Forrest Gump

What Makes “Free Bird” So Damn Good?

Arresting Development

When Mommy goes away, Buck just wants to play. And Chuck rues the day he ever met the fay.

With a Paddle

Local table-tennis players whack away

The Age of Innocents

With Forrest Gump, Tom Hanks shows, again, that it's a gift to be simple

Letters

With Forrest Gump, Tom Hanks shows, again, that it's a gift to be simple

Got On the Bus

Zocalo Theater takes its act on the long and winding road

The Insider

Zocalo Theater takes its act on the long and winding road

Air Disaster

Bruckheimer's production shows all his Con-temptible traits

To Coldly Go

Contact is more like a close encounter of the turgid kind

Film at 11

Mad City hammers the idiocy of TV news

Why Robert Downey, Jr. Will Not Win for Best Supporting Actor

I finally saw Tropic Thunder this past weekend on DVD, and my God, it was hilarious. Fantastic, funny, full of Hollywood-stabbing humor, and Tom Cruise completely won back all of my respect with his part as Les Grossman. SO, that said. Robert Downey, Jr. needs to win for Best Supporting Actor thi ... More >>

Island Comfort

Reggae Hut starts good and gets butter. (Er, better.)

The Curious Case of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Old Man Pitt

Idiot Savant

Brad Tucker retains a quirky, casual approach as he tinkers with his art

Apocalypse Whatever: Tropic Thunder

Ben Stiller's Hollywood send-up lacks firepower

Super Cardio Bros. with Wii Fit

Helping the world forget we once loved Thigh Masters, too

Last Concert Café

Hippie wolves haunt and howl at the former whorehouse

Unreal Estate

Cartoon kids poke around Spielberg's Monster House

Pong 360

Like the real thing, Table Tennis shouldn't be played alone

Jesus Wept

Anybody got a good anagram for "crap"?

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Anybody got a good anagram for "crap"?

Playing On Fear

Spielberg and Hanks spawn a daring new genre: the post-9/11 comedy

Best Place to Play Ping-Pong

The Tavern

Bigger and Battered

Where does Baytown Seafood get those enormous shrimp?

Rock Me, Again

A restored Amadeus reveals a truly beautiful mind

Chris Whitley

Friday, May 3

Ouch!

E.T. returns to heal our cynical hearts

Special Delivery

With Cast Away, Robert Zemeckis unearths the part of Tom Hanks we've been hoping to find: His brittle humanity

Giving Up the Ghost

The only thing deader than the haunted spirit in What Lies Beneath is the movie itself

E.T. on Death Row

Director Frank Darabont gets metaphysical in The Green Mile

Found Magazine’s Denim and Diamonds Tour

Davy and Peter Rothbart share their latest trashy finds

Friday Night Noise: Caldera Lakes, Wolf Eyes, Cop Warmth

Wolf EyesWelcome to the inaugural edition of Friday Night Noise, a weekly Rocks Off column in which I'll take you by the hand and lead you through the often unpredictable, harsh, and (perhaps surprisingly) varied netherworlds of noise music. Noise-rock. Noise-pop. Noise-core. Droning noise. System-s ... More >>

For Woodstock: The Five Lamest Hippies In The Movies

Forty years ago this weekend, hundreds of thousands of unkempt youngsters descended on the town of Bethel, NY for an advertised "three days of peace and music." Woodstock has since become etched into our country's history, not just for symbolizing the 1960s, but also for unleashing the continuing th ... More >>

The Top 6 Costumes at the Montrose Crawl

The third annual Montrose Crawl took over Westheimer on Saturday night as crowds of Halloween revelers lurched from bar to restaurant to bar. With the attendees encouraged to come in costume, it was as if Arne's and Party City had simultaneously exploded onto the streets of Montrose. Needless to say ... More >>

A Very CGI Christmas

This can't be what Charles Dickens had in mind.

Game Time: The 24 Trim Report Card And "I Know That Dude!" Scoreboard

​I was actually going to do my Rockets midseason report card today. I really was. But I got home last night, and despite telling myself that I would hold off on watching the next two hours of the new season of 24 until after I got my "sports related" work done, I just couldn't do it.As outlandish, ... More >>

Pop Rocks: Is Iron Man 2 ScarJo's Finest Performance?

