AltWeeklies Wire
An Impressive Amount of Top Talent is Wasted in 'Couples Retreat'new
One would think that casting Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Kristen Bell and Kristin Davis would've gotten Peter Billingsley comic gold. However, the film proves that it's ill-advised to send a bunch of swell actors to an island paradise -- especially when you have a shitty script.
Tucson Weekly |
Bob Grimm |
10-15-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Couples Retreat, Peter Billingsley
Bhutanese Refugees Move from Nepalese Camps to Our Slow Job Marketnew
The 15 refugee families settling in Colorado Springs face the unique challenge of surviving a time of economic turmoil while acclimating to a new culture and new language, all with limited assistance.
Colorado Springs Independent |
Anthony Lane |
10-15-2009 |
Immigration
'Big Fan' Succeeds Because the Loser at its Center Isn't Ridiculed or Reformednew
Right now, Big Fan is easily one of the best, and most creative, films of the year. Its originality comes not from wild ideas or fantastic plot devices, but from exploring from the inside, and with sympathy, a form of life that has in the past only been subjected to ridicule and reform.
Tucson Weekly |
James DiGiovanna |
10-15-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Big Fan, Robert Siegel
'Putrefaction Live' Looks at Paradoxes on the Reznew
Warren Perkins' new novel is worthwhile for its authentic feel, although the plot development is a bit sketchy.
Tucson Weekly |
Christine Wald-Hopkins |
10-15-2009 |
Fiction
While the Backstory of 'Guilty Women' is Interesting, the Music Stands on its Ownnew
When Chris Gaffney died, Dave Alvin lost both a close friend and the frontman of his band, the Guilty Men. Alvin formed the Guilty Women to perform at a festival last fall because, he said, he couldn't bear seeing the empty spot onstage where Gaffney used to stand.
Tucson Weekly |
Linda Ray |
10-15-2009 |
Reviews
'Before the Frost ...' is a Return to Form for The Black Crowesnew
The Crowes have not sounded this relaxed and vital at the same time in many years, tackling classic rock, psychedelia, blues, country and R&B.
Tucson Weekly |
Gene Armstrong |
10-15-2009 |
Reviews
The Big Pink Feels Like a Marketing Ploynew
On A Brief History of Love, they've taken everything self-indulgent and whiny about Oasis and fused it with everything redundant and artificial about The Postal Service.
Tucson Weekly |
Sean Bottai |
10-15-2009 |
Reviews
Ignorance and Stupidity are Leading Too Many People to Avoid Flu Vaccinesnew
There are some parents who don't think that the H1N1 flu will be worse than any other flu, so why bother? I actually agree with them, but they're in the minority of the abstainers. The vast majority of those who are rejecting the vaccine are doing so out of wrongheaded politics or an empty-headed misunderstanding of science.
Tucson Weekly |
Tom Danehy |
10-15-2009 |
Science
A Sweet Crop of New Graphic Narrativesnew
Comics. Graphic novels. Sequential-art books. Call them what you will, but there are more of them than ever. Here's a rundown on some of the best from the past few months.
Boston Phoenix |
Mike Miliard |
10-15-2009 |
Books
The Clinician and the Poet in Kay Redfield Jamison Harmonize in 'Nothing Was the Same'new
This is a slim yet profound book, unadorned by fatuous spirituality, by a writer eager neither to conceal nor exaggerate her feelings. It gives grieving its complete due, and at the same time there's nothing at all depressing about it.
Metro Silicon Valley |
Richard von Busack |
10-15-2009 |
Nonfiction
Ricky Gervais Wreaks Havoc with Theology in 'The Invention of Lying'new
The film's unfortunate veers are nicely countered with a bit of subversion in which Mark, to soothe his mother and then the rest of the world, makes up the ideas of heaven, hell, and a "man in the sky." Yes, folks: Here, God is a lie, and those who believe otherwise are portrayed as fools.
Washington City Paper |
Tricia Olszewski |
10-15-2009 |
Reviews
Spike Jonze Turns Maurice Sendak's Classic Children's Book into an Adult Work of Artnew
Jonze's sensibility is an authentic development of the music-video era's generational split -- which is also an aesthetic split. He doesn't exploit pop rebellion but has a counter-intuitive slant on what's funny, sad, universal.
New York Press |
Armond White |
10-15-2009 |
Reviews
Kerouac's Big Sur Dreams -- and Nightmares -- are Memorialized in New DVD/CDnew
F-Stop/Atlantic Records is honoring the 40th anniversary of Jack Kerouac's death on Oct. 21, 1969 with the release of a 98-minute documentary and accompanying CD about Big Sur, both titled One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur.
Monterey County Weekly |
Stuart Thornton |
10-15-2009 |
Books
The Afghan War: Too Illegit to Quit
Eight years. We've been in Afghanistan longer than any other war in American history. The party of the president who invaded Afghanistan has been repudiated at the polls. Yet we still haven't altered the flawed strategy that allowed uneducated tribesmen with outdated weapons to defeat us year after year.
Brooklyn's Grooms Have a New Album and a Distinctive Take on Today's Soundnew
The band doesn't quite fit in with the current, decidedly '60s and '70s signifiers of indie rock cool. "Sometimes people will listen to our music and say, 'It’s kind of '90s, and it reminds me of Pavement,' and I really don't think it does. We sometimes worry that we're out of step with the trend."
New York Press |
Adam Rathe |
10-15-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
