Rolling Stone CD Reviews Sun, 18 Apr 2010 08:47:56 PDT
Freelance Whales - Weathervanes ... Artist: Freelance Whales Review: Known for playing impromptu gigs on subway platforms, and fond of banjos and glockenspiels, these Queens natives are about as friendly as a New York band can be. The plush, elegant guitar and keyboard arrangements of their debut make for pretty moments ("Starring") and bouncy pop ("Kilojoules"), but singer Judah Dadone suffers an attack of the cutes now and then. On "Hannah," he adopts a pseudo-rap delivery and rhymes "player-hater" with "lemon Now and Later." Mostly, though, Weathervanes is... Rating: 2.5 Stars
MGMT - Congratulations ... Artist: MGMT Review: On their best songs — "Time to Pretend," "Kids" and the new "Someone's Missing" — you don't know if MGMT are goofing or sincere or both. "I'm cut and I'm weeping like a rubber tree," sings Andrew VanWyngarden on the new track, which seems to be about death — until the 1:45 mark, when, amid upward-spiraling synths and harp arpeggios, it transforms into what sounds like a Jackson 5 tune. Is it a piss take on existential indie rock? A requie... Rating: 3 Stars
David Bowie - David Bowie: Deluxe Edition ... Artist: David Bowie Review: Released on the same day as Sgt. Pepper, David Bowie's 1967 debut was an odd start for the man who'd soon turn his strangeness into stardom. He mixes the English music hall of the Beatles' "Penny Lane" with the psychedelic whimsy of early Pink Floyd, but even in this cabaret setting, Bowie shows his knack for mixing singalong tunes with offbeat subject matter: The catchiest song, "She's Got Medals," celebrates a cross-dressing lesbian soldier. Singles, stereo and mono mixes, and Bowie's first... Rating: 3 Stars
Neon Trees - Habits ... Artist: Neon Trees Review: Last year, the Killers plucked this Utah quartet from obscurity by bringing them on tour. As if in repayment, Neon Trees' debut plays like a ham-fisted hommage to their Vegas buddies, down to the surging synths and "whoa-oh" chorus of their single, a scoop of dance-rock mac 'n' cheese called "Animal." Other tracks wrap sparkling keyboards around angsty melodies and lyrics like "I'd love but don't know how to." The biggest problem is how hard the band tries: Rockers like "Love and Affection" go... Rating: 2.5 Stars
Liars - Sisterworld ... Artist: Liars Review: After tearing up the New York post-punk scene in the early 2000s, the Liars reappeared as Berlin electronic experimentalists and L.A. industrial groove things. Their fifth album lays claim to L.A.'s pulpy occult mythos with glowering noise brutalism and evil chant-singing that suggest TV on the Radio as a hippie death cult. Angus Andrew intimates violence everywhere: There are dead-souled stoners on "The Overachievers," and he's blasé "counting victims one by one" on "Here Comes All the Peo... Rating: 3 Stars
Jonsi Birgisson - Go ... Artist: Jonsi Birgisson Review: Like Thom Yorke, Sigur Rós vocalist Jónsi Birgisson courts an electronic muse when he's away from his rock band. But unlike his more ambient work as half of Riceboy Sleeps, this restless, electro-acoustic solo debut has his most hyperactive music yet. Nico Muhly's chipper, piccolo-heavy orchestral arrangements get digitally diced, along with Jónsi's signature falsetto; he sings in English more than Icelandic here, but the meaning remains more in the tone than in the words. When... Rating: 3.5 Stars

Rolling Stone DVD Reviews Sat, 17 Apr 2010 08:53:28 PDT

Rolling Stone Movie Reviews Thu, 15 Apr 2010 05:55:06 PDT
When You're Strange ... Starring: The Doors, Johnny Depp Review: Unhappy with what Oliver Stone did to Jim Morrison and the Doors in his 1991 biopic? Here’s the doc for you. Director Tom DiCillo avails himself of archival footage as Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger and John Densmore leave their musical mark on the 1960s. Clips from a film Morrison made of himself in the desert are alone worth the price of ­admission. Since the movie was first shown at Sundance in 2009, DiCillo (Living in Oblivion) has tightened the pace and brought on Johnny Depp to replace him as narrator. Good choices. New fans and old will find the experience hypnotic. Get more news, reviews and interviews from Peter Travers on The Travers Take. Rating: 3 Stars
