddon are just a few of the visual treats that Drafthouse Film School has to offer you this Summer.

This Saturday, May 25th Drafthouse Film School brings you one of the most personal films of Alfred Hitchcock, Vertigo (1958). Based on the french novel D’entre les morts by Boileau-Narcejac, Vertigo follows the story of a detective that retires after a cop is killed saving him from falling off of a building. He is called out of retirement to investigate the wife of his college friend. The friend claims his wife is possessed by a spirit and travels around during the day with no memory of where she has been.

The film stars James Stewart, Tom Helmore and Kim Novak.

This week we’re in the 2:15 PM timeslot. Alamo Drafthouse will have its lunch menu available. Come on down to the Drafthouse and join Film School for the greatest film ever made.

The screening is Saturday, May 25th at 2:15 p.m. All Film School Screenings are just $5.

For tickets and information click the link or call (816) 474-4545.

Jason Statham stars as Donald Westlake‘s Parker, a career criminal and anti-hero who keeps to his own code and often, as in this case of this adaptation of Westlake’s novel Flashfire, has to fight for what’s owed him after being double-crossed on the latest score. Statham isn’t the first actor to portray Westlake’s character (Lee Marvin, Jim Brown, Robert Duvall, Peter Coyote, Mel Gibson all played character over the years), but Parker, out on Blu-ray today, is the first where the title character keeps the name.

The movie begins with a heist of $1,000,000 from an Ohio State Fair by Parker and a group of thieves (Michael Chiklis, Wendell Pierce, Clifton Collins Jr., Micah A. Hauptman) he has never worked with before who take his cut from the job and leave him for dead on the side of the road. The rest of the film revolves around Parker following the group to Palm Beach and shadowing their latest score with the help of a local Realtor (Jennifer Lopez) before finally taking his revenge.

The subplots involving Parker’s loyal girlfriend (Emma Booth) and business partner (Nick Nolte) aren’t really given much time to develop and have the added problem of slowing down the action of the movie each time one of the characters shows up. The film is a mixed success that is at its best with Statham in control of the scene. He’s a good choice for the cool no-nonsense character who refuses to be taken advantage of or give up, but at he same time the actor is almost too cool for a character that gets beaten up as much as Parker does.

Despite in many ways being superfluous to the plot, Lopez is well-cast here as a broke divorcee looking for any way out of her mountain of debt who has been forced her to move in with her mother (Patti LuPone). The scene of her character hitting rock bottom as her car is repossessed is one of the movie’s few truly dramatic moments in a film mostly noted for it’s cool action hero, no nonsense action sequences, and bloody body count.

At 118 minutes Parker is far too long and could certainly use some editing during the middle of the film between where the character is left for dead and finally confronting those responsible. This middle hour, or so, moves in fits and starts, but doesn’t have a great flow (and includes only a single action sequence of note). Parker works as well as most of Statham’s action flicks; it’s enjoyable up to a point but largely forgettable after the credits roll.

The one-disc Blu-ray set includes a digital UltraViolet copy of the film and commentary with director Taylor Hackford discussing his love of the character, the style of the movie, and the challenges of filming the film in Ohio and Louisiana. Also included are a series of extremely short featurettes ranging from 2-7 minutes including a behind-the-scenes look at adapting Westlake’s Flashfire to film, a pair of short looks at the origins of the character and his motivations, and a quick look at the “knife-edge reality” action sequences of the film.

Here’s my TV review with clips of Star Trek Into Darkness with Dave Hall on KCTV5′s It’s Your Morning.

This is the print review as it appeared originally on Lawrence.com:

In 2009, director J.J. Abrams breathed new life in to Star Trek, a reboot of a film series which, after the disastrous Next Generation movie Star Trek: Nemesis seven years earlier, had become a stale and bloated parody of itself. It’s always easier to try new things when you are re-inventing an origin story, so Abrams’ Star Trek gave Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) a snotty modern makeover and added way more action than Trek movies usually get.

The voyages of the Starship Enterprise were successfully relaunched and a familiar crew (including Zachary Quinto‘s Spock) was installed on the ship. The question before Abrams and his loyal band of writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof then became: Do we boldly go where no man has gone before?

