Thursday, Jun. 05, 2008
5 Things You Should Know About
By RICHARD CORLISS, James Poniewozik, Josh Tyrangiel
MOVIES
Savage Grace Directed by Tom Kalin; written by Howard A. Rodman; not yet rated; out now In this acid, fact-based portrait of the idle rich, love means finding new ways to hurt the ones you love most. Julianne Moore is the desperate mom, Stephen Dillane the sour dad, and two fine young actors, Barney Clark and Eddie Redmayne, play their son at various stages of his promise and ruin. A lush, creepy, boldly acted tale of suffocating passion. B+
You Don't Mess with the Zohan Directed by Dennis Dugan; rated PG-13; out now Zohan (Adam Sandler) is the most feared and accomplished of Mossad agents. But what he really wants to do is cut hair. Working with top comedy writers Robert Smigel and Judd Apatow and dispensing with his standard idiot hero and bullying tone, Sandler fronts his most satisfying movie since The Wedding Singer in 1998. It's good, dirty fun. B
MUSIC
N.E.R.D. Seeing Sounds; out June 10 This duo still gets off on being as weird as it can be, which on the chop-suey soul-metal-prog Spaz and Everyone Nose is pretty damn weird. Even its worst experiments aren't the least bit predictable, which almost absolves Pharrell Williams of his inability to come up with anything to say beyond--and we're paraphrasing--Sex is nice. B+
Alanis Morissette Flavors of Entanglement; out June 10 Miss You Oughta Know's first album since her ex-fiance got engaged to Scarlett Johansson is, naturally, confessional ("I miss ... the thought of us bringing up our kids"). It takes a hard heart not to be moved by Morissette alone at her piano--but a strong ear to love producer Guy Sigsworth's New Agey indulgences. A mixed bag if ever there was one. C+
TELEVISION
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired HBO; June 9; 9 p.m. E.T. The 1977 conviction of director Polanski (Chinatown, The Pianist) for sex with a minor was the very model of modern media circuses. Marina Zenovich uses archival and new interviews to show how the court and press made an example of the (admittedly guilty) filmmaker. A thoughtful look at celebrity, justice and the incompatibility of the two. B