Arts & Entertainment
I want blow now, daddy!
Boy, that heroin stuff sure is bad news bears. Candy, Australian director Neil Armfield's adaptation of Luke Davies's novel, does little more than leave us with that very conclusion.
Total clipse of the heart
No, it's not We Got It 4 Cheap: Vol. 2. That mixtape was a flamethrower to the safe houses major label rappers found themselves in, circa 2005.
Blasphemy
A film has been made that so embodies the holiday spirit that it will be thought of for years to come as the quintessential Christmas movie.
To blog or not to blog
Mp3 blogs will become your life. As you read these words, thousands of self-anointed music experts in thick plastic glasses and headphones are furiously posting, downloading, and analyzing fresh tracks from The Knife and Of Montreal, alongside deep cuts from dusty LPs of their parents' generation.
An unconventional biography
Fur tells the truly interesting, and sometimes eerie, true story of a 1950s housewife (Nicole Kidman) who yields to her dark curiosities and discovers her inner artist.
Addicts not-so anyonymous
Heroin Town 4.5 Stars Directed by: Josh Goldbloom Not Rated In 2003, "60 Minutes II" devoted a show to Willimantic, Connecticut.
Forever young but eternally weird
The Fountain 3.5 Stars Directed by: Darren Aronofsky Starring: Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz, Ellen Burstyn Rated: PG-13 With a tagline that reads "What if you could live forever?" The Fountain initially seems to be a more mature version of Tuck Everlasting.
Fast food for thought
Initially, Fast Food Nation sounds like a rehash of the hit documentary Super Size Me. However, this revelatory character study from director Richard Linklater (based on the nonfiction Eric Schlosser book) takes several completely different perspectives on the ever-burgeoning problem of America's dependence on fast food. Rather than using a single viewpoint, the story weaves its way through an array of people connected through a fictitious fast food restaurant called Mickey's.
Tappy crap
Happy Feet is not all that it's tapped up to be. The film tells the story of Mumble (Elijah Wood), a penguin with an affinity for dancing.
Bond is back and better than ever
Few actors have generated as much controversy solely on the basis of their hair color as Daniel Craig.
Trail of tears
And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead have had an extreme career arc. Their 2002 major label debut Source Tags & Codes was an era-defining work of anthemic indie rock - one of those precious high school records I could blast for weeks on end in my '89 Mazda 323, driving from one South Jersey diner to another, getting home late at night and highly caffeinated, reading LiveJournals until 4 a.m.
Harpy, but in a good way
Joanna Newsom's second album, Ys, is a daunting little number. Take the defiant medieval blonde on the cover, sickle in hand.
Home is where the art is
Manya Scheps can't stand the rain. By 8 p.m. over two inches have drenched the city and begun to leak through the walls of her basement.
Dazed & understood
Director Richard Linklater just turned 46 last July, but he doesn't look a day over 26 when he steps into a suite at the Four Seasons hotel for an interview.
My kingdom for a rhyme
Jay-Z famously rapped on Kanye West's College Dropout that he's "not a businessman" but a "business, man." Cocksure, of course, but kind of an insightful self-examination.
Much ado about nothing
For Your Consideration 2 Stars Directed by: Christopher Guest Starring: Catherine O'Hara, Harry Shearer, Jennifer Coolidge, Eugene Levy Rated PG-13 "It's about time nothing happened in a film," says actor Don Lake in the Hollywood satire For Your Consideration.
Hindsight is 20/20
D‚j… Vu 3 Stars Directed by: Tony Scott Starring: Denzel Washington, Val Kilmer Rated: R Popular science fiction has been more than eager to explore theories of time travel, from the wildly popular Back to the Future series to the more cultish Primer and even an episode of "The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror." Most of these stories subscribe to one of two mutually exclusive theories: either time is a straight, predestined line with all events past, present and future already established; or time is alterable, a tree that branches every time Doc Brown and Marty push the DeLorean past 88 mph.
Jazzercise
John Medeski is definitely not a physicist. Still, the 41-year-old pianist has his own convincing theory of nature: "Everything is vibration and sound.
So you want to be a movie snob?
It's almost Thanksgiving, and aside from the turkey and long-awaited vacation time, Street is looking forward to Oscar season, that month-long period from Thanksgiving to Christmas chock-full of impressive cinema.
