battlestar galactica: sine que non

Friday's episode of Battlestar had a lot of totally nutty things going on involving pregnant Cylons and dead cats. Thankfully, Bill Adama was still Bill Adama. My recap appears at Vulture.

when did you last see your father?

Director Anand Tucker's When Did You Last See Your Father?, based on the memoir of poet Blake Morrison, sports a terrific lead performance from Jim Broadbent. (After watching him in the new Indiana Jones sequel, it's nice to be reminded how good he can be when allowed to actually, y'know, act.) As a whole, the film is simply too emotional restrained, but for a male weeper, it does the job.

r.e.m.'s mike mills speaks

Not to me, sadly. But the Chicago Tribune's Mark Caro got R.E.M.'s bassist to talk about the band's writing process and why he's sick of critics calling Accelerate their "return to form." (I'm with you there, Mike.) Also fun: We finally find out who actually wrote "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?"

short order

The fluffy romantic comedy Short Order is recommended to fans of Amelie, old-school Hollywood musicals, the culinary arts and, most importantly, insufferable amounts of self-indulgent whimsy. My review appears at L.A. Weekly.

battlestar galactica: guess what's coming to dinner

Lots of surprises and lots of small little storytelling annoyances came together in Friday's episode of Battlestar Galactica. My recap is at Vulture.

a thought from woody allen to end our week

From an interview in today's Hollywood Reporter...

Gregg Goldstein: Since death has been such a theme in your work, how do you feel about death now? How have your feelings about it changed?
Woody Allen: They haven't changed. We're hard wired to reject it. Problem is, it doesn't reject us.

The full interview -- tied to the premiere of his new film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, at Cannes -- can be read here.

roger ebert on david mamet

One of the filmmakers Roger Ebert assesses better than just about any other critic is David Mamet. Ebert's review of Mamet's undervalued Val Kilmer thriller Spartan is one of those pieces I go back to on a consistent basis: He captures not just what is great about the movie, but also how seductive its twists and worldview are. Plus, Ebert clearly loves writing in a rat-a-tat style that's an homage to Mamet's hyper-artificial dialogue.

Mamet's the sort of writer-director who works in such a distinct way that his fans can easily become obsessed, and Ebert speaks to how that obsession feels. In his new blog, Ebert discusses Redbelt, suggesting that it deserves its own genre: the twister. It gives him another chance to get at the heart of what makes Mamet's movies fascinating, even when they're not great.

when good bands rise from the ashes of other good bands

When a popular band breaks up, you expect its individual members to go off and do mediocre side projects and cruddy solo albums that never live up to their once-high standards. But that's not always the case: For VH1.com, I look at those rare instances where one band's collapse made way for the birth of a new good band.

brooks melchior speaks

Sports by Brooks is a Los Angeles-based sports site that features gossip, news, humor and, oh yes, many pictures of beautiful women. For L.A. Weekly's annual L.A. People Issue, I speak with the man who runs SbB, Brooks Melchior. We discuss how he found the site's lovely ladies and why his social life is nonexistent.

How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer

Three very good performances, including one from "it" girl America Ferrera, are almost enough to recommend How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer, a tale of three generations of women looking for love in their sleepy small town. But ... well, my review is in L.A. Weekly.

destroyer's dan bejar speaks

Trouble in Dreams is the fine new album from Destroyer, a Vancouver band lead by Dan Bejar. (He also contributes songs to the New Pornographers.) Bejar is touring to support Dreams, so I was thrilled to get a chance to talk to him about his surrealist lyrics and the grinds of the road. My interview appears in the Phoenix New Times.

grand theft auto iv: overrated?

I read a lot of film, music, and book reviews. But I don't read many video-game reviews, although a large reason for that is because I don't play video games. So it's been interesting to read some of the articles about the new Grand Theft Auto game, most of which have declared it the greatest thing ever. The Village Voice's Gary Hodges begs to differ with all that:

Now that other games are improving, GTA’s continued shortcomings have become harder to excuse. Perhaps that’s being critical. Or maybe it’s just being a critic, which sometimes means pointing out the hooligan has no clothes.

