Each Tuesday, we’re going to make sure you don’t miss out by highlighting a few new music and video releases to help you figure out how to spend your hard-earned home-entertainment dollar.
Here is what’s new and worth your attention, released Tuesday, Oct. 28:
MUSIC
The Flaming Lips, With a Little Help from My Fwends. This is bound to be a
divisive release, but can you think of a better band to cover/reimagine The Beatles'
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in its entirety? No way. I'm even giving them the benefit of the doubt on including Miley Cyrus. Twice. Check it out:
Rancid, ... Honor is All We Know. The quartet doesn't vary much from their retro-punk and ska sound, and with good reason — few punk survivors are as capable at sounding fresh and vital as
Tim Armstrong and Co. Here's a live taste:
Jerry Lee Lewis, Rock & Roll Time.
The Killer is back with an album evoking his Sun Studios roots in Memphis, with guests including Keith Richards, Neil Young, Robbie Robertson and more classic rockers influenced by the piano wildman. The clip below has no moving images, just the distinctive sound of Lewis's voice:
FILM/TV
There are plenty of new releases coming out today, including romantic musical
Begin Again from the writer/director who made
Once, and supernatural thriller
Deliver Us From Evil. But you might want to consider these releases first:
Life of Crime is the latest Elmore Leonard novel to get the movie treatment, and while the reviews were so-so, it's hard to imagine a cast that includes Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def) and John Hawkes playing younger versions of the Samuel L. Jackson and Robert DeNiro characters from
Jackie Brown being
too bad. Tim Robbins, Jennifer Aniston, Will Forte and Isla Fisher also appear in an extortion caper that should be good for some laughs.
If you loved
Garden State, well, that doesn't necessarily mean you'll love Zach Braff's follow-up,
Wish I Was Here. It didn't make much of an
impression on critics or audiences beyond Braff's decision to crowd-source the film's funding. Braff plays Aidan Bloom, a financially struggling actor, father, and husband with a dying father played by Mandy Patinkin, and an irresponsible brother he can't rely on played by Josh Gad. Expect
a better soundtrack than film, much like its predecessor.
WKRP IN CINCINNATI is an often-overlooked sitcom of the late '70s/early '80s that is finally making its way to DVD in complete form. Set in a radio station that decides to make the switch from an all-news format to rock 'n' roll, it's a hilarious-if-dated office comedy that was stuck in home-video limbo for years because of all the real rock music used on its soundtrack. Thankfully, the rights to use most of the original songs were finally attained, meaning these videos will have plenty of the Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello, Bob Marley and The Police that helped ground the slapstick shenanigans in reality. And if you've never seen or heard of
WKRP, you've missed out on one of the best Thanksgiving episodes of TV, like,
ever: