“You shouldn’t think of her as being a woman. That would be a mistake.”

Master director Steven Soderbergh makes a high technical and aesthetic mark with the high-quality “Haywire” that stars mixed martial artist Gina Carano as special government agent Mallory Kane.

Haywire

This straightforward action film genre addition features amazing stuntwork and nonsense situations as Mallory finds herself as a target and wants to know why. The simplistic character development is actually built on the genre here. The action filmmaking instantly tells audiences what they need to know.

Mallory knows how to kill people; strives to make herself the best; wants to survive while protecting the innocent and trusts no one except her dad, played by Bill Paxton. This trust factor keeps relationships among the characters to a basic level as the “guilty-by-association” relationships include her boss, played by Ewan McGregor, along with other characters related to her “work life” played by Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Channing Tatum and Michael Fassbender.

Michael Angarano (the teen character from “Forbidden Kingdom”) provides a nice narrative conduit who Mallory encounters in an establishing sequence set in a diner. The varying plot points then branch out into flashbacks among several international locations with minimal dialogue. Carano does her own stunts as the unpredictable plot still follows her predictable end goal – revenge.

The jazzy, 1970s-style musical score echoes Soderbergh’s 1998 film “Out of Sight” and enhances the visuals instead of a beat that only correlates to the action sequences. The quality sound, cinematography and editing all funnel the audience through a compelling, realistic experience.

This home video version includes English, English SDH, and Spanish subtitle options and two featurettes — “Gina Carano in Training” (a great behind-the-scenes stuntwork experience) and “The Men of Haywire” (a disappointingly short showcase almost required due to the high star power). A great addition to the action film genre that gets the message across without resorting to gratuitous content.

***

Rated R for some violence.

Tags: DVD review, Gina Carano, Haywire, Michael Siebenaler, Steven Soderbergh

This entry was posted on Monday, April 30th, 2012 at 3:54 pm and is filed under Arts and Life, DVD Review, Film.
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More than a dozen local bands are working to live up to the name of a new benefit concert.

Frogtown Rocks will provide relief funds to victims of disaster through the Greater Toledo Area Chapter of The American Red Cross.

Organizers have been working on the Sept. 18 concert since February. Ryne Krock, an intern in Toledo Mayor Mike Bell’s office, said he wanted to get involved with the community since he moved here from Indiana.

Krock credited Michele Mauder, an independent event coordinator, and Peggy Holewinski, the chief development officer at the Greater Toledo Area Chapter, for reaching out to the city.

“Michele and Peggy called and said they wanted the city involved as much as possible in this event,” Krock said. “I happened to answer the phone and Michele told me what she wanted to do.”

Frogtown Rocks will take place at Erie Street Market, with free parking and local music groups playing in two rooms.

“We want a central location that will give us a lot of reach to the community,” Holewinski said. “And when we found out we would get the venue free of charge, there was no way we could say no.”

Participating Kroger stores in the area will sell discounted tickets for $15 and tickets will be sold for $20 at the door.

Mauder said VIP band-side tables are available for the event. There will be 40 VIP tables, and people who purchase those tickets will receive dinner tickets, dessert and bottled water. The tickets cost $200 per person.

“We sent out 30 requests to local music groups and came up with 14 — six bands and eight acoustic groups, including folk and country artists,” Mauder said. “We are blessed to have such talented bands, which have performed at other [Red Cross] functions, come and perform at Frogtown Rocks.”

Some of the local bands and artists who will perform include Johnny Rodriguez, Abby Ray, Haywire, The Eight Fifteens and The Homewreckers. Holewinski said the bands contacted the Red Cross after the March tsunami in Japan to lend a hand to the relief mission.

“They really wanted to raise funds to support the effort, but we knew we couldn’t get it done in time for the tsunami relief,” she said.

The money raised from the event will be divided among relief funds used for national, international and local disasters. Mauder said it is possible that some of the money could go toward damage caused by Hurricane Irene.

Food vendors such as Admiral’s American Grille, Bar 145 and Rosie’s Italian Grille will be at Frogtown Rocks. Mauder said she wanted to try and have newer businesses involved.

“We gave restaurants the opportunity to sell their food and donate sample plates to the VIP areas,” Holewinski said. “We want to have different foods for everyone since it’s an all-day event. They are all bringing something different so we won’t have duplication.”

The restaurants are donating 10 percent of their profits from at Frogtown Rocks.

“It’s remarkable with the way the economy is how many businesses made donations and were willing to give money,” Krock said.

Frogtown Rocks takes place from 1-10 p.m. Sept. 18 at the Erie Street Market, 237 South Erie St. in Downtown Toledo.

Tags: Abby Ray, City of Toledo, Erie Street Market, Frogtown Rocks, Haywire, Johnny Rodriguez, Red Cross, The Eight Fifteens, The Homewreckers

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 13th, 2011 at 10:38 am and is filed under Fundraiser, In Concert.
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