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ACROSS 1 Jackson with a 1972 Lifetime Achievement Grammy 8 Rx watchdog 11 Wing 14 Most sober 15 Curved part 16 Md. neighbor 17 Infomercial promise 19 Md. neighbor 20 Powerful 1970s Pittsburgh defensive line, familiarly 22 Didst whack 25 Spot checker? 26 One-named Deco master 27 Swiss river 28 Loot 31 Storm warning 33 Pair 35 Algonquin Round Table member, e.g. 37 Role for Dustin 38 “The Card Players” artist 42 Amu __: Asian river 44 Verizon subsidiary 45 Undertaking 48 Anka song with the phrase “Kiss me mucho” 51 Soccer chant 53 Loving murmur 54 A giraffe has a long one 55 Org. concerned with briefs 57 “Swing Shift” Oscar nominee 59 Sticker on store fruit 63 Fill in (for) 64 Hint in a specialty crossword, and, literally, what’s found in 17-, 20-, 38- and 59-Across 68 Actor Wallach 69 Jeans name 70 Like some lunch orders 71 “Amen!” 72 Inject 73 “Seems that way to me” DOWN 1 “Mrs. Miniver” studio 2 2001 W.S. champs 3 Guffaw sound 4 Stop at sea 5 Hopkins role 6 Scotland’s Arran, e.g. 7 Perfectly, with “to” 8 Leak source 9 Diminutive celeb sexologist 10 Taiwanese PC maker 11 Pirate on the Queen Anne’s Revenge 12 Descendants of a son of Jacob and Leah 13 Venezuelan cowboy 18 MDL ÷ X 21 Studio occupant 22 Glum 23 Kentucky Derby time 24 Latin “pray for us” 29 Barn __ 30 Light source 32 Banquet dispenser 34 Futon kin 36 Sweet __ 39 OPEC member 40 Madhouse 41 The lot 42 Portrayer of “McDreamy” on “Grey’s Anatomy” 43 Typically 46 Boozer 47 Colorful carp 49 Revered 50 Was loyal to 52 Picks 56 High point of a European trip? 58 Foil giant 60 Golden St. campus 61 Yours, to Yves 62 Tie up 65 Not of the cloth 66 __ Nimitz 67 DDE’s command By Matt Skoczen ©2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC 04/13/17 04/13/17 ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: RELEASE DATE– Thursday, April 13, 2017 Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis xwordeditor@aol.com WORK ON MACKINAC Island This Summer – Make lifelong friends. 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It’s only bad. The thing is, there’s a moving idea at the core of “The Lost Village”: Smurfette (Demi Lovato, “Camp Rock”), a Smurf created by evil wizard Gargamel (Rainn Wilson, “The Office”), has an identity crisis. She sees the naturally-created boys around her comfortable in their own skin and wants something similar, but she worries that her origin means she’ll only ever be meant for evil. That’s a potentially powerful character arc, and when writers Stacey Harman (“The Goldbergs”) and Pamela Ribon (“Moana”) tap into it, it results in some of the most poignant scenes “The Lost Village” has to offer. The voice cast also has talent to spare. Wilson puts his comedic chops to good use, and the four jokes that work do so because of him. Mandy Patinkin (“Homeland”) is put to little use as Papa Smurf, but when he is given his due near the film’s end, he absolutely nails it, carrying the most emotional scenes of the film. The most shocking part of the cast may be the minor characters, which includes vocal performances by “New Girl” stand-out Jake Johnson as Grumpy Smurf and Tituss Burgess (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”) as Vanity Smurf. The two feel underused as mere stunt casting, especially considering they’re the funniest members of the ensemble. The rest of the movie JEREMIAH VANDERHELM Daily Arts Writer plays like “The Smurfs Go to Pandora.” The fantastical setting is cool at first but upon inspection reveals itself to be an (even more) animated knock-off of the setting of “Avatar.” The story doesn’t fare much better. After the early Smurfette-centric scenes, the core group of Smurfs ventures into the forest to find something that Smurfette saw earlier. The result is a plotline certain to be the subject of much ire on meninist message boards. The ensuing message of female empowerment is welcome, but it isn’t communicated in any interesting way. It winds up being a “battle of the sexes” like every movie of this type (see: “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel”) but blessedly abbreviated here. The accompanying score is occasionally pretty, but director Kelly Asbury (“Gnomeo & Juliet”) often goes to the well of generic, outdated pop songs like “Blue (Da Ba Dee).” Get it? Because the Smurfs are blue. Besides Smurfette and Papa Smurf, the characters hold no weight either. The Smurfs are fundamentally one-note. Their personalities are able to be defined by one word, and because of that, it’s hard to care about them or laugh at any of the jokes derived from their traits. Clumsy Smurf (a perpetually screaming Jack McBrayer, “30 Rock”) is clumsy. Ha. Nosey Smurf (Asbury) is a voyeur. Ha. Brainy Smurf (Danny Pudi, “Community”) is a nerd, but in a bizarre series of jokes, seems to have murderous impulses, which in a modern cinematic climate, seems an idea destined to be the inspiration for a dark and gritty “Smurfs” reboot, presumably helmed by Zack Snyder. It’s just hard to care about any of them when they have to stay within boundaries defined by