Yearly Archives: 2008

Lucky features spunky, irrepressible heroine

Luke Harrington

Happy-Go-Lucky
United Kingdom, 2008
Directed By: Mike Leigh
Written By: Mike Leigh
Starring: Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, Alexis Zegerman, Samuel Roukin
Running Time: 118 minutes
Rated R for language
2.5 out of 5 stars

Director Mike Leigh (Vera Drake, Topsy-Turvy) introduces us to the cotton candy world of Poppy, a British grade school teacher with zest for life rivaled only by Mary Poppins on acid, in his latest outing, Happy-Go-Lucky. The optimist within me wanted to keel over in giddy adoration of this film, but the narrative stickler kept kicking the optimist in the gut.

The only way to enjoy this film is to fall in love with it, and the only way to do that is to fall in love with its omnipresent character, played with gusto by Sally Hawkins, relegated to supporting bits in previous Leigh films, but getting the never-leave-the-screen treatment here. Poppy is a thrift-store explosion on legs who takes the film’s tagline (”The one movie this fall that will put a smile on your face.”) very seriously, so seriously in fact that she threatens to stray over the line from “adorable” to “insanely annoying” in a heartbeat. It’s a great performance, certainly, but one that requires you to like the character. Barring that, there’s not much to see here folks, move along now please.

Leigh, famous for his “Look Ma! No script!” style of filmmaking, runs Poppy through a series of vignettes, not unlike the ones you might find in a popular children’s series with a spunky, irrepressible heroine. There’s “Poppy Goes to the Chiropractor,” “Poppy Dances the Flamenco,” and the black sheep of the series, “Poppy Befriends a Crazy Homeless Man For No Apparent Reason.” The majority of the film, however, takes place in the “Poppy Takes a Driving Lesson” edition, and this is where Happy-Go-Lucky shines. Poppy’s instructor, played by Eddie Marsan (whom you might recognize as the slimy convict from Hancock), is the polar opposite of her. Gruff, miserable, bigoted, and wholly unpleasant, watching him face off against the Technicolor Poppy is like…well, how does that line from The Dark Knight go? – “This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object.” Hawkins and Marsan are brilliant here, and watching his blood boil as Poppy keeps tossing fuel on the fire is one of the film’s real joys. Sadly, these moments are too few; you spend the rest of the film wondering when Poppy’s next driving lesson is.

Happy-Go-Lucky is not a bad film, just one that puts all of its eggs in one basket. If Poppy gets into your system like she was intended to, this might be one of the year’s best films. I simply liked it more when it was called “Amelia Bedelia” and I was reading it to my daughter.

Happy-Go-Lucky is currently playing at the Circle Cinema. Call 592-FILM for showtimes and tickets.

About the author:

Evan Derrick loves movies, loves talking about movies, and even makes them from time to time. In addition to being the founder and senior editor for MovieZeal.com, he is also a member of the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle and a father of two beautiful children. He can be reached for comment or complaint at evan@moviezeal.com.

Federal indictments announced

Staff Report

Friday, 07 November 2008
David E. O’Meilia, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma, has announced the results of the November 2008 Federal Grand Jury.

The following individuals are charged with a federal crime or crimes by the return of an indictment by the Grand Jury.  The return of an indictment is a method of informing the defendant of alleged violations which must be proven in a court of law beyond a reasonable doubt to overcome the defendant’s presumption of innocence.

Michol Dale Dingman.
Manufacture of Methamphetamine, Carry & Use Firearm in Relation to Drug Trafficking Crime, Felon in Possession of Firearm and Ammunition.

The defendant, age 34, of Dewey, Oklahoma, is accused of manufacturing methamphetamine in Tulsa on August 7, 2008.  He allegedly had a .38 caliber revolver and assorted ammunition in his possession at the time.  Dingman has five previous felony convictions, which include a forgery conviction in 2000 in Ottawa County, a forgery conviction in 2000 in Delaware County, a methamphetamine manufacturing conviction in 2000 in Washington County and obtaining merchandise by false pretenses in 2001 in Osage County District Court.

Randy Carter Cornog
Conspiracy, Theft from a Gaming Establishment on Indian Lands in Excess of $1,000.

