Arts & Entertainment

‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye’: This is why Netflix exists
Arts & Entertainment, Opinion, Reviews

‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye’: This is why Netflix exists

Story and image by JAVIER DOSAMANTES “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”Directed by: Michael ShowalterRating: PG-13Run time: 2 hours, 6 minutesShowing at The Loft Cinema Making a good biopic is one of the hardest things to pull off in filmmaking because you're trying to fit a person's whole life into a two-hour format. And at the same time, you want to approach the subject with a creative angle instead of just making a glamoured-up reenactment. Without getting too technical, biopics are structured in two different ways: in chronological order (following life's events from beginning to end) or concentrating on a landmark event or time of a person's life, then using flashbacks to add context and backstory. "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" opens with a scene in 1994, then jumps back to Faye's c...
A waiting game of fate
Arts & Entertainment, Opinion, Reviews

A waiting game of fate

Story and image by JAVIER DOSAMANTESPima Post “The Card Counter”Directed by: Paul SchraderRating: RRun time: 1 hour, 51 minutesShowing at The Loft Cinema Redemption and fate have a unique relationship, although the latter is not always reciprocal to anyone or anything.  Paul Schrader continues to explore this in his new film "The Card Counter," a movie about a mysterious and disciplined lonely gambler who thinks he can outlast his fate by walking in circles. Leonardo da Vinci is best known for the Mona Lisa, the Detroit Lions for being proverbial losers and Schrader for writing about morally flawed and darkly complex antiheroes. William Tell (Oscar Isaac) is the latest Schrader protagonist. He continues a famed lineage of characters that includes Travis Bickle from...
‘Prisoners of the Ghostland’: a masterclass on how not to direct movies
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‘Prisoners of the Ghostland’: a masterclass on how not to direct movies

Story and image by Javier Dosamantes 'Prisoners of the Ghostland'Directed by: Sion SonoRating: NRRun time: 1 hour, 53 minutesShowing at The Loft Cinema Back in 2010, chicken franchise KFC launched the Double Down. It was a chicken sandwich that instead of having two pieces of bread to hold together the meat and fixings ... had two fried chicken fillets. The anatomy of the sandwich looked like this: a fried chicken fillet on the bottom, cheese, bacon and cheese in the middle, and topped off with another fried chicken fillet. It was a deliciously over-the-top and decadent idea. But without the bread to tie up the ingredients, the Double Down was incredibly messy and the flavors were too intense and chaotic instead of complementing each other.  It feels like good-tast...
Check out free Pima art exhibit ‘Egress’
Arts & Entertainment, Bernal Gallery, Features, Pima Arts, Pima News

Check out free Pima art exhibit ‘Egress’

By Alex Jimenez Pima Community College will host Egress - an art exhibit with work from three London-based artists.  Admission to the exhibit is free and is being held at the Louis Carlos Bernal Art Exhibit on PCC’s West Campus through Oct. 8. The art displayed is all made on paper and was completed during the COVID lockdown by Alice Browne, Anthony Banks and George Little.  All three of the artists attended the Royal College of Art in London. “Each artist explores abstracted themes about London from ‘Leftovers’ left on tables to the surrounding English environments to imagined ideas about San Sebastian to Orbits,” said gallery director David Andres in the exhibit introduction. “‘Egress’ is but a snapshot of what was produced.” George Little’s art uses restaura...
Newest ‘Spider-Man’ will be 2021’s biggest movie
Arts & Entertainment, Features, Opinion

Newest ‘Spider-Man’ will be 2021’s biggest movie

Wikimedia Commons: Gamer16 (License) By Carlos Miranda “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is bringing back old villains from previous Spider-Man movies.  All of the Spider-Man/Marvel fans have been waiting a long time for this trailer to drop. The trailer dropped on Aug. 22, and this trailer has shocked fans all over the world.  With more than 355.5 million views, this movie trailer was the most-watched movie trailer in a 24-hour period. The previous record was “Avengers: Endgame,” which had gotten 289 million views. The “Spider-Man: No Way Home” movie trailer was an awesome, crazy, mind-blowing, insane trailer to watch. This was the trailer people have been waiting all year to see. This preview showed us what to expect for this new movie, which will be released in ...
‘Donda’: Was the wait worth it?
Arts & Entertainment, Opinion

‘Donda’: Was the wait worth it?

