Music to Our Ears

We’ve mentioned the upcoming Music in Film Summit before in the Alibi, and if you haven’t registered yet, your time is running out. The event takes place this Friday and Saturday, Sept. 18 and 19, at the KiMo Theater. Panelists have been confirmed and include an amazing selection of film and music industry professionals like Steven Vincent, VP of Music and Soundtracks at Disney Channel; Randy Spendlove, president of Film Music at Paramount Studios; Dana Sano, music supervisor and producer at Zenden Entertainment; Lizzy Moore, West Coast regional director of The Recording Academy; and Mike Knobloch, senior vice president of Film Music at 20th Century Fox. The folks are coming to New Mexico will teach you (yes, you) how to break into the film music business. On Friday, there will be a film screening starting at 4 p.m. at the KiMo (423 Central NW) followed by a meet-and-greet at One Up Elevated Lounge (301 Central NW). Panels and presentations will take place on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the KiMo. This is a free event, but reservations are required. For more information, visit newmexicomusic.org. To register, e-mail alerner@cabq.gov.

True-life character study finds humor in corporate price-fixing of amino acids

Mark Whitacre is no moron. By all accounts, he’s an educated guy. He was president of Archer Daniels Midland’s BioProducts division—the youngest in company history—and that bespeaks a certain level of intelligence. For much of his time at the Fortune 500 company, Whitacre was an undercover informant for the FBI, and you would assume they don’t hire a lot of complete chuckleheads. Whitacre’s problem may simply be that he thinks too much. As portrayed in the loosey-goosey, true-life biopic The Informant!, Whitacre’s brain is a babbling brook that entertains every half-formed idea and every random-neuron non sequiter. Embodied by Matt Damon in workaday, low-glam mode, Mark Whitacre is that genial but infuriating stranger who sits next to you on the plane and just starts talking. For the entire flight. About god knows what. You stopped paying attention 200 miles ago.

Hallelujah, it’s raining Mentos!

While it can’t approach the rarified atmosphere of a Pixar film, Sony’s ambitious, 3-D, computer-animated kiddy flick Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs manages to cook up some harmless, high-flying fun.

Awesome or sucky?

The fall 2009 TV season opens up its floodgates this week and lets loose a tsunami of new shows. We’ve got everything from tough cops to hilariously dysfunctional families to mopey teenage vampires to rodent-eating space invaders. But you never can tell which shows will be good and which will suck so hard they’ll pull the remote out of your hand. Nonetheless, you can always make an educated guess ... or a rash pronouncement based on innate prejudice. Either one’s good by me. So, here’s my snap judgment for the best and worst of the upcoming TV season.

Week in Sloth

The Week in Sloth