Articles by DIana Beechener

Article - Creature Feature; by Diana Beechener - 3/1/12

This Week’s Creature Feature ... Leap into...

Get to know local amphibians

This year’s elongated February marked a different sort of Leap Year. FrogWatch USA joined with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums for an amphibious census. With nearly one-third of known amphibious species thought to be in danger of extinction, FrogWatch USA is hopping mad. You can help combat species endangerment and extinction in several ways. One, report the calls of local frogs and toads to help FrogWatch keep track of...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 2/23/12

This Means War

Love means never having to say you’re sorry about illegal surveillance

CIA agents Tuck (Tom Hardy: Warrior) and FDR (Chris Pine: Unstoppable) are top agents assigned to take down German terrorist brothers. The job goes bad, terrorist Heinrich (Til Schweiger: New Year’s Eve) vows revenge and the two agents are grounded in the Los Angeles field office. What do bored agents do when they can’t wear suits and shoot up nightclubs? They look for love in this crazy modern world. Sensitive Tuck is...

Article - People; by Diana Beechener - 2/23/12

On the Other End of the Leash

Teen Ania Kelly knows how to handle herself in the big show

At 16, Ania Kelly has already mastered the art of the leash. The Dunkirk teen took top prize in the Junior Showmanship competition at this year’s 136th Westminster Dog Show, pairing with her English cocker spaniel Wizard to best over 100 competitors. A five-time veteran of Westminster, Kelly is a third-generation handler. “My grandma originally started showing dogs,” says the Southern High School student. “We breed and show Vizslas...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 2/16/12

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

The only mystery is who approved this script

Young adventurer Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson: The Kids Are Alright) intercepts a mysterious message referencing Jules Verne. Sure he had to break into a satellite station to get the signal, but what’s a little arrest in the quest for adventure? Stepfather Hank (Dwayne Johnson: Fast Five) talks the cops out of pressing charges, so Sean confesses what’s going on: His grandfather, Alexander, (Michael Caine: Cars 2) is a Vernian, believing that the works of Jules...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 2/9/12

Chronicle

A trio of teens get the gift of a lifetime in this fun sci-fi take on superpowers

Spiderman’s beloved Uncle Ben once said With great power comes great responsibility. Sure Voltaire said it first, but the three teens at the center of Chronicle are more likely to be reading philosophy penned by Stan Lee than some old French guy. Our heroes are three high school archetypes: Popular suave Steve (Michael B. Jordan: Red Tails), Stoner Matt (Alex Russell: Almost Kings) and bullied dweeb Andrew (Dane DeHaan: True Blood). Weird and quiet, Andrew has started...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 2/2/12

The Grey

Liam Neeson proves old dogs can learn new tricks

There are movies like The Artist in which every shot is an exquisitely composed tableau. And then there are movies like The Grey, where Liam Neeson (Unknown) bare-knuckle boxes a giant Alaskan timber wolf. My job as a reviewer is convincing you that both sorts can be enjoyable and worth your hard-earned money. Neeson plays Ottway, who has the manliest job since gladiators went out of style: He is a professional wolf killer. Before I get a letter from PETA...

Article - Creature Feature; by Diana Beechener - 2/2/12

This Week’s Creature Feature ... A Terrific Year for...

In 2011, the terrier was king of the box office

If you want to stand out in movies, never work with dogs or children. This Oscar season, however, films featuring terriers are racking up the nominations. First popular in screwball films of the 1930s, such as The Thin Man and Bringing Up Baby, terriers dropped back to the relative obscurity of television shows such as Fraiser and Wishbone. Now, the breed seems to be making a comeback, appearing in three of the biggest award-season films of 2011. In...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 1/26/12

Red Tails

A story this important deserves better than this second rate film

In the times before Martin Luther King put momentum behind his dream, African Americans had to be twice as good to get half as much as their white counterparts. Racism was justified and equality denied by spurious science. Black soldiers were thought to be lazy, stupid and cowardly, so the government didn’t want to give them the opportunity to fight for their country — just cook for it in galleys and mess halls while white soldiers earned accolades. ...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 1/19/12

The Iron Lady

Meryl Streep is all teeth, no bite, in this boring biopic

What do you do when you’re making a movie about a political figure whose politics you don’t agree with? Avoid the subject, cast Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher and give her an immense set of dentures. The formula worked. Streep and her dentures just took home a Golden Globe. The teeth are right. But the rest of the film is all wrong. The Iron Lady shows a feeble Thatcher pottering around her house. She’s still got some of her feisty...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 1/12/12

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

There’s more to espionage than car chases, explosions and bikinis

In the cinematic world of James Bond and Jason Bourne, spies are men with hard abs, steel fists and fast cars. Theirs is a world of high-octane excitement: car chases, shoot outs and loads of hand-to-hand combat. Usually there’s a pretty lady or two to dote upon them when the action slows. So when we see pudgy, gray-haired, bespectacled George Smiley (Gary Oldman: Harry Potter) meekly enter a room, we don’t think spy. That’s precisely what Smiley is hoping...