http://metropulse.com/news/viewpoints/ae-reviews/?partner=RSSMetroPulse Stories: A&E Reviewsen-usviewpoints/ae-reviews/news/viewpoints/ae-reviews/?partner=RSShttp://metropulse.com/feeds/headlines/viewpoints/ae-reviews/2008-11-21T15:37:02.118404Copyright MetroPulse, 2008http://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/19/shaken-not-stirred/?partner=RSSCasino Royale ends, British secret agent James Bond (Daniel Craig) is in agony over the betrayal and suicide of his lover, Vesper. When Quantum of Solace begins, he is still consumed by past events, but his duty to country continues, leading him to an international group of criminals named Quantum, which he finds to have infiltrated the exclusive circle of agents run by his boss, M (Judi Dench). Now Bond is so determined to root out the head of Quantum, he can’t even kill straight. ]]>Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:00:00 -0000http://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/19/shaken-not-stirred/?partner=RSSae-reviews/movies140012008-11-19T17:00:002008-11-19T17:00:00Copyright MetroPulse, 2008When 2006’s <em>Casino Royale</em> ends, British secret agent James Bond (Daniel Craig) is in agony over the betrayal and suicide of his lover, Vesper. When <em>Quantum of Solace</em> begins, he is still consumed by past events, but his duty to country continues, leading him to an international group of criminals named Quantum, which he finds to have infiltrated the exclusive circle of agents run by his boss, M (Judi Dench). Now Bond is so determined to root out the head of Quantum, he can’t even kill straight.Knoxville, TNShaken, Not StirredMetroPulseshaken-not-stirredhttp://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/12/lucky-charms/?partner=RSSHappy-Go-Lucky, you’d assume that it’s an ironic title. It’s not, exactly—the phrase provides a perfect description of the movie’s protagonist, Poppy, an effervescent 30-year-old London schoolteacher played with exquisite and delicate intensity by Sally Hawkins—but it does downplay the serious way that Leigh uses her story to examine just what happiness is, and how it works. ]]>everettm@metropulse.com (Matthew Everett)Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:00:00 -0000http://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/12/lucky-charms/?partner=RSSae-reviews/movies139742008-11-12T17:00:002008-11-12T17:00:00Copyright MetroPulse, 2008When a new Mike Leigh film appears called <em>Happy-Go-Lucky</em>, you’d assume that it’s an ironic title. It’s not, exactly—the phrase provides a perfect description of the movie’s protagonist, Poppy, an effervescent 30-year-old London schoolteacher played with exquisite and delicate intensity by Sally Hawkins—but it does downplay the serious way that Leigh uses her story to examine just what happiness is, and how it works. Knoxville, TNMatthew EverettLucky CharmsMetroPulselucky-charmshttp://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/05/long-time-gone/?partner=RSSChangeling, the new film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Angelina Jolie, begins and ends in much the same way. The perspective is high above a colorless Los Angeles street in the late 1920s, Model A Fords trundling along it. The music behind is a muted trumpet, playing a sparse and tentative line. In between those bookends are nearly two-and-a-half hours of story, with only a slight improvement in hue. ]]>Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:00:00 -0000http://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/05/long-time-gone/?partner=RSSae-reviews/movies139392008-11-05T17:00:002008-11-05T17:00:00Copyright MetroPulse, 2008<em>Changeling</em>, the new film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Angelina Jolie, begins and ends in much the same way. The perspective is high above a colorless Los Angeles street in the late 1920s, Model A Fords trundling along it. The music behind is a muted trumpet, playing a sparse and tentative line. In between those bookends are nearly two-and-a-half hours of story, with only a slight improvement in hue.Knoxville, TNLong Time GoneMetroPulselong-time-gonehttp://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/19/local-cd-review-johnson-swingtet/?partner=RSSeverettm@metropulse.com (Matthew Everett)Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:00:00 -0000http://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/19/local-cd-review-johnson-swingtet/?partner=RSSae-reviews/records140102008-11-19T17:00:002008-11-19T17:00:00Copyright MetroPulse, 2008An anomaly among Knoxville bands, even in Knoxville’s jazz scene, the Johnson Swingtet sticks to a catalog of strictly pre-World War II jazz on its self-titled debut CD.Knoxville, TNMatthew EverettLocal CD Review: Johnson SwingtetMetroPulselocal-cd-review-johnson-swingtethttp://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/19/belle-and-sebastian/?partner=RSS ]]>Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:00:00 -0000http://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/19/belle-and-sebastian/?partner=RSSae-reviews/records140052008-11-19T17:00:002008-11-19T17:00:00Copyright MetroPulse, 2008At the start of their career, Belle and Sebastian seemed to exist in the same sort of pleasantly maudlin time capsule as an old pair of mittens or a Wes Anderson movie. The seamless beauty and consistency of their first few albums made them instant old pros, sliding their lazy afternoon tunes alongside the twinkly ballads of Nick Drake, the Velvet Underground, and the early Rolling Stones.Knoxville, TNBelle and SebastianMetroPulsebelle-and-sebastianhttp://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/19/boston-spaceships/?partner=RSS ]]>Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:00:00 -0000http://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/19/boston-spaceships/?partner=RSSae-reviews/records140062008-11-19T17:00:002008-11-19T17:00:00Copyright MetroPulse, 2008Robert Pollard’s rationale for breaking up Guided by Voices in 2004 was that he was a grown-ass man and it was somehow unbecoming to be a member of the boy’s club that every all-male group becomes. So what does he do four years later? He starts another band, Boston Spaceships. And what’s the difference between this band, the last band, and the umpteen solo discs that arrived in the interim? Not much.Knoxville, TNBoston SpaceshipsMetroPulseboston-spaceshipshttp://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/19/better-place/?partner=RSSbarrettc@metropulse.com (Chris Barrett)Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:00:00 -0000http://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/19/better-place/?partner=RSSae-reviews/art140002008-11-19T17:00:002008-11-19T17:00:00Copyright MetroPulse, 2008Marcia Goldenstein has been teaching painting and watercolor at the University of Tennessee for more than 30 years. Her aerie office studio on the fourth floor of the school’s Art and Architecture building has a pleasant, lived-in feel. She stores work there, although she paints mostly at a home studio in Fountain City. Goldenstein’s large personal archive is full of wonders. With subjects ranging from landscapes to figures to streetlights to maps, most recently, she manages to make what might otherwise be mundane seem intimate and personal.Knoxville, TNChris BarrettA Better PlaceMetroPulsebetter-placehttp://metropulse.com/news/2008/oct/22/uncommon-ground/?partner=RSSGrowing Tennessee: Rural Youth Cultivate Common Ground, young people whose families come to Tennessee as seasonal laborers were given digital cameras and access to ceramics materials and were mentored by accomplished local artists. The results offer a glimpse into the worlds and portable households of a group of people not easily accessed by outsiders. Indeed, this is a group of people too easily overlooked, too often rendered invisible by their circumstances. ]]>barrettc@metropulse.com (Chris Barrett)Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:00:00 -0000http://metropulse.com/news/2008/oct/22/uncommon-ground/?partner=RSSae-reviews/art138462008-10-22T17:00:002008-10-22T17:00:00Copyright MetroPulse, 2008As part of a program called <em>Growing Tennessee: Rural Youth Cultivate Common Ground</em>, young people whose families come to Tennessee as seasonal laborers were given digital cameras and access to ceramics materials and were mentored by accomplished local artists. The results offer a glimpse into the worlds and portable households of a group of people not easily accessed by outsiders. Indeed, this is a group of people too easily overlooked, too often rendered invisible by their circumstances.Knoxville, TNChris BarrettUncommon GroundMetroPulseuncommon-groundhttp://metropulse.com/news/2008/oct/08/artbeat-costume-ball/?partner=RSSWed, 08 Oct 2008 21:00:00 -0000http://metropulse.com/news/2008/oct/08/artbeat-costume-ball/?partner=RSSae-reviews/art137982008-10-08T17:00:002008-10-08T17:00:00Copyright MetroPulse, 2008Katie Ries is a graduate student in the University of Tennessee School of Art’s high-profile printmaking department. But her most recent opening at UT’s Gallery 1010 this past First Friday proves that it is rarely the medium that counts most to Ries, but the message.Knoxville, TNArtbeat: Costume BallMetroPulseartbeat-costume-ballhttp://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/12/dancing-about-architecture/?partner=RSSbarrettc@metropulse.com (Chris Barrett)Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:00:00 -0000http://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/12/dancing-about-architecture/?partner=RSSae-reviews/theater139732008-11-12T17:00:002008-11-12T17:00:00Copyright MetroPulse, 2008One of the lessons to be learned from the example of Pilobolus, the esteemed Connecticut-based dance company, might be to think long and hard about the possible consequences of your youthful larks and distractions. Four decades later you might find yourself addressing the board of directors that has assembled to help you manage what has become an international