From a plot standpoint, the answer is a resounding no, but that doesn’t mean that “Star Trek Into Darkness” is a boring retread of past storylines. It’s a tremendously energetic, thrilling mash-up of past storylines.

Yes, there are the same winks and nods to iconic Star Trek moments that Abrams’ first outing at the helm of this ship had, and, yes, there are plenty of flashy lens flares and jokey one-liners from Dr. McCoy (Karl Urban). But Abrams has grown into a confident cinematic storyteller, capable of setting high stakes, staging impossible situations, and having his characters get out of them, one after another, with a combination of exciting action and just enough of their intellect.

If anything, “Star Trek Into Darkness” is Abrams doing his version of an Indiana Jones movie. An acolyte of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg (and who has recently landed the most thankless job in all of Hollywood: taking over Disney’s first Star Wars movie), Abrams knows how to wrench pure entertainment from serial-like action, while keeping a healthy dash of humor front and center. He also has composer Michael Giacchino doing an effective job of making John Williams cry.

Impressive CGI art direction, a truly menacing villain (the great Benedict Cumberbatch), and a keen sense of pacing make Star Trek Into Darkness an easy movie to get swept up in. Abrams is counting on that, because he is treading familiar waters plot-wise. Because it still revolves around the fundamental difference in philosophy of Kirk and Spock, however, Star Trek Into Darkness feels like a Star Trek movie.

It’s almost as if Abrams and company knew this would probably be their last outing in the series, so they threw in everything they could think of.

It makes for one hell of a ride, and I wouldn’t want to be the guy that has to follow it up.

Sort of a cross between Dead Poets Society and Scent of a Woman, director Andrzej Jakimowski’s newest film, Imagine, bravely delves into the world of the blind and one man’s struggle to transcend the limitations of the visually impaired.  Impressive because of its unique story, but also as a result of the thoughtful way in which Jakimowski shoots it, the film works because it puts the viewer into the shoes of its characters and fastens the laces tight enough to keep them there.

Primarily the story of one man’s challenging lifestyle, and his attempts to share its secrets to those similarly afflicted, Imagine taps into basic human fears of change, and an almost automatic sentiment of disdain towards anything difficult yet still within reach.

Edward Hogg plays this lead, Ian, a British teacher who insists that a person’s mind can largely make up for any visual deficiencies that might encumber them.  Utilizing echolocation, Ian navigates the thickest crowds, and even the most traffic-congested streets without the use of a cane: a tool he feels actually encumbers him.  A dangerous life-choice for a man in his condition, to be sure, it’s also an empowering decision that forces Ian to sharpen his other senses to a degree that gives his abilities something akin to those of a superhero (indeed, Daredevil would be impressed).

As Imagine begins, Ian arrives at a Lisbon clinic for the blind, one which also serves as a school for similarly afflicted children of all ages.  The doctor running the institution tells Ian that while the board has agreed to bring him in as a teacher, Ian’s walking sonar methods are simply too dangerous to share, and that he needs to keep his classroom lessons to the essentials.  Although Ian seems happy to comply with the directive, once classes begin it’s clear that the new teacher has his own ideas about what is essential, and what isn’t.

These classroom scenes are some of the best of the picture, both for what they add to the story and its characters, but also for the way Mr. Jakimowski handles them.  Ian’s classes have everyone sitting outside, in the clinic’s courtyard, where they all listen for the world’s small details.  Every scrape of the shoe and click of a pruning shear offers clues to a mystery that simply looking upon a scene could solve in an instant.  Ian forces the children to hear, smell, touch, and absorb the world around them, and begins to show them how a person nourished on such stimulus can get by without eyes.

These moments are a delight, for the film sets them up perfectly: keeping the camera on the faces of the blind children Ian is schooling.  He talks them (and the audience) through the visual realization process, and asks about the clues that can be found from a nearby person’s clothing, or the work they’re doing.  By forcing the audience to imagine the scene along with the characters, a more fully developed sense of the process begins to grow in the mind of the viewer.  The foley and sound work is also exceptional, for all the details Ian speaks of rise to the surface right when he begins to talk about them, and color the scenes in magnificently.  It’s a superb detail, and is something that gives one the sense that a great deal of work went into the production of background sound in Imagine.

