Dan Culberson
Dan Culberson is an author, TV performer, editor and publisher who has been writing about culture, politics and religion since 1994. He was graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in English literature in the Honors Program from the University of Colorado and was president of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. He was born in Carmel, CA, but grew up all over the U.S. and Europe, living in Monterey, CA: Medford, OR; Lawton, OK (twice); Pampa, TX; Minot, ND; El Paso, TX; Tacoma, WA; Kennewick, WA; Erlangen, Germany; Lebanon, MO; Colorado Springs, CO (where he attended high school); Boulder, CO (where he attended college and now lives); and Heidelberg while serving in the U.S. Army and Sindelfingen, Germany while on assignment for IBM. He served three years in the U.S. Army, retired from IBM after 25 years with a career in publications and is a writer, editor and publisher who came of age in the Sixties, which he remembers quite well. He was named a Boulder Pacesetter in 1985 by the BOULDER DAILY CAMERA in the first year of that program and was a film reviewer from 1972 to 2014 for newspapers, magazines, radio stations and TV programs.
Homepage: http://c1n.tv
Posts by Dan Culberson
“Inside Llewyn Davis” Tries Everything to See What Sticks
Jan 13th
“See What Sticks”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Inside Llewyn Davis is the latest film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, and the story follows a weekend in the life of the title character as he tries to become a success as a folksinger in New York City.
As with most Coen Brothers movies, this one has already won some awards, been nominated for more, and will probably win a few more during this awards season.
Also as with most Coen Brothers movies, audiences love them, hate them, or can take them or leave them. This one, I can leave.
The time is February 1961, and we see Llewyn performing at a cafe in Greenwich Village for bucket money. While he is singing, a bucket is passed around the audience, and he gets to keep whatever money is left in the bucket after the house takes its cut.
Llewyn doesn’t have a regular place to stay, and he depends on the kindness of friends to be allowed to sleep on their couches. So, he wakes up one morning after being awakened by the owners’ cat, and when he leaves the apartment, the cat follows him outside.
Unfortunately, the door locks behind him, and a running motif in the story has Llewyn carrying a cat around with him until he can return it to the owners.
Other friends of Llewyn’s are a folksinging team of Jim and Jean, played by Justin Timberlake and Carey Mulligan, and when Llewyn goes to see Jean at their little apartment, Jean shows him a note that says, “I’m pregnant.”
Jean doesn’t know who the father is, it could be Llewyn, it could be Jim, or it could even be someone else.
Then Llewyn goes on a road trip to Chicago, where he hopes to advance his struggling career, and he meets Roland Turner, played by John Goodman in yet another of his many roles that steal scenes and even movies.
Well, Chicago doesn’t work out for Llewyn, either, and he goes back to New York City, only now he is so despondent that he tries to become a sailor in the merchant marine again.
The Coen Brothers seem to throw everything at the wall just to see what sticks, which includes bookends to the movie that don’t make much sense.
Inside Llewyn Davis is too “inside” for my taste.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“American Hustle” Shows Never Con a Con Artist
Dec 28th
“Never Con a Con Artist”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
American Hustle is so good that don’t be surprised if during some awards ceremony it sweeps an award in all the major categories.
In fact, it is so good that Robert De Niro appears in it as an important character and doesn’t even get listed in the credits.
However, appearing both in the movie and in the credits are Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Jennifer Lawrence, and most if not all of them are going to come out winners during the next awards season.
The movie is based on one of the most stunning scandals and sting operations in the late Seventies, and it begins with a title that says, “Some of this actually happened.”
We are introduced to Irving, who is a con artist with such an elaborate comb-over that he not only combs his long hair over, but also glues it to his bald scalp.
Irving says, “I learned how to survive when I was a kid,” and we see how he broke the law in order to send more customers to his father’s business.
As an adult, however, and even though he owns some legitimate businesses, Irving prefers to make most of his money by charging people a nonrefundable $5,000 fee in order to get them a loan, but then he never comes back with the loan.
Irving’s partner in crime and in love is Sydney, a woman whose dream was to become anyone other than who she was, and her role in the scam is to pretend to be British royalty with bank connections.
Unfortunately, one man they try to con turns out to be Richie, who is an FBI agent with dreams of exposing and bringing down dirty politicians, and when he reveals himself to Irving and Sydney, he promises not to arrest them if they will help him in his own sting operation, which eventually involves a New Jersey mayor who wants to relaunch the casino industry in Atlantic City, a sheik who might provide the money, and mobsters from Miami who might provide the connections.
So, can you see how those involved in the operation might be in over their heads, especially when they are still keeping secrets from each other?
And all this time Irving has been married.
American Hustle is a truly enjoyable comedy.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”