KC Confidential

It’s easy to be critical of the Kansas City Star…

Look how often I partake of the sport. And not because, like hundreds of others, I was laid off in the ongoing financial bloodbath newspapers are enduring in an era where mostly just oldsters continue to read print publications.

Nope, I have a long track record of criticizing the Star, dating from my years spent building and running the Pitch and including years at the paper. It wasn’t always an easy feat, but on dozens if not hundreds – of occasions I followed up on under or misreported Star stories with columns attempting to set the record staright or tell the story behind the story.

I’ve also passed along some attaboys to the newspaper and this is one of those times.

So allow me to say that a year after Robert W. Butler was laid off, his freelance replacement Jon Niccum is kicking butt and doing a splendid job of reviewing movies for the entertainment section.

The former Pitch and Lawrence Journal World  editor has raised the Star’s movie reviewing bar to new heights.

No longer are readers saddled with lengthy, boring treatises on art house product and with mainstream movies relegated to snobby, psuedo-intellectual, put down write ups.

Far from it.

As the Star‘s lead reviewer, Niccum can be counted on to cover movies the vast majority of the public actually want to go see. And if, in Niccum’s opinion, the movie’s worthwhile, he lets readers know why and how. He gives it to them straight with well written reasoning that doesn’t make it appear he’s just to "artsy" to get it or care.

That wasn’t always the case with Butler.

The very choice of films Butler mostly reviewed made it was clear his love of the art was centered around movies that play venues like the Glenwood Arts, Tivoli, Rio and Ranchmart – I mean, Leawood.

Which was a great service to those tiny theaters and helped keep them alive and kicking.

However the audience for most of those art films is tiny to the point of being all but insignificant to most readers of the Star. And since Butler wore his movie reviewing heart on his sleeve, it was hard not to be skeptical of his many reviews dissing mainstream movies. He even fell asleep during a screening of Transformers during some of the movie’s most intense battle scenes.

Nobody can accuse Niccum – who is younger and hipper – of writing off blockbusters like Rock of Ages and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter simply because he fell asleep or is too stodgy. You’re more likely to run into Niccum at a Flaming Lips show than a Lyric Opera performance of Madama Butterfly.

Butler at a cutting edge rock show? Too gauche.

Niccum’s come a long way from his training wheels days at the Pitch in the 1990s.

I remember in 1998 when Butler snagged an interview with the singer Jewel who was in town for a role in director Ang Lee‘s locally filmed Ride with the Devil. Niccum was furious that he was denied a Pitch interview with her.

"Doesn’t she know she’ll never get coverage in this town again in the Pitch?" he said angrily. Or words to that effect.

Yeah, journalism can go to your head.

Niccum’s mellowed since then. And after effectively taking a bullet at the local alt weekly two years later, having an unsuccessful run at the Journal World and having to resign as the head of the KC Film Critics Circle because he didn’t have a legitimate medium for his reviews, he’s a seasoned journalist.

So forget all that, Niccum is back and he’s bad – as in good – really good. And moviegoers and Star readers are the better for it.

Take the Nic Man’s Abe Lincoln, Vamp Hunter review today…

"Seth Grahame-Smith’s 2010 novel “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” delivered an engrossing, literate revision of history. The film adaptation is as faithful as a $70 million summer blockbuster can afford to be. But its hyper-stylized action scenes rob the narrative of its power," it begins.

"Viewers expecting a parody will be startled. Grahame-Smith -who also penned the screenplay -presents a deadly serious environment, depicting a Civil War-era South where blacks are considered a commodity to be consumed and discarded by vampiric plantation owners. And these aren’t the pretty-boy, frat-party vamps of nowadays, but more like a cloistered gang of hostile survivalists constantly maneuvering to outlast the opposition."

Now the bad news.

"It’s all a bit much, especially by the time Lincoln and cohorts Josh (Jimmi Simpson) and Will (Anthony Mackie) defend a speeding, burning train against a vampire onslaught," Niccum writes. "Most filmmakers would render this ‘Road Warrior’-style finale with a little wink and nudge, but Bekmambetov chooses to stare down the material. It straddles his Civil War tale between Chancellorsville and Cartoon Land.

"Could a more grounded approach to the action visuals improve the picture? At least it would be a respectable choice, and one that might elevate “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” to something better than an amusing CGI movie that’s a slave to its era. In this case, the era is not 1865; it’s the summer of 2012."

Two and a half out of four stars, Niccum gives it.

Pixar’s Brave doesn’t fare any better, garnering ony 2 stars.

