21 AND OVER (Rated R)

At first, I thought the film of week would be “Jack the Giant Slayer,” if only because it appeared more family-friendly. Then, an unfortunate circumstance caused me to miss the press screening.

On top of it all, “Jack the Giant Slayer” looked like another derivative fairy tale film, most likely a subpar fantasy adventure that would fall below the standards of “The Hobbit” or even “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters.”

And so, the next best opportunity was a screening of “21 and Over,” another derivative film that is an obvious offshoot of “The Hangover” film, as the result of the creative writing efforts of Jon Lucas and Scott Moore.

This time around the team of Lucas and Moore are the writers and directors of “21 and Over,” apparently having learned a thing or two on “The Hangover” experience about rowdy, crude comedy.
 
One could easily sum up the plot, such as it involves one night of total debauchery, as a wild and crazy comedy that is undeniably a “Hangover” for the college crowd.

Geared to frat house pranks made popular by “Animal House,” this film stars relative unknowns, which at least makes it easier to accept their lunacy as some sort of rite of passage.

Miller (Miles Teller) and Casey (Skylar Astin), seemingly polar opposites in disposition, are old high school buddies who arrive at the fictional Northern Pacific University to celebrate the 21st birthday of an old pal.

The film opens with this pair, looking bruised and battered, walking across the campus completely naked with only tube socks covering their private parts.  The manic nod to wackiness is almost immediate.

The buddy in question is Jeff Chang (Justin Chon), a rather diminutive Asian-American student that everyone, and particularly his domineering father, expects to be the stereotypical overachiever.

When Miller and Casey show up in a surprise visit, the studious Jeff Chang begs off from a birthday celebration because he’s getting ready for his critical medical school interview early the next morning.

After a serious bit of cajoling, Jeff Chang (everyone calls him by his full name) relents, agreeing to one celebratory drink at a local saloon.  
 
After all, Jeff Chang, who still looks like a teenage girl, is now unencumbered by the nuisance of using a fake ID to get past bothersome bouncers.

Taking great pleasure in flashing his real ID to the stoic bouncers, Jeff Chang, loosened by copious amounts of alcohol, is soon flashing co-eds, downing shots and riding a mechanical bull.

As the night progresses, Jeff Chang’s nearly perpetual state of inebriation to the point of being comatose leads to a series of comic misadventures.  

After a substantial amount of hard-partying, Miller and Casey, surprisingly lucid if not completely sober, decide to take Jeff Chang home so that he can be ready for his crucial interview.

The only problem is that Miller and Casey have no idea where their buddy lives, and no other students know him at all.  A tenuous lead that involves perky blonde Nicole (Sarah Wright) sends the boys on a wild goose chase.

In search of Nicole, Miller and Casey drag Jeff Chang around like a rag doll, even invading a Latina sorority where they become engage in pranks that later lead to serious repercussions.

Aside from paddling sorority pledges in lingerie, Miller and Casey also cause a near-riot at a pep rally, turning the school’s buffalo mascot into a rampaging beast that terrorizes the student body.

The boys also tangle with some snotty frat boy types who happen to be rah-rah yell leaders, modeled after the same type of uptight jerks that were repulsed by John Belushi in “Animal House.”

Bad taste gags abound, and yet much of this film is surprisingly funny.  In the pursuit of laughs, it goes for shameless physical comedy.  

The high (or low) point may well be when the drunken Jeff Chang, suddenly hungry, begins chewing on a tampon, mistaking it for a candy bar.

Working a successful comedic formula, “21 and Over” is mostly an entertainment for the spring break crowd.  Those college kids sure have a lot of dumb fun, and they let us in on it.

TELEVISION UPDATE

The ABC TV network is unleashing a new drama series, though one would easily guess that it derived its cue from another similar-themed but failed series of another network.

I am referring to “Red Widow,” which is not entirely dissimilar from “Mob Doctor,” a fall series already long forgotten.

