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Oscar Isaac-Led The Card Counter Rounds Out Its Cast
The upcoming casino revenge film The Card Counter, which is set to star Oscar Isaac and directed by Paul Schrader, has added three big names to its cast. According to Deadline, the thriller has added Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan, and Willem Dafoe to the principal cast.
The film stars Isaac as the titular card counter who is tasked by Sheridan's character to seek revenge on a military man, played by Dafoe. Haddish will play a gambling financier who backs the two men.
Let's break these additions down piece-by-piece, starting with Willem Dafoe. There is no world where the addition of Dafoe is a bad idea. This performer has consistently done great, most predominantly in recent years with award-worthy work in The Florida Project, At Eternity's Gate, and especially The Lighthouse. I can't recall the last time he turned in a performance that hasn't uplifted the film he's in, so I got no problems here. Hell, he already worked with Isaac on At Eternity's Gate so the chemistry is there.
Sheridan is an interesting addition. He's a pretty subtle performer who has done solid but perhaps forgettable work in Ready Player One and the newer X-Men films, and while his is not a name that comes up in discussions for who should play what character in what film, he's not a detractor.
Now, let's get to Haddish. I can't think of a film with Haddish that has worked since Girls Trip, and I'm getting a little tired of her. She was solid but forgettable in Keanu, and I found her quite funny in Girls Trip, but since that time, I haven't really found her to be entertaining at all. She's in a rut similar to Steve Carell's earlier career where she keeps playing the same character over and over again to diminishing returns. The more I've thought about it, I didn't really like her in The Kitchen, and I really hated Like a Boss from earlier this year, so I'm not feeling this addition to the cast. Hopefully she can surprise me, but I'm not on board with this one yet.
So what do you all think of these casting adds? Is The Card Counter turning into a most-anticipated film for you? Let me know/Drop a comment down below!
-Kyle A. Goethe
Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
Director: J.J. Abrams
Cast: Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Anthony Daniels, Naomi Ackie, Domhnall Gleeson, Richard E. Grant, Lupita Nyong'o, Keri Russell, Joonas Suotamo, Kelly Marie Tran, Ian McDiarmid, Billy Dee Williams
Screenplay: Chris Terrio, J.J. Abrams
141 mins. Rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence and action.
Well, we've come to the end, haven't we? I guess, in the grand scheme of things, this is the third end, but who is really counting? With Episode IX, the Skywalker Saga has come to an end…for now, at least. Director J.J. Abrams (Star Trek, Super 8) came on to an impossible task of ending the nine-film saga, the sequel trilogy itself, and make a less-divisive film than The Last Jedi. He also had to work around the death of one of his stars, Carrie Fisher (Maps to the Stars, TV's Family Guy). He also had the, perhaps unfair, perception that he's much better at starting a story than finishing one. So with all that, is The Rise of Skywalker the perfect film that delivers on all of its goals. As it turns out, it's more of a mixed bag.
It's been a year since The Last Jedi, and the crumbling resistance fighters have gained a few additions but still pale in comparison with the size of the dreaded First Order, now under the leadership of Supreme Leader Kylo Ren (Adam Driver, Paterson, Marriage Story). Now, a strange message has been sent across the galaxy, seemingly coming from the long-dead Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid, The Lost City of Z, Sleepy Hollow), and it's up to Rey (Daisy Ridley, Murder on the Orient Express, Ophelia) and her friends to discover his location before he unleashes his new Final Order upon the galaxy.
I think the best way to describe this final film in the Skywalker Saga is "Great Story, Poor Execution." I had loads of fun in this movie, and I quite enjoyed the experience when I saw it a second time, but there are a lot of strange choices made, particularly in the screenplay and the editing, that I just didn't understand. I don't need everything explained for me in a movie, but some of the plot progression happens just because…
The inclusion of Carrie Fisher in this film had to come as a difficult decision. Ultimately, Abrams decided to utilize unused footage from The Force Awakens to create a performance for Leia in the film. Does it work? Kind of. I still stand by my thoughts that it would have served the character and the story better to just not have Fisher in the film and announce in the opening crawl that "Our princess has passed" or something similar. I think for what he tried to do, I can commend Abrams for getting Leia in the film, and the second viewing softened my criticism in the realm of Leia.
Adam Driver is absolutely stellar as Kylo Ren. I don't agree entirely with the route taken in this film with Kylo Ren, but Driver's performance sold me on it. Again, Kylo's arc is one I felt would be better going one way, but the filmmakers decided to take it the expected route. Overall, he surprised me yet again as Ren.
J.J. Abrams did manage to get the galactic Scooby gang together for a bulk of this film. It was crazy to me that Rey and Poe (Oscar Isaac, Ex Machina, The Addams Family) met for the first time officially in The Last Jedi at the end of the film. The Last Jedi also managed to keep most of our heroes separate for a bulk of the runtime, so it's great that they are all on a journey together. These areas are where a bulk of the lightheartedness of the film takes place and elevates what could be a very dreary story.
Daisy Ridley's arc as Rey is another tough one to pull off, and I think her performance rises above expectations because of Ridley's inherent charm onscreen. She's a fun character and one that the audience has no problems rooting for. Again, there are some twists and turns to her character arc, some I did not expect and didn't think would work, and they mostly did.
As far as legacy characters go, no one had a better showcase in this film than C-3PO (Anthony Daniels, I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle, The Lord of the Rings). This is 3PO at his most funny and probably most utilized since the first film. Anthony Daniels continues to prove why this franchise continues to go to the C-3PO well.
The rest of the cast all perform ably, and any faults can be attributed to the screenplay. Newcomers Naomi Ackie (Lady Macbeth, Yardie) and Keri Russell (Waitress, TV's The Americans) are both quite entertaining, but their characters seek only to convolute an already bloated screenplay. The subplot involving General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson, Frank, Peter Rabbit) and General Pryde (Richard E. Grant, Gosford Park, Can You Ever Forgive Me?) is well-acted, but it didn't need to be in the film and is ultimately meaningless. It was great to see Billy Dee Williams (The LEGO Batman Movie, The Man in 3B) back as Lando Calrissian, but he isn't given a whole lot to do, and one wonders why he wasn't included earlier. It seems odd for him to just show up now.
Ian McDiarmid's return to the franchise does give an overall feeling of cohesiveness to the saga, but Palpatine's plans for Rey and Kylo just don't really make sense all around. I love the visual look of Palpatine and the environment he appears in (in fact, some of Ralph McQuarrie's unused concept art from decades ago was put to good use here), but again, it feels like lazy storytelling and I didn't get the sense that there was detail in the screenplay because the story lacked a lot, not in how Palpatine is back, but why he waited until now and how he manages to do what he does in the film.
I think the problems of The Rise of Skywalker all stem from the fact that Lucasfilm did not have a plan for this trilogy. By not putting the three directors in a room with someone like Dave Filoni who can offer guidance in crafting a cohesive long-form story. Not having a plan forced Abrams to do a lot of heavy lifting here and it created a film with an interesting and exciting finale that lacked direction because so much is jammed into a movie. Having Chris Terrio as a writer may also have created some problems in the screenplay. While I think Terrio is quite talented, he seems to have a lot of trouble with franchise storytelling, most notably from his tie working on the DCEU. It also feels like The Rise of Skywalker would have fared batter as a three-hour film. That and tightening up the MacGuffin-filled narrative would have helped the film to be more successful in its execution.
