30 Rock Review: "Audition Day" (Episode 4.4)
You know how sometimes a song can be well-written, the lyrics literate and its singer passionate, but you still think "meh" about it? That's kind of what this episode of 30 Rock was like for me. It had a good premise that had been set up for episodes and the usual manic comedy that the show thrives on, but I wasn't really feeling the whole thing. ... read more
Weezer: Raditude
This Rivers is all dried up Weezer fans often cry that haters should quit comparing the band’s later work to Pinkerton and the blue album. That’s fair—bands change, and music evolves. Thing is, even without hope for a return to form, we’re still left sifting through dribble that barely passes as All-American Rejects’ rejects. Had the classics never existed, there’d be little reason to care about Weezer at all.... read more
Community Review: "Home Economics" (Episode 1.8)
Community for the most part plays like a traditional sitcom, but there's one primary aspect that keeps it away from being another exmaple of the old genre: continuity. Due primarily, I would guess, to the way syndication works, sitcoms just don't have a background where what happens in one episode stays relevant in the next. The most important sitcom of my generation, The Simpsons, will make jokes about past episodes but would never base a plotline around it. The two-part "Who Shot Mr. Burns" episodes were noteworthy because things didn't resolve in a quick 22-minutes.... read more
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (Nintendo DS)
Developer: AlphaDream Publisher: Nintendo Platform: Nintendo DS Get further inside the Mushroom Kingdom than ever before At this point, new Mario games are excuses for Nintendo to poke mild fun at itself, in that secretly flattering way only unimpeachable powerhouses can pull off. The company’s 28-year-old mascot has hopped through every genre under the sun, including, in the Mario and Luigi series, action role-playing. The third entry, Bowser’s Inside Story, feels like a long-running sitcom, where every character entrance enjoys great fanfare, and all the gags wink knowingly at prior gags. Nintendo could coast on nostalgia alone, but to their... read more
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Release Date: Nov. 6 Director: Lee Daniels Writer: Geoffrey Fletcher, (based on a novel by Sapphire) Starring: Gabourey Sidibe, Mo’Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd Cinematographer: Andrew Dunn Studio/Run Time: Lionsgate, 110 mins. Precious offers a strong performance in a familiar tale... read more
Monsoon Wedding DVD Review
Famed Indian director Mira Nair returns to her roots and strikes a colorful balance read more
Robert Mattheu: The Stooges: The Authorized and Illustrated Story
Could use more raw power If the snarling Iggy Pop of 1969 knew his Stooges would be coffee table book fodder, he would’ve scoffed. But here we are, 40 years later, with The Stooges: The Authorized and Illustrated Story. The title tells all: unreleased photos, band testimonials and album reviews. But while rock’n’roll platitudes flourish in books about, say, The Beatles, here the fawning feels awkward. CREEM photographer Robert Mattheu’s stilted writing never dives deeper than anecdotes and base descriptions. We learn Ron Ashton’s apartment, when he hosted Elektra Record executives in 1971, was “too horrible to describe.” The execs... read more
Nirvana: Live at Reading
In an age where Twitter feeds, YouTube footage and Brooklyn Vegan-esque blogs guarantee over-documentation of any concert mere moments after the lights go up... read more
Mercy Review: "The Last Thing I Said Was" (Episode 1.6)
Though the writing on this fledgling show can still be ham-fisted and lazy at times, jolting from moment to moment without paying the attention to detail that brings an audience along for the ride, this sixth episode of new show Mercy has a few genuinely fine moments.... read more
Alec Ounsworth: Mo Beauty
A hauntingly gorgeous contradiction in terms On his first solo effort, the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah frontman continues his enthusiastic experiments with strange sound combinations. He’s pensive these days—mellow and introverted—and his self-questioning lyrics are matched with a fittingly eerie sound. The album is well conceived with articulate themes running throughout, as when Ounsworth laments the fall of New Orleans in “Holy, Holy, Holy Moses” and then later channels the city’s brass-laden funeral marches into the dirt-smudged “Idiots in the Rain.” Ounsworth’s resounding use of strings, horns, piano and percussion appears and disappears at unexpected moments with beautifully unsettling... read more
Holopaw: Oh, Glory. Oh, Wilderness.
