Articles by Diana Beechener

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 5/16/13

Disconnect

Put your cell phone down now!

In a world where you can talk to someone on the other side of the planet with a few strokes on a computer, why is it so difficult to take time to speak to the person in front of you? That’s the question Disconnect poses in three intertwining stories about the distance created by technology. Conclusion: Lonely people would rather confess their secrets to strangers than form connections to the people in their lives. Teen boys Jason (Colin Ford) and...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 5/9/13

Iron Man 3

We examine the man behind the iron suit in this fun, nonsensical action flick

After saving the world from alien invaders with his Avenger pals, billionaire playboy/part-time super-suit inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.: The Avengers) is having trouble sleeping. It seems that a wormhole full of vicious invaders, a brush with death and the enormity of being Iron Man have caught up with the usually unflappable superhero. Stark treats his PTSD by refusing to discuss his trauma and spending long nights tinkering on new versions of the Iron Man suit....

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 5/2/13

The Big Wedding

I saw this movie, so you don’t have to

The Big Wedding is a special romantic comedy. It is a movie so vapid, so devoid of genuine emotion and so mind-numbingly dull that it is, in actuality, an achievement in bad filmmaking. After a few minutes of this dreck, you begin to wonder whether or not this movie is in fact some elaborate prank. It must be acknowledged that writer/director Justin Zackham (Going Greek) has accomplished the impossible: he’s found a way to fracture time, making this 90-minute film feel like it stretches...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 4/25/13

Mud

Two boys learn the ugly truth about life and love in this coming-of-age drama

What would you do if you found a boat in a tree? Fourteen-year-old Ellis (Tye Sheridan: The Tree of Life) and his best bud Neckbone (Jacob Lofland) claim it. A bag of groceries and boot prints hint that the boys might not be the only two who have discovered the boat on this remote river island in the Arkansas delta. Soon they stumble upon Mud (Matthew McConaughey: Killer Joe), an affable loner who tells the boys that he’s waiting in the boat for his girlfriend, Juniper...

Article - Creature Feature; by Diana Beechener - 4/18/13

Eaton Goes to College

Canine Companions train years to give people independence

When Bay Weekly last checked in on Canine Companions for Independence trainee Eaton, the golden retriever/Lab mix had just stepped on the path to becoming a service dog. Paired with first-time puppy trainers Emerson and Donna Davis, Eaton spent 18 months getting socialized and learning obedience [www.bayweekly. com/articles/features/article/good-dogs]. Eaton left his Arnold home with the Davises for Puppy College at the nationwide nonprofit’s main campus in New York....

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 4/11/13

The Sapphires

Aboriginal singers fight racial profiling with soul

In 1967, the Australian government classified the land’s native Aboriginal tribes as “Flora and Fauna.” To help the indigenous people, the government took to inspecting Aboriginal settlements, looking for fair-skinned children. Such children were taken from their tribe and families and sent to a special school, where they were taught to pass as white and to abandon their culture. Because of these laws, the Cummeraganja Songbirds, an aboriginal country act,...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 3/28/13

Olympus Has Fallen

Gerard Butler is an army of one in this problematic action flick

Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler: Movie 43) was a beloved guardian of President Asher’s (Aaron Eckhart: Erased) family. When danger struck, his snap decision lead to tragedy and exile from the personal protection detail. Now in a dead-end job with the Treasury, Banning gets his chance at redemption when a team of North Korean radicals infiltrate the White House — code named Olympus — and take the president hostage. The terrorists wipe out...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 3/14/13

Oz The Great and Powerful

Pay no attention to the misogyny behind the curtain

In drab Kansas, a two-bit magician named Oz (James Franco: Lovelace) bamboozles country folk with black powder flashes and cleverly hidden wires. He dreams of greatness but settles for life as a glorified flimflam man in a traveling circus, seducing gullible farmers’ daughters. When one cuckolded boyfriend turns out to be the circus strongman, Oz makes a dramatic escape via hot air balloon. If you’ve seen the 1939 film this movie draws from, you know what happens...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 3/7/13

Lore

Overcoming the sins of the father — and the fatherland

What if the people who loved you turned out to be monsters? Could you change your worldview to survive in this new order? Or would the truth end up swallowing you whole? Fourteen-year-old Lore (Saskia Rosendahl: Für Elise) lives an idyllic life in World War II Germany. Blonde and blue-eyed, she’s the picture of youthful innocence, still more child than woman as she romps through fields in suspendered skirts and Heidi braids. A high-ranking SS...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 2/28/13

Snitch

There’s no honor among dealers

John Matthews (Dwayne Johnson: Journey 2: The Mysterious Island) is living lush with his new wife and young daughter. Well connected, well dressed and wealthy, he’s the American dream. John’s son Jason (Rafi Gavron: Celeste and Jesse Forever) isn’t quite so happy. Bitter over the divorce of his parents, Jason reviles his father and his money. In a moment of petulance and idiocy, he agrees to have a large bag of Ecstasy sent to his mother’s house....