Las Vegas Critics

Baguette Cafe

Nick Manteris — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 19:19:18 +0000

Baguette Cafe is a small cafe, tucked away in a corner of the business park on Sunset between Buffalo and Durango. It’s just north of 215 and accessible from either Sunset or the feeder — and we never would have discovered it without the new sign that can be seen from the freeway.

Hash House A Go Go (Sahara)

Nick Manteris — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 19:58:53 +0000

Hash House A Go Go is a small restaurant chain that generates a lot of buzz. They make food that people talk about and word of mouth is good for business. It’s so good for business that Hash House A Go Go just opened up a new restaurant (their third location in Las Vegas) at the M Resort in October.

Yardhouse (Town Square)

Nick Manteris — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:08:48 +0000

The first Yardhouse restaurant was in Long Beach, California. The concept proved to be rather popular and they now have multiple locations across California, several in Arizona, a couple in both Texas and Florida and a handful in other states. There are even two locations in Las Vegas: one can be found at Red Rock Resort and the other – the subject of this review – resides at Town Square.

The Town

Nick Manteris — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:55:54 +0000

Ben Affleck has returned to the director’s chair for the unimaginatively-named heist film, The Town. The script, based on a novel by Chuck Hogan, was co-written by Affleck and two others and – instead of getting his brother to play the main character – this time, Ben casts himself as the leading man, Doug MacRay.

Easy A

Nick Manteris — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 18:22:13 +0000

Easy A is a high school comedy starring Emma Stone in her biggest role to date. Emma was great in her smaller roles from Superbad or Zombieland, but this film rests completely on her shoulders. As Olive Penderghast, she plays an ordinary high school girl that gets caught up in a web of lies that eventually starts to affect the lives of other people.

Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D

Nick Manteris — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:11:36 +0000

Resident Evil is back with another installment of zombie apocalypse. Resident Evil: Afterlife is written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson (just like the first movie of the series) and it was filmed in 3D. That’s right: filmed in 3D.

Sara Bareilles - Kaleidoscope Heart

Nick Manteris — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:11:52 +0000

Kaleidoscope Heart is the second major-label release from Sara Bareilles. Her first album, Little Voices, instantly became a top seller on iTunes when it was released and was certified Gold less than a year later. “Love Song” was the driving force behind the success of that album and it remains her biggest hit.

Machete

Nick Manteris — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:54:46 +0000

It’s kind of amazing that Machete exists as a feature film. It was originally one of the fake trailers that appeared between Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror and Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof in the the spectacular box-office failure, Grindhouse.

Interpol - Interpol

Nick Manteris — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:50:16 +0000

Interpol’s new album – their fourth – is called, simply, Interpol. They claim that this is the album that they’ve wanted to make from the very beginning, because now they are proficient enough with their instruments to capture specific musical ideas. Unfortunately, the Interpol that created this album no longer exists.

Kat Edmonson - Take To The Sky

Christopher Calicott — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:53:16 +0000

I love finding new artists that really have something special. I have to admit, though, that sometimes it seems like they are fewer and further between each and every year. In a sense, however, that makes stumbling across a new artist – someone truly unique– all that much sweeter. That has been my experience since Kat Edmonson’s unique style came into my world. In a word, Kat Edmonson is great.

Takers

Nick Manteris — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:23:27 +0000

Chris Brown and T.I. produced Takers, a heist film that borrows rather liberally from its peers. There are a few films out there that should probably feel flattered, but, instead, they more than likely feel robbed.

Katy Perry - Teenage Dream

Nick Manteris — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:26:53 +0000

Teenage Dream is Katy Perry’s sophomore album and her chance to prove to the world that – and I’m paraphrasing – she didn’t get lucky with the first album because this is what she’s meant to do. When you’re hiring the best pop producers in the world to write the songs on your album, though, it’s gotta be damn near impossible to fail.

Piranha 3D

Nick Manteris — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:19:45 +0000

Piranha 3D is the second remake of the 1978 B-Movie, Piranha, which was originally a parody of Jaws. The remake of a B-Movie can’t hope to be anything more than a glorified B-Movie and director Alexandre Aja gets it. He embraces the cheesiness inherent in this film and decides to have fun with it instead.

Vampires Suck

Nick Manteris — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:41:07 +0000

Vampires Suck sucks. Seriously. Don’t go see this movie. Don’t support this type of filmmaking. Don’t waste your money. And, if you refuse to listen, don’t say I didn’t warn you. You can read further if you want more detail, but that’s really all you need to know.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Nick Manteris — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:34:33 +0000

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a comic book movie about rock-n-roll, video games and falling in love. It’s frenetic and absurd, funny, sweet and fun, it claims to be “an epic of epic epicness” and you will most likely either love it or hate it.

The Other Guys

Nick Manteris — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 13:33:33 +0000

Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell team up as The Other Guys in a buddy cop spoof that’s, well…a few drafts short of a greenlight. Someone obviously gave the go-ahead before the script was finished, but the director, Adam McKay, frequently sacrifices story for jokes when he’s working with Ferrell.

