The Weekly Four
British punk-pop music, captivating trailer among highlights of available entertainment

By Pamela Hoffmann and Luke Tatge

Mirror Staff Writer and Editor
November 30, 2007

(1) “Knock ‘Em Out” by Lily Allen

With a wicked temper and a thick British accent in tow, songstress Lily Allen knows how to work a bar. And with her track, “Knock ‘Em Out,” from her album Alright, Still, Allen gives everyone a peek into her average night out with the girls.

Buoyed by a lazy, seemingly drunk piano player and her brassy backing instrumentals, Allen’s song is jazzy and punky at the same time. Spinning a tale about a “nasty” guy hitting on her and her friends, Allen is truly brutal to the poor gents who dare approach her.

Similar to “Not Big” and her hit single “Smile,” Allen’s work tends to rip into beaus of the past, present and future. Whether she’s smiling about her ex-boyfriend’s tears or rebuffing the advances of overconfident bargoers, Allen appears to always be a woman scorned.

“Just get out my face / Just leave me alone / No, you can’t have my number / Cause I’ve lost my phone,” she replies to an interested man.

Suggesting she can’t “knock ‘em out,” perhaps to keep in line with her anger management classes, she simply spews lies about being pregnant or having herpes.

This Brit is kept company by the recent surge of successful female UK singers in the United States. Joining Amy Winehouse, Corinne Bailey Rae and KT Tunstall, Allen is part of the new British Invasion. In this case, “Knock ‘Em Out” proves that an invasion does not always have to be unwelcome. (LT)

(2) Trailer for August Rush

“This looks amazing!”

This phrase was heard while the August Rush trailer played. Of course, it came from me as I was crying. And that was just the first time I saw it.

“I believe in music, the way some people believe in fairy tales. What I hear came from my mother and father. Once upon a time, they fell in love” are the lines you hear first. Two lovers meet as a voice enters with a guitar and soft violin behind it.

“The music. I thought if I could play it, they would know I was alive, and find me.” Cue strings and woodwinds, all sweeping and elegant.

The titles begin to roll and the music comes alive as violins, cellos and harps race furiously on.

“It’s like someone was calling out to me. Only some of us can hear it. Only some of us are listening.” Tears begin to fall as Mark Mancina’s score breaks your heart, thanks to the full, rich-sounding strings.

“You know what music is? A harmonic connection between all living beings.” Mancina outdoes himself – it’s moving, it’s emotional, it’s inspirational. It’s big orchestration with a melody that underlies the entire score.

August Rush is about music; therefore, the music accompanying the trailer has to sell the movie. And it does. It’s the music that makes me return to the trailer, long after I’ve seen the movie. (PH)

(3) Ugly Betty Episode 2.9

While beauty may not necessarily be a curse, Ugly Betty has proven it doesn’t hurt to be a brace-faced, bushy-browed, spunky Latina in the fashion world. Starring the ever-genial America Fererra as Betty Suarez, the show never lacks in melodrama and ridiculous hilarity.

In its most recent episode, “Giving Up the Ghost,” which aired on Nov. 22, Betty and the gang are confronted with the wrath of the vindictive Wilhelmina Slater (played with gusto by Vanessa Williams) when the show’s center, the fictional fashion publication Mode, goes kaput.

The episode allows supporting cast members to shine with air-headed receptionist Amanda Tanen (Becki Newton) and frank, British fashion designer Christina McKinney (Ashley Jensen) delivering the best dialogue, thanks to screenwriter Bill Wrubel.

While the episode has its major players scattered throughout the settings - Rebecca Romijn’s Alexis Meade spends most of the episode locked in a room arguing with an angry publisher - the cast and writers have delivered an exciting “rally the troops” episode for the loyal Mode workers and a fittingly bitchy beginning to Wilhelmina’s new reign of divadom at her fledgling publication, Slater. (LT)

(4) Dane Cook’s Harmful if Swallowed

Dane Cook’s Harmful if Swallowed CD makes you laugh so hard it hurts. And you might pee a little.

Cook’s brand of comedy is based on the simple things: life with five sisters, almost car accidents, techniques on giving the finger. He can pretty much make anything funny. Harmful includes those nuggets of comedy gold, along with the dangers of the Slip’N’Slide, working at Burger King and girls and their obsession with that paper fortune teller game.

Normally with comedy, it’s the punchline that earns the biggest response. Cook sort of works backwards. More often than not, the lead-up to the punch line is what’s funny. He spends most of his “Car Accident” routine telling you how he drives, down to the last detail, mind you (“As I’m driving, I’m driving safely, I’m obeying the rules of the road. Whatever sign comes at me I look at it and I go, ‘Okay!’ You got it, sign.”), rather than the actual near accident. That’s not to say the punch line isn’t good, but the way he works up to it surpasses the ending result.

Even with his over-articulation (think Ross from Friends) and colorful language, Cook gives off the “everyman” vibe. He’s just like you. Only, he makes you laugh and laugh and laugh.

Get ready to change those pants. (PH)