Is 'Bad Lieutenant' Nicolas Cage’s best role in years?

Director Werner Herzog has remade a tale – the 1992 Abel Ferrara micro-cult indie cop drama Bad Lieutenant starring Harvey Keitel – that never warranted a revisit. The result is Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, starring Nicolas Cage as an imbalanced corrupt cop with more vices than a carpenter’s woodshop and a paranoid fear of iguanas. Apparently the only similarities between the two films are the title and the presentation of an immoral drug addict. In grand idiosyncratic fashion, Herzog reportedly commanded Cage on the set to “turn the pig loose!” Herzog told the Toronto Star: “He immediately knew what I meant. And man, does he turn the pig loose! As an actor, he always understood the fluidity of the situation. The kind of musicality, jazz in particular, which allows you to improvise and stay within a certain mood and go wild.”

In the past decade, Cage has been a victim of disparagement and derision from audiences for his schlocky acting roles. The Wicker Man, Ghost Rider, Next, Bangkok Dangerous, Knowing. The worse the film, the wackier his stylized coif.

While reviews for Lieutenant are on-the-whole very positive, critics are either praising Cage’s Frank Booth-esque tour-of-force of mayhem or dismissing his ability to act at all. Regardless, his portrayal of Terence McDonagh qualifies as his most challenging role since his 1996 Oscar-winning turn in Leaving Las Vegas.

More after the jump.

Cole Smithey writes that Cage loses control of the character, slipping into an “off-putting vocal delivery late in the story,” which further distracts from the patchwork plot. “Cage even goes so far as to tear a page from Klaus Kinski's relationship with the camera,” he says, “but the tribute is as inappropriate as making a sequel to a film to which there could never be a follow-up. A disaster.”

Roger Ebert, who swam against the current in awarding Cage’s film Knowing four stars in March, comes to the actor’s defense. He argues that Cage and Herzog, “both made restless by caution,” were born to work together and gives this film four stars as well. “No one is better at this kind of performance than Nicolas Cage. He's a fearless actor. He doesn't care if you think he goes over the top. If a film calls for it, he will crawl to the top hand over hand with bleeding fingernails.”

Andy Klein of Brand X breaks the opposing camps down into how they’ll perceive this film. “Cage’s affectations are always daring, if not always successful. His contorted posture rightfully reminds us that he is always one inch away from excruciating back pain, but a shift in his manner of speaking for several scenes around the three-quarter mark is simply baffling. Your reaction to the whole thing probably depends on your general feelings about Cage: Fans will relish his unique brand of scenery-chewing; non-fans are likely to be irritated.”

The decade that Rivers failed

The shortcomings of Weezer amount to more than just a bassist switch-up. It’s become a grim, quixotic spectacle.

Frontman Rivers Cuomo’s shrugging off his Harvard degree and his musical talent, it seems, to be a lot like Phil (played by Ty Burrell) from the ABC sitcom "Modern Family," the middle-aged dad with his youth cryogenically preserved on the inside, trying to please everyone, and in turn, please himself. Phil’s sometimes as wide-eyed as a little kid or salivatory as the feral, airborne canine on the cover of Weezer’s Raditude (coined by actor Rainn Wilson), the seventh album out today.

Cuomo’s a little different from Phil in that he longs to be “the greatest man that ever lived” and live in Beverly Hills. In spite of his denial, he’s a melancholy, tortured genius who’s lost his spark and instead gained the will to pander. Contradictions in the catalogue are abundant: Weezer was “tired of sex” in 1996 but says quite the opposite in Weezer (The Red Album)’s “Cold Dark World" ("I'll be here to sex you.") “In the Garage” tells of how Rivers grew up listening to good music; “Heart Songs” tells of how Rivers grew up listening to not-so-good music.

After all these years, Rivers’ signature quavering voice remained (ironically) constant, a lasting selling point among the pitter-patter of questionable creative decisions. His voice scarily sounds pubescent on this record, unfortunately evoking a emo pitch on “Put Me Back Together.” Weezer has new friends these days: All-American Rejects, Butch Walker and Jermaine Dupri, who all co-wrote songs. A band that could’ve collaborated with Dr. Dog or The Hold Steady has instead teamed up with the radio.

