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Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Monday, April 30, 2007
The Words "Best Friend" Become Redefined - Chiodos
| Artist: Chiodos Song: The Words "Best Friend" Become Redefined Album: All's Well That Ends Well |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Key Tracks: Must-Hear Tracks From New Albums
 |
Kaiser Arctic |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
My List: Kings of Leon's Caleb Followill
 | Neutral Milk Hotel: "Holland, 1945" [Listen] This distorted, horn-heavy blitz -- the only single released by Jeff Mangum's short-lived, much-loved outfit -- sounds like a mariachi band mingling with Fugazi at a NASCAR speedway. "It's a great little scuzzy beauty," says Followill. New Order "Thieves Like Us" [Listen] This 1984 New Wave hit, named after the 1974 Robert Altman film, has an atmospheric cool: "If you walk into a bar and this... |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
My List: Musiq
 | Consequence Don't Quit Your Day Job [Listen] Musiq says this Kanye West-endorsed debut from Queens rapper Consequence "has a lot of fresh hip-hop content." Jay-Z Kingdom Come [Listen] "He's a great artist, and he never makes a bad album," says Musiq of the rap CEO, who released this disc last year. J Dilla Ruff Draft [Listen] Musiq loves this reissue of the late... |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Artist to Watch: Wedge
 | THE FORMULA  The title of Wedge's debut album, Heavensville, is an |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
The TV Set
 | Starring: David Duchovny, Sigourney Weaver, Ioan Gruffudd, Judy Greer, Fran... Review: Television is an easy target. All you have to do is channel surf for five minutes any day of the week to nail the medium for its unabashed stupidity and venality. Most movies on the topic, recently "American Dreamz", screw up by pushing too hard. Jake Kasdan (son of Lawrence), the writer and director of The TV Set, wisely avoids that trap. He knows the drill too well having worked with Judd Apatow on "Freaks and Geeks" and "Undeclared", two sitcoms that show how often smart equals quick cancellation on the tube. In his third feature (after Zero Effect and Orange County), Kasdan traces the birth pangs of a sitcom called "The Wexler Chronicles" which the show's writer Mike Klein (a pricelessly deadpan David Duchovny) fashioned around the suicide of his brother. Naturally, the network... Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Lonely Hearts
 | Starring: John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Jared Leto, Salma Hayek, Scott C... Review: In a memorably disturbing 1970 film called The Honeymoon Killers director Leonard Kastle, replacing a fired Martin Scorsese, told the true-crime story of Raymond Fernandez (Tony LoBianco) who teamed up during the 1940s with the overweight and overwrought Martha Beck (the superb Shirley Stoler) to con and then kill rich, lonely widows. Raymond was the sex bait while the jealous Martha would pass herself off as his sister, a nurse. The film spawned a cult and a 1996 Mexican remake, Deep Crimson. So, you might ask, why do it again? Director-screenwriter Todd Robinson has a good reason. Long Island Detective Elmer C. Robinson who helped capture these honeymoon killers and witnessed their execution in 1951, was Robinson's grandfather. Todd grew up hearing stories about the grisly case. By... Rating: 2 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Fracture
 | Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Gosling, David Strathairn, Billy Burke, Ros... Review: Just because a movie is freakin' preposterous doesn't mean it can't be diabolical fun. Case in point: Fracture, a twist-a-minute thriller with Anthony Hopkins as an attempted wife murderer getting ready to eat assistant district attorney Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) for breakfast, even without fava beans and a nice chianti. Hopkins' Ted Crawford, an aeronautical engineer with a specialty in detecting the tiniest system defects, thinks he sees a fracture in the armor worn by Willy, a prosecutor about to dump the office of the district attorney (a superb David Strathairn) for the greener pastures of corporate law. Does that mean that Ted can outsmart slick Willy and get away with putting a bullet in the head of his cheating wife (Embeth Davidtz) and framing her married cop lover (Billy... Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Away From Her
 | Starring: Julie Christie, Gordon Pinset, Michael Murphy, Olympia Dukakis, K... Review: Sarah polley, a canadian actress best known for The Sweet Hereafter and the remake of Dawn of the Dead, is twenty-eight. I mention her age because Polley makes a miraculous debut as director and screenwriter of Away From Her by telling the story of a fifty-year marriage attacked by an unseen enemy: memory loss. Fiona (the luminous, legendary Julie Christie) starts fading with small things, like putting a frying pan in the fridge. But when she forgets her way home, Fiona and her husband, Grant (the excellent Gordon Pinsent), decide on the Meadowlake nursing home. In adapting Alice Munro's short story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain," Polley avoids any trace of TV-movie glibness or sentiment. As Fiona grows close to Aubrey (Michael Murphy), a wheelchair-bound patient who barely speaks, and... Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Severance
