Flatiron Hot! Review: “Stoned and Starving” off Parquet Courts Light up Gold

Originally published on indie shuffle

Brooklynites by way of Texas (hence their self-proclaimed label of “Americana Punk”), Parquet Courts fit right in among their noise rock neighbors.  Nowhere is this more apparent than on the track “Stoned & Starving.” The subject matter is exactly what it sounds like, but somehow the music is exhilarating where it should be mundane.

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Justified Season 4 Premiere: Recap/Review

Season 4 of FX’s Justified starts out just as long-time viewers of the series should expect it to: with a bang (in both senses of the term) and a whole lot of style. At this point in the TV show’s lifespan, the writers and the actors have nailed every character down to the most minor vocal cadences. It’s a credit to the amazing talent behind Justified that its season premiere can hook us while offering no more than a few tantalizing hints about the overall narrative direction. Elmore Leonard couldn’t ask for a better adaptation of his novels.

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“Zero Dark Thirty” Review: Torture Controversy in bin-Laden Raid Movie Absurd

Director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal have caught a lot of flack for their portrayal of torture in Oscar-nominated film Zero Dark Thirty, detailing the operation that resulted in the death of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin-Laden. Ultimately, the controversy says a lot more about the state of Hollywood than it does about the film.

Bigelow handles the loaded issue of torture in a manner in line with her cinematic vision, as witnessed in prior films such as 2008’s The Hurt Locker. That being said, her latest movie harbors, if anything, an anti-torture message, although it requires a bit of discernment on the part of her audience to notice. Fortunately, the Flatiron Hot! News critic is on hand with 800 words of discernment.

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Review: Illuminating Traumas of Slavery, August Wilson’s “Piano Lesson” Strikes Core of American Identity

August Wilson is often referred to as one of the greatest African American playwrights of the 20^th century. He also happens to be one of the greatest playwrights, period. Last night, the Flatiron Hot! News critic saw the latest revival of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Piano Lesson” (premiered in 1987 at the Yale Repertory Theater) at the Signature Theatre.  The play is not only a poignant snapshot of the African American experience in the 1930s, but an overall sublime work of art relevant to Americans of all races.

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Flatiron Hot! Review: Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained

There’s something to be said for an artist who is out to please only himself. But when the product of the ensuing creative narcissism is so arcane as to be unfathomable to those who do not share the artist’s fetishes, then it is deprived of a certain universal quality present in the greatest of art. It has long been said that Quentin Tarantino has abandoned making movies in the traditional sense and has instead taken up the postmodern indulgence of making movies about movies.

To an extent, this has been the case since Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. Tarantino’s most critically acclaimed and greatest cinematic achievements possessed more than a few elements of pastiche. But beneath all the allusions and arcane stylistic flourishes, one could still discern a beating heart. With Death Proof, which Tarantino correctly deemed his creative low point, the director completely abandoned any pretense of traditional cinematic ambitions with breakneck style over substance.

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