The Invention of Lying’s plot hook sounds like a pileup of Jim Carrey–Tom Shadyac concept comedies. The assumption is that there isn’t much crossover between the Liar, Liar and Ricky Gervais fanbases. Gervais’ fuzzy parable exists in an alternate universe where nobody has made a word for “truth” because nobody tells anything but — until one man discovers how to…
Thanks in part to production by Jeremy Fisher, guitarist for the terrific Wichita heavy band Torque, In the Wake’s full-length debut rocks hard enough to be called metal, but the music defies easy labels. Though lead singer Bryce Weinberg’s whisper-to-a-roar vocals are always accessible, luring listeners in and carrying them away when the occasion calls for bombast, that voice carries…
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart gets lionized — and somewhat embalmed — in this solemn Festschrift by British filmmaker Phil Grabsky. At two hours plus, it should really be seen in its original format, as a television series structured around performances of Mozart’s music (ineffable) and excerpts from his correspondence (lively and flatulent), with mellifluous narration by actress Juliet Stevenson. The music…
In Search of Beethoven plays like a good, if necessarily condensed, critical biography. Drawing from archival letters, interviews with contemporary musicians and historians, and a generous selection of live music, Phil Grabsky’s film takes us through the life and work of its imposing subject, moving from Beethoven’s days as the “piano virtuoso of Vienna” in the 1790s through his establishment…
In the realm of rock and roll, the groove is everything. Los Angeles’ Darker My Love never leaves that facet ignored on its second Dangerbird Records release, 2. The Dandy Warhols would be entranced by the woodshedding fivesome and perhaps even envious of its innate ability to lasso a groove by the hind legs and ride it into the psych-rock…
Sophie Barthes’ clever metaphysical comedy Cold Souls has been dubbed “Being Paul Giamatti” more than once since its Sundance 2009 debut. But if comparisons with the films of Charlie Kaufman are inevitable, the similarities only go so far. Sure, Paul Giamatti plays “Paul Giamatti,” another actor unwittingly embroiled in a mind-body conundrum, and there’s a semi-futuristic doctor’s office that could…
Leave it to Moby to make a comeback during a recession. The career of the baldheaded, diminutive DJ, credited by many for helping popularize dance music in the ’90s throughout England and the United States, has been marked by a series of peaks and valleys fit for an oscilloscope. Play, Moby’s breakthrough 1999 release, sold more than 10 million copies….
A couple of Fridays ago, Thursday kicked off its U.S. tour behind this year’s Common Existence, the post-hardcore sextet’s fifth studio album, with a sold-out show in the basement of the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia. As the band launched its set with an older song, “For the Workforce, Drowning” — the powerhouse track that opens Thursday’s 2003 major-label debut,…
The ushers at a packed screening of Michael Moore’s latest movie, Capitalism: A Love Story, came proudly decked out in T-shirts bearing such slogans as “Make Love, Not Capitalism” and “Capitalism, We Have a Problem.” The shirts and the movie are brought to you by those filthy Reds: Overture Films — owned by John Malone, the Limbaugh-loving media magnate who…
Part bar talk and part confessional, Ken Davenport’s My First Time manages, at its best, the trick of making drama out of real people’s real words — in this case, “first time” accounts of getting some, giving some and every possible variation on such a transaction. When they’re at their best, these stories amuse and alarm, and cast members capture…
Warning, volunteers who choose to serve Kansas City, Missouri: A member of the City Council might subject you to an oral exam. A few weeks ago, Councilwoman Jan Marcason asked for a meeting with the sculptor and Crossroads District entrepreneur known as Stretch. Marcason wanted to talk to Stretch after Mayor Mark Funkhouser tapped him to serve on the city’s…
Dear Readers: Because the Mexican’s sister is getting married to a good man from Zacatecas this weekend, I must ignore my research archives to slaughter a pig and hire a banda sinaloense. So indulge yourselves in some piratería questions that I ripped off from my book and await my return next semana! Dear Mexican: Isn’t brown pride a P.C. adoption…
Letters: “Comedy Is hard,” September 24 Loaded Words Letter writer Chris Benedict of Blue Springs has obviously never seen Loaded Dice, the Trip Fives, Tantrum or Stitch Tactics. He could be a guest of Loaded Dice at our next show. We can then see if he appreciates good improv. If Mr. Benedict believes that he and his bar friends are…
