Region

"Illusionist" conjures up fairy tale storytelling

The movie "The Illusionist" is one of those rare cinematic delights the film world rarely churns out anymore: a period piece that relies not on fancy sets and costumes but on solid performances carried by a story surely written in finest calligraphy. Edward Norton plays Eisenheim the illusionist, a man capable of taking off his gloves, turning them into black ravens before planting a single seed into a soil-filled pot and bringing forth a fully grown bush of oranges. While some might find his dark arts to be blasphemous, the crowds and crowns of Vienna are enthralled by it, especially Sophie (Jessica Biel), the fiancée of Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell).

Here's the real antidote: don't waste time with this movie

Who knows what Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor were thinking when they wrote this script. Maybe they were just eager to make their writing and directorial debut and didn't care how good the movie itself was. And I don't know what it is about Jason Statham("Snatch," "The Transporter") always choosing to star in movies with lame plots and lots of action. I don't think he's a bad actor -- I just think he makes bad decisions as to what roles to take.

Welcome back, primetime

For the first time in a couple of years, my DVR is being used to its fullest capacity. In the past five years the networks faltered and primetime programming fell into a deep reality TV abyss, one I thought we would never navigate our way out of. Don't get me wrong, for the first couple of years it was mildly entertaining to see how far people would go to win an exorbitant amount of money.

A public "despair"

Jessica Simpson confuses the hell out of me. At first she was presented as a goody good songstress, molded from a strong Christian-rooted family. She was no sexy Britney Spears. And she was certainly no Xtina. Then came her vastly popular show with Nick Lachey, "Newlyweds," on MTV, and yup, that squeaky clean image quickly disappeared.

The funniest show to ever be cancelled

The funniest and most bizarre show on television got even funnier and more bizarre in its third and final season, going out with a bang and not a whimper. Enough fuss has been made about Fox's decision to cancel Arrested Development midstream, but what more can be expected from the same roundtable that keeps the Fox News Channel going 24/7? The best that can be done is to celebrate the show for what it was, which was much, much more than any comedy currently on air.

THE DISH

Revamped, retro-style theaters allow residents to drive in, drive out

If you ask your grandparents (and some of your parents) what it meant to "go to the movies," their answer may be significantly different than yours. Fifty years ago, few were the posh theaters with 20 screens, stadium seating, air conditioning and a smorgasbord of overpriced candy. And reserving tickets ahead of time online was not even a fathomable luxury. Back in the good ol' days, "catching a movie" suggested one thing; a nearly obsolete practice that's usually seen only in movies themselves: pulling up in your car to a drive-in theater.

Italian reissue skewers family's hypocrisy

"We're not millionaires or barons. Our only treasure is our good name", says patriarch Don Vincenso (Saro Urzi) in "Seduced and Abandoned". It's a philosophy most people live by, but to him, it's more of a duty. As a result, he and his family are thrown into a series of emotionally distressing yet comedic events, sparked by the affair between his daughter Matilde's fiancé, Peppino (Aldo Puglisi) and his other daughter, Agnese (Stefania Sandrelli). Pietro Germi, who also wrote and directed "Divorce-Italian Style", offers another clever and amusing satire which provides a glimpse into the idiosyncrasies of Italian family values and traditions during the 1960's in small-town Sicily.

Roots rock new album

This is the kind of music even white guys can find the rhythm to. "Game Theory" is the name of the new album released by the most musically gifted group in hip-hop, The Roots. Combining the beat prowess of ?uestlove and the dominant flow of Black Thought, "Game Theory" is the greatest hip-hop record this year. This is the type of music that makes Levis and Coca-Cola commercials. The kind that where the entire town storms Main Street and jumps on the giant celebration float while hundreds of other gorgeous citizens cheer on the product like it's the second coming of freedom.

Carving up a third season

When season two of "Nip/Tuck" came to a close, the mysterious murderer "The Carver" had just paralyzed Dr. Christian Troy (Julian McMahon) and taken a fine slash to his handsome features. Commence season three. Who could the Carver be? Who has the sick and twisted mentality to run around Miami slashing open the faces of all the beautiful people while leaving a simple note stating, "Beauty is a curse upon the world?"

Seriously, Entourage: Be more like Weeds

What if I were to tell you that Entourage became formulaic and stale in its third season with lame characters like Dom, and Weeds is getting more chronic every episode. Is that something you might be interested in? The pace of Weeds flies by even though they start each episode the second the last episode ends. While Entourage meanders through finding Vince a new project week after week, Weeds' plot lines weave in and out.

I NEED HELP

Research group Student Monitor conducted a recent study among America's college students which revealed that 73% of students surveyed rated iPods as more "in" than drinking beer. Congratulations, Apple. You have officially conquered the college demographic. Because of the portable MP3 player's intimidating popularity, the iPod has become a household name with other brands like Ford and McDonald's. The gadget has become engrained into our culture.

Razor blunted

If you loved early-noughties garage-dance-punk, then these are depressing times. The indie world has embraced proggier, twee-er, less-accessible sounds (Sufjan, Beirut, The Knife -- bleh). The mainstream is eagerly blending the style with emo so it can be marketed to 12-year-old mall crawlers (Hellooo, She Wants Revenge!). And the bands that made up the movement are either deceased (The Libertines, Death From Above 1979) or looking to "expand" beyond their original sound (Franz Ferdinand, The Futureheads, Hot Hot Heat, The Strokes, The White Stripes/Raconteurs, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, etc.). This last category has met with varying levels of success.

Dylan brings in the blues, brings out the love, on blazing new disc

If there's one thing I don't like about the Rolling Stones -- and by the way, I love the Rolling Stones -- it's that they have a longer Wikipedia page than Bob Dylan. To you, a rational human being, this might seem like total nonsense, but to me, those with more impact, more legacy, more verve, -- whatever -- should have the longest pages. And while the Stones are still lickin', Dylan's still awake too, busy bolstering his legacy with triumphant folk-hero exuberance.

'Man,' this sucks

Hollywood is notorious for being the town where production companies make huge blockbusters that people watch and love forever. While this is still true for some movies, the remake of British film classic "The Wicker Man" is not one of them.

Grossman: Time to establish myself

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Rex Grossman's two previous treks to Lambeau Field have been successful. He's 2-0 on the home turf of the Green Bay Packers, which is not bad considering he's made only seven regular-season starts in his career.

Barkley insists he's serious about political run

PHOENIX -- Charles Barkley insists he's serious about running for governor of Alabama, but he's got to move back there first.

Students place their own time capsule in IMU

For 67 years, Emerson Keller Elkins' letter, hotel key and Coke bottle lay waiting inside a wall of the Indiana Memorial Union. Thursday, his time capsule was replaced with a new one.

Little 500 riders hold forum to discuss rule change

A riders' forum Wednesday night gauged rider input about the recent rule that banned alumni from coaching in the Little 500 on race day.

Winningest Indiana football team is St. Francis in Ft. Wayne

INDIANAPOLIS -- The winningest Indiana college football team in recent years? It's not Notre Dame. It's certainly not Indiana or Purdue or even Wabash.