Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 212
"Jim Henson Idea Man" sees Ron Howard apply his best directorial strengths to a fittingly heartfelt biography of the man who made his name as the creator of the Muppets, although Howard follows Henson's own example of being quick to credit all of Henson's many creative partners, starting with Jim's since-deceased widow, Jane. Jim Henson was only 53 years old when he died in 1990, and yet, his imagination birthed more characters, television shows and movies than even his more devoted fans can...
The musical "Little Shop of Horrors" spotlights a mutating plant in a skid row florist shop that feeds on human blood and flesh while commanding "Feed me!!" and a sadistic dentist who saves the laughing gas for himself. But the heart of the musical by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken is the love between the hapless florist Seymour Krelborn and his co-worker Audrey, a pretty blonde with a colorful fashion sense who's dating the abusive dentist. "There's authenticity, but with the touch of ridiculous...
"Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" is the direct sequel to 2015's "Mad Max: Fury Road" and the fifth installment in writer-director George Miller's "Mad Max" series, which started with the first "Mad Max" film in 1979. Reports of its apparently underwhelming box office over the Memorial Day weekend leave me wondering whether audiences have grown weary of this 45-year-old franchise. If so, it would be a shame, because "Furiosa" sees Miller firing on all cylinders, not only in staging engagingly elaborate...
The Forest Festival carnival is open early this year at 1st and Grove streets in downtown Shelton. The company that runs the carnival had a cancellation, so it set up May 24 and will continue operating through Sunday, according to Forest Festival organizers. The carnival has a mini-Ferris wheel, rides "that make your head spin," games with stuffed animal prizes, and food booths offering cotton candy, candy apples and churros. Hours are 5-9 p.m. tonight, 4-10 p.m. Friday, noon-10 p.m. Saturday...
The Shelton-based choir Women of Note, joined by classical pianist Dilyara Oliver, perform classic and modern choral music at two "Origins" concerts this week. The concerts are staged at 7 p.m. Friday at the Bridge Community Church, 500 E. N. Island Drive on Harstine Island, and 3 p.m. Sunday at St. David of Wales Episcopal Church, 324 W. Cedar St. in downtown Shelton. Admission is free and donations are accepted. In a news release, the nonprofit states the audiences will hear different vocal...
I don't know what I was expecting from an extremely loose sci-fi adaptation of Henry James' 1903 novella "The Beast in the Jungle," but I don't think anyone could have expected Bertrand Bonello's "The Beast." When he was 12, Bonello became interested in film after watching horror movies from directors, including David Cronenberg, George A. Romero, Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci. Bonello's taste has always been top-notch. But with "The Beast," Bonello quietly goes for broke in recreating a...
Starting Saturday, nature and train buffs can pedal on railroad tracks on the 13-mile roundtrip from the former Simpson Lumber Camp 1 to Shelton West of U.S. Highway 101 and back, past Dayton farmlands and into the woods along the Goldsborough Creek. Vance Creek Railriders offer trips on the four-seat railriders at 9 a.m., noon and 3 p.m. on Thursdays through Mondays, with no service on Tuesday or Wednesday. Patrons are advised to arrive at least 30 minutes before departure to check in at the of...
After a quartet of specials near the end of last year, the latest season of "Doctor Who" is underway on its new American streaming home of Disney+, so with a little more than three aired episodes under his belt, it's time to take stock of the 15th Doctor, played by Rwandan-Scottish actor Ncuti Gatwa. Alert viewers may have already spotted Gatwa as one of the army of Kens who populated the cast of last year's "Barbie" (sporting frosted blond hair, no less), but what strikes me about his...
Set in 1595, the musical "Something Rotten!" follows the Bottom brothers, Nick and Nigel, who struggle to find success in the theatrical world as they compete with the wild popularity of their contemporary William Shakespeare. "They'll lose their financial support if they don't write a hit play," said Michelle Whittaker, who directs the Connection Street Theatre production that opens Saturday in Shelton. "And Shakespeare is like the Elvis of his day." But the brothers are sidetracked by...
It looks like Forks won't be the only corner of the Olympic Peninsula to gain fame from a supernatural entertainment franchise, given the critical and audience acclaim that Netflix's "Dead Boy Detectives" have garnered since all eight episodes of their first season began streaming April 25. The original "Dead Boy Detectives" were co-created by writer Neil Gaiman for his DC Comics Vertigo imprint series, "The Sandman," and just as Netflix began adapting that 75-issue, 1989-96 comic book title wit...
It's a rare treat for me to be able to review the work of a hyper-local filmmaker, at the very least because they tend to be savvy enough to take advantage of the natural landscapes we share here in the Northwest. When Bainbridge Island-based Rachel Noll James wrote, directed, co-produced and starred in "Ingress," she made it practically in her backyard, but the meditative sci-fi film has more than pleasant settings to recommend it. That being said, cinematographer Dan Clarke deserves...
In the 2004 movie "Mean Girls," formerly homeschooled Cady Heron (played by Lindsay Lohan) is a hit with The Plastics, the A-list girl clique at her new school - until she makes the mistake of falling for Aaron Samuels, the ex-boyfriend of the alpha Plastic, Regina George. The movie, written by former "Saturday Night Live" head writer and "30 Rock" creator Tina Fey, was transformed into a musical that debuted on Broadway in 2018. The Shelton High School Drama Club brings the story to life in...
After seeing her star-making turn in Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon" last year, all that Hulu had to do to get me to watch its true-crime miniseries "Under the Bridge," which began streaming its first two episodes April 17, was to cast Oscar-nominated Native American actress Lily Gladstone as one of its leads. Gladstone plays Saanich Police Officer Cam Bentland, a composite character representing local law enforcement in this miniseries' dramatization of the real-life 1997 murder...