The full review is here. One thing I love about video-game reviews: They capture the stream-of-consciousness rush of the games themselves. It's as if the writers are recording their experiences as they're playing.

robert christgau discusses the b-52's, aging

With the nationwide push to cut older music and film critics, it's important to remember that people who were born before, say, 1965, might actually know a thing or two the rest of us don't.

For example, who else but 66-year-old Robert Christgau could lend this insight about the new B-52's album, Funplex?

In an unseemly display of decaying flesh, these nutty kids turned DOR nostalgia act make their first album in 16 years their sex album. Eeyew, say today's normal kids. 'Bout time, says anybody old enough to know that one lure of the flesh is that it's always decaying.

Perfect. The rest of this month's installment of his Consumer Guide can be found here.

battlestar galactica: faith

If Battlestar Galactica wasn't set in outer space, an episode like "Faith" would earn it a ton of Emmy nominations -- it was a wonderfully well-written piece, exceptionally acted by Mary McDonnell. But, alas, because it's a "sci-fi show," it'll always be stuck in that disrespected ghetto. My recap of "Faith" appears at Vulture.

here's all you need to know about speed racer

"This toxic admixture of computer-generated frenzy and live-action torpor succeeds in being, almost simultaneously, genuinely painful -- the esthetic equivalent of needles in eyeballs -- and weirdly benumbing, like eye candy laced with lidocaine."

That's Wall Street Journal's Joe Morgenstern take on Speed Racer. I haven't seen the film yet, but his review is a good way to keep those expectations down, huh? But, honestly, can it be worse than V for Vendetta?

radiohead: from the basement

Well, this is a pleasant surprise: To promote In Rainbows, Radiohead went into a London studio to perform a series of songs that were later broadcast as a special on VH1. The resulting show, From the Basement, confirms that while Radiohead may still be one of the world's best bands, I wish they could bring more flesh-and-blood intimacy to their avant-rock compositions. As an example, here is "House of Cards," an In Rainbows track I adore. This live version blows it away.

the whigs and what made milwaukee famous

Two great indie-rock bands performing on the same bill: So why does that make me so darn nervous? My piece is up at the Phoenix New Times.

lyrics born

Everywhere at Once is the new album from Bay Area hip-hop artist Lyrics Born. He takes on Homeland Security and relationships, but not at the same time. My review appears at the Metro Times.

obama wins north carolina

I'm on deadline right now, so I can't focus on tonight's primary results as much as I'd like, but this made me happy. (Here's the full text of Obama's speech in North Carolina.)

bloodline

Picking up where The Da Vinci Code left off, Bloodline is a documentary that investigates the theory that Jesus had a child with secret wife Mary Magdalene. The film is strangely watchable, but that's not the same thing as saying it's good.

battestar galactica: the road less traveled

In this week's Vulture recap, I sing the praises of Tahmoh Penikett, who plays the quietly heroic Helo. He was all over Friday's episode, and he was terrific in it.

tom waits goes on tour

Can I forgive him for skipping over Los Angeles because of this video "press conference"? Almost.

my take on iron man

Good but not great. I review the Robert Downey Jr. blockbuster and also take on Flight of the Red Balloon, Coldplay's new single, Standard Operating Procedure and more in today's Consumables.

kenneth turan on iron man

I'll have my thoughts on Iron Man up in a couple days, but in the meantime, the Los Angeles Times' Kenneth Turan's review will do nicely.

