Rating: 3 stars (good)
The flashes of heat in our current presidential campaign are mere sparks to the flames of 1968, that pivotal period in the conflagration known as the Sixties.
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Data: Mar 3, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
Rating: 2 1/2 stars (fair-good)
The genius of "Juno," the mainstream heroine of the moment, is its title character's embodiment of Insider and Outsider. She's the coolest, quippiest rebel around, a paragon of dork-chic, as well as a model of emotional stability--all the more remarkable, or improbable, depending on your hackles, given her situation.
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Data: Mar 3, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
If you look at the majority of shows Lyric Opera of Chicago has presented this season, you must conclude the company has been riding one of the most remarkable artistic rolls in recent memory. There was plenty of momentum going into the season's final opera, Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin," and the brilliant production that opened Saturday night at the Civic Opera House is fully in keeping with the successes that preceded it.
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Data: Mar 3, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
The Black Lips' performance at a crowded Logan Square Auditorium was almost more remarkable for what didn't happen. The Atlanta quartet has developed a reputation for insane live shows that integrate everything from fireworks to nudity.
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Data: Mar 3, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
When Chicagoan Kurt Elling chooses to sing — really sing, not just idly croon — he takes his place among the great jazz vocalists.
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Data: Mar 3, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
It could all have been scripted by Mel Brooks .
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Data: Mar 3, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
Chances are, if you dig music, you've been to Austin.
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Data: Mar 3, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
Crunch these numbers: 22 announced films from graphic novels or comics in six weeks.
Want some screenwriting advice? Add drawings to your script. And then put your dialogue in bubbles.
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
The once-great actors are embarrassing, if enriching, themselves with film choices.
I thought Francis Ford Coppola was being cranky last fall when he badmouthed Al Pacino and Robert De Niro -- the stars of Coppola's immortal "Godfather" films -- for taking parts for the money and losing their passion for doing great work. "I met both Pacino and De Niro when they were really on the come," Coppola told GQ magazine. "Now Pacino is very rich, maybe because he never spends any money; he just puts it in his mattress. . . . They all live off the fat of the land."
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
The event, created to spur renewal after 9/11, faces a period of transition as it looks to the long term.
TRIBECA Film Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal was in her Greenwich Street office last week, trying to talk over the loud buzz of refurbishing work, when dust and debris came spraying into the room through a wall-mounted air conditioning unit. Alarmed, Rosenthal leaped out of her seat and rushed to remove her suede jacket from harm's way.
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
The production label will make feature-length documentaries about animals and the environment. It marks a return to the company's onetime tradition.
Walt Disney Co., the latest entertainment company to hop on corporate America's green bandwagon, is launching a new film production unit called Disneynature to make feature-length documentaries about animals and the environment.
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
Unless sales are big, 'Indiana Jones' giants won't be paid
The Indiana Jones series is known for its cliffhangers. But the real cliffhanger in the long-awaited upcoming sequel is when -- and perhaps even if -- the famous filmmakers and the star will make money.
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
The gentle singer from Hawaii will share songs from his new album, 'Sleep Through the Static.'
JACK JOHNSON is far from home again, away from Oahu's North Shore, where he grew up. He still leads a quiet, idyllic life there with his family, writing songs of hope and introspection, a low-maintenance platinum-selling rock star who lives where the pavement is scarce and the TV is rarely on.
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
Popular 'Good Morning Syria' host Honey Sayed and others on the airwaves are mixing thumping music and racy U.S.-style talk shows, providing a rare cultural bridge in the Arab world.
It's the midmorning commute, and time for the horoscope on "Good Morning Syria," the nation's hottest radio show.
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
The district attorney's office says the Bon Jovi guitarist's blood-alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit in California.
Prosecutors in Orange County, Calif., have charged Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora with two misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence of alcohol and driving with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit.
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
Also reviewed: Billy Bragg, Tokyo Police Club
Ashlee Simpson "Bittersweet World" (Geffen) * 1/2
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
The 1971 album is paired with a series of live recordings for a full appreciation of the groundbreaking project.
Carole King's "Tapestry," which has been rereleased in a deluxe CD package, is one of the biggest-selling and most honored albums of all time, but it's 37 years old, so a few words of reintroduction may be necessary.
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
What sexy, blond socialite-model-heiress-actress will play a new Queen Bee on "Gossip Girl?"
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
Fox is bringing "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" back for Season 2.
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
"Gossip Girl" hits the ground running with two prize-winning fights.
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
Audrina may not be the sharpest tool, but does she really need a "friend" like Lauren?