Cuomo’s innocence and vulnerability were always a part of his charm – then he creeped us out when he cultivated a mustache and donned a cowboy hat for Red. Cuomo’s still channeling his imperfect formative years, which was oh so relatable, but with Raditude, he’s managed to reimagine his teen years as if he was still going to high school in 2009. Songs, “In the Mall,” “The Girl Got Hot,” and “Can’t Stop Partying,” take bland sub-urban slang to a new level. And, for what?



Early Weezer fans have become scathing watchdogs like crestfallen sports fans railing with drunken bitterness about the glory days of Blue and Pinkerton. Slant Magazine’s ½-star review of Raditude hit hard even if they all saw it coming. Huw Jones writes: “Even the most dogged members of the Weezer fanbase will struggle to mount a shred of defense for such an abhorrent cocktail of deluded lyricism and indolent musicianship.”

Fans have been shortchanged when picking up their albums in the past, but this time they may be at the end of the road. This was not made with them in mind at all.
At best, a few of the riffs stay in your head for a few days (the guilt lasts longer). The catchy deluxe edition bonus track “The Prettiest Girl in the Whole Wide World” is Blue lite. It could have easily come from one of Cuomo’s basement solo discs.

So maybe Rivers Cuomo isn’t the uncool middle-aged dad type. Maybe he’s Max Records from Where the Wild Things Are. If you block out all the noise and lose yourself in your dreams, you can still be king. Those may be words of inspiration for him, but it ain’t doin’ nothin’ for me.

Zombieland: perfect length for delivering maximum entertainment

Zombieland. This post-apocalyptic horror comedy – a type of film that more often than not strikes coal than gold – did well by its chosen extent of exposure. The film employs no delay before assaulting the viewer with blood, guts and disarray that ravage everyday life. The unsightly sight of the slobbering, obese and ruthless zombies traipsing through groceries and gift shops, coupled with the equally ruthless and fun ways the remaining survivors enact decimate them encompass a good chunk of the film’s pleasure.

The secret is that it plays it short and wins. From the get-go, the comical parody of horrific zombies and the unusual methods used to murder them could seem to grow tiresome. The premise could very well have run out of steam, but it never does. Instead, you leave the film feeling shortchanged of the long-term futures of the characters’ lives.

A clean 80-minute running time doesn’t necessarily make best use of the impact of a complex domestic drama. But it does significantly tighten a thinly plotted adventure that doesn’t require expositional complexities to be effective.

Some films like The Deer Hunter thrive on a liberal running time punctuated by the feeling of time passing by. Zombieland thrives on comic energy and hyper-adrenalized tenacity, courtesy of Woody Harrelson’s hero-type Tallahassee.


The central quartet – Tallahassee, Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) – rarely exhibits much of a reluctance to kill, and this paucity of fear cuts down on the scream or shock factor. In the mind of the survivors, the zombie killings – or at least in small, manageable doses – had come to represent the “daily grind.” Columbus was the wimpy one by default, but he still had the most systematic plan for survival, represented by his list of ultimate rules. These come in quite handy for the characters as well as for the film’s own creativity. In a recurring visual gag, the rules are emblazoned across the screen in clever and funny ways throughout.

By no means does a film this short have to qualify as “breezy.” To cite an earlier Eisenberg work The Squid and the Whale – you don’t need 100 minutes to hit home. There’s nothing like a concise and honest 81-minute representation of family, divorce and social trepidation. Though it’s definitely not a joyride and definitely a downer, Squid is also Eisenberg’s finest hour-and-a-half since his film career kicked off in 2002. He’s been terrific at portraying realistic, neurotic young adults. In Zombieland, he too often resorts to a perfunctory neurosis we’ve seen all too many times recently (albeit not in zombie-coms), but that’s mostly the script’s fault. Among other trends in the Eisenberg filmography, Lou Reed (see below) and amusement parks each play a role.

Zombieland manages to stay very alive, capitalizing on the thrill of the concept and the interactions among the characters. In this kind of economy, 80 minutes does the job more efficiently. Now if only the level of ticket prices would diminish accordingly.




