George Clooney

Thieves Prepare for Summer Early by Plundering A/C Unit

After living in Houston for almost my entire life, I have accepted the fact that this city is gets too damn hot for too damn long. But, like everybody else, I just bitch and moan, until I finally accept it and I grab a cold beer and call it a day. Some have other ideas. According to a report from ... More >>

Sledgehammering Your Way into a Church: Ocean's 14, Your Script Is Ready

It's like a potential script for Ocean's 14, except that instead of glitzy casinos you have a ramshackle church, and in place of an incredibly complicated and time-sensitive scheme that relies heavily on the latest in high-tech computer technology, you have one very confused guy with a sledgehammer. ... More >>

Tony Jay: Playlist for the Ultimate Voice-Over Villain

I tend to talk up voice actors here in the Houston Press blogs. Part of it is because I'm trying to justify entering my fourth decade on Earth and still being mesmerized by cartoons, but a lot of it is because I think that the discipline represents one of the most underrated acting skills of all tim ... More >>

When The Beach Boys Went To The Movies

The Beach Boys have embarked on a 50th-anniversary reunion tour this year, kicking off the media blitz with a Grammy performance featuring everybody from Maroon 5 to Foster the People. As one of the pioneering rock bands of their era, the Beach Boys made a return to the spotlight that was met with ... More >>

Last Night: Zac Brown Band At Reliant Stadium

Zac Brown Band RodeoHouston, Reliant Stadium March 12, 2012 As the Zac Brown Band began to play through the last verse of "Highway 20 Ride," just as Brown finished singing, "And my whole world, it begins and ends with you" while lightly picking at his guitar strings, our dad reached over, placed hi ... More >>

30 Seconds With Wolfgang Gartner

We launched ourselves headfirst into the Internet to connect with maximalist DJ and producer Wolfgang Gartner to see what information we could extract from his electro-house highness in just 30, dance-filled seconds. Rocks Off: What is worst song in the world? Wolfgang Gartner: I don't wanna answe ... More >>

Top 10 Carole King Songs Written for Other Artists

Carole King is a woman who has played a major part in creating numerous classic hit songs. She has helped to shape popular music since she and then-husband Gerry Goffin (they divorced in 1968) wrote "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" in 1961. Her songs have been covered by such diverse artists as Smokey Ro ... More >>

Failure Breeds Success

Alexander Payne's pessimism is good for business.

Pop Rocks: Chaz Bono Is Far from the Worst DWTS Contestant

Worse than her? Really?​As someone who doesn't watch Dancing with the Stars (note to self: watch DWTS for upcoming "Sight Unseen" blog), I'm not sure if I'm supposed to care about the announcement that Chaz Bono was added to the cast: Transgender activist Chaz Bono is speaking out for the fir ... More >>

This Is the World's Greatest Swindler (Walmart Div.)

Crime StoppersThis is one talented guy, Crime Stoppers says​This livin'-large guy to the right is The World's Greatest Swindler, as far as guys who hustle Walmart cashiers go, if Crime Stoppers is to be believed. The dude goes around to various stores, finds a young cashier, buys a magazine w ... More >>

Falcon Lake: Casting The Inevitable Lifetime Movie

Tiffany Young-Hartley: Only Reese Witherspoon could do her justice​Okay, so it's time to get started on the script and casting for the movie about David and Tiffany's fateful Jet-Ski trip on Falcon Lake. First, what to name this movie? The Pirates of Falcon Lake will never do: it conjures Johnn ... More >>

So Who Hasn't Gotten Naked?

W Magazine: All about the art.​In the latest news from the Land That Talent Forgot, Kim Kardashian has gone starkers for the November issue of W Magazine: Kim Kardashian has bared all on the cover of a fashion magazine. The reality star, who turns 30 on Oct. 21, appears nude on W Magazine's ... More >>

XXXL Bandit Lives To Waddle Away Again

Photo courtesy FBIBig man needs big things​The man the FBI has dubbed The XXXL Bandit was walked away from another bank robbery. Once again no getaway car was seen.We don't think this speaks highly of the effort on some people to catch this guy.Last month he struck on Clear Lake City Boulevard; th ... More >>

SUMMER GUIDE: (100) Days of Summer Movies

Enjoy the great indoors!

