The newest in an increasing number of must-see films from Hong Kong, this extravaganza set in the glamorous and ruthless 1930s is a funny, eye-popping homage to Bruce Lee, Grease, and a thousand special effects. Aspiring gangster Sing longs to join the Axe Gang, which rules the city’s slums and casinos with a commanding combination … Read more
A film noir for the twenty-first century, this crime drama is based on Frank Miller’s much-loved comic-book series, an elegant, violent, bleak, and sexy chronicle of various seamy underworlds. A grizzled cop (Bruce Willis) has vowed to keep a showgirl (Jessica Alba) alive, while a crook (Mickey Rourke) is out to avenge the death of … Read more
When it comes to supergroup films, everything depends on the players. We never were compelled to watch the Allen-Coppola-Scorcese triptych New York Stories, for instance, but we’ll get in line for Eros, a filmic anthology on love from Wong Kar-Wai, Steven Soderbergh, and Michelangelo Antonioni. Kar-Wai’s Hands covers similar terrain as his ravishing In the … Read more
Show tunes just won’t die, and Kristin Chenoweth is partly to blame. Her cartoonishly expressive voice conjures the songbirds of Broadway’s bygone era, both on torchy jazz standards and on girdle-busting numbers from shows like Wicked, Candide, and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (for which she won a Tony). And Chenoweth doesn’t just sing; … Read more
M. Ward’s melodies are as quietly pervasive as cigarette smoke in a bar (ah, the days of É last month). His voice sneaks through the back door while you’re ordering the cheapest beer on tap, and the next thing you know you’re singing his songs while driving to work the next day. In other words, … Read more
Not long after his move to the Australian outback in 1999, Ben Folds began laboring over Songs for Silverman. The album features the falsetto peaks and pretty pop piano Folds is renowned for, and we, for one, are happy to report that he has elected not to revive the adolescent wit indulged in his days … Read more
Painting begets music begets painting. At least in the case of Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, whose Pictures at an Exhibition was inspired by a series of work from a contemporary, the nineteenth-century painter Victor Hartmann. Now Mussorgsky’s composition has, in turn, inspired paintings by ten local artists, to be shown in conjunction with the Minnesota … Read more
Kieran’s Letter of the Month: SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHTThe Rake rightly deserves enormous credit for advising Bob Dylan in June 1963, “Move away and write your own damn songs,” and for predicting the date of Garrison Keillor’s conception in Anoka [Good Intentions, March]. Concerning mistakes and missteps, you do not seem to recognize that your … Read more
Vasen–rhymes with “delicatessen”–has an ardent following in our Cities, and it’s not just because it’s one of the best acts on our homegrown North Side label, which specializes in contemporary Scandinavian music. The trio’s instrumental takes on traditional Swedish sounds are consistently ear-grabbing, with driving rhythms and circular melodies; its secret weapon–Olov Johansson’s nyckelharpa, a … Read more
Once upon a time, the American office was a nightclub with typewriters—at least according to mid-century myths like The Hucksters or The Apartment. Formal dress was mandatory. Client meetings had a two-drink minimum and every plush blond secretary was as tightly tufted as a Florence Knoll lounge chair. On occasion, there were papers to shuffle, … Read more