Texarkana Entertainment Blog

Over the weekend I got a chance to see “The Rum Diary,” an adaptation of the late Hunter S. Thompson’s book that finally made it to the big screen and, surprisingly to me, a Texarkana movie theater. I suppose star power has something to do with it landing here for what I anticipate may be a brief stay.

I enjoyed the film a whole lot despite many flaws, mostly for personal reasons. For a newspaper diehard like me, it offers an appealingly farcical, nearly satirical look at newspaper life, complete with maniacal editors, oddball reporters slinking through the newsroom like slugs on acid and the sort of financing dilemmas that plague small-time news. As such, those jokes hit home for me. As well, I enjoyed Johnny Depp, who here plays a Thompson alter ego, Paul Kemp, as a reporter who exhibits a talent for both crafting phrases and cleaning out the “complimentary” alcohol at his Puerto Rican hotel room.

Kemp joins the San Juan Star and soon finds himself embroiled with a variety of strange, repulsive and yet somehow beguiling characters in and around this tropical newspaper milieu, including scuzzy developers with venomous smiles who want to build more hotels on an island paradise. They’re the bad guys, the “bastards,” as Kemp puts it, and feel like classic Thompson villains. Kemp’s interplay with these characters is the best part of the film, but that can only carry the plot so far.

Along the way, we’re treated to all sorts of half-baked narrative turns, poorly developed characters and themes that don’t lead very far in this rum-soaked flick. I found myself rooting for Kemp but he doesn’t seem to have anywhere to turn in this movie. A quick scan of movie fan board sites shows what I suspected would be true: a trashing of the film by many fans who love the novel and adore Thompson. Though I haven’t read “The Rum Diary,” it seems the movie strays in many respects from the novel itself.

Ultimately and regardless of its faith to the source material and inspiration, the movie isn’t deep enough to carry much weight, and its boozy barbs aren’t as sharp as Thompson’s own writing. “The Rum Diary” never quite decides just what movie it wants to be. That said, it’s enjoyable enough on its own terms, and there are certainly worse ways to spend $5 at the movie theater, given what Hollywood churns out lately.

- Aaron Brand

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Two new exhibits are opening up right here in Texarkana.

Just opened is the Four States Regional Art Club’s annual show, and for the second year in a row the exhibit makes its home at TAMU-T’s Bringle Lake campus. The exhibit is situated inside the John F. Moss Library on the third floor of the new University Center, a space which is proving to be an attractive one for art. About 50 works from several club members are featured in this year’s rendition, covering a range of themes, mediums and styles. There’s no thematic rubric for this year’s show, but there is an unmistakable emphasis on natural settings. The exhibit will be displayed until Dec. 9. Check out our story about it on the Accent page in tomorrow’s edition of the Gazette.

In the pipeline to open soon (Nov. 8th) is the annual “Small Works on Paper” exhibit at the Regional Arts Center, which year in and year out presents a range of interesting works organized by the Arkansas Arts Council. This is the exhibit’s twenty-fourth year, and Texarkana is the final stop for this year’s exhibition. Work featured is small (no bigger than two feet by two fee), created by Arkansas artists (ones found on the Arkansas Arts Registry) and selected by a juror from outside the state, according to info from the folks at the Arkansas Arts Council. A total of 39 pieces comprise this year’s exhibition. Check out one example below and, better yet, go see it in person when the exhibit opens. Art: best seen in person. And the admission at either location? Free.

- Aaron Brand

North Little Rock artist Brian Cormack’s “Route 66 in Newkirk, N.M.,” is one of the featured pieces in the 2011 "Small Works on Paper" touring exhibition on display Nov. 8-26 in Texarkana.

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If you haven’t been at the downtown ArtSpark next to the Regional Arts Center in a while, go check it out to see something different: the Great Wall of TRAHC. TRAHC updated the art panels there at the greenspace/community art wall a bit more than a week ago to include this collaborative project between TRAHC, Opportunities Inc., and the Liberty-Eylau Kiwanis Key Club students. The art panels are sort of a marriage between Western and Eastern art concepts with red, gold and black as featured colors. Chinese dragons, as well as a few more abstract representations, are included therein in this whimsical, colorful and creative work. I snapped some photos and include them down below. The project connects, in some sense, with Tuesday night’s Perot Theatre show by the National Acrobats of the People’s Republic of China, but the art will be up on the art wall for several months for all to enjoy.

- Aaron Brand

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