I still think The Rise of Skywalker turned out better with Abrams than it would have with Colin Trevorrow behind the wheel. The number one thing here is whether the film is entertaining an enjoyable, and problems and nitpicks aside, there's a lot to love in this finale. The film is filled with fun surprises, callbacks and appearances, and the score from John Williams is absolutely awe-inspiring. A better screenplay and some more cohesive editing could've helped quite a bit, but this is a hell of an action-packed conclusion to the Skywalker Saga.
For my review of George Lucas's Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, click here.
For my review of George Lucas's Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, click here.
For my review of George Lucas's Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, click here.
For my review of Ron Howard's Solo: A Star Wars Story, click here.
For my review of George Lucas's Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, click here.
For my review of Irvin Kershner's Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, click here.
For my review of Richard Marquand's Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, click here.
For my review of J.J. Abrams's Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, click here.
For my review of Rian Johnson's Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi, click here.
[Early Review] Triple Frontier (2019)
Director: J.C. Chandor
Cast: Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund, Pedro Pascal, Adria Arjona
Screenplay: Mark Boal, J.C. Chandor
125 mins. Rated R for violence and language throughout.
Triple Frontier seemed like a movie that was never going to get made. Cursed, almost. Over the past few years, I'd heard reports of all sorts of actors from Johnny Depp to Tom Hanks board the project and then back out. Some actors, like star Ben Affleck (Argo, Justice League) joined the film only to back out over scheduling conflict and then come back and join the cast once again later on. Kathryn Bigelow was set to direct but then left to direct Detroit. It seemed to wallow away in development hell until finally J.C. Chandor (A Most Violent Year, All is Lost) put all the pieces together, with a script from Mark Boal and Chandor, and delivered Triple Frontier, and it turned out to be an intense thought-provoking thrill ride.
Santiago (Oscar Isaac, Ex Machina, Star Wars: The Last Jedi) assembles a crew of his friends and ex-Special Forces members to steal from and assassinate a dangerous drug king in South America. When the heist takes a surprising turn and the escape plan changes, their loyalties to the mission and to each other are tested. They are forced to decide between risking their greed or their survival as obstacles mount all around them.
Triple Frontier's tense screenplay works with the Hero's Journey really nice, and Isaac's Santiago, for better or worse, works his way toward a goal, and his decisions have consequences. Affleck's Tom is a man who needs the money but knows what this kind of mission can do to him. The two play opposite sides of the coin and as their moralities change between them, they play great foils to one another.
Charlie Hunnam (A Million Little Pieces, TV's Sons of Anarchy) plays William, a public speaker struggling with his mental state after what he's witnessed. He takes on the job once he knows Tom is involved because he knows Tom's clear head will prevail. His is a character of habits and little comforts who plays by the book.
Pedro Pascal (Kingsman: The Golden Circle, If Beale Street Could Talk) is Francisco, a hell of a pilot with a little drug problem. He wants to get in the air again and feel a sense of purpose. These four characters are written as people who don't break the rules, but the circumstances of the plot and narrative fundamentally change their thought processes, and with that comes mistakes and a sense of moral ambiguity.
That being said, I felt like Garrett Hedlund (Mudbound, Burden) was wasted in this film. His character, William's brother Ben, doesn't have all that much to do. He isn't given a compelling narrative and seemingly fills out the cast.
Triple Frontier has a vivid and gorgeous cinematic look to it. The cinematography is clean and colorful, the editing quick and tight, and the production design realistic. There's some issues with the sound design in the film, though, and the music choices sometimes feel like a checklist for drug cartel movies, but the film's most impressive aspect is its use of tension. There are a great many scenes where the wills and resilience of the crew are tested, and thanks to Chandor's decision to stretch the tension from an already tense script work wonders here. I was pulling my hair wondering just how they were going to escape from several situations.
Triple Frontier hits Netflix screens on March 13th, but you can catch it in theaters before that, and I would suggest it. This is a tense morality play with some intense action, solid character development, and some genuinely shocking moments. I recommend seeing it immediately.
[Early Review] Life Itself (2018)
Director: Dan Fogelman
Cast: Oscar Isaac, Olivia Wilde, Mandy Patinkin, Olivia Cooke, Laia Costa, Annette Bening, Antonio Banderas
Screenplay: Dan Fogelman
118 mins. Rated R for language including sexual references, some violent images and brief drug use.
Life Itself is poised to capture that couples date night money this weekend, but is it any good?
The film follows a couple, Will (Oscar Isaac, Ex Machina, Annihilation) and Abby (Olivia Wilde, Tron: Legacy, TV's Vinyl) from college to marriage and onward as the twisting, winding road of their story echoes throughout future generations. After their marriage ends, Will is forced by to tread through his past by Dr. Cait Morris (Annette Bening, American Beauty, Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool) in order to put his life back on track. But is he remembering things right? Is he a reliable narrator? Is anyone? Life Itself attempts to answer these questions as several different people from vast walks of life intertwine.
Life Itself is poorly-conceived schmaltz and depression disguised to look like a romantic drama. Director Dan Fogelman (Danny Collins) attempts to pull at heartstrings with some of the most awkwardly crafted sequences trying their best to swim in a sinking plot. I could tell Oscar Isaac was really trying, but some of the dialogue he is forced to utter is so cringe-worthy that I almost can't believe he was able to get it out. The scenes in which he and Dr. Morris are looking back at his relationship with Abby feel like a soap opera mixed with an afterschool special in some sort of attempt at being A Christmas Carol. They stand there and awkwardly toss words at each other while the more important stuff, the actual flashback lies before them.
Life Itself's plot construction also left a lot to be desired. This film felt like it was laid out with a connect-the-dots in which someone already completed for me. I was sitting in my seat, actively betting myself on how certain sequences would play out and, more often than not, I was right.
I think what's most shocking is how Life Itself both does and does not take its emotional core seriously. The film jokes about death and pain in some of the strangest ways while actually asking you to feel sad at the right times. It's tone stays consistent for large stretches and then drastically veers into uncharted territory.
Don't get me wrong, there's some value in the film. I actually found many of the performances to be fine, particularly from Isaac as Will, Bening as Morris, Mandy Patinkin (Smurfs: The Lost Village, TV's Homeland) as Will's father Irwin, and Antonio Banderas (The Mask of Zorro, TV's Genius) as Mr. Saccione, an owner of a olive farm featured in the latter part of the movie. Banderas delivers a monologue excellently when he is first featured.
Life Itself is a bigger-budgeted version of a high schooler's experimental short film. It's really trying to be something here, but it waxes philosophy in such a hammy fashion that it devolves into little more than drivel by the end of its lengthy runtime. I actually really wanted to like this movie, but alas, this is one that is definitely not worth your time.
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[Early Review] Annihilation (2018)
Director: Alex Garland
Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Tuva Novotny, Oscar Isaac
Screenplay: Alex Garland
115 mins. Rated R for violence, bloody images, language and some sexuality.
Alex Garland (Ex Machina) is a director to keep an eye out for. He is mostly known for his writing on films like Dredd, Never Let Me Go, Sunshine, and 28 Days Later, but now that he is directing, his vision has never been more focused.
