A & E

Friday's Flicks: Best of the Holiday Releases

For the first time in the admittedly spotty existence of Friday’s Flicks, there are no new movies opening today. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a crap-ton of options out there: 15 movies opened between Dec. 21 and Christmas Day, several of which are quite good.

The Savages, Tamara Jenkins’ first film since 1998’s Slums of Beverly Hills, is a deceptively tender, melancholic comedy starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney as siblings who are forced to deal with their estranged father’s failing health. Downcast but engaging, The Savages features another strong (and surprisingly restrained) turn from Hoffman in a perceptive film that looks at how one’s childhood informs later behaviors. Steven Rosen's full-length review here.

Juno is another perceptive look at family life — but from a much more youthful perspective. Jason Reitman follows up his entertaining tobacco industry satire Thank You for Smoking with this equally entertaining comedy propelled by tart-tongued dialogue and a complicated take on the notion of family values. Stripper-turned-Hollywood-playa Diablo Cody’s screenplay breathes new life into a derivative genre (high school comedy) via a gift for up-to-the-minute vernacular, pop culture savvy and narrative nuance. And Ellen Page, as the pregnant 16-year-old Juno, is the perfect actress to deliver Cody’s stylized dialogue (which admittedly straddles the line between cringe-worthy pretension and brilliance), a performer who radiates just the right balance of intelligence, vulnerability and sass.

A Kensington Christmas

I long ago realized if you want to see the worst of humanity, the most glaring examples of discourtesy and ill will toward fellow man, you need only go shopping on Christmas Eve.

So it was a few short years ago that I went out to get those few last-minute items I had been neglecting on the naughty or nice list. I'm generally opposed to driving more than 20 minutes to get anywhere in this town, save for a really cheap happy hour, so it should be considered something of an anomaly that I was walking through some giant computer center in Forest Fair Mall in search of a deluxe wireless mouse for the love of my life.

And, yes, nothing makes them swoon like a wireless mouse. I imagined, walking through the printer toner section, that fateful moment when she would open it and see the ergonomically-correct Kensington XL50. “Oh my God,” she'll exclaim. “The Kensington?! How did you know?!” Yes, she would be like putty in my hands — all hot, bothered and gracious.

It was in this mood that I exited the hyper-mart — arguably the most accurate moniker ever bestowed — and strolled to my car, humming my favorite Mariah Carey Christmas song. She moves me, I tells ya. On that not-so-short walk to the car, parked comfortably in lane Scooby Doo Three, I saw no less than three birds flipped, four grandmothers nearly run over and five F-bombs launched from tinted car windows, impatiently waiting for someone to “just load the car and get the bleep out of the spot already.”

I was suddenly saddened. Even the dulcet tones of Mariah could not save me, although track 4 in my brain was sure trying. Yes, baby, I will come home this Christmas.

Stage Door: The Lion in Winter

If you're anticipating a tough holiday when your family gets together, you might want to compare your situation to the anxieties of Henry II of England. When he gathered his sons together in 1183, they were angling to be the nation's next ruler. The feisty crew included Richard Lionheart, Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany, and John, Henry's youngest son. For the festivities he also released his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, from her imprisonment in Salisbury Tower. And he included Philip II, King of France, a young monarch who had his own interests in the young state across the English Channel. It's a great story of political intrigue and family dynamics, re-enacted in John Goldman's THE LION IN WINTER, which shows how even the royals can have their issues around family gatherings. Clear Stage Cincinnati is offering a production of this which concludes this weekend with 8 p.m. performances on Friday and Saturday. With Robert Allen directing and playing Henry, the strong cast includes Kathie Labanz, Nathan Neorr, Kendall Karg, Jonathan Silver, David Ryan Speer and Kellen York. Performances are at the Fifth Third Bank Theater at the Aronoff Center. Tickets: 513-621-2787.

