WORLDLY WOMEN
4 Women No Cry Label: Monika Rated: NONE WorkNameSort: 4 Women No Cry Even though some moments are better than others on 4 Women No Cry, a 20-song compilation of electronic and organic blends from the Berlin-based Monika label, no single artist seems to upstage the next. The collection was spawned initially by (Monika label…
LEFTOVER HITS
Out-of-State Plates Rated: NONE WorkNameSort: Out-of-State Plates Power-poppers who understand the importance of “power” in the equation, Fountains of Wayne are one of the few ultra-catchy confections that don’t get stuck in your teeth, and this two-CD collection of non-album tracks, unreleased material and two new originals is as representative of their approach as their…
TOUGH LOVE
Head-On (Gegen die Wand) Studio: Strand Releasing Rated: NOT RATED Website: http://www.gegendiewand.de/flash.html Release Date: 2005-07-01 Cast: Guven Kyrac, Cem Akin, Aysel Iscan, Demir Gokgol, Stefan Gebelhoff Director: Fatih Akin Screenwriter: Fatih Akin Music Score: Klaus Maeck WorkNameSort: Head-On (Gegen die Wand) Our Rating: 4.00 Sounds like a meet-cute romantic comedy: Girl needs to escape her…
Saving Face
Saving Face Studio: Sony Pictures Classics Rated: R Website: http://www.sonyclassics.com/savingface/ Release Date: 2005-07-01 Cast: Michelle Krusiec, Joan Chen, Jin Wang, Lynn Chen, Guang Lan Koh Director: Alice Wu Screenwriter: Alice Wu Music Score: Anton Sanko WorkNameSort: Saving Face Our Rating: 4.00 The 2005 Florida Film Festival introduced local audiences to this cross-cultural dramedy, in which…
War of the Worlds
War of the Worlds Studio: Paramount Pictures Rated: PG-13 Website: http://www.waroftheworlds.com/ Release Date: 2005-07-01 Cast: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, Justin Chatwin, Tim Robbins Director: Steven Spielberg Screenwriter: Josh Friedman, David Koepp Music Score: John Williams WorkNameSort: War of the Worlds Our Rating: 2.50 Hollywood can officially flush its hopes for a summer recovery…
George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead
George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead Studio: Universal Pictures Rated: R Website: http://www.landofthedeadmovie.net/ Release Date: 2005-07-01 Cast: Simon Baker, Asia Argento, Dennis Hopper, John Leguizamo, Robert Joy Director: George A. Romero Screenwriter: George A. Romero WorkNameSort: George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead Our Rating: 4.00 How zombie godfather Romero can still manage to…
NORTHERN LIGHT
My friend and I got to Harvey’s Heathrow around 5 p.m., just as they were opening for the evening. We sidled into a bar booth and eagerly embraced our bronze paper menus. As my eyes rested on a delightful-sounding onion and ale soup with Gouda ($5), my friend said, “Oh, look. The beautiful people are…
OAKY COMPUTER
Acoustica: Alarm Will Sound Performs Aphex Twin Label: Cantaloupe Rated: NONE WorkNameSort: Acoustica: Alarm Will Sound Performs Aphex Twin Electronic music stands separate from much of the history of Western music insofar as it’s an art form that is explicitly designed for recording; jazz, rock and even classical music depend on the performance of a…
City Calls Revolution
City Calls Revolution Label: Beta-lactam Ring Rated: NONE WorkNameSort: City Calls Revolution As “psychedelic” music in the United States and Europe gets more and more nostalgic, leave it to a Japanese trio – with grindcore roots, no less – to poke a lysergic stick in the genre’s third eye and make it run around the…
Hopewell & the Birds of Appetite
Hopewell & the Birds of Appetite Label: TeePee Rated: NONE WorkNameSort: Hopewell & the Birds of Appetite Hitting most of the right notes in mostly the right order, there’s no reason for this new album from Hopewell to be as anemic and disappointing as it is. The group has focused their Lips/Mercury Rev-style psych-sprawl to…
Touched by the Crimson King
Touched by the Crimson King Label: SPV Rated: NONE WorkNameSort: Touched by the Crimson King Jon Schaffer (Iced Earth) and Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian) are two guys who take their shit way seriously, so it’s not surprising that this collaboration (their second such joint venture) is far from your typical haphazard supergroup trainwreck. That’s not…
