The Ex
The Ex Studio: The Weinstein Company Rated: PG-13 Cast: Zach Braff, Amanda Peet, Jason Bateman Director: Jesse Peretz WorkNameSort: Ex, The Our Rating: 3.50 Zach Braff stars in this relationship comedy … no, wait. Don’t stop reading yet. While the tentativeness with which anyone with a brain would approach another Braff-centered romcom is not only…
The TV Set
The TV Set Studio: ThinkFilm Rated: R Cast: David Duchovny, Sigourney Weaver Director: Jake Kasdan WorkNameSort: TV Set, The Our Rating: 3.00 David Duchovny, Justine Bateman, Ioan Gruffudd and Sigourney Weaver star in this biting look at the creatively draining world of TV sitcom production. Duchovny is a passionate writer who is essentially in the…
The Murder of Fred Hampton / American Revolution 2
The Murder of Fred Hampton / American Revolution 2 Studio: Facets WorkNameSort: Murder of Fred Hampton / American Revolution 2, The Most film buffs probably don’t know the name Mike Gray. But the Chicago-based filmmaker has proved to be a versatile force, wearing many hats behind and away from the camera. He penned the great…
The Mirror of the Soul: The Forough Farrokhzad Trilogy
The Mirror of the Soul: The Forough Farrokhzad Trilogy Studio: Facets WorkNameSort: Mirror of the Soul: The Forough Farrokhzad Trilogy , The The literary tradition that filmmakers in many cultures find the most affinity with is, obviously, that of the theater. Iranian cinema, however, exhibits a surprising amount of cross-pollination with its poet class. Verse…
Alpha Dog
Alpha Dog Studio: Universal WorkNameSort: Alpha Dog Drenched in drugs, sex, and violence Alpha Dog spends nearly two hours exploring the countless stereotypes of the urban street genre. Writer/director Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook, Blow) tells this sordid story of suburbia gone awry: Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) leads a gang of mischievous kids in a drug…
By Way of the Drum
By Way of the Drum Label: Hip-O Select Length: LP Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: By Way of the Drum Not all that is lost should be found, and in the case of the until-now-unreleased 1989 Funkadelic album, By Way of the Drum, its legend would be more secure had it never seen an official…
Fields of Happy
Fields of Happy Label: self-released Length: LP Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Fields of Happy Every town has its legacy bands, those whose music’s artistic worth eventually becomes obscured by their personalities and omnipresence. There’s no greater quintessence of this than Orlando’s Gargamel! Always more a part of the local color than the musical vanguard,…
Page France and the Family Telephone
Page France and the Family Telephone Label: Suicide Squeeze Length: LP Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Page France and the Family Telephone Page France maintains its crush on whimsical indie-pop with album No. 3, and one need not sport a ‘What Would Jesus Do?â?� belt buckle or anklet to dig their twee devotional music. Since…
Honigpumpe
Honigpumpe Label: Kompakt Length: LP Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Honigpumpe From various production and band work to his association with electronic music innovators the Orb, Fehlmann’s good name has made its way onto the sleeves of many memorable recordings. His work on Honigpumpe, though grim in spots, doesn’t look to the narcoleptic moments of…
Orpheus – The Lowdown
Orpheus – The Lowdown Label: Ape House Length: LP Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Orpheus – The Lowdown This odd 2004 release (just issued in the U.S.) finds art-popper Partridge (XTC) and prog-rocker Blegvad (Slapp Happy) gathering the results of more than a decade of casual collaborations. The pleasant result is cohesive and artful. Blegvad…
Tito Bitar
Tito Bitar Label: Kemado Length: LP Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Tito Bitar When Dungen’s Gustav Ejstes recorded Ta Det Lugnt a few years back, he did it largely by himself, working feverishly to create the album’s thrilling ’67-era smashups. Additional studio hands are again a rarity on Tio Bitar. Ejstes’ sun-kissed Swedish vocals fight…
DOG DAYS
It’s summertime and the eating is easy
28 Weeks Later
28 Weeks Later Studio: Fox Atomic Rated: R Cast: Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo WorkNameSort: 28 Weeks Later Our Rating: 2.50 This film’s predecessor, 28 Days Later, was a horror flick about a society hellbent on violence and the reactionary powers that would erode democratic ideals in the face of a crisis…
THIS LITTLE UNDERGROUND
Now that the unlikely eruption of the brilliantly exploitative Borat has engraved Sacha Baron Cohen’s visage on our cultural psyche, his ability to capture people off-guard is all but foiled, as he recently conceded in an interview on NPR. So what’s a meteoric humorist to do? Dramatic acting, apparently. And what exactly does this have…
BAR HOPPING
“Nutrition bars,” as they’re rather ominous-futuristically known, have become a multimillion-dollar industry in the years since that first mealy Power Bar. (Actually, there was something called a Tiger Milk bar waaay back in the ’60s, but never mind that.) It was originally envisioned as fuel for athletes, but Type-As in the go-go ’80s adopted the…