 | Starring: Toby Stephens, Claudie Blakley, Andy Nyman, Babou Ceesay, Tim McI... Review: Five men and two wom-en, employees of a multinational arms supplier, go on a team-building expedition in Hungary and end up in the woods, getting hoisted by their own petard. Watch out for that rocket launcher. I'm not going to tell you anything else. The jolts are juicy and so are the jokes as the office leader (Tim McInnerny) watches his team get picked off in increasingly hairy ways. Director and co-writer Christopher Smith, mischievously blending The Office with Friday the 13th, keeps things fierce and funny enough to give Steve Carell ideas. Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Fast Food Nation
 | Starring: Wilmer Valderrama, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Greg Kinnear, Luis Gu... Review: This fictionalized adaptation of the best-selling book is an uneven affair. But when it works, it's a brilliant expos� of the horrors of industrialized food in America. The undeniably gross message is delivered by Bruce Willis, who explains that "there's always been a little shit in the meat." And by saving the slaughterhouse crucible for last, the filmmakers ensure the squeamish won't leave before a character must sort the kidney out of a cow's guts. Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Curse of the Golden Flower
 | Starring: Chow Yun Fat, Gong Li Review: There's a Chinese proverb that sums up director Yimou Zhang's visual masterpiece: gold and jade on the outside, rot and decay within. That's life in China's Forbiden city for the royal family; a place where the emperor (Chow Yun Fat) and his empress, Phoenix (Gong Li) intrigue against one another, in a bloody family feud. There's terrible secrets, scheming princes and some of the epic battles. The set is so damn spectacular and the supersaturated colors so vibrant that you'll wish these characte... Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
The Good Shepherd
 | Starring: Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie Review: Robert De Niro's second stint sitting in a director's chair is an overly ambitious tale of the first decades of the CIA, told through the eyes of fictional agent Edward Wilson (Matt Damon). De Niro's a skilled director, and as in a Bronx Tale, he shows a particular sesnitivity for father/son, mentor/student relationships. There is much to praise in Shepherd: the acting is excellent, particularly Damon's iceman of a spy and the cinematography amazing but the non-sequential narrative gets way too... Rating: 2 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Blood Diamond
 | Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, Djimon Hounsou Review: "In America it's bling bling, but out here it's bling bang," says Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) in this action-packed flick about Africa's corrupt diamond trade. Archer goes on the search for a priceless stone with an escaped miner (Djimon Hounsou) who only wants to find his missing son. While DiCaprio's Afrikaaner accent is uneven, it is Hounsou's performance that's unforgettable. Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Volver
 | Starring: Penelope Cruz, Carmen Maura Review: Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar's latest ode to women-in-peril is as clever as anything he's done. Penelope Cruz shines as the heroine confronted with an abusive husband, the madness of a patricidal daughter , the death of a senile aunt, and the return of Cruz' mother from the "grave." But Almodovar leavens all this drama with his own quirky humor. Hate chick flicks? Volver will change your mind. Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Children of Men
 | Starring: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore Review: Just in case you're one of the deprived who let Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men slip by at the multiplex, grab this DVD and hold on for rock-the-house image and sound. It's a ride, but not quite what you expect. This tale of a futuristic dystopia is the anti-Blade Runner. The focus isn't in the action up front, it's there in the background where the film's themes take root. Cuaron, filling every frame with his passion and intellect, takes on a 1992 novel by P.D. James set in 2027 in... Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
 | Artist: Panda Bear Review: Animal Collective drummer Noah Lennox goes by the pseudonym Panda Bear and is known for wearing a costume in concert, so it's no surprise if people don't take him seriously. But on his third album, he proves he's a first-rate solo artist. Person Pitch is a marvelous, hazy trip full of Beach Boys-inspired psychedelia. On the opener, "Comfy in Nautica," he establishes his purpose with this choice phrase: "Try to remember always just to have a good time." Rating: 3.5 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Young Buck - Buck The World
 | Artist: Young Buck Review: On his second album, Young Buck proves that he's G-Unit's most enjoyable second banana. The beats, courtesy of Dr. Dre and others, are largely dark, thick and cinematic. Buck spits grimy, chest-thumping boasts with ear-grabbing command on cuts like "Get Buck" and the Jeezy-assisted "Pocket Full of Paper." Fierce! Rating: 3.5 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Chuck Brown - We're About The Business
 | Artist: Chuck Brown Review: This D.C. bandleader is a pioneer of go-go music, a funk relative that routinely draws on Latin percussion and daubs of jazz and soul. Groovewise, it's hard to argue with most of We're About the Business: warm, party-hearty stuff like "Eye Candy," plus "Chuck Baby," which sets Chuck's rapper daughter, KK, over a beat that splits the difference between old-school hip-hop and New Orleans funk. But still: See him live. Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
