2. Little Miss Sunshine (Fox Searchlight): This indie fave—which set a Sundance record when it received a $10 million advance from Fox for distribution—is actually closer in spirit to classic Hollywood comedies like the Depression-era Capra-directed Kaufman/Hart farce, You Can’t Take It With You. Although it obviously has a kinship with dysfunctional family-on-the-road spoofs from National Lampoon’s Vacation and David O. Russell’s Flirting with Disaster to the recent RV, the feature debut from music video directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris gets its satiric edge from how it fearlessly tweaks America’s win-at-any-cost mentality. The film’s focal point is the hapless Hoovers, subjected to dad Greg Kinnear’s eyebrow-raising “9 Steps to Success,” which he doggedly tries to hawk as the proverbial roof caves in on his beleaguered middle-class strivers. It's up to his indefatigable wife Toni Collette to keep things together, while grandfather Alan Arkin is busy snorting heroin and chewing scenery and the wonderfully deadpan Steve Carell is a defrocked gay college prof recovering from a suicide attempt after learning he’s lost his lover to a rival Proust scholar. The real heroes of the movie, though, are the two kids, with a star-making turn by young Abigail Breslin as Olive, a precocious 10-year-old whose unlikely journey to the titular beauty contest in Redondo Beach leads the family into their rickety Volkswagen van, which becomes the metaphor for trying to catch up to a materialistic society that’s leaving all of us standing on the side of the road. Paul Dano’s sullen, Nietzsche-loving brother, who takes a vow of silence until he is accepted by the Air Force Academy to become a jet pilot, only to learn he’s color-blind and doesn’t qualify, is another rich example of how blood is thicker than anger.
3. Brothers of the Head: Music from the Motion Picture (Milan): The best fictional band of the year isn’t VH1’s Supergroup Damnocracy or CBS Rock Star’s Supernova, but The Bang Bang, the mythic group formed by a pair of conjoined Siamese twins for Keith Fulton and Lou Pepe’s masterful faux rock doc. The soundtrack contains the legendary nine tracks recorded by the band for their aborted first album, the music artfully produced by Clive Langer of Madness, Elvis Costello and Lloyd Cole fame—who also played in the mid-’70s pre-punk band Deaf School—to sound like the missing link between glam and the Sex Pistols. And that it is, from “Two Way Romeo,” the song that gave its name to Ken Russell’s fake biopic about the group, to “Doola and Dawla,” a Langer/Pete Shelley composition that admits to copping a lick from Magazine’s “Shot From Both Sides,” though the liner notes incorrectly suggest the ex-Buzzcock was actually in the Howard Devoto-fronted spin-off. Songs like “Sitting in a Car” cite Jonathan Richman’s “Roadrunner” as inspiration, while “I Am A Sock” quotes both Dylan (“On my own/No direction home”) and Johnny Rotten (“No future”) with rockcrit aplomb. Twin brothers Luke and Harry Treadaway are mesmerizing as The Bang Bang’s singer Barry and guitarist Tom Howe, respectively, a more charismatic version of Jesus & Mary Chain’s Jim and William Reid. Their performances here might make them movie stars, but they could just as easily “double” as rock idols. —RT
4. Michael Des Barres & Free Love at The Mint,
5. OK Go, “Here It Goes Again” (video): This viral phenomenon, coming on the heels of the clever
6. The Reel Inn (18661 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu): Yeah, I know this
7. La Super Rica Taqueria (622 N. Milpas St., Santa Barbara): Sporting a snaking line outside its door like a Mexican version of Pink’s, this modest take-out/eat-in stuck in the middle of a working-class neighborhood is a tiny gem that people come to from far and wide. Touted as the late Julia Child’s favorite taco place, it uses fresh ingredients for its mainly traditional menu. My favorite is the chorizo and melted cheese, which comes with tortillas so that you can roll ‘em up and make tacos yourself. Anyplace that gets this much praise is certain to be a tad overrated, but for me, it’s become almost a tradition. When you’re cruising home to
8. Celebrity Fit Club 4 (VH1): If you can’t lose weight yourself, the next best thing is to sit like a couch potato and ogle B- and C-level celebrities trying to drop the pounds themselves, as they’re simultaneously bullied and cajoled by a panel that heartlessly places them on the scale. This new edition includes Carnie Wilson, The Love Boat’s Ted Lange, NYPD Blue’s Nicholas Turturro, Vincent “Big Pussy” Pastore, Family Ties’ Tina Yothers, 400-pound-plus rapper Bone Crusher, R&B singer Angie Stone and former Baywatch babe Erika Eleniak, trying to shed some post-natal el-bees. The humiliation factor is high, as is the cringe factor, but anyone willing to subject themselves to this kind of regimen deserves, what? Our attention? Our sympathy? Our pity? At any rate, it’s pretty addictive, just like a snack before bedtime, which seems to plague at least a couple of our weight-watchers. That, and the barely suppressed smirk of otherwise straight-faced host Ant, turns this into a cautionary tale for fat and skinny alike. Don’t let yourself go, because you never know who’s watching. —RT
