This Guy's Got Baggage

The real star of The Darjeeling Limited, and more media picks

September 25, 2007

MOVIES: Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic could've benefited from a few things—namely, a less gimmicky plot, a tighter cast, and a lot more Louis Vuitton luggage. Happily, Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited has all three (LV did all the trunks, duffels, etc., for the film). Ang Lee's World War II spy thriller Lust, Caution more than earns its NC-17 rating, while Peter Berg's The Kingdom comes by its mixed buzz naturally.

TV: The Office may have run out of interesting things to say a while back, but there's at least one bit of good news about season four (Thursday on NBC): Jim seems to have finally ditched the annoying blow-comb hairdo (above). Elsewhere, Michael C. Hall returns to Showtime Sunday for another season of the inspired Dexter, while Hall's SFU bro Peter Krause stars in ABC's Dirty Sexy Money, premiering tomorrow on ABC. Think Arrested Development meets Desperate Housewives.

BOOKS: With Million Dollar Bash: Bob Dylan, The Band, and the Basement Tapes, Sid Griffin boldly goes where Greil Marcus has gone before. On the topic of spiffy book covers, David Halberstam's posthumous The Coldest Winter would look great on any bookshelf. In the fiction aisle, Paul Theroux releases a three-novella collection, The Elephanta Suite.

MUSIC: A solid week for music fans of a certain age: PJ Harvey embraces the piano in White Chalk, while Steve Earle embraces his adopted hometown with Washington Square Serenade. On the neo-crunchy side of things, Devendra Banhart drops Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, while Sam Beam (a.k.a. Iron & Wine) offers The Shepherd's Dog. Finally, the Foo Fighters unveil Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, which just might be the most pretentious album title since Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

DVD: ESPN's The Bronx Is Burning hits shelves, as does the 25th anniversary of Cujo. Oh, and there's also a flick about a schlubby guy who ends up getting this really hot girl pregnant. Accidentally. Anyway, we hear it was popular in theaters.

WEB: Can't wait until Saturday—that's right, it's out Saturday—to catch Darjeeling? Then wait until tomorrow, when Anderson's short-film overture, Hotel Chevalier, is available for free on iTunes.