'Compliance,' Pro Football, Dead Can Dance: The Week Ahead in Pop Culture
A look at the things we're most excited about watching, reading, browsing, and listening to:
MOVIES
The awful events of Compliance would strain credulity if they didn't actually, well, happen. The film recreates a 2004 incident in which someone claiming to be a police officer called a Kentucky McDonald's and asked the manager and her fiancé to strip-search and molest a female employee—and she complied. The film, one of the most talked-about at this year's Sundance festival, explores the human tendency to follow authority, even when it means hurting someone else. Variety calls it "taut, gripping and deeply disturbing."
Campy, violent, action-film escapism is what The Expendables 2 promises: In the sequel to the over-the-top 2010 blockbuster, Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Terry Crews, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis team up to blow stuff up.
MUSIC
You can hear the influence of Fleetwood Mac in the music of much of today's best artists, so it's cool that there's now a tribute album to the band recorded by many of those artists. Best Coast, MGMT, the New Pornographers, Lykke Li, and other indie stalwarts all recorded covers of Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, et. al's most-beloved songs for Just Tell Me That You Want Me: A Tribute To Fleetwood Mac, which is now streaming at NPR.
Goth globetrotters Dead Can Dance may have had their heyday in the '80s, but their first album in 16 years, Anastasis, is getting strong reviews.
SPORTS
With the Olympics over, it's time to turn our attention back to America's pastime (which was cut from the Games this year). There are plenty of pro games to watch, but the real excitement comes with the start of the Little League World Series on Thursday.
And there's another non-Olympic sport to start focusing on: football. Pre-season games started last week, and this week the Cowboys face the Raiders on Monday; the Bengals play the Falcons and the Browns play the Packers on Thursday; and 13 other matchups take place on throughout the weekend.
BOOKS
For sale Tuesday:
People experiencing Olympics withdrawal, take heart: Hope Solo, goalie for the gold-medal-winning U.S. soccer squad, has a memoir out this week, Solo: A Memoir of Hope. It looks at the athlete's troubled childhood, with her trademark frankness.
Amy Sohn—novelist, screenwriter, relationships columnist—has a new book out this week, Motherland about five yuppie adults who find themselves with big, unexpected relationship or professional problems.
This article was originally published at http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/08/compliance-pro-football-dead-can-dance-the-week-ahead-in-pop-culture/261007/
