This summer’s concert season has seen a bevy of attractive deals, as more and more acts and venues react to the struggling economy with lower ticket prices and reduced service charges. But the best deal of all is the Creed tour.
Hello Dave has gone from playing dorm rooms to overseas tours. When it formed about 15 years ago, the band's early shows included frat parties with less-than-attentive audiences. Now, they enjoy attentive and enthusiastic audiences -- including the troops they've played for all over the world.
Another week, another disingenuous trifle from Hollywood celebrating the power of independent thinking. It’s called “Dinner for Schmucks,” but a more apt title would be “A Movie for Schmucks,” given how the film industry, in its infinite condescension, views its gullible customers.
Did you know nuclear weapons are a legitimate threat to our well-being? Shocking, isn’t it? Or, at least it is to Lucy Walker, who breathlessly spells out the obvious in her remedial but well-meaning documentary, “Countdown to Zero.”
Zac Efron sees and talks to dead people in “Charlie St. Cloud,” but don’t go in expecting any late-in-the-game Shyamalan-like twists to legitimize its grief-laden machinations.
Wanna hear my new “pet” peeve? Well, I’m going to tell you anyway. It’s “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.” Not only does the utterly unnecessary sequel to 2001’s espionage parody “Cats & Dogs” redefine the term “heavy petting,” it presumes to treat the viewer’s mind as its personal litter box, depositing loads of animal waste.
If any genre has benefited from the rise of DVD and Blu-ray, it’s film noir. As evidence, I offer Warner Bros.’ latest “Film Noir Classic Collection,” the fifth one from the studio.
It is a hilarious understatement to suggest that the wily lads in Umphrey’s McGee like to mix things up. The Chicago jamband, which has one of the scene’s most cultishly devoted fan followings, has a reputation for shows that twist wildly, turn on a dime, and even in as short a passage as two or three songs, explore acid-jazz, prog rock, gnarly blues, rippling funk and even classical, most of the time without losing musical coherence or devolving into a clinic.
One of the great French comedies of the past decade was “The Dinner Game.” I still chuckle just thinking about it. So Paul Rudd and Steve Carell have a lot to live up to in an American remake, in which Rudd plays a brownnosing executive trying to please his boss by bringing the stupidest guy he can find to dinner. That would be Carell.
Rumors are flying regarding the much-talked about Janis Joplin biopic - and if it will ever get off the ground. The idea has been in the works for more than a decade, but so far nothing.
Last weekend, the AMC television show “Mad Men” returned for another season of drinking, smoking and character-driven product pitching in the mid-’60s heyday of Madison Avenue advertising agencies. A documentary now available on DVD looks at the reality behind the age of advertising.
Going back to school isn’t as boring as some students may think.
New on the Flicks hatin’ list is animal movies — specifically comical, live-action animal movies in which the animals speak, but the humans are either completely absent or oblivious.
This week’s suggestions: Check out “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore” or “Dinner for Schmucks,” celebrate Cheesecake Day, celebrate J.K. Rowling and all things Harry Potter, observe National Clown Week and get ready for International Beer Day.
This how-to book on the process of writing a book, getting it published and selling it is an excellent primer for first-time authors about to write and publish.
Word has it, Bill Murray took a voiceover role in “Garfield: The Movie” by accident. Murray said this week that he took the role because he mistakenly thought the movie was written by Joel Coen. It was actually by Joel Cohen. When asked why he also took part in the sequel, he said it was because he enjoyed working with Jennifer Love Hewitt. Now I know he’s lying.
Bette Midler doesn’t do a lot of screen acting these days. For the past couple years she’s been on an extended concert tour, keeping those divine vocal chords in shape.
Reviews of the latest from The Brian Setzer Orchestra, The Gaslight Anthem and The Henry Clay People.
Counting Crows has always been the kind of rock band that loves surprising its audience with unlikely covers. That’s why, even if it’s been two years since the last album, “Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings,” their current tour promises to include plenty of music not heard before.