Jonathan Rosenbaum on 'Eyes Wide Shut'

Recently retired Chicago Reader film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum has his own site up now, and it's a great archive of his reviews and articles, going back to 1987, with some gaps in there. I could have picked just about anything, but I always thought he's done great work with Stanley Kubrick's films -- he just "gets" them on a fundamental level -- so here's his rave for the much-maligned Eyes Wide Shut.

underoath speaks

Christian metal band Underoath are currently recording their follow-up to 2006's Define the Great Line in Atlanta. I spoke to them for Revolver, and our chat appears in the new issue out now. It's not online yet, but here's what to look for on your neighborhood newsstand.

made of honor

Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan are nothing but charming in Made of Honor -- so how does the movie go so wrong?

2001 explained

There are thousands of interpretations of the meanings within 2001: A Space Odyssey. This might be the best of the bunch.

in the bleachers

Like a lot of newspapers of late, the Los Angeles Times has had to deal with layoffs and shrinking page counts. The sports section is a shell of its former self, but, miraculously, In the Bleachers, the one-panel cartoon from Steve Moore, is still there. (It's buried in the back, next to the minor-league baseball standings and the gambling column.) It's very much in the oddball vein of The Far Side, which debuted six years before it, but while no one would describe the strip as hip or edgy, it makes me laugh on an almost-daily basis.

grand theft auto IV

Not only do video games make more money than movies, they get much more glowing reviews. (I'd be curious to know if the world of video-game criticism is being downsized as dramatically as their film counterparts are.)

tom morello speaks

It's not available online, but in the latest issue of Kerrang! is my interview with Tom Morello, who's back on the road with Axis of Justice, his tour that brings together country, hip-hop and hard-rock acts to raise awareness for worthy causes.

andrew sullivan is reading my mind

And if that's the case, thank you, Mr. Sullivan: You've helped cheer me up considerably this morning.

battlestar galactica: escape velocity

Was it just me, or was everybody in Friday's episode of Battlestar overacting just a wee bit? My rundown is at Vulture.

redbelt

David Mamet's new film Redbelt is another of his elaborate-con dramas, but it has two interesting wrinkles: It's set in the world of mixed martial arts and, more importantly, it stars the magnificent Chiwetel Ejiofor.

those damn subway ads

I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds those "five-dollar foot-long" ads from Subway insanely, evilly catchy. Slate's Seth Stevenson interviews the commercials' "diabolical geniuses" and learns their tricks.

burt reynolds: what's the "deal"?

The mustachioed former sex symbol is the main reason to give Deal a try. But probably not a strong enough reason.

2001's moonwatcher speaks

Anybody who obsesses over 2001: A Space Odyssey as much as yours truly needs to read this.

battlestar galactica: the ties that bind

Friday night's episode of Battlestar was the season's best so far. My rundown at Vulture is here.

baby mama

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are really funny in the warm, likable Baby Mama. My review appears at Screen International.

beyond the call

Beyond the Call is a well-meaning documentary about three unpretentious Good Samaritans who are worth admiring. Too bad the film about them isn't.

the life before her eyes

Evan Rachel Wood is quite good in The Life Before Her Eyes, a drama about grieving and rebirth, but Uma Thurman is part of the film's major problems.

battlestar galactica: six of one

After the promising season premiere, Battlestar was a lot less engaging last Friday. My recap is at Vulture.

prom night

The remake of the 1980 horror film stars Brittany Snow and a guy from The Wire. It did surprisingly well over the weekend, but is it any good? My review is at Screen International.

andrew sullivan

You should read his blog every day, but you should really read this posting.

who you calling bald?

Like the rest of us, rock stars have to worry about losing their hair. Well, not all of them: Some do just fine without their lovely locks.

the sword

The Austin metal band is back with a new album, Gods of the Earth. Some people think they're joking with their Norse imagery and Sabbath-size riffs. They're not joking, folks -- they're here to rock.

the return of harold and kumar

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle was a fun surprise that did decent business, so of course a sequel was inevitable. Sadly, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay is less funny and a whole lot cruder.

street kings: keanu reeves tries to walk like a man

Street Kings, which opens Friday, is a perfectly competent thriller, but it's the sort that perpetuates all the tired cliches about bad cops, codes of honor and this-is-a-man's-world bravado. My review appears in The Village Voice.