As the film progresses, Ian challenges the preconceived notions about what a blind person is capable of, both for his students and the clinic’s administrators.  In each camp, there are those that seem threatened by this new teacher’s swagger, his confidence.  What he proposes as a means to navigate the darkened void before him seems impossible to those that can see, and so difficult a skill to perfect for his blind students that a rumor begins to circulate that Ian actually does possess sight.  None of this seems to come as much of a surprise to Ian, however, which makes sense since he would have likely gone through a similar period when he first encountered the mentor that instructed him.

Yet Mr. Jakimowski is careful to keep things grounded, and to remind the audience that Ian is indeed a blind man, and prone to the dangers of the real world like anyone else.  A few accidents befall Ian throughout the run of Imagine, and they’re sober prompts that bring the sheer audacity of this new teacher’s lifestyle into focus.  The film also gives extra time to two particular students, Eva (Alexandra Maria Lara) and Serrano (Melchior Derouet), both of whom come to learn some of the nastier realities of a blind life without a cane, and proceed with their lessons differently as a result.  The progression of both under Ian’s wing represents one of the themes at the foundation of this film, and that’s a person’s courage to trust in themselves and the natural abilities one can hone and sharpen with nothing more than grit and determination.

A concise film at just over a hundred minutes, Imagine is a unique picture stocked with interesting characters and a surprisingly suspenseful undercurrent that refuses to go away.  A Polish film, much of the picture is in English since Ian is at the center of pretty much every scene (making this a foreign film with few subtitles: a rare treat).  Currently playing at this year’s Seattle International Film Festival, Imagine should keep audiences engaged, for cinema about blind characters has never looked so good, nor felt this fresh.

Director Delmer Daves‘ 1957 western about a cattle rancher forced into the role of getting a dangerous killer out of town finds new life on home video as 3:10 to Yuma is the latest classic to get the Criterion treatment.

Dan Evans (Van Heflin) is a struggling rancher with a wife (Leora Dana), two sons (Barry Curtis, Jerry Hartleben), and cattle who are dying of thirst during one of the worst droughts in recent memory. When Ben Wade (Glenn Ford), the leader of an outlaw gang who has terrorized the territory for years, is caught, Dan accepts an offer of $200 to escort Wade to a nearby town and put him on the 3:10 train to Yuma for trial.

With only the town drunk (Henry Jones) at his side, Evans tries to keep Wade hidden and put him on the train before the rest of his gang can find them and release their leader.

Set-up as a lesser version of High Noon, the action and drama come from waiting and trying to beat both the clock and an outlaw gang on their way. Although not what I would call a great movie, there are many good moments in this film. (And it’s certainly better than the recent remake with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe.)

Ford provides Wade with a charming personality and his interaction with Evans as he tries to turn him, buy him, frighten him, and ultimately save him, are what make the film memorable. Wade is so charming he even sweeps the local barmaid (Felicia Farr) off her feet. Yes he’s a murderer and a bandit, but he’s about as likable, while still dangerous, as one you are likely to find.

Available on both Blu-ray and DVD, the single-disc Criterion Collection set includes a newly restored 4K digital film transfer, both stereo and monaural soundtracks, a new interview with author Elmore Leonard, and  an interview with Glenn Ford’s son and biographer Peter Ford.

The set also includes a collector’s booklet and essay by film critic Kent Jones.

Seattle, WA – It’s been a year since Scene-Stealers sent their chief west coast correspondent to the red carpet of Seattle’s International Film Festival, and while the venue and decorations changed little in 12 months, the prestige of the event certainly evolved so as to be nearly unrecognizable from last season.  2012’s opening night gala celebrated local director Lynn Shelton (left) and the premier of her film, Your Sister’s Sister, and as successful and popular as that evening was, the promised arrival of Joss Whedon in 2013 saw tickets to Thursday’s event disappear in less than six hours.  Perhaps the world’s biggest director right now, Whedon and his newest film, a black and white adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, opened SIFF, and Seattle made sure the man had a red-carpet gala that could compete with anything to be found in New York, Toronto, Cannes, or Park City.

