Josh Bell
Story Archive
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Music
Patterson Hood
Thursday, July 9, 2009 Drive-by Truckers leader Patterson Hood’s second solo album isn’t all that far removed from his DBT work, but it still feels slightly lacking.
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Film
Every Little Step
Thursday, July 9, 2009 Every Little Step is a documentary about dancers auditioning for a Broadway show about dancers auditioning for a Broadway show.
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Film
Blood: The Last Vampire
Thursday, July 9, 2009 You know you’re in trouble when a movie opens with an expository crawl that begins in the 1500s and includes the phrase “centuries passed.” Things do not improve from there in Blood: The Last Vampire.
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Gangsters, food and Nic Cage
Thursday, July 2, 2009 Brian Black joins Josh to talk about Michael Mann’s gangster movie Public Enemies and the advocacy documentary Food, Inc., plus receives a warning against renting the Nicolas Cage vehicle Knowing on DVD.
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Music
Brad Paisley
Thursday, July 2, 2009 Paisley is a crackerjack guitarist, and he showcases his abilities throughout Saturday Night, especially on the bluesy “She’s Her Own Woman” and the lightning-fast barn burner “Catch All the Fish.”
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Film
Food, Inc.
Thursday, July 2, 2009 Kenner’s well-made if overreaching film takes on the corporatized food industry in America, exposing lax safety standards, poor treatment of workers and incestuous commingling between food conglomerates and regulatory agencies.
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television
The same old sci-fi on Syfy
Thursday, July 2, 2009 In the annals of cable-channel makeovers, Sci Fi’s recent decision to rebrand itself Syfy will go down as one of the stupidest and most thoroughly mocked.
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A&E
Interview Issue: Vicki Pettersson
Thursday, July 2, 2009 Working as a showgirl helped the author of the Signs of the Zodiac novel series find time for the craft she truly loved and a supernatural genre her education told her to avoid.
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Film
Interview Issue: Charles Geocaris
Thursday, July 2, 2009 You know all those films set in Nevada? They may have been shot some where else, like Albuquerque. The Director of the Nevada Film Office talks about the biz and how it affects Las Vegas.
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Film
Public Enemies
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 Public Enemies is the slightly fictionalized story of the takedown of notorious bank robber John Dillinger (Johnny Depp), who, at the height of the Great Depression, brazenly walked into banks bearing arms and walked out with bags of money.
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Trashing the Transformers
Friday, June 26, 2009 Jeffrey K. Howard of Vegas Film Critic and KVBC Channel 3 joins Josh to eviscerate the new sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
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Film
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen delivers the "more"
Thursday, June 25, 2009 You can say this for Michael Bay: He delivers what he promises. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is everything the original was and more. “More,” of course, is Bay’s mantra.
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Film
A breezy trip
Thursday, June 25, 2009 Faced with an uncertain future both terrifying and exciting, happy couple Burt and Verona set off on a trip to find a new place in which to start their new family, along the way visiting friends and family who conveniently each teach the couple something about the kind of parents (and people) they wish to be.
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television
Not just dickin’ around
Thursday, June 25, 2009 In HBO's Hung, Ray (played by Thomas Jane) is a divorced high school teacher who is inspired by a self-help seminar that encourages participants to find their own special “tool” to put his particular tool to use as a male prostitute.
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Music
Killswitch Engage
Thursday, June 25, 2009 On KSE’s self-titled fifth album, vocalist Howard Jones sounds like he’s gone through a seriously rough patch, but wearing his bloody heart on his sleeve is exactly what he does best.
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Music
Loretta Lynn
Thursday, June 25, 2009 Judging from the extremely enthusiastic crowd response at Loretta Lynn’s concert Saturday at Texas Station, the legendary country singer could have simply sat on the stage and waved, and people would have been thrilled.
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television
What off-season?
Thursday, June 25, 2009 Now in its third season, this breezy spy drama has developed a level of character complexity slowly over time, nicely complementing its standalone stories of ex-spook Michael Weston (Jeffrey Donovan) helping ordinary folks. It’s got humor, action and solid acting all around, and you can pretty much jump in any time and catch up.
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Music
Jonas Brothers
Thursday, June 18, 2009 On their fourth album in four years, the Jonas Brothers seem to be trying to become kings of the entire pop spectrum, not just the upbeat power-pop that’s been the hallmark of their sound up to now.
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Film
The Proposal
Thursday, June 18, 2009 Oh Sandra Bullock, why do you do this to yourself? Haven’t you moved past this yet? Hasn’t America?
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Podcast: Wrapping up CineVegas
Wednesday, June 17, 2009 Las Vegas Weekly contributor Julie Seabaugh joins Josh to wrap up the 2009 CineVegas film festival, including award winners, local films and festival highlights.
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Wrapping up CineVegas
Wednesday, June 17, 2009 Las Vegas Weekly contributor Julie Seabaugh joins Josh to wrap up the 2009 CineVegas film festival, including award winners, local films and festival highlights.
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CineVegas 2009
World’s Greatest Dad
Monday, June 15, 2009 Comedian-turned-filmmaker Bobcat Goldthwait may seem like a depraved sicko, but if you get past the synopses and actually watch his films, you’ll discover that the guy’s clearly a softie at heart.
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CineVegas 2009
Godspeed
Monday, June 15, 2009 Religious fervor gone horribly wrong informs the slow but often engrossing thriller Godspeed, which takes place in the harsh but beautiful wilds of Alaska.
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The thrill of thrillers
Sunday, June 14, 2009 -
CineVegas 2009
Humpday
Sunday, June 14, 2009 Indie comedy Humpday (already a big hit at Sundance and Cannes), is about two old buddies who concoct a drunken plan to enter an amateur porn festival with a movie featuring, in their words, “two straight dudes bonin’.”