Cornog, 25, of Miami, is charged by the Grand Jury with conspiring with other individuals and participating in a scheme to defraud the Buffalo Run Casino operated by the Peoria Indian Tribe in Miami, Oklahoma.  The alleged scheme involved using illegitimate vouchers for free play on gaming machines.

Michael Joseph Settlemire
Possession of Methamphetamine with Intent to Distribute, Possession of Firearm in Furtherance of Drug Trafficking Crime.

The defendant, 41, of Hominy, was allegedly found on September 21, 2008, in Osage County in possession of a significant amount of methamphetamine.  He also allegedly had two handguns, a rifle and a sawed-off shotgun in his possession.

Jesus Martin-Arvizu and Jose Landa-Medina.
Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana.

Arvizu, 23, and Medina, 18, of Sonora, Mexico, are charged with possessing 100 kilograms or more of marijuana with the intent to distribute on November 4, 2008.  

ImageThe defendants came to the attention of law enforcement around 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning, November 4.  At that point an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper attempted to stop a gray Ford truck with Ohio license plates for a traffic violation on Interstate 44 at the toll plaza near Vinita.  The truck allegedly failed to stop and accelerated at a high rate of speed in excess of 100 mph in an attempt to evade the trooper, all the while making unsafe lane changes.  The truck traveled through the McDonald’s concession maintaining a high rate of speed and continued eastbound swerving in and around traffic.  At some point the truck braked abruptly in the lane of traffic and was observed to leave the Interstate.  It drove up a steep embankment, plowed through a number of fences and a pasture where it was halted at a creek, at which time the driver and passenger exited the vehicle and fled on foot.  The driver, Martin-Arvizu, and the passenger, Landa-Medina, were soon apprehended by OHP troopers.  The truck was searched and was allegedly found to contain six large black duffle bags and a large bundle of what appeared to be marijuana.  The duffle bags allegedly contained 22 bundles of what also appeared to be marijuana.  The total amount of marijuana allegedly found in possession of the defendants was 575 pounds.

Sealed and Superseding Indictments

There were eight indictments returned by the Grand Jury that remain sealed. There were two superseding indictments. One was the matter of James Leslie Goodman, originally indicted in June 2008, who faces charges of robbing multiple convenience stores.  

The other superseding indictment is in the matter of David Stephen Langley age 20, of Tulsa, facing charges of Conspiracy, Bank Fraud, Using Another Person’s Access Device, Using Counterfeit Access Devices and Possession of Device Making Equipment. He is accused of working in concert with previously indicted Travis Allen Kirby (September 2008) in a scheme to defraud banks by utilizing counterfeit VISA and Mastercard credit cards.

While previously employed at the Cinemark Theater in Tulsa, Langley allegedly obtained the credit card account numbers of unsuspecting theater customers by using an illegal electronic device called a “logger.”  Beginning in May 2008, the alleged conspirators purchased numerous Visa and MasterCard gift cards in small amounts and spent them down to a negligible balance.  Then they allegedly used another electronic device called a “magnetic card reader/writer” and a computer to encode the account information previously stolen from the theater customers onto the magnetic strip of the gift cards.  These counterfeit cards were then allegedly used to obtain merchandise from area retailers.  The alleged crime came to the attention of law enforcement when a woman called the Broken Arrow PD in June 2008 to report that unauthorized charges had been made to her credit card, even though it had never been out of her possession.

Last Updated ( Friday, 07 November 2008 )

Dana Murphy upsets Jim Roth 52-48%

Mike McCarville

Republican Dana Murphy took Democrat Jim Roth out of his Corporation Commission seat in Tuesday’s voting in an upset over the favored Brad Henry appointee whom most polls had shown leading the race by substantial margins.

With almost all precincts reporting, Murphy had a 52-48 percent lead that grew during the night as rural counties reported vote totals. Murphy’s lead in the race developed with about a sixth of the precincts reporting. It grew slowly and with almost all precincts reporting, stood at about 61,000 votes.