Jesse Eisenberg’s Lou Reed Jukebox


The Squid and the Whale (10 out of 10)
Lou Reed – Street Hassle

Adventureland (8 out of 10)
The Velvet Underground – Pale Blue Eyes
Lou Reed – Satellite of Love
The Velvet Underground – Here She Comes Now

Zombieland (7 out of 10)
The Velvet Underground – Oh! Sweet Nuthin’



APOLLO-APPROVED LINKS
www.rubenfleischer.com
http://media.avclub.com/audio/articles/article/33350/AVT-ZombieLying.mp3
http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/10/getting-to-know-zombieland-director-ruben-fleische.html

Movies with Exclamation Points!

A film’s title is essential in convincing a viewer about what it is their seeing and how they should react to it. Steven Soderbergh’s latest The Informant! out in theaters this Friday, bears an exclamation point, which changes the entire tone of an otherwise serious subject. Based on Kurt Eichenwald’s true-life book, The Informant, it tells the story of an Ivy League rising star at Archer Daniels Midland who teamed up with the FBI to blow the whistle on the company’s illegal price fixing tactics. The irony was that a man is such a high position would try so adamantly to overthrow his employer. Soderbergh thought this was hilarious, and so he adapted the story to fit the mold of a whimsical, offbeat comedy/thriller starring Matt Damon.


The promotional material for the film reminds me heavily of Schizopolis, a peculiar 1996 Soderbergh film in which Soderbergh himself plays two roles – that of an eccentric self-help guru and a perverted dentist. It was far too outside the realm of conventional thought for the everyday audience. The manic energy from Schizopolis seaped into The Informant! but to a containable extent.

That aside, the exclamation point certainly plays a role as an enthralling device in cinema and thankfully has been far from overused. Scrutiny of past movies with exclamation points classifies them into three dominant genres – comedies, westerns and musicals – and the occasional horror or war film. Let’s take a look at past efforts to employ the feisty grammar mark, sometimes to glorious success! And sometimes to dismal, uncompromising failure!

Them! (1954, Gordon Douglas)
A ‘50s B-movie! This film’s exclamation punctuated the scary-ass image of black-and-white radiation-giganticized ants. Oh, life before CGI…which looks equally fake. It’s more convincing than the modern-day B-movie, Eight Legged Freaks (2002, Ellory Elkayem), another David Arquette clunker.



Hatari! (1962, Howard Hawks)
Translated from Swahili to English, it means “Danger,” and therefore is appropriately exclaimed. John Wayne and wild animals = almost always exhilarating entertainment.


Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970, Richard Fleischer/Kinji Fukasaku/Toshio Masuda)
The American-Japanese epic directed by three men (one American, two Japanese) refers to Japanese code words, translating to “Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!” indicating that success had been attained.

Airplane! (1980, David Zucker/Jim Abrahams/Jerry Zucker)
This comedy classic mostly closely exemplifies the desire to add a ! to boost the comedic energy of its source material. In this case, the film being parodied, Zero Hour! (1957, Hall Bartlett), was a melodramatic aviation thriller with no laughs, and Airplane!, borrowing the plot and punctuation, added about a hundred. This technique was used in similarly humored films Top Secret! (1984, David Zucker/Jim Abrahams/Jerry Zucker) and Hot Shots! (1991, Jim Abrahams).

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995, Beeban Kidron)
Snipes is the anti-Blade, Leguizamo’s more outlandish than his one-man show and Swayze’s the opposite of Dalton in Road House (Note: R.I.P.). The exclamation in the title, intended to be read like a postcard, is a bit confusing, especially if you think Julie Newmar is appearing or portrayed by someone in this dreck.

ALSO
Moulin Rouge! (2001, Baz Luhrmann): surreal musical that challenges convention by infusing modern pop music like Nirvana and Madonna in a Paris-set period piece.
Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969, Burt Kennedy): a comic Western parodying the rogue ‘man with no name’ antihero type.
Avanti! (1972, Billy Wilder): Jack Lemmon comedy set in Italy. Avanti! means “Forward!”
Viva Zapata! (1952, Elia Kazan): fictionalized biography of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata.
McLintock! (1963, Andrew V. McLaglen): a comical John Wayne Western loosely based on Shakespeare.
Oliver! (1968, Carol Reed)
Oklahoma! (1955, Fred Zinnemann)

Jeopardy! doesn’t count. Are we missing any?

