AltWeeklies Wire
Unreal World
This film about a journalist's investigation of two former song-and-joke partners would have been more convincing with actors who played both sides of their characters.
Washington City Paper |
Mark Jenkins |
10-27-2005 |
Reviews
International Pop Overthrow
Given the U.S. music press's penchant for pithy descriptors, The Earlies' publicist must have had a tough time putting into bullet points just what, exactly, this bunch of wacked-out weirdoes is up to.
Washington City Paper |
Shannon Zimmerman |
10-27-2005 |
Reviews
Tender Buttons
As a band known for spending too much time in the studio, Broadcast was always just a few tweaks away from delivering a completely bland recording. The group's latest, Tender Buttons, finally fulfills that lack of promise.
Washington City Paper |
Mike Kanin |
10-20-2005 |
Reviews
The Magic Numbers
Whether you like hype-bedecked London popsters Magic Numbers may depend on whether you liked Ken Jennings, The Jeopardy! champ.
Washington City Paper |
Pamela Murray Winters |
10-20-2005 |
Reviews
Heart Murmur
If Strange Geometry is any indication, the long-standing hipster backlash against R.E.M. appears, finally, to have ended.
Washington City Paper |
Shannon Zimmerman |
10-20-2005 |
Reviews
Reality Bites
Cynics have suggested that Hollywood loves no subject more than itself. And Reel Paradise proves that you don't need a big studio--or even the pretense of fiction--to make a self-important movie about movies.
Washington City Paper |
Tricia Olszewski |
10-20-2005 |
Reviews
Sugarcoated Tale
This DreamWorks production about a little girl and a special horse is slow-moving and treacly, and--unless you actually buy that bit of marketing flimflam about being "inspired by a true story"--it yields no surprises.
Washington City Paper |
Tricia Olszewski |
10-20-2005 |
Reviews
Character Deferences
Set in Minnesota's Iron Range as Anita Hill testifies against Clarence Thomas on TV, North Country is a new Warner Bros. movie in the spirit of the old. It's based on one woman miner's crusade to be treated with decency.
Washington City Paper |
Mark Jenkins |
10-20-2005 |
Reviews
A Reporter in Search of a Novel
Given a lurid case, a reporter becomes a film-noir character, stalking dark alleys in search of light. This setup works even if the reporter is a squeaky-voiced gay narcissist who combines the mannerisms of the Deep South with those of the Manhattan intellectual.
Washington City Paper |
Mark Jenkins |
10-20-2005 |
Reviews
The Peoples Champ
Hip-hop's had its share of wiggas, but Paul Wall is an extreme case.
Washington City Paper |
Sarah Godfrey |
10-14-2005 |
Reviews
You Could Have It So Much Better
Whether you think their sound is genius, a guilty pleasure, or junk, the boys from Glasgow throw all they've got into it, and it's tough not to appreciate their dedication.
Washington City Paper |
Anne Marson |
10-14-2005 |
Reviews
Green Street Hooligans
It's understandable that Elijah Wood should want to atone for being a hobbit.
Washington City Paper |
Louis Bayard |
10-14-2005 |
Reviews
The War Within
American cinema has enjoyed a long love affair with the antihero, but the protagonist of The War Within may just take the cake.
Washington City Paper |
Jason Powell |
10-14-2005 |
Reviews
The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till
The horrific death of 14-year-old Emmett Till is not an untold story -- at least not as presented by Keith A. Beauchamp's vivid documentary.
Washington City Paper |
Mark Jenkins |
10-14-2005 |
Reviews
SF Sorrow
Like Queen's Freddie Mercury and Rush's Geddy Lee, Coheed and Cambria frontman Claudio Sanchez should never have caught on with the sulky, skateboard-riding, and testosterone-charged.
Washington City Paper |
Brent Burton |
10-14-2005 |
Reviews
