D Monday, January 11, 2010 metrolife 15 Not just for the WeekendCD Vampire Weekend: Contra XL DVD The Taking Of Pelham 123 Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 15, 23 Fancy a great, character driven, nail-biting thriller? Then watch the 1974 original, not this crass, all-action remake. Here, Denzel Washington takes the Walter Matthau role as the put- upon everyman, a New York subway controller who suddenly finds himself forced into life-or- death terrorist negotiation when a deranged criminal mastermind (John Travolta) hijacks a packed commuter train. Cue usual Dr Evil-style demands: cash and a BOOK Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem Faber, 16 TV Pick Of The Day Stone Cold Sober RT2, 10.25pm Gerry, Liam, Matty, Pugs, Jimmy and Chopper are six ordinary Carlow lads who have grown tired of drinking, so they decide to go sober for six months and find an alternative to boozy nights down the local. This first fly-on-the-wall episode introduces them in turn and catches up on their last night of indulgence, so its bound to be fun, but there are also some worthwhile insights into the excessive role alcohol can play in our lives too. Adam Hyland Cannes cartoonist: The Simpsons creator in the south of France in 2009 Picture: AFP and my sisters Lisa and Maggie grew up with, the idea that a cartoon family with these names becomes a success makes complete sense. Within our family psychopathology, it had to come out. He describes working on The Simpsons now as akin to being in the centre of a Cirque du Soleil acrobatics show, with loads of amazing things going on around him. H ave the past two decades left him with any Doh! moments? I should have been tougher on people. I have twice pitched Simpsons spin- offs that have not come to pass. I look at Seth MacFarlanes spin- offs [Family Guy, American Dad!] and Im irritated that 15 years ago The Krusty The Clown Show and Springfield Stories did not happen. Its very difficult to make a deal on The Simpsons because the perception is that theres so much money to be made that the actual deal cannot be done. My attitude is, make the best deal you can but make the deal. Maybe more stories would have diluted things, I dunno. But Ive tried pitching two spin-offs Im not gonna do strike three. Sky1 shows The Simpsons anniversary documentaries from Monday to Wednesday; Season 21 starts on Thursday. doh! good. No rundown of finest moments would be complete without that bit with the rakes, but the script is ceaselessly brilliant, not least the FBIs attempt to explain witness relocation to Homer. The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show: Homer becomes the voice of a new cartoon character for a show that badly needs an injection of new life after being on for too long. Needless to say, this is The Simpsons at its most self-referential and breezily satirical about Fox TV. The ghastly executives are spot-on, while fan message boards everywhere remain indebted to Comic Book Guys immortal utterance: Worst. Episode. EVER. Robert Murphy Jonathan Lethem has earned himself the title the bard of Brooklyn thanks mainly to two intricate novels, The Fortress Of Solitude and Motherless Brooklyn, set in his native New York borough. His latest novel, however, takes place on Manhattans Upper East Side and Lethem proves hes just as at home with the cartography of that affluent neighbourhood. Chase Insteadman is a former child star who forms an unlikely friendship with one Perkus Tooth, a middle-aged intellectual and conspiracy theorist with whom he shares ideas and weed. Both are troubled characters: the formers fiancee Janice is an astronaut trapped in space (her letters to Chase are peppered throughout the novel) while the latter is only saved from homelessness by hiding out in an upmarket dog shelter. Lethems alternate New York has some curious quirks: in a thinly veiled allusion to 9/11, fog has engulfed downtown Manhattan for years, while an escaped tiger is purportedly destroying the citys architecture. With its tongue-in- cheek critique of the nature of identity and authenticity, Chronic City occasionally recalls Thomas Pynchon at his most baffling but at its core this is a pleasing, offbeat bromance and an involving, if over- extended, paean to the Big Apple. Daragh Reddin getaway chopper or the hostages get it. All starts splendidly. Travolta, despite sporting a moustache only acceptable on a Mexican porn baron, is a charismatic baddie; Washington is perfect as his dignified foil, while John Turturro and James Gandolfini pop up in top-notch support roles. However, director Tony Scott (Top Gun, Enemy Of The State) is, as ever, more interested in blowing stuff up than moral cat-and-mouse. Constantly destroying the two- hander tension by excitedly shooting yet another, utterly extraneous, woo woo!, flashy lights, motorbike chase. Extras: director/producer/writer commentary; making-of featurettes. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh Hack-and-slash games can only ever stand out when they offer a combination of compelling story, kick-ass characters and non-repetitive, deep combat gameplay. Darksiders manages to be of high quality in each department without absolutely nailing one. War has broken out between heaven and hell, and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are betrayed. As War, you ascend to ravaged Earth after the conflict that destroyed humanity to attempt to unravel how it all started. The beautiful game world draws you in from the start and the surprising latitude offered by the expansive open-world setting is refreshing. Unusually, the puzzle-solving element of the game is even more rewarding than the combat. Ultimately, you get a real sense of power and purpose playing as War but although its supremely accomplished, Darksiders always feels slightly niche. Steven Fox GAME Darksiders XBox 360, 57 (also on PS3) With their preppy sweaters, formidable vocabularies and faint air of self-satisfaction, Vampire Weekend could be an easy band to dislike (coming from wealthy backgrounds and attending an elite university has certainly done little for their street cred). But their genre-bending post-punk is so good you cant find it in your heart to dismiss them. Indeed, for anyone who fell hard for their self-titled 2007 debut, the New Yorkers second album will seem like a late Christmas present, being a brighter, better re-visiting of the same territory they mined so efficiently first time around. In the US, these four Ivy League graduates have caught a lot of flack over their enthusiasm for world music the standard critique being that their songbook is little more than a hipster updating of Paul Simons Graceland. Though theres something to this frontman Ezra Koenigs breathless warble is sometimes a dead ringer for Simons their writing is of such sterling quality it is impossible to write Vampire Weekend off as mere pastiche. Take Contras opener Horchata, where Koenig has the gumption to rhyme horchata with Masada without making you want to smack him. Later, they dip their toe in reggae (Diplomats Son), Ghanian funk (Giving Up The Gun), Steve Reich-esque minimalism (Taxi Cab) and even full-on art-pop weirdness (I Think Ur A Contra). But they can rock out too beneath the surface frost of dance-hall beats, California English crackles and rumbles with real menace. In an age when musicians careers can be measured in months, even weeks, Vampire Weekend have proved theyre in it for the long haul. Eamon de Paor index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html