The same fate may well await “Red Widow,” despite the best efforts of Radha Mitchell’s Marta, the daughter of a Russian mobster who wants nothing to do with the underworld.

Trouble is, and this is not giving away any surprise, her husband Evan (Anson Mount) is killed as part of some sort of revenge plot for a heist gone bad.

The grieving Marta must protect her three children at all costs, but a shadowy figure named Schiller insists that she must repay a debt owed by her late husband.  

Midseason shows are not usual successful, and “Red Widow,” slated for an expected eight episode run, may soon run out of sustainable interest.

It doesn’t help when the most interesting character, in this case Anson Mount’s Evan, is bumped off in the pilot episode.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

Every day, hundreds of thousands of us are preoccupied with keeping up a civil if not loving relationship with our parents. In this poem, Mark Irwin (who lives in Colorado) does a beautiful job in portraying, in a dreamlike manner, the complexities of just one of those relationships.

Portraits

Mother came to visit today. We
hadn’t seen each other in years. Why didn’t
you call? I asked. Your windows are filthy, she said. I know,
I know. It’s from the dust and rain. She stood outside.
I stood in, and we cleaned each one that way, staring into each other’s eyes,
rubbing the white towel over our faces, rubbing
away hours, years. This is what it was like
when you were inside me, she said. What? I asked,
though I understood. Afterwards, indoors, she smelled like snow
melting. Holding hands we stood by the picture window,
gazing into the December sun, watching the pines in flame.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright 2010 by Mark Irwin from his most recent book of poems, Large White House Speaking, New Issues, 2013 and reprinted by permission of Mark Irwin and the publisher. Poem first printed in The Sun, July 2010. Introduction copyright 2013 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The production of “The Sound of Music” by Clear Lake High School will introduce new stage designs to the community.  

At the heart of this innovative staging is Bill Chambard, a professionally trained stage designer who recently relocated to Lake County from the Bay Area.  

According to Chambard, “The staging is representational in that it provides a framework within which the actors can perform, and gives the audience the opportunity to use its imagination to place itself within the scene.”  

Chambard has designed a setting that takes the actors and audience from scene to scene without closing the main curtain.

A team assisted Chambard in constructing the sets.  

Steven Stocker, a local engineer, prepared construction drawings of the sets.  

John Moorhead, the CLHS woodshop instructor, and Rose Davidson manufactured the sets in their woodworking shop.  

Set decoration was conceived by Suna Flores, a set designer well known in local theater circles for many productions of the Lake County Theater Co.

Students from Shana Wilbur’s CLHS art classes painted much of the scenery.

Lighting for the show is being provided by Steve Wilson, a well known theater lighting designer and technician. Sound design for the auditorium is being created by Nick Biondo for this production.

New stage curtains are being installed to enhance the production qualities of the stage at the Marge Alakszay Center on the school campus at 250 Lange St. in Lakeport. A permanent backdrop will be installed to support future productions. New teaser curtains will hide the stage lights from audience view.  

These improvements were generously donated by the Clear Lake High School Booster Club and the Lakeport Enhanced Education Foundation.

Performances take place March 15, 16, 22 and 23, at 7 p.m., and March 17 and 24 at 2 p.m.

CLHS will offer a dinner theater performance on March 16. Tickets cost $15 general admission and $10 for seniors, students with student body cards and children. The dinner theater performance costs $30.  

Tickets are available through the CLHS office at 707-262-3010 or at the door.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Arts Council will host its First Friday Fling on March 1.

The event will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Main Street Gallery, 325 N. Main St., Lakeport.

This month the event will introduce a special showing of work donated to the Lake County Arts Council by the estate of the late Charles Hoeppner, a renowned watercolorist whose art depicts beautiful botanical illustrations. All proceeds from this collection will benefit the arts council.

Hoeppner, a world-traveled artist, called Lower Lake his home for 18 years. His works span a wide spectrum of artistry in the use of flowers.