Here’s the deal; 2 1/2 stars renders a movie good enough to go see if you have a mind to. Yet it keeps your expectations grounded. That’s perfect for me, because I like going in with low or reasonable expectations in the hopes of being pleasantly surprised.

The big losers in the Star‘s switch to mainstream reviews and a less stodgy critic: the aforementioned local art houses.

However there’s no need to jam those reviews down the throats of the general public when devotees of that genre have more than enough alternative places to read about movies like The Intouchables (Rio), 2012 Gayfest (Tivoli) and Where Do We Go Now? (Glenwood Red Bridge & Tivoli).

Starting with Butler’s Cinema Scene where you won’t find reviews of "Rock of Ages" or "Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter" but will find writeups of the aforementioned art house movies.

Time’s running out for a ‘savior" to rescue Plaza area jazz joint Jardine’s…

That is, if its hard to get 3 a.m. liquor license is to be salvaged. Whether the intention is to do a jazz, blues, dance, gay bar – you name it – it won’t be easy to reopen the space at 4536 Main if the license lapses.

"It expires at the end of July," says Regulated Industries head Gary Majors. "It’s one license and a 3 a.m. license. Typically they have 90 days once it expires to reapply."

And you can pretty much forget someone new coming in and getting a 3 a.m. license without working something out with beleaguered Jardine’s owner Beena Raja.

"No, first of all the license has to be renewed and valid," Majors says. "In other words, in good standing. It’s pretty easy to sign it over, but we have had instances when the owner going out the door says, ‘I’m not signing anything for anybody’ and then the license just dies and has to be reapplied for."

No small feat.

Because a new operator would need to go through a consent process with neighbors, a 45 day process that may or may not result in a license being granted.

Other complications include paying off money owed to liquor distributors and back taxes, something Jardine’s is believed to still owe.

"The state really won’t renew a license if there’s outstanding debt to liquor wholesalers," Majors says. "And you have to bring us a ‘no taxes due’ letter so that we know the city taxes have been paid. The state license makes sure the state taxes are paid."

So are there any deals brewing for somebody to take over the club?

"I haven’t heard a word until your phone call," Majors says.

There’s been no shortage of hooting and hollaring about KU football and new head coach Charlie Weis...

Last year’s slogan for KU’s football team was "Believe." Which worked just fine for the two meaningless, winning games at home against McNeese State and Northern Illinois. From there however the Jayhawks went 0 and 10 against K-State, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Missouri and every other team they faced.

It was ugly and cost KU coach Turner Gill his job.

Which brings us to sexy new head coach Weiss and the hopes and dreams of the KU football faithful who can scarely remember the good, old days when the head coach was "phat" and abusive to student athletes and delivered winning seasons and bowl games.

So how high are those high hopes lately?

"Pretty modest actually," says promoter, and KU football follower Brett Mosiman. "I think everybody’s excited to have Weis but people realize that the last coach was like Terry Allen. He was a horrible coach and a horrible recruiter. He was a wonderful human being, but a horrible Division One football coach and the cupboard is bare."

Put another way, a four win season for KU this year would be a godsend, Mosiman says.

Here’s why…

"The Big 12 is the most horrible gauntlet to run in all of college football because they play nine conference games – some leagues only play seven," Mosiman says. "But even with a couple of cupecakes to start the season, KU still has to play Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, West Virginia and Baylor.

"I mean, the two baby teams in the Big 12 are Iowa State and Kansas, so there are no easy games. And when you’re Kansas you’re playing nine very tough games. In the Big 10 they’re playing games against teams that are really bad like Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern and Minnesota. There’s five teams that probably haven’t been to as many bowls as Kansas. I mean, KU could compete against those teams. But nine games against bowl elligible teams is what KU has and that’s a huge deal."

And getting Missouri off the schedule doesn’t make it any easier, Mosiman says.

"No, because we replaced Missouri with TCU and TCU’s been in the Top 10 seven times in the past 10 years," Mosiman says. "And West Virginia, I think most people would say is equal if not better than Missouri. The point being that KU is not only the 10th team in the most solid league, they’re playing nine bowl elligible teams. And on top of that the Big 12 gives us four home games and five road games, so what chance do we have?"

There is hope however, Mosiman says.

"In two or three years we’ll be in a lot better shape, but playing a lot better this year probably means we’ll win two or three games. I’d say the over/under on the season is probably 3 1/2 to 4 games. So in a rosey scenario we might be four and eight maybe. I predict four and eight."

