US – Tuesday, March 16
The Grid
The week's releases
Metro staff reviews the latest CDs, DVDs and books for your reading pleasure.
 
My Books
The return from being a ‘Runaway’
Cherie Currie’s name may not be as immediately recognizable as Joan Jett’s, but with this week’s release of “The Runaways” movie —which stars Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning — a new generation is sure to learn at least one thing: Madonna wasn’t the first blond bombshell to don a corset while rocking the mic. Currie did it first.
 
My Books
The return from being a ‘Runaway’
Cherie Currie’s name may not be as immediately recognizable as Joan Jett’s, but with this week’s release of “The Runaways” movie —which stars Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning — a new generation is sure to learn at least one thing: Madonna wasn’t the first blond bombshell to don a corset while rocking the mic. Currie did it first.
 
My Books
When history books really do suck: Old Abe meets the vampires
Although it strikes most people as an usual combination, vampires and Abraham Lincoln seemed like a perfectly natural pairing to “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” author Seth Grahame-Smith.
 
New York Arts
Valerie Harper gets ‘Looped,’ dahling
Tallulah Bankhead was as much of a character as she was an actress. Although she set the screen on fire in such films as Alfred Hitchcock’s “Lifeboat” and garnered rave reviews on Broadway, her scandalous personal life — and her witty take on her indiscretions — made her a legend. Valerie Harper takes on Bankhead in her twilight years in the new Broadway production of “Looped.”
 
Can’t get your movie made? Just wing it
Making a documentary about competitive eating doesn’t exactly sound like a good way to lose weight. But Brian Dwyer became so consumed with his project that he lost nearly 50 pounds at Philadelphia’s 2005 Wing Bowl. “I was doing the movie full-time, and I didn’t have a lot of money,” he says. “So I lived on a steady diet of spaghetti and Pop-Tarts.”

 

Photo: SCOTT GARFEILD
Movies
Forest Whitaker has some tough acts to follow
Broad comedy isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when people think of Forest Whitaker. But the Oscar-winning actor saw his latest film, “Our Family Wedding,” as a chance to stretch himself. He sat down with Metro to talk about his process as an actor and surviving a pastry fight with co-star Regina King.
 
Movies
Pattinson: A vampire in Brooklyn
Robert Pattinson has been playing Americans so often that he has forgotten how to talk like a Brit. In his latest, “Remember Me,” the “Twilight” heartthrob stars as a soulful young New Yorker attending NYU, but he insists he didn’t need any help sounding like a native. “I’ve never had a dialect coach or anything,” Pattinson says. “Ironically, I’ve only had a dialect coach for this film I’m doing now, which I’m doing in an English accent. I guess I’ve forgotten how to do an English accent.”
Movies
Movie can’t make it past minor ‘League’
REVIEW. Lame Hollywood romantic comedies love women; they just don’t like to identify them by name. We’ve seen  “She’s All That,” “She’s Out of Control,” “She’s the Man” and “She’s the One” in our local cineplexes. If you remember the plot of one of them, gold star for you.
 

Photo: SCOTT GARFIELD
Movies
Just say ‘I don’t’
REVIEW. After years of playing an Ugly Betty, it’s under­standable that the lovely America Ferrera suc­cumbed to the all-consuming power of a princess bridal gown. For that, we will forgive her for “Our Family Wedding.”
 
Philly Movies
New Pattinson flick not very memorable
An ‘Ugly’ farewell and a role in a ‘Wedding’
Tim Burton in ‘Wonderland’
Going from spy to prime minister
And the Oscar goes to ...
Revisiting Wonderland
A tumble down the rabbit hole
10 is the magic number
And the Oscar goes to ... we’re still not sure
Burton’s ‘Alice’ is not so wonderful
Philly Movies
Really the ‘Finest’ Brooklyn can offer?
This week, celebrate girl power
French film able to turn ‘A Prophet’
Kevin Smith makes a big-studio comedy
Because sanity is so overrated
Surprised? ‘Cop Out’ takes the easy route
She’s got range, and she uses it
Extra, read all about it!
Meet the new sidekick from ‘Shutter Island’
Standing tall on the shoulders of giants
 
 
 
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Music
MMMpod
The March MMMpod features conversation and music from Surfer Blood and The Allman Brothers Band (There's a double-bill you're not too likely to see. However, Gregg Allman does mention Hannah Montana!). We also speak with Vampire Weekend and the Dropkick Murphys.
 
 
 
Metro Life Panel
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