– Rick Pender

Stage Door: CSC Does Christmas

Well, golly gee, Christmas is closing in and you say you haven’t been to a holiday show yet? Well, you have four remaining chances to catch up. Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival has done very well with its production of EVERY CHRISTMAS STORY EVER TOLD, which was set to perform Sunday, Monday and Tuesday — so well in fact that they’ve added one final performance on Wednesday (Dec. 19). Go early on one of these evenings and have some dinner at Arnold’s Bar & Grill (210 E. Eighth St., Downtown), then settle into the cozy courtyard at 7:30 p.m. as three actors skip out on Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and offer, instead, such stories as The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, The Gift of the Magi, Frosty the Snowman, various holidays in Sweden and “Gustav the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (it seems his more familiar cousin is part of a copyrighted story). By the second act, they realize they’ve forgotten to include It’s a Wonderful Life, so Clarence the angel gets all tangled up with Scrooge and his ghosts.

If you’ve laughed at The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (abridged), you’ll love this three-actor show that covers all the holiday bases. The production features three great knockabout performers from Cincinnati Shakespeare — Nick Rose (one of the company’s founders), his new fiancée Sara Clark and Justin McCoombs (who’s also playing a cowardly lion in CSC’s mainstage production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream). Tickets: 513-381-2273.

— Rick Pender

More Beverage-Related Gift Giving Advice

This post is an addendum to my Fermentations column that appears in this week’s print edition, and includes lots of other beverage-related gift giving suggestions for the holidays.

First, I love finding new gadgets that purport to solve problems that I didn’t even know I had. For instance, Waring, which introduced its first ‘blendor’ back in 1937, claims to have created a solution to the exhaustion suffered by anyone who has ever had to stir — or, if your name is Bond — shake a Martini. With the push of a button, their new Automatic Martini Shaker ($99 at Sur la Table, Rookwood Commons) will shake or stir the perfect drink — and become “the life of the party and the perfect gift for the martini lover.”

Or so they say. In fact, party guests and martini lovers are all far more likely to prefer that you mix your martinis the old-fashioned way and spend that $100 on several decent bottles of booze. Look for Hendrick’s Gin ($35), infused with cucumber and Bulgarian roses, and Cincinnati’s Woodstone Creek Vodka (about $19), which garnered top honors in our CityBeat vodka tasting. (It was also recently awarded a silver medal from the prestigious Beverage Tasting Institute and rated “Highly Recommended”!) Add a whisper of Martini & Rossi Dry Vermouth ($4) and you’ll have the perfect cocktail without breaking a sweat.

Playing Around

If you've grown weary of predictable, traditional holiday shows, perhaps you'd be interested in checking out two brand-new works by local playwright Phil Paradise, presented on Tuesday evening (Dec. 11, 7:30 p.m.) at the Aronoff Center's Fifth Third Bank Theater by Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative (CPI). Both scripts have holiday-related themes. SOLDIERS' CHRISTMAS is a drama/comedy set in northern France in December 1914. On Christmas Eve, in the "no man's land" between front lines guarded by British and German soldiers, the men on both sides of a violent conflict discover they share many common desires and emotions, coming together during a temporary cease-fire to play soccer and sing Christmas carols. Paradis's second play, THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE POLAR BEAR, is about an encounter between a heroic firefighter and a disturbed homeless man. These two roles are played by Kevin Crowley (a 2007 CEA winner for his performance in ETC's production of Opus) and veteran community theater actor Bill Hartnett; the pair also are par of the larger cast of Soldiers' Christmas. Julie Niesen is staging the two-man show; Don Volpenheim is the director for Soldiers' Christmas, with a cast of eight.

CPI is a grassroots organization of playwrights, directors and actors who present plays written by local playwrights in staged readings, an important step in the development of new plays. Audiences are invited to be part of this collaborative process by providing feedback following the reading of a play-in-progress. Admission is only $6 ($3 for students). Many of the actors involved are performers seen regularly at Cincinnati's many fine professional theaters. It's an entertaining evening that's also extremely valuable to the writers, providing them with a chance to hear reactions to their scripts while they are still evolving (and before expensive productions are undertaken). Take a break from your holiday festivities for an evening of creativity. Reservations: 513-621-2787.

