Terrible news. The beating heart of the Seattle music scene stopped beating yesterday. That abrupt, last thump was a solo set from David Bazan (formerly of Pedro the Lion). I’ve lost track of how many concerts I’ve enjoyed at the Croc. So many memories: Sam Phillips, T-Bone Burnett, Over the Rhine, They Might Be Giants, not to mention that full day of waiting there and eating and drinking on a tip that R.E.M. was going to play a surprise live... Read more
For decades, viewers have marveled at the deeply engraved face of actor Tommy Lee Jones. Now, seeing his directorial debut, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, it all makes sense. You’d have extravagant furrows in your brow too if your imagination lived in territory like this. The Three Burials is about border crossings, but instead of playing the guy who arrests illegal aliens — as he did in Men in Black — Jones is playing Pete Perkins, a guy who... Read more
Do you ever get the feeling that, to the government, you’re just a number? Have you ever visited a church service, or a political rally, or a company meeting where you had the strange feeling that everybody had been brainwashed into “talking the talk” and going through the motions? Does the world sometimes feel cold and impersonal, and leave you longing for something more? If you said “yes” to any of these, it’s likely that THX 1138 will draw you... Read more
Jim Hill has just posted a fantastic guide to all of the ways in which one Pixar movie has been referenced in another Pixar movie. Did you know Nemo appears in Monsters Inc.? (more…) Read more
Garrison Keillor on the nativity. Beautiful. (A nod of thanks to Mark Shea for the link.) – The Golden Compass: Sexualizing Children in the World of His Dark Materials Thank you, Mark T. Newman. (Haven’t seen you in years! How are you, man?) – Philip Pullman’s Useful Idiots Thank you, Mark Shea! – If you want a sneak peek at the opening credits of Sweeney Todd, well… here you go. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. It’s bloody. Read more
“Steve Brown Etc.” is not your typical Christian radio program. And Steve Brown is not your typical host. (In fact, because I appeared on his program on my day off, he granted me “three free sins.” Bonus!) (more…) Read more
LA Weekly critics love Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood: As for There Will Be Blood, about which you will be reading much more in the pages of the Weekly over the coming weeks, I will say only this: There are great films (like No Country For Old Men) and then there are films that send shock waves through the very landscape of cinema, that instantly stake a claim on a place in the canon. Often, such vanguard works... Read more
Here’s the news to make all Sam Phillips fans look forward to the new year… Nonesuch Records will also release a new Sam Phillips album called Don’t Do Anything on February 26, even if you have it marked down as January 29. This is a new direction for Sam as she produces the album herself and moves into a more rock element than previous works have shown. Thanks to Jim Bricker for the link! Read more
You might have seen The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, one of the most unforgettable films I saw last year. It follows the last hours of an old man who needs urgent medical care. (more…) Read more
Fans of Firefly and Serenity, don’t despair. The charismatic Nathan Fillion may have a bright big-screen future ahead of him. In Waitress, Fillion is fantastic as Dr. Pomatter, the amorous doctor who comes to the rescue when a pregnant and perturbed young beauty named Jenna, played by Keri Russell, finds herself in a nightmare marriage. But there’s a problem. Both Jenna and her good doctor are married — Jenna to a hard-hearted, self-absorbed monster called Earl (Jeremy Sisto), and Pomatter... Read more
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