David Bazan has more fanatics than fans. As the songwriter and creative force behind Pedro the Lion, Bazan spent 11 years building a dedicated following that largely pursued him into his solo career. Fans came to Pedro the Lion shows for disarmingly simple rock songs that always seemed to reward another listen, and they stuck […]
“America’s Next Top Model” Wednesday 9pm, CW We’re nearing the end of Tyra Banks’s “all-star” cycle, and this week’s recap episode is the only thing between us and the Final Four. However, the proceedings haven’t been nearly as cracked out as I imagined they would be when the 14 returning contestants were announced. Fully half […]
“Vietnam in HD” Tuesday 9pm, History Channel As President Obama prepares to bring an end to one of the most controversial military engagements of our time, History Channel looks back at an even more contentious deployment with this six-episode mini-series. Following a similar format to 2009’s award-winning “WWII in HD,” “Vietnam” explores the Vietnam War […]
Tower Heist is one of those movies whose duration seems allusively equivalent to the time required for researching and pondering the previous credits of its several screenwriters, who are collectively responsible for cheeky caper flicks of widely varied pedigree.
The verse of Rita Dove has allowed her to traverse territorial boundaries and epochs of time, meditating on everything from the life of 18th-century violinist George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower to Rosa Park’s 1955 protest in Montgomery, Alabama.
When Dr. Ralph Stanley and His Clinch Mountain Boys played the Mockingbird Roots Music Hall in Staunton, Virginia back in August of this year, tickets sold out fast. After all, it isn’t every day that lovers of old-time mountain music get the opportunity to see a performer as celebrated as Ralph Stanley in a listening […]
“Hell on Wheels” Sunday 10pm, AMC Those still lamenting the loss of the late, great HBO Western “Deadwood” might want to give this new offering from AMC a try. This basic-cable channel, currently riding high on the massive success of zombie thriller “The Walking Dead,” continues to take chances with a series set in the […]
In The Rum Diary, a suavely scruffy American novelist (Johnny Depp) takes a reporting gig at a shabby newspaper in Puerto Rico, where he contends with various kooky colleagues (Michael Rispoli, Richard Jenkins, Giovanni Ribisi), a smug and greedy land developer (Aaron Eckhart), a luscious love interest (Amber Heard), and several angry locals. Also, he […]
The weather on Mt. St. Vincent is ruled by inconstant winds. In the songs that Annie Clark makes as St. Vincent, somber verses are never more than a lyrical twist away from sardonic, and anxiety seethes at the edges of even the most cheerful baroque pop moments. Singer and multi-instrumentalist Annie Clark, known onstage as […]
“Strange visitor with assimilation challenge shakes up status quo.” We could be talking about Footloose. But instead it’s The Thing, another recently refreshed early ’80s movie memory. It’s a timelessly simple story: Researchers in Antarctica discover a hostile shapeshifting extraterrestrial in their midst—and hoo boy, can this thing dance! No? O.K. For now, being able […]