A longtime supporter of the Lake County Arts Council, Hoeppner created a program through the arts council some years back called “Art Forum” in which he coordinated local artists, art teachers and students in all of the county's high schools.

Also, showcased this month at the Main Street Gallery: George Waterstaart’s exceptional wood turnings and gorgeous hand-painted porcelain original’s by Pat Courtney.

Returning with many new pieces of art are Max Butler’s original and charming oils; Bobbie Bridges' original watercolor prints of the Mendocino coast and more; Jay Glimme's whimsical pastels; Nell Knapp's acrylics with a unique touch; Travis Rinker's enchanting wood carvings with a German touch; Leah and Phillip Tulley's mixed media presentation; Annette and Robert Higday's original; and fired pottery and handcrafted jewelry by Creative Gatherings.

This month the Linda Carpenter Gallery will again feature art pieces from the Kelseyville Elementary School first and fifth grades. Shop the gift gallery for one-of-a-kind gift items there are many reasonable priced items – lots of inexpensive earrings, bracelets, miniature paintings, prints, baskets, ceramics, cards and scarfs.

There will be finger food, music by Paul Farley and Steele Wines will pour their vintages.

For more information contact the Lake County Arts Council, 707-263-6658.

SNITCH (Rated PG-13)

Remember when Dwayne Johnson was “The Rock,” the buff action hero?  He’s not that guy in “Snitch,” though he turns in a rock solid performance as a desperate father trying to save his teenage son from a lengthy prison stretch.

Johnson’s John Matthews owns a construction company in Missouri, where his only connection to the criminal world is his willingness to hire ex-cons if they are sincere in their efforts for a clean start.

Divorced from his first wife (Melina Kanakaredes), Matthews, now remarried with a younger wife (Nadine Velazquez), has been regrettably somewhat distant from his teenage son Jason (Rafi Gavron).

In what appears to be a favor for a friend, Jason reluctantly accepts the shipment of a large package of ecstasy pills and is immediately caught by the feds and jailed for being a dealer.

To save his own skin, Jason’s so-called friend had allowed Jason to be framed for dealing drugs, thereby reducing his own sentence for participation in a crime.

Unable and unwilling to snitch on someone else, Jason is sentenced to prison for a minimum of 10 years, even though he’s an innocent who just screwed up.

The federal prosecutor, Joanne Keeghan (Susan Sarandon), is an ambitious, driven person who just happens to be running for Congress, thus all too anxious to notch a big drug-dealing conviction.

Matthews knows that his son has made a stupid mistake and doesn’t want him to stay behind bars where his personal safety is at stake as the result of beatings from fellow inmates.

In an attempt to get leniency for his son, Matthews pleads with U.S. Attorney Keeghan to help entrap real drug dealers as a way to make amends for his son’s indiscretion.

The federal prosecutor is, at first, dubious about this offer, sharing our own disbelief that a straight-arrow family man could leave his comfort zone to infiltrate the treacherous underworld of drug cartels.

With serious misgivings, Matthews finds that it might be useful to use one of his newest hard-working employees, a former felon who did prison time for selling narcotics, to introduce him to some dealers.

Ex-convict Daniel James (Jon Bernthal) has a wife and young son, and the last thing he wants to do is to get mixed up again with unsavory characters like Malik (Michael K. Williams), a local pusher.

Reluctantly pulled back into his old world, Daniel makes the introduction to Malik, and then Matthews is put to the test of making a delivery to members of a Mexican cartel and narrowly avoids harm during an ambush by a rival gang.

Having proved his mettle and savvy in eluding the surprise attack, Matthews attracts the attention of Malik’s superior, a top player in the Mexican cartel who is known as El Topo (Benjamin Bratt).

Meanwhile, Matthews and Daniel are shadowed by federal agents, of which the most notable and interesting character is Agent Cooper (Barry Pepper), who looks like one of the bikers on “Sons of Anarchy.”