Annihilation is the story of Lena (Natalie Portman, Jackie, Song to Song), a biologist who signs up for a dangerous exploration of a mysterious area called The Shimmer to find out what happened to her missing husband Kane (Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis, Star Wars: The Last Jedi). What she quickly discovers upon entering is that The Shimmer does not operate by the standard laws of nature, and there is something else alive inside.
Okay, so I just got home from Annihilation and there's a lot more to unpack before I really understand. Don't worry, no major spoilers here. In fact, I did a pretty good job tiptoeing around spoilers in the above description. Suffice to say, Annihilation is an impressively ambitious mind-bender. I was enthralled as the film's chess pieces moved into place and the ending was strange, beautiful, haunting, and confusing in all the right ways.
As the film moves along, there are some tremendous set pieces and some truly disturbing imagery. One of the flaws of the film, though, is that it takes a bit before it starts rollicking along. There's some heavy exposition chunked up at the beginning of the film, and it isn't until they enter The Shimmer that the film really takes off.
Annihilation is bolstered by tremendous acting performances from Portman as expected. Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight, Amityville: The Awakening) plays Dr. Ventress, the leader of the expedition. Leigh is cold and broken as Ventress, a haunting portrayal of a woman driven to discover. Tessa Thompson (Creed, Thor: Ragnarok) is also brilliant as Josie, another member of the expedition.
Annihilation has a lot in common with other sci-fi fare on its surface, but what makes it different is the calculated pacing and the slow build of tension that is at times horrific and shockingly beautiful in equal measure. The questions it asks are not easily answered, some are not answered at all, but for all of its inquisition, Annihilation is a beautiful examination of ideas and thoughts. This one is likely to keep viewers dissecting and reassembling the piece long after leaving the theater.
[#2018oscardeathrace] Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017)
Cast: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Lupita Nyong'o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, Kelly Marie Tran, Laura Dern, Benicio del Toro
Screenplay: Rian Johnson
152 mins. Rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action and violence.
Academy Award Nominee: Best Achievement in Visual Effects [Pending]
Academy Award Nominee: Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) [Pending]
Academy Award Nominee: Best Achievement in Sound Editing [Pending]
Academy Award Nominee: Best Achievement in Sound Mixing [Pending]
I guess it's true. No one hates Star Wars more than Star Wars fans. This movie was divided as hell, but does The Last Jedi deserve the hate or is it missing the praise?
Picking up moments after the events of The Force Awakens, Rey (Daisy Ridley, Murder on the Orient Express, Only Yesterday) has found Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill, Brigsby Bear, Bunyan and Babe) on Ahch-To to discover that he has abandoned the Jedi code to live out his days in quiet solitude. Meanwhile, General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher, Maps to the Stars, TV's Family Guy) leads the resistance forces away from D'Qar as a First Order fleet arrives to take them. Now, they are on the run from First Order forces. Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac, Ex Machina, Suburbicon) makes a costly mistake in the defense of the convoy and falls into a path of mistrust when Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern, Wild, TV's Big Little Lies) assumes command of the Resistance forces. Now, as the First Order closes in, Finn and Poe attempt to save the convoy, Rey finds herself drawn ever closer to Kylo Ren (Adam Driver, Paterson, TV's Girls) and the truth about her past.
Okay, so I'm not a Star Wars apologist. I find the prequels to be extremely middling in quality, and even though I love all the Star Wars films, I'm not above finding glaring issues that stick out. That being said…
I loved The Last Jedi. It completely changed the game and added so much to the mythology by driving the film forward rather than looking to the past. This is an incredible addition to the Star Wars Saga. Rian Johnson (Looper, The Brothers Bloom) came to the table and took what J.J. Abrams created with The Force Awakens and pushed it further. It's definitely not like its predecessor in that it isn't how I expected it. In fact, that's what I love most about the film. I walked into it with all these preconceived ideas about how the movie has to go, and I would say just about all of them were wrong. I love The Last Jedi because I was shocked and surprised when I watched it, and that hasn't happened since The Empire Strikes Back.
The film's performances and cast are top-notch yet again, particularly leads Hamill and the late Carrie Fisher, this being her final Star Wars outing. Hamill could easily have been nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars with his most subtle and tortured performance in his entire career. Skywalker is broken by his failure to save Ben Solo.
There's also some really great work from Ridley and Driver, especially in their shared scenes. We see some darkness in Rey and some potential good in Kylo. It's clear that these two have not fallen into their roles as enemies yet. There are some nice flaws showcased on both sides here.
I also have to say some about Andy Serkis (War for the Planet of the Apes, The Adventures of Tintin) as Supreme Leader Snoke. He doesn't get as much to do in this new installment, much like The Force Awakens, but the way he is utilized in this film is far superior to Episode VII. Unfortunately, Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave, Queen of Katwe) and Gwendoline Christie (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, TV's Game of Thrones) feel shoehorned in as Maz Kanata and Captain Phasma, respectively.
But the film was always going to be divisive. I just wasn't prepared for how divisive it would be. Even Mark Hamill expressed concerns to Johnson about the direction of the film, but after seeing the finished product, it sounds like he has since been won over.
And there are things I take issue with in the film, but they are merely nitpicky things like a particular Leia scene that comes across a little silly. There's a moment early on with Luke that could have emotional impact but instead falls to cheap comedy. These are mere nitpicks and, in the scope of the film, this being the darkest film in the saga, I can understand the reliance on some levity.
The Last Jedi honors what has come before while also paving the way to what's yet to come. It's a unique Star Wars film, and it's the best in the series since The Empire Strikes Back. Rian Johnson's attention to detail and the film's connective tissue with the rest of the sage, including Rogue One, is just another reason that this film works as well as it does. With this film, Anthony Daniels (The Lego Movie, The Lord of the Rings) becomes the only actor to appear in all the Star Wars live-action releases. I unabashedly loved the theater experience of seeing The Last Jedi, so much so that I saw it an additional two times. See this movie. Three Times.
Kyle's Top Ten Most Anticipated Films of 2018
Since I've already seen one of 2018's releases, I'm probably a little late on presenting my most anticipated list for 2018. Don't worry, it hasn't changed much. Let's start off with a note:
This list is more anticipated, not what I think will be the best by any stretch. These are the films I'm most looking forward to as of right now, so there will be more blockbusters than indies because that's just how it plays out. So, with that being said…
NOTE: THIS IS NOT A COUNTDOWN BUT A LIST.
-I thoroughly enjoyed director Alex Garland's Ex Machina from 2015, and on that film alone, I cannot wait to see Annihilation. Garland has had a run of pretty solid work in the last few years, and getting top talent like Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac involved is only making this more hyped for me. I don't know much about the film's plot outside of the lone trailer I've seen, but getting a chance to see a great storytelling weave a yarn in his own sandbox is always a great thing.
Pacific Rim: Uprising
-I'm very sad that Guillermo del Toro isn't returning to helm the sequel to his underappreciated Pacific Rim, but that's what it took to get The Shape of Water, so what can you do? At least he is staying on in a producer role and the franchise is continuing. I'm not sure how to feel about Uprising as the film looks drastically different from the original, but John Boyega playing Idris Elba's son looks interesting enough, and genre favorite Steven S. DeKnight behind the camera is setting the film up for success. I'm very excited to see an expanding of this mythology and more Jaeger/Kaiju action.
