Do you remember Linda Ronstadt? I’ve always had a fondness for her as a singer, thanks to some 7″ singles that my parents had of her head-bopping folk-rock renditions of … Read More
Movie review: “Cold Case Hammarskjöld” is a mostly true true-crime story
The self-consciously twisty new conspiracy doc Cold Case Hammarskjöld is the latest work of Danish director Mads Brügger, a journalist-comedian-provocateur kinda sorta in the Michael Moore vein. Brügger is drier, more … Read More
Kimya Dawson joins Harry and the Potters on new single, “Where’s Ron?”
Wizard rock grows up, on the new Harry and the Potters album, Lumos, releasing Friday. The band spawned the Harry Potter-obsessed subgenre Wizard Rock, or Wrock, more than a decade … Read More
Interview: Quinn Beswick wants you to watch his “Deep Murder” shower scene
Quinn Beswick is a former child actor turned real-grown-man actor. A veteran of the Los Angeles improv and sketch comedy world, he can currently be seen on select-city big screens … Read More
Movie Mini-Review: Absurd fun in the slasher softcore parody “Deep Murder”
The characters in a softcore sex movie are getting offed one by one, in the unique new comedy Deep Murder. Directed by frequent Funny or Die helmer Nick Corirossi, the … Read More
Movie review: Books and sex converge in the talky French flick “Non-Fiction”
I joked to a colleague before watching Olivier Assayas’s new comedy of manners, Non-Fiction (aka Doubles vies, or Double Lives), that I could already foresee what my review would be: “it’s good and … Read More
Review: Josh Gondelman’s new stand-up album is cuddly and joyful
Comedian and two-time Emmy-winning writer Josh Gondelman releases his third stand-up album today, Dancing on a Weeknight. It highlights the former pre-school teacher at his most joyful and cuddly. “I’m … Read More
Review: Oscar-winning comedy “Get Out Your Handkerchiefs” returns
It’s been forty years since the French comedy Get Out Your Handkerchiefs won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and the Cohen Film Collection is reviving the film in … Read More
Movie Review: “Diane” is a perfect showcase for Mary Kay Place
The Big Chill star is Diane, a woman hiding from herself. Diane is the kind of quiet gem that doesn’t get made (or seen) very much in the current movie landscape. … Read More
Movie Review: “Birds of Passage” has fresh visuals, familiar story
Review: Birds of Passage The new Colombian film Birds of Passage (Pájaros de verano) seeks to offer a fresh spin on the era-spanning crime epic, by showing us an aspect … Read More
New Music Friday: Weezer turns full-blown cover band
The success of “Africa” has brought us a Weezer teal album. It’s hard to talk about Weezer. As that widely passed-around Saturday Night Live sketch dramatizes, Weezer fandom tends to … Read More
Movie Review: Mr. Rogers “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? The year’s first great tearjerker. The new documentary about TV’s Mister Rogers, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? is a love story, but not in the traditional sense. It’s … Read More
New Music Friday: St. Lenox’s “Ten Fables of Young Ambition and Passionate Love”
Ten Fables of Young Ambition and Passionate Love Singer-songwriter Andrew Choi (aka St. Lenox) thankfully makes it easy for the lazy music critic. Rather than having to fumble toward … Read More
David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti release new (old) single
David Lynch and his Twin Peaks composer Angelo Badalamenti have just unearthed an album’s worth of the pair’s unreleased musical collaborations from the early ’90s. This experimental jazz collection arrives … Read More