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Arts & Life
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The 1954 musical drama, “A Star Is Born,” starring Judy Garland and James Mason, screens at the Soper Reese Theatre on Tuesday, June 11, at 1 and 6 p.m.
Entry to the film is by donation.
Directed by George Cukor with score by Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin, this is a film of grand scope and intimate moments, featuring what most critics believe to be Garland's greatest performance.
It’s a dark, weighty fable of the price one pays to be at the top, a theme that is given ironic significance by what would become Garland’s own real life experiences.
The film was nominated for six Academy Awards.
The movie is sponsored by Classic Film Fans. Rated PG. Run time is 2 hours and 55 minutes.
The Soper Reese Theatre is located at 275 S. Main St., Lakeport, 707-263-0577, www.soperreesetheatre.com .
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- Written by: Ted Kooser
I don't suppose there are many of our younger readers who have started to worry about the possibility of memory loss, but I'd guess almost everybody over fifty does. Peter Schneider lives in Massachusetts and this is from his book Line Fence, from Amherst Writers and Artists Press.
Lost in Plain Sight
Somewhere recently
I lost my short-term memory.
It was there and then it moved
like the flash of a red fox
along a line fence.
My short-term memory
has no address but here
no time but now.
It is a straight-man, waiting to speak
to fill in empty space
with name, date, trivia, punch line.
And then it fails to show.
It is lost, hiding somewhere out back
a dried ragweed stalk on the Kansas Prairie
holding the shadow of its life
against a January wind.
How am I to go on?
I wake up a hundred times a day.
Who am I waiting for
what am I looking for
why do I have this empty cup
on the porch or in the yard?
I greet my neighbor, who smiles.
I turn a slow, lazy Susan
in my mind, looking for
some clue, anything to break the spell
of being lost in plain sight.
American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2006 by Peter Schneider, "Lost in Plain Sight," from Line Fence, (Amherst Writers and Artists Press, 2006). Poem reprinted by permission of Peter Schneider and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2019 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.
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- Written by: Tim Riley
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 – PARABELLUM (Rated R)
The “John Wick” franchise has provided Keanu Reeves with the perfect opportunity to seamlessly merge his cinematic persona with the taciturn intensity of the titular character letting action speak louder than words.
Reeves’ assassin John Wick, who wanted to be left alone to seek a quiet life in which to remember his wife, re-entered the killing fields in the first film when mob-connected Russian thugs cruelly killed his beloved dog.
Since then, and more so now with “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum,” Wick has seemingly dispatched more bad guys to their deaths than what feels like the cumulative total of the body count in all of the James Bond, Jason Bourne, and “Rambo” films combined.
There is no exaggeration to the analogy that “John Wick 3” is running on adrenaline-fueled action so overheated that the film’s pace moves like a race car redlining to maximum speed.
At the end of the previous film, Wick killed an Italian mobster at the Continental hotel, a sanctuary for assassins where the unbreakable rule of the underworld is that no blood may be shed on the premises.
The third installment picks up with Wick having only an hour before he is declared in the words of Winston (Ian McShane), the Continental’s manager, to be “excommunicado” with a $14 million bounty on his head.
The code of the underworld is governed by the High Table, a council of high-ranking crime lords, who mete out their own brand of justice, sending the Adjudicator (Asia Kate Dillon) as the enigmatic messenger of their decisions.
Desperately running through rainy streets, Wick ends up in the New York Public Library only to be attacked in the stacks by a towering giant (NBA player Boban Marjanovic) in a fight settled by the imaginative use of a classic book.
The streets are so perilous that it almost seems as if every other random person is a contract killer eager for a big payday. In no time, Wick is chased through alleys and subways, ending up in a stable before riding a horse across a bridge pursued by a deadly motorcycle gang.
Not everyone has turned on Wick, though even the doctor who tends to his wounds fears that he cannot hide his transgression from enforcers of the High Table’s dictates.