Most observers expected Roth to carry Tulsa County while Murphy would carry Oklahoma County. It turned out just the opposite; Roth carried Oklahoma County, which he previously served as a county commissioner, 143,000 to 128,302 votes. In Tulsa County, however, Murphy won 105,608 to 93,600 for Roth.

Murphy built her winning margin, for the most part, in rural Oklahoma. She carried many small counties by margins of 200 to 1,000 votes and notched bigger wins in some traditional GOP counties, including Garfield and Washington.

 

 

About the author:
Mike McCarville has covered Oklahoma politics and government since he became State Capitol Correspondent for The Tulsa Tribune in 1966. Since, he has been a governor’s press secretary, investigative reporter, television station news executive, radio station program director and talk show host, and political consultant. In 1980, he founded The McCarville Report and it is the nation’s longest-running state political publication. In its online version, it has been called “The best political blog” by Dr. Keith Gaddie, pollster and pundit and “Oklahoma’s venerable McCarville Report” by The Arkansas Times.  McCarville, also a real estate investor and commentator for the National Rifle Association on NRANews.com and Sirius Satellite Radio, is a regular contributor to Tulsa Today.

Squeeze me like a key lime

Luke Harrington

As I looked over the merchandise table for Vermont-based band Grace Potter and the Nocturnals (when they performed at Cain’s Ballroom Saturday night), I couldn’t help but notice a t-shirt. It was adorned by a hand making the “metal horns” symbol and the made-up word “Nocturnica”—written, of course, in Metallica’s trademark font.

The band members themselves might be fully aware of the irony there, but I’m sure it would be lost on most metalheads. As a band that plays a retro-but-timeless music that’s firmly rooted in the blues, the Nocturnals are a surprisingly versatile group (their press materials boast that they’ve been just as comfortable in the country’s various jazz, blues, jam band, and rock scenes). When they took the stage, it was hard to miss their eclectic influences—psychedelic, country, gospel, and—yes—heavy metal (guitarist Scott Tournet pulled off more than a few face-melting solos).

Really, this makes sense for a band that plays what is most simply described as a natural evolution of the blues. Those timeless workingman’s ballads are more or less directly responsible for all Western popular music (especially metal—Jimmy Page and the rest of Led Zep were bluesmen before they invented headbanging), and the Nocturnals are just a band that connects the dots—and connects them beautifully. Their bouncing spirituals, sensitive ballads, and extended acid jam sessions effortlessly captivated the almost sold-out crowd when took Cain’s second stage.

And yet, as the t-shirt indicates, this isn’t a band that takes itself overly seriously. Potter is the sort of singer that can sing lyrics like “You gotta treat me right, all the time / Squeeze me like a key lime” with a straight face—and pull it off. (This was, incidentally, one of the best moments of the evening—the band built the three-chord chorus into a ten-minute opus that finished with Potter repeatedly screaming into her microphone while she pounded out block chords on her organ.)

There was no doubt about this from the moment they took the stage and Potter told the crowd, “We’ve been watching SNL on the bus, so it could be a very silly night.” (I also noticed that the all-access passes worn by their crew featured a picture of the band member caricatured as South Park characters—if that doesn’t give you an idea of where the band is coming from, I don’t know what will.)

That’s not to say there weren’t serious moments, of course. The Nocturnals are a group with serious musical chops, and when Tournet’s guitar virtuosity combines with Potter’s soulful voice and formidable organ skills, special things happen. Potter controls the stage with an empowerment that prepackaged pop divas the world over can only dream about, possessed of an unimpeachable love for music and an occasional growl that can only be described as pure rock ‘n roll.

The band closed out their main set with “Nothing But the Water,” a ten-minute, Potter-penned gospel opus that calls to mind some of the best moments of Jefferson Airplane. The song meandered from an a cappella solo by Potter to an extended drum solo—in which all four band members played a single drum set—to a rocking, organ-driven gospel breakdown to—of all things—a choral recessional (which had the crowd singing along in harmony, of course).

After such a moving, virtuosic performance, it was a no-brainer that the crowd would demand a reprise, but the band still managed to impress, following the best performance of the night with three more songs that included “Big White Gate” (another gospel number) and a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black.” But before closing the show, Potter told the crowd “Next time we come back, we’re gonna be in the ballroom, and you guys are gonna be here, right?”