The director of the wildly successful summer blockbuster The Avengers, Whedon made his hay in the industry as a reliable television jack-of-all-trades whose more popular efforts includes Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly.  And while the man’s recent work with the likes of Iron Man and Captain America have put him on the map with a new generation of pre-teen fanboys, Whedon’s connections to the sci-fi and gothic horror community are undeniably strong.  After all, these folks make up a healthy chunk of the film-going population in Seattle, and are undeniably the reason why SIFF’s opening night gala found itself devoid of tickets in less than half a day.

Looking around the Seattle Center on Thursday, just outside McCaw Hall where the red carpet was set up, the promise of Whedon’s arrival seemed to be taking a very particular toll on folks.  Men in leather kilts and beaver-skin top hats looked around anxiously for Whedon and his brood, for it wasn’t simply the director that was supposed to make an appearance, but many of the acting luminaries who have appeared in the man’s previous work as well.  Indeed, many of these actors were tapped to take a roll in Much Ado About Nothing, hence their presence at the film’s premiere on Thursday.

For example, Nathan Fillion of Firefly fame was in attendance, and took a moment to speak with Scene-Stealers for a moment.  Mr. Fillion plays one of the more comic characters in Much Ado About Nothing, the bumbling rent-a-cop of sorts, Dogberry.

Scene-Stealers: What did you do to bring this character, Dogberry, sort of into your own skin?  I know that in the past people like Michael Keaton have tackled it.  What’d you do to make it your own?

Nathan Fillion: Well, first of all, I made sure I didn’t watch any other Dogberrys before I performed it.  It would have put a lot of pressure on me, I think.  Because afterwards I watched Michael Keaton’s, and he was very good.  I have a theory that Dogberry is not the brightest fellow.  Ah, that’s obvious. [chuckle]  I have a theory that stupid people don’t know that they’re stupid: they think they’re the smartest person in the room.  So I just played it as smart as I possibly could, and gave him a little hint of, you know, here’s a guy that couldn’t make it as a cop.  He couldn’t get to being an actual police officer, so now he’s working security and is taking himself as seriously as he imagines a cop would.

SS: Absolutely.

N.F.: And I threw in a little David Caruso from C.S.I., you know?

SS: Oh yeah!  With the sunglasses, it fits!  Now, how much time did you have to prepare?  What was the rehearsal process like, as far as the time you got to spend with the other cast members?

N.F.: Uh, zero to none.  I was actually working, and fortunately enough, Joss had a two-week vacation and 12 days to film this picture, so we worked through the weekends.  Which worked out for me, because that’s the only time I had free.  So I worked a five-day work week, worked one day, worked a five-day work week, and then came back and worked the entire weekend.  It fit into my schedule quite exactly, actually.  But as far as the rehearsal process, no, there wasn’t a lot of that.  There was some blocking, and some additional working of some stuff out with Tom Lake, who is just fantastic, and a lot of my comedy, I can attribute to Tom Lake being so wonderful.

S.S.: Excellent.  That’s wonderful.  Well, hey, enjoy your time here in Seattle.

N.F.: Always.  Always.  I already have.

S.S.: And thanks for talking with us.  Have a great night.

Things got considerably crazier when Joss Whedon made his appearance, however, for as wide-eyed as everyone was at the sight of Captain Mal from Firefly, the evening’s guest of honor stole almost every gaze once he hit the red carpet.  Shameless autograph hounds began elbowing their way into the press line: their Blu-Ray discs and comic books thrust rudely between cameramen any time the director came near enough for a quick interview.  After assuring one autograph whore that his continued presence in the press area would lead to some serious trouble for him and the two children he’d brought along to hustle up some memorabilia, order was restored, and just in the nick of time!

As Joss Whedon hurried past the press area so as to make his appearance inside the gala, the world’s last surviving Gonzo journalist made a run at the man of the hour, and struck gold…

S.S.: Could I get just one quick question?

Joss Whedon: Sure, shoot.

S.S.: Claudio and Benedict, they were gonna get into a duel [in Much Ado About Nothing].  If it was going to happen, I mean, I know you’ve done a lot of stuff with The Avengers, a lot of fight scenes there.  Who wins in a bare-knuckle brawl?  Claudio or Benedict?

J.W.: Oh, Claudio totally wins.  He practically won the war single-handedly.  Benedict is harder, but he’s going down.

S.S.: Wonderful answer!  Thank you.