9. The Egyptian Theatre (
10. Gripe of the Week: If the lack of outrage toward Jann Wenner’s firing of 20-year Rock and Roll Hall of Fame vet Suzan Evans is any indication, the so-called Council of Elders could be in danger of making their little fiefdom irrelevant. The ouster of Evans comes on the heels of poobah Jon Landau’s “form” letter dismissing most members of the Nominating Committee, including yours truly, along with other notables such as Danny Goldberg, Rosemary Carroll, Joel Selvin, Bud Scoppa, Claudia Perry, Steve Morse and undoubtedly many more, under the guise of finding “young blood” capable of making judgments on the ’80s and ’90s bands up next. Without even getting into the absurdity of that statement—though the Nominating Committee, long a bastion of aging white guys, was overdue for a shake-up—it’s plainly a coup d’etat designed to keep the selection process firmly in the hands of insiders, and we all know who they are. After last year’s fiasco involving Blondie and its ex-members, and the ever-diminishing crop of worthy newcomers, the Hall finds itself under siege. How many more generations of artists will be sucked into what is basically a fund-raiser for itself? And how will the rappers who are bound to be inducted over the next few years react? Will they embrace the Hall of Fame or decide it’s not the “hip” place to be? This housecleaning had better bring in some new blood; otherwise, there’ll be plenty of red ink spilled instead. —RT
CALENDAR
Friday, Aug 11th
Carrie Underwood on Good Morning
Shakira @ U.S. Airways Center in
Giants vs. Dodgers @ Chavez Ravine (Prime Ticket): The hated Giants return to Dodger Stadium to battle the Blue Crew.
Parlour Boys @ The VOUGE
Saturday, Aug 12th
1:05pm
Giants vs. Dodgers @ Chavez Ravine (Fox)
3:00pm
Champions on Ice @ Staples Center: While promoters caution that the cast of skaters is ''subject to change due to injury and other unforeseen circumstances,'' expect to see Michelle Kwan make a triumphant return after her disappointing ordeal in Torino, along with performances by Olympic medalists Sasha Cohen and Irina Slutskaya. Russian men's gold medalist Yevgeny Plushenko is on the docket, as well as
Ben Harper w/ Damian Marley @ The Greek
Dashboard Confessionals @ Radio City Music Hall
Wu Tang Clan @ Congress Theatre in
Sunday, Aug 13th
Giants vs. Dodgers (ESPN): Maddux against Schmidt in the concluding game.
Death Cab for Cutie @ The Greek.
JE-C’S NEW-MOVIE RUNDOWN
World Trade Center
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Michael Pena, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Maria Bello
Synopsis: Based on real-life events during 9/11.
Thoughts: I saw this movie opening night, and I have to say is it’s pretty intense, as you probably figured. To relive that moment again, it just brings back so many emotions that I found myself tearing up as soon as the incident happened. The performances are amazing, and it’s a movie everyone should see.
Other movies opening this weekend:
Zoom
Pulse
Step Up
MUST-OWN
V for Vendetta: If you never got a chance to see this movie, don’t hesitate. This is my favorite movie of the year so far. It’s a comic book adaptation, and yet it speaks volumes about what is going on in society today (see below).
JE-C’S TOP MOVIES OF THE YEAR SO FAR
V for Vendetta: This is my favorite movie of the year so far, for many reasons. It's more than just a comic book adapted for the big screen; it’s a movie that makes a big political statement that we can all relate to these days. Definitely a movie that was slept on, and I advise everyone to check it out if you haven't yet.
X-Men III: The Last Stand: If this is the last one, it certainly satisfied my appetite. It had it all, including some incredible action sequences.
Pirates of The
An Inconvenient Truth: The most important movie of the year… A MUST-
Nacho Libre: The funniest movie of the year. Jack Black rocks.
The Devil Wears Prada: This movie is making my list because Meryl Streep was truly brilliant, and if you haven’t seen it, or are on the fence about seeing it, go for her performance, if nothing else.
THE COUNT: COACHELLA, FROM THE COUCH
The coziest way to experience the fest (4/18a)
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THE NEW UMG
Gosh, we hope there are more press releases.
TIKTOK BANNED!
Unless the Senate manages to make this whole thing go away, that is.
THE NEW HUGE COUNTRY ACT
No, not that one.
TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN PLAYLIST
Now 100% unlicensed!
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