I LOVE TELEVISION
;Hi, everybody? How’s it going? This week we’re going to talk about … MOM!!! For the love of God, I’m trying to do my column right now! JEEZ! Yes, I’ll do the dishes … Yes, I’ll pick up my clothes … AND YES, I’ll swab the toilet. I know it’s disgusting, Mom! I like it…
ARTS & CULTURE TO GO
The Lascivious Biddies The Mad Cow Theatre has returned last year’s hit group the Lascivious Biddies to the stage for the Fifth Annual Orlando Cabaret Festival. I missed the ladies last year, then stumbled onto their debut Biddie Luxe! CD and its slick sound: The four Biddies mix smooth jazz, ’50s pop and a late-night…
THE HIGH COST OF SUCCESS
It was 1964 when the Orlando development company Demetree Builders struck gold by selling 12,400 acres of land to Walt Disney. In the years following, Demetree built thousands of single-family homes and hotel rooms, hundreds of condos and dozens of mixed-use developments. The family-owned company got into the charity arena two decades ago when the…
HAPPYTOWN
Another week, another town hall meeting to discuss Rich DeVos’ Golden Pleasure Dome™, and those other two things the city wants to spend $1.1 billion on. This one was hosted by Orange County Commissioner Teresa Jacobs May 7, and it attracted a standing-room-only crowd to the commission chambers. All the usual suspects were there, from…
COUNCIL WATCH
;The dais seemed alive with the unseasonably cool breezes blowing the commerce outside, as smiles of progress lit up this week’s council confab. A clue as to what was at the root of the glibness would come soon enough.; ; “I can assure you that the property taxes are still in effect,” boasted Sen. Gary…
POLICE BEAT
APRIL 27, 10:29 A.M.: Another attempted apartment laundry-room theft, this time in the 2800 block of Plaza Terrace Drive. The unknown suspect or suspects sneaked inside the laundry room with ease, seeing as it’s left open and unsecured 24 hours a day, police reports state. No, said perp or perps had not come to steal…
MAIL SACK
;Hogwash ;I went to watch the film [Wild Hogs] after reading several reviews, yours included. I have to say I found it bewildering that your review was so scathing [Film, March 1]. It was a very enjoyable experience for all of my family, none of whom I would describe as homophobic. Methinks the “heterophobia” that…
STAND BY
;”I tell Ali every morning: ‘You’re blowing up, son,'” Psalm One, the lone female rapper in the Rhymesayers tour van, shouts out loud enough for headliner and labelmate Brother Ali to hear. “I’m always the only damn girl in the van. It’s the best. The testosterone. The smells.” ;;Psalm One’s debut album, Death of the…
UNDERGROUND HIT MAN
Brother Ali channels his inner Gershwin on The Undisputed Truth, calling one of his new tracks a “show tune” for which the show has yet to be written. The Minnesota-based albino Muslim MC keeps topics in a zip-locked range on his official sophomore LP, but the subjects are rich with intimate and political perspectives, the…
DAZE OF THE DEAD
;Zombie movies have been around since 1932, when White Zombie, starring Bela Lugosi, first hit the big screen, and yet, after 75 years of exploiting the same basic idea, Hollywood and its international equivalents continue to find ways to make the genre feel new and even innovative. We, the audience, eat it up too, with…
BLOG AGAINST THE MACHINE
Ray Kockentiet isn’t one for public speaking. Not that he’s particularly bad at it. His voice doesn’t crack. He doesn’t ramble. Actually, he keeps a laser-sharp focus on his pet topic: the new arena for the Orlando Magic. “The game has been rigged,” he says. He’s not entirely comfortable at the center of attention, a…
BLISTER
;There are certain scenes in certain dreams that involve animated versions of my own internal organs devouring themselves, emptying out a large white hollow for the staging of dead air dancing on nothingness. Are they a sign of soft-light-and-gauze happiness? No, they’re generally just another reminder that Barbie forgot to eat and Ken had better…
PAINTING IS BELIEVING
Painted sheets of fragile tin sit wrapped in paper, waiting for the Maitland Art Center to give them a second life. Pristinely kept and patiently guarded for many years by Mariolina Rizzi Salvatori, they are to reappear to the public May 11, announcing gratitude for miracles granted and lives saved. Salvatori’s personal collection of Mexican…
SAVAGE LOVE
I was recently seeing an alpha-male type — Ivy League grad, big executive, loud laugh, etc. He found me on a website, one thing led to another, and he was showing me pictures of him in his ex-girlfriend’s panties! The first of many coffee dates ended with me putting my hand down the back of…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
;ARIES (March 21-April 19) I’m a big fan of facing your problems head-on and dealing forthrightly with your pain. But what if that approach isn’t always best? Renowned psychologist Richard Lazarus said he wanted to “challenge the view that psychological health demands full realism.” He believed that some sick people get healthy faster by refusing…
