MOVIES
CASINO ROYALE
Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen (PG-13)
It's a thrilling new beginning for the 44-year-old franchise. As
the secret agent who's out to earn his license to kill, Craig injects a dose of menacing virility into James Bond, shaking him out of his classic duds and retooling him into a man dangerous and unpredictable. And one who meets his match in the smoldering Green.
BORAT
Sacha Baron Cohen (R)
At turns uproariously rude and offensively funny, the hapless,
small-minded reporter Borat (Baron Cohen), from a village in Kazakhstan, makes us confront some unpleasant truths about our hapless, small-minded US and A.
IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS
(Unrated)
Documentarian James Longley patiently tracks a nation torn by
invasion and mounting frustrations between 2002 and 2005. The filmmaker quietly allows the Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds to be themselves in a way that's both moving and sympathetic without passing judgment.
MUSIC
THE BEATLES
Love On this remarkable album, the songs of the Fab Four have been reimagined
by legendary producer (and ''fifth Beatle'') Sir George Martin and son
Giles. It sounds sacrilegious, but it works: Chopped up and remixed, the
most sacrosanct pop canon of the 20th century is breathtakingly
revitalized.
NELLIE McKAY
Pretty Little Head Dumped by Columbia Records for refusing to drop any of the 23 tracks she
submitted for her second album, McKay went ahead and released it on her
own. Full of big ideas served up in her fetching breathy style, Head shows the dazzling range of a gifted songwriter — and the sad
shortsightedness of a big music label.
DEPECHE MODE
The Best of Volume 1 It took only a quarter of a century, but it was worth the wait: a
single-disc greatest-hits compilation that traces the band's career arc,
from slick '80s new-wavers to brooding electro-pop arena rockers.
CHAVEZ
Better Days Will Haunt You A two-CD retrospective from one of the progenitors of a genre known
(sadly) as math rock.
WILLIE NELSON
Songbird Let's forget last year's reggae-tinged Countryman. Aided and abetted by
Ryan Adams, Nelson goes back to what he does best: writing and
performing the world's loveliest ballads.
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Marie Antoinette Original Soundtrack Post-punk, electronic, and baroque classics crowd these two way-cool
discs, curated by director Sofia Coppola and music supervisor Brian
Reitzell.
DVDs
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE: THE BEST OF SATURDAY TV FUNHOUSE
(Unrated)
From the carefully accessorized adventures of ''The Ambiguously
Gay Duo'' (voiced to deadpan perfection by Steve Carell and Stephen
Colbert) to the bumbling exploits of ''X-Presidents,'' these
two-dozen-plus shorts — from the warped brain of Robert Smigel — have only improved with age.
CINEMA PARADISO: COLLECTOR'S EDITION
Philippe Noiret
(R)
Watch the longer — and decidedly less sentimental — version of the 1989
weepie that director Giuseppe Tornatore wanted audiences to see.
THE MARLON BRANDO COLLECTION
(Unrated/R) Not every one of the five movies assembled here (on DVD for
the first time) is essential viewing. But two — 1953's Julius Caesar and
1967's Reflections in a Golden Eye — capture the impossibly deep
psychological shadings brought to life by the finest actor of his
generation.
CARS
(G) The latest offering from the wizards at Pixar tells the story of
some handsomely anthropomorphized automobiles who inhabit a bygone
America of whitewall tires and gleaming roadside diners. There are some
terrific action scenes, but for the most part, director John Lasseter
gives the proceedings a touching and elegaic air. We would've liked more
extras on this DVD, but we can wait for the deluxe version undoubtedly
on its way.
TV
SOUTH PARK
(Comedy Central, Wednesdays, 10-10:30 p.m.)
Creators Trey Parker and
Matt Stone's scatologically bent comedy shrewdly knows where to draw the
line between firing cheap shots and earning true laughs. From dishing
out myriad variations on the word poo to a spot-on episode on videogamer
culture, Stan, Cartman, and crew, now in their 10th season, prove to be
as sharp, topical, and pungent as ever.
THE OFFICE
(NBC, Thursdays, 8:30 - 9 p.m.)
Whether they're gathering for a Diwali
celebration or expanding the Scranton branch (welcome back, Jim!), the
paper-pushing employees of Dunder Mifflin, headed by dunderheaded
manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell), have us laughing out loud each
week with squirmingly awkward delight.
WONDERFALLS
(Logo, Thursdays, 8 - 9 p.m.)
Canceled by Fox in 2004, this quippy and
quirky series, about a gift-store clerk (Caroline Dhavernas) who just
happens to chat with inanimate toys, gets a second life on cable net
Logo.
BOOKS
AGAINST THE DAY
by Thomas Pynchon (Novel)
This highly anticipated, mind-blowing, 1,000-page-plus knot of a
tome — about people plotting for power at the turn of the 20th century,
saturated with jokes, romances, history revisions, and scientific
concepts — is a real trip.
THE YELLOW HOUSE
by Martin Gayford (Biography)
Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin's stormy relationship and
the art that resulted from it when they lived together for nine weeks in
1888 is documented in this terrific work.
WAS SHE PRETTY?
by Leanne Shapton (Comic)
The deceptively simple lives of men and their exes are depicted
in a smattering of sentences and portraits that are both wistful and
engaging.
WALT DISNEY
by Neal Gabler
(Biography)
A wonderfully animated, comprehensive, and revealing
portrait of the mythic man behind the Mouse.
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