another reason to love obama

On his first date with future wife Michelle, he took her to see Do the Right Thing.

battlestar galactica: he that believeth in me

So, the season premiere of Battlestar Galactica aired Friday. What did I think of it? Click here.

george clooney has a ball in leatherheads

Leatherheads has its faults, but for the most part, it's a stylish, smart period comedy. Elsewhere in my Consumables column, I take a listen to the new Death Cab single and Cadence Weapon album, and sing the praises of The Bank Job and Paranoid Park.

battlestar galactica for newbies

With Battlestar Galactica gearing up for its fourth and final season tonight, here's a handy cheat sheet of the show's political subtext. If you've never seen the program, hopefully this rundown will at least get you caught up.

harmony korine at the silent movie theatre

Every Saturday in April, the fine folks at Cinefamily will be screening the films of Harmony Korine, including Kids, Gummo and the forthcoming Mister Lonely. For L.A. Weekly, I discuss Korine's oeuvre, warts and all.

battlestar galactica's col. tigh speaks

Michael Hogan, the terrific actor who plays the tortured Saul Tigh on Battlestar Galactica, spoke to me recently about the upcoming season, life as a Cylon, and the song he wants playing at his funeral. The details are all at Vulture.

stephen malkmus

The former Pavement leader is back with his fourth solo record, Real Emotional Trash. If you like twisty guitar epics than can stretch to 10 minutes, it's the album for you. (And even if you don't, you should still give it a shot.)

run, fat boy, run

Shaun of the Dead's Simon Pegg seems destined to be a star, but movies like Run, Fat Boy, Run won't do much to help the cause.

black tide

These Miami teens love their old-school heavy metal. Light From Above is their first album: They have all the moves down cold, but they haven't found a personality yet.

usc makes the big dance

The Trojans, led by freshman sensation O.J. Mayo, go to Omaha Thursday to play the Kansas State Wildcats in the first round of the NCAA college basketball tournament. I preview the matchup -- at least on the Trojan side of things -- at Deadspin.

who are these "gutter twins" you speak of?

Songwriters Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan, formerly of, respectively, the Afghan Whigs and Screaming Trees, have teamed up as the Gutter Twins. Their first record together, Saturnalia, is out now, and it's an interesting mash-up of their differing dark styles.

never back down

Can Hollywood capitalize on the trendy sport of mixed martial arts? The new teen drama Never Back Down suggests that, in a pinch, they'll simply try to redo The Karate Kid. My review appears here.

pete seeger

Pete Seeger: The Power of Song is an adoring, moving documentary about the protest folk singer. I review it in this week's Consumables, and I also take a listen to new singles from MGMT, Flo Rida (OK, "Low" isn't that new), the Raveonettes, and Mike Doughty.

college road trip

Disney's latest piece of pseudo-wholesome family entertainment, College Road Trip, opens today. Watching Martin Lawrence try to be adorable is simply too much to take.

miss pettigrew lives for a day

Frances McDormand is terrific, Amy Adams is decent: That's the short review of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. The longer, more interesting version is here.

the los angeles brazilian film festival

The first annual Los Angeles Brazilian Film Festival kicks off Friday at the Landmark. For L.A. Weekly, I sampled some of the festival's offerings. I didn't love a lot of what I saw, but I did find one movie worth checking out: Not by Chance.

david poland on barack obama

I've been reading wall-to-wall election coverage in the last 24 hours, but I'm not sure if anyone more accurately nailed the challenge ahead for Barack Obama -- and the potential for him to truly come into his own -- as David Poland, editor of Movie City News, has done in a recent blog post:

What we will now learn, really for the first time, is how Obama would represent the United States. Because, truth be told, it is not just about speeches. It is about action. And the hard reality of the world is that leaders are often called upon to push back when a threat comes to bear.