Two poets who combine poetry and their work in psychology, both residents at Hypatia-in-the-Woods in Mason County, will share their works aloud at the Shelton Timberland Library. Kripi Malviya, an existential psychologist and poet from India, reads her poems from 2 to 3 p.m. Friday. Malviya’s work has been published in World Literature Review, the Sky Island Journal, Muse and the Black Warrior Review. She is the winner of the 2017 Rhythm Divine International Poetry Chapbook contest for her first poetry collection, “ale(theia).” Malviya runs...
Seattle singer/songwriter Deb Seymour writes tunes about hitchhiking chickens in electric cars, tango dancing with Martians and the absurd indignities of undergoing a colonoscopy. “Life is so difficult you can’t take it seriously sometimes,” Seymour said in an interview with the Journal from her home in Ballard. The performer one fan described as a combination of Joni Mitchell and Lucille Ball brings her original tunes, a few covers and comic banter to a concert at 4 p.m. Saturday at St. Germain’s Episcopal Church, 600 N. Lake Cushman Road, H...
In the spring of 1977, a young woman with long flowing hair and a guitar caught the eye of Curtis Teague on a beach in Santa Cruz, California. He ran down a trail to greet the stranger. "I appraised her with loving eyes and said, 'I play guitar too,' " he recalled in a telephone interview with the Journal Monday. "I said, 'That's nice,'" Loretta Simonet remembered. Curtis returned five minutes later with a mandolin. They played together publicly that night at her scheduled gig, and they've been...
I'd meant to see "Dumb Money" near the end of last year, but recent absurdities in the news had me feeling weirdly nostalgic for the comparatively quaint online firestorms of the COVID era. Indeed, while the art of cinema has progressed now to where many movies have incorporated the realities of social media into their narratives, "Dumb Money" is the first film I've ever seen in which Reddit, as a forum, has legitimately earned a supporting cast member credit. Because the filmmakers wisely...
In playwright Susan Sandler's charming comedy "Crossing Delancey," Isabelle Grossman seems to be living the dream. She has a rent-controlled apartment in New York City's Upper West Side, a job at a prestigious independent bookstore, lots of friends and a handsome local author to dream about. However, none of this matters to Bubbie, a strong-minded traditional Jewish grandmother who worries that her granddaughter is living alone. Unbeknownst to Isabelle, Bubbie hires a marriage broker, who introd...
As was the case with 2021's "Ghostbusters: Afterlife," I registered the divergence in reactions to "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire." As with the previous film, many reviewers can't seem to stand it, whereas audience reaction scores have been overwhelmingly positive. "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire" is not a film whose screenplay will be studied by future film nerds for how well-constructed it is, in the way the original "Ghostbusters" and 1985's "Back to the Future" are now. But what's ironic is...
Steven Delopoulos and Johnny Phillips from the band Burlap to Cashmere perform The Sounds of Silence Tribute at 7 p.m. Friday at the Shelton High School Performing Arts Center. The duo sings the songs of Simon and Garfunkel and other singer/songwriters of that era, including Bob Dylan, John Denver, Harry Chapin, Cat Stevens and Don McLean. As members of the band Burlap to Cashmere, the two have opened for Elvis Costello, Hootie and the Blowfish, Bob Weir and REO Speedwagon, and recently,...
I somehow missed "Saint Maud," the 2019 debut film by writer-director Rose Glass, but after seeing "Love Lies Bleeding," which Glass directed and co-wrote with Weronika Tofilska, I'm definitely checking out whatever she has to offer from this point forward. "Love Lies Bleeding" is quite possibly an even more lesbian film than "Drive-Away Dolls," which I reviewed just a few weeks ago, but this is in no way a criticism. For a London-born gal whose lifespan post-dates the 1980s, Glass has a knack...
North Mason High School Drama Club students perform two one-act plays - "Sorry, Wrong Number" and "The Still Alarm" - at 7 tonight, Friday and Saturday in the school's theater at 71 E. Campus Drive in Belfair. Regular admission is $8, with students with an ASB card admitted for $5. Both one-act plays are old-time classics: "The Still Alarm" is 99 years old and "Sorry, Wrong Number" debuted during World War II. Drama Club Advisor Hilary Gennaro said she considered modern one-act plays for the...
Denis Villeneuve stuck the landing. I've only followed Villeneuve's filmmaking career since "Sicario" in 2015 - he's been directing feature films since 1998 - but every film he's made from "Sicario" forward, including 2016's "Arrival," 2017's "Blade Runner 2049" and 2021's "Dune," has been virtually flawless. "Dune: Part Two" is no exception, as Villeneuve gives Frank Herbert's 1965 epic science fiction novel the cinematic adaptation it's always deserved. Even brilliant auteurs that include...
Alicia Healey and Wes Wedell are Seattle singer/songwriters who draw inspiration from their rural roots and have collaborated musically for more than two decades. The two perform in concert at 3 p.m. Saturday at St. Germain's Episcopal Church, 600 N. Lake Cushman Road, Hoodsport. Admission is a suggested donation of $15, but no one will be turned away. Each will perform a set of original songs. "I will be backing him up, and he'll be backing me up," Healey said in a joint telephone interview...
Minor spoiler to start: "Drive-Away Dolls," contrary to its mildly misleading trailer, is not set in the 21st century. This matters because this period piece from 1999 is probably a golden mean between an absence of cellphones, whose presence would preclude most of this film's plot points, and a relative level of LGBTQ acceptance in society, which allows our lesbian protagonists to be careless over the course of their misadventures. It also matters because "Drive-Away Dolls" represents a...
