A&E
Movie Review
Altar Egos
With lots of old clichés and not much new, Something Borrowed is kind of blue
May 5th, 2011
The “something borrowed” in Something Borrowed—an everlasting gobstopper of a romantic comedy that vacillates between saccharine sweetness and jaw-breaking tedium—is supposed to be the fiancé of one of the main characters, who is, er, borrowed by the maid of honor for wanton sex. But what’s really borrowed is every rom-com cliché that’s ever existed. Read more »
Concert Review
Martin Sexton
May 5th, 2011
Translating his music to the stage with the right amount of liberty from album versions, Martin Sexton’s April 28 solo show at the Hard Rock Café was a great night for those who appreciate a finely crafted tune. Read more »
Concert Review
Foreigner
May 5th, 2011
Some bands are defined by their members—Ringo Starr and three other dudes are not The Beatles, for example. But Foreigner is a trademark sound: clichéd, superficial, but imminently singable lyrics driven by addictive, adolescent, crotch-rock power chords. Read more »
Concert Review
George Thorogood
May 5th, 2011
George Thorogood is stuck in the past, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Thorogood and his Delaware Destroyers blazed through 35 years of hits in more than 90 minutes at Texas Station’s Dallas Events Center on April 30, with the singer/guitarist paying his three-chord respects to inspirations such as Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker and Bo Diddley throughout. Read more »
Movie Review
Water For Elephants (PG)
★★☆☆☆
May 5th, 2011
Robert Pattinson flees his blood-sucking past to become a different kind of monster—a carny!—in Water for Elephants, a lush, historical romance set amid a traveling circus in 1931. Read more »
Movie Review
Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil. (PG)
★☆☆☆☆
May 5th, 2011
In this failed sequel, Hayden Panettiere voices Red, who has taken time off from the Happily Ever After enforcement agency to train with the Sisters of the Hood, a variation on the Green Berets. Read more »
Movie Review
Fast Five (PG-13)
★★★☆☆
May 5th, 2011
As male power fantasies go, this fifth Fast franchise installment has an undeniable trashy charm. We join the original crew of road-racing bandits—Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Jordana Brewster—robbing trains in Rio de Janeiro. Read more »
Movie Review
Scream 4 (R)
★★☆☆☆
May 5th, 2011
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ... more Scream? The fourth installment of the seminal ’90s horror franchise (and the first in more than a decade) follows poor Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), now a best-selling author, as yet another copycat killer in an Edvard Munch-inspired mask picks off her nearest and dearest. Read more »
Music
Lightning Strikes Twice
Local band Mama Zeus returns to the stage for a second time around
April 28th, 2011
A decade ago, before the Killers and Panic! at the Disco made the leap from Las Vegas clubs to national prominence, Mama Zeus seemed like they could be that band. Their sound channeled Led Zeppelin classic-rock boogie; their stage presence exuded a hippie vibe that appealed to the jamband crowd; and they had a fiery redhead up front who delivered soul and sex appeal with every note. They opened for acts such as Robin Trower and Sebastian Bach at The Joint and House of Blues, and also performed on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip. They had even released two critically acclaimed independent CDs. Read more »
Music
Brohemian Rhapsody
The Makepeace Brothers don’t coddle each other’s songwriting
April 28th, 2011
When you’re listening to the uplifting world music-influenced folk-pop of the Makepeace Brothers, you can’t help but feel you should be soaking in the trio’s new album, Slow Down Feel Love, on a California beach as you watch the sun melt into the ocean. And when you’re a writer interviewing vocalist/guitarist Finian Makepeace via cell phone and you hear the crash of the surf and cry of seagulls and he says, “I’m just hanging out at Venice Beach,” and, “Cool, I just saw a seal in the water,” you wonder: Is it a music career or a lifestyle for these guys? Read more »
