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Story Archive

  • Music

    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.

  • Film

    Thursday, July 9, 2009

    Every Little Step is a documentary about dancers auditioning for a Broadway show about dancers auditioning for a Broadway show.

  • Film

    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.

  • 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.

  • Music

    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.”

  • Film

    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.

  • television

    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.

  • A&E

    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.

  • Film

    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.

  • Film

    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.

  • 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.

  • Film

    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.

  • Film

    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.

  • television

    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.

  • Music

    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.

  • Music

    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.

  • television

    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.

  • Music

    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.

  • Film

    Thursday, June 18, 2009

    Oh Sandra Bullock, why do you do this to yourself? Haven’t you moved past this yet? Hasn’t America?

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • CineVegas 2009

    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.

  • CineVegas 2009

    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.

  • Sunday, June 14, 2009

  • CineVegas 2009

    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’.”

  • CineVegas 2009

    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.

  • CineVegas 2009

    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.

  • Saturday, June 13, 2009

  • CineVegas 2009

    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.

  • CineVegas 2009

    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.

  • CineVegas 2009

    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.

  • television

    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.

  • Music

    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.

  • Film

    Thursday, June 11, 2009

    Although it’s a question that Hollywood often fails to answer, the prevailing mystery with most movie remakes is “Why?”

  • CineVegas 2009

    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.

  • 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.

  • Entertainment

    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.

  • Film

    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.

  • Film

    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.

  • television

    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.

  • Music

    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.

  • 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.

  • Music

    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.

  • Film

    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.

  • Film

    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.

  • 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.

  • Music

    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.

  • Film

    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.

  • Film

    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.

  • Music

    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.