You know it, Grace. Consider my ticket bought.

About the author:
A graduate of the University of Nebraska, Luke Harrington currently resides in Tulsa and works in the aerospace industry–but, at any given moment, would probably rather be reviewing movies and music.  In his spare time, he’s off playing blues piano, pretending to be Assistant Editor for MovieZeal.com, or reviewing the many musical events in Northeastern Oklahoma for Tulsa Today.

Are you a Hunting Widow?

Kelli McCarty

I’m a Hunting Widow.
I dated a hunter that used all the hunting tactics any good man uses to get a “good one.”  He put up an automatic feeder (Saturday night dinner dates complete with flowers or cards) to entice me to hang around.  He would rattle deer horns and use his best deer calls (phoning me at work, to let me know he was “thinking of me” and calls at night to talk for hours about nothing).  It was great.  I was a complete deer in the headlights.  I could not look away.  So I did what any girl would do… I married him.
I married a man who told me he liked to go hunting.  I said that was nice.  That was the end of our conversation.
Since I did not come from a family of hunters, I didn’t know what I was marrying into.  I had no idea that statement was to clarify many seasons, nights, weekends and days alone.

In our first week of marriage we moved from a big city to a small town.  He unloaded all our belongings into our first apartment, carried me over the threshold and kissed me – it was so romantic.  I couldn’t wait to open to our beautiful wedding gifts and decorate our new love nest.  Our cabinets were filled with our sparkling new china and the linens were neatly folded and put away.  I laid the fresh doormat out for our first guest to wipe their feet.  It was so exciting.  While I was unpacking to start our new lives, my husband was packing as well. 
Little did I know at sunrise it was the all important, the official, “Opening Day of Deer Season.”  There I was surrounded by boxes and wrinkled newspapers as he announced with the excitement of Christmas morning that he would be leaving for his first big hunt of the season on what was my sixth day of marital bliss.  What entered my mind was the rewarding career, friends and life that I had traded to be abandoned.  I changed my name, my life and my plan and found myself second place to a family tradition that was in his blood.  I was in SHOCK.
I screamed.  I yelled.  I cried.  I did what any young, new, bride would do and went a little crazy.  I pleaded with my husband, “Help me understand!”  He looked down at me as I begged him not to go. Through my tears in devastation I heard justification that still haunts my very soul, “all the old men at the deer lease say that I shouldn’t worry if you’re upset now because someday you’ll be glad when I go hunting, they said someday you’ll even pack my stuff for me and won’t even miss me.”  With that he shut the door as my tears fell to the floor.  I had become a hunting widow.
Ten years later as our wedding anniversary fell on opening day of deer season I was still in second place, but with flowers and a sweet card.  What I wanted was a nice romantic weekend away from kids and daily life.  Maybe I didn’t yell my request loud enough because now he and his father are enjoying each others company on a nice four day weekend away from kids, daily life, and relaxing by the campfire telling hunting bedtime stories.
Yes, this is year #10 and in those years I have learned many things about my husband and his mistress that is the great outdoors.
I have seen my husband actually set up a deer feeder, and camera to photograph deer in their natural setting. This same being will rarely hold a camera in his own living room to photograph his wife and children in their natural setting.  He can also sit quietly in a deer stand waiting, watching and looking at nothing – hoping for a glimpse of something, yet will not sit quietly to enjoy or have me enjoy an on stage performance, such as a movie or play.
Most of all I’ve learned that he was right, I don’t miss him.  I do enjoy the peace and quiet those wise old hunters spoke of. I relish not cooking a big dinner, getting the kids to bed early, and watching TV that   does not include gunfire and death to deer.  Ironically my husband has learned that he misses his family more and for some reason it gets harder for him to leave every time.  For our anniversary next year he asked if we could spend time alone – I said sure – Go Hunting and you can be alone…I have a babysitter, suitcase, swimsuit and  girls weekend planned. You’ll get a postcard.
 
If you are a hunting widow and have a story to tell, please send it to imahuntingwidow@aol.com 
May God Bless You with a peaceful deer season!