By Nate Martinez It had felt like ages since Kanye West had released another big studio album.  That’s probably because his last release was 2016’s “The Life of Pablo.”  To be fair, West had dropped some albums, but not the long, complex and structured albums that fans expected. In 2018, West released a seven-song EP called “Ye,” which totaled 23 minutes of play. He then went on to drop “Jesus Is King” that same year.  Now, after three years, a couple of presidential tries, some album fakeouts, a very public split with Kim Kardashian and a handful of live breakdowns on national television, West himself managed to drop the long-awaited “Donda” Aug. 29.  This album, named after his late mother who died in 2007, wouldn't be a Kanye album without its shar...
‘Princess Mononoke’ is a masterpiece
Arts & Entertainment, Features, Opinion, Reviews

‘Princess Mononoke’ is a masterpiece

Story and image by Javier Dosamantes "Princess Mononoke"Directed by: Hayao MiyazakiRating: PG-13Run time: 2 hours, 13 minutesStream on HBO Max with subscription or rent on Amazon Prime for $11.99 Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli's co-founder, has garnered a devoted following worldwide and is widely acclaimed across the anime and cinematic worlds.  I, however, was not part of the Academy Award - winning filmmaker's loyal fan base. Until now. Not because I didn't like his work. I just hadn't seen any of it. I know, I know, it seems like I'm the only film geek who doesn't revere Miyazaki's work. That all changed when I went to a screening of “Princess Mononoke” as part of The Loft Cinema's “Cult Classics” series.  “Princess Mononoke” — written and directed by Miy...
Nomadland: A Clever Take on the Death of the American Dream
Arts & Entertainment, Opinion

Nomadland: A Clever Take on the Death of the American Dream

Francis McDormand appears in NOMADLAND. (Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures) By Kevin Murphy Fern (Frances McDormand) goes through a storage room on a cold winter day. She comes across a men’s denim jacket that, with tears in her eyes, she clutches to her chest before setting out on the road in her van. Not long after, she’s seen hustling through a busy work schedule at a bleak Amazon fulfilment warehouse.  These are the opening scenes to “Nomadland”. Directed by Chloé Zhao, the film is based on the 2017 non-fiction book of the same title written by Jessica Bruder. These early scenes epitomize an underlying theme of the film: corporate capitalism has shattered the American dream, and left many people searching for a home in the world that broke them.  Following t...
Black History Month: Recognizing Two Women who Told Me Their Story
Arts & Entertainment, Opinion

Black History Month: Recognizing Two Women who Told Me Their Story

By Alexandria Austin This month is a time to look beyond our history books to recognize African Americans who have made a difference in the world. I chose to look at our world, the United States, and as a woman, I chose my world. Two of countless stories here are of and from Margot Lee Shetterly and Ava DuVernay. Did you know there were women involved in the space race? Did you know there were human computers? Did you know a group of brilliant women were responsible for getting John Glenn safely home? Did you know these women were Black? “Hidden Figures” is a book written by a Black female writer, Margot Lee Shetterly. Shetterly grew up in Hampton, Virginia, where she says “the face of science was brown, like mine...I knew so many African-Americans working in science, math and engineeri...
Seven Films to Celebrate Black History Month
Arts & Entertainment, Opinion

Seven Films to Celebrate Black History Month

By Lanissa Patterson It’s Black History Month: the time when we celebrate Black stories, Black culture, and honor the journey of the Black American. This journey is foretold in many ways, including through cinematics. Here is a list of movies to watch this Black History Month while we continue to remain indoors. 1. Black Dynamite Black Dynamite is a 2009 parody film mocking popular blaxploitation movies of the 70’s. Michael Jai White stars as Black Dynamite, a former CIA agent looking to avenge the death of his brother. But first he has to get past Kung Fu Masters and “The Man”. Directed by Scott Sanders and starring Michael Jai White, Arsenio Hall, and Kym Whitley, I recommend this to anyone who needs a good laugh. 2. Paid in Full Directed by Charles Stone III, Paid in Full is a crim...