​Unsurprisingly, Iron Man 2 was tops at the box office last weekend. The $128.1 million haul was considered a mild disappointment by some, proving once again that even the fifth biggest opening weekend in movie history can be spun as a negative in Hollywood, where it was also argued semi-convi ... More >>

Game Time: 24 -- Was CTU Actually Run By Isiah Thomas? We'll Never Know

We're running out of time...to trade for Stephon Marbury​One of my favorite parts of the work day occurs around 10:00 a.m.every day, when Lance Zierlein is finished with his show. At that point, I'm five hours away from my show starting, so Lance and I will typically begin haphazardly discussing ... More >>

Game Time: Roy Oswalt -- Is It Possible He's Pitching Just a Little Too Well?

cutline​Sending all of you off with a brief nugget to ponder as you begin your drunken, Memorial Day haze. Here goes....As of this morning, these are the things we know:1.) The Astros suck; they're 16-31, and they rank last in the National League in every statistical (as in numbers) and subjective ... More >>

11 Songs Sean Hannity Won't Be Listening To Today

​Today Americans celebrate Memorial Day, honoring the military servicemen and women that have passed while serving our country. The holiday is definitely not as flashy or as popular as Independence Day in July, seeing that there are no Memorial Day fireworks or picnics. It's not stuck in November ... More >>

Remember Chamillionaire's The Sound Of Revenge?

Houston's history is dotted with albums that, fairly or not, have been swept aside. We'll examine them here. Have an album that you think nobody knows about but should? Email sheaserrano@gmail.com. Chamillionaire The Sound of Revenge (Universal, 2005) ​Boom. The Sound of Revenge. Remember ho ... More >>

Upcoming Events

​Taking place on Monday will be the long-awaited Chefs Under Fire competition, in which five area chefs compete for a spot in the state-wide Chefs Under Fire Finals to be held in Austin on October 25. So far, the chefs from Dallas-Ft. Worth and the Austin-San Antonio region have already been c ... More >>

The Top 10 Female-Friendly Rap Songs

streethop.comLadies Love Cool James: LL Cool J on The View​Chris Rock once said that women don't pay attention to rap lyrics. Truth be told, most casual hip-hop fans - male and female - rarely pay attention to lyrics. As long as the beat is catchy, they'll drop down and get their eagle on all ... More >>

Why the Golden Globes Are Relevant...No, Really

Just as relevant as the Academy Awards. Sorry.​The 2011 awards season kicked off Sunday night with the 68th installment of the Golden Globes, a.k.a. That Awards Show No One in Hollywood Takes Seriously But They All Attend Anyway Because They're Too Chickenshit to Blow It Off. Though now that ... More >>

Hilton Kelley: Port Arthur Oil Refinery Activist Wins Huge Green Prize

Photos: Goldman Environmental PrizeHilton Kelley, winner of "the green Nobel"​Ten years ago, by anyone's standard, Hilton Kelley was living the dream. Then just turning 40, he was in sunny California, having escaped his malodorous hometown of Port Arthur via the United States Navy. After his ... More >>

Idol Beat: Durbin Warfare

It's James' world; we just live in it.​That wonderful sound you heard last night - that distinct lack of atonal screeching that used to climb up your spine like a mongoose wearing stiletto heels - was the sound of a Jacob-free American Idol. What a beautiful thing. I'm not sure which was more ... More >>

Idol Beat: Democracy Doesn't Work

So, professor: would you say it's time for everyone to panic?​Well, I feel like an idiot. Flush with victory over my (sole) successful pick of the season in (finally) getting Jacob's booting correct, I was confident that James Durbin had the right combination of talent and appeal to the ladie ... More >>

Featherface: Dreams Of Peacocks And The Great Gatsby

It's a well-known fact that most band names are essentially gobbledygook, but here at Rocks Off we're trying hard to find meaning in the oddest monikers. ​Houston's own Featherface is a very interesting little group of indie-rockers. The music is ethereal, atmospheric, but somehow sinister un ... More >>

Forrest Gump & Other "Generation-Defining" Soundtracks

​The Forrest Gump soundtrack debuted on June 28, 1994, a week ahead of the film itself, which would go on to smash box-office records, win numerous awards and become one of the most beloved movies of the past 20 years. It is still endlessly quotable, emotional, and entertaining, and the soundt ... More >>

Pop Rocks: And I Beheld a Pale Horse, and His Name That Sat Upon Him Was Gump

Behold the doom of mankind.​Yesterday the Library of Congress announced the 25 films selected by the U.S. National Film Preservation Board for inclusion in the National Film Registry. One of which, judging by online reaction, was a bit of a surprise: The Oscar-winning "Forrest Gump," Walt Dis ... More >>