Reviewers’ grade: C A suspense-thriller does not need big plot twists to work its nail-biting magic; half the fun can be watching the inevitable unfold. Still, predictability isn’t much of a selling point, and chances are you’ll figure out the central mystery of “Fracture” long before its midway point. Anthony Hopkins does a variation […]
NULL
Posted inArts & Culture
Animal Awesomeness
In April, two Labrador retrievers (Lucky and Flo) sniffed out another shipment of pirated DVDs (worth about $435,000) in a building in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. It was at least the second such bust since mid-March, when the U.S. Motion Picture Association of America loaned the dogs to Malaysian authorities because they can detect the polycarbonate […]
Posted inArts & Culture
In the Land of Women
Reviewers’ grade: D+ With a title like that, this could only be a horror movie, right? If only. No, it’s a touchy-feely series of anecdotes about a writer of soft-core porn who is dumped by his movie-star girlfriend and soon after moves to Michigan to care for his loony grandmother and write a great novel. […]
Posted inMusic
Neil Young – Live at Massey Hall 1971
Reprise In recent months, Neil Young fans have had much reason to rejoice. In November, Young began releasing albums from what is reportedly a vast vault of archives. The first was a ripping good show from Neil with Crazy Horse in 1970 at the Fillmore East in New York City. This, the second in […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Masters of Horror: Family
lues Brothers,” “Animal House”) directs his second episode of the Showtime anthology series with more verve than anything he’s done in the past 20 years. “Family” finds a game George Wendt (“Cheers”) delighted to see he has new neighbors moving in: a cute married couple played by Meredith Monroe (“Dawson’s Creek”) and Matt Keeslar […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Twin Peaks: The Second Season
1990-91/2007 Almost six years after the first season came out on shiny platters, the second/last season of David Lynch’s revolutionary television series “Twin Peaks” finally hits DVD. The half-decade wait was worth it “? not just because Paramount has done a fine job in the audio/video department, but because the late, lamented show is a […]
Posted inMusic
Jarvis Cocker – Jarvis
no finally breaks in at the 29-minute mark. The track seems unnecessarily buried, though perhaps Cocker might be giving authority the finger when he thinks they’re not paying attention anymore. “?Charles Martin
Posted inArts & Culture
Hot Fuzz
Reviewers’ grade: A The team that kidded zombie horror in “Shaun of the Dead” returns to take on the cop/action movie and, as they did last time, manage the tricky feat of making a picture that stands as an example of the very thing they’re parodying. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost return, this time […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Compelling Explanations
“(Death row) is the calmest place I’ve ever been in,” said convicted murderer Paul John Fitzpatrick in March to a judge in Largo, Fla., hoping to avoid a mere life sentence, which would place him in the general prison population. “I probably found the most peace I’ve ever had in my whole life (in his […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Recurring themes
Traditional Chinese celebrations have been mentioned several times in News of the Weird, including the annual Tombsweeping Festival in April, which calls on people to visit relatives’ graves and leave offerings that will improve the afterlives of the deceased. Actual objects (such as jewelry and money) are no longer required, as paper representations are considered […]