How to Rob a Bank
Off-the-wall indie heist thriller is right on the money.
By Troy Patterson 01.30.08 4:40 PM
Loopy but glossy, this heist movie plays like a camp classic searching for its cult. Jason (Stahl), who has wandered in from some Reality Bites remake, goes to the bank to take out his last 20 bucks or maybe just to whine about his ATM fees.
Be Kind Rewind
Jack Black is truly magnetic in Michel Gondry's whimsical vision of video.
By Troy Patterson 01.30.08 4:29 PM
The titular establishment dodders along on a shabby corner in Passaic, New Jersey. It's a neighborhood video store whose owner -- called Mr. Fletcher, as if this were Sesame Street, and portrayed by Danny Glover in grumpy grandpa mode -- continues to stock VHS tapes. Exclusively.
Persepolis
Compelling cartoon depicts a hard-knock life in Iran.
By Troy Patterson 01.30.08 4:25 PM
Adapting her memoir into a starkly beautiful animated feature, comics artist Marjane Satrapi braids personal history and national tragedy.
T.H. White, 'The Private Spotlight' (Sky Council)
From the dance floor to the breakfast nook, he's got you covered.
By Amanda Petrusich 01.29.08 9:13 PM
T.H. White -- who writes, plays, and arranges virtually all the tracks here -- shows a gift for titillating, slinky melodies ("Private People," with willowy vocals by Law & Order's Meghan Wolf, could soundtrack a salacious New York club crawl).
The Whigs, 'Mission Control' (ATO)
The next big bastards of young or just no-frills men out of time?
By Josh Modell 01.29.08 9:13 PM
It's a long, uphill battle for straight-up, fundamentally solid rock bands like the Whigs, who attempt to uncover new hooks in well-worn territory, rather than resort to studio gimmicks, haircuts, or Nickelback-trademarked mmrrryeahhh vocals.
Van Hunt, 'Popular' (Blue Note)
Despite career complications, crooner is still raucously crossing genres.
By Andy Beta 01.29.08 9:13 PM
Grammy-winning soul man Van Hunt is stuck in commercial limbo: too impish to fill the neoclassicist void left by D'Angelo and Maxwell, not quirky enough to cross over to white alternative fans (see André 3000, Cee-Lo). Add Capitol shifting him to jazz label Blue Note, and Hunt has reason to be frustrated.