The trailer for The Informant! is below. I haven't seen the film yet, but it appears to be not quite as funny as it wants to be. It's got droll down pat.

Endless Tyler Perry

I have never seen a Tyler Perry film in its entirety. I’ve viewed every theatrical trailer of his feature films. These endeavors are occasionally purposeful but mostly by force in a dark crowded theater when it would have been arduous to mosey out.

The dark horse box office candidate is no longer a dark horse, standing apart and often dominating ticket receipts during the year’s weakest months. Take this year – two Tyler Perry films were released – in February and this weekend in September. The two absolute worst box office months of the year (not including January because of the Oscar film carryover). And these films perform extremely well despite the fact that mainstream critics and audiences seem to be turning the other cheek.

His seventh feature film I Can Do Bad All By Myself, in theaters Friday, is based on one of Perry’s earliest plays. In the film, Madea (Perry) catches a 16-year-old girl and her younger brothers robbing her home and decides to send the children to their only relative, Aunt April, an alcoholic nightclub singer (Taraji B. Henson).

Aside from a cameo in Star Trek, Perry stays committed to his own insular projects, having produced two sitcoms, written 10 plays and established his own studio in Atlanta. Knocking out two movies a year, he and his assembly line of stock situations wrapped in moral rhetoric never cease to generate profit.

Like a wall of National Lampoon’s straight-to-DVD films on the N shelf of a video store, the T section now bears a potent stench. How did one man gain this much control?

Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail, which came out in February this year, grossed $90 million. On Rotten Tomatoes, it scored a 31 percent; and its user rating on IMDb is a dismal 3.3/10. The film’s biggest selling point for a gentleman like myself, who stands outside the exclusive TP circle, was that Madea would finally be handcuffed, restrained and locked away. This ain’t an Ernest comedy. It was time to say goodbye.



Though the box office numbers are growing, a steadily decreasing number of critics are even taking time to review the films for national publications. The total critic count, beginning with Madea’s breakout Diary of a Mad Black Woman, has gone from 106 to 43.

Granted, an audience exists for these films, one significantly larger than the unequivocal niches it appeals to.

Critics castigate Perry’s films for being melodramatic and monotonous populist propaganda. Only a small but significant constituency keeps coming back.

Every February and every September, I commend Perry for finding a way to disguise his Madea sequels as a set of episodic stories that consistently draws patrons willingly to the multiplex, generating over $400 million.

But I’ve yet to understand its appeal. At what point does a cult transmogrify into mainstream activism? And how could one overthrow its churning out of poorly made films in the name of democracy and decency?



Grading Tyler Perry ... based on the titles alone

I Can Do Bad All By Myself (September 2009) - With Taraji B. Henson. A-
Madea Goes to Jail (February 2009) – $90 million. With Derek Luke. B+
The Family That Preys (September 2008) – $37 million. With Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard. C
Meet the Browns (March 2008) – $41.9 million. With Angela Bassett. D
Why Did I Get Married? (October 2007) – $55 million. With Janet Jackson and Jill Scott. C-
Daddy’s Little Girls (February 2007) – $31.3 million. With Gabrielle Union and Idris Elba. D+
Madea’s Family Reunion (February 2006) – $63.3 million. With Blair Underwood. C+
Diary of a Mad Black Woman (February 2005) – $50.4 million. With Kimberly Elise. B-

Film Review: World’s Greatest Dad

Complete with spoilers!




A thorough analysis of World’s Greatest Dad, in theaters August 21, comes packaged with strain and restraint. It’s a bleak tragicomedy that reveals a glum plot twist, which barrages you with multifarious feelings. An intense discussion of such would ruin the film for you, so please note the upcoming spoiler tabs.

What begins as a dallying, shrewd observation of modern malfunctioning father-son relationships derails into an expression of unanimous societal narcissism. Though the twist is refreshing technique, the film never quite recovers its deft perception of human behavior.

Oddball ‘80s comedian Bobcat Goldthwait wrote and directed this satire starring Robin Williams as Lance, a failed writer and single father who teaches high school English. His recalcitrant son Kyle (played by Spy Kids’ Daryl Sabara), an attendee of the school, is the absolute worst. The Problem Child in highschooler form, Kyle’s a perverted, spoiled loner who abhors his father and almost all natural hobbies except sexual self-pleasure.