Amy Regan - Gonna Get Better EP

Nick Manteris — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 19:22:33 +0000

Gonna Get Better is a new EP from Amy Regan, an unsigned artist from New York. This is the second release from her, in 2008 she put out her debut EP And Then There Is This. One of the songs from that EP, "Carry On," was used in a Hertz commercial – and it featured Amy herself using a Hertz rental to get to a music gig.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Nick Manteris — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 19:11:11 +0000

The Suburbs is the third album from the most popular and important band to come out of the Canadian indie rock scene, Arcade Fire. (Their closest competitor would be Broken Social Scene, but I don’t think the bands are all that close.) As we know, “popular” doesn’t always indicate any level of quality, but when it’s paired with “important” that’s usually a good sign.

Slidin' Thru, the Las Vegas Slider Truck

Nick Manteris — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 04:43:00 +0000

Food trucks are a common occurrence in many cities around the United States, but, until very recently, Las Vegas was not one of those cities. Now we’ve got Slidin’ Thru, a gourmet slider truck that roams the streets of Las Vegas providing mini burgers to an increasing group of devoted followers.

Dinner for Schmucks

Nick Manteris — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:43:00 +0000

Steve Carell and Paul Rudd star in Dinner for Schmucks, a comedy directed by Jay Roach (Meet the Parents, Austin Powers) and based on a French movie that was based on a French play. The basic premise revolves around the idea of inviting people to a dinner to make fun of them.

The Retro Bakery Cupcake Taste-Off

Christopher Calicott — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 23:54:33 +0000

Living in a city of decadence and delicious excess makes for many an opportunity to try tasty new things. Cupcakes have been a pretty serious trend in the cake and pastry world the last couple of years, and in Las Vegas, no cupcake bakery has gotten nearly as much press and online love as the subject of our review, here.

Salt

Nick Manteris — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:06:07 +0000

Angelina Jolie stars as Evelyn Salt in the new action thriller Salt. It’s a “by the numbers” spy film with a couple exciting scenes, but they don’t really make up for the overly unrealistic and predictable plot. Jolie is a captivating actress (I could stare at her lips all day) and she’s effective as an action star – Mr. and Mrs.

Micmacs

Nick Manteris — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:07:06 +0000

Micmacs is the newest film from French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Those that recognize his name probably either love him for his beautiful masterpiece, Amélie or hate him for Alien Resurrection, the mess that destroyed the Alien franchise. For good or bad – or possibly a little of both – this film earns a spot that rests somewhere between those two extremes.

Inception

Nick Manteris — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:07:07 +0000

Inception is a science fiction film written and directed by Christopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight), but it’s also – on some level – a generic heist movie. Except the heist takes place in the subconscious. It's a really great premise: what if people could enter a shared dreamscape? And how safe would someone’s thoughts be inside a communal dream?

M.I.A. - Maya

Nick Manteris — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:07:07 +0000

The stylization of the title (/\/\ /\ Y /\) and the cover art of Maya, M.I.A.’s third studio album, both give accurate representations of the music that you will find inside. All of her efforts seem like a deliberate attempt to make it more difficult to appreciate her work.

Predators

Nick Manteris — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:53:42 +0000

Predators is the second direct sequel to the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger film Predator, but it’s the fifth movie to feature the alien hunters. Sadly – even though the creatures have been featured in (dozens of games, almost two dozen comic book storylines and) multiple movies – the original film is the highlight of the franchise.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Nick Manteris — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:53:42 +0000

Eclipse is the third film in the Twilight Saga, based on the book of the same name by Stephanie Meyer. Like the second film, New Moon, it presupposes that you have knowledge of the preceding movie (or the books) in order to fully understand the events as they unfold onscreen. Some of the characters in this series are supernatural beings.

New West - Sleeping Lady

Nick Manteris — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:53:42 +0000

New West is a jazz trio and their new album, Sleeping Lady, is entirely composed of music from acoustic guitars. A couple of the tracks feature a female vocalist, but the majority of the album is instrumental. New West’s last album featured both acoustic and electric guitars (and an additional band member) so their new sound is a bit different than what has come before.

Nu Sanctuary Lounge (mini-review)

Nick Manteris — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:33:59 +0000

On Thursday nights I’ve been going to see new-release movies at the Rave Theater in Town Square and, for the past couple months, whenever I’ve been leaving there seems to be a lot going on at the Nu Sanctuary Lounge. I usually walk past thinking something like, “What is the deal with that place?” …but I’ve never actually made any attempt to find out.

Knight and Day

Nick Manteris — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 19:42:31 +0000

Knight and Day is a romantic comedy starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. No, wait… that’s not right, it’s an action thriller about spies. Okay, you got me…it’s really a spy comedy with some action and (what the filmmakers want us to believe is) romance. The romance is practically non-existant though...