-I'm just starting the book right now, and the trailers for Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One have been fascinating. I just don't know how to feel but the film looks bonkers. There is absolutely no reason not to be excited for more Spielberg but this one feels so familiar and yet so different from what we've seen recently from the director. As long as there are enough weird Easter Eggs, I guess I will keep plenty busy at this one.
-Yeah, this one was on my list for 2017, but it got bumped back. God Particle is all but confirmed to be the next Cloververse film after Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane. Since I loved both of its predecessors and I enjoy dissecting theories about this quasi-anthology, God Particle should be a fun and interesting ride.
-What do I say that hasn't already been said? Almost 20 films in and we are getting this massive film. I have no words. I doubted that this franchise could or would work, and I was wrong. Pop in Black Panther and Ant-Man & the Wasp (I didn't want to have more than one franchise installment on this list but I'm stoked for all three) and this should prove to be another exciting year for the MCU.
-All the drama behind-the-scenes has made me rather nervous for Solo, but I trust the minds at Lucasfilm because I've enjoyed all three Star Wars adventures since their acquisition by Disney, so I trust that they acted at the right time installing Ron Howard as the new director to fix this anthology film. What does make me nervous, though, is the lack of the trailer with only four months to go.
-I elected to pick Deadpool 2 over The New Mutants and Dark Phoenix because of how surprising the original Deadpool was in 2016. With the shuffling around behind the camera, the exit of Tim Miller, and the addition of David Leitch, it is interesting to see how this one plays out. If the teaser or short that were released are any indication, I think we are in good hands here.
-Trust me when I say that all of my excitement for this film is riding on Shane Black. I always love a new Predator film, but Shane Black is the reason this is on the list. I love Black's storytelling sensibilities from his writing of the greatest action film of all time (yeah, I'm calling it for Lethal Weapon) but also his work as a director with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man 3, and The Nice Guys. Some people aren't aware that Black even co-starred in the original Predator, so he has a good tie to this series.
–Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was quite a surprise. I love Harry Potter, but the idea to expand the mythology with an adaptation of a textbook was weird. Turns out, J.K. Rowling has a few more stories to tell. The flaw with the first film, though, was Johnny Depp's cameo as Gellert Grindelwald. I didn't like his appearance and I don't have as much faith in him as an actor, so seeing him take on the second-biggest villain in the Harry Potter universe was an odd choice. With The Crimes of Grindelwald, Depp will be taking on a much larger role, so I'm interesting if a little nervous to see what comes of it.
-Though the trailer didn't have much to offer (as the film is still about a year out), seeing Peter Jackson's name onscreen again is always a welcome sight. He's taking on a producer and screenwriter role this time with Mortal Engines, an adaptation of the novel series by Philip Reeve. Jackson and his team are incredible writers, so a nice foundation to this film is enough to spark my interest. We will have to wait for another trailer to see how it is all shaping up, but Mortal Engines has a lot on its plate.
So there it is. What film are you most excited for in 2018? Let me know/drop a comment below.
Simon Kinberg to Direct X-Men: Dark Phoenix; Jessica Chastain in Talks to Play Villain
Simon Kinberg will finally get his opportunity to sit in the director's chair on a new installment of the X-Men Universe. X-Men: Dark Phoenix will reunite Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Sophie Turner, Nicholas Hoult, Alexandra Shipp, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Tye Sheridan, all from X-Men: Apocalypse.
The film will of course adapt the beloved Dark Phoenix saga focused around Jean Grey. For fans, this is both exciting and also a touchy subject, as many still hold the wounds of X-Men: The Last Stand, co-written by Kinberg himself, the botched first attempt to adapt the material. Thanks to the events of altering the timeline in X-Men: Days of Future Past, we now have an opportunity to right the wrongs.
And not only that! The amazing and truly talented Jessica Chastain is in talks to play a villain! I absolutely adore Chastain (and yes, I have a boy crush, deal with it) and the work she puts out is consistenly incredible, but she isn't known for her franchise or genre work, so I'm very excited to see Chastain join the iconic ranks of incredible actors playing X-Men villains (Ian McKellan, Brian Cox, Kevin Bacon, Peter Dinklage, and Oscar Isaac).
But is Kinberg the right move here? I'm not really sure. As I said before, the franchise has already ruined this story arc before, from a script partially written by Kinberg. Granted, we all know there was studio interference and also Brett Ratner behind the lens, but has Kinberg shown capabilities to prove he's worth the risk? At this point, I don't think so.
That being said, I'm all for the addition of Chastain to the franchise.
So what do you think? Is Simon Kinberg the right choice to direct X-Men: Dark Phoenix? And what do you think about the possible addition of Jessica Chastain? Let me know/Drop a comment below.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix rises in cinemas in 2018.
Director: Bryan Singer
Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn, Lucas Till
Screenplay: Simon Kinberg
144 mins. Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence, action and destruction, brief strong language and some suggestive images.
X-Men: Apocalypse is proof that the internet will freak out about anything. When footage first debuted of Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina, Star Wars: The Force Awakens) in costume as the villain En Sabah Nur, or Apocalypse, everyone started losing their minds over the look of the mutant, comparing him to Ivan Ooze of The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers Movie fame. In the finished product, he looks and feels fine. The internet went crazy over nothing. They should have been worried about other problems that the film would actually have…
It's been ten years since X-Men: Days of Future Past, and now, in 1983, Charles Xavier (James McAvoy, Wanted, Victor Frankenstein) has been running his school for gifted youngsters smoothly for years. With the assistance of Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult, Mad Max: Fury Road, Kill Your Friends), Charles has taken in countless young mutants like the brilliantly gifted Jean Grey (Sophie Turner, TV's Game of Thrones, Barely Lethal). But when an ancient evil, En Sabah Nur (Isaac), rises in Egypt and threatens to cleanse the Earth and rebuild a better one, the young students of the school must band together to protect themselves and the world from total annihilation.
Let's start with what really works in Apocalypse. Once again, McAvoy and Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds, Prometheus) play perfect foils to each other as Xavier and Erik Lensherr, respectively. It is Fassbender that truly shines as the sins of his past come back to haunt him and he is forced to confront his anger over the loss of his parents once and for all. I also really liked Oscar Isaac as Apocalypse. I think when seen in context, he does what he can with what he has to mold his performance. That isn't to say that the villain is great, but that Isaac capably plays to what he can. I also liked the reemergence of Jean Grey, Scott Summers (Tye Sheridan, Mud, Scout's Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse), and Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee).
I, of course, have to call out the incredible one-upmanship from the previous film in the form of another terrific Quiksilver sequence featuring Evan Peters. This time around, the soundtrack updates and the effects come flying into the 1980s for an absolutely fascinating and fun action scene that steals the whole movie.
Since the shared universe hit a reboot with Days of Future Past, it'll be interesting to see how certain events play out. Apocalypse hit on a few squandered moments from earlier in the franchise in a fairly stylish way, paying homage to the original comic books. It doesn't always succeed in its attempt to right the wrongs, as the film creates a convoluted mess of some of the renewed elements. For example, it makes no mention of the ending to DOFP where we discover that Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games, Joy) is mimicking Stryker. Then, we get a new version of several characters who are strikingly different ages than they were in the previous timeline. Granted, this shouldn't bother me as much as it does, but it only seeks to the concerning question of whether this franchise has learned from its mistakes.
