AltWeeklies Wire
'Sweeney Todd' Goes to the Dark Side of Musicalsnew
Tim Burton is certain to dominate the holiday's cutthroat competition.
Metro Silicon Valley |
Richard von Busack |
12-20-2007 |
Reviews
The Musical Bio-Pic to End All Musical Bio-Picsnew
John C. Reilly makes a better Johnny Cash (and Roy Orbison) in musical satire Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.
Metro Silicon Valley |
Richard von Busack |
12-20-2007 |
Reviews
'Charlie Wilson's War': The Great Gamenew
Making a hero out of Charlie Wilson is like making a hero out of Oliver North. Scriptwriter Aaron Sorkin's West Wing-bred populism is too slick for its own good; the film insists that our leaders only lie to us for the best reasons.
Metro Silicon Valley |
Richard von Busack |
12-20-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Mike Nichols, Charlie Wilson's War
The War on Christmas Musicnew
Six soundtracks of holiday cheer that don't involve singing cats.
Metro Silicon Valley |
Paul Davis |
12-20-2007 |
Music
The Edge of Epidemicnew
HIV-positive undocumented workers are at the center of a brewing health crisis in Santa Clara County and throughout the state.
Metro Silicon Valley |
Andrea Riordan and Colleen Watson |
12-20-2007 |
Science
Tags: Health & Science
Woody Harrelson Prowls D.C. in 'The Walker'new
Harrelson's molassesy drawl and polished surface make this a most ingenious performance. One is willing to stick with him, drifting through the carelessly written plot and ignoring the occasional clinking line.
Metro Silicon Valley |
Richard von Busack |
12-13-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Paul Schrader, The Walker
'Shooting War' Does Have a Pointnew
While critiquing the self-importance of the blogosphere, Anthony Lappe and Dan Goldman's graphic novel Shooting War perpetrates some of the sphere's worst customs: the self-importance, the self-pity, the lazy writing.
Metro Silicon Valley |
Richard von Busack |
12-13-2007 |
Fiction
Live Feed: Eat These Books!new
If I could eat cookbooks, I would. What if they had scratch-and-sniff pages? Then I'd really be in trouble. Here are three to buy for someone special, or to read (or eat) on your own.
Metro Silicon Valley |
Cheryl Sternman Rule |
12-13-2007 |
Food+Drink
'Coming Out of the Undocumented Closet'new
Frustrated by the lack of any progress on immigration reform and unable to participate in the electoral system, undocumented young people are redefining the immigration debate by speaking publicly about their lack of legal status, directly challenging opponents of immigration reform and emboldening others to do the same.
Metro Silicon Valley |
Raj Jayadev |
12-13-2007 |
Immigration
Prius, Schmiusnew
Hybrids and diamond lanes may be soothing our conscience, but they're not easing the transportation crisis. Will long-term solutions like mass transit ever get a real chance in our car-addicted culture?
Metro Silicon Valley |
Erin Sherbert |
12-13-2007 |
Transportation
Tags: transportation
A Look at How We Receive New Forms of Representationnew
In Uncanny Bodies, Robert Spadoni argues that during the silents-to-sound era of 1927–1931, movie audiences had to make a perceptual adjustment to accept the idea of synchronized sound.
Metro Silicon Valley |
Michael S. Gant |
12-06-2007 |
Nonfiction
Spalding Weaves Herself Into Crime Narrativenew
Every bit as fraught as its title, Linda Spalding's Who Named the Knife is a glassine web of Didionesque passive sentences, re-creating a crime in Hawaii in 1978.
Metro Silicon Valley |
Richard von Busack |
12-06-2007 |
Nonfiction
'The Golden Compass' is All Over the Mapnew
The film exemplifies what Joe Bob Briggs called "the plot getting in the way of the story."
Metro Silicon Valley |
Richard von Busack |
12-06-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Chris Weitz, The Golden Compass
San Jose Gangs Are Getting Younger & More Violentnew
Recent media reports have tracked how San Jose's gang activity is on the rise, but what's even more disturbing is the story of how and why more gang members are setting their sights on the city's youth.
Metro Silicon Valley |
Erin Sherbert |
12-06-2007 |
Crime & Justice
Tags: crime & justice
Jonathan Demme Follows Our Busiest Ex-Presidentnew
Aside from the fact that it makes you feel like human scum, Jimmy Carter Man From Plains is an inspiring documentary.
Metro Silicon Valley |
Richard von Busack |
11-01-2007 |
Reviews