Acting

Make no mistake about it, "John Carter," playing now at the Fandango multiplex in Carson City, is a film with a nine-figure budget that takes itself seriously, although audiences may not. It's ripped from the pages of a 1912 newspaper series by Edgar Rice Burroughs of "Tarzan fame" (newspapers ran fun things like that in better times).

The teen-comedy "Project X," currently at the Fandango Galaxy cineplex in Carson City, is clearly aimed at high school teens, despite its R rating. It's a wild party scene that is the ultimate teen aspiration, including plenty of drugs, booze, nudity and destruction.

The action-thriller film "Act of Valor," now playing at now the Galaxy Fandango cineplex in Carson City, merges real-life SEALs (we all know who the SEALs are, thanks to the Osama bin Laden assassination) with Hollywood actors in action photography taken during maneuvers at the SEAL training grounds.
No SEALs are identified by name, although there is a surprisingly length listing of SEALs who have died in action at the end of the film.

The action-Satanic film "Ghost Rider, Spirit of Vengeance," currently booming away at the Fandango Galaxy cineplex in Carson City, stars Nicholas Gage as Johnny Blaze, motorcycle stunt rider with a hangup that puts him in seclusion until summoned again to ride his motorcycle blazing with fire and to don his alter ego at Ghost Rider, with the burning skull.

Right off, this is a lousy movie from the making sense point of view and it is the latest in Gage's series of flops. But he keeps trying and his grimaces are standard stock from the past.

The film "This Means War," currently on view at the Fandango Galaxy cineplex in Carson City, stars Reese Witherspoon as Laure Scott. Which is good because she almost brings this turkey of a romantic comedy to life all by herself.

UPDATE 10:30PM: Plans to raise the speed limit within South Lake Tahoe along Highway 50 were presented to the South Lake Tahoe City Council on Tuesday.

The good news is that the V&T Railway is expected to make a profit of $164,132 on their popular Polar Express event for the coming year.

The bad news is the railway's main runs between Eastgate Siding and Virginia City is projected to lose $108,192, even with an expected $67,250 in donations.

The resulting $56,000 in projected profit is almost enough to pay for the $60,000 shortfall in the previous season's sales tax revenue that pays for the bonds that helped rebuild the historic railway. That is a shortfall that is expected to continue and grow larger.

I was busy some other place when "Star Wars, The Phantom Menace" opened in 1999 in the USA. Lucky me. Not so lucky now when I went to see the reworked original decked out in 3D. It's a corny movie and the 3D adds little to the viewing except for the $3 extra per ticket. At the Galaxy Fandango in Carson City you can see the release without 3D and you won't be missing much.

RENO – From a cheering crowd of several hundred at a brief but energetic Mitt Romney rally to a more subdued event for Rick Santorum hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition to another well-attended rally for Ron Paul, it was a trifecta of presidential candidates in Reno ahead of the Saturday GOP caucus.

Romney got the balling rolling at the Grove, with an estimated 800 supporters packed inside and standing outside the event center in South Reno. Romney spoke briefly to those standing outside before giving a short but enthusiastic speech to those crowded inside.

The Academy Award nominated film "The Descendants," now playing at the Fandango Galaxy movie house in Carson City, is a hard-eyed romantic comedy with an ensemble cast headed by George Clooney, the only name star aboard.
Doesn't matter, this is a fine cast from Clooney as Matt King to Judy Greer as Julie Speer, wife of a real estate salesman who … but let's let that wait.
The film opens with a scene of an attractive woman riding a boat. She's laughing in the wind. This is before an of the opening credits. No explanation given or needed.

(Press Release) On the heels of its most successful year, MontBleu Resort Casino & Spa at Lake Tahoe continues its popular top-contemporary entertainment with the addition of Sublime with Rome and special guest Everlast; George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic; and comedian Rob Schneider.

The sci-fi-horror film "Underworld Awakened" screening at the Fandango Galaxy cineplex in Carson City is the fourth iteration of the series, in this case starring Kate Beckinsale as Selene for the third time.

Selene hs been in suspended animation in a freezer for 12 years bust breaks out to find that humankind is at war with the vampires in the population a well as the werewolves.

Well, she isn't going to sit still for this and with super athleticism leaps off buildings and bumps of a bunch of cop-soldiers (hard to tell them apart but they all have machine guns).

The latest take on the popular teen-aimed "Twilight" sci-fi-fantasy-horror film series is in town and it's playing at the Fandango Galaxy cineplex.

It's called 'Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn Part 1," and it brings back most of the cast of the earlier movies, although this is P-13 stuff with a lot of eroticism as well as all those fanged wolves. A teen film it is not, but you can bet a lot of teens are going to see it.

Sometimes one wonders if casting calls in Hollywood consisted of the males baring pectorals and the women an ability to look good but not have to have any actings skills. And for directors to have a good visual sense but no idea of what a story it supposed to do.

That sentiment is triggered by the movie "Immortals," currently flickering at the Fandango Galaxy cineplex in Carson City.

Carson City Sheriff's deputies arrested transient Joshua Lieberman, 30, at the corner of Fall and Long streets Wednesday afternoon, for felony possession of a controlled substance with the intent to sell and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.

