Calling all reporters
Want to do a real story about the Orlando Weekly and the MBI? Here’s some background for you: Our little gestapo, June 12, 2003 Score one for the MBI Comply with open records law? Not the MBI Those lovable moralitiy police (second item) Another swing and a miss MBI busts handjob ring, proud of self…
THAT BERBER-Y SCENT
A drive along the eyesore that is Highway 192 in Kissimmee reveals scores of potential hidden gems — mom-and-pop joints tucked way in strip-mall nooks serving up everything from Cuban to Jamaican to Filipino cuisine. But there are hidden gems, and then there are hidden gems and Chez Achraf, a Moroccan “restaurant” situated in the…
30 Days of Night
30 Days of Night Studio: Sony Rated: R Cast: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George Director: David Slade WorkNameSort: 30 Days of Night Our Rating: 3.50 There are few actors as annoying as Josh Hartnett, but apparently the key to getting a solid performance out of him is to not require him to speak – or at…
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Studio: Warner Bros. Rated: R Cast: Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck Director: Andrew Dominik WorkNameSort: Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Our Rating: 4.50 The title is really long, and so is the film, but it has every reason to be. Filling…
The Darjeeling Limited
The Darjeeling Limited Studio: Fox Searchlight Rated: R Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson Director: Wes Anderson WorkNameSort: Darjeeling Limited, The Our Rating: 2.00 Judging by his latest, The Darjeeling Limited, it appears that director Wes Anderson might have expended his considerable gifts on his previous movies. Since his debut, Bottle Rocket, and its follow-up, Rushmore,…
Gone Baby Gone
Gone Baby Gone Studio: Miramax Rated: R Cast: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan Director: Ben Affleck WorkNameSort: Gone Baby Gone Our Rating: 3.50 This film will receive a lot more scrutiny than most movies this autumn, if only because Ben “I used to spend all my waking hours giving the media a reason to hate me”…
Lust, Caution
Lust, Caution Studio: Focus Features Rated: NC-17 Cast: Tang Wei, Tony Leung Chiu-wai Director: Ang Lee WorkNameSort: Lust, Caution Our Rating: 3.00 In WW II-era Shanghai, former university student and actress turned resistance spy Wong Chia-Chi (Tang Wei) infiltrates the house of Mr. Yee (Tony Leung) and his wife (Joan Chen). Yee works with the…
Rendition
Rendition Studio: New Line Cinema Rated: R Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Omar Metwally Director: Gavin Hood WorkNameSort: Rendition Our Rating: 3.50 In Rendition, Omar Metwally plays Anwar El-Ibrahimi, a 20-year-resident of the U.S. who’s successfully parlayed his Ivy League chemical-engineering education into a $200,000-a-year consulting job. After a bomb goes off on a busy city street…
Ten Commandments
Ten Commandments Studio: Promenade Rated: PG Cast: Ben Kingsley, Christian Slater Director: Bill Boyce, John Stronach WorkNameSort: Ten Commandments Our Rating: 1.00 This version of the biblical story of Moses is animated. However, where the filmmakers may have aimed to create something comparable to Shrek, instead the quality falls somewhere between that and the movers…
Things We Lost in the Fire
Things We Lost in the Fire Studio: Paramount Rated: R Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Halle Berry Director: Susanne Bier WorkNameSort: Things We Lost in the Fire Our Rating: 2.50 There’s a fine line between a healthy auterism – the artistic value of recurring themes and all that – and a regurgitation of your own material,…
Lights in the Dusk
Lights in the Dusk Studio: Strand WorkNameSort: Lights in the Dusk Aki Kaurismäki is one of the great treasures of contemporary arthouse cinema, but he remains an under-the-radar figure outside the film festival circuit. The Finnish writer-director makes dry, austere stories told with a chilly wit and bare-bones visuals. Emerging shortly prior to Jim Jarmusch…
Commune
Commune Studio: First Run Features WorkNameSort: Commune Founded in 1968 and situated on 80 acres of land in isolated Northern California wilderness, the Black Bear Ranch was (and is) one of the more positive examples of the hippie lifestyle. The cultish and highly iconoclastic structures implemented by the residents of the Ranch evoke both the…
The Panama Deception
The Panama Deception Studio: Docurama WorkNameSort: Panama Deception, The Originally released in 1992 and never before available on DVD, The Panama Deception is an unapolgetic look at the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama. The timing of its re-release is certainly not accidental, as the Reagan-led (and Bush-implemented) campaign against Noriega has more than a few…
The Heavy Metal Box
The Heavy Metal Box Label: Rhino Length: LP Media: CD Format: BoxSet WorkNameSort: Heavy Metal Box, The The question with Rhino’s genre-specific box sets has never been “Is it worth doing?” or “How well did they do it?” It generally goes without saying that, whether it’s The Goth Box or Nuggets, the label’s curators are…
Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book
Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book Label: Ninja Tune Length: LP Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book For his third solo full-length, Manhattan beatmaker Blockhead delivered his comparatively quick-tempoed instrumental collection to the masses DIY style. Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book is a self-released effort, and instead of dropping another volume of bulky, downbeat pass-out-and-spill-beer-all-over…
Businessmen & Ghosts
Businessmen & Ghosts Label: Deaf Dumb & Blind Length: LP Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Businessmen & Ghosts In this sprawling, two-disc U.S. debut (which bundles their UK debut album, subsequent EP and bonus tracks), WFANFC proves the first Manchester band to make the wildly hybridized Madchester aesthetic relevant to the 21st century. With some…