Then there's the big conundrum of setting this film in the 1980s. In doing so, I didn't feel a lot of tension for the Earth-shattering destruction as I was fully aware that we saw present day at the end of DOFP and in this year's Deadpool, both of which exist in the new timeline. Again, small complaints perhaps, but bothersome nonetheless.
But what I really didn't like about the film was that in creating a new unique villain, director Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, Jack the Giant Slayer) didn't really give us one worth fearing. I mentioned earlier that I liked Oscar Isaac as En Sabah Nur, but he is given virtually no character building other than dialogue in the film. Singer removed the space entity treatment of the character to focus on the religious connotations, but he ended up creating a flat villain to place the burden of the film on. I would have liked to have known what Apocalypse was capable of. He mostly just threw stuff around the screen and created lovely debris tornados. His horseman are further treated with no imagination. Magneto and perhaps Storm are the only one pitched with any realy interest. Angel and Psylocke (Olivia Munn, Magic Mike, Zoolander 2) were virtually wasted, Munn being perfectly miscast and her character extremely mishandled. If Psylocke was meant to usher in an X-Force film down the line, I'm more than a little concerned.
I won't even really go into detail on the dismal work of Jennifer Lawrence because I feel like so many others have already mentioned her lack of trying. It appears like Lawrence is having blockbuster fatigue after finishing The Hunger Games last year. She spends no time in her costume, presumably from something in her contract, which ultimately leaves Mystique in a rather uninteresting situation.
There's a throwaway reference in the film when the young mutants are exiting a showing of Return of the Jedi. They remark how the second film is often the best and the third is often the worst. It is seen as a reference to the disappointing reviews from critics and viewers of X-Men: The Last Stand back in 2006, a film Singer left to pursue Superman Returns. It seems like a bad idea to put a joke like that in a film that is essentially the final piece of a trilogy started with First Class and DOFP, especially when considering that next year the Wolverine trilogy is also coming to an end. Apocalypse clearly proves the joke to be true here, and fans can only hope that the minds behind this uneven franchise can learn and right the ship in time for Hugh Jackman's last outing in the series in next year's Wolverine 3.
So have you seen X-Men: Apocalypse? What did you think? And we have seen four of the six big superhero releases of the year (the other three being Deadpool, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Captain America: Civil War). Which one is your favorite? Let me know!
For my review of Gavin Hood's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, click here.
For my review of Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class, click here.
For my review of Bryan Singer's X-Men, click here.
For my review of Bryan Singer's X2: X-Men United, click here.
For my review of Brett Ratner's X-Men: The Last Stand, click here.
For my review of James Mangold's The Wolverine, click here.
For my review of Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days of Future Past, click here.
For my review of Tim Miller's Deadpool, click here.
[Happy 5th Birthday!] Sucker Punch (2011)
Cast: Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Carla Gugino, Oscar Isaac, Jon Hamm, Scott Glenn
Screenplay: Zack Snyder, Steve Shibuya
110 mins. Rated PG-13 for thematic material involving sexuality, violence and combat sequences, and for language.
Wow, I remember being very excited for Sucker Punch five years ago. I really enjoyed Dawn of the Dead and Watchmen, both directed by Zack Snyder (300, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) and I couldn't wait to see what the visual director was going to bring next. Sucker Punch had the right amount of mystery and confidence to carry it for me. Then, it came out. My mind quickly changed. Looking back now, I decided to revisit Sucker Punch five years later to see if it had changed.
Sucker Punch is another one of those movies impossible to fully describe in a paragraph, so I'll try to make it as easy as possible. Babydoll (Emily Browning, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Legend) has just lost her mother, and her step-father has sent her to an asylum for the mentally ill, which Babydoll sees as a brothel. She meets others there, like Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish, Limitless, RoboCop) and her sister Rocket (Jena Malone, Contact, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2), and she is introduced to Blue Jones (Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis, Star Wars: The Force Awakens), who makes Babydoll and her friends dance at his club. Not wanting to deal with the cards dealt, Babydoll escapes into a fantasy world where she battles Nazi Zombies, Robot Samurai, and of course, a dragon, all the time attempting to get tools to plot her escape.
If there are two truly great things that came out of Sucker Punch, they are the visuals and the music. This movie is gorgeous looking, and I don't just mean the talent in front of the camera. Zack Snyder's constant flair for the screen is again impressive here. The score and soundtrack, both in the original renditions and songs selected to fit the film, are incredible and rhythmic and a lot of fun. That is where the wins for Sucker Punch end.
I'm not even going to touch on the misogynistic feel of the overall film. The movie just wants to be better than it is. I didn't feel the emotional impact of much of the film because I knew that what I was seeing was not exactly what was really happening. It isn't very easy to make a popcorn movie with explosions and scantily-clad woman battling monsters into a total snoozer, but Sucker Punch did just that. Honestly, when I read down the list of components of this film, it should be great, but the poor screenplay from Snyder and Steve Shibuya shines through this film, ultimately making a disappointment.
The film is star studded, also including Jamie Chung (Big Hero 6, Bad Johnson), Carla Gugino (Night at the Museum, San Andreas), Jon Hamm (TV's Mad Men, Minions), and Scott Glenn (The Silence of the Lambs, The Barber), but unfortunately, the film feels overdone and undercooked, a beautifully confusing mess, a nicely mixed cocktail that tastes like mud. I really wanted to love Sucker Punch, but I just wasn't in love with it.
For my review of Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, click here.


text:
Brief Genghis Con Update
By Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little
February 16th, 2007 @ 1:22 PM Community
At Genghis Con 2007. At lunch. Just got out of a D&D session led by the most patient DM I think I've ever encountered (who wasn't my husband). I haven't played D&D in a long time, or a spell-casting character ever, so a lot of patience was required to keep me functional.
Last night I played Call of Cthulhu for the first time. The Keeper for that session was excellent, full of energy and transparent glee, especially when she saw us do something that she knew was guaranteed to make things… interesting. I'll be participating in another of her Cthulhu modules today.
Another first last night: I was taught how to play the board game Stephenson's Rocket, a game about building railway lines across England. I've played 1830 etc., and I've never before seen a railway game that takes less than four hours to play. A game of Stephenson's Rocket runs about an hour, probably less if the players are experienced at the game (whose rules are much less complicated than those of 1830 etc.).
Highlights of the rest of the weekend: I plan to sit in on a Cloud Kingdom Games demonstration, join in some Rio Grand board games, and attend a "how to host a murder" party.
The con is at the Four Points by Sheraton Southeast, which is at East Hampden at I-25. It's a vaguely H-shaped hotel–but the H has very, very, very long legs. So the walk back to the lobby from the dungeonish unfurnished units on the wing where last night's RPGs were held was a little labyrinthine. The food options are hotel-priced, as you might expect, but good. The aptly named West View Grill has the absolute best crab cakes I've ever eaten. And the breakfast waitstaff have apparently been instructed to hard-sell the buffet that's been specially priced for the buffet. I needed a Persuade rating of at least 75% just to order the corned beef hash.
