AltWeeklies Wire
Talking Horror With the Creators of 'Saw' and 'The Collector'new
Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan are the writers and director of The Collector, a low budget attempt to meld two popular film genres: the tense thriller and the blood-spattered horror flick. They offer up some interesting observations about the two genres and show boundless enthusiasm for the finer points of cinematic pain and suffering.
Metro Times |
Jeff Meyers |
08-11-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Eric 'Mean' Melin is a Real Musician, but it's Air Guitar That Might Make Him a Starnew
"Mean Melin. Mean Melin. Mean Melin," the crowd chants. They're cheering for a guy who just pretended to play guitar -- and rocked their fucking faces off. Mean Melin throws up the devil horns. He's going to the U.S. Air Guitar Championships in Washington, D.C.
Michigan Law Clinic Springs Two Men from Prisonnew
The University of Michigan Innocence Clinic -- considered the first such law school project in the country to tackle cases without DNA evidence -- celebrated its first success recently when Marvin Reed and his nephew Deshawn were released from prison.
Metro Times |
Sandra Svoboda |
08-11-2009 |
Crime & Justice
Nancy Hollander Defends Guantanamo Prisoners ... and Our Justice Systemnew
The Albuquerque lawyer is one of the nation's leading criminal defense attorneys, but she now faces perhaps her greatest legal challenge yet: Representing two prisoners incarcerated at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
Weekly Alibi |
Simon McCormack |
08-11-2009 |
Civil Liberties
'Humpday': Zack And Murray Make A Pornonew
Two straight buddies decide to give gay sex a try in Lynn Shelton's smartly written film.
SEE Magazine |
Paul Matwychuk |
08-10-2009 |
Reviews
'The Time Traveler's Wife' Burns Up in Space
Amy McAdams and Eric Bana are easy enough on the eyes to distract from the script's Grand Canyon-sized plot holes, but not enough to keep your mind off the insipid storytelling. Even from its gooey sentimental standpoint, The Time Traveler's Wife is two pints short of a gallon.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
08-10-2009 |
Reviews
The New Art Book 'The Art of Touring' Moves Past the Mythology of the Roadnew
A multimedia tribute to the road life, the book includes photographs, essays, journal entries, comics, paintings, collages -- and, on the accompanying DVD, plenty of footage by and of touring bands, onstage and off.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
08-10-2009 |
Nonfiction
A Darker Look at Che's Revolutionnew
There's little question that, as former top CIA analyst Brian Latell puts it, Gustavo Villoldo played a "very critical role in the capture of Che Guevara." But while some exiles consider Gustavo a hero, Che fans and scholars such as UCLA's Peter McLaren call him a "narrow-minded ideologue who set out to avenge his father and took his anger out on a great man."
Miami New Times |
Tim Elfrink |
08-10-2009 |
International
Breathe Carolina's Kyle Evans Discusses the Joys and Dangers of the Warped Tournew
July 13 is the first day off for Breathe Carolina bandmates Kyle Evans and David Schmitt since they hopped aboard the pop-punk juggernaut known as the Warped Tour, and they're determined to enjoy it. So they've headed to Delaware's Dewey Beach for an afternoon of Jet-Skiing, little knowing that their joyful excursion is about to go terribly awry.
Westword |
Michael Roberts |
08-10-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Sunn 0))) Guitarist Greg Anderson Talks 'Big Church' and 'Monoliths & Dimensions'new
Sunn 0))) offer big ideas gradually, thoughtfully, create a monolith of sound and then mold it into something graceful but menacing. It's no accident that their new album features a cover painting by sculptor Richard Serra; the band's output feels heavily inspired by Serra's massive series of Torqued Spirals.
L.A. Weekly |
Randall Roberts |
08-10-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Will Medical Marijuana Come to Pennsylvania?new
Here in Pennsylvania, my friend Barry the Pot-Dealing Samaritan is risking his freedom to provide a sick person with the medicine he needs to fight cancer. Prison time. Fines. A criminal record that would follow him for his entire life.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Brendan Skwire |
08-10-2009 |
Drugs
'The Garden' is Another Eco-Borenew
This documentary fails to tease out the dirty particulars of how a city-owned lot in South Central L.A., bought to be a garbage incinerator site in the '80s, somehow reverted back to its owner, and at what price. It's more insinuation than journalism.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
08-10-2009 |
Reviews
'Ex-Drummer': Battle of the Belgian Bar Bandsnew
This gutter-punk cult movie about an unlikely bar band's rise and fall might've been scripted during a drunken Russian-roulette session among Charles Bukowski, Lars von Trier, Harmony Korine, and Irvine Welsh.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
08-10-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Ex-Drummer, Koen Mortier
The Blue Scholars are Turning the Artist-Label Relationship On its Headnew
Seattle hip-hop group Blue Scholars have brokered a deal in which New York hip-hop label Duck Down Records signed to them. Whether that's the most accurate way to put it is debatable, but the message is clear: things are changing.
Seattle Weekly |
Jonathan Cunningham |
08-10-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
In 'Julie & Julia', Two Biopics Boil Down to Half-Greatnessnew
There's half of a great movie in Julie & Julia -- but since Meryl Streep has already starred in one titled Julia, perhaps it was merely necessary to tack on the "Julie" half to distinguish Nora Ephron's butter-basted effort from its Lillian Hellman's mayonnaise-covered predecessor.
Dallas Observer |
Robert Wilonsky |
08-10-2009 |
Reviews