The film starts out entertaining and meandering, with Kyle’s ineptitude and apathy serving as the common punch line. The script is socially conscious of the tricks and verbal prestidigitations of the everyday smart aleck. At the 37-minute mark, the tempo switches up a bit, and the film goes where you don’t expect it.

SPOILER ALERT: After an evening out to dinner with Lance and Claire (Lance’s teacher girlfriend, played by Alexie Gilmore), Kyle commits an embarrassing act of sexual experimentation David Carradine-style n his bedroom, accidentally killing himself. Lance discovers the body and, in recreating his death to look like a suicide, crafts an articulate suicide note that infers Kyle had much to communicate.

From here forward, the script fleshes out Lance in a comparatively less compelling manner and takes a relatively long time to really get its point across about Lance. In the process, it loses its hilarious, rhythmic display of spirited vulgar dialogue previously exhibited.

Lance at one point quotes Simon Pegg, “Death is an impediment not an energy drink” – an appropriate allusion because death indeed drives the plot forward quite momentously.

SPOILER ALERT: The film’s attempt to convey Kyle’s posthumous impact as a misunderstood genius is never quite convincing. The idea that the school students who hated him now revere him is obviously ridiculous, but it’s exploited here rather than effectively critiqued. You initially sympathize with Lance and want him to be a successful writer, and then tragedy strikes, and you definitely don’t. You only feel pity, and this detachment strangles the film’s vitality.

Goldthwait’s reputation stands for more of a name - and a squeaky voice - than a body of work, but with this he’s drawn new attention to himself. The production is certainly higher maintenance than his last indie film Sleeping Dogs Lie (2006), in which he scoured for cast and crew on Craigslist. This wickedly sour tasting from Goldthwait’s warped mind also finally gives something bitter and dogmatic for Williams to work with.

What’s additionally shocking is a major studio’s willingness to get behind a project that depicts the disturbing and the immoral with a gleeful vivacity.

World’s Greatest Dad is an iron-fisted, fearless comedy that strives for full-circle satirical brilliance but shines a lot less bright after dishing out a few hard-to-swallow surprises.

HIPNESS RATING: 6/10
ACTUAL RATING: 5.5/10

New Release Tuesday: 7/28/09

Looks like the end of July is a slow time for album releases. There's nothing huge out out today, unless you've been holding your breath for Ashley Tisdale's new album.

Angus Khan - Black Leather Soul
Kristina DeBarge - Exposed
Fabolous - Lose's Way
Howling Bells - Radio Wars
Kleerup - Kleerup
Owl City - Ocean Eyes
Sax Ruins - Yaqiquo
Ashley Tisdale - Guilty Pleasure
Melinda Watts - People Get Ready

Film review: The Hurt Locker

When I first heard the film title The Hurt Locker, it imbued in me a sense of wariness. I immediately inferred it would not meet my standards nor would it be something that appealed to me. Knowing nothing about it, I pictured a shirtless Channing Tatum 'stepping up 2 the streets' to reprise his role in a Fighting sequel. And, if it was set in Iraq, I hoped it wasn’t another Stop-Loss.

Fortunately, this Kathryn Bigelow film is nearly its antithesis, and the title refers to 'a place of ultimate pain,' not a pseudo-fight club for incorrigibles. She takes a fragmentary approach to the war in Iraq rather than making a grand statement, and she shows tremendous skill in capturing it. The Hurt Locker says more about the war experience than the batch of recent Iraq war cinematic flops of the past six years. The paucity of dead spots in its 131-running time demands your attention throughout.

Set in Baghdad in 2004, the film chronicles the remaining 38 days in the tour of the Army’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal squad, men trained to dismantle improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Staff Sgt. William James (Jeremy Renner) steps in to replace a deceased team leader. His cocky, rebellious attitude infringes upon a professional line of communication with Sgt. J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Spc. Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty, back to Iraq after Jarhead). The viewer feels like a member of the team as they inch closer to potentially deadly situations.

The episodic narrative structure is divided into a series of taut, intense set pieces. The first scene contains so much tension it becomes almost unbearable and the release of it is shocking but not gratuitous. Bigelow and screenwriter/imbedded freelance journalist Mark Boal worked particularly hard to ensure the explosions and brimming adrenaline did not dominate the show. Actions instead determine character when a reliance on dialogue and contrived soldier bonding scenes would have inadequately conveyed their lifestyle.