And that's all for now. More later as the weekend progresses.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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SAN JOSE (February 10, 2019) – Maria Rodriguez, 83, of San Jose, was struck and killed Sunday morning at the Interstate 680 and Highway 101, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The woman had been traveling with her husband in their white pickup truck southbound on the US 101 and were exiting onto the ramp to the northbound Interstate 680 Freeway. The man reportedly lost control of the pickup and crashed into a concrete side wall about 6:15 a.m.
The pickup truck became disabled and the woman got out of the vehicle and then walked down the ramp in the No. 3 lane to exit the freeway. Meanwhile, a passing white Toyota Camry struck the woman pedestrian about 6:45 a.m.
Paramedics responded to the crash scene and treated Maria Rodriguez, but she died of her injuries at the scene.
The driver of the Toyota Camry did not suffer any injuries in the crash and remained on scene. Police will determine liability for this woman's death.


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text:
Highlights of the Concert Season, Fall 2005
by Charles T. Downey | Friday, September 16, 2005
CHAMBER MUSIC:
One of Jens's favorites, the Takács Quartet, in its first season with new violist Geraldine Walther, will be coming to our area this fall. First, they will perform a program of Mozart, Chopin, and Brahms with pianist Garrick Ohlsson, at Shriver Hall, on the campus of Johns Hopkins University up in Baltimore on October 2. If you don't hear enough then or can't make it to Baltimore, they will perform quartets by Haydn, Borodin, and Beethoven, as part of the free concert series at the National Gallery of Art on October 23.
The Borodin Quartet will play a concert of Borodin and Beethoven on the excellent free series at the Library of Congress's Coolidge Auditorium, on October 19. This is part of their 60th Anniversary Tour. How about chamber music with big-name soloists? On October 23, violinist Midori will play a recital with pianist Charles Abramovic. Washington Performing Arts Society hosts this concert at the Music Center at Strathmore. WPAS also brings us violinist Hilary Hahn, in a recital on November 13, in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, as well as pianist Mitsuko Uchida in recital on November 15, back at Strathmore. We also look forward to the chance to hear Messiaen's exalted and transforming Quartet for the End of Time on November 3, given by the Jerusalem Trio with clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein, at the Library of Congress.
Also worth noting: a performance of the chamber music of Tōru Takemitsu, on October 8, at the Library of Congress; the Beaux Arts Trio at the National Gallery of Art on October 9; the Orion String Quartet with pianist Peter Serkin at the Kennedy Center on October 12; the Pacifica String Quartet at the National Gallery of Art, East Building Auditorium, on December 11; the Jupiter String Quartet at the Library of Congress on December 16; and the Emerson String Quartet with Colin Carr, at the National Museum of Natural History's Baird Auditorium on December 17.
As for other soloists we will try to hear, how about world-famous, trend-setting, world-altering sitarist Ravi Shankar, whom WPAS is bringing to Strathmore on October 16? Other notable appearances: the winner of this year's Van Cliburn Competition, pianist Alexander Kobrin will give a recital on November 12, in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Peabody Conservatory graduate Awadagin Pratt will give a recital on November 27 at the National Gallery of Art. In this category, we might also include puckish music historian Peter Schickele who, improbably, has been making classical music side-splittingly funny for decades. In this Mozart Year, the creator of P.D.Q. Bach will give a lecture on the great composer on December 7 in the sacred confines of the Library of Congress's Coolidge Auditorium.
ORCHESTRAS AND SOLOISTS:
We are looking forward to hearing some of the big guns with orchestras in our area, too. I'll be trying to go up to Meyerhoff Hall to see the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra with pianist Barry Douglas, 1986 winner of the Tchaikovsky Competition and a great player. That's on October 13 and 14.
On October 18, the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra will play a free concert at the Library of Congress, with German violin prodigy Arabella Steinbacher. Also from Germany, the Munich Symphony Orchestra will perform with pianist Philippe Entremont, on October 22, at the George Mason University Center for the Arts (Fairfax, Va.). Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet will play a concert with the National Symphony, under guest conductor Stéphane Denève, on November 3 to 5, at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. That will probably be overshadowed by a pianist whom Jens has reservations about, Lang Lang, who will play with the NSO on December 1 to 3. On November 28, Christoph Eschenbach will bring the The Philadelphia Orchestra, to the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, again thanks to WPAS.
VOCAL MUSIC:
The Washington National Opera is mounting two operas we are looking forward to this fall. This very evening, Mrs. Ionarts and I will be attending the premiere of Verdi's I Vespri Siciliani, which will continue through October 4. We have heard a lot from a certain New York opera blogger about Ukrainian soprano Maria Guleghina, and it will be a treat to watch Plácido Domingo at the podium. Of course, if WNO takes on just about any opera from the 20th century, we get too excited to make coherent sense anymore, so it's going to be great to see the November production (October 29 to November 19) of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. As for what comes in between, the so-called Trilogy, three unrelated single acts of operas smashed together, I was at least excited to hear Mirella Freni again (after loving her in Tchaikovsky's Maid of Orleans last season and long before that). La Freni has withdrawn, but you still have Domingo singing in all three acts, and Barbara Frittoli as Desdemona in the horrifying and sublime fourth act of Otello, marooned inappropriately between an act of Fedora and Merry Widow. I don't know what to say about it, but there you have it.
Some other operas we want to see this fall include the November 6 performance, by Opera Verdi Europa, of Verdi's Macbeth, at the George Mason University Center for the Arts in Fairfax. Coloratura soprano Valeria Esposito (whom we admired in Baltimore's Tales of Hoffmann last May) will perform the role of Amina in Vincenzo Bellini's La Sonnambula, up at Baltimore Opera (November 12, 16, 18, and 20). On October 30, we will probably take the opportunity to hear Puccini's Il Tabarro, performed by Washington Concert Opera, even though it is paired with the even more frequently performed Cavalleria Rusticana, which is not the sort of programming choice I would counsel for a concert opera company.
On October 18, we are excited to hear Renée Fleming in Richard Strauss's Daphne, with the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, conducted by Semyon Bychkov, at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. La Fleming's new recording of Daphne will hopefully erase some of our bad experiences of her sacred songs CD. Another new opera recording we've been listening to at Ionarts, along with just about every other critic worldwide, is mezzo soprano Cecilia Bartoli's Opera Proibita. As part of her tour of pieces from that CD, La Bartoli will give a WPAS-sponsored recital on October 26 at the Kennedy Center. Other legendary singers performing in Washington this fall include Ian Bostridge, in an all-Schubert program on September 22, and Frederica Von Stade on December 10 at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, sponsored by Vocal Arts Society.
DANCE:
We are by no means a dance site here at Ionarts, but we appreciate good dance performances as much as the next person. This fall, the Washington Ballet opens its season with a combination of Septime Webre's Carmen, George Balanchine's Serenade, and Twyla Tharp's Nine Sinatra Songs, from November 2 to 6 at the Kennedy Center. Visiting troupes include the National Ballet of China (October 4 to 8, with a choreography based on Zhang Yimou's movie Raise the Red Lantern on October 7 and 8 only) and Suzanne Farrell Ballet, from November 22 to 27, presenting choreographies of Léo Delibes's La Source, Stravinsky's Duo Concertant, Ravel's La Valse, and Morton Gould's Clarinade, which was the first work choreographed by Balanchine for New York City Ballet.
