Black and Anything but Blue

On the cover of Rilo Kiley’s Under the Blacklight, singer Jenny Lewis and guitarist Blake Sennett stare coldly at each other as their band mates look forward. Their romantic breakup after the release of 2004′s successful More Adventurous nearly killed the band’s momentum, especially after Lewis found acclaim with her solo Rabbit Fur Coat. The band is back with the release of Under the Blacklight, and while many critics are noting Lewis and Sennett’s Fleetwood Mac-like ability to churn out music under emotional turmoil, what’s more noteworthy is that Rilo Kiley has taken their music in a whole new direction and put out what may be their most enjoyable album to date.

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Up and Running

After an unacceptably long downtime, Movie Hawk is officially back up and running. I’ll have a real post each of the next two days, but Movie Hawk Tech Support isn’t confident the downtime won’t be repeated in another two months or so. Enjoy it while you can.

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Maintenance Update

I’m going to hold off on writing anything for a few days while my tech support works on renewing my lease and getting away from our current domain host. Back next week.

Bad Boys

The heroes in producer Judd Apatow’s universe have always held an interesting mix of stunted social interaction, artificial worldliness, and the right amount of heart. Consider Andy, the gentlemanly protagonist of Apatow’s breakthrough hit The 40-Year-Old Virgin or Seth Rogen’s Ben Stone, the clumsy but chivalric everyman at the center of this summer’s Knocked Up. Eternally childish but with the principled intentions, Apatow’s leading men are easy to love and painful to observe as they flounder before females. The latest results of this formula are the heroes of Superbad, a recollection by first-time screenwriters Rogen and Evan Goldberg of the Homeric chase after sex and alcohol in the waning days of high school.

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Bourne to Run

At some point, you’d think that Jason Bourne would have to rest. Through two movies, he’s been beat up, shot at, and chased by a government that doesn’t want its secrets uncovered. Over the course of The Bourne Ultimatum, the amnesiac superspy jumps continents so often – from Russia to Italy, England to Spain, Morocco to the United States – that it can make an audience member’s head spin. But logging frequent flier miles is nothing for someone in search of a past. The result is two hours of nonstop chase scenes and the very best movie of the series and the summer thus far.

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