Up all night
Slumber Party freezes bras, changes lives….
The Majestic
Director Frank Darabont has turned a mistaken-identity device into a lovely meditation on loss and restoration — an irony-free fable about decency triumphing in the face of cowardice and shame — with Jim Carrey.
Big questions for 2002
It’s been a very long, exhausting and unnerving year. Instead of the annual predict-the-future quiz, here’s a list of potential hot topics for the coming year.
Kate & Leopold
Director James Mangold wants to have it both ways in this modern love story, one that reasserts the mythology of romance while making fun of escapist romance stories — with Meg Ryan, Liev Schrieber and a perfectly nuanced performance from Hugh Jackman.
Stars, stripes & doubts
Flags on cars and trucks … Red, white and blue merchandise everywhere. But what kind of an American are all these flag-wavers so proud of being?
How High
Overall, this is a good movie for Method Man-Redman fans. Because the veteran rappers are known connoisseurs of fine roots and herbs, weaving weed into the plot is a no-brainer. But know going in whether you can stomach the N-word, B-word and H-word used ad nauseam.
Jams, splooshes & bands
A special night of live music at the Town Pump … More details on the Noir Leather scandal … New downtown java joint on the way … & Big plans for this year’s Blowout.
Joe Somebody
This film’s calculated mainstream populist intentions prevent its workplace satire from approaching anything near the bite of, say, Mike Judge’s Office Space. The scenes with Tim Allen and James Belushi have a kind of low-wattage charm and Allen throughout seems like somebody worth rooting for. But it’s the script that sinks this one.
Light fingers and heavy hearts
The holidays are extra stressful for recovering shoplifters — but those who get a thrill from stealing can also get help.
Sketches of Gil
Gil Evans — Out of the Cool: His Life and Music is a quiet celebration of an ingenious musical innovator. Jazz innovators don’t always kick in the door to the future like some steroid-crazed Rambo blazing away with the latest weapons of mass cultural destruction. More typically they’re ordinary Joes who have reconsidered or rearranged…
I can handle it
7th Day Records shows off its latest releases … Uncle Ill hosts a party for da kids … End-of-year shows with local rockers … Rosie Thomas returns for a visit … & A call for your best-of-2001 lists.
Napoleon’s news
Benny Napoleon surprises us with plans to run for office …
PC queen
Jordan’s Queen Noor educates and inspires at annual Arab-American dinner….
Bidding Archer adieu
We soon won’t have Dennis Archer to kick around any more, so we offer a few final potshots and praise for our outgoing mayor….
Soul, bubblegum and gonzo rock
Don’t get too comfortable with the Dirtbombs’ soulful groove — the band’s already working on a full-length CD of mostly original bubblegum pop songs (only drunk and playing broken instruments).
The year in television
From silly sitcoms to life-changing news coverage … 10 things that were worth sitting on the couch for in 2001.
I am the Greatest!
Will Smith talks about his attempt to capture the essence of heavyweight champion and firebrand activist Muhammad Ali, probably the most famous man on earth.
The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition
In August 1914, British explorer Ernest Shackleton set sail from Plymouth, England, with a 28-man crew determined to be the first to cross Antarctica on foot. Their story is a survival tale of an intensity that would be ludicrous if it were fiction. The film, directed by James Butler, makes excellent use of original footage.
Ring in the new
I know, you’ve made resolutions about sex or relationships a thousand times before, even if it was something as basic as “Gawd, I’ll never do that again!” But you did, didn’t you? And the results were the same, racked with regret. Now here’s the beginning of another year in which you will have yet another…
Fancy breakfasts
Toast has taken over Delia’s space in Ferndale, bringing a new decor and layout. The food is marvelous, plus beautiful to look at. Weekday egg-fests include some pretty fancy fixin’s along with more regular fare, and it gets more lavish on the weekend. Try the wild mushroom or French omelets, breakfast burrito or corned beef…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Acupuncturist Susan Meyer regularly kayaks meditatively around San Francisco Bay as she chants her prayers. Recently, a migratory whale joined her, swimming along a few feet away. Though frightened, she continued chanting. The beast accompanied her gently until she paddled back to the beach. To Susan’s delight, the same ritual unfolded…
The Rainbow Children
This might be his quintessential work, the album he prayed he’d make before dying. After all, it’s a prayer that combines tonal elements of everything from “A-U-T-O-matic” to “Erotic City.” But that’s not what makes The Rainbow Children special. Put this in perspective. Remember Dirty Mind? Controversy? 1999? Do you recall how the spiritual innuendo…
Letters to the Editor
Inside view As the child of a bipolar parent, I’ve spent 47 years learning about and dealing with the disease. To blame Roy Brooks’ outcome on the mental health system is just plain wrong ("Music, madness & Marquette Prison — Roy Brooks sad opus: from hard bop to hard time," Metro Times, Dec. 12-18). There…
Olympia 2000
This quartet date, recorded live at the Olympia in Paris last year, shows 70-year-old pianist Jamal in peak form, his tasteful gaudiness undiminished and his famously epigrammatic approach intact. Jamal has always been something of a guilty pleasure, despite the early endorsement he received from Miles Davis, who saw past the pianist’s seeming simplicity and…
C2+Y2K2
Carl Craig and Panacea celebrate a new dawn in Detroit nightlife….
13 Hillbilly Giants
It’s good — no, great — to hear Robbie Fulks indulging his deepest musical roots. Obviously a gifted singer, songwriter and performer, there was a period a few years back when he was caught between the siren song of the NashVegas major labels and bona fide grassroots country music performer. He thankfully has opted for…
Sketches of Gil
At last, a bio of jazz pianist Gil Evans, the feeling man’s arranger….
Bitter, my love
The overall mood of this finely calibrated if conventional slice of suffering is one of careful stillness, of patient watching as director Todd Field creates spaces for his actors to register their difficult feelings — but if there’s a neatness about its plot, one is still grateful for its basic seriousness. It’s a tragedy in…
