Articles by Diana Beechener

The Comeback Kids

The Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team proves it ain’t over yet

When soldier Saul Bosquez lost his left leg below the knee during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2007, he discovered his game was not finished, just delayed. “My great grandpa lost fingers in a tractor accident, but I didn’t know anyone that had been injured like I had,” Bosquez told Bay Weekly. In high school, the 28-year-old had earned nine varsity letters in swimming, football and baseball, so he feared the loss of a limb might cramp his...

Article - News; by Diana Beechener; 5/23/13

Star Trek Into Darkness

The beloved franchise trades Sci-Fi for action in this bombastic sequel

After a routine mission goes awry, the Enterprise is called back to Earth and cavalier captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine: Rise of the Guardians) is demoted for his disregard of the Prime Directive. Kirk’s disciplining is put on hold, however, when terrorist John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch: The Hobbit) brings Star Fleet to its knees. With many commanders dead or injured, Kirk is reinstated to his ship and tasked with chasing down Harrison deep into Klingon space,...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener; 5/23/13

Disconnect

Put your cell phone down now!

In a world where you can talk to someone on the other side of the planet with a few strokes on a computer, why is it so difficult to take time to speak to the person in front of you? That’s the question Disconnect poses in three intertwining stories about the distance created by technology. Conclusion: Lonely people would rather confess their secrets to strangers than form connections to the people in their lives. Teen boys Jason (Colin Ford) and...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener; 5/16/13

Iron Man 3

We examine the man behind the iron suit in this fun, nonsensical action flick

After saving the world from alien invaders with his Avenger pals, billionaire playboy/part-time super-suit inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.: The Avengers) is having trouble sleeping. It seems that a wormhole full of vicious invaders, a brush with death and the enormity of being Iron Man have caught up with the usually unflappable superhero. Stark treats his PTSD by refusing to discuss his trauma and spending long nights tinkering on new versions of the Iron Man suit....

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener; 5/9/13

The Big Wedding

I saw this movie, so you don’t have to

The Big Wedding is a special romantic comedy. It is a movie so vapid, so devoid of genuine emotion and so mind-numbingly dull that it is, in actuality, an achievement in bad filmmaking. After a few minutes of this dreck, you begin to wonder whether or not this movie is in fact some elaborate prank. It must be acknowledged that writer/director Justin Zackham (Going Greek) has accomplished the impossible: he’s found a way to fracture time, making this 90-minute film feel like it stretches...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener; 5/2/13

Mud

Two boys learn the ugly truth about life and love in this coming-of-age drama

What would you do if you found a boat in a tree? Fourteen-year-old Ellis (Tye Sheridan: The Tree of Life) and his best bud Neckbone (Jacob Lofland) claim it. A bag of groceries and boot prints hint that the boys might not be the only two who have discovered the boat on this remote river island in the Arkansas delta. Soon they stumble upon Mud (Matthew McConaughey: Killer Joe), an affable loner who tells the boys that he’s waiting in the boat for his girlfriend, Juniper...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener; 4/25/13

Eaton Goes to College

Canine Companions train years to give people independence

When Bay Weekly last checked in on Canine Companions for Independence trainee Eaton, the golden retriever/Lab mix had just stepped on the path to becoming a service dog. Paired with first-time puppy trainers Emerson and Donna Davis, Eaton spent 18 months getting socialized and learning obedience [www.bayweekly. com/articles/features/article/good-dogs]. Eaton left his Arnold home with the Davises for Puppy College at the nationwide nonprofit’s main campus in New York....

Article - Creature Feature; by Diana Beechener; 4/18/13

The Sapphires

Aboriginal singers fight racial profiling with soul

In 1967, the Australian government classified the land’s native Aboriginal tribes as “Flora and Fauna.” To help the indigenous people, the government took to inspecting Aboriginal settlements, looking for fair-skinned children. Such children were taken from their tribe and families and sent to a special school, where they were taught to pass as white and to abandon their culture. Because of these laws, the Cummeraganja Songbirds, an aboriginal country act,...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener; 4/11/13

Olympus Has Fallen

Gerard Butler is an army of one in this problematic action flick

Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler: Movie 43) was a beloved guardian of President Asher’s (Aaron Eckhart: Erased) family. When danger struck, his snap decision lead to tragedy and exile from the personal protection detail. Now in a dead-end job with the Treasury, Banning gets his chance at redemption when a team of North Korean radicals infiltrate the White House — code named Olympus — and take the president hostage. The terrorists wipe out...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener; 3/28/13

Oz The Great and Powerful

Pay no attention to the misogyny behind the curtain

In drab Kansas, a two-bit magician named Oz (James Franco: Lovelace) bamboozles country folk with black powder flashes and cleverly hidden wires. He dreams of greatness but settles for life as a glorified flimflam man in a traveling circus, seducing gullible farmers’ daughters. When one cuckolded boyfriend turns out to be the circus strongman, Oz makes a dramatic escape via hot air balloon. If you’ve seen the 1939 film this movie draws from, you know what happens...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener; 3/14/13