force, within a discipline you’d never thought much about as a young man. Knoxville, TNChris BarrettDancing About ArchitectureMetroPulsedancing-about-architecturehttp://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/05/heaven-stage/?partner=RSS ]]>Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:00:00 -0000http://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/05/heaven-stage/?partner=RSSae-reviews/theater139382008-11-05T17:00:002008-11-05T17:00:00Copyright MetroPulse, 2008I often fantasize about a Knoxville in which theater and football have switched places. Leading up to game days we would see Phillip Fulmer—or whoever the head coach will be—frantically pleading with small businesses for a few dollars in sponsorship, enough perhaps to buy a quarter-page advertisement in the local paper so people know the game is happening. A handful of forlorn fans, ignoring taunts that sports aren’t for “real men,” try in vain to explain that there’s more to football than just watching a bunch of clumsy zealots squabble over a prolate spheroidKnoxville, TNHeaven on StageMetroPulseheaven-stagehttp://metropulse.com/news/2008/sep/10/dramatic-misbehavior/?partner=RSSAin’t Misbehavin’: The Fats Waller Musical Show. The final word in the subtitle was presumably inserted by the lawyers, since while the production is certainly a show—and unquestionably musical—it is in no sense a musical, lacking as it does plot, drama and, in all but the very broadest sense, characterization. ]]>Wed, 10 Sep 2008 21:00:00 -0000http://metropulse.com/news/2008/sep/10/dramatic-misbehavior/?partner=RSSae-reviews/theater137002008-09-10T17:00:002008-09-10T17:00:00Copyright MetroPulse, 2008The Clarence Brown Theatre opens its new season with an odd choice, <em>Ain’t Misbehavin’: The Fats Waller Musical Show</em>. The final word in the subtitle was presumably inserted by the lawyers, since while the production is certainly a show—and unquestionably musical—it is in no sense a musical, lacking as it does plot, drama and, in all but the very broadest sense, characterization.Knoxville, TNDramatic MisbehaviorMetroPulsedramatic-misbehaviorhttp://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/19/projection-difficulties/?partner=RSSStreet Scene went on to win the first-ever Tony Award for a Composer (now Best Original Score). Yet Street Scene ran for only 148 performances—unsuccessful by Broadway standards—closing because of “production difficulties.” With a cast of more than 50, many of whom must possess operatic-quality voices, it doesn’t take a lot to imagine what those “difficulties” could have been. Nonetheless, Weill’s music is still appreciated for the descriptive textures and haunting melodies that engage the audience. ]]>Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:00:00 -0000http://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/19/projection-difficulties/?partner=RSSae-reviews/classical140032008-11-19T17:00:002008-11-19T17:00:00Copyright MetroPulse, 2008After opening at Broadway’s Adelphi Theatre in January of 1947, Kurt Weill’s <em>Street Scene</em> went on to win the first-ever Tony Award for a Composer (now Best Original Score). Yet <em>Street Scene</em> ran for only 148 performances—unsuccessful by Broadway standards—closing because of “production difficulties.” With a cast of more than 50, many of whom must possess operatic-quality voices, it doesn’t take a lot to imagine what those “difficulties” could have been. Nonetheless, Weill’s music is still appreciated for the descriptive textures and haunting melodies that engage the audience.Knoxville, TNProjection DifficultiesMetroPulseprojection-difficultieshttp://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/12/scenes-new-york/?partner=RSSWed, 12 Nov 2008 22:00:00 -0000http://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/12/scenes-new-york/?partner=RSSae-reviews/classical139762008-11-12T17:00:002008-11-12T17:00:00Copyright MetroPulse, 2008It is perhaps an illusory dream—the dream of artists to create works that distill the expansiveness of America into a singular essence, the dream of writing the great American novel or of capturing the nature of American life in painting or photography. In much the same way, it was the dream of German-born American composer Kurt Weill to create an “American opera.” Weill’s dream was built on the belief that the musical and theatrical territory of such a work lay somewhere between the traditions of European opera and American musical comedy.Knoxville, TNScenes From New YorkMetroPulsescenes-new-yorkhttp://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/05/string-music/?partner=RSSWed, 05 Nov 2008 22:00:00 -0000http://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/05/string-music/?partner=RSSae-reviews/classical139402008-11-05T17:00:002008-11-05T17:00:00Copyright MetroPulse, 2008When chamber music ventured beyond the drawing rooms and libraries of its origins and into larger concert halls and theaters, it suffered a predictable fate. Subtlety and nuance, defining characteristics of the personality of a small ensemble, were invariably lost in larger spaces. Fortunately, though, there is no finer theater-sized hall—in Knoxville, at least—suited to chamber music than the Bijou Theatre.Knoxville, TNString MusicMetroPulsestring-musichttp://metropulse.com/news/2008/oct/15/another-sonic-bust/?partner=RSSSonic Chronicles is one of those inexplicable genre-breaking efforts that deposits an established universe into a previously untapped gameplay realm. Sega tapped Bioware, notable developer of Star Wars fan fiction games and space-sex simulators, to revive their long-struggling flagship series by dragging Sonic kicking and screaming into turn-based RPG territory for the Nintendo DS. ]]>Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:00:00 -0000http://metropulse.com/news/2008/oct/15/another-sonic-bust/?partner=RSSae-reviews/video-games138262008-10-15T17:00:002008-10-15T17:00:00Copyright MetroPulse, 2008<em>Sonic Chronicles</em> is one of those inexplicable genre-breaking efforts that deposits an established universe into a previously untapped gameplay realm. Sega tapped Bioware, notable developer of <em>Star Wars</em> fan fiction games and space-sex simulators, to revive their long-struggling flagship series by dragging Sonic kicking and screaming into turn-based RPG territory for the Nintendo DS.Knoxville, TNAnother Sonic BustMetroPulseanother-sonic-busthttp://metropulse.com/news/2008/oct/01/it-could-be-worse/?partner=RSSStar Wars franchise, I realized that the nature of the problem isn’t that I like it or hate it, but that I demand so much from it. George Lucas had a couple of winning years when I was a kid, and every time he fields a new team, I want more of those unbeaten seasons I remember from my youth. ]]>Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:00:00 -0000http://metropulse.com/news/2008/oct/01/it-could-be-worse/?partner=RSSae-reviews/video-games137772008-10-01T17:00:002008-10-01T17:00:00Copyright MetroPulse, 2008I just had a transcendental moment. After spending a couple of hours trying to puzzle out my ambivalence toward the <em>Star Wars</em> franchise, I realized that the nature of the problem isn’t that I like it or hate it, but that I demand so much from it. George Lucas had a couple of winning years when I was a kid, and every time he fields a new team, I want more of those unbeaten seasons I remember from my youth.Knoxville, TNIt Could Be WorseMetroPulseit-could-be-worsehttp://metropulse.com/news/2008/sep/17/crashing-castles/?partner=RSS ]]>Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:00:00 -0000http://metropulse.com/news/2008/sep/17/crashing-castles/?partner=RSSae-reviews/video-games137262008-09-17T17:00:002008-09-17T17:00:00Copyright MetroPulse, 2008After a long day of doing all those awesome things I do, I go home and play the hell out of two games that cost less than $15 each, could have been made 15 years ago, and take up less memory than the word processor on which I write this column. Stepping back from it, I can’t help but feel that someone is laughing at me.Knoxville, TNCrashing CastlesMetroPulsecrashing-castleshttp://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/19/whatever-happened-randolph-scott/?partner=RSS ]]>Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:00:00 -0000http://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/19/whatever-happened-randolph-scott/?partner=RSSae-reviews/dvd-tv140132008-11-19T17:00:002008-11-19T17:00:00Copyright MetroPulse, 2008It’s one of the most pervasive clichés in movie history: A character watches an unseen TV screen while the sound of Indian war whoops, gunshots, and the over-the-top score of an old B-movie Western signals that it doesn’t matter what he or she is watching. Not all old B Westerns are so easily dismissed, however. Filmmakers such as John Ford, Howard Hawks, and Anthony Mann have long been acknowledged as major artists by even casual film fans, but hardcore film and Western nerds have had the name Budd Boetticher (pronounced “BET-ick-er”) on their lips for decades.Knoxville, TNWhatever Happened to Randolph Scott?MetroPulsewhatever-happened-randolph-scotthttp://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/05/men-alone/?partner=RSSMongol, new to DVD. ]]>Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:00:00 -0000http://metropulse.com/news/2008/nov/05/men-alone/?partner=RSSae-reviews/dvd-tv139552008-11-05T17:00:002008-11-05T17:00:00Copyright MetroPulse, 2008There is nothing small about Genghis Khan, uniter of the Mongols, scourge of Asia in the early 12th century, and, before his death, the ruler of pretty much every acre between the Pacific Ocean and the Black Sea. But the great khan started life, like anyone else, as a child, in this case a minor khan’s son named Temudjin. And thus does Russian director/co-writer Sergei Bodrov find a way to fit the life of Genghis Khan—or at least his early years—within the confines of two hours on a screen in <em>Mongol</em>, new to DVD.Knoxville, TNMen AloneMetroPulsemen-alone