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(06/16/05 4:00am)
In a scene from last summer's blockbuster Collateral, Tom Cruise, in fast pursuit of Jamie Foxx, throws a chair through some glass, jumps through the hole and proceeds to trip over the chair. If you've seen the movie, you know how painful the fall looked. No one would suspect that Hollywood's most universally-recognized envoy would perform the stunt himself, and that's probably the truth. But this wasn't planned.
(06/09/05 4:00am)
"I don't think anybody actually studied architecture at school or anything," says multi-instrumentalist Gus Franklin of Australian pop band Architecture in Helsinki. "Cameron likes to joke that he bought the name on E-bay. I don't know whether that's true or not."
(06/09/05 4:00am)
The White Stripes
Get Behind Me Satan
3.5 stars
V2
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(05/26/05 4:00am)
Successful comedians tend to clump together. During their heyday, Chevy Chase, Dan Akroyd, Eddie Murphy and Bill Murray frequently used their individual star powers to create box-office friendly collaborations. Recently, since the release of movies like Old School and Zoolander, Will Ferrell, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller have appeared in numerous films together. Indeed, certain entertainers are able to adeptly feed off of each other's styles and have made successful careers out of it. It's a wonder, then, that the comedians our generation was raised on -- the mid-'90s Saturday Night Live crowd of Mike Myers, David Spade, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock and so on - have (at least in the last 10 or so years) steered clear of these projects. In fact, the new film The Longest Yard is the first time Sandler and Rock, perhaps the movement's two most lasting contributions, have shared the limelight on film.
It surprises Rock himself. "It's weird," he says on a conference call to promote the film, "we shared an office, got hired the same day, have known each other for about 20 years working in the clubs and we never did anything together. I don't know, we just waited for the right thing and I guess it meshed. People buy the friendship." He's quick to note that the lack of shared spotlight was not based on any sort of mutual dislike. "We help each other out all the time and we hang out all the time," he says about the relationship with his SNL class.
The Longest Yard remakes a 1974 film of the same name. Sandler stars as Paul Crewe, an ex-football star incarcerated for an unwise choice involving alcohol and cars. In prison he befriends Rock's character, fellow convict Caretaker, as well as another ex-legend, Nate Scarborough, portrayed by Burt Reynolds (who starred as Crewe in the 1974 version). Under their leadership, the convicts form a football team and bond around the common goal of defeating the sadistic guards in a much-hyped showdown.
While the 1974 version was more of an earnest action film, its remake pushes the comedy aspect further. "This is more, like, comedy-action," Rock says. "We're really going for the jokes in this one." By changing the nature of the film, he was allowed to be the Chris Rock we all expect. "I mean, people hire me to be me," he explains, "so I just had to figure out ... you know, 'what if Chris Rock was in jail as Caretaker?' It wasn't hard at all."
Rock had an "overwhelmingly positive" experience filming The Longest Yard. While New Mexico's uncompromising heat was a bit of an adjustment at first, he says, being in the presence of so many talented actors more than made up for it. Reynolds and Sandler, aside from being good guys to spend three months with filming a movie, also relieved much of the usual burden from Rock¡s shoulders. "All I had to worry about is myself being funny," he notes. "I write a lot of my movies and I have to worry about everyone being funny, but this one I got to take a break."
With two films coming out on May 27th (the other being the animated Madagascar), Rock, for the first time this year, is creating headlines not related to his experience hosting the Oscars. His much-debated turn as host, he says, "was a great time" and something he would certainly do again. If he gets another chance, he'll have the support of friend David Spade, who helped him write some jokes for this year's show. "You know Spade is good with the last minute jokes," he says.
Doing publicity, he doesn¡t sound like the Chris Rock we all know. He's still funny, but perhaps a bit weary from all the expectations laid upon him. But he's able to separate his personal life from his public life fairly easily. "It's like I have two wives," he says. "I have my real wife who is a lovely woman and the mother of my children, and then I have my comedy wife, this crazy bitch that will not have sex with me." At 40 years old and with a family to support, separating the racy comedy from the personal responsibilities has allowed him to be comfortably satisfied. "I hope I've mellowed out a little bit," he says. "I don't think my art has mellowed out, but I think I've mellowed out." As long as he's working with the likes of Adam Sandler, the art should never mellow out.
(05/26/05 4:00am)
The odds are pretty stacked-up against these guys. To begin with, they're known to the public as cartoon apes with a Clint Eastwood fetish. But even if you look past the comic eccentricity, they're still just a side-project for Blur frontman Damon Albarn. Since Blur fans insist upon certain staples (namely, no rap), Gorillaz has allowed Albarn for two albums to get any excess baggage out of his system.
