Leisure

Reviews and think pieces on music, movies, art, and theater.

Leisure

Sin City: a bucket-full of blood-soaked fun

I was never much of a comic book reader as a kid. But after years of watching friends read violent and dark comics, I decided to give them a chance, and I fell in love.

By the April 7, 2005

Leisure

Spot-on performances make for a deadly Assassins

Just as every hero has his villain, politicians have their assassins.

By the April 7, 2005

Leisure

Fiery Furnaces less frightening than name suggests

In anticipation of their show this Friday at the 9:30 Club, Voice Leisure called up Matthew in Brooklyn and talked about his favorite music, touring and the difficulties of recording an album with your grandmother.

By the April 7, 2005

Leisure

Manzana Lift

You Taste Like A Burger – a rotating column about eating leisurely

By the April 7, 2005

Leisure

Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Aesop Rock

In anticipation of his show Tuesday, April 12 at the 9:30 Club, Voice Leisure called Ian Bavitz up in New York to talk about the stress of a rap career, the pains of transcribing and his feelings on touring.

By the April 7, 2005

Leisure

No fun in the Summertime

“Long” is the first adjective that comes to mind.

By the March 31, 2005

Leisure

Allen fails to connect with Melinda and Melinda

Once upon a time, Christopher Columbus helped show cartographers that the earth is round and that an explorer could not just fall straight off the map.

By the March 31, 2005

Leisure

Beck, Guero

Critical Voices

By the March 31, 2005

Leisure

Yo La Tengo, Prisoners of Love: A Smattering of Scintillating Senescent Songs 1985-2003

Critical Voices

By the March 31, 2005

Leisure

Waiting in vain

You Taste Like A Burger – a rotating column about eating leisurely

By the March 31, 2005

Leisure

Surviving Iraq in Gunner Palace

In September 2003, director Mike Tucker and his co-director and wife Petra Epperlein moved into the bombed-out former “love shack” of Saddam Hussein’s son, Uday Hussein, to document the lives of the soldiers involved in the Iraqi conflict.

By the March 17, 2005

Leisure

Cake column

You Taste Like A Burger – a rotating column about eating leisurely

By the March 17, 2005

Leisure

The Kills, No Wow

Critical Voices

By the March 17, 2005

Leisure

The Decemberists, Picaresque

Critical Voices

By the March 17, 2005

Leisure

Global Hegemony: The Battle for World Domination

The Bracket

By the March 17, 2005

Leisure

Les Choristes: the Dead Poet’s Boys Choir

Writing a review of the new French film Les Choristes is a difficult task; not only can I not pronounce a single name, the movie also seems to have borrowed every character and plot twist from at least five previous, probably better films.

By the March 3, 2005

Leisure

Epileptic a shaky, uncontrollable read

For a respite from reality, few things beat a good comic book.

By the March 3, 2005

Leisure

Nobody Knows why this movie was made

As far as movie premises go, it’s hard to beat the ingenuity of Hirokazu Koreeda’s Nobody Knows.

By the March 3, 2005

Leisure

Bloc Party, Silent Alarm, Vice

Hipsters everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief. Just as they’re getting bored with the dance-rock of Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party is ready to take its place.

By the March 3, 2005

Leisure

The Evens, The Evens, Dischord

I met rock star, record producer, label head and certifiable legend Ian MacKaye at a show once in an abandoned school in Northeast D.C. during the wee hours of the morning.

By the March 3, 2005