Star City Blog / Theatre & Film

Review of 'Food, Inc.': Revealing the Beast

By Hanna Day-Woodruff

In a mere 94 minutes, Food, Inc. reveals the stunning cornucopia of problems in the American food system. These seemingly stem from one source, the corporate consolidation of food suppliers into megalithic entities. The essential thesis of Food, Inc. is this: America’s food system has consolidated to such an extent that these companies control the vast majority of the country’s food supply, wresting power from farmers one buyout and one lawsuit at a time. 

That control has resulted in the decline of the quality of agricultural workers, animals, food safety, nutrition and affordability. It has lowered consumer protections, worker safety standards and has shattered the agricultural economy of our southern neighbor, Mexico, sending millions of former Mexican farmers across the border to their new lives as illegal slaughterhouse workers and farm hands.  For those unaware of the intended and unintended consequences of the current food system, this movie will shock. It may even shock those in the know.

'Suds' Bubbles Over with the Musical Hits From the 1960s

On September 17th, the TADA Theatre presents a show bubbling over with fun as the rocking 60s musical, SUDS, makes its Lincoln debut.

Set in the sensational 60s, this rockin’ musical soap opera, spinning with energy and a load full of fun, is the story of lovelorn laundromat attendant Cindy, facing her birthday without a boyfriend in sight and plotting her final spin cycle. Not so fast!

Two guardian angels appear, determined to iron out her romantic blues. Assisted by a variety of other unique characters (all played by one actor) and a load full of well-known songs that topped the charts of that decade, the threesome are soon singing, fluffing, and folding their way back to happiness. With musical hits from Burt Bacharach and Hal David, the Beatles, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Connie Francis, Otis Redding, Neil Sedaka, Nancy Sinatra, and more, SUDS bubbles over with innocent fun and plenty of laughs to wash away the blues!

Award-Winning 'An American Opera: The Greatest Pet Rescue Ever!' to Show at The Ross

An American Opera: The Greatest Pet Rescue Ever! is coming to The Ross on Thursday, September 3rd at 7 p.m. Tom McPhee’s startling directorial debut is set against the apocalyptic landscape of Post-Katrina New Orleans and is a gripping personal journey of heroism, sacrifice, loss, and hope.
 
Local animal rescue groups will be tabling at the event and a portion of the proceeds will go back to fund their efforts. Filmmaker Tom McPhee will also be at the screening for a meet and greet and Q&A.

'A Woman In Berlin' @ The Ross

A sprawling, difficult, and powerful film, opening at The Ross on Friday, September 4, A WOMAN IN BERLIN is based on the true story of the women in defeated Germany who endured brutal mass rape at the hands of occupying Russian Soldiers.

“‘A WOMAN IN BERLIN’ is the best movie you're not going to see this year,” opines Kenneth Turan writing for the Los Angeles Times.  He continues, “You're going to read this review, maybe some others, you'll say, ‘That sounds good,’ but you won't go because the subject matter is difficult to handle. So difficult, so taboo, that it caused a scandal in Germany that lasted nearly half a century.”

'An Unlikely Weapon' @ The Ross

Opening at The Ross on Friday, September 4, directed by Susan Morgan Cooper and narrated by Kiefer Sutherland, AN UNLIKELY WEAPON is the chilling story behind a photograph that some say ended the Vietnam War.

In 1968, while covering the war for the Associated Press, Eddie Adams photographed a Saigon police chief, General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, shooting a Vietcong guerrilla point blank. The photo brought Adams fame and a Pulitzer, but the man he had unintentionally vilified haunted him. Adams would later say, "Two lives were destroyed that day, the victim's and the general." Yet, others would say, three lives were destroyed.

Every Little Step @ The Ross

Fascinating and insightful, opening at The Ross on Friday, August 21, Every Little Step is a thoroughly engrossing behind the scenes look at Broadway performers.

“Like show-business culture itself, A Chorus Line traffics in both cloying sentimentality and Darwinian ruthlessness, qualities that James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo's highly addictive behind-the-scenes documentary Every Little Step captures in abundance,” according to Andrew O’Hehir, film critic for Salon.com.

“In Every Little Step, life imitates art, art reflects life, and the distinctions threaten, quite pleasantly, to blur altogether,” opines New York Times film critic A.O. Scott.

EVERY LITTLE STEP is showing at the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center on Friday, August 21 through Thursday, September 3.  Show times are available at www.TheRoss.org, by consulting your newspaper, or by calling the MRRMAC film information line at 402.472.5353. The Motion Picture Association of America has rated EVERY LITTLE STEP PG-13[See Full Rating] for some strong language including sexual references.

Review of The Angels Theatre Company's 'True West'

By Sarah F. Sullivan

In one show, the Angels Theatre Company feverishly proved to Lincoln that even the loss of their home at the Loft at the Mill wasn‘t enough to keep them down. Such a shake-up can often be the death of a forthcoming production.

However, under the direction of Judith Hart, True West established itself as a truly phenomenal piece about the embittered family, jealousy and the trials of trying to fit in someone else‘s skin.

True West, arguably one of playwright Sam Shepard’s best works, is centered around two brothers, Lee and Austin. A modern day Cain and Abel, Lee (Ryan Kathman) has returned after a five year absence to visit his mother’s home in southern California, where his screenwriter brother, Austin (Aaron Sawyer), is house sitting. Lee drunkenly stumbles throughout the kitchen, wrestling and generally annoying his brother as he attempts to write his screenplay. And it is this screenplay that causes all hell to break loose.

'Food, Inc.' @ The Ross with Movie Talk Following the Film

An eye-opening expose of the modern food industry, opening at The Ross on Friday, August 21, Food, Inc. is both fascinating and terrifying, as well as essential viewing for any health-conscious citizen.

“This absorbing film looks terrific and does a superb job of making its case that our current food ways are drastically out of whack,” according to Washington Post film critic Ann Hornaday.

Salon.com film critic Andrew O’Hehir opines, “An engaging and often wrenching film, Food, Inc. covers a wide range of material, including the horrific, the humorous and the exemplary.”

'O'Horten' @ The Ross for One Week Only!

Bent Hamer's latest film, O’HORTEN, opening at the Ross on Friday, August 14, is a droll, deadpan comedy filled with strange touches and melancholy charm.

“The thing about a deadpan comedy is, it must involve us in the lives of its characters, so we can understand why they are funny while at the same time so distant,” writes film critic Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times.  He continues, “O'Horten, a bittersweet whimsy by the Norwegian director Bent Hamer, finds that effortless.”

New York Times film critic A.O. Scott writes, “[O’HORTEN is] made up of meticulously constructed, deadpan scenes that turn on Keatonesque visual jokes.”

'Rudo Y Cursi' @ The Ross for One Week Only!

Opening at The Ross on Friday, August 7, Rudo y Cursi marks an auspicious directing debut for Carlos Cuarón, and features strong performances from Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna.

“Rudo y Cursi is a sly miniaturist pleasure on its own terms, a piquant fable about the bouncing ups and downs of success, failure, competition, and comradeship,” according to Entertainment Weekly film critic Lisa Schwarzbaum.