a single adjective. Aside from its work on Smurfette, “Smurfs: The Lost Village” doesn’t do anything original or interesting. It lacks a strong story or sense of humor – at one point, Gargamel French kisses his vulture, Monty, because kids love bestiality. Its old characters are as flat as ever, and the new ones it introduces have their own shticks that are driven into the ground within thirty seconds. It’s all vastly preferable to the hybrid animation dreck from a few years ago, but that doesn’t make it recommendable to any but the youngest of children. “Smurfs: The Lost Village” Columbia Pictures Rave Cinemas, Goodrich Quality 16 COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW Renowned literary critic to promote newest book Literary critic and author Steven Moore to present selections from his new work “Mr Back Pages” this coming Monday Following his two-volume venture “The Novel: An Alternative History,” in which he surveyed the innermost roots of literature, author and literary critic Steven Moore has come out with a newer, fresher take on the written word. “It’s mostly about innovative fiction of the late 20th century,” Moore wrote about his upcoming book, “My Back Pages: Essays and Reviews,” in an email interview. “The first half consists of a couple hundred book reviews written over the last 40 years and the second half about two dozen essays.” While not officially the third volume, “My Back Pages” serves as somewhat of a final installment to Moore’s exploration of the history of the novel. “I didn’t have the energy to write the huge concluding volume on modern fiction that I intended,” Moore wrote. “So I decided it might be time to gather all my scattered writings into one convenient place. As I assembled them, I realized that I had already written about many of the novelists I planned to cover in that final volume, so this new book is sort of a surrogate for that unwritten third volume.” Moore’s writing is reflective of his untraditional approach to literary criticism. He started his collegiate studies as a history major, and this background is seen as he strays from theoretical styles, opting instead for more historical angles on fiction. “I was more concerned with locating modern writers in the continuum of literary history, and drawing attention to the little-known ones, rather than deconstructing their work,” Moore said. Having played in several bands throughout college, popular culture references and glimmers of folk-inspired idiosyncrasy shine through in Moore’s work. His texts are casual and attainable for contemporary audiences. “The music of the 1960s was my first love, especially the innovative lyrics of Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, Robin Williamson (of the Incredible String Band), Syd Barrett, and Keith Reid (of Procol Harum),” Moore wrote. “So when I turned to literature I carried their sensibility with me: their fanciful use of language, their alternative worldviews, their iconoclasm and nonconformity, their willingness to be different. I’m not your typical literary critic (no academic affiliation, bookselling background), and I owe part of that to them.” An avid listener, writer and thinker, Moore is, above all else, an ardent reader. He holds a Ph.D. from Rutgers University, for which his dissertation on William Gaddis (“William Gaddis”) was published in 1989. Drawn to him from shared interests in mythology and religion, he resonated with Gaddis’s works and the ways in which he resembled James Joyce, an author Moore deeply admired in his 20s. “Since hardly anything had been written about him (Gaddis), I decided to rectify that. Both my first published article and first book were on Gaddis,” Moore said. “I liked his style, his outlook on life, his humor and sarcasm, his encyclopedic range — he was Mr. Right as far as my literary tastes were concerned.” Now a prominent force in the realm of literary criticism, Moore encourages burgeoning writers to do the unthinkable: to be themselves. “Before I began writing the first volume of my novel history, I assumed I would be writing it in standard academese, and dragged my feet because I had grown tired of that style,” Moore said. “Then one day I just decided to write it in my own voice, quirks and all, and the floodgates of creativity burst open. I dashed off the 36-page introduction in a week, and I think it’s that personal tone that separates my criticism from the academic variety. Similarly, my favorite writers are those with a distinctive, even eccentric voice of their own.” Moore has been living in Ann Arbor since 2001. If you haven’t seen him around Hatcher, where he’s done the bulk of his research for the past 16 years, you can catch him promoting “My Back Pages” at Literati this Monday. ARYA NAIDU Daily Arts Writer Steven Moore: “My Back Pages: Essays and Reviews” Monday, April 17 @ 7 P.M. Literati Bookstore Free Now a prominent force in the realm of literary criticism, Moore encourages burgeoning writers to do the unthinkable: to be themselves FILM REVIEW The rest of the movie plays like “The Smurfs Go to Pandora”