It turns out Albarn has a clever imagination. Like its self-titled predecessor, Demon Days adeptly mixes elements of dance, rock, hip hop, afrobeat and more. This time around, however, the tone is certainly a bit darker; but make no mistake, this is a party album, and is not meant to be seriously debated. We won't hold that against Albarn though - he packs the beats with utter confidence and a deceptive swagger.
As with Gorillaz, many of the best tracks here come as a surprise. It's hard to imagine one of Britpop's biggest faces crafting entirely anti-Britpop tracks, but he does it consistently enough to alter his reputation. He's not the only one deserving credit, however - Demon Days has a spectacular list of guest appearances. Danger Mouse, one of the hottest DJ's in today's underground, produces, MF Doom is all over "November Has Come" and rap icons De La Soul lend a drive-by on "Feel Good Inc.," the album's first single (and best track). On the quirkier side, actor Dennis Hopper presents a dramatic reading on "Fire Coming Out of a Monkey's Head," and yes, it is as gloomy as you would imagine.
Demon Days does, at times, succumb to the flaws everyone expects. Albarn frequently sounds as though he's trying new sounds out for the sake of it, and several of them are unsuccessful. There's also a certain distance to the album, as though the group doesn't want you to care about them. But most of the time, that's not an option.
(05/19/05 4:00am)
At a festival as singular as Bonnaroo, the stories speak for themselves. Jim James, frontman for My Morning Jacket, a group that has performed at Bonnaroo annually during the four years of the festival's existence, has a share of his own.
(05/19/05 4:00am)
You hate to rip a band that once defined your life, but sometimes they force you to.
(04/14/05 4:00am)
On the evening of November 14, 1974, in the small town of Amityville in Long Island, Ronald "Ronny" Defeo murdered his parents and four siblings with a shotgun. All of the victims were found laying face down in their beds; the only motive that Ronny could proffer, after being arrested a few days later, was that he had heard voices in the house inspiring him to murder.
(03/17/05 5:00am)
"Christianity has become something I don't think Jesus would recognize, frankly."
(02/24/05 5:00am)
Sometimes you get so out of shape that you forget you're out of shape. Initially, you don't exercise for a couple weeks and think, "I'm getting really fat, perhaps I should go to the gym." If it goes on for a month or two, though, the lack of exercise institutionalizes itself. Such was my dilemma -- between classes, flan and the 40-hour week Street demands -- the thought of exercising was never a serious consideration. "Exercise is for 7th-graders and gypsies," I reasoned.
(02/17/05 5:00am)
It's two o'clock in the afternoon at the Ritz-Carlton, and action star Tony Jaa, promoting his new movie, Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior, is still without lunch. He's going to have to wait a bit, however, because he's gearing up for his third or fourth local news exhibition of the day. You'd assume that he'd be frustrated, exhausted and irritable. But Jaa, 29, sees things differently -- he wants his film to make a worldwide impact, and if that calls for days and weeks of repetitious drollery, he's more than eager for the task.
(02/10/05 5:00am)
Certain films, like Prachya Pinkaew's Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior, exist as nothing more than a platform to display a person's tremendous physical talents. Ong-Bak's sole purpose for being is to establish lead actor Tony Jaa as the Jackie Chan of the new century -- a worldwide celebrity whose considerable talents in the martial arts will make the viewer forget that the movie is in another language.
(02/03/05 5:00am)
Best Picture:
(11/11/04 5:00am)
Win Butler had no idea how much the last couple of years would change his life. For him, the 2000's have been microcosmic of a lifetime's worth of ups and downs. Death, love, fame -- he has seen them all with striking proximity.
(10/28/04 4:00am)
A lot of people view the beginning of college as a social clean slate. But it's not true. If I have to hear one more person say "college is great because people just accept you for who you are," I'm going to flip a shit. Indeed, popularity and social stratification concerns are disturbingly prevalent at Penn. And guess what? Now there's a way to quantify them!
(10/14/04 4:00am)
Close your eyes and think of the words "Canadian music." Suddenly, images of Bryan Adams singing that Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves song and Celine Dion running down the hall of a castle to the tune of "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" appear, right?
(09/30/04 4:00am)
"It's kind of like this. Listen."
(09/16/04 4:00am)
"I don't hate you at all, really."
(04/15/04 4:00am)
Looking at the 90 Day Men's fourth and latest album, Panda Park, you develop a fascination with the overtly psychedelic cover art. Endlessly symmetric, fluorescent plants forming the shape of a disapproving countenance engulf the dark sky. On the ground, a panda wanders amidst a field of bright flowers. Now this band has your attention.