Graham Gentz - The Daily Lobo

Opinion

Column: Reluctant reviewer reflects on critical years

Graham Gentz | May 4

I never wanted to be a monster. I never really wanted to be a reviewer. But I just want to say: it’s been a weird gig. I’ve always been a theater person — actor, writer and director, when I’m lucky — but I never thought I would ever take part in one of the most mysterious and maligned occupations around. In the summer of 2010 I was in the first “Will Power! Shakespeare Festival” at the Vortex Theatre. I was asked to talk about it in an interview for the June 14 issue of the Daily Lobo. Incarnations of it still exist online somewhere, including a picture of me standing in a tree.

Culture

Movie review: Visual feast pays homage to Coen brothers

Graham Gentz | April 16

“Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter” is a love letter to many things. First, it is loosely based on the urban legend of the 2001 death of a young Japanese woman said to have been looking for the buried money from the Coen brothers film “Fargo.” Emphasis on loosely. The opening title card of “Fargo” is even recycled for “Kumiko,” in which it falsely claims to be a true story. Since “Kumiko” is a movie that claims a fictional event to be true, which in turn involves a movie that claims a fictional event to be true. The levels of “truthiness” in how stories are told is chiefly of concern here.

Culture

Review: 'Chupacabra' lost its focus

Graham Gentz | April 2

It is never a good sign when any script contains five different names under the writing credits. Such is the troubled production of the original work “The Chupacabra Cantina,” created by the local activist and Latina performance troupe Las Meganenas, which recently finished performances. The play attempts to tackle a baffling number of discordant social issues while unfortunately illuminating none of them, attempting to embed them sneakily within a broadly-cast net of New Mexican culture and convention. Where to begin? “The Chupacabra Cantina” is set in a bar in Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico, but none of that really matters. Nothing in the play really matters. There is no conflict, no tension, no plot and certainly no story. There is a lot that’s distressingly wrong about “The Chupacabra Cantina.” But the single biggest issue is simply the atrocious writing.

Culture

Play Review: First one-acts at CNM a hit and miss

Graham Gentz | March 17

CNM has a brand new theater and Madrid’s production is some of the first plays to be produced there. And the $5 ticket price is particularly enticing. It’s always nice to see the setting-as-character of New Mexico played to its strengths.

Culture

Review: 'Big Hero 6' a surprisingly fresh Disney effort

Graham Gentz | March 5

Disney is one of the six corporations who control 90 percent of American media. Disney owns ABC, ESPN, Pixar, Miramax, Lucasfilm and Marvel Entertainment. The main way this has changed American media is the shaping of the thunderously lucrative Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Big Hero 6,” which recently came out on DVD, is probably the most creative use of Disney’s ownership of everything Marvel. “Big Hero 6” was originally a 90s comic series failure. I’m a huge comic book nerd and even I hadn’t heard of it before — it is essentially the artistic dregs of the Marvel’s comic history. But since Disney purchased Marvel Entertainment in 2009, this provided an opportunity to deconstruct and reinvent.

Culture

Review: Best picture winner flaunts industry's vanity

Graham Gentz | February 26

On Sunday, the 87th Academy Awards rained down their judgment on all moviedom for 2014. The Oscars have long been criticized as being out of touch for everything from the masturbatory glitz to the selection of each actual award. None receive more attention and examination than the politically-driven selection of the highly coveted Best Picture. I was fairly excited to see “Birdman,” which stars Michael Keaton, take the top spot. It seemed surreal and cerebral and looked to be filled with many long takes, but I failed to anticipate the rather shallow message the movie expounded, which explains its political selection by the voters of the Academy Awards.

Culture

Review: Nic Cage makes another once-a-decade masterpiece

Graham Gentz | February 19

It’s a contentious stance, but I like Nic Cage. He’s an easy man to disregard. Sure, the bottom 85 percent of his filmography is earth-shatteringly bad. But every 10 years or so, he makes a really good movie. And if you blink, you’d miss films like “Adaptation,” “Raising Arizona,” “Matchstick Men,” “Bringing Out the Dead,” “Lord of War” or “The Weather Man.” Go watch them and see what I mean. You won’t be disappointed.

Culture

Theater review: Festival can hit or miss

Graham Gentz | February 5

The Revolutions International Theatre Festival is a whole lot of theater. Three solid weeks displaying a different show is a lot. Perhaps too much. And with tickets at $28 for general admission or, if you are lucky, $22 for students and seniors, it’s terribly difficult to see more than one or two at the most.

Culture

Improv show a gratifying sight

Graham Gentz | January 27

How does one make art and be socially conscious? Well, make socially conscientious art. Theatre of the Oppressed is style of socially conscious interactive improv created by Brazilian director, artist and activist Augusto Boal in the mid-twentieth century. Working Classroom, a non-profit corporation, has created a presentation of that work as a joint effort with El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos, an organization which works to defend rights for Latino immigrants.

Culture

Review: Fresh pieces in theater festival

Graham Gentz | January 22

Divergent art is important, especially since you don’t have to like it. For the past 15 years, local Albuquerque theater company Tricklock has organized the Revolutions International Theater Festival, in which national and international performers of dance and theater come to our little desert town. It isn’t always the best stuff, but at least it’s different, and the fairly incestuous local Albuquerque community can always use some shaking up. I saw three performances over the weekend and there will be plenty more diverse events for the remainder of the month, including lots of stuff on weeknights.