This Week

Nine Inch Nails: Hesitation Marks

New release (Columbia; tour dates)
Photo of Trent Reznor by Baldur Bragson

Trent Reznor already came back haunted in March with the release of Welcome oblivion by How to destroy angels. That side project with Atticus Ross and (Reznor’s wife) Mariqueen Maandig took post-industrial/ambient music and made it sound fresh. By contrast, Hesitation Marks, Reznor’s first album in five years under the Nine Inch Nails moniker, seems beset by run-of-the-mill electronica. Ross and another veteran collaborator, Alan Moulder, return as co-producers with Reznor, but together they’re often just busy little techno-bees buzzing around Reznor’s generally average material.

Arbitrage

In Arbitrage, Richard Gere plays Robert Miller, a New York hedge-fund magnate with the world at his feet - money, power, mansion, a loving, supportive wife (Susan Sarandon), a beautiful, young mistress (Laetitia Casta), and a devoted daughter (Brit Marling) who works loyally by his side.

Argo

Based on real-life events, the nail-biting dramatic thriller Argo, directed by Ben Affleck, is set at the height of the chaos of the Iranian revolution when, on November 4, 1979, militant students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran taking 52 Americans hostage and six embassy workers went out the back door.

Flight

Flight, as directed by Robert Zemeckis (Cast Away, Forrest Gump, Back to the Future trilogy), states loudly and firmly the message that the ordinary working man - and woman - doesn't stand a chance against the system and the pressures of modern life. The only choices they have to help them cope are booze and drugs or religion.

Looper

In 2074 time travel is a marvelous reality — and has therefor been immediately banned. As is always the case with laws, though, hoods rarely heed inhibitions and use the technology to dispose of enemies by sending them back thirty years to 2044 for execution by Loopers. In the future, no body no murder. In the past, no citizen no crime.

Ivan's Childhood

Many big-budget movies are actually radio serials with special effects. Many dramas are just theatrical productions that have leaked off the stage. And then there are real films of which this is one. Mood and meaning are created by the visuals and cinematic language, not just the music.