Greenberg; R, 107 minutes; Opening Friday

It’s not writer-director Noah Baumbach’s fault if Greenberg, about a guy named Greenberg, makes me wish for a movie called Zoidberg, about the friendless, incompetent, vaguely Yiddish, attention-craving crustacean physician from “Futurama.” “Oh, it’s all so complicated, with the flowers, and the romance, and the lies upon lies,” Zoidberg once lamented, sounding a note that […]

We need help

“American Idol”  Tuesday, 8pm; Wednesday 9pm, Fox There was a moment in the last week of the semi-finals where I thought we could possibly salvage this miserable season. But then Lilly Scott, Katelyn Epperly and Alex Lambert got sent home. They each had flaws, but they were musicians with unique voices and points of view. […]

Checking in with Lincoln Perry

What are you working on right now? We’re in Charlottesville about a third of the year, and when we’re here my wife [Ann Beattie] is teaching and I’m working exclusively on the mural at Old Cabell Hall. I’ve still got another staircase-and-a-half to paint. It’s expected to take about four more years. It’s a full-time […]

Capsule Reviews

Alice in Wonderland (PG, 109 minutes) Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover and Alan Rickman  star in director Tim Burton’s take on Lewis Carroll’s fantasy classics. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6 Avatar (PG-13, 162 minutes) Read C-VILLE’s featured review here. James Cameron’s opus uses brand-new filmmaking technology to tell the story of a Marine (Sam Worthington) sent […]

Highlights for the 2010 Festival of the Book

Trying to visit every event at the 16th annual Festival of the Book is a good way to get your eyes strained and your ankles sprained, so C-VILLE put together a guide of things that seemed worth doing. Don’t be shy to visit vabook.org for complete listings. Wednesday 3/17 Hot on the heels of her […]

Checking in with Brian Wimer

What are you working on right now? Wimer’s Mantra, a full-length horror film with a Buddhist twist, won Best Picture at last year’s annual Fright Night Film Festival in Louisville. What piece of art would he like to have in his private collection? A nice, big Klimt, he says. “Just so I could say to […]

Green Zone; R, 115 minutes; Carmike Cinema 6

 “Too soon?” we worried when director Paul Greengrass brought out United 93 in 2006, five years after the fact. Not so, it turned out, but there’s no getting around the less tactful too-lateness of Green Zone. In Greengrass’ new thriller, Matt Damon stars as not Jason Bourne, but Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller in 2003 […]

The facts of “Life”

 “Life” Sunday 8pm, Discovery In 2006, Discovery aired the BBC Natural History Unit’s sprawling nature documentary series “Planet Earth.” The 10-part program explored our global ecosystem by focusing each chapter on a different kind of habitat (grasslands, jungles, caves, etc.). No joke, it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. Now […]

Capsule Reviews

  Alice in Wonderland (PG, 109 minutes) Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover and Alan Rickman  star in director Tim Burton’s take on Lewis Carroll’s fantasy classics. Opening Friday Avatar (PG-13, 162 minutes) Read C-VILLE’s featured review here. James Cameron’s opus uses brand-new filmmaking technology to tell the story of a Marine (Sam Worthington) sent to the […]

Alice in Wonderland; PG, 109 minutes; Carmike Cinema 6

Let history handle the business of judging Tim Burton’s take on Alice in Wonderland against the other attempts. A more pressing question is whether Burton’s film will satisfy fans of his earlier work. Look at little Eddie Scissorhands, all grown up: Johnny Depp plays The Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s CG-heavy take on the timeworn […]