Tomb Raider lacks punch in relaunch

Tomb Raider lacks punch in relaunch

If ever a movie was ripe to take advantage of momentum, it was Tomb Raider.

We’re talking about the physical going-forward momentum of a movie based on a classic running/jumping/shooting video game. (Debuting in 1996, Tomb Raider’s heroine Lara Croft was the teen-boy-gamer’s original pistol-packin’ mama, doing all the daring stunts of masculine video game heroes with the handicap of breasts that resembled emergency flotation devices.)

But it’s also about the momentum that accompanied last year’s Wonder Woman, wherein a female superheroine smashed through the glass ceiling of femme-centric superhero action. Alas, that advantage is pretty much blown out of the water before Alicia Vikander’s new iteration of Lara puts a score on the board.

Norwegian director Roar Uthaug helms a rebooted vision of Lara Croft that strives to de-mythologize her, even stripping her of her matching Heckler & Koch pistols. Gone too is the overt sexuality and danger Angeline Jolie brought to the role in her 2001 and 2003 films, which weren’t especially good, but which now evoke wistful nostalgia compared to this.

Winnipegger soprano, Iranian composer exhibit tremendous talent at WSO show

The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra launched its newly renamed Thursday night series, Symphonic Sessions, by showcasing one of the world’s finest sopranos hailing from our fair city, Andriana Chuchman.

The 75-minute concert (sans intermission), titled Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été and Schubert’s Symphony No. 4, also featured the auspicious Canadian debut of Iranian conductor Hossein Pishkar, who led the program ranging from lush lyricism to tempestuous Sturm und Drang for a small audience of 660.

Chuchman’s artistry just seems to grow more luminous with each passing year, as the Ukrainian-Canadian singer continues to light up stages throughout North America and in Europe.

Her eagerly anticipated concert performances include shows at Ottawa’s National Arts Centre, the National Symphony at Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center’s White Lights Festival, to name a few, as well as appearances with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and, particularly near and dear to the singer’s heart, Winnipeg’s Hoosli Ukrainian Male Chorus.

October perfect time to put on a sweater, drink something warm and crack open a book

With Halloween around the corner, spooky season is in full effect.

But October is more than ghosts, goblins, Jack-o-lanterns and other things that go bump in the night. Not entirely, anyway. October is also a time of harvest, of change and renewal.

Pull on a sweater, pour something warm to drink and follow along as the Free Press arts and life team presents a literary tour through October Country…

Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray BradburyFew authors write so frequently, so passionately about October as Ray Bradbury did. From his earliest work throughout the rest of his career, Bradbury returned again and again to the October Country as the settings of short stories, poems and novels.

Manitobans once rallied to save elected school boards. Now, voter apathy often wins at the polls

Front lawns were littered with “Local Voices, Local Choices” signs five years ago, protesting the imminent extinction of elected school boards.

Candidates are on the campaign trail today because public outcry forced the then-Progressive Conservative government to abandon its plans to replace trustees with political appointees in 2021.

The backlash to Bill 64 resulted in a new record of registrants, more than 500, for a legislative committee hearing. It became the backdrop for Premier Brian Pallister’s 2021 resignation. And it all but silenced discussion about whether the status quo in Manitoba — home to more school boards per capita than anywhere else in the country — needs even the most minor of redesigns.

Kelvin Goertzen immediately killed the bill when he became interim premier, but the longtime MLA said many of the problems that motivated his predecessor remain unsolved.

Frustration on menu as St. James construction drags on

Nearly four months of construction outside the front door of a longtime Portage Avenue restaurant has driven away customers and left its owner struggling to cover operating expenses.