Date Night ... Starring: Steve Carell, Tina Fey Review: Here’s proof that Tina Fey and Steve Carell could squeeze laughs out of a phone book. Josh Klausner’s script for Date Night, in which they play Phil and Claire Foster, a New Jersey couple trying to liven up their dull marriage with a glam date in the Big Apple, rivals the Yellow Pages for dry and utilitarian.And yet their teamwork turns it into comic bliss. Get more news, reviews and interviews from Peter Travers on The Travers Take. Director Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum) tosses in a museum of clichés, from gun battles to car chases. There’s even an embarrassing strip-club sequence in which both stars get to bump and grind. And I haven’t even mentioned the star cameos: Kristen Wiig and Mark Ruffalo as soon-to-be divorcees from New Jersey; James Franco... Rating: 2.5 Stars
The Greatest ... Starring: Carey Mulligan, Pierce Brosnan, Susan Sarandon Review: A boy dies in a car crash just after having sex for the first time, leaving his girlfriend scared and alone. Sounds like a recipe for a soapy Lifetime movie. Which The Greatest could well have been without a riveting cast that plays it for real. Carey Mulligan, an Oscar nominee for An Education, is wonderfully appealing as Rose, the girl who rings the doorbell of the dead boy's parents, Allen Brewer (Pierce Brosnan) and his wife, Grace (Susan Sarandon), and announces that she's three months pregnant. They take her in, Grace resentfully and Allen with a sense of hope. In flashbacks, we see the tentative courtship of Rose and the boy (the excellent Aaron Johnson). But the bruised heart of the movie is uncovered as Rose tries to build a picture of a boy she barely knew from the memories of... Rating: 2.5 Stars
The Last Song ... Starring: Miley Cyrus, Liam Hemsworth, Greg Kinnear Review: Having just suffered through Dear John, it is cruel and unusual punishment to let another Nicholas Sparks crawl out of the dark hole of tearjerking clichés and make its way to the screen. The Last Song, with a screenplay by Sparks himself, is so bad it makes The Notebook look like Casablanca. Pop princess Miley Cyrus stars as Ronnie, a child of divorce stuck in the Georgia beach house of her dad (Greg Kinnear, a solid actor looking understandably lost). Ronnie pouts a lot until she meets a hunk (Liam Hemsworth, Miley's private hunk in real life). Then, as ever in Sparks, tragedy strikes. The only tragedy you'll face is paying good money to this swill. This represents the second movie acting job for Cyrus, after Hannah Montana. As far as I'm concerned her record is clean. The Last... Rating: Not Rated
Clash of the Titans ... Starring: Liam Neeson, Sam Worthington Review: Release the Kraken and any other demon from hell you can conjure from Greek mythology for being mythically dull, dragass and devoid of wit. No way will I make a case for the first Titans in 1981, but at least the fabled Ray Harryhausen created magnificent monsters. This remake, directed by Louis Letterier (The Incredible Hulk), purports to be in 3D, but was actually retrofitted to exploit the appetite for the extra dimension fostered by the success of Avatar. So you'll be paying up to six bucks extra for a ticket to wear 3D glasses you don't need. Take off your glasses during a movie actually filmed in 3D and you'll see a blurry image. Take off your glasses during Clash of the Titans and everything looks normal. Get more news, reviews and interviews from Peter... Rating: 1 Star
Chloe ... Starring: Liam Neeson, Amanda Seyfried, Julianne Moore Review: What happens when a jealous wife hires a hooker to make a play for her husband to see if he'll bite? See Chloe, Atom Egoyan's remake of the 2003 French film Nathalie, and find out. I didn't believe a word of it. But with Liam Neeson as David, the music prof caught between his doctor wife, Catherine (Julianne Moore), and Chloe (Amanda Seyfried), there's enough erotic steam generated to make you suspend disbelief. The hottest part of the film comes when Chloe's verbal reports of her sexual outings with David start to get Catherine turned on. So much so that the two women get it on. The best of Egoyan's films (The Sweet Hereafter, Exotica) deserve serious attention. Not this time. Get more news, reviews and interviews from Peter Travers on The Travers Take. Rating: 2 Stars