Less concerned is the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne), who dares to render assistance to the fugitive assassin, convinced, perhaps foolishly, that his turf is safe from any meddling by the cabal of crime lords.
Reverting to his Belarusian roots, Wick calls in a marker with the inscrutable Director (Anjelica Huston), his former mentor who now trains ballerinas and martial artists, so that he can get safe passage to Casablanca.
Once in Morocco, his old colleague Sofia (Halle Berry), who runs the local branch of the Continental, is less than happy to see a wanted man to whom she owes a favor, but she does oblige in a big way.
Wick’s quest is to find the leader of the High Table in order to negotiate his return to the good graces of the ranks of professional killers, for peace of mind and to set foot on the Continental grounds once again.
With the help of Sofia and her pair of vicious German shepherds, Wick visits Berrada (Jerome Flynn), a power broker who can reveal the location of the High Table hideaway of the Elder (Said Taghmaoui).
But before trekking across the Saharan desert to see the Elder, a pitched battle with Berrada’s turban-wearing minions pits Wick, Sofia and the canines in another wild set piece of deadly confrontation.
Meanwhile, back in Manhattan the Adjudicator is delivering punishment to those who dared help Wick to escape New York and enlisting the sushi-chef Zero (Mark Dacascos), a skilled knife fighter, for the climactic bloody skirmish.
Fittingly, the setting of the final showdown is inside the Continental, where first of all Winston and the hotel’s unflappable concierge Charon (Lance Reddick) must choose sides between Wick and the High Table’s army of warriors.
Above all, Wick understands that “parabellum” is part of a Latin adage that translates into “prepare for war,” and he is always ready to employ his lethal skills for the next challenge even when having to cleverly improvise with whatever can be used as weapons.
Keanu Reeves’s John Wick is an unstoppable force of nature, his fight scenes choreographed so brilliantly that “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” is the most operatic of action films in recent memory, if not ever.
It takes much more than well-orchestrated fighting movements on the part of Keanu Reeves to make the “John Wick” franchise so exciting. The actor inhabits the role so perfectly that he is truly indispensable and irreplaceable to its success.
Fans of the “John Wick” franchise are going to be thrilled with the spectacular stunts and the surfeit of breathless fights with guns, swords, and the martial arts, even when a few scenes are shockingly brutal and gruesome.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Art Center invites the public to join its current art and community project, “Locus.”
As part of “Locus,” artist/nature fiber sculptor, Sherry Harris, will lead a workshop assembling and installing a large sculpture from mulberry branches this Sunday, May 26, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The workshop will take place at Trailside Park in Middletown at 21435 Dry Creek Cutoff, off Highway 175.
Please preregister at www.MiddletownArtCenter.org/Locus .
The workshop is open to adults of all ages and children age 12 and up. The cost is $5. Please bring water, lunch, a hat, sunscreen, work gloves if you have them and good walking shoes.
During the month of May, the MAC has been focused on revitalizing the EcoArts Sculpture Walk. The walk has been closed since the Trailside Park, and sculptures on view at the time, burned in the Valley fire in 2015.
The 2019 Walk called “Locus: A Sense of Place,” will open with a festive reception on Saturday, June 1, from 4 to 6:30 p.m. The public is welcome to join this free celebration.
Community members who enjoy working outdoors, and have an interest in revitalizing the park, in preparation, installation or maintenance of outdoor exhibits are encouraged to contact the MAC via email at
The Locus project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts and local organizations, agencies and individuals. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov .
Middletown Art Center is located at 21456 Highway 175 at the junction of Highway 29.
The MAC Gallery currently features “Community Works,” an exhibit of work from Woodland Community College Lake County Campus Art students, from Restore project participants, and from ArtVentures Homeschool students. The exhibit is on view through June 9.
The gallery is open Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Fridays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information and to stay up to date on all classes, calls for work, and events, or to become a member and support this valuable Lake County arts and culture resource visit www.middletownartcenter.org .
