Burn After Reading
The change of pace offered here from the Coen brothers, who cleaned up last year at the Academy Awards for their intense No Country for Old Men, is likely to leave many fans scratching their collective heads. A whimsical story about a woman (Frances McDormand) who discovers a CD-ROM of what she thinks are top…
The Family That Preys
Director Tyler Perry’s latest movie about middle-class African Americans offers the usual quotient of interracial affairs and illegitimate offspring. The story here surrounds a greedy son (Cole Hauser) who tries to wrest the family business out of the hands of his aging-but-obstinate mother (Kathy Bates), a wealthy white woman who would rather spend her time…
Righteous Kill
Righteous Kill offers the kind of mild entertainment you’d expect from a straight-to-video crime thriller. You know, it’s the sort of film that makes for a pleasant enough evening in front of the TV with a six-pack, but you wouldn’t really want to plunk down 10 bucks to see it. Normally, you wouldn’t expect a…
The Women
“It’s All About Men!” That was the slogan on the poster for The Women, the 1939 movie version of Clare Boothe Luce’s catty, all-female Broadway play. Directed by George Cukor, the movie starred Norma Shearer, Rosalind Russell and Joan Crawford. Diane English, who created TV’s Murphy Brown, makes her feature debut with a remake starring…
Igor
There isn’t much to this CGI time-killer about a mad scientist’s hunchbacked assistant who has aspirations of his own. So it’s the little things that count: the title character (voiced by John Cusack), an Igor School grad with a Yes-Master degree who sounds like Boris Karloff when he’s around others and like John Cusack when…
Mitch Fatel
Mitch Fatel is such a veteran stand-up comic that he's been cracking wise professionally as long as his girlfriend has been alive. The charismatic Fatel, who's in his mid-30s, has been a standup since he was 15. His gal pal is 21. After chatting with Fatel, it's not surprising that much of his act is…
Tangerine Dreams
Ben Vehorn made a nice chunk of change as an early Amazon shareholder. When he cashed out, he sank some of that money into his growing obsession with analog synthesizers. Then he bought some vintage equipment and sound software, and started producing bands. He recorded an album with New York City's Love as Laughter, which…
Shake, Rattle And Roll
It may not hold as mythical a place in rock history as Chinese Democracy, but the 15-year gap between Prisonshake's last album and the new Dirty Moons could certainly give Axl's long-gestating Guns N' Roses project a run for its money. Then again, the onetime Cleveland-based indie-rock band never sold a gazillion records; in fact,…
Revealing Cleveland
If there's a common theme beyond geography in local books, it's probably the ethics of regular people – hard-working, dignified, making beauty from the hands we're dealt, and always hopeful. Three new books from Kent State University Press find those values in three different places: church, art and football. Revelations Michael Stephen Levy Kent State…
Don’t Call It A Dining Hall
Like "airline food," "campus dining" is one of those oxymorons that presage the quality of the fare to come. With good cause, students have been poking fun at mess-hall chow for eons. But we don't travel by air for the grub, and we certainly don't matriculate for the macaroni. But with Elements Bistro, officials at…
All Along The Watchtower
"Before I built a wall I'd ask to know / What I was walling in or walling out." – Robert Frost, Mending Wall "A lot of people in the world are on the move," observed internationally known, Ohio-based artist Don Harvey during the installation of his show Cities and Walls at Zygote Press. Harvey has…
Net Noise, Uncensored
The internet radio network MorningShowCentral.com launched as an unauthorized fan site dedicated to discussing Cleveland morning show Rover's Morning Glory. When Rover rained hatred on the dedicated listeners, MSC founder Chris Vaughn rededicated the site as a forum for listeners of all morning shows, including Howard Stern and Opie and Anthony. As a community grew…
Football Is War
Ask Buckeye honks around these parts and they'll tell you: St. Peter is merely the doorman for Woody Hayes. Nearly three decades removed from prowling the sidelines in scarlet and gray, Woody is still the benchmark for coach, legend and lore coming together under a single, blinding light that can only be described as holy…
Get Out!
