Into the Blue offers precisely what one would expect from the director of Blue Crush and the writer of Torque: beautiful stupidity. Its every frame dripping from a noxious recipe of suntan oil, summertime sweat, and salt water, this heist movie (or whatever it is, which isn’t much) delivers a…
It’s always hard to pan an earnest film, especially one by a first-time director. And The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, a plucky striver if there ever was one, can’t find a single cynical note on the scale. Essentially a hagiography in praise of Evelyn Ryan (Julianne Moore), a woman…
Don Quixote’s universal appeal lies in his pursuit of unrealistic dreams. Cervantes’ character — full of hope and delusion — exists in all of us, and his tale continues to inspire great artists. Richard Strauss composed a tone poem of the same title in 1897. George Balanchine choreographed his Don…
Desperate Housewives: The Complete First Season (Buena Vista) ABC’s juggernaut drama is made up mostly of elements that have trickled down from HBO: black humor, self-awareness, the radical notion that women over 30 can arouse the national libido. The bonus deleted scenes don’t add much to the story, and behind-the-scenes…
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D (Buena Vista) Anthrax Anthrology: No Hit Wonders (Sanctuary) The Batman: Season 1, Volume 2 (Warner Bros.) Battlestar Galactica: Season One (Universal) Born Into Brothels (ThinkFilm) Brothers (Universal) Cowards Bend the Knee (Zeitgeist) Divan (Zeitgeist) Inside Deep Throat (Universal) It’s All Gone Pete…
“They call me Dr. John, known as the Night Tripper,” growls the good doc on “Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya-Ya,” the tune that introduced him to the world. If “you got a bad woman you can’t control,” he chants hypnotically, “I got just the thing for ya.” Alas, the bad woman’s name…
THU 22 Elvis Presley may have been the King, but Wesley Willis was the Daddy. Willis, a giant of a man who died two years ago of leukemia, was known for his outlandish, schizophrenia-induced songs about “whipping mules’ behinds with belts” and rocking “Saddam Hussein’s ass to Russia.” (Attention, normals:…
Nearly a decade has passed since the tragic death of Pennywise bass player and founding member Jason Thirsk. And although the fast-driving SoCal punk band chose to carry on, releasing six more albums and taking part in many a Warped Tour, Thirsk’s passing left a deep hole in the group…
Against the dying of the light SAT 9/24 How many DJs does it take to unscrew a light bulb… or at least help shut off the lights? Apparently, 65. Club X-it (219 N. 21st Ave., Hollywood) is being forced to close down by October 1 because of a city ordinance…
Fins try to make Panthers extinct SUN 9/25 With the exception of the curse of Tutankhamen, the Heisman jinx, and possibly the curse of the Black Pearl, nothing foreshadows impending doom faster then finding yourself on the cover of Sports Illustrated. So after nailing the newsstands as the cover boys…
Demonstrations and exhibits for the artist in you SAT 9/24 You’re in the Armory now. You’ll never get rich, you sucker! No, just kidding. You probably won’t make much money as an artist, but you sure will find a few good ways to spend it if you hang out with…
HorrorPops bring it on SUN 9/25 After years of enthralling European fans with their ghoulish-yet-lively stage shows, Denmark natives the HorrorPops took up residence in Los Angeles. The move paid off; the band landed a spot touring with the Offspring, managed to sell out the Troubadour in West Hollywood, and…
By conservative estimate, Tim Burton stands to rake in half a billion dollars at the box office this year, thanks to a childlike chocolate maker in mauve rubber gloves and now to a lively dead girl with marriage on her mind and the timid schlub who falls under her spell…
Back in the mid-’90s, when MTV still flirted with (intentional) comedy shows, it ran one called The State, which featured performers who now appear on the Comedy Central hit Reno 911. There wasn’t all that much worth remembering about The State, but the show did make one significant attempt at…
If The Memory of a Killer were not mostly in Flemish, it would be easy to mistake for a Hollywood movie. The story of a hit man with a conscience and the cop who’s always a step or two behind him as they pursue the same villains, it’s full of…
It would take a critic more churlish than this one to sneer and bare chicken-like talons at Roll Bounce, a formulaic crowd-pleaser that hits familiar marks, but does so well enough that it’s hard to fault anyone involved. The retro-’70s vibe seems kind of obvious, and the irritating Mike Epps,…
In the tradition of A Beautiful Mind and Good Will Hunting comes Proof, a psychological drama about a math genius and the people who worship, care for, and endure him. Based on the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play by David Auburn, Proof is a strong film with intense focus…
So when does charisma and charm switch to malevolence and menace? That’s the turning point you’re waiting for when you sit down to Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love. It doesn’t take long to get there. But once you do, the wave-like motion between these opposing alliterations will continue cycling throughout…
About three years ago, the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood’s then-new curator, Samantha Salzinger, organized an exhilarating exhibition called “Fat Painting,” focusing on four contemporary heirs of abstract expressionism. The paintings, as the inspired title suggests, were big and bold, bursting with imagery. Now, Salzinger has put together a…
William Wegman’s name has become synonymous with photographs of Weimaraner dogs, whom he captures making humorous and humanesque poses. The images are available in books at Target and on notecards virtually everywhere. But another side of the artist emerges in “It’s a Dog’s Life: Photographs by William Wegman from the…
Da Ali G Show: Da Compleet Second Seazon (HBO Home Video) Sacha Baron Cohen’s inching closer to Tom Green territory; come this time next year, his HBO show is likely to be on the pop-culture junk pile. Which isn’t to say this double-disc set doesn’t hold up — it ‘s…
After Sex (New Yorker Video) Ben-Hur: Four-Disc Collector’s Edition (Warner Bros.) Candlemass: The Curse of Candlemass (Navarre) Carlito’s Way: Ultimate Edition (Universal) Escaflowne: The Movie — Ultimate Edition (Bandai Entertainment) Everybody Loves Raymond: The Complete Fourth Season (HBO Home Video) Fever Pitch (20th Century Fox) Happily Ever After (Kino International)…