They’ve got their work cut out for them…

It may sound like no big deal – other than the Nazi-like rules and regs about talking and texting – but when Alamo Drafthouse takes over the AMC Mainstreet later this week (after AMC gets kicked to the curb), there’s gonna need to be a whole lotta remodeling shaking going on.

That is if Alamo intends to sell enough upscale food and booze to its patrons at the downtown movieplex to make a profit.

Don’t believe me? Check out how roomy other Alamo theaters are in these crowd shots.

The Mainstreet has spacious seating, don’t get me wrong. But nearly 80 percent of its seats are downstairs where it’s not designed (and all but impossible) for servers to deliver the gourmet food and booze the Alamo must sell to survive.

Not without wreeking more movie havoc than merely peering into one’s purse to check a text.

Which, by the way, will get you kicked out of the Alamo quicker than you can say "Davy Crockett."

With no refund, no less. Here’s your coonskin cap, what’s your hurry?

There’s no problem serving food and drink in the Mainstreet’s three tiny screening rooms upstairs. Those theaters were designed for dining and drinking during movies, but they only hold 68 people in the "big" room and 23 in the two smaller ones.

It’s the 431 regular movie seats that are the problem.

And if Alamo hopes to make a profit at the Mainstreet – unlike AMC – it will need to fill those downstairs auditoriums which range in size from 283 seats for the largest to 74 seats for each of the two smaller theaters.

The trick is how to reconfigure the downstairs auditoriums without losing half the seats.

Or forcing patrons to slosh their way to and from their seats while balancing pitchers of beer and upscale food.

From the get go movie insiders were skeptical about AMC being able to make money after sinking $25 million into the Mainstreet with so few seats to sell. Even AMC honcho Gerry Lopez put it this way to the Star yesterday before his comments were taken down by the newspaper an hour later:

"…With six screens…there’s not enough oxygen in that fish bowl for all the fish to live."

It won’t make things any easier for the fish if Alamo has to remove rows of seats so the servers can swim past.

And with $25 million already sunk in the tiny movie money pit, how much more will Alamo have to spend to make the Mainstreet right?

Nobody bothered to ask those questions of Alamo, which has declined to discuss the matter thus far.

"For the time being, the Mainstreet will continue to operate business-as-usual on its own while signature Alamo Drafthouse touches are implemented," Alamo’s Web site teases. "Touches like our ad-free custom preshows, ironclad no-talking/no-texting policy, and the elimination of the traditional front row for a better viewing experience."

The $64 million question being, how many more rows may have to bite the dust before Alamo’s "signature touches" free up room for it to do its food and drink thing?

And after looking at the audience shots from other Alamo’s plexes I have another question.

Does Kansas City have enough movie geeks, dweebs and film snobs downtown to make Alamo’s Mainstreet pay off?

Tough one.

You know it’s an ugly divorce when the CEO gets nasty and goes public…

For months rumors have flown about a pending nasty split between KC-based movie giant AMC Entertainment and Cordish Company. According to a source heated-beyond-belief emails were exchanged between AMC honcho Gerry Lopez and the operator of the Power & Light District.

Extremely heated.

Which explains why rather than simply divvying things up – AMC’s Mainstreet and Midland by AMC – AMC was effectively kicked to the curb in favor of tiny Texas movie exhibitor Alamo Drafthouse. Embarrased in its home town no less (to the extent that the Chinese-owned firm ever gave a you-know-what about KC since the money lenders – including Bain Capital – took over a handful of years back.

How ugly did it get?

Check out the comments fed to the Star by Lopez that went up then quickly came down this afternoon:

"(Lopez) said today irreconcilable differences between the two companies over the operation of the Mainstreet, formerly the Empire Theater at 14th and Main street led to the divorce," it reads.

"When the operation came under distress, we’re not apt to cut corners and other folks had a different point of view," Lopez seethed. "It’s a stressful working environment with six screens. There’s not enough oxygen in that fish bowl for all the fish to live."

Hello, when you’re hemorrhaging red ink like the Mainstreet, there’s not enough oxygen for even one fish.

Another example of how ugly it got; AMC has until Wednesday to not let the door hit it in the butt before it gets the heck out.

Meaning movie titan AMC’s one-time pride and joy will almost instantly be disrobed, taken over and run by a small, control freak exhibitor out of San Antonio. 

Now here’s the funny part…

The Star posted Lopez testy comments at 3:23 pm. but replaced the story an hour later at 4:24 p.m.

Minus the parts with Lopez fuming and dissing Cordish.

Like I said, this divorce was an ugly one.