When Stephanie Cottingham and her sisters Laura and Brianna and their sister-in-law Jill began playing music, they did it for fun. Fast forward a few years and the foursome are set to play one of the biggest music showcases in the world - the annual South by Southwest music festival, a music showcase that has staged some of the biggest names in music - from REM to Vampire Weekend.
The death of Corey Haim last week adds yet another name to the lengthy list of child actors and actresses who failed to make the transition as adult stars.
“Brooklyn’s Finest” these guys ain’t. At least, you’ve gotta hope not. Contrary to the title of this latest release from “Training Day” director Antoine Fuqua, these cops are lousy.
George Clooney and Matt Damon are cool guys, but in recent films they leave the glamorous, dangerous worlds of “Ocean’s 11” and “The Bourne Ultimatum” far behind. In “Up in the Air” and “The Informant!,” both actors play guys who, in the end, turn out to be schmucks.
Corrupt cops may be “in” right now in Hollywood (see this weekend’s new release, “Brooklyn’s Finest,” from “Training Day” director Antoine Fuqua), but my favorite kind of movie cop is a buddy cop.
Roughly 15 years ago, two freshmen at Ithaca College were eager to do anything except study, so they began melding one’s poetry with the other’s guitar work. All these years later, would-be poet/songwriter Andy Campolieto and guitarist Ben Lee are the main figures in the Americana band Jo Henley, whose second full-length album “Inside Out” was released Feb. 16.
“Black Dynamite” was released in theaters last year, but if you didn’t know better, you’d swear it hit theaters back in 1972 — and not the most glamorous theaters, either.
James Cameron’s “Avatar” may have dominated the box office, but will it rule Sunday at the Oscars? My first reaction was “yes,” but after taking some time (10 minutes maximum) to look at all the nominees, I’m not so convinced.
The star-studded romantic comedy “Valentine’s Day” hits plenty of highs and lows as it tracks several romances – from budding to fully bloomed – over the Hallmark holiday.
In the past four weeks, I’ve devoted columns to bloodthirsty gangsters, foul-mouthed politicians, flesh-eating zombies and, well, more flesh-eating zombies. Clearly, we could use a change of pace. And that’s exactly what this week’s DVD, “Make Way for Tomorrow,” is.
Lady Antebellum is the band of the land right now. The country trio’s latest album, “Need You Now,” is huge. So far, it’s the biggest album of 2010 and the title track has crossed over into mainstream pop, heading toward No. 1.
I for one couldn’t be happier about the return of the ’70s flourish. You know, the urgent strings, the unnecessary but wholly welcome background harmonies, the non-sequiturs spoken through a vocoder … I’m happy to report that all of those are present on Butch Walker’s latest.
With Martin Scorsese’s new movie, “Shutter Island,” opening this weekend in theaters, and his 1990 movie, “Goodfellas” re-released this week on a 20th anniversary Blu-ray disc, I thought it was a good time to make the argument that “Goodfellas” is the best movie of the last 25 years.
My Valentine’s weekend plans included a lovely dinner and a heaping dose of romantic comedy (via the star-studded “Valentine’s Day”) with my wife. What I got instead was an alcoholic country crooner in “Crazy Heart,” and a seat in a crowded theater, rubbing elbows with someone who actually smelled like Bad Blake looked.
Music’s mystery lady is back, proving true the old adage: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I’m talking about Sade Adu, and the avant-soul band that bears her name Sade. The band’s latest album, “Soldier of Love,” is in stores now.
When Editors drummer Ed Lay first started playing new material from the band’s third studio album, "In This Light and on This Evening," it didn’t exactly go as planned.
Every other year, I look forward to the arrival of the Olympics, and every other year I end up disappointed in the TV coverage of the games.
These days, writing sharp movie dialogue seems like a lost art. Sure, good films are made, and the dialogue rings true in a naturalistic sense. But if you compare modern screenplays to, say, the screwball comedies of the 1930s or Billy Wilder’s films of the 1950s and ‘60s, today what the actors actually say comes up short. That’s why it’s such a pleasure to recommend 2009’s “In the Loop,” now on DVD.
Like the “Blues Brothers,” Denzel Washington is on a mission from God in “The Book of Eli.” But this time it’s the Hughes brothers (Albert and Allen) driving the car. The sibling directors, whose past work includes the punishing Johnny-Depp-versus-Jack-the-Ripper project “From Hell,” set their latest film in a stunningly stark post-apocalyptic America.
It feels like a bit of undead overload to be reviewing “Zombieland” so soon after writing about the zombie flick “Pontypool” in this space, but while “Pontypool” is a nasty little thriller, “Zombieland” — despite the occasional burst of violence — is definitely a comedy.