PITCHING WU
A few hours before her film Saving Face was to open the 2005 Florida Film Festival, director Alice Wu sat at a table in Maitland’s Enzian Theater. By her side was her star, Joan Chen, who had joined Wu for the movie’s press tour. Wu wore a pristine leather jacket; Chen, a bejeweled black tank…
WHEN PUPPETS GO BAD
What kind of monsters would dress a child up like Adolf Hitler? Luckily, such monsters do exist – and even better, they’ve been given the opportunity to demonstrate their wicked brand of humor on TV with a program called Wonder Showzen. An evil parody of a PBS-style children’s show, Wonder Showzen takes elements from Sesame…
Happytown
Hey, downtown dandies! You’re about to get yourselves a new catchphrase. Ready? “Do Something.” No, that’s it. Yeah, we were underwhelmed too. Seems like it’s missing something … maybe adding “jackass” to the end would fix it. The Downtown Development Board has been throwing around “Everyone’s Downtown” for years now, but that slogan is kind…
THE TURNAROUND
Editor’s note: This is the first in an occasional series in which we chat with people making news in Central Florida. Hope you like it. Three years ago, Mollie Ray Elementary was the pariah of the Orange County Public School system. Two “F” grades in a row under the state’s A+ for Education plan made…
BACK FROM EXTINCTION
It’s difficult to imagine a group that more perfectly represents the zeitgeist of the post-hardcore/pre-grunge slacker underground of ’80s noise-rock than Dinosaur Jr. A shut-in, a smartass and a drummer colluded to make the loudest, most viscerally assaultive music possible. Informed by Neil Young’s melodic sense, John Bonham’s attack and the sound a large guitar…
ODD THINGS GONE
JUNE 19, 6 P.M.: A woman was busy beating the pre-summer heat at her home in the 4700 block of North Pine Hills Road. But while she rested, a preteen perp lurked, hungering for fun on a drab June afternoon. The 12-year-old boy ambled down the road to the woman’s apartment, approaching the screened-in back…
Letters
Another letter from Ben We greatly appreciate the Weekly’s coverage of our recent efforts against corporate welfare, i.e. spending $270 million in public money solely for the benefit of billionaire Rich DeVos, owner of the Orlando Magic [Happytown, June 23]. We would like to point out that Orlando Direct Action is a group with more…
Notable Noise
I’ve been laying pretty low when it comes to watching rock shows lately. I’ve been sick, I’ve been tired, I’ve been lazy, I’ve been whining. But I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to see Judas Priest and Queensrÿche at the Ford Amphitheater in Tampa. It’s been years since I’ve seen Priest, and, more importantly, the…
FAKE AND SHAKE
“Maybe we could just go out to happy hour at Harvey’s Bistro and try to overhear stupid conversations,” yawns my copy editor and sometime cruise director, Jessica, over the phone and overflowing without ideas. “I’ll do whatever,” I try to take a sip and a drag at the very same time. “I just need to…
SLOW AND LOW
With its sweetleaf-green cover art and drowsy dirges, Feathers, Dead Meadow’s recent release, looks and plays like a stoner soundtrack – on the surface. Its lyrics seem anachronistically ornate, a progressive-rock trademark. However, this Washington, D.C.-based quartet’s multilayered studio efforts defy quick and easy excavation. Repeated listens reveal world-music accents and graceful shoegazer-influenced vocals alongside…
Destiny’s bitch
13.7 Billion Years Ago: A cataclysmic upheaval known as the Big Bang brings about the creation of our known universe. Scientists and philosophers are to spend years debating the exact reasons for this event, but a surprising few voice the seemingly self-evident theory that it was necessary to provide a hospitable environment for one Steve…
LITTLE FURY THINGS
In March, Mark Allen Shook, 43, attempting to flee (with his dog) Mountain Ranch, Calif., police officers who had come to arrest him on a domestic violence charge, was captured after a chaotic fight during which the dog bit off part of Shook’s ear. And in Eltham, England, in May, a family’s dog, chasing a…
