Artsweek

Grupo de Rua @ Campbell

January 28, 2010 by

Creating a bold new voice for hip hop, Bruno Beltrão, artistic director of Grupo de Rua, transforms street dancing into a classical piece of dance theater that reflects a dancer's everyday life i...
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“Legion” = Unholy Failure * 1/2

January 28, 2010 by

The single redeeming value of "Legion" is that it only takes itself half seriously. Unfortunately, neither half really merits watching.
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SBIFF 2010’s Feature Films

January 21, 2010 by

Featuring a whopping 196 films -- in addition to a slew of panels and tributes -- for its 25th anniversary, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival's 2010 lineup is more than a little bewilderin...
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This Spoon Isn’t So Sharp **

January 21, 2010 by

Austin-based band Spoon has garnered a reputation for dependability, releasing solid album after solid album for the last 10 years or so. The band's last effort, 2007's bizarrely titled Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga...
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Obama vs. Rabid

January 21, 2010 by

You know what they say: Where there's smoke, there's fire. Or in the case of the last couple of weeks, where there's rain, there's drama. Let's take a look at the bad, the ugly and the "WHAT IS THIS??...
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“Eli” Doesn’t Rewrite the Book **

January 21, 2010 by

Walking into the theater, I wasn't sure what to expect of the Hughes Brothers' latest flick. Of course, that may be the curse of January film drudge more than anything else, but "The Book of Eli" was ...
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Sonic Youth at the Wiltern

January 14, 2010 by

One more reason to hate tennis (as if you needed another one): Last September, the veteran experimental rockers of Sonic Youth announced they would be cancelling the remainder of the dates on their We...
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Weekend Delights Again ****

January 14, 2010 by

Despite the backlash from its much-hyped debut album, the NY-based Vampire Weekend avoids showing any signs of a sophomore slump with its latest album, Contra. The foursome of Ivy-Leaguers preserves t...
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Another Michael Cera-nade ***

January 14, 2010 by

Twenty-five years ago, Michael Cera wouldn't even have been cast as the goofy sidekick in a John Hughes film. Today, he's shaping up to be an honest-to-god movie star.
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Terry Gilliam’s “Parnassus” Is Quite a Trip ***

January 14, 2010 by

Visionary director Terry Gilliam ("Brazil," "Time Bandits") swings for the fences in "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus," a mostly successful but uneven film about an ancient storyteller struggling to ...
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The Best of the Decade

January 7, 2010 by

"Mulholland Drive" - Dir. David Lynch (2001) A perfect movie with my favorite sequence ever (the scene outside the diner with the homeless person) Mullholland Drive has haunted my dreams for years. I ...
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Deliver Us From Re-run Hell

January 7, 2010 by

Over the break, after a terribly lame night of untangling Christmas lights or being your parents' own personal Geek Squad, you may have hunkered down in front of the trusty TV for some much-needed qui...
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Love, Senior-Citizen Style ***

January 7, 2010 by

Filmed and set in our own Santa Barbara, Nancy Meyers' new romantic comedy, "It's Complicated," delivers the laughs and a hell of a view along with it.
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Lil Wayne Denied Rebirth *

January 7, 2010 by

PREFACE: Lil Wayne's newest record, Rebirth, was accidentally shipped to some 500 Amazon customers who had preordered it. I was lucky enough to track down one of the physical copies. It appears that t...
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Artsweek’s Favorite Films of ’09

December 3, 2009 by

1. "Inglourious Basterds" We're all well aware of Quentin Tarantino's notoriety for dirty, unpolished cult classic cinema. What "Basterds" accomplishes is a popular culture version of his taste, where...
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