And that was it.  This particular journalist got to ask the one bare-knuckle boxing question he’d come for, and with the red-carpet press corps breaking up following Mr. Whedon’s departure, things felt mostly complete.  The evening’s opening gala continued from there, what with the screening of Much Ado About Nothing, and the after-party at the Exhibition Hall following that.  As was the case last year, SIFF’s opening night festivities offered an interesting mix of older, refined folks alongside the more bohemian youth of the city.  This juxtaposition was made all the more noticeable on Thursday, when Buffy and Firefly fans rubbed elbows with serious independent cinema supporters who looked on in horror at every rainbow print dress and Goth-inspired obedience chain.

Yet as always, the good people at the Seattle International Film Festival had things well in hand, and wonderfully organized.  The gala’s after party was catered by many of the same sponsors who have supported the film festival for years, and the refreshments they offered to the hungry and thirsty party-goers didn’t go unappreciated.  Absolutely packed, and filled with an energy that promises to give Seattle yet another smashing offering of the world’s newest, most exciting cinema, Thursday’s opening night gala kicked things off smartly, and is a fine harbinger of the exciting things to come in 2013.

Photos by Audrey Morgan Delgado

The gang’s all here! Eric returns to talk Star Trek Into Darkness with Trevan and Trey. Is J.J. Abrams’ follow-up a worthy successor and contender for this summer’s box office crown? Or does it aim wide? And did Eric take any pictures of his vacation? The answers to all of these questions and more will be revealed.

P.S. We tried to avoid spoilers as much as possible, but it turns out Trevan’s kind of bad at that, so listen with caution.

P.P.S. If you don’t already follow us on Facebook, you should. Our Facebook page is where we post fun stuff from around the Web as well as our own reviews, 10 lists and more. It’s also a great place to go to find out more about our events like KCAI Screening Room and Movies That Rock. So what are you waiting for?

Subscribe to The Scene-Stealers Podcast on iTunes or our RSS.

It’s been four years since J.J. Abrams helmed Star Trek, a reboot that took the franchise into a bold, more commercially accessible direction. It was a fun, whip-smart adventure that managed to feel fresh and familiar in equal measure. Now, he and his modern crew of the starship Enterprise return with Star Trek Into Darkness, a movie with a lot to live up to both at the box office and in the minds of fans.

The film opens with a daring rescue and ends with a massive chase in the wake of an equally massive cataclysm. In between that, viewers are given more of what worked so well in the last movie, but few surprises. Kirk and Spock don’t understand each other. Pike has faith in Kirk. Scotty is constantly befuddled. Bones says, “dammit, man.” It’s all familiar, but these are characters we’ve seen for 47 years, and the actors’ take on them – especially Simon Pegg‘s Scotty and Karl Urban‘s Bones – work exceptionally well here. Zachary Quinto‘s Spock deserves some propers too, most notably during the film’s climax.

To cut to the quick, Star Trek Into Darkness embodies everything a big summer movie should be. It’s huge, sprawling and majestic, full of the kind of gigantic set pieces and alien environments that make the film and the Enterprise’s mission bigger than life. It’s a visual spectacle as Industrial Light And Magic outdo themselves in making so much of the virtual architecture and settings look and feel tangible. What’s more, it’s a movie that doesn’t waste a frame. Abrams and company spin the film up to break-neck speed and never let up, the last 45 minutes don’t let up.

Enough can’t be said about Benedict Cumberbatch. His character is appropriately menacing, cold and calculating. Like Tom Hardy in last year’s The Dark Knight Rises, Cumberbatch’s delivery will likely be the source of parody. But in context, his lines are said with the appropriate amount of venom and rage. His character’s plans and motivations are somewhat hazy, but he keeps the audience’s attention with the intensity of his performance alone.

Star Trek Into Darkness isn’t perfect, however. It’s biggest problem is the size of its cast. Because the film’s pace is so rapid, some of the characters end up being reduced to caricatures. Particularly Bruce Greenwood‘s Captain Pike and Peter Weller‘s Admiral Marcus. The plot unnecessarily complicates itself early and at least one decision is clearly telegraphed as a bad idea, and something out of character for even someone as reckless as James T. Kirk.

But even a rushed first act isn’t enough to derail the movie once it gets rolling. Abrams, his cast and the wizards at ILM have made a movie that lacks the political intrique of its fore-bearers, but is infinitely more accessible and entertaining. If you liked their first effort, you will not be disappointed.