While Agent Cooper’s undercover cop appears to be unpredictable, the motivated crime-busting prosecutor Keeghan is single-mindedly determined to go after the big fish in the Mexican cartel.

Keeghan’s motivation causes the stakes to grow exponentially, putting both Matthews and Daniel in the untenably tough spot of going up against a ruthless drug lord who would have no qualms about killing them both.

It would be a mistake to describe “Snitch” as an action picture full of violence and mayhem, similar to the spate of recent films where action trumped character development and significant plot lines.

The action in “Snitch” builds slowly, though the danger always feels very real and the threat of violence is only one misstep away from erupting into the fore.

Much of the story, at least in the early going, is about Matthews anguishing over moral compromises he has to make, whether it is keeping his wife in the dark or implicating Daniel in an unwanted and perilous bargain.  

The climactic drug run is where the explosive action really gets in gear in a huge, satisfying way.  Dwayne Johnson steering an 18-wheeler in a destructive demolition derby of taking out pursuing, machine-gun toting criminals is a real delight.

Indeed, Dwayne Johnson may have dropped “The Rock” as his middle name, but he’s still got the physical chops to deliver the action goods.

Balancing action and drama with aplomb, director and co-writer Ric Roman Waugh, a former stuntman, delivers an edge-of-your-seat thriller in “Snitch” that tells a compelling story.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

Work is under way on the future home of the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) in Berkeley’s downtown arts district, BAM/PFA officials announced.

BAM/PFA Director Lawrence Rinder acknowledged the generous donors who have contributed $95 million in pledges toward the $100 million campaign for the new facility for the campus and community visual arts center.

“This is an incredible milestone for this campaign, now a full decade in the making. We will be forever grateful to all of those individuals who have offered commitments to the campaign, not to mention the campus and Berkeley communities who have given their overwhelming support and goodwill to the project,” said Rinder.

Barclay Simpson, a member of the BAM/PFA Board of Trustees and an ardent advocate for the arts said,  “The arts are a critical part of civil society and education and this new building will ensure that UC Berkeley and the city of Berkeley have a world class visual arts center befitting these communities for at least the next century.”

Designed by the renowned New York City–based firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R), the planned facility will unite a building that previously housed the UC Berkeley printing plant at the corner of Center and Oxford streets with a new structure that will anchor the corner of Oxford and Addison streets.

Rinder has praised the design for its “bold new architectural form,” as well as for its beauty and accessibility.

Following a competitive process, UC Berkeley awarded the construction contract for the project to Plant Construction Company, which has begun work on site planning and mobilization.

The early phases of construction focus on interior work in the existing building, including salvaging reusable materials and preparing for demolition of the adjacent parking structure. EHDD of San Francisco is the architect of record for the project.

More extensive – and more visible – work will begin this spring. Construction is targeted for completion in summer 2015 with the new facility opening to the public in early 2016.

Planning for the center began in 1997, after an engineering survey found that BAM/PFA’s current building on Bancroft Way does not meet present-day seismic standards and cannot be upgraded to do so without eliminating open exhibition spaces required for the galleries.

The new building will house BAM/PFA’s exhibition galleries, learning center, participatory art-making studio, works-on-paper study center, store, cafe, and offices. It also will also reunite the institution’s film theater, moved to an annex structure on Bancroft Way in 1999, with the galleries and operations areas.

The center will be home to a 230-seat theater and a 32-seat screening room, as well as a film library and study area.

Founded in 1963, the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) is UC Berkeley’s primary visual arts venue and among the largest university art museums in terms of size and audience in the United States.

Internationally recognized for its art and film programming, BAM/PFA is a platform for cultural experiences that transform individuals, engage communities, and advance the local, national, and global discourse on art and ideas. BAM/PFA’s mission is “to inspire the imagination and ignite critical dialogue through art and film.”

Aimee Chang works for the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.