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CineVegas 2009
The Revenant
Sunday, June 14, 2009 em>The Revenant starts off as a goofy, irreverent buddy comedy with gore in the vein of Shaun of the Dead.
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CineVegas 2009
Thor at the Bus Stop
Sunday, June 14, 2009 Thor isn’t a supernatural movie; it’s more like magic realism, with elements like the thunder god and a guy wandering around impaled by a yield sign mixing with more grounded stories about relationships and family.
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Coming up shorts
Saturday, June 13, 2009 -
CineVegas 2009
Daylight
Saturday, June 13, 2009 If you’re in a movie, it’s always a bad idea to pick up a hitchhiker in the middle of nowhere.
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CineVegas 2009
(500) Days of Summer
Saturday, June 13, 2009 “This is not a love story,” declares the arch omniscient narrator at the outset, but really it is, just not the one it appears to be at first.
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CineVegas 2009
Saint John of Las Vegas
Thursday, June 11, 2009 Within the first two minutes of Hue Rhodes’ Saint John of Las Vegas, Steve Buscemi’s John, does something impossible: He walks into a Vegas convenience store and buys a bunch of lottery tickets.
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television
Show time for Conan
Thursday, June 11, 2009 When Jay Leno took over The Tonight Show from Johnny Carson in 1992, the transition was fraught with tension, and the backstage drama was often far more interesting than what made it to the airwaves.
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Music
Street Sweeper Social Club
Thursday, June 11, 2009 With Audioslave defunct and the Rage Against the Machine reunion essentially fizzled out, guitarist extraordinaire Tom Morello has to find something to do, and his new supergroup of sorts, Street Sweeper Social Club.
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Film
The remaking of Pelham 1 2 3
Thursday, June 11, 2009 Although it’s a question that Hollywood often fails to answer, the prevailing mystery with most movie remakes is “Why?”
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CineVegas 2009
‘Truth will always come out’
Wednesday, June 10, 2009 Iranian filmmaker Amir Naderi came to Las Vegas as a double outsider. His CineVegas film Vegas: Based on a True Story is about a family torn apart searching for money allegedly buried on their property.
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Galifianakis, yes; Ferrell, no
Thursday, June 4, 2009 Las Vegas Weekly Managing Editor Ken Miller joins Josh to chat about polar-opposite new comedies The Hangover (very funny) and Land of the Lost (not funny at all), plus Gran Torino on DVD.
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Entertainment
Truth in the synthetic
Thursday, June 4, 2009 The opening film at Cinevegas this year isn’t as high-profile as past offerings The Rocker, Hustle & Flow and Ocean’s 13, but like Ocean’s, it is all about Vegas.
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Film
Land of the Lost
Thursday, June 4, 2009 This ostensibly fun family movie features vulgar jokes a-plenty—if you ever wanted to see Will Ferrell douse himself in dinosaur urine or learn about the mating habits of sleestaks, then you’re in luck—and completely fails as an effects-driven blockbuster.
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Film
Hair of the dog
Thursday, June 4, 2009 The Hangover is vulgar comedy that goes down easy. For 100 minutes the movie offers a glimpse into the Vegas of myth, the one that people around the world simultaneously crave and fear.
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television
Completely pain-free
Thursday, June 4, 2009 You know it’s summer because USA is debuting another breezy, rather formulaic new drama that will be fun to watch but probably not occupy a whole lot of your brain power in the process.
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Music
Rancid
Thursday, June 4, 2009 Although it’s been six years since Rancid’s last album, the Bay Area punks sound like they haven’t been away at all.
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Josh Bell likes everything
Friday, May 29, 2009 Comedian and filmmaker Jason Harris joins Josh to talk about a particularly strong week at the movies, including recommendations for Pixar’s new film Up and Sam Raimi’s return to horror, Drag Me to Hell.
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Music
Chickenfoot
Thursday, May 28, 2009 After departing Van Halen, singer Sammy Hagar and bassist Michael Anthony hooked up with Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and guitar wizard Joe Satriani to form supergroup Chickenfoot.
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Film
Not quite soaring
Thursday, May 28, 2009 Up starts with a wonderful faux-newsreel segment detailing the exploits of 1930s (-ish) adventurer Charles Muntz (voiced by Christopher Plummer), determined to prove the existence of an exotic bird in a secluded South American enclave known as Paradise Falls.
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Film
The Girlfriend Experience
Thursday, May 28, 2009 You might expect the mainstream film debut of porn star Sasha Grey, in which she plays a call girl, to be all about sex. But Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience is surprising.
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The disappointment of sequels
Friday, May 22, 2009 Jeffrey K. Howard of Vegas Film Critic and KVBC/KVCW joins Josh to chat about disappointing summer sequels Terminator Salvation and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, plus Dance Flick. Also, a great new reissue of two John Wayne classics on DVD.
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Music
The Day After
Thursday, May 21, 2009 Stalwart local band The Day After returns from a dalliance with indie label Gotham Records to self-release its latest album, Black Heart Symphony, the first with new drummer Daniel Kloza.
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Film
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
Thursday, May 21, 2009 The sequel to the midly amusing 2006 family film suffers from a common follow-up ailment, so focused on upping the stakes that it loses most of the charm it had in the first place. Stealing plot elements from the Mummy franchise doesn't help either.
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Film
Just terminate it already
Thursday, May 21, 2009 James Cameron has long since departed this lumbering sci-fi franchise, and the vision clearly went with him. What we end up with instead is two hours of characters flailing about, with little resolution and even less sense of purpose.
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Music
No more doubts about No Doubt
Thursday, May 21, 2009 At the kickoff of its first tour since 2004, pop-rock band No Doubt was in perfect form, showing no signs of atrophy from a five-year break.