Thursday 9.18 MITCH FATEL New York-born comedian Mitch Fatel lifts a quote from Somerset Maugham to sum up his feelings about coming up with new material. The British novelist used to say, "I hate writing, but I love having written." Fatel couldn't agree more. "I despise sitting down and writing," he says. "But I love…
Please Be Patient, Democracy Will Begin Shortly
On September 11, the executive committee of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party voted – overwhelmingly, by all accounts – to tap Warrensville Heights Mayor Marcia Fudge to run in place of recently deceased Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones. But this is Cleveland, where the real action occurs behind closed doors. Three days prior to that vote,…
Short Takes On What’s In Theaters
Night of the Hunter Gonzo explores the life and legacy of Hunter S. ThompsonIn the wake of the wailing that followed the death of Tim Russert, the consummate Washington insider and neocon enabler, it's instructive to read Hunter S. Thompson, who saw through the phoniness of the Washington press corps way back in '73. From…
Local Arts News
Ernie Krivda's name is synonymous with the Fat Tuesday Big Band and its equally fat sound. But this week, the sax man shines with a more intimate combo at the Bop Stop (2920 Detroit Ave.), when he celebrates the release of his new CD, The Art of the Trio. It's Krivda's first recording with a…
Living Legacies
As a musician, it can be both a blessing and a curse to have a famous, successful parent precede you in the business. The members of the newly formed band CAST! – the Coryell, Auger, Sample Trio – are either thrice blessed or mightily screwed. "We all have this stigma of being a 'kid,'" says…
Short Film Caps
After Midnight (Italy, 2004) – A museum custodian has his solitude shattered when he encounters a beautiful young woman on the run from the law. Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. At 7 p.m. Thursday, September 18 and 9:05 p.m. Sunday, September 21. Babylon A.D. – This is an ambitious, serious-minded sci-fi film that at times…
Local Disc Reviews
The Singular Death by Radio (self-released) myspace.com/thesingularmusic With its newest EP, the Singular changes musical tempos frequently. "One Small Step" starts out sounding like a classic Dashboard Confessional song but then shifts into the quirky pop of Barenaked Ladies. There's an overwhelming emphasis to bring narrative to the songs, but the themes are so obscure,…
Restaurant And Dining News
Walking around the former home of That Place on Bellflower, it's difficult to imagine the space ready for its early-November opening. Gutted like a fish, the building is stripped down to its shell in order to undo years of neglect, shoddy repairs and haphazard improvements. "They really let this place go," says tour guide and…
The Year That Wasn’t
TORONTO – I'm sure that it was possible to have had a great time at the 33rd edition of the Toronto International Film Festival. That just wasn't my experience. Sure, there were plenty of good films to see, but even the best ones were overshadowed by the soul-crushing disappointments and flat-out stinkers, many of which,…
She’s An Americana Girl
When she released her debut album The Virginian in 1997, Neko Case had the pipes and sex appeal to become a breakout country star, but her brains and background would lead her in a less commercial, far more creative direction. With each subsequent record, Case has sharpened her craft and infused more of her musical…
Buckcherry, Tindersticks, And Gym Class Heroes Get Graded
Buckcherry Black Butterfly (Eleven Seven/Atlantic) Buckcherry's Josh Todd has a two-track mind, and you can bet the author of "Crazy Bitch" and the cocaine anthem "Lit Up" ain't thinking about puppies and Christmas morning. On the Los Angeles rockers' fourth album, Black Butterfly, the skinny, heavily tatted singer declares, "I got so many women coming…
Sweet Salvation
There are three intersecting stories in The Edge of Heaven, Turkish-German filmmaker Fatih Akin's beautifully told tale about parenthood, racial identity and generational conflict and how they affect, sometimes fatally, six principal characters. The first centers on widower Ali, his German son Nejat and a Turkish prostitute who moves in with the old man (yes,…
Everlast
Former House of Pain frontman Everlast started recording as a freshly dressed solo artist on 1990's Forever Everlasting. In 1992, he resurfaced as a member of the gritty rap trio House of Pain. The Irish-themed group scored a monster single with "Jump Around," which still turns up in clubs, sports events and commercials. That song's…
Illegal Use Of The Hams
A friend of mine has been pushing the "District Attorney" nickname for Derek Anderson ever since the Oregonian took over starting duties for the Browns last year. Sometimes shortened to just "The D.A.," Browns talk usually comes out in couched legal terms these days: "The D.A. just made his opening statement." "The grand jury just…
Rebel Music
When you fight against the powers that be, it's wise to have an army at your side. Michael Franti's been building one for years – progressive but detached legions across the festival-going globe with an eye for his walk-the-walk aesthetic and an ear for his gratuitously varied groove. And when he says dance, like he's…
The Dead Zone
TORONTO – Brit funnyman Ricky Gervais agreed to take on the role of leading man in the romantic comedy Ghost Town on one condition: no nudity. "You don't want to see this with a shirt off," Gervais says, referring to his pudgy frame, whose love handles are hardly disguised underneath a way-too-tight black T-shirt. In…
Letters 09-17-2008
THANKS, BUT … Thank you for your coverage of the Council reduction issue ("Cuts Like A Knife," September 10). One correction to the article: You mention my proposal as being a Council consisting of "seven ward and four at-large leaders." My proposals, in order of preference, were: 14 ward representatives plus three at-large representatives; 14…
Sleaze Frame
"I will maintain an attitude of open-mindedness toward another person's viewpoint while still holding fast to what I know to be true and honest … I will maintain respect for those in authority and demonstrate this respect at all times … I will always remain loyal to my country and obey the laws of the…
Your Weekly Arts Picks
SHINING Shiner No. 2 at Artchitecture Gallery, September 19John Greiner's Shiner No. 2 continues where the first issue of his zine left off: with his tale about the fictional Clevelyn, which features robot and animal versions of people he knows, as well as stories and art by a handful of other artists. The zine mixes…
Sparx Of Intrigue
In his essay about Eva Kwong's exhibit Noetic Energy, on view now at William Busta Gallery (2731 Prospect Ave., 216.298.9071), Anderson Turner makes note of the Buddhist belief that "All natural processes and all living things are visibly suffused with moving life energy." To visualize this concept, Turner suggests that you spend time with a…
Culture Jamming: Force Of Evil
TOP PICK Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts) The best Star Wars videogame in a long, long time (the terrific Lego outings don't count) gives players the power of the Force . . . and the dark side. After an introductory turn as Darth Vader, gamers take lightsabers in hand and play as the Sith…
What A Relief!
In 1971, Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman unveiled their masterpiece Follies. It chronicled a group of fading show-biz luminaries gathering for a final reunion at a soon-to-be-demolished theater. Also in eerie attendance are the sequined ghosts of their youthful selves, performing melancholy musical pastiches from their former glory days. Ivy League student Frank Rich, destined…