The Detroit Cobras - Tied & True
 | Artist: The Detroit Cobras Review: On their fourth album, these long-running Detroit garage rockers turn out mostly well-crafted tunes that show off their best asset: the throaty vocals of Rachel Nagy. A couple are hot, including the almost-Motown "Nothing But a Heartache," but there aren't enough winners to sustain interest all the way through. Rating: 2.5 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Cornelius - Sensuous
 | Artist: Cornelius Review: The latest from this Japanese-born avant-pop-electronica guy is as gleefully weird as anything he's done: blips, glitches, warm acoustic instruments, plus snatches of melody. Tunes? Nothing you find yourself humming, though "Breezin' " gets close. Rating: 2.5 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
The Nightwatchman - One Man Revolution
 | Artist: The Nightwatchman Review: Rage against the machine guitarist Tom Morello pulls a reverse Dylan-at-Newport on his debut solo album by unplugging and writing thirteen songs about how shitty Bush's America is. Backed by acoustic guitar, harmonica and the occasional drums and keyboard, Morello -- recording under the name "the Nightwatchman" -- paints himself as a ghostly figure wandering the country pointing out wrongs, whether they are "Colin Powell's lies" or "dirty scabs" crossing a picket line. On the best so... Rating: 3.5 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Key Tracks: Must-Hear Tracks From New Albums
|
Kaiser Arctic |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
My List: Kings of Leon's Caleb Followill
| Neutral Milk Hotel: "Holland, 1945" [Listen] This distorted, horn-heavy blitz -- the only single released by Jeff Mangum's short-lived, much-loved outfit -- sounds like a mariachi band mingling with Fugazi at a NASCAR speedway. "It's a great little scuzzy beauty," says Followill. New Order "Thieves Like Us" [Listen] This 1984 New Wave hit, named after the 1974 Robert Altman film, has an atmospheric cool: "If you walk into a bar and this... |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
My List: Musiq
| Consequence Don't Quit Your Day Job [Listen] Musiq says this Kanye West-endorsed debut from Queens rapper Consequence "has a lot of fresh hip-hop content." Jay-Z Kingdom Come [Listen] "He's a great artist, and he never makes a bad album," says Musiq of the rap CEO, who released this disc last year. J Dilla Ruff Draft [Listen] Musiq loves this reissue of the late... |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Artist to Watch: Wedge
| THE FORMULA The title of Wedge's debut album, Heavensville, is an |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
The TV Set
| Starring: David Duchovny, Sigourney Weaver, Ioan Gruffudd, Judy Greer, Fran... Review: Television is an easy target. All you have to do is channel surf for five minutes any day of the week to nail the medium for its unabashed stupidity and venality. Most movies on the topic, recently "American Dreamz", screw up by pushing too hard. Jake Kasdan (son of Lawrence), the writer and director of The TV Set, wisely avoids that trap. He knows the drill too well having worked with Judd Apatow on "Freaks and Geeks" and "Undeclared", two sitcoms that show how often smart equals quick cancellation on the tube. In his third feature (after Zero Effect and Orange County), Kasdan traces the birth pangs of a sitcom called "The Wexler Chronicles" which the show's writer Mike Klein (a pricelessly deadpan David Duchovny) fashioned around the suicide of his brother. Naturally, the network... Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Lonely Hearts
| Starring: John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Jared Leto, Salma Hayek, Scott C... Review: In a memorably disturbing 1970 film called The Honeymoon Killers director Leonard Kastle, replacing a fired Martin Scorsese, told the true-crime story of Raymond Fernandez (Tony LoBianco) who teamed up during the 1940s with the overweight and overwrought Martha Beck (the superb Shirley Stoler) to con and then kill rich, lonely widows. Raymond was the sex bait while the jealous Martha would pass herself off as his sister, a nurse. The film spawned a cult and a 1996 Mexican remake, Deep Crimson. So, you might ask, why do it again? Director-screenwriter Todd Robinson has a good reason. Long Island Detective Elmer C. Robinson who helped capture these honeymoon killers and witnessed their execution in 1951, was Robinson's grandfather. Todd grew up hearing stories about the grisly case. By... Rating: 2 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Fracture
| Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Gosling, David Strathairn, Billy Burke, Ros... Review: Just because a movie is freakin' preposterous doesn't mean it can't be diabolical fun. Case in point: Fracture, a twist-a-minute thriller with Anthony Hopkins as an attempted wife murderer getting ready to eat assistant district attorney Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) for breakfast, even without fava beans and a nice chianti. Hopkins' Ted Crawford, an aeronautical engineer with a specialty in detecting the tiniest system defects, thinks he sees a fracture in the armor worn by Willy, a prosecutor about to dump the office of the district attorney (a superb David Strathairn) for the greener pastures of corporate law. Does that mean that Ted can outsmart slick Willy and get away with putting a bullet in the head of his cheating wife (Embeth Davidtz) and framing her married cop lover (Billy... Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Away From Her