James and Sanborn are two different men with divergent goals and methods. This isn’t apparent in their first meeting on the base, but in the next scene on a mission, we suddenly know them well.

There is a tender moment involving a Capri Sun juicebox, among other wordless exchanges. The visual details – a hot kettle, a kite, James’ helmet - are a salient part of the mise-en-scene as the camera chooses to linger on them.

Guy Pearce, David Morse and Ralph Fiennes each have cameo-size roles respectively as a sergeant, colonel and contract team leader.

A few quibbles: a couple missions seemed unrealistic, and the ending could have been trimmed. Otherwise, this is one of the best films released so far this year and its magnetic, tenacious depiction of war enthralls you until the end.

Channing, I suggest you give it a try.

The Hurt Locker opens nationwide today.

HIPNESS RATING: 8 out of 10
ACTUAL RATING: 9 out of 10

New Release Tuesday: 7/21/09

Here we have the list of major album releases today, courtesy of Metacritic.

The Fiery Furnaces - I'm Going Away
For The Fallen Dreams - Relentless
Susanna Hoffs & Matthew Sweets - Under The Covers, Vol. 2
Ian Hunter - Man Overboard
La Roux - Bulletproof [EP]
Kenny Loggins - All Join In
Demi Lovato - Here We Go Again
Magnolia Electric Co. - Josephine
Our Lady Peace - Burn, Burn
Portugal. The Man - The Satanic Satanist
Rescue Signals - Indecisions
RX Bandits - Mandala
Jordin Sparks - Battlefield
Sugar Ray - Music For Cougars
Wye Oak - The Knot

Sugar Ray's still around? You don't say.

As for Demi Lovato: I saw her open for the Jonas Brothers last year, she has a voice. What was I doing at a Jonas Brothers concert? There's a good reason, but I don't have to explain myself. Not to you, not to no one.

What's Out: Magical Monopoly

What’s Out is a new weekly feature that provides info about the latest films released in theaters.


Harry Potter’s box office monopoly is holding firm as it broke $100 million just before the commencement of the weekend. For this week at least, there are no competitors in sight. Wednesday’s release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince saw a return to the PG-rating, to the assured comfort of the vigilant parents everywhere.
Over the summer, each Friday signifies a major studio’s attempt to dominate the box office with a powerhouse popcorn-friendly cinematic machine a la Michael Bay’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen although the summer movies are typically more tolerable than that one. Wednesday has been an integral day this summer, as the aforementioned Michael Bay dollar-oozing abomination, Michael Mann’s Public Enemies and the sixth installment of the Harry Potter series, were released mid-week. A common occurrence on holiday weekends, this allows films to generate word-of-mouth buzz leading up to the weekend when it’s possibly already reeled in $200 million. How long will Potter reign at the top of the charts? I don’t know, but The Ugly Truth (July 24) surely is no threat.
Other releases are scant. Marc Webb’s (500) Days of Summer, this summer’s supposed reinvention of the stylized romantic comedy, opens in limited release today. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel star.

New Release Tuesday: 7/14/2009

It's Tuesday, so there are new albums aplenty available today:

The Dead Weather [Jack White's new supergroup] - Horehound
August Burns Red - Constellations
Clutch - Strange Cousins From The West
Daughtry - Leave This Town
DevilDriver - Pray For Villains
Discovery [Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij and Ra Ra Riot's Wes Miles] - LP
Jessie James - Jessie James
Judas Priest - A Touch Of Evil: Live
Crosby Loggins - Time To Move
Miss Derringer - Winter Hill
The Most Serene Republic - ...And The Ever Expanding Universe
Project 86 - Picket Fence Cartel
Sick Puppies - Tri-Polar
Summer Cats - Songs For Tuesdays
Time & Distance - Gravity
Twista - Category F5

The most exciting one this week is Jack White and Alison Mosshart's Dead Weather project. Though White is known mainly for his guitar-slinging in The White Stripes and The Raconteurs, he was actually a drummer in the band that preceded the Stripes on his musical timeline. He gets behind the kit again for The Dead Weather; we'll post a review of the album shortly.