| | | Display: News - Images - Sections What’s new at IllinoisTimesMore of Page 2 »Act now to get mortgage reliefAs the headlines shift to a recovery in the housing market, with an increase in national home values and home sales, it would be easy to forget that many of our friends and neighbors are still struggling through the bad economy. Last year, more than 28,000 Illinois families lost their homes.  Editor’s noteThere was a lot “growing on” Feb. 12 as the Enos Park Neighborhood Improvement Association inaugurated the community meeting room at the new County Market grocery with a program on plans for gardening and composting on the neighborhood’s vacant lots. History by the bookI’m being polite. In a key scene, Spielberg has two of Connecticut’s four congressmen voting against submitting the 13th Amendment that, when ratified by the states, would end slavery. Screenwriter Tony Kushner has acknowledged that he portrayed the vote inaccurately and that he did so deliberately, to juice up his cliffhanger narrative. A common sense crop for America’s common goodFour years ago, Michelle Obama picked up a shovel and made a powerful symbolic statement about America’s food and farm future: She turned a patch of White House lawn into a working organic garden. But now, as she begins another four years in the people’s mansion, the first lady is probably asking herself: “How can I top that?” Thanks for asking, Ms. LETTERSFACTS UNDER FIRE This letter is in response to Jim Hibbett’s letter titled “Gun Issues” (Feb. 7). I am all for anyone expressing their opinions on any issue. But, when you express your opinions and use so called “statistics” to back up your opinions, make sure your “statistics” are verifiable. Illinois: the nearly ungovernable stateFor the first few decades of the 19th century, a state-owned southern Illinois salt works in Saline County used slave labor and produced almost a third of our government’s revenues. Fights over whether Illinois should become a slave state dominated the General Assembly for years. ComEd shows off smart gridIn October 2011, the Illinois General Assembly passed the Energy Infrastructure Modernization Act, which authorized a $2.6 billion investment by ComEd to modernize the state’s electrical grid. HOMEGROWN MEDICAL METHODSEver wonder what all those doctors are doing in Springfi eld’s maze-like hospitals? We’re always told the Mid-Illinois Medical District is a pretty big deal for Springfi eld and Illinois in general, but what are they actually accomplishing? It turns... SORORITY OFFERS SCHOLARSHIPSAre you a young woman graduating from high school? Or do you know one? Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. may be able to assist. The Springfi eld-Decatur Area Alumnae Chapter announces its 2013 scholarship program for area African- American high school senior women. Mining firm protests EPA tough stanceMacoupin Energy, a subsidiary of Foresight Energy, knew about groundwater pollution problems at a Carlinville mine when it met with state EPA officials at least twice in the fall of 2008 to discuss possible solutions before purchasing the site then owned by Exxon, according to a Dec. School closure questionedAbout 200 “scholars” at the Capital College Preparatory Academy, 1101 South 15th , will transition to other facilities when their school closes at the end of the current school year. The Springfield Public Schools Board of Education voted 4-3 in a four-hour meeting on Feb. Going once, going twice…Under orders from a federal bankruptcy court, THR’s assets are being auctioned off to satisfy a list of creditors that includes the Internal Revenue Service, which is owed $3.4 million in delinquent income taxes, and the state Department of Revenue, which is owed $1. A history of Springfield romancesFate intervened in September of 1962, when the cousin of one of Sarah’s roommates invited himself over to their apartment to watch a football game on their television. Stuart Paterson was a 22-year-old first-year graduate student in the economics department. Shameless melodrama kills HavenI think I could make an argument that romantic movies are the hardest sort to make successfully. Tone and sincerity are so important in exercises of this sort and probably the most tenuous elements of these films. One moment that comes off as too sappy or melodramatic and the spell is broken. Quality brews at Grab-a-JavaThere’s coffee and then there’s coffee. It ranges from gas station black swill you buy at 1 a.m. solely to push through the last hour of an extended road trip to fragrant ambrosia made from carefully selected and roasted beans that are freshly ground before being turned into brews prepared by trained baristas. PUB CRAWLBoomBox, Signal Path, Justin Torres Loop Project, Annatomic and E-Holla. BAND SPOTLIGHT | Hard Road Blues BandWhen Bruce Baise (guitar, vocals), Dave Marr (guitar, vocals), Craig Wood (bass, vocals), Mark “Doc” Janis (drums), Steve