Will Obama push back? How will Obama push back if he does? And will be cross the lines of discourse that he has set out to uphold? Can he effectively respond without becoming what he has beheld?

These hard moments are when we see the true beauty of greatness… or the sad, sad death of the dream that greatness can still exist in our cynical times.

The whole thing can be read here.

married life: the movie

Chris Cooper and Patricia Clarkson are both terrific in Married Life, a dark comedy-drama about one middle-aged couple's seemingly happy marriage which is slowly falling apart. You can read my review here.

r.e.m.: well, this is encouraging

I don't condone Monster bashing, but Josh Modell's review at Spin about R.E.M.'s forthcoming Accelerate has me very excited. 

cj7

Writer-director-actor Stephen Chow, the man behind Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle, returns with CJ7, a hyperactive kids' movie that's a bit like E.T., except, y'know, not nearly as good.

romulus, my father

Actor Eric Bana (Munich, The Hulk) has two films coming out this weekend. The higher-profile one is The Other Boleyn Girl, but he's also in Romulus, My Father, a coming-of-age drama that deals with poverty and mental illness. It's understandably somber, but it's also almost too glum for its own good. My L.A. Weekly review appears here.

jon stewart and the oscars

Last night's Academy Awards made for an entertaining evening, says I. Also in Consumables, I discuss U2 3D, Be Kind Rewind, and Diary of the Dead.

vantage point

Most reviews thus far have been unkind to Vantage Point, but I actually think there's some merit in the film. You can read my musings at Screen International.

odelay

It's been 12 years since Beck's landmark record Odelay brought phrases like "two turntables and a microphone" and "got a devil's haircut in my mind" into the pop-culture lexicon. For Detroit's Metro Times I review the new Deluxe Edition of the album and try to figure out what all the fuss was about back then.

electric apricot

Les Claypool is a revered cult musician -- he was the driving force behind Primus -- and he's hung around the business most of his life. Now he's putting that experience into ... a mockumentary. Electric Apricot, his spoof of the jam-band universe, has some funny moments, but, well, it's another mockumentary. My review is at L.A. Weekly.

sia

There's a good chance you've heard Sia's music and didn't even realize it: She appears on the soundtracks of shows like Six Feet Under and commercials such as KCRW's movie-theater spots. As I note in this week's Phoenix New Times, she's a great example of the future for up-and-coming artists.

eels

The Eels have two collections out now: a best-of (Meet the Eels) and a compilation of outtakes (Useless Trinkets). No matter the Eels fan in your life, one (or both) of these will be up their alley.

how good is the new r.e.m. single?

My answer is here in the latest Consumables. Also, my reviews of The Counterfeiters, The Band's Visit, the Ting Tings and the revamped B-52's.

paris hilton invades your movie theater

The Hottie and the Nottie, starring Paris Hilton, opens today in a very limited run. How bad is it? Find out here.

the best new artist grammy: a career killer?

Feist, Amy Winehouse and others will be competing for the Best New Artist prize at the Grammys on Sunday. It sounds like a prestigious prize -- a validation of your up-and-coming status -- but this particular award has a reputation for cursing its winners to mediocre, disappointing careers. Is it better not to win? For VH1.com, I looked back at past winners and discovered it's a pretty mixed bag of artists. You can read my findings here.

the eye

Is The Eye scary? Can Jessica Alba act? And what's Parker Posey doing in a horror movie? All the answers are contained in my Screen International review.

obama for president

The L.A. Times is endorsing Barack Obama for the Democratic primary. The well-argued editorial ends with this...

In the language of metaphor, [Hillary] Clinton is an essay, solid and reasoned; Obama is a poem, lyric and filled with possibility. Clinton would be a valuable and competent executive, but Obama matches her in substance and adds something that the nation has been missing far too long -- a sense of aspiration.