According to the arrest report, deputies were dispatched after a call was placed about a person possibly selling drugs. Deputies spotted the subject - later identified as Lieberman - near the FISH store, acting nervously and clenching his left fist. Being told to relax made the subject more nervous.

Strange how fiction (or movies) sometime match up accidentally with the real world. An example of this is "In Time," a film currently playing at the Fandango Galaxy multiplex in Carson City.

By Aimi Xistra-Rich
The Heavenly Ski and Snowboard Foundation has announced two new programs for the 2011 – 2012 winter season under the Freestyle umbrella. The Foundation will offer two Freeride program options, the One-Day Program and the Full-Time Competitive Program. These programs are open to intermediate to advanced level skiers aged ten to 18 who have a passion for slopestyle, skiercross and halfpipe training.

The states of New Hampshire and Iowa believe they have some God-given right to essentially pick who our presidential candidates will be by holding their nominating contests before all other states.

It's a mighty undemocratic way to operate a democracy.

This week has brought a new low. New Hampshire, acting like the typical spoiled child, is complaining that Nevada Republicans can't hold their caucuses on Jan. 14, which is only four days after the primary in the Granite State.

I was chatting with a couple of friends Monday about the Occupy Wall Street movement in its unfocused protest about banks and the financial sector and other things.

No specific targets, but they know something is wrong here.

One friend, a firm "independent," dismissed the crowds as "a bunch of purple-haired freaks." The other, a determined conservative who has predicted rioting in 18 months in American cities when the economy collapses as he is sure it is about to, similarly waved off the protests because the crowd was largely young and powerless with no agenda.

The film "Real Steel" now playing at the Fandango Galaxy cineplex in Carson City is an action film starring Hugh Jackman as a down-and-out boxer past his prime as robots took over the boxing world.

In this case it's an attempt by films to muscle into the video game profits. Not that the movie is bad, that is, if the sight of giant robots flaying away at each other doesn't turn you off. It's actually technology not gone amok but just crass.

CARSON CITY – Richard Whitley, administrator of the Nevada State Health Division, has been appointed to serve as acting administrator for the Nevada Division of Mental Health and Developmental Services.
The appointment by Mike Willden, director of the state Department of Health and Human Services, took effect Saturday. Whitley is replacing Dr. Harold Cook, who is retiring after 33 years of state service.

"Straw Dogs," a thriller currently playing at the Fandango Galaxy cineplex in Carson City and elsewhere, is a remake of the 1971 controversial film of the same name directed by Sam Peckinpah, that opened the Hollywood door on a kind of territorial violence. It was widely condemned as preaching violence and misogyny.

The sci-fi horror film "Apollo 18," currently playing at the Casino Fandango multiplex in Carson City and elsewhere, is a strange bird of a movie. The premise is that while NASA claimed to have scrubbed Apollo 18, it was actually rescheduled as a secret mission to plant Soviet ICBM detectors on the Moon. Three astronauts were selected and briefed and launched.

"Colombiana," a thriller currently playing at the Fandango Galaxy multiplex in Carson City and other local theaters, is a revenge film starring the big blue woman of "Avatar," Zoe Saldana, as Cataleva Restrepo. The excellent Amandia Sternberg plays Restrepo as a young girl --- and if there is anyone going to star in future movies it's this young lady. She's solemn, unfazed and a real actress.

Proscenium Players in conjunction with the Gold Dust West Hotel and Casino in Carson City are holding open auditions for the murder mystery Dealt A Deadly Hand – Murder at the Carson City Casino Royale. Is nothing sacred? This mystery dinner show spoofs the movie "Casablanca" and the American Dream of winning the jackpot.

CARSON CITY — Secretary of State Ross Miller this week issued a warning to Nevada businesses about deceptive letters from companies that purport to be “registered agents,” but in fact are trying to mislead business owners.
The solicitations at first glance appears to be an official notification endorsed by the Secretary of State and notifying businesses that the status of their corporation requires updating, including the payment of filing fees.

"Conan the Barbarian" is currently wielding swords and other death weapons at the Fandango Galaxy cineplex in Carson City.

And no, if you thought this was a re-release of the Arnold Schwarzenegger film of the 1980s, it's not. It a new bloody, murderous revival of the franchise but since Arnold isn't up to murder and mayhem these days we have a new Conan, two of them actually, one in his teens and the other the Conan out on a bloody roll.

Note to people intent on carrying methamphetamine: Speeding in a Corvette through downtown Carson City probably isn't a good idea.

Two people found that out early this morning when a Carson City Sheriff's deputy stopped them near the intersection of Carson and Washington streets for going 41 mph in a 25 mph zone.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval today appointed Robert Halstead as executive director of the Agency for Nuclear Projects, the agency responsible for oversight of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. He will start in the job Sept. 19.
Halstead will replace Joe Strolin, who has been serving as acting director since January.

OK, so I missed the first seven Harry Potter films and the J.K Rowling books that served as the basis for the series. Bad planning or no planning. So when the last of the series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," opened at the Fandango Galaxy multiplex with three theaters showing the film simultaneous, in 2-D and 3-D, I figured time to catch up.