Jackson (saxophone, clarinet, flute) and “Bad” Bill Robinson (harmonica, limericks) join together to create music, they bring decades of experience to the stage. A sweetheart of a timeI’m telling you what – I had a whale of a time last Saturday night right here in lovely, downtown Springfield. From first being one of “those guys” not wanting to leave the house, I hit the Paul Collins Beat Bedrock 66 show, had a visit with the Blue G’s at Norb Andy’s and made a final stop for a midnight date with Elvis at the Butternut Hut. ENVIRONMENT | Turning greenLincoln Land Community College’s Green Center is hosting the 10th Annual Central Illinois Composting Symposium, Feb. 20, noon to 5 p.m. in the Trutter Center. This year’s theme is Composting for a Sustainable Community and businesses and individuals can learn how to compost organic materials. THE CALENDAR$39, $25. Sangamon Auditorium, UIS, 1 University Plaza, 217-206-6160, 800- 207-6960. Chicago Bar Association Chorus Concert. KIDS | Laugh and learnThe Prairie Capital Convention Center will fill with games, activities and crafts for kids. For only $1 children can decorate their own cupcake or jump around with joy in one of the bounce houses ($5 wristbands are available). Loading writers... Loading ads... Loading comments... Shameless melodrama kills Haven  Shameless melodrama kills Haven FILM | Chuck Koplinski I think I could make an argument that romantic movies are the hardest sort to make successfully. Tone and sincerity are so important in exercises of this sort and probably the most tenuous elements of these films. One moment that comes off as too sappy or melodramatic and the spell is broken. Thinking back on great movie love stories, you’d be hard pressed to name true classics of the genre. Casablanca (1942) rightly belongs at the top of the list while Wuthering Heights (1939); Now, Voyager (1942); Doctor Zhivago (1965); An Officer and a Gentlemen (1982); Moonstruck (1987); Love Affair (1994); The Bridges of Madison County (1995) and Titanic (1997) would be on my top 10 list, as would The Notebook (2004). The best of the Nicholas Sparks’ adaptations, the film benefitted from the chemistry of its two leads (Ryan Gosling and Rachel Adams), a strong director (Nick Cassavetes) and most importantly, a plot that developed naturally without any unnecessary melodrama. The author knew at that point in his career that there’s drama enough in seeing two people we care for fall in love. Unfortunately, Sparks abandoned that model right after the success of The Notebook. Every film adaptation of his work has been far too contrived and busy to be convincing. The latest is Safe Haven and it falls right in line with Dear John and The Last Song, focusing on two tragic characters that find love with one another, only to have to overcome one ludicrous obstacle after another to live happily ever after. The couple in question is made up of Alex (Josh Duhamel), a tragic widower, and Katie (Julianne Hough), a battered woman on the run. They meet up in a small seaside town in North Carolina where he’s the proprietor of the only general store Wal-Mart hasn’t put out of business. Katie likes the look of the place, decides to settle down there, gets a job waiting tables and rents a rundown shack in the middle of nowhere. After an awkward start, she gets to know Alex and his two kids – mad-at-the-world Josh (Noah Lomax) and cute-as-a-button Lexie (Mimi Kirkland) – and before you know it, the couple is cavorting on the beach, giggling in the dark and are on their way to marching down the aisle. So far so good but Sparks, who served as one of the film’s producers, and screenwriters Leslie Bohem and Dana Stevens can’t leave well enough alone. Preposterous coincidences and shameless melodrama rear their ugly heads to torment the couple and insult the audience, driving an engaging story into the ground. This is director Lasse Hallstrom’s second foray into Sparks’ territory (Dear John), and while he’s proven adapt at creating engaging human dramas (The Cider House Rules, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape), he’s hobbled here by the material that no amount of finessing can fix. That’s a shame as Duhamel and Hough are very good here, generating a realistic sense of chemistry and creating appealing characters that I wish I had met in a better movie. They nearly save the film but by the time Katie’s psychotic husband (David Lyons, in a thankless role) discovers her whereabouts through a ridiculous turn of events and Lexie is put in unnecessary peril, I was shaking my head and chuckling at the lengths the film went through to put the two lovers in jeopardy. Like nearly all of the Sparks adaptations, Safe Haven isn’t an exercise in romance but simply a display of bad storytelling the likes of which far too many people have fallen in love with. Contact Chuck Koplinski at ckoplinski@usd116.org. For a review of Warm Bodies, go to www.Illinoistimes.com. |
