You could be forgiven for falling asleep during the last few years of Elvis Costello’s career. Don’t get us wrong, his collaborations with the classical Brodsky Quartet and pop-standards king Burt Bacharach were tasteful and sophisticated proof of his facility in more musical modes than mere rock. But for many of us who discovered him … Read more
Bob Mould is no stranger to shocking his audience with a radical new direction—after his years in Hüsker Dü, the loudest punk band in all creation, the quiet and folkie Workbook seemed dumbfounding, though now seen as a career high point. But that’s nothing compared to his recent jump into dancefloor techno and electronica, on … Read more
Okay, so they sound just like Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers. But at some point, we all grow old enough to realize that pop music is one big lazy susan that keeps spinning in place. (In any case, all roads lead back to the Rolling Stones, right?) And why should we begrudge the kids … Read more
Given Chris Mars’ greater fame as the former drummer for the Replacements, you might well think that his career as a fine artist is mere rock-star dilettantism. It’s not. He’s the real thing, a skillful visual artist whose work echoes the semi-apocalyptic grotesque tradition of Hieronymous Bosch and World War I artist George Grosz. To … Read more
The weakness of most commercial photographers who try to do artistic work is that they simply don’t have the time to pull it off. Accustomed to working fast and clean, on assignment for big bucks, successful commercial photogs like Shawn Michienzi run the real risk of falling into auto-focus formulas. They have a hard time … Read more
Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune’s artistic partnership was one of cinema’s most rewarding. The dozen-plus movies they made together from 1948 to 1965 were some of the most influential of the period, and this quartet— The Seven Samurai , The Hidden Fortress , Yojimbo and its sequel Sanjuro —comprise the bulk of the two men’s … Read more
This is undoubtedly the film that put Jim Jarmusch into your consciousness in the late 80s, and it may have been your first introduction to the “art film” as a legitimate big-house screening. At the very least, it would have introduced you to Roberto Begnini, a formerly hilarious Italian comedian who imploded under the pressure … Read more
Ah, the good old days (the 80s), when a throwaway, no-brainer sketch on SCTV or SNL could be stretched into a credible and hilarious full-length feature film. Of course, they’re still doing it—Adam Sandler, believe it or not, is one of the highest paid “actors” on the planet. But we have a special place in … Read more
To answer the question “Is there anything more bizarre than a breezy sitcom set in a Nazi prison camp?” you need only look at the life and death of Bob Crane. When he wasn’t duping Klink and Schultz as Col. Hogan, he indulged in pornography—not just consuming it, but directing and starring in his own … Read more
We’re not sure why Hollywood continues to be obsessed with Bret Easton Ellis, whose star rose and fell in the 80s, and we’re not convinced that his novels are the “scabrously hilarious” social commentaries we’re told they are. Seems to us that most of his books have an essentially voyeuristic appeal. American Psycho was less … Read more