Beyond ‘amateur night’
Was it Dean Martin — or some other Rat Packer — who first said New Year’s Eve is for amateurs? He was right, of course. The night that was once about wistfully ringing out the old and resolving to make better the new, while sharing a toast with friends, lovers and strangers, has basically devolved…
Food Stuff
Popping your cork for less on the big night.
True tacos
Southwest Detroit’s TaquerÃa La Tapatia serves a variety of tacos prepared in the traditional manner: two soft and warm house-made corn tortillas topped with a choice of meat and garnished with fresh cilantro and onion. Choose among five tacos all priced at one dollar, containing not ground beef but carne asada (thin cuts of skirt…
Words of Our Own
War news on TV meets online holiday shopping.
Starting Out in the Evening
Frank Langella is Leonard Schiller, a New York novelist whose work has fallen out of print while he’s spent the last decade trying to finish his latest and probably last book. Leonard’s dedicated and serious; he dons a jacket and tie before sitting down at his typewriter. His routine is as regimented as it is…
Nightmare on Highbury Court, Part 2
For half her young life, Laken Dreilich, a pretty high school senior with a passion for cheerleading, has been living with the turmoil spawned by a dispute over something as mundane as bricks. At first she was too young to comprehend much of what was going on. But as she entered her teens, Laken became…
The Kite Runner
Marc Forster is a glossy filmmaker who carefully chooses his images, hits all the right emotional buttons and rarely achieves a moment of authenticity. Simultaneously conventional and lofty, The Kite Runner suffers from a distinctly outsider view of Afghan culture. Forster and screenwriter David Benioff (Troy) force a Western perspective on Khaled Hosseini’s lauded novel,…
Democracy in action
This year marks the founding of Detroit’s own film critics society … which only puts us 72 years behind New York, 18 behind Chicago and — aw, geez — 20 behind Cleveland. Alongside critics from the Freep, The Detroit News and a half dozen other publications, MT film critics Michael Hastings and I tossed in…
Juno
It is possible not to be charmed by Juno McDuff. The motor-mouthed 16-year-old martyr and the new movie that bears her name both take aim at some sacred cows of American culture: Teen sex, abortionists, suburban class warfare. To her credit, the actress playing this rebel dork is talented enough to make her character’s contradictions…
Night and Day
Wednesday-Sunday • 26-30 Spike & Mike’s Sick & Twisted Animation Festival EYEGASMIC Ker-blooey! Eeeeep! Splat. Sound of an overeager orgasm? Another chipmunk getting its innards blown up? Either way is fair game at Spike & Mike’s Sick & Twisted Animation Festival, which, for more than two decades, has showcased a series of animated shorts that…
The Savages
The plot is simple: A father who never took care of his children forces them to find a way to take care of him … and, ultimately, themselves. Sibling would-be writers, University of Buffalo theater professor Jon Savage (Hoffman) and failed Manhattan playwright Wendy Savage (Linney) are suddenly called to retrieve their long estranged father,…
Letters to the Editor
Praise for ‘Jesus’ Brian, in "Jesus of suburbia" (Metro Times, Dec. 19), you did a fantastic job telling your story. I’ve always wanted to know more about Doug Hopkins — since the time I was one of those 2 million or so that bought Gin Blossoms stuff because of, more than anything, the amazing lyrics.…
Close shaves
Young Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) had the world in the palm of his hands. A promising barber with a beautiful wife and infant daughter, his life was snatched away when the depraved Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) had him falsely arrested and exiled in order to sleep with his betrothed. Returning to grimy smokestacks of Victorian…
Jeffrey Morgan’s Rockin’ Media Blackout
May auld acquaintance be Jeffrey Morgan’s Media Blackout #151! The Cinematics — A Strange Education (TVT) :: For torching a Remington typewriter on the front cover, they get an E. But if it’s only a Photoshop fire, then they get an F for fake. Big Business — Here Come the Waterworks (Hydra Head) :: Led…
P.S. I Love You
Her husband may be gone, but for neurotic New Yorker Holly Kennedy (Hilary Swank), the charismatic Irishman lingers like a haunting refrain. Gerry seems charming and feckless in life, as seen in extensive flashbacks and the film’s opening scene, a drawn-out argument with dialogue ripped from Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus. Yet,…
New Year’s Eve Kicks List
The Bosco Thumbs its Nose at Recession Yep, that’s the actual name of the New Year’s bash. The Bosco is boasting a classy affair for little cash, charging a mere ten bucks for cover. The pros? Swanky atmo, lotsa eye candy, stupid plastic hats and confetti. The cons? Unlike operations that charge $100 and up,…
Comics
The Boiling Point – by Mikhaela Reid The Perry Bible Fellowship – by Nicholas Gurewitch
Not the DIA way
When the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) reopens renovated and expanded in 2009, visitors will discover many changes. The $34.5 million project will add 53,000 square feet of floor area, nearly doubling the museum’s footprint. At the same time, the crisp limestone and glass addition, by principal architect Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works…
Having company
Dan dispenses advice on threesomes.
What’s goin’ on
It’s a chilly Sunday afternoon in downtown Detroit. The members of Street Justice — Ketchphraze, Redd, DJ 4mulaOne and Jypsy Eye — are digging into McDonald’s burgers and fries. Redd tears open a packet of ketchup and says, "Man, I ain’t ate in 24 hours!" A loud affirmation rises from the other full mouths. Although…
Stemming the tide
The debate over stem cells just got messier.