We have advance passes to see NOW YOU SEE ME on Wednesday, May 29 at 7:30 PM at the AMC Town Center 20 and we want you to have them!

All you have to do to register to win a pair of passes to see NOW YOU SEE ME is go here and fill out the form .

A random drawing will determine the winners, who will be notified via email!

NOW YOU SEE ME stars Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Mélanie Laurent, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Common, Michael Kelly, Michael Caine, and Morgan Freeman. It pits an elite FBI squad in a game of cat and mouse against “The Four Horsemen”, a super-team of the world’s greatest illusionists. “The Four Horsemen” pull off a series of daring heists against corrupt business leaders during their performances, showering the stolen profits on their audiences while staying one step ahead of the law.

Good luck!

Thanks to all the Scene-Stealers sitegoers who played our Photoshop contest for STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS. We asked people to combine something from the STAR TREK universe with Kansas City and here’s some of the winners.

I’ll see you all Wednesday night at the exclusive advance screening – congratulations!

Click to watch the Enterprise flyover SportingKC Park!

Fifty years after the release of the iconic 1963 World War II POW movie The Great Escape, which permanently etched the rebellious screen image of Steve McQueen in moviegoers’ heads, it is still easy to see why this film was so revered back in its day.

Director/producer John Sturges‘ (who also did The Magnificent Seven) epic adventure film is nearly three hours long — and sometimes it feels that way — but its underdog mentality and triumph-of-the-spirit narrative make it virtually irresistible.

A new Blu-ray presentation of the The Great Escape is out now, featuring all of the insightful extra features from the 2004 two-disc Collector’s Edition DVD set.

The setup is brilliant in its simplicity, and surprising ultimately in how tragic it can be. Nazis have rounded up all of their Allied problem prisoners into one prison camp, including US Air Force Captain Steve McQueen, Royal Air Force officers James Garner, Charles Bronson, Richard Attenborough, Donald Pleasence, and Royal Australian Air Force officer James Coburn. The idea is that they will all be held under the strictest security possible, but inadvertently, this also means all the best escapists are in one spot.

Adapted from the nonfiction book by Paul Brickhill about a 1944 escape, the characters in the movie are composites of the ones in the book. This is startling because one of the things that the screenplay — written by James Clavell and W.R. Burnett — gets so right are the characters. If a movie like this were filmed today, perhaps it would ramp up the action and leave some of the rousing character development on the cutting room floor, but Sturges employs classic Hollywood film language and takes time with his ensemble to to this story.

Each group of characters get their own riveting planning sequences, all skillfully told. This is one “heist” film where knowing the details of how the escape is supposed to go down before it happens only strengthens the suspense further, especially when things go wrong. McQueen infamous motorcycle chase scene, which also gives the film its defining moment, is its own mini-chapter, and it’s still exciting as hell.

Of course, this all leads up to the big event, but The Great Escape has one more trick up its sleeve. Following the events of the escape itself play out, the movie continues and takes on a more somber tone. After all the time invested in the story of the POWs and all their careful planning, the straighforward storytelling takes on a cumulative and emotionally resonant tone.

Included on the Blu-ray are tons of great extra features about the movie and the real story, such as:

• A 1974 John Sturges interview edited into a commentary track with other crew interviews
• Four 2001 History Channel featurettes that talk about  the real escape
• A 25-minute Showtime doc
• A 50-minute British doc from 2001
• A 20-minute doc about David Jones, the real-life  inspiration for Steve McQueen’s character.

The 2013 Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) starts with an opening night gala on May 16 and runs through June 9. This year, 272 feature films and 175 shorts representing 85 countries will be featured. Follow all of Scene-Stealers’ SIFF coverage here. The following film opens May 21 at SIFF:

The mix of a snow-stained winter setting, lost money, drugs, and pitch-black comedy gives Fuck Up (Et Slags liv) a distinctly Coen brothers flavor: a comparison the movie seems proud of.

Indeed, the Norwegian film’s main character, Jack, is delightfully anti-hero, and is the kind of resilient idiot savant that would thrive in a film like Fargo or Raising Arizona.  The actor who plays him, Jon Øigarden, starred alongside Alte Antonsen in one of SIFF’s best offerings last year, another Norwegian film called King Curling, and both are again in top form in Fuck Up.

