From 2009 to 2019, Georgia had a 210 percent growth in its creative sector — the largest in the nation.
Tag: entertainment
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra plays on
By Guest Columnist NOEL MORRIS, a writer and producer who specializes in classical and orchestral music
Since the start of the pandemic, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has turned up in the most unexpected places, including in the middle of a meadow in Serenbe.
Woodruff Arts Center credit outlook dropped to negative as revenues deteriorate
The Woodruff Arts Center saw its credit outlook downgraded from stable to negative as analysts expect further weakening in revenues. In addition, revenues had been declining for years before COVID-19, Woodruff has disclosed to investors.
Atlanta to crack down on nightclubs posing as restaurants to bypass liquor laws
Atlanta is poised to investigate nightclubs and close those that masquerade as restaurants in order to get and retain a license to sell alcohol.
Don’t argue – The 1960s was the greatest decade ever for television
By Guest Columnist BO HIERS, a semi-retired marketing officer in the reinsurance industry and super-proud grandfather of his beloved grandson, Fletcher
There’s no point arguing, so don’t even try. The 1960s was hands-down the best decade ever for quality television, and it’s not even close.
Vocalist/guitarist struggling through the pandemic on virtual concerts, music sales
Vocalist Sofia Talvik had barely gotten the words out of her mouth – her winter tour begins in a few days – when her adopted homeland locked down again to curb a COVID-19 spread.
Live Nation failed minority hiring requirements at Chastain Park: ATL audit
Live Nation has not met its minority participation requirements for Chastain Park Amphitheater. In addition, the company has not submitted reports of minority participation at either Chastain or Lakewood Fairgrounds, the two amphitheaters it has under lease agreement with Atlanta, according to a new city audit.
COVID-19 threatens health of arts organizations; some face bankruptcy
By Guest Columnist LARA SMITH, managing director of Dad’s Garage Theatre
I work as the managing director of Dad’s Garage Theatre (we specialize in improv and scripted comedy), and even with our very robust financial protections we are still facing financial challenges in this crisis.
‘An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power,’ better as PBS special than big-screen movie
Perhaps the most inconvenient thing about “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power,” is that it even exists.
Wouldn’t it have been swell if Al Gore’s Oscar-winning 2006 documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” had fixed everything?
‘Maudie’ starts out slowly and, thankfully, never fizzles out
If there ever were a movie that shouldn’t work, it’s “Maudie.”
To begin with, it’s a very familiar tale: The odd couple who triumph despite their, well, oddness.
Georgia’s gamble on film industry continues to pay off
Gov. Nathan Deal’s trade mission to Hollywood in 2015 evidently continues to reap benefits. Deal announced the film industry generated $9.5 billion of economic impact for the fiscal year that ended June 30. That’s up from the $7 billion in economic impact for the previous fiscal year.
‘Their Finest’ – Simply put, it all works
To be absolutely blunt about it, “Their Finest” is one of the finest films of the year thus far.
The title is a play on Winston Churchill’s famous, “This was their finest hour” speech, which he made to Parliament in 1940 as a way to rally the British and strengthen their resolve to finish off Hitler and his Nazis.
‘Tommy’s Honour’ perfect for scratch players, for duffers – not so much
In “Tommy’s Honour,” the greatest hazard facing Tommy Morris – the 19th-century golf prodigy who won the equivalent of the British Open four times before he turned 21 – wasn’t sand traps or rough weather. It was the wretchedly rigid class system which decreed, no matter how well he did on the course, off the course he wasn’t a gentleman and thereby ineligible for acceptance into the inner circle at Scotland’s august St. Andrews. The highest he could aspire to was being a caddy.
In ‘Going in Style,’ viewers’ patience is rewarded
If you’re going to insist on making a movie about cuddly old codgers, you can’t do much better than casting Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Alan Arkin, the stars of “Going in Style.”
This trio of Oscar winners (Caine has two, actually) know all about how to make a movie work as best as it possibly can. And they know how to rescue one when it gets in trouble.
‘Get Out’ melds humor, horror in a race-conscious screenplay
“Get Out” pulls off a pretty impressive balancing act. It is simultaneously funny as all get out and scary as all get out.
The brainchild of Jordan Peele (best known as the shorter half of the Peele and Key comedy duo), “Get Out” has been hanging on in theaters for weeks now. No wonder. It’s an eminently satisfying film, combining sharp social satire with a horror flick’s incremental sense of dread.
‘The Zookeeper’s Wife’ squanders opportunity, misses the mark
It’s one thing to buy a zoo, as Matt Damon did in the 2011 movie. It’s quite another to keep the remnants of a zoo up and running after the Nazis have goose-stepped into Poland, as Jessica Chastain does in “The Zookeeper’s Wife.”
Based on a true story, the movie follows the quiet heroics of Antonina and Jan Zabinski (Chastain and Johan Heldenbergh). Not only did they do their best to keep the few animals that survived the initial Nazi invasion alive; they also used their decimated zoo as a means to hide Jews who’d escaped the infamous Warsaw Ghetto.
‘Personal Shopper’ makes viewers voyeurs, perhaps stalkers, of leading lady
Kristin Stewart and her cell phone co-star in “Personal Shopper,” a ghost story for the cyber age. Since Stewart always looks slightly haunted, you could almost say it’s typecasting.
However, the typecasting here is of a different sort. As she did in “The Clouds of Sils Maria,” Stewart is again playing the personal assistant to a powerful woman. But while the core of “Sils Maria” was the give-and-take between her and Juliette Binoche (the self-absorbed actor who employs her), the boss in “Personal Shopper” is more a plot device than anything else. This movie is all about Stewart; thankfully, she’s such an intriguing actor, she can handle it.
Savannah, Atlanta panned as places to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day
“Kiss my green grits!” That was the response in the Savannah Morning News to a report that showed Savannah is the 60th best place in the country to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
Thrills, good fun make ‘Kong: Skull Island’ a delight in its own right
In a manner of speaking, the Viet Cong meet King Kong in “Kong: Skull Island,” the newest iteration on the timeless theme of a gorilla the size of the Ritz.
Actually, the Kong we meet here is the size of several Ritz’s – plus the Empire State Building.
‘Logan’ captures spirit of age-old tales of adventure and courage
If you don’t already know who Logan is, you may not be all that interested in reading a review of a movie named “Logan.”
But what if I told you Logan is the alter ego of the X-Man known as Wolverine, the superhero (of a sort) Hugh Jackman has played for the last 17 years?