If Sen. McCain’s choice of the largely unknown Alaska Gov. Palin as his veep choice seemed out of nowhere then, there’s good reason: Because it pretty much was. McCain, here played by Ed Harris (Man on a Ledge), wanted Sen. Joe Lieberman, but was talked into someone “more transformative” by hired gun Steven Schmidt (Woody […]
review
Posted inArts & Culture
Premium Rush
Please note that doesn’t mean it’s the best of the lot — it’s just that its zippy pleasures arrive with no strings, messages or ulterior motives attached. This is a well-made action film, albeit a disposable one — no more, no less. In what may be the only film centered on the world of bike […]
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The Mad Magician
Just as he’s about to hit the big time with his super-secret buzz-saw trick, however, his show gets axed and his boss claims proprietary rights to all of Gallico’s stage tools. As all mad magicians as wont to do, Gallico snaps and kills the guy by — and this fits the theme — decapitation via […]
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Zero Dark Thirty
Some, including Republican Sen. John McCain, accuse director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal, who last collaborated on The Hurt Locker, of falsely suggesting that intel gleaned through torture is what led the CIA to bin Laden. The controversy is at a fever pitch. Is ZDT a nearly journalistic work? Is it morally repugnant propaganda? […]
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Wuthering Heights
Costume dramas are not my thing. That goes double when they’re staged with an epic sweep — true tests of patience and bladder resolve. So there’s something admirable about directors tackling oft-adapted material with a decidedly different approach, which could account for two such pictures making many a critic’s 2012 best list: Joe Wright’s Anna […]
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The Loneliest Planet
It’s curious that the Internet Movie Database has classified The Loneliest Planet as a “thriller,” since the film forgoes not just all that genre’s trappings, but narrative altogether. Forty-nine minutes pass before an act of what passes for conflict occurs. Ironically, doing so further slows a glacial pace. The existential Western Meek’s Cutoff looks like […]
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Dewey Binns — High Character
Hailing from the decidedly unglamorous city of Lawton, Dewey Binns is the sort of blue-collar rapper everyone can get behind, but he’s just as book-smart as street-smart, as evidenced by this Steinbeck-esque collection of hip-hop vignettes. One gets the feeling that Binns rarely was satisfied with his first word choice, refining each line with the […]
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Michael Summers — More
Plus, I just like writing “Honky Cat.” This winning formula that has made Michael Summers the Michael Bublé of the 405 carries throughout the entirety of More. So slip on your finest cocktail dress, load up on olives and pour yourself a tumbler full of the perfectly blended tunes. “Secret Love Affair” is the way […]
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Dirty Red & the Soulshakers — Soul Shakin’
Opening with the innuendo-laden “Cornbread,” which makes you want to sop up all forms of sexual beans and greens, lead singer Eric “Dirty Red” McDaniel’s powerfully soul-drenched vocals and funky harmonica immediately let you know you’re in for a long, sweaty night. The pure, rolling thunder of “Shotgun,” with its impressionable refrain of “My shotgun […]
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Citizen Fred — Citizen Fred
After several listens, I’m still trying to process the idea behind it: Is the Oklahoma City act a joke band? Is it ironic art? Is it music to pump iron to? Or am I just overthinking it? Several songs are wonderfully hard-charged aggro-rockers that make you want to drive your beat-up ’Vette 110 miles per […]