| Starring: Julie Christie, Gordon Pinset, Michael Murphy, Olympia Dukakis, K... Review: Sarah polley, a canadian actress best known for The Sweet Hereafter and the remake of Dawn of the Dead, is twenty-eight. I mention her age because Polley makes a miraculous debut as director and screenwriter of Away From Her by telling the story of a fifty-year marriage attacked by an unseen enemy: memory loss. Fiona (the luminous, legendary Julie Christie) starts fading with small things, like putting a frying pan in the fridge. But when she forgets her way home, Fiona and her husband, Grant (the excellent Gordon Pinsent), decide on the Meadowlake nursing home. In adapting Alice Munro's short story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain," Polley avoids any trace of TV-movie glibness or sentiment. As Fiona grows close to Aubrey (Michael Murphy), a wheelchair-bound patient who barely speaks, and... Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Severance
| Starring: Toby Stephens, Claudie Blakley, Andy Nyman, Babou Ceesay, Tim McI... Review: Five men and two wom-en, employees of a multinational arms supplier, go on a team-building expedition in Hungary and end up in the woods, getting hoisted by their own petard. Watch out for that rocket launcher. I'm not going to tell you anything else. The jolts are juicy and so are the jokes as the office leader (Tim McInnerny) watches his team get picked off in increasingly hairy ways. Director and co-writer Christopher Smith, mischievously blending The Office with Friday the 13th, keeps things fierce and funny enough to give Steve Carell ideas. Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Fast Food Nation
| Starring: Wilmer Valderrama, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Greg Kinnear, Luis Gu... Review: This fictionalized adaptation of the best-selling book is an uneven affair. But when it works, it's a brilliant expos� of the horrors of industrialized food in America. The undeniably gross message is delivered by Bruce Willis, who explains that "there's always been a little shit in the meat." And by saving the slaughterhouse crucible for last, the filmmakers ensure the squeamish won't leave before a character must sort the kidney out of a cow's guts. Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Curse of the Golden Flower
| Starring: Chow Yun Fat, Gong Li Review: There's a Chinese proverb that sums up director Yimou Zhang's visual masterpiece: gold and jade on the outside, rot and decay within. That's life in China's Forbiden city for the royal family; a place where the emperor (Chow Yun Fat) and his empress, Phoenix (Gong Li) intrigue against one another, in a bloody family feud. There's terrible secrets, scheming princes and some of the epic battles. The set is so damn spectacular and the supersaturated colors so vibrant that you'll wish these characte... Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
The Good Shepherd
| Starring: Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie Review: Robert De Niro's second stint sitting in a director's chair is an overly ambitious tale of the first decades of the CIA, told through the eyes of fictional agent Edward Wilson (Matt Damon). De Niro's a skilled director, and as in a Bronx Tale, he shows a particular sesnitivity for father/son, mentor/student relationships. There is much to praise in Shepherd: the acting is excellent, particularly Damon's iceman of a spy and the cinematography amazing but the non-sequential narrative gets way too... Rating: 2 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Blood Diamond
| Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, Djimon Hounsou Review: "In America it's bling bling, but out here it's bling bang," says Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) in this action-packed flick about Africa's corrupt diamond trade. Archer goes on the search for a priceless stone with an escaped miner (Djimon Hounsou) who only wants to find his missing son. While DiCaprio's Afrikaaner accent is uneven, it is Hounsou's performance that's unforgettable. Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Volver
| Starring: Penelope Cruz, Carmen Maura Review: Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar's latest ode to women-in-peril is as clever as anything he's done. Penelope Cruz shines as the heroine confronted with an abusive husband, the madness of a patricidal daughter , the death of a senile aunt, and the return of Cruz' mother from the "grave." But Almodovar leavens all this drama with his own quirky humor. Hate chick flicks? Volver will change your mind. Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
Children of Men
| Starring: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore Review: Just in case you're one of the deprived who let Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men slip by at the multiplex, grab this DVD and hold on for rock-the-house image and sound. It's a ride, but not quite what you expect. This tale of a futuristic dystopia is the anti-Blade Runner. The focus isn't in the action up front, it's there in the background where the film's themes take root. Cuaron, filling every frame with his passion and intellect, takes on a 1992 novel by P.D. James set in 2027 in... Rating: 3 Stars |
Source: http://www.rollingstone.com
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