It can truly be said that it’s a good thing to have loyal friends.  They drive out to the middle of nowhere to pick you up when your timing belt snaps, bring over beer if there’s a party, and never reach for that last slice of pizza.  Hell, if they’re true pals, they’ll even break into a police station’s evidence room and steal back two and a half kilos of Colombian bam-bam you lost after hitting a goddamned moose.  Glen (Atle Antonsen) is the narrator of Fuck Up, and luckily he’s got friends just so loyal and true.

For starters, there’s Glen’s best friend, Jack: a sex fiend and speed freak that is on the verge of becoming a fully licensed ambulance driver.  The audience is introduced to Jack in a bar, where he’s having a drink with Robin (Tuva Novotny) and Rasmussen (Anders Baasmo Christiansen).  These three grew up together with Glen, who is supposed to meet all of them at the bar to (presumably) explain why he’s borrowed a hefty sum of money from each.  Yet Glen never arrives, and when Jack goes on his very first ambulance run the next day, he quickly discovers why.

Jack’s hurt-wagon is called to the scene of Glen’s car accident at the edge of the small Norwegian town where the film’s events take place.  Situated right on Norway’s side of its border with Sweden, the town of Halden is a hot-spot for smugglers, and compels the police to investigate the roadside-wreck a bit further.  This, in turn, leads to the discovery of 2.5 kilos of cocaine in Glen’s trunk, which starts a whole mess of trouble not just for Glen, but also for the friends who unknowingly lent him part of the start-up money for the smuggling venture.  As Jack, Robin, and Rasmussen scramble to figure out a way to save Glen from the scary mob syndicate pursuing their promised blow, the trio quickly learns that their asses are very much on the line as well.

Primarily a crime-caper flick, writer and first-time director Øystein Karlsen doesn’t keep this movie in just one box, and is careful to develop his characters beyond their functional role in the plot.  Although these people are all clearly changed by the events of Fuck Up, enough consideration is given to each of them to flush out precisely what it is they have gained and lost by the time the credits roll.  For example, in Jack the audience has a man that is plagued not only by the compulsions of his past, but also the compassion to fully understand how these actions hurt those around him.  Considering everything this guy is put through during the course of Fuck Up, and all Jack has to manage, it is truly impressive to see how the film develops his growth.

As a whole, it’s a very enjoyable movie, and compelling enough to keep a viewer interested in the action despite the occasionally choppy editing.  It doesn’t happen very often, yet there are a few moments during Fuck Up when one is reminded that this is indeed a freshman effort.  Although Karlsen almost nails it, the action doesn’t always flow quite as seamlessly as one might hope, something that leaves things a bit jagged around the edges from time to time.  It doesn’t seriously hamper the flow of the movie, however, and never muddles the narrative enough to warrant any serious confusion: hence one might simply chalk it up to growing pains, and leave it at that.

And while audiences have seen some version of this movie before, what with the lost drugs/cash, the vengeful mobsters, and the friends looking to make everything right: Fuck Up somehow manages to give this formulaic clap-trap a fresh voice.  As mentioned before, time is spent on all four of the main characters to give the audience a sense of investment in the plot and each person’s role in it, pushing this one out of cliché territory.  Although these aren’t especially sympathetic characters, by the end of the film the audience has gotten familiar enough with each of them that it’s hard not to root for the half-assed cocaine cowboys.

Yet another successful offering from Norway to the Seattle International Film Festival, where Fuck Up opens May 21, this one has enough personality and style to nudge it out of Minor Rock Fist Up territory and into the Solid range.  A story about friendship, loyalty, adulthood, and Scandinavian mob mischief, it’s a good time, and should be a hoot for anybody looking to see what Norway might look like through a Coen lens.

The Kansas City Art Institute and Alamo Drafthouse have joined forces to bring you Film School, a weekly student curated film series. Film School brings important films back to the big screen for your viewing enjoyment. From American classics like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? to cult classics like The Road Warrior to exceptional foreign fare such as Band of Outsiders Drafthouse Film School has you covered.

