Artsweek

“The Green Hornet” Is Totally Decent

Although “The Green Hornet” suffers from bouts of identity crisis and lack of restraint, it manages to utilize its leads to create an often-hilarious action-comedy that brings something original t...
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Zombie Spaceship Wasteland

For those of you unfamiliar with Patton Oswalt’s comedy: You’re wrong.
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Minks “By The Hedge”

Brooklyn duo Minks released their debut By the Hedge on the Brooklyn label Captured Tracks. Heavily influenced by the post-punk sound, the album is a mixture of breathy vocals, fierce bass lines and a...
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Rx Bandits Rock the Hub

The Rx Bandits played to a large audience in the Hub last Friday. The band hyped up the crowd with their lively and lyrically strong music.
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You Crazy for This One, jj

On Christmas Eve, two months after releasing the single “Let Them,” Swedish electronic band jj released the mix tape Kills for free on their record label’s Web site.
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Big Sean Busts Big Nut All Over Velvet Jones, Crowd Pleased

Detroit rapper Big Sean performed live at Santa Barbara’s Velvet Jones Night Club to a large audience on Saturday, Jan. 8.
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The Future Is Now for James Blake

Up-and-coming electronic artist James Blake’s self-titled debut album is due for official release on Feb. 7.
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Country Strong, Plot Weak

My musical tastes lie somewhere between gangsta rap and a little-known genre called “pirate metal,” so the honky-tonk bar tones and sappy, tongue-in-cheek, cowboy romance lyrics of country music a...
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Season of the Witch: Not Even Ironically Entertaining

The simplest way to describe this miserable failure of a movie is that it is “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” without any jokes and worse special effects.
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Natalie Portman: Lady in the Streets, Reportedly a Freak in the Sheets?

Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan” is a movie obsessed with doubles: mothers and daughters, mentors and protégés, teachers and students, mirrors and reality, art and life, layering on the tropes ...
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Tron is an Eyeball Massage with a Happy Ending

I’m gonna get one thing clear and out in the open: I like 3D a lot. It’s easy to say it’s a gimmick only good for a cheap thrill when things pop out toward you or that movies are good enough, or...
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Going “Somewhere” With Coppola, Fanning and Dorff

In 2004, Sofia Coppola made history with her work “Lost in Translation,” becoming the first American woman nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards. Since then, Coppola has continued to...
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Yo Kanye I’m Really Happy for You

Few albums come out that make me say, “Damn, this is perfect.” Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is one of those albums.
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True Grit: Truly Great

I’ll be the first to admit that: I am not a fan of the Coen Brothers.
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“Somewhere” Reviewed

Sofia Coppola burst into the filmmaking scene in 1999, writing and directing an adaptation of Jeffrey Eugenides’ “The Virgin Suicides.”
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