There's modern dance, too, starting with a series of performances that are part of the Festival of China this October at the Kennedy Center. Three leading Chinese companies (the Beijing Modern Dance Company, City Contemporary Dance Company of Hong Kong, and Guangdong Modern Dance Company) will perform a Trilogy of Modern Dance from October 7 to 9. Also, from November 17 to 19, the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company will give performances in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. We have been wanting to see the Bill T. Jones choreography of Bach's famous Chaconne, given at the Pause Festival in Milan (the brain child of an Italian priest named Don Luigi Garbini) last May, but it is not on the program.
EARLY MUSIC:
The concert season last year was heavy in early music, much to our delight, of course. There is less medieval and Renaissance music on our plates this year, but there are a few interesting concerts to tell you about. On October 23, the justly famous Choir of Westminster Abbey, directed by James O'Donnell, will be coming to give a concert of sacred music at Washington National Cathedral. The National Gallery of Art will be presenting a new exhibit, Masterpieces in Miniature: Italian Manuscripts from the J. Paul Getty Collection, that will include some precious manuscripts of medieval chant and Renaissance polyphony. In conjunction with that exhibit, there will be a special concert on November 6 by the National Gallery Vocal Arts Ensemble, consisting of pieces of Gregorian chant, laude, and polyphonic works by Palestrina found in the manuscripts on display.
Finally, we are looking forward to two performances by rising early music groups. First, on December 2, the Aulos Ensemble will perform works by Marais, Couperin, Rameau, and French Baroque seasonal music at Wolf Trap in Vienna. Then, also fresh off a new recording we hope to review this fall, the Trio Mediaeval, three Norwegian early music singers, will perform at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater on December 11. Washington's own Woodley Ensemble will perform Palestrina's Missa Repleatur os meum at some time this fall (date not yet announced, purportedly at St. Peter's Catholic Church on Capitol Hill), along with Josquin des Prez's Stabat Mater and other works. Guest conductor Peter Phillips, founder of the Tallis Scholars, will conduct and provided the new edition of Palestrina's lesser-known Mass. If you can't get enough of rare Palestrina Mass settings, the Palestrina Choir will also perform the Missa Ave Maria on October 15, at Dumbarton United Methodist Church, along with motets by Josquin and others.
I have some great ideas :) Nevermind. Next time.
Clarice Smith Lecture
Classical Month in Washington (October)
NSO Gets Lucky With Truls Mørk
I Vespri Siciliani — Struggles With Verdi
What Has the Symphony Done for Me Lately?
Garry Marshall's Grande-Duchesse
Countdown to Doctor Atomic
What to Do with the Volkspalast in Berlin
A Beautiful Day in the Chelsea Hood
Dip Your Ears, No. 47 (Bach Family Matters)
Composer and Other News
Washington Bach Consort at Strathmore
Hans Werner Henze's L'Upupa
Dip Your Ears, No. 46 (Haffner & Linz)
Classical Week in Washington (9/25)
Chamber Music at the Terrace Theater
Beethoven, Schoenberg, and James Levine
Fazil Say Opens the Baltimore Symphony's Season
Classical Music for Children, Fall 2005
The NSO's Opening Salvo
Dip Your Ears, No. 45 (In Spiritum)
Gelatin Strikes Again
The Chéreau Ring Cycle - Götterdämmerung
Gore Vidal Interview
Fall Music Preview, Paris
Granted Geniuses
Contemporary Music Forum at the Corcoran
Voices from Heaven (via the Marketing Department) ...
David Finckel and Wu Han at Clarice Smith
Ionarts Hits the Big Time
The Chéreau Ring Cycle - Siegfried
The Chéreau Ring Cycle - Die Walküre
Delightfully Obsessively Compulsively
Philip Glass, Waiting for the Barbarians
Synesthesia and Visual Music
Visual Music - Musical Vision (Håkon Austbø at the...
Dvořák's Rusalka
Baltimore Book Festival
Dip Your Ears, No. 44 (Messe Noire)
Brazil Featured in the Embassy Series
New Direction at the Opéra-Comique
In Memoriam September 11
Out There in Blogville
A Taste of Rome
Clarice Smith Lectures
Ready. Set. Play: NSO with Weilerstein & Oundjian
Lucian Freud in Venice
Patrice Chéreau's New Film at the Mostra
The Chéreau Ring Cycle - Das Rheingold
Mariss Jansons Interview
Jeff Koons Interview
Boulez Comes Down from the Green Hill for Good
New Max Ernst Museum
Hurricane Katrina Victims in Washington
Dip Your Ears, No. 43 (Schnittke-Bach-Webern)
Classical Week in Washington (9/4)
Grand Palais Reopens
Katrina Prayer Vigil on Capitol Hill
The Chéreau Ring Cycle - The Making of...
New Paintings by Charles Le Brun
Recovering from Katrina: How You Can Help


The kids had their first dentist appointment yesterday.
Gary and I have been talking about this day for several months, so when it was time to go, the kids were ready. I could tell by the look in their eyes they were very nervous. Layla did everything first, so Hayden felt like if she could do it, so could he! At one point he crawled up into the chair with Layla. It was so sweet. They really were perfect angels. I was one proud mommy!
They both got awesome reports! No cavities. I was thrilled.
Gary is the teeth 'brusher' in our house. He has done well :) I am so happy we had a really good experience at our first trip to the dentist!
Yay for no cavities! It's hard when they get older to get them to brush well...we still have to stand and watch them ro make sure they're doing a good job!
They are so cute! What a great first visit! I bet they'll be excited to go back next time!
What precious pictures of your babies in the dentist chair! Yay for no cavities!
You would think by our cavity bill that I let Nolan have a sleep with a bottle of juice and let him eat airheads and starburst for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You would never know that I'm a sugar Nazis that flosses daily and makes him use mouth rinse. Ugh.


Holiday World also promises that the new Thanksgiving section will be stuffed full of new and thrilling family fun, including a turkey-chase-themed interactive "dark ride," another new ride, a large restaurant, gift shop, games and more. On the Splashin' Safari side of the park, Bahari River will be added (a huge new action river ride). Please visit Holiday World & Splashin' Safari's web page, http://www.holidayworld.com/...06.html, to check out several graphics depicting The Voyage roller coaster. You can also take a virtual ride on The Voyage. Holiday World & Splashin' Safari are planning to have The Voyage and the new Thanksgiving section and attractions open for everyone to enjoy on their May 6th, 2006 opening date. The year 2006 also marks Holiday World & Splashin' Safari's 60th anniversary!


This volume collects most of the collaborative dynamic-geometry curriculum developed for the VMT Project from 2012-2015.
* The construction crew game -- the game version available as a GeoGebraBook in GeoGebraTube.
* Explore dynamic geometry together -- a version that focuses on dependencies, based on analysis of student work.
* Topics in dynamic geometry for virtual math teams -- The version with the most advanced topics.
* Dynamic-geometry activities with GeoGebra for virtual math teams -- The first full curriculum. It includes tutorials on VMT and GeoGebra.
1. The original version was developed for use with teachers in Fall 2012. Their students worked on the first 5 activities in Spring 2013. It is a workbook with 21 topics for collaborative dynamic-geometry sessions.
2. The next version was developed for use with teachers in Fall 2013. It includes 18 topics, including a number of advanced, open-ended investigations, as well as 10 tutorials or appendixes. The 18 topics involve 79 GeoGebra tabs, which are shared figures or tasks for groups to work on using GeoGebra. The teachers worked on many of these.
