Cannibalism? <I>Yeah, Baby!!!</I>
Movies
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
(New Line
Cinema). Good reviews overall. Several critics carp that Mike Myers' horny '60s
swinger is not as novel the second time around: "Most of the silliness has
become pretty strenuous and some of the sweetness has settled into desperation"
(Joe Morgenstern, the Wall Street Journal ). But despite their
protestations, reviewers can't help recounting all their favorite jokes from
the film, a habit that effectively dilutes their complaints. On the plus side:
The characters of Dr. Evil and his son, Scott Evil, are fleshed out and funnier
this time around. On the minus side: Heather Graham doesn't match up to
Elizabeth Hurley as Myers' ladylove. (
Slate
's David Edelstein is
one of the film's biggest fans, saying it's "better than anyone dared hope:
bigger, more inventive, and more frolicsome than its predecessor, with a grab
bag of scatological gags that are almost as riotous when you think back on
them." Click to read the rest.)
The Red Violin
(New Line Cinema). Director François
Girard ( Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould ) hits the musical theme
again in this "odd, piquant tale" (Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment
Weekly ) that traces the peregrinations of a priceless
17 th -century violin. Is it an "utterly predictable" (Richard
Schickel, Time ) gimmick for a costume drama, or is it a fascinating ride
through history? Stephen Holden (the New York Times) is in the first
camp, complaining that as soon as the spectacular score subsides the movie
"clatters back down to earth." But others find the film "beautifully crafted,
intricately designed" (Eric Harrison, the Los Angeles Times ) and credit
Samuel L. Jackson's outstanding performance as a crotchety and morally
ambiguous violin appraiser. (Click here to find out more about the film.)
Books
Hannibal
, by Thomas Harris (Delacorte). Stephen King
raves in the New York Times Book Review that this sequel to The
Silence of the Lambs surpasses its predecessor: "It is, in fact, one of the
two most frightening popular novels of our time, the other being The
Exorcist . ... If Hannibal Lecter isn't a Count Dracula for the
computer-and-cell-phone age, then we don't have one." But Christopher
Lehmann-Haupt (the daily New York Times ) speaks for most critics when he
notes that this one, while a fantastic thriller, "simply lacks the compact
power of the previous books." A few reviewers are horrified by the amped-up
gore (a man cuts off his own face, feeds it to dogs, then has the dogs'
stomachs pumped so he can try to have the recovered nose surgically
reattached). Says Deirdre Donahue ( USA Today ): "You end up wanting to
quickly kill off Hannibal Lecter yourself, just to stanch the flow of foul
language, repellent imagery and bloodshed." (Click here to read the rest of King's review; the page also includes a
clip of Harris reading from Hannibal .)
Elementals: Stories of Fire and Ice
,by A.S. Byatt
(Random House). Booker Prize-winning author A.S. Byatt's collection of fanciful
tales wins the hearts of most critics, although all admit that some stories
don't quite work. But when she's on, Byatt's writing "leaps and pirouettes,
shimmies and shivers" (Gabriella Stern, the Wall Street Journal ) and has
an "aura of extravagant ingenuity" (David Barber, the Boston Globe ). A
few find the tales a bit too similar--there is a theme throughout of the
conflict between the warm southern temperament and the cold northern one--but
most deem the sameness unimportant when the writing is so superb. (Click
here to read an interview with Byatt.)
Music
Surrender
,by the Chemical Brothers (EMD/Astralwerks).
The dance-music duo surprise critics with their latest: "Instead of revisiting
blocks already rocked, the Brothers venture down untravelled paths from which
their contemporaries have shied away. ... The world has already praised the
Brothers as creators of clever, catchy dance tracks, but Surrender will
finally make the public respect these guys as mature, intelligent and
enterprising musicians" (M. Tye Comer, CMJ ). What's different this time
is that they've relaxed a little and broadened their horizons from exclusively
dance-oriented music: "This is a subtler, moodier, sweeter, funkier record,
less in-your-face, more in-your-heart. Even the dance instrumentals are booty
shakers, not bone crunchers" (David Gates, Newsweek ). (Click here to listen to
samples from the new album.)
Terror Twilight
, by Pavement (Matador). Excellent
reviews for the fifth album from indie rock's favorite lo-fi sons. It's not as
groundbreaking as 1994's Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain , but it's close:
"[T]he music is leaner and cleaner, with lunatic word play that remains an
advanced course in pretzel logic" (Chris Nashawaty, Fortune ). The album
"redefines the band's stellar status" (Colin Berry, the San Francisco
Chronicle ), and vocalist-guitarist Stephen Malkmus delivers not just the
expected musical power-punch but dead-on lyrics as well: It's "his most direct
statement of purpose ever (in short: Things hurt, and growing up is hard, but
kissing helps)" (Joe Levy, Rolling Stone ). (Click here to listen.)
Californication
, by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
(WEA/Warner Bros.). After years of addiction and attempts at recovery, the
nearly 16-year-old California band has entered dinosaur land. Most critics come
down hard: Newsweek 's Gates says "it's mostly midtempo mush," and
Entertainment Weekly 's David Browne detects a "whiff of desperation" on
the record. On the upside: 1) Former guitarist John Frusciante returns to give
the band a hint of their former jammy-jammin' glory; and 2) Rolling
Stone is wildly positive (four stars), if completely alone in its
enthusiasm--"They've written a whole album's worth of tunes that tickle the
ear, romance the booty, swell the heart, moisten the tear ducts and dilate the
third eye" (Greg Tate). (Click here to watch a multimedia presentation on the band.)
Snap Judgment
Music
Learning
Curve
, by DJ Rap (Sony/Columbia). Critics give a polite nod to the
debut album from one of the few female DJs in the boys' club world of
electronic music. Most praise her for being able to hold her own, as opposed to
noticing any genuine musical ability, and note that the album is far more
pop-oriented than the drum 'n' bass and jungle she spins live.