This saturday, May 18, come join us at the Alamo Drafthouse as we finish off the semester with one of the best movies ever made, Casablanca by director Michael Curtiz. This film explores the emotional drama of choosing between love and a higher purpose all while thwarting the Nazis in Morocco. Come and experience Casablanca, where the hopeful and the desperate wait…and wait…and wait.

This week we’re in the 3:40 PM timeslot. Alamo Drafthouse will have its lunch menu available. Come on down to the Drafthouse and join Film School for a great film, no exit papers required.

The screening is Saturday, May 18th at 3:40 p.m. All Film School Screenings are just $5.

For tickets and information click the link or call (816) 474-4545.

F. Scott Fitzgerald opens his novel The Great Gatsby with the following passage.

I never received this advice from my own father, and even if I had, Baz Lurhmann has, for many years, had every advantage available, so my criticism can flow without restraint.

With his film version of The Great Gatsby, Baz Lurhmann creates a glittery and overstuffed adaptation that has all of the facts of the book right, while missing the skepticism and queries posed by its narrator and author.

In the novel, Nick Carraway’s (Tobey Maguire) ability to reserve judgment allows him to stand in as an observer. The audience or reader can judge whether the characters with their affairs, lavish parties and impossible fantasies are beautiful or damned.

Lurhmann makes Nick too one-sided, and Tobey Maguire compresses him further, creating nothing more than a Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) fanboy. Lines such as “I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life,” a line which Lurhmann uses almost word for word in his film, falls flat because the screen Nick is so obviously not repelled. There is nothing to balance the exaltation of wealth and excess.

To illustrate this point further, the scene that this line comes from takes place in the apartment that Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton) keeps for Myrtle Wilson (Isla Fisher), his mistress.

Myrtle has invited a few friends over; one of them is Mr McKee (Eden Falk), a “pale, feminine man from the flat below.” Nick notices a spot of shaving cream on McKee’s face. This is a tiny yet important detail, because it appears in the film.

The afternoon drags into the evening and as the guests pass out from exhaustion or alcohol, Lurhmann has Nick engage in a flamboyant gesture to remove the bit of shaving cream. It’s used to accentuate the nature of the party and music. In the book the removal is more subdued.

The action is quiet, gentle and unnoticed by the others. Many have speculated about the sexual orientation of Nick Carraway because of this small yet rich passage.

This is what I mean when I say that Baz Lurhmann got the facts right and the content wrong. Revelers have surrounded Nick all day, and yet he has fixated on a small detail like the touch of shaving cream on a man’s face. Lurhmann puts the action in, but has made it a vulgar embrace of the party, and Nick’s own drunkenness.

This vulgarity extends to Lurhmann’s visuals. The use of 3D is tawdry and grotesque. It has all of the kitsch of 1970’s Saturday science fiction fare, but is so misplaced that you cannot help but be embarrassed for the director’s stupidity and lack of taste.

The technical needs of the 3D and highly composited shots also have another draw back. If you have watched a trailer for this film and wondered how you could be bored even though confetti and singers and jazz musicians are filling the screen it is because every shot must be controlled in such a way as to stifle the energy of each moment. There are no energetic, accidental, or serendipitous camera moves. There can’t be if the 3D is to work.

As for the acting, Carey Mulligan and Joel Edgerton are the only two standouts in the entire film. Mulligan occasionally falls victim to Lurhmann’s direction, but both she and Edgerton are able to make something of their characters in spite of the film. Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire are not so lucky.

Though DiCaprio has a scene or two in which he’s able throw off Lurhmann’s bonds and make something of Jay Gatsby, for the most part his hopeful dreamer version of Gatsby is flat to off-putting. Maguire just seems like an after thought, and the idiotic framing device that Lurhmann places around the film, that of Nick writing the novel from an asylum, makes the character unworkable even for a good actor.

Since our film takes a literary bent this time around. I’d like to end with a moment from another work from the 1920s, that of In Our Time and more specifically “Big Two-Hearted River: Part II” by Ernest Hemingway.

Here another fictional Nick has just been out fly-fishing and has caught two trout. He cleans them and throws the guts up on shore, then rinses them in the stream.

Hemingway, you should have written this review of The Great Gatsby, because I couldn’t have said it any better. Baz Lurhmann has gutted Gatsby and though its color has not yet faded this cinematic version is hollow and dead.