Stahl, G. (2013). Topics in dynamic geometry for virtual math teams. Web: http://GerryStahl.net/elibrary/topics/geometry.pdf.
3. The third version was developed for use by teachers with their students in Spring 2014. It is more tightly focused on the notion of designing dependencies into geometric constructions. It is envisioned for a series of 10-12 hour-long online sessions of groups of 3-5 students who may not have yet studied geometry. It is especially appropriate for an after-school math club. It includes 12 topics with a total of 34 GeoGebra tabs, plus 6 tutorials or appendixes. The introduction from this version is included below.
4. The fourth version was developed for use by teachers in Fall 2014. It is focused on identifying and constructing dependencies in geometric figures. It includes a total of 50 GeoGebra activities, divided into 13 topics. The first and last topic are for individual work. Six topics form a core introductory sequence and five topics are optional for selection by the teacher.
Stahl, G. (2014). Construct dynamic geometry together. Web: http://GerryStahl.net/elibrary/topics/construct.pdf.
5. The fifth version was developed for use by teams of students in Spring 2015. It takes a game approach. It includes a similar sequence of 50 GeoGebra challenges, divided into 13 topics. It is still focused on identifying and constructing dependencies in geometric figures.
Stahl, G. (2015). The construction crew game. Web: http://GerryStahl.net/elibrary/topics/game.pdf.
This pdf version corresponds to the GeoGebraBook at http://ggbtu.be/b154045.
The Virtual Math Teams (VMT) Project has developed a collaboration environment and integrated a powerful dynamic mathematics application into it, namely the open-source GeoGebra, which integrates geometry, algebra and other forms of math in a dynamic computational environment. The project made the incorporated GeoGebra multi-user, so that small groups of students can share their mathematical explorations and co-construct geometric figures online. In support of teacher and student use of this collaboration environment, we have developed several versions of a set of activities to systematically introduce people to dynamic geometry, including core concepts from Euclid, standard geometry textbooks and the Common Core Standards for Geometry.
Topics in Dynamic-Geometry for Virtual Math Teams is a set of topic statements for use with the Virtual Math Teams with GeoGebra (VMTwG) collaboration software.
Dynamic geometry is a new form of mathematics—and you can be a pioneer in it, exploring, discovering, and creating new insights and tools. Dynamic geometry realizes some of the potential that has been hidden in geometry for thousands of years: by constructing dynamic-geometry figures that incorporate carefully designed mathematical relationships and dependencies, you can drag geometric objects around to investigate their general properties.
In addition, the approach of these topics allows you to take advantage of the power of collaboration, so that your team can accomplish more that any one of you could on your own—by chatting about what you are doing, and why, as well as discussing what you notice and wonder about the dynamic figures. Working in a group will prevent you from getting stuck. If you do not understand a geometry term or a task description, someone else in the group may have a suggestion. If you cannot figure out the next step in a problem or a construction, discuss it with your group. Decide how to proceed as a group.
The topics have been designed for everyone interested in geometry. Students who have not yet studied any geometry can use the topics to prepare them for thinking geometrically. Students who are in the middle of a geometry course or have already completed one can use the topics to gain a deeper appreciation of geometry. Even experienced geometry teachers can use the topics to gain a new perspective on an ancient subject.
To harness the truly awesome power of collaborative dynamic geometry requires patience, playfulness, and persistence. It will pay off by providing skills, tools, and understanding that will be useful for a lifetime. You will need to learn how to construct complicated figures; this will be tricky and require practice. You will need to think about the hidden dependencies between dynamic points, which make geometry work; this may keep you up at night. You will even create your own custom construction tools to extend GeoGebra; this will put you in control of mathematics.
Collaborative problem solving is central to this set of topics. The topics have been selected to offer you the knowledge, skills, and hands-on experience to solve typical geometry problems, to explain your solution to others, and to think more like a mathematician.
These topics present a special approach to dynamic geometry, which may be quite different from approaches to learning geometry that you are accustomed to.2 The approach here stresses the importance of understanding how dependencies are constructed into geometric figures. Dragging points around can help you to discover and visualize the dependencies that maintain relationships within a figure. However, you should also know how to construct those dependencies yourself, and perhaps even be able to define your own custom tools to make those constructions easier. This will give you a deeper understanding of geometry as a mathematical system. This approach may take more time and thought, but it will also be more fun and more rewarding.
The approach in this document is built around 12 core topics that provide a coherent experience of collaborative dynamic geometry. In addition, there is an introductory topic for individuals to do on their own to get started and then a transition topic for individuals to do at the end to start to explore the rest of GeoGebra. There are also extensions to most of the core topics for individuals or groups to explore further what they are interested in. Finally, several open-ended advanced topics present new areas of mathematics beyond the core topics.
Each topic is designed for an online team to work on together for about one hour. The sequence of topics introduces student teams to GeoGebra and guides them in the exploration of dynamic geometry, including triangles, quadrilaterals, and transformations. Ideally, everyone should spend 12 hour-long, online, synchronous, collaborative sessions working on the core topics. An instructor might want to select which of these topics to use and which to skip or make optional if it is not possible to do all 12 or if there is time available to do more than 12. A virtual math team might choose which topics they want to explore.
The pages of this document can be distributed to students as worksheets to keep their notes on and in case the instructions in the chat room tabs become erased. The whole document can be distributed to team members to serve as a journal for their sequence of topics and to provide access to the tutorials. It is helpful if everyone has a printed or electronic version of this booklet next to their computer when they are working on the topics.
To get started, it is important that everyone do the Warm-Up Topic on the computer they will be using well before the first collaborative session. This makes sure that everyone's computer is properly set up and that they are able to enter VMT chat rooms. It also provides a valuable introduction.
The topics and tours have been designed for a wide range of users. Students who have not previously studied much geometry should focus on the main points of each topic and make sure that all team members understand the constructions. Teams of experienced math teachers may engage in more in-depth discussion on implications, conceptualizations, and pedagogy of the dynamic-geometry topics. If something is unclear in the topic instructions, discuss it in your team and decide as a group how to proceed. Pace your team to try to complete all the core parts of a topic in the time you have together.
Here is a general procedure you might want to follow: Before the time assigned for a group session, read the topic description in this document. It might suggest watching a brief video or taking a tour at the end of this document as important preparation. Think about the topic on your own. Then, in the group session, discuss the topic and work together on the various tasks. Discuss what you are doing in the chat and respond to the questions posed in the topic. Mark down in your copy of this document what you noticed that surprised you and what you wondered about that you want to think more about later. Do not just rush though the topic; discuss what is important in it. The point is to learn about collaborative dynamic geometry, not just to get through the topic steps. When the session is over, try to work on your own on the extra parts that your team did not get to. Report to your team what you discovered. Maybe the team can get together for an extra session on the rest of the topic.
This set of topics offers a unique opportunity to experience deeply topics that have fascinated people since the beginning of civilization. Take advantage. Be creative. Collaborate. Explore. Chat. Reflect. Enjoy!


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text:
Michelle Grattan
Michelle Grattan is a press gallery journalist and former editor of The Canberra Times. She is a professorial fellow at the University of Canberra and writes for The Conversation, where her columns also appear.
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