AltWeeklies Wire
A Legend Livesnew
After 35 years, Brian Wilson's Smile has finally delivered its payoff -- peace of mind, the redemptive power of love, and Heaven as a place with great surfing.
Boston Phoenix |
Brett Milano |
10-19-2004 |
Reviews
Murphy’s Lawnew
Jack Tanner is back, with Robert Altman and Doonesbury’s Garry Trudeau following up on their 1988 cable mini-series. Tanner on Tanner 2004 is dominated by the exploits of the liberal Congressman's now-30ish daughter Alex, a radical indie filmmaker.
Boston Phoenix |
Gerald Peary |
10-19-2004 |
TV
Tags: TV
Brave and Crazynew
There is no denying that Tarnation is a very brave movie. Rarely is the subject of a documentary willing to lay himself bare before the camera, exposing his very consciousness to the audience, and it's still more uncommon for a director to do it.
What in Tarnation: Will Success Spoil the Filmmaker Savant?new
A macabre family album excavated from the deepest recesses of memory, Tarnation is Jonathan Caouette’s personal history reconstituted as a maelstrom of images and ideas about mental illness, mother love, homosexuality and other ties that bind.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
10-19-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Interview With a Warlord: A Deposed Legend Tells His Side of the Storynew
Ismail Khan, the recently deposed warlord-governor of Herat Province in Afghanistan, claims he was removed from office because he wouldn't have allowed drug traffickers to move opium through his district.
L.A. Weekly |
Ann Rachel Marlowe |
10-19-2004 |
International
Mystery Mannew
Even to the guitarists who make up much of his avid body of fans, John Fahey is something of a riddle. A new DVD makes him no less enigmatic but does provide an up-close look of elements of his style.
Boston Phoenix |
Ted Drozdowski |
10-19-2004 |
Reviews
Local Colornew
Barbara Sutton finds an undeniable comedy in our darkest sorrows.
Boston Phoenix |
Nina MacLaughlin |
10-19-2004 |
Fiction
World Travelernew
Susan Orlean knows that stories lurk everywhere, in day-to-day drear as well as on mountaintops on the other side of the planet.
Boston Phoenix |
Amy Finch |
10-19-2004 |
Nonfiction
The People's Historiannew
At 80-plus, Zinn has the kind of sheen that emanates, spreading cheer even as he exposes the corruption, deceit, and violence that characterize the lion's share of the history he studies. Zinn's beauty is the beauty of righteousness.
Mud, Sweat & Tears: Stock Car Racing Enthusiasts Sour on Iraq War
President George W. Bush has long claimed NASCAR folks as his own. But not a single one of a score of drivers and fans interviewed at California's Petaluma Speedway in September said that he or she favors the war on Iraq.
Pacific Sun |
Peter Byrne |
10-19-2004 |
Politics
Mainstream Media Still Can't Cover the Campaignsnew
The major news outfits do a piss-poor job of evaluating the rhetoric and claims of candidates, and the media is generally reluctant to vigorously truth-test the assertions made by candidates (or presidents).
L.A. Weekly |
David Corn |
10-18-2004 |
Media
Sleepwalker: Elliott Smith's Unhappy Dream Lifenew
Elliott Smith died on Oct. 21, 2003, of what most think was a self-inflicted stab wound to the heart. Now the entertainment industry has set a new world record: shortest period between an artist’s passing and the cottage industry created to exploit him.
L.A. Weekly |
Alec Hanley Bemis |
10-18-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Strung Outnew
Team America gets tangled in its own lines.
Boston Phoenix |
Peter Keough |
10-18-2004 |
Reviews
New Hampshire Stymies Student Suffragenew
New Hampshire is going to come down to one or two thousand votes, so Republicans are trying to keep students from registering there.
Boston Phoenix |
David S. Bernstein |
10-18-2004 |
Politics
Full of Gracenew
The plot makes this film sounds like a cheap romantic fantasy, contrived to make a chunk of change off wistful women pushing 40. In fact, p.s. is a character-driven drama, concerned more with its protagonist's emotional life than with her romantic one.