Soft-spoken indie band rocks out on excellent third album On their first two albums, Holopaw ruffled hushed folk with synths and loops. Nestled in almost-sterile arrangements, John Orth’s flutey voice defined fragility, as circular arpeggios turned like quiet screws. Their new album, thankfully, still sounds like Holopaw. It’s just that now, Orth’s voice is often buffeted by bright bursting chords, and leads glinting with pretty little errors. Standard but effective strings and horns sub in for electronics. The result is an album that’s vigorously lily-livered, with hardly a dull moment to be found. Orth’s lyrics are holistic and tender; rich... read more
Z DVD Review
DVD Release Date: Oct. 27, 2009 Original Theatrical Release: Dec. 8, 1969 Director: Costa-Gavras Writer: Vasilis Vasilikos, Jorge Semprún Cinematography: Raoul Coutard Starring: Yves Montand, Irene Papas, Jean-Louis Trintignant Runtime: 127 minutes Repressed Greek political thriller builds slowly but remains powerful and relevant... read more
The House of the Devil
Release Date: October 30 Director/Writer: Ti West Cinematographer: Eliot Rockett Starring: Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, Greta Gerwig Studio/Run Time: Magnolia Pictures/93 mins. The devil’s in the details of this modern horror classic The House of the Devil isn’t just a movie: it’s an experience. It joins the league of Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist and The Omen as one of the most diabolical entries in the modern horror library. And as you can probably guess, it’s also batshit scary.... read more
The King Khan & BBQ Show: Invisible Girl
More skuzzy garage rock from increasingly visible pair Before he donned his gold lamé hot pants and played wild shows like the unholy offspring of Little Richard and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, King Khan made a pair of loose, lewd, lo-fi albums with fellow Montreal ex-pat and former bandmate BBQ—a.k.a. Mark Sultan. Three years after their lip-smacking What’s for Dinner?, the duo re-teams for another set of R&B-inflected, ’60s-influenced garage rock with its juvenile-delinquent charms and dirty minds intact.... read more
Rickie Lee Jones: Balm in Gilead
Wild girl returns with headphone album “It’s hard to be older and poor, I don’t dig it that much anymore,” Rickie Lee Jones sings on “Wild Girl,” the opening track of her 13th album. Although she’s in character, it’s odd to hear her sing that line; 30 years into an unpredictable career, she still sounds like the wild girl she once was. The largely self-produced Balm in Gilead plies a folksy yet soulful jazz-country sound that showcases both her inimitable voice—with its playful meter and peculiar grain—and her studio prowess.... read more
Various Artists: Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy
Stipe, Yorke and The National headline benefit for ex-Miracle Legion frontman All-star tributes are too rarely bestowed upon those most in need of recognition. Mark Mulcahy’s long overdue moment in the sun is a bittersweet one, as Ciao My Shining Star adapts the veteran singer/songwriter’s outstanding back catalog largely into a poignant memorial to his wife, Melissa, who died tragically last year.... read more
30 Rock Review: "Stone Mountain" (episode 4.3)
Two weeks ago, Todd VanDerWerff from the AV Club wrote a blog entitled “30 Rock’s Dangerous Decline and the Shadow of Will and Grace,” which I took some umbrage with mostly because I disagreed with many of the points ... and partially because there were a few that I did in fact agree with. He basically posited that the lack of character development and proliferation of plots has been what's bringing the show down, though that's a bit of a reduction of his argument. Last week’s episode was particularly disappointing and made me question whether VanDerWerff was right on more... read more
The Office Review: "Koi Pond" (Episode 6.07)
Before addressing the deep-rooted (but strangely charming) insecurities of Scranton branch’s employees, and especially those of the commanding duo of Michael and Jim, “Koi Pond” opens with Daryl pushing a paper-cart full of saucer-eyed kids through a haunted warehouse, outfitted with costumed co-workers and, well, not quite the age appropriate thrills. Michael successfully demonstrates the “too much of a good thing is a bad thing” theory by simulating his own hanging, kicking out a chair and convulsing his suspended body with his head tied in a noose. It was a nice nod to Halloween’s festivities and serves well in the... read more
Community Review: "Introduction to Statistics" (Episode 1.7)
For the past couple of weeks Community has been largely an ensemble show. Joel McHale naturally steals the show when he’s on due to that whole charisma business of his, but the plots haven’t revolved around him any more than the other characters. Overall it was a nice change of pace that helped flesh out the Community universe. Frankly, it’s impressive that after only a handful of episodes its supporting roles were justified in taking over the show as much as they did.... read more
Gentleman Broncos Review
A blast in another galaxy falters when it returns on Earth. read more
Where Have All The Weird Girls Gone?…
Evil Dead to Rise Again to Theaters…
The 20 Best Books of the Decade…
Heather Greene - Moon Hangs Fire
James Yuill - This Sweet Love (Earth…
Orenda Fink - That Certain-Something Spring
Colin Hay - Down Under
