SHORT CUTS (Directed by Robert Altman. Starring Andie McDowell, Bruce Davison, Julianne Moore, Mathew Modine, Anne Archer, Fred Ward, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Chris Penn, Lili Taylor, Robert Downey Jr., Madeleine Stowe, Tim Robbins, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Frances McDormand, Peter Gallagher, Annie Ross, Lori Singer, Jack Lemmon, Lyle Lovett, Buck Henry, Huey Lewis)
In a rare interview, US alt culture icon Tom Waits talks to Dave Fanning about touring with Zappa, getting the nod of approval from Dylan, his fastidious approach to songwriting and why Bill Hicks remains America’s foremost political commentator
Using the same chorus structure made popular by Short Cuts and Crash, this singular Australian drama refuses to connect all the dots until the very last moments.
This suitably simmering study of racial disintegration in L.A. marks Million Dollar Baby screenwriter Paul Haggis’ directorial debut, though his deft, frequently caustic Short Cuts style -chain drama is surprisingly epic for a first timer.
Robert Altman’s ’90s output has been somewhat hit-and-miss (for every Short Cuts, there’s been a Prêt-à-Porter) but following the somnolent three-hour torpor of last year’s Kansas City, he has rebounded with a genuine winner.
Far from the miserable pessimist of lore, eels frontman Mark Everett, aka E, is in fact an upbeat, sanguine character with an engagingly wry sense of humour. He here talks to Paul Nolan about The Eels’ extraordinary new double album, Blinking Lights And Other Revelations, being inspired by Stanley Kubrick, collaborating with Tom Waits, why his dog couldn’t make it out on tour, and slapping Steve Jones’ backside.
Can you see the Forrest for the Gump? Can you explain the cultural phenomenon of Steven Seagal in English plain enough for Seagal himself to understand? Did you recognise any of the actors hiding beneath moustaches in Wyatt Earp, Tombstone and Gettysburg? Are you ready for the fourth annual X-mas rated Blow Up Movie Quiz?
Oh, well, give it a go anyway. Now we separate the movie buffs from the people who have got something more interesting to do than spend all day hanging around cinemas and reading Hot Press. Answers can be found on page 99 but anyone caught peeking will have to live with the knowledge that they are a dirty, rotten, good for nothing, low down cheat. Good luck. And remember, this quiz is just like a box of chocolates . . . you’ll feel sick when you’ve finished.
Whether starring in popcorn blockbusters or thoughtful art-house movies, Gabriel Byrne is a reassuring presence on our screens. But he reserves his deepest passions for keeping alive the flame of Irish culture among the diaspora.
Neil McCormick embarks on a verbal showdown with Hollywood's most famous drug store cowboys and discovers that 1994 was the year in which the hot shots traded in their smoking guns for a pill called Prozac.
Lyle Lovett, the crown jewel of Texas and everybody’s favourite alternative country celebrity, was in Dublin again recently to play a one-off, sell-out show in the Gaiety. Here he talks about his new album, I Love Everybody; his foray into Hollywood and, of course, Julia what’s-her-name. Siobhan Long found a very clear and pleasant ranger who knows the right way to order a pear tart!
He might have been a young Einsten but instead MARK OLIVER EVERETT ended up as EELS aka a man called E aka the Souljacker. PETER MURPHY discovers how it all went horribly right
Never has a leader of a government so suicidally snatched defeat from the jaws of victory as Albert Reynolds has. BILL GRAHAM mulls over the reasons why.
He may have ranked among the biggest-selling artists in the world in 2002 – but the ambition that has driven Eminem to pop’s dizziest heights shows no sign of abating with the release of his own biopic, 8 Mile. On track to becoming Hollywood’s latest darling, with all the attendant pressures and provocations that entails, will his art survive?
From dark age to middle age, Nick Cave is such a far cry from the blood-spilling junkie of rock legend that these days you’re likely to encounter him commuting to his 9 to 5. Except of course that his job is writing and making music, his new album is called Nocturama and there are, he admits, some sizeable blow-outs in the memory banks.
For close to twenty years, MARTIN CAHILL led the forces of law and order a merry dance. Known as the General, he was suspected of masterminding virtually every major crime committed in Ireland – but for as long as matters, the Gardai had been unable to pin anything on him. And when he was brought to court on petty charges, he posed outside for press photographers, dropping his trousers to reveal a pair of Mickey Mouse boxer shorts. Last week, however, the game was cut brutally short when Cahill was blown away within 100 yards of his South Dublin home by an IRA hit squad. Report: NEIL McCORMICK.
RICHARD D. JAMES brings his Rephlex Disco Assault system to Ireland for shows at the Half Moon Theatre, Cork (August 23rd) and the Temple Bar Music Centre, Dublin (24th).
AS REVEALED IN the last issue of hotpress, East Coast rapper Cannibus makes his Dublin debut at the Red Box on August 25th.
A native of Jamaica, ‘The Nastiest Kid To Rock The Mic’ spent some time in Britain before moving to New Jersey and being discovered by Wyclef Jean.
NEW COUNTRY MOVER ‘n’ shaker Kevin Montgomery journeys to Shelter @ Vicar St. (September 11th); The Brewery, Thurles (12th); and Cleere’s Bar, Kilkenny (13th).
The movie is a bit too langorous about establishing characters and themes, but the ultimately compelling depiction of entangled relationships and human frailty make it easy to see why the film has seduced critics
Michael Haneke’s new film fails to do anything especially compelling or original with its various narrative strands, which results in watchable but inescapably dull film fare
OR, IF you prefer, a very long album about love.
69 Love Songs does exactly as it says on the tin – it’s a 3CD set of pop sonnets by workaholic wonderboy Stephen Merritt, originally conceived as a 100-song revue to be performed by a cast of singers in the hotel bars and cabaret spots of New York.