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
The composer forsees a big night for Brooke White.
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
Rating: 3 1/2 stars (good/excellent)
Jason Segel has what Nicolas Cage, Gene Wilder and just a handful of other actors have: The ability to make egregious humiliation and painful neediness a source of limitless mirth. "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" is really, really funny, and too many months have passed since I've been tempted to haul out that second "really" for any film.
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
Rating: 4 stars (excellent)
It sounds cliched, as does the nature of the film itself, but "Flight of the Red Balloon" is a gem made by a filmmaker who loves life, and knows how to capture its ebb and flow and sweet complication.
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
Rating: 3 1/2 stars (good/excellent)
The title "The Visitor" is nothing special. Richard Jenkins, born in DeKalb and best known as Nathaniel Fisher on "Six Feet Under," isn't a household name. But Jenkins and "The Visitor" make lovely music together. It's a case of a veteran character actor slipping on a leading role like the most comfortable pair of pants in the world.
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
Rating: 3 1/2 stars (good/excellent)
Anyone who's ever faced a birthday with a sense of impending doom, or stared bleakly in the mirror at a causeway of emerging wrinkles, knows we could all stand to be reminded, now and again, that there are benefits to growing old, even beyond the obvious (it's a whole lot better than the alternative). Thankfully, just such a reminder has arrived in the form of "Young @ Heart," an exuberant, affectionate documentary by first-time filmmakers Stephen Walker and Sally George.
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
Rating: 3 1/2 stars (good/excellent)
French filmmaker Philippe Garrel turns to a reflective, at times contemplative take on autobiography with "J'Entends Plus la Guitare," a movie with a fictional story line inspired by his actual relationship with Nico, the doomed singer of Andy Warhol and Velvet Underground renown.
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
God was in the details at the first of Iron & Wine's two-night stand Monday at the Vic, but whether or not the higher power was on anyone's side remained up for debate. Lyrically invoking angels, devils and a host of biblical symbols, frontman Sam Beam specialized in ambiguity, making gorgeous music out of sorrowful melodies and telling cryptic stories that left his protagonists' redemption to an uncertain fate.
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
A celebration of the 50th anniversary of the bossa nova and tributes to Nat "King" Cole and Sun Ra will highlight the annual "Made in Chicago: World Class Jazz" series this summer at Millennium Park.
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
Fifty years ago, pianist Ahmad Jamal released an album that not only shattered jazz convention but, surprisingly, also made him a pop phenomenon.
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
Saul Williams made a grand entrance en route to the stage Friday at sold-out Martyrs' only to have his momentum stymied by a defective microphone. Yet the agit-poet wouldn't be silenced. He overcame the temporary setback by standing on a monitor and shouting the last names of dozens of activist actors (Paul Robeson), leaders (Mahatma Gandhi), writers (Allen Ginsberg) and artists (John Lennon) who pushed for social change and elevated awareness.
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
The numbers alone are staggering:
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Data: Apr 23, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
The comedy fends off two other comedies, including the 'Harold & Kumar' sequel, with sales of $18.3 million.
The Tina Fey-Amy Poehler comedy "Baby Mama" delivered for Universal Pictures, topping the weekend box office with estimated ticket sales of $18.3 million despite competition from two other high-profile comedies.
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Data: Apr 28, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
The reformed bad boy is back on the industry's radar. It's probably that flying metal suit he's wearing.
TO become a mega-movie star these days, a man must don the tights. With a few notable exceptions like Leonardo DiCaprio, who had the good fortune to be in the highest-grossing movie of all time (that would be "Titanic"), almost every $20-million man has done his time as a caped crusader, masked marvel or some popcorn equivalent, such as a pirate or extraterrestrial G-man. Call it the Nicolas Cage career plan, in which Cage traded in artistic cred for more muscles, Bruckheimer-bravado and enormous paychecks. In his canny wake have followed Johnny Depp, Tobey Maguire, Keanu Reeves , Will Smith -- the list of stars who've streamlined their individuality for mega-stardom goes on and on.
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Data: Apr 28, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0
The writer of Friday's Movie Projector column, which looks at weekend box-office prospects, finds going to the multiplex is still a relative bargain.
In Berkeley circa 1971, a weekend matinee at the local movie house cost about a buck. Ten-year-old Projector, flush with his $5 weekly allowance, could catch "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," hit the concession stand for popcorn, a Coke and Bon-Bons, and still have enough cash left over to buy the next week's essentials at the corner store: baseball cards, Hershey bars and comic books.
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Data: Apr 28, 2008 Accesari: 0 Voturi: 0