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MOVIES
THE DEPARTED
Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson (R)
A stellar cast — led by DiCaprio and Damon in career-defining roles — shines
in this bruising crime drama set in the cold streets of Boston. With his
restless camera work and gift for operatic staging, director Martin
Scorsese gives the proceedings a giddy, exhilarating energy
conspicuously missing from his recent foray into historical epics.
THE QUEEN
Helen Mirren, James Cromwell (PG-13)
In playing the institutionalized detachment expected of a monarch,
Mirren shows how and why the House of Windsor belatedly — almost
grudgingly — acknowledged Princess Di's untimely passing.
49 UP (Unrated)
In 1964, a British TV crew interviewed a group of 7-year-olds
about their hopes and dreams. Every seven years since, Michael Apted has
revisited those subjects and filmed these lives in the making. Almost 50
years later, their experiences are poignant and thrillingly real.
MUSIC
BECK
The Information With one hand taking the pulse of hipster America and the other working
two turntables and a microphone, Beck fairly radiates zeitgeist cool. In
his new CD — crammed with the sonic detritus of our information age — he
tackles data overload.
SCISSOR SISTERS
Ta-Dah Just as they did on their party-tastic 2004 debut, the New York-based
retro-rockers have sifted through the music of the '70s and reduced it
to its oh-so-fabulous essence. But there's a sense of gloom here — a dark
lining that perfectly sets off the album's disco clouds.
THE HOLD STEADY
Boys and Girls in America Also hailing from New York: The quintet known as the Hold Steady, who
effortlessly drop literate, post-graduate musings on top of their
two-fisted rock chops — without ever sounding pretentious.
ADEM
Love and Other Planets The album's title not-withstanding, the kind of space Adem Ilhan seems
most interested in exploring is the farthest reaches of his fragile
heart.
PERNICE BROTHERS
Live a Little Blessed with a Bacharachian sense of melody and a question-authority
mind, New England's Joe Pernice writes songs that sparkle like
moonshine — and pack the same fiery burn.
MY MORNING JACKET
Okonokos A double live CD that captures these indie space-rock avatars at their
fuzzy — and heart-breakingly lonely — best.
DVDs
A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION
Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline (PG-13)
The last broadcast of a long-running radio show (shut down by heartless
suits) provides the neat metaphor for director Robert Altman: how
creativity is losing the war to the bottom line. Where others might be
shrill, the old master is rueful and folksy — the film has an elegiac glow.
SCRUBS: SEASON 4
Zach Braff, Donald Faison (Unrated)
A welcome palliative to the glut of hour-long hospital dramas, this
engaging half-hour sitcom continues to induce laughs despite — or because
of — its over-the-top acting, nonstop visual gags, and constant narration.
THE MALTESE FALCON: SPECIAL EDITION
Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor (Unrated)
John Huston's 1941 classic about a private detective on the hunt for an
ancient relic practically defined the conventions of the modern film
noir and introduced audiences to the tough PI swagger of one Humphrey
Bogart. Consider this handsome three-DVD set an essential addition to
any good movie library.
THE LITTLE MERMAID: PLATINUM EDITION (G)
The underwater fairy tale that revitalized Disney animation receives
a two-disc makeover. Included here (and unimaginable a few years ago):
the reminiscences of Disney expats Jeffrey Katzenberg and Roy E. Disney.
TV
THE NINE
(ABC, Wednesdays, 10-11 p.m.) The title of this drama refers to a group
of bank-robbery hostages who've formed a deep (and mysterious and now
slowly unraveling) bond during their 52-hour ordeal. We love the sharp
writing and superb cast — especially Tim Daly as a wisecracking cop and
Kim Raver as a smart prosecutor. We're crossing our fingers that the
show lives up to its terrific potential.
HELP ME HELP YOU
(ABC, Tuesdays, 9:30-10 p.m.) Ted Danson, so wondrously gifted at
making grouchy self-absorption a likable trait, stars as a therapist
happily picking at the wounds of his comically troubled patients.
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
(Sci Fi, Fridays, 9-10 p.m.) The third season began with the
unfortunate souls of New Caprica dealing with an occupying army of
Cylons — and Admiral Adama contemplating various military options. So add
sharp commentary to the reasons you should watch what might be
television's most politically relevant show.
BOOKS
THE ROAD
by Cormac McCarthy
(Novel)
Across the landscape of a postapocalyptic America, a man and his young
son push a wobbly shopping cart toward an uncertain future. McCarthy's
bleak tale is filled with unspeakable horrors and unbearable sadness.
THE TEXICANS
by Nina Vida
(Novel)
A dry wind of magic realism blows through this thrilling novel that
follows a young Mexican woman as she finds love and adventure in the
Texas hill country of the 1840s.
AMERICAN GENIUS
by Lynne Tillman
(Novel)
An unnamed narrator is in full neurotic bloom while apparently at some
sort of New Age retreat. Hilarity that veers between the inane and the
insane.
THE ECHOING GREEN
by Joshua Prager
(Nonfiction)
A lively examination of the intrigue and subterfuge behind the 1951
World Series.
