Oct 26, 2009
Live
CMJ 2009 Day Two
Looking back on this week so far, I realized that the majority of the music I’ve seen has been near one of two extremes: folk, or electronics-fueled rock or pop. London outfit Mumford & Sons, who played Wednesday evening, was no exception (it won’t be the last folk band I see this week, either).
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Oct 26, 2009
DVDs
Web Exclusive
To say expectations were low for It’s hard to believe that the kid in The Gate grew up to play the big bad in Blade. Stephen Dorff plays Glen, a kid in the suburbs who meets creatures in his backyard. Sound familiar? Well, these creatures don’t like Reese’s Pieces, and they emerge from a hell gate conjured from a European heavy metal album!
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Oct 26, 2009
Music
Web Exclusive
Despite their mysterious aliases-band members go by Kamer Maza, Gala Bell, and TORG (yes, all caps)—the musicians of this Los Angeles trio sure know how to craft a pop song. Expressions compiles the nine tracks that made up the band’s three 12” singles into one, unified debut album. And the greatness of those singles still resonates when played together as one whole-album trip.
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Oct 23, 2009
Live
Choir of Young Believers
As any music snob will readily admit, one of the greatest joys in life is catching a little known band before they break big. Pardon me for bragging—as I presumptuously swirl my drink and haughtily raise my nose skyward—but when Choir of Young Believers claw their way out of obscurity and into larger venues, you’re in for quite a treat.
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Oct 23, 2009
Books
Web Exclusive
A decade and a half after making a name for himself with High Fidelity, Nick Hornby has at last written a novel that, while not topping his debut, comes closer to the mark than any of his more recent output. Julet, Naked centers once again on the nature of male musical obsession.
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Oct 23, 2009
Video Games
Web Exclusive
You can almost hear the graphics designers sighing as you begin Madden 10. They really seem to have put next to no effort into the look of the Wii version. The players look vaguely like bubbles, or the variations on hockey players seen in Nintendo’s Ice Hockey: tall and skinny, fat, and regular. Without the thrill of awesome graphics, a lot of pressure falls on the game play.
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Oct 23, 2009
TV
Web Exclusive
The two main characters on the USA Network’s latest hour-long dramedy, White Collar, fit the channel’s “characters welcome” bill to a T. Chuck‘s ridiculously good-looking Matt Bomer plays con artist-turned-FBI-collaborator, Neal Caffrey. Starting out on the run, a captured Caffrey is approached by FBI agent Peter Burke (Tell Me You Love Me‘s Tim Dekay) to help nab white-collar criminals in exchange for a conditional, limited amount of freedom monitored by an ankle bracelet.
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Studio: Apparition
Directed by Scott Sanders; Starring: Michael Jai White
Oct 23, 2009
Cinema
Web Exclusive
Cancel the Oscars, Black Dynamite is the best film of 2009—assuming, that is, that your definition of fine cinema includes kung fu, adulterated malt liquor, fightin’ The Man, drug-addled orphans, pimps, exploding cars going over cliffs, soul music, helicopter explosions, Vietnam vets, dudes getting thrown through walls, nunchuck fights, and former first lady Pat Nixon being pimp-slapped.
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Oct 23, 2009
Music
Various Artists
Fidel Castro’s communism had incredible, if often polarizing, effects on the music industry of Cuba. The island employed state-subsidized musicians who earned steady paychecks, and these artists had relatively little concern about their commercial success, giving them free reign to experiment and play from the heart. On the other hand, there was very limited access to recording equipment and the raw materials necessary to record and create albums.
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Studio: Warner Bros.
Directed by Spike Jonze; Starring: Max Records and Catherine Keener
Oct 22, 2009
Cinema
Web Exclusive
Something about Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s picture book Where the Wild Things Are inspired director Spike Jonze and his co-screenwriter Dave Eggers to infuse the long-awaited feature film adaptation with a dispiriting sense of fear and sadness.
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