More reader pressure over Dann's 'Whiteout" review

Under pressure

Daily Herald reader Joseph O'Day applies some pressure to my review of the abysmally silly thriller "Whiteout" in which I suggested prop planes aren't pressurized as jets are.

"Jet planes are not the only planes to be pressurized," he writes. "Piston engine (prop) planes began to be pressurized in the 1930s, so it is conceivable that a Russian plane in 1957 could have been pressurized."

I sit corrected.

However, an e-mail from Daily Herald colleague and science geek Kurt Gessler points out that the pressure issue may be moot.

"According to complete, sound, ironclad empirical tests run by my favorite duo on 'Mythbusters,'" he writes, "even shooting a bullet through the fuselage of a pressurized jet does nothing, so you're extra right. The hole is just too small."

Does that mean the ending to the greatest James Bond movie "Goldfinger" is scientifically unsound? I don't want to know!

Indies get their days

CNMG Films, a group of cool, independent filmmakers who got together while attending Fremd High School in Palatine several years ago, have four movies being screened at the second annual Naperville Independent Film Festival that begins Saturday.

"Gnome Man's Land," "The Past and Pending," "Off-Loop" and "The Girl in the Other Room" will be screened every night next week, according to director/writer/actor/cinematographer Mike Noens. Go to naperfilmfest.org/filmsandevents.php.

Also at the fest will be the Chicago-made sports mockumentary "Handicapped," all about a golf tournament for bad players. The short, shot at the Royal Melbourne Country Club in Long Grove, screens at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Ogden 6 Cinema. John F. Barmon Jr., who played Spalding in "Caddyshack," guest-stars.

From 'Jaws' to Palms

Oscar-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss drops by to host four of his best movies today and Saturday at Ted Bulthaup's spectacular new Naperville movie complex, the Hollywood Palms, at 352 S. Route 59. Dreyfuss will field questions before "Jaws" at 8 p.m. today, and "What About Bob?" at 10 p.m. Saturday, he'll introduce "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" at 8 p.m. followed by "Down and Out in Beverly Hills." Go to hollywoodpalmscinema.com for details and tickets.

Meanwhile, Bulthaup's amazing Hollywood Palms (loaded with photos, displays and memorabilia) officially opens Thursday with WTMX FM stars Eric & Kathy hosting the festivities, among them Steven Spielberg's masterpiece "Raiders of the Lost Ark," introduced by star and Illinois native Karen Allen. (She was born in downstate Carrollton.)

Special 'Cloudy' screenings

Special light-and-sound-adjusted showings of "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" designed for autistic children will be presented at 10 a.m. Saturday at AMC theaters in South Barrington, Warrenville and Northbrook. See details at amctheaters.com.

'Beautiful' answers

Chicago filmmaker Darryl Roberts' "America the Beautiful" - a doc examining Americans' unhealthy obsession with lookin' good at all costs - will be shown 7 p.m. Monday as a fundraiser for Arabella House, a program at Linden Oaks Hospital in Naperville, dedicated to helping women recover from eating disorders.

You can catch the movie, plus a Q & A with Roberts, for a $20 donation at the Tivoli Theatre, 5021 Highland Ave., Downers Grove. Go to classiccinemas.com. A chat with Roberts is worth that admission price alone.

Reel Life review: "No Impact Man"

Famous environmental blogger Colin Beavan might be the star of Laura Gabbert's and Justin Schein's new doc "No Impact Man," but the real story is all about his wife, Michelle, whose slow conversion from a meat-eating, disposable consumer to a recycling vegetarian supplies the humanizing dramatic arc.

Beaven, his wife and daughter spent a year trying to live in New York City without a negative impact on the planet. No cars, movies, disposable items, commercially produced electricity (he has a solar panel for that) or regular grocery shopping that leaves a carbon footprint.

"No Impact Man" has a slow and snoring beginning, but stick with it long enough for Michelle's bitter resentment against her hubbie to evolve into abject admiration. It's actually an empowering movie, even though Beavan never brings up the issue of overpopulation, the biggest challenge to the planet's health. (Could that be because he's trying to have a second child with Michelle?)

No MPAA rating. 90 minutes. Three stars

Note: Beavan appears at the opening of his movie today at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave., Chicago. Go to musicboxtheatre.com.

Reel Life review: "Amreeka"

A familiar fish-out-of-water plot gets a poignant, anti-prejudice treatment by Nebraska-born director/writer Cherien Dabis, who whisks a single mother Muna (Nisreen Faour) and her teen son Fadi (Melkar Muallem) from their desolate West Bank home into America's heartland, Smalltown, Illinois. (OK, it was filmed in Canada, too.)

Muna is qualified to be a banker, but can only get work at a local White Castle. Fadi's teen rebellion phase kicks in, and Muna has her hands full dealing with him, her lack of money, living with her patient relatives and a group of racist hooligans at Fadi's school.

Not to worry. The American dream gets affirmed in this sincere and optimistic drama that finds the universal appeal in its cultural specifics.

"Amreeka" opens today at the Century Centre Cinema in Chicago and the Renaissance Place in Highland Park. Rated PG-13 for language, drug use. 96 minutes. Three stars