Las Vegas Reviews - LasVegasCritics.com

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland

At first glance, Tim Burton (the director of Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Big Fish and The Nightmare Before Christmas, among others) seems like a perfect choice to deliver a unique version of the familiar tale with the proper amount of visual spectacle, ingenuity and darkness.

By Nick Manteris · 2 Comments · Leave a Comment

Grant

Massive Attack - Heligoland

Heligoland is the fifth album from Massive Attack and the first full-length album that they’ve put out in seven years. Seven years. Seriously.

By Nick Manteris · 0 Comments · Leave a Comment

Under The Neon Sky by Jay Rankin

Under The Neon Sky by Jay Rankin

Las Vegas is frequently referred to as Sin City and it wasn’t assigned that nickname arbitrarily. It’s an unusual place…it has all the vices you would find in a regular city and a few characteristics that are a little more unusual. Gambling is legal inside the city limits, prostitution is legal only a short distance away and the alcohol never stops flowing.

By Nick Manteris · 0 Comments · Leave a Comment

Kristen Wiig, Drew Barrymore, Zoë Bell, Eve, Ellen Page and Andrew Wilson

Whip It

Whip It is a coming-of-age story adapted from the novel Derby Girl by Shauna Cross. It is also the directorial debut of Drew Barrymore, who appears as the character Smashley Simpson and seems to be having an absolutely wonderful time whenever she is onscreen.

By Nick Manteris · 0 Comments · Leave a Comment

Top 5 Electronic Albums of 2009

Top 5 Electronic Albums of 2009

My exposure to good electronic music experienced a significant decline sometime at the beginning of the decade, but it seems like things are starting to pick up a bit. Two of the albums on this list are technically good enough to make the main top 10 albums of 2009, but “Electronic” is an important subgenre that should have its own list.

By Nick Manteris · 0 Comments · Leave a Comment

Ke$ha is Kesha Rose Sebert

Ke$ha - Animal

Ke$ha has appeared out of what seems like nowhere with an electropop dance album that sounds surprisingly fresh …considering the fact it took seven years to complete.

By Nick Manteris · 0 Comments · Leave a Comment

Best 10 EPs of 2009

Top 10 EPs of 2009

EPs are not the ideal format to release music when your fans have been waiting to hear new music from you for years. They are, however, a great way for a band to get some music out into the world, to supplement an already released album or to preview an upcoming album.

By Nick Manteris · 3 Comments · Leave a Comment

Best 3 Instrumental Albums of 2009

Top 3 Instrumental Albums of 2009

It seems like instrumental albums get no love from the music world, but there are people creating some really great music with no vocals.

By Nick Manteris · 0 Comments · Leave a Comment

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The story of The Road centers on a father and son and their journey across an almost unimaginably bleak, post-apocalyptic landscape. The beginning of the end of their world occurs in a flashback, but the full extent of the cataclysm is never fully explained.

By Nick Manteris · 1 Comments · Leave a Comment

Zoe Saldana playing Neytiri in Avatar

Avatar

This review won’t compare Avatar with any of the other “character in a new, strange culture” films like Fern Gully, The New World, The Last Samurai or Dances With Wolves…mainly because I’ve never seen any of those movies and the only part of Pocahontas that I remember is the song “Colors of the Wind.” Also, everyone knows that Smurfs are blu

By Nick Manteris · 0 Comments · Leave a Comment

Canadian singer-songwriter/rapper k-os

k-os - The Trill: A Journey So Far

The Trill: A Journey So Far is a compilation album from k-os, the Canadian singer-songwriter/rapper that already put out two other albums this year.

By Nick Manteris · 0 Comments · Leave a Comment

Norah Jones

Best Song of November 2009

There were ten songs in the running for the month of November, but one of them almost stood out enough to invalidate the others. A list with only one song on it would be boring though.

By Nick Manteris · 0 Comments · Leave a Comment

Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney of Blakroc

Blakroc - Blakroc

Rock rap was certainly thrust into the mainstream when Run DMC teamed up with Aerosmith for “Walk This Way,” but even Blondie’s “Rapture” hinted at the eventual fusion of rap and rock.

By Nick Manteris · 0 Comments · Leave a Comment

Doug Stanhope

Doug Stanhope - From Across the Street

For years, Doug Stanhope was my favorite comedian and I would tell people this – without hesitation – whenever the subject came up. It all started with Word of Mouth, his shockingly funny 90-minute stand-up video filled with life observations, social commentary and an unflinching honesty about a multitude of topics, ranging from 9/11 and abortion to drugs, sex toys and transvestites.

By Nick Manteris · 1 Comments · Leave a Comment

Norah Jones

Norah Jones - The Fall

The Fall is the fourth studio album from Norah Jones and if it continues the trend of her other albums – selling about half as many copies as the one before it and hitting number one on the charts – then sales on her new number one record should only reach about three and a quarter million copies worldwide.

By Nick Manteris · 0 Comments · Leave a Comment

the city of Las Vegas in 2012

2012

Roland Emmerich has previously destroyed the world in The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day – and to a lesser extent, Eight Legged Freaks and Godzilla – but in his new film, 2012, he destroys the world like never before.

By Nick Manteris · 0 Comments · Leave a Comment

Kazakhstan level in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the sequel to the immensely popular Modern Warfare, which was itself a sequel to the original 1998 game that was set in World War II.

By Nick Manteris · 1 Comments · Leave a Comment

Curtis Jackson is the rapper known as 50 Cent

50 Cent - Before I Self-Destruct

50 Cent is the stage name of Curtis Jackson, a rapper whose claim to fame seems to be selling crack, getting arrested, getting shot nine times and releasing a mixtape that somehow got in the hands of Eminem’s lawyer. (At least we know that he’s not frontin’ when he raps about being a gangsta.

By Nick Manteris · 0 Comments · Leave a Comment

Gary Lightbody, Jonny Quinn, Tom Simpson, Nathan Connolly & Paul Wilson

Snow Patrol - Up To Now

Up To Now is a two-disc compilation from the Northern Irish Indie Rock band, Snow Patrol. Frontman Gary Lightbody insists that it is not a “greatest hits” album – partly because he hates those types of records and partly because he claims that they haven’t had enough hits to warrant one.

By Nick Manteris · 0 Comments · Leave a Comment

Tom Smith of Editors performing live

Best Song of October 2009

October boasted a decent number worthy tracks …and a few that were even better than that.

By Nick Manteris · 0 Comments · Leave a Comment