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Guided by Voices, Black Keys, Trombone Shorty, REM, Gamer Lizard   Printer-friendly page   Send this story to someone
Monday, December 19, 2011 - 08:00 AM
Posted by: Karl

Karl

MY MORNING JACKET plays "I'll Be Home For Christmas" at Madison Square Garden.

GUIDED BY VOICES is advance streaming Let's Go Eat the Factory.

THE BLACK KEYS stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

TROMBONE SHORTY stopped by Sound Opinions for a session, some improvised.

R.E.M.'s final holiday fanclub single has live versions of "Perfect Circle" and "Life and How To Live It."

THE PRETENDERS: "2000 Miles." It felt like Christmas time.  And here's a cover by Lissie.

SEASON OF THE LIST: Pitchfork's Top 50 Albums (and more).

THE BEACH BOYS: Brian Wilson is reuniting with Mike Love and Al Jardine for a 50th anniversary album and tour. Bruce Johnson and David Marks will also be there.

SLEIGH BELLS talk to SPIN about the making of their upcoming Reign of Terror.

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS: Mike Cooley talks about playing solo shows. Fmr Trucker Jason Isbell enthuses over the Atlanta Braves and discusses indie rock love for baseball. (Thx, LHB.)

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows tops the chart with 40 million.  That's well below tracking predictions in the 60-million range, but I was never quite sure why those numbers were so high.  That would have matched the opening of the last Sherlock, which opened on Christmas, always a huge movie weekend.  Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked placed with 23.5 million, about 10 million below tracking estimates.  This may be more surprising, given that the competition -- Hugo, Arthur Christmas and The Muppets - now occupy the bottom three rungs of the Top Ten.  Even so, the rodents travel well, so this is a likely moneymaker. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol shows with 13 million, almost exactly what gurus predicted, though I think its easier with a smaller release, mostly on IMAX, where most tix are advance ordered.  New Years Eve and The Sitter slide predictably, with the former looking more like a flop.  Below the fold, Young Adult took in 3.6 million at the seventh slot, further suggesting it will profit, but the black comedy is unlikely to do Juno-scale biz.

SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS is -- for better or worse -- pretty much exactly what anyone who saw the first Robert Downey, Jr.-Jude Law outing.  If you don't like Guy Ritchie's hyperactive direction, you won't like this.  If you don't like how little these movies resemble the classic Conan Arthur Doyle stories, you won't like this.  If you at least want a mystery, instead of an action flick, you won't like this.  But if you liked the first one, you'll probably like this one.  Although Ritchie's direction grated a bit more on me in this one, I actually prefer the script here (the first seemed to borrow too much from From Hell and even Young Sherlock Holmes for my taste).  Written by Dermot Mulroney's brother Kieran (perhaps best known for warning George Costanza against double-dipping) and Michele Mulroney, the sequel does a decent job of expanding the scope without overstuffing the film with subplots and characters.  Here we get Moriarity, ably played by Mad Men's Jared Harris, along with Noomi Rapace as a female foil and Stephen Fry as a minor role as Sherlock's brother Mycroft.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL is also pretty much what you would expect, although perhaps in the top end of the franchise.  It's the live-action debut from Brad Bird, who draws on his experience helming The Incredibles more than The Simpsons.  Tom Cruise may be insane, but everyone benefits when it puts him dngling on the outside of the world's tallest building in the flick's most spectactular setpiece.  Simon Pegg's character is given more to do, and the script exploits his comic gifts.  The team is rounded out by Paula Patton and Jeremy Renner, who -- like Ethan Hunt -- both wrestle with the scars of IMF service.  Action-packed, well-executed, with a little depth and comic relief: what's not to like?

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES:  The seven-minute preview attached to Mission Impossible 4 on just 42 screens admittedly was one of the reasons for me to view the latter.  Having just written about the dangers of sequelitis, I was suddenly struck by the fact that Christopher Nolan & Co. were good enough to have two villains and international scope without seeming overstuffed.  The preview shows us another two villains, though only a glimpse of Anne Hathaway in her Catwoman suit.  It also confirms some international scope, as most of the film's opening sequence takes place outside the US, showing that Bane (played by Inception's Tom Hardy) has an organization big enough to be a problem for the CIA.  I cannot say I was quite as excited about this as the similar preview of The Dark Knight (showing the opening bank job), but it did raise my anticipation level.  Inasmuch as it also suggests a final chapter of a trilogy, I trust Nolan to deliver a fitting finale.

BRITNEY SPEARS got engaged to her former agent, Jason Trawick. Obligatory "oops" punchline here.

LINDSAY LOHAN: Not selling Playboy magazines.

KARDASHIANS: Kris Humphries' family had reservations about his relationship with Kim Kardashian from the beginning.

ELLEN DeGENERES bought Brad Pitt's Malibu manse for 12 million dollars.

ALYSON HANNIGAN (How I Met Your Mother) looks like she'll be a mother again.

KOBE BRYANT is getting divorced by his wife. Can't imagine why.

CHRISTIAN BALE was roughed up by Chinese guards while trying to visit a blind, self-taught lawyer under house arrest who rose to fame in the late 1990s thanks to his legal advocacy for what he called victims of abusive practices by China's family-planning officials.

VACLAV HAVEL, the Czech writer and dissident whose eloquent dissections of Communist rule helped to destroy it in revolutions that brought down the Berlin Wall and swept Mr. Havel himself into power, died on Sunday. He was 75.

KIM JONG IL, North Korean dictator since the 1994 death of his father, has died at the age of 69, state-run television has announced.

IRAN: Senior US officials say they are deeply concerned by reports of the seizure of smuggled radioactive material heading into Tehran and commend the Russian security services for seizing the material.

EGYPT: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday she was "deeply concerned" about continuing violence in Egypt and urged Egyptian security forces to respect the rights of protesters.

AFGHANISTAN: Abdul Baqi Raghbat, the former director of border and tribal affairs in Kandahar province, was assassinated in Kandahar city.

IRAQ's Shi'ite prime minister asked parliament to fire his Sunni deputy, and security sources said an arrest warrant was issued for the Sunni vice president, straining the fragile sectarian coalition on the day the last American troops left.

AN AUSSIE LIZARD has learned to play an online videogame. Next: car insurance.

A 550 LB. BEAR found hiding out in a New Jersey basement had been living there for weeks.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: A militant rodent steals toast.

ESCAPED OSTRICHES wander the no-go zone around Japan's Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.  What could go wrong?

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