— Rick Pender

Stage Door: Holiday Tradition

OK, so I spend a lot of my time during the holidays writing about theater choices that have nothing to do with Charles Dickens and Ebenezer Scrooge. But I have a confession to make: One of my favorite December theatrical evenings is going to see the Cincinnati Playhouse's production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

That's because it's honest and literate and beautifully presented. I've seen versions of Dickens' tale about the reformation of the "old screw" at other theaters, and they don't hold a Christmas candle to what you can see in Eden Park. You see, most theaters simply put onstage a crabby actor to play Scrooge and a couple of ghosts and some singers in Victorian costumes and rake in the dough — Dickens should really be revered as the patron saint of American theaters, many of which support their seasons with mediocre productions that people go to simply because it's a holiday tradition. Not so the Playhouse. Of course, they make money on this one, but they've invested in one of the most elaborate sets that gets assembled on the Marx Stage all season, and the cast is a who's who of local actors. (In fact, another reason to praise the Playhouse is the way they employ local actors for this production — some of them have been doing this every year since the early 1990s. Greg Procaccino, who plays Marley's fearsome ghost and sleazy Old Joe — tells me he wouldn't know what to do in December if he weren't onstage at the Playhouse.) Especially fun to watch is Bruce Cromer, now in his third season as Scrooge (for eight years before that he played Bob Cratchitt); he's more antic and physical than his esteemed predecessor, Joneal Joplin, in some ways that are both appropriate and also make the role his own. (Even though I know it's coming, every year I get misty-eyed when Scrooge appears at his nephew Fred's home on Christmas Day, fearful that he'll be turned away, then surprised by the warm welcome he receives. It's an honest and moving moment.)

If you're looking for just one holiday theater experience during the month of December, you can't go wrong with A Christmas Carol — I've seen it every year for 17 seasons, and every year it reminds me how good theater can be and why we love to hear good stories well told. By this time, tickets are hard to come by, but if you call now, you can probably still get one. You won't regret it. 513-421-3888.

— Rick Pender

Sobering Thoughts for the Holidays

Through my CityBeat columns, I spend most of the year trying to convey the experience of consuming an interesting beer or wine or spirit in the hope that readers will give it a try. But I’m also keenly aware that it’s difficult for many to remain sober. I’ve had many relatives, friends and roommates over the years whose lives were devastated by a compulsion to drink. Most have managed to find a path to sobriety, though I’ve seen firsthand that stumbling off that path is always a constant danger.

I can only imagine how much harder it is to stay sober during the holiday season — the period stretching from Thanksgiving through News Year's Day, when it seems that drinks are foisted upon us at every turn. There are office parties, family celebrations, charity fund-raisers and neighborhood get-togethers — even church events! — where alcohol flows with uncommon liberality.

Obviously it’s difficult — sometimes impossible — for those working to maintain their hard-won sobriety to simply sit out all these social gatherings. So then how does one deal with the pressures of the holiday season while maintaining their sobriety?

Friday's Flicks: The Return of Subtle Sidney

We’re in the midst of a strange movie-going period. After a slow November (both in terms of quality and quantity), Thanksgiving week gave us a plethora of releases, a few of which were among the best films of the year (No Country for Old Men and I’m Not There.)

Looking ahead, around 20 films are slated to hit local theaters over the next month. Fourteen of those films will open between Dec. 21 and 25. It seems studios believe we have more time (if not disposable income) for movies during holiday breaks, which might be true, but it doesn’t help those of us looking to get our fix before that gold rush period (anticipated films like Atonement, The Savages, Margot’s Wedding, Juno and Charlie Wilson’s War are set to open that week).

Which brings us to this week: We have only two offerings, one of which marks a return to form for veteran director Sidney Lumet, the other of which marks a return to form for the charisma-free Hayden “Darth Vader” Christensen. (In his defense, I still contend that Christensen's performance in Shattered Glass, the true-life journalism scandal story of The New Republic’s Stephen Glass, is close to remarkable. And his Dylan-esque role in the recent Factory Girl was appropriately mysterious.)