The Week In TV: Hope for Haiti (and Coco)

Move over failwhale: NBC ushers in the era of the failcock.​I'm loving the weather, thinking of overthrowing Comcast, and still humming "Free Bird." This was the week in TV Land: • So, I'm pretty sure we all watched Conan O'Brien's last episode as host of The Tonight Show. Nielsen ratings ... More >>

Most Downloaded "Hope For Haiti" Texan? Although She Killed, Not Beyonce

Between fighting crime, reducing global warming, mending our socks and, you know, everything else Rocks Off does when we're away from the office, we caught a good bit of Friday evening's "Hope for Haiti" telethon. We didn't have much choice, because the George Clooney-organized, celebrity-packed fu ... More >>

Guitar Zero, or One Old Dog Attempts to Learn a New Trick

[Ed. Note: What happens when Rocks Off finds out one of our writers recently began taking guitar lessons? This.] ​Some men hit their 40s and lose their minds a little. They trade in their minivan for a Corvette, or their wife for a similarly newer model. I have a history of getting these kinds of ... More >>

Five Best New Year's Eves In The Movies

The New Year's Eve countdown is only hours away. The built-in suspense of it all, along with the opportunity for pathos via a lonely celebrant, or a doomed couple exuding cheery optimism, has been catnip for moviemakers.There have been some great New Year's Eves in the movies. Here are five of the b ... More >>

Year in Film: Grounded

Up in the Air director Jason Reitman has a good sense of where he's from and where he's headed.

Pop Rocks: The Year In Houston Movies

Like most years, 2009 wasn't hugely eventful for Houston as a movie town. There wasn't a big, locally filmed tentpole release like Armageddon, and most news revolved around the death of one of the city's biggest celebrities or, to a much lesser extent, the inaugural Cinema Arts Festival.Some movies ... More >>

What a Fox

Wes Anderson brings his Wes Anderson-ness to animation — and it's a fantastic fit.

This Town Needs an Enema: Rocks Off Movie Night at the Mink with Batman

Note: The date on the above poster should say September 1.​This week's film selection for Rocks Off Movie Nite at the Mink - that's right, we're now officially co-sponsoring this thing - is Tim Burton's 1989 reboot of Batman, starring the third-coolest man to step into the cowl and cape - "Mr. Mom ... More >>

Heckler's Delight: Robin Thicke

Who'd have imagined that Alan Thicke - he of Growing Pains fame - would sire a son who would grow up to be a multiplatinum R&B star? Not us, but we're sure glad he did. Robin Thicke's sultry vocal stylings are modern urban radio staples, with "Lost Without You" and "Magic" charting and dampening ... More >>

Current Television Shows That Premiered When I Was Still A Virgin

The other day I had a random thought: When "COPS" first aired, wasn't, like, Jimmy Carter the president? Dang. I just went back and checked. That show premiered when I was in junior high. JUNIOR HIGH. Do you know how long ago that was? I'm not ashamed to say I'm 32 and lookin' fine, but my God ... More >>

Fish Out of (Frozen) Water in New in Town

Renee Zellweger as the anti-Norma Rae

Five Spot: Breaking Out the Musical Ugly Stick

Movies For Your Hurricane Party Tonight

Miss Pop Rocks Loves (the First Half of) the Oscars

By The Time You Read This, Jennifer Aniston Could Be Dead

Floating over to Monarch Lounge

New Money douches and Amazing Race winners at Monarch Lounge

I Miss the Awards Shows

The Torturer Talks

Chatting with Hostel Part II writer-director Eli Roth.

Extra! Read All About It

A Whole Other Magic

Dianne Reeves's good luck story

Cape of Good Hope

Gimme Cinco

May 5 fun for drunkards and sober folks alike

Fahrenheit 2004

Remembering the movies that heated up cinemas this year

Faker's Dozen

A rare superior sequel, Ocean's Twelve entertains with cinematic sleight of hand

Suth'n Comfort

The Coens score big with Ladykillers -- thanks to Hanks

Enough's Enough

The Spy Kids go 3-D, but where are Mom and Dad?

The Bleeding Edge

A decade ago, Vertigo started a revolution by making comics for adults

Far from Happy

The year's best featured plenty of sad white guys

Banjos on the Bayou

Ralph Stanley and company come down from the mountain

Full Frontal Assault

Soderbergh shoots in digital and hits his target: Hollywood

The Mild West

American Outlaws' parallel dimensions diminish Jesse James into a cuddly, goofy bore

Blow Up the Box

TV managed to suck and blow in 2000, but still, we watched...and watched

Storm Warning

Disaster film sinks under its own melodramatic weight

Splendor in the Crass

Unconventional Conflict

War films get redefined by the complex Thin Red Line

Eight for '98