IN DEFENSE OF BEN AFFLECK
When one looks at the long career of Ben Affleck, in particular his resume as an alleged actor, it becomes clear that he is only famous for two reasons: His relationship with Matt Damon and, for a much-briefer period there, his relationship with Jennifer Lopez’s globoid derriere. Besides his status as Damon’s man-mate for life…
THAT BERBER-Y SCENT
That Berber-y scent A drive along the eyesore that is Highway 192 in Kissimmee reveals scores of potential hidden gems — mom-and-pop joints tucked way in strip-mall nooks serving up everything from Cuban to Jamaican to Filipino cuisine. But there are hidden gems, and then there are hidden gems and Chez Achraf, a Moroccan “restaurant”…
BLISTER
Somewhere between sex and beauty lies the absurdity that is life itself. “I spent last night on the computer shuffling between Internet porn and poetry,” Tony drips from the passenger seat. Exactly. So it only makes sense that on this particular Wednesday evening Tony and I are slouching toward ridiculousness by way of bingo and…
SAVAGE LOVE
How much piss can one consume without getting sick? Sincerely Curious I tossed your question to Dr. W.H., an ER physician at a big city hospital like the ones on teevee! Dr. W.H. has seen people “guzzling every nasty-ass secretion known,” and wasn’t fazed by your question. “Piss is actually quite safe to drink,” says…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
ARIES (March 21-April 19) In The Primary Colors, Alexander Theroux writes that yellow is the color of “early bruises, forbidding skies, dead leaves, dental plaque, foul curtains, speed bumps, and callused feet.” And yet, he muses, yellow is also the color of “the generous sun, butter, candlelight, ripening grain, translucent amber, and spring itself.” In…
THIS LITTLE UNDERGROUND
The other night, I rolled into Big Daddy’s for drinks. I go there because it’s a good neighborhood joint, but it’s primarily a karaoke bar, so I don’t go for music. This is gonna come as a surprise to exactly no one, but the music circles I often run in can be snobbish. To these…
I LOVE TELEVISION
Though it may come as a surprise to some, I often find myself “in trouble.” However, it should be noted that any “trouble” I stumble into is rarely, if ever, my fault. In fact, if anyone’s responsible, I blame SOCIETY and their overly strict rules (which include, but are not limited to, public sexuality, car…
CULTURE TO GO
Don’t pass over Shylock Through Nov. 11 Orlando Shakespeare Theater $20-$37; 407-447-1700 www.orlandoshakes.org Jews may monopolize the list of big machers in the modern mass media, at least according to a recent Vanity Fair. But for the millennia between Moses and The Jazz Singer, strong Jewish portrayals in mainstream literature were scarcer than ham sandwiches…
COUNCIL WATCH
Oh, no. An absence of parking options and/or seating options at this week’s civic chatterbox and the walls were breathing with standing-room-only spectatorship of the philanthropic variety. During the protracted invocation, District No. 6 commissioner Sam Ings’ lapel flashed caution with a blinking red light. What did it all mean? Well, for starters there were…
HAPPYTOWN
So guess how much Orlando spent prosecuting that Food Not Bombs kid who was arrested for feeding too many homeless people? No, really, guess, because the city’s not saying. Last week a jury found Eric Montanez not guilty of violating the city’s dumb law about feeding more than 25 homeless people at a time without…
POLICE BEAT
OCT. 3, 10:32 P.M.: On this evening an unknown man, approximately 20 years old, walked inside a gas station in the 2800 block of West Colonial Drive. He wore a black T-shirt, black baggy shorts, black shoes and a black hat. The final item of attire should have been a red flag, however: a black…
MAIL SACK
One life to live We [Amy and Joe Dillon] want to thank you for the story on Bill Dillon, our son [“26 years,” Oct. 11]. A lot of effort and research went into the report and a lot of facts that we couldn’t talk about at the trial were included. We just hope and pray…
HOME SLICE
After he earned a philosophy degree from UCF in 2005, Mike Dunn was happy to receive, as a graduation present, payment to record his first EP. He had finally put together enough of his own material for a CD, and, with encouragement from friend/producer Louis DeFabrizio (of Gasoline Heart), Mike Dunn & The Kings of…
HOUSE OF WAX
Any in-demand DJ will tell you that crate-digging – the art of scouring record shops for buried gems, hot new trends or fresh, inspiring new blood – has its eye-gougingly frustrating days. Hell, any retired garage-sale aficionado can tell you the same, but what happens when an entire musical genre seems to crash before your…
Four years ago, the city entrusted developer Cameron Kuhn with saving downtown. How’s that going, anyway?
“From your mouth to God’s ears.” That’s what developer Cameron Kuhn told a reporter in June 2004, minutes after the Orlando City Council had signed off on a lucrative incentive package to help him build a high-rise at the intersection of Orange Avenue and Church Street. The question: Could it possibly be true that Kuhn…
HISPANIC PULSE
According to James Schoepflin, Central Florida houses more magic than just in that kingdom tourists find so fascinating. It’s the kind of magic that has led to the out-of-nowhere debut of his Orlando Hispanic Film Festival. “This place is magical. There’s no other way to explain how well we’ve been received,” he says. This is…
A lesson in loaded language
The Sentinel’s Daryl Owens just posted this blog on the paper’s site. Give it a read and tell me if you see a little, um, bias seeping through. Here goes: Thousands of protesters organized by anti-war group United for Peace and Justice are expected to rally in Orlando and in 10 other cities on Oct.…