That just about nails it. The entire piece can be found here.

drive-by truckers

Brighter Than Creation's Dark is the first Drive-By Truckers record since the departure of one of its three songwriters, Jason Isbell. They survive the lineup shift mostly intact. My review is at Blender.

tre

Director Eric Byler's Tre may seem like your typical drama about attractive 20-somethings stumbling through life, but the strength of the performances and writing make for an affecting, insightful experience. My review appears in L.A. Weekly.

cloverfield = scary

In this week's Consumables, I have glowing things to say about Cloverfield, Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream, and Steve Martin's memoir, Born Standing Up. Plus, I catch up with two of the most acclaimed indie-rock albums of last year.

the best movies of 2007

Near the end of last year, I contributed a ballot to the Village Voice/L.A. Weekly film poll. Here are my picks, but before you click, can you guess what movie I picked for Worst Film? (It was a close race, believe me.)

MLK

There's a news story out today, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, about how little people remember about the man's legacy.

"Everyone knows, even the smallest kid knows about Martin Luther King, can say his most famous moment was that 'I have a dream' speech," said Henry Louis Taylor Jr., professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Buffalo.

"No one can go further than one sentence," he said. "All we know is that this guy had a dream, we don't know what that dream was."

In case anyone out there is wondering, here's that dream in its entirety.

i don't get juno

Juno leads my latest Consumables, but it's one of the weakest movies on a list of mostly great films, which includes There Will Be Blood, Persepolis, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. You can read about those and others at The Simon.

anybody but the patriots

In today's column, the L.A. Times' Christine Daniels addresses all of us who are praying that somehow the undefeated, seemingly invincible New England Patriots don't win the Super Bowl in three weeks. And her advice? Don't get your hopes up.

chris cooper speaks

Chris Cooper, the star of last February's Breach, is a thoughtful, somber interview subject, but what else would you expect of such a calm, authoritative actor? I interviewed Cooper for L.A. Weekly, where we discussed his preparation for playing Robert Hanssen, his earliest filmic heroes, and the lost art of the everyman.

one missed call

Two things happened on January 4: my birthday and the release of One Missed Call. One event was more memorable than the other.

tila tequila and me

MTV and internet sensation Tila Tequila may not have found love on her self-titled reality show, but she gives a great interview. My conversation with Ms. Tequila can be found at Blender.

top ten albums of 2007

Happy New Year, everyone. 2007 was a great movie year but only a so-so music year. First up, let's count down the music year. Here are my Top Ten records of '07, complete with a pithy sentence or two about each entry.

honeydripper

John Sayles is one of America's real filmmaking treasures. His newest film, Honeydripper, isn't one of his finest, but it's worth seeking out.

national treasure: book of secrets

More of the same from Nicolas Cage and the gang as they run around the world lookin' for clues. My review appears at Screen International.

daft punk

Bummed you missed Daft Punk on their latest highly-praised tour? Want to know what it was felt and sounded like? You might try Alive 2007, their new concert disc. Just don't expect it to totally replicate the live experience.

hal holbrook speaks

The veteran character actor gives one of his best performances in writer-director Sean Penn's Into the Wild. In the midst of the Oscar buzz swirling around him, I sat down with the man, 82 years young, for an interview, which can be found at L.A. Weekly. We discussed his process, his past, and the acting advice his wife always gives him before tackling a new project.

rosa parks

The song, not the woman. Anyway, if you're curious how Outkast came up with their signature tune, wonder no more: I profile its origins in the latest Blender.

christopher plummer's oscar grab

Man in the Chair is one of those mediocre films which only seems to exist so as to give some venerable actor an outside shot at an Academy Award. Christopher Plummer supporters should give up hope now.

the walker

One of Woody Harrelson's best performances goes to waste in writer-director Paul Schrader's new mystery-drama.

simon lebon is the man

That was my impression, anyway, after interviewing him for Blender.

chris brown

R&B singer Chris Brown, a tape recorder, and I all got together down at the Venice boardwalk to take a little Blender personality test. The results can be read here.