Water Torture

Billing problems give Pittsburgh utility customers a sinking feeling

• by Chris Young

Trailer Trashed

South Side business owners say regulations are getting too strict

• by Charlie Deitch

Prevailing Sentiments

Killing a wage bill only makes it stronger

• by Chris Potter

The Franklin Inn

Twice-cooked chicken wings spice up this home-style Mexican restaurant

• by Charlie Deitch

Dor-Stop

This family-run venue is everything an American diner ought to be.

• by Angelique Bamberg and Jason Roth

New goth/industrial night Midian debuts at the Fate Lounge

"We want to show that it's still an exciting place."

• by Manny Theiner

Pittsburgh thrash band Mantic Ritual returns home after playing the "U.S. Plague" tour

Don't miss the chance to catch the band in a small venue while it's still four thrash guys in a van.

• by Lissa Brennan

Sub Pop psych-folk act Vetiver plays Thunderbird Café this Friday

Despite being Vetiver's "break out" album, Tight Knit is more for those looking to bliss out, not rock out.

• by Aaron Jentzen

Local band Altaic explores "darker tonalities" with Oceans Down You'll Lie

"I don't think even in the more structured songs there's anything approaching a strong pop sensibility."

• by Manny Theiner

Broken Embraces

Love, death, betrayal, revenge, Penélope Cruz, and movies, movies, movies: If this is all happening in Spain, it must be Pedro Almodóvar's latest film, an ensemble melodrama-thriller, featuring a screenwriter, a mistress-turned-actress and a rich old man. The story is relatively intricate -- told through flashbacks and stories-within-stories -- though its characters are decidedly less complex. (At over 2 hours, Broken Embraces feels a trifle too long, and the last reel doesn't deliver the dramatic satisfaction that the film hinted was imminent.) Most of Almodóvar's attention appears to have been expended making Broken Embraces a kaleidoscope of various homages and themes. The film is packed with winks and nods to classic cinema; in-jokes and musings about the act of filming; and a another batch of broader ideas about relationships and self-expression. Some viewers will adore this: Here's an enjoyable genre film you can easily unpack and refold into dozens of other shapes. If Broken Embraces is not particularly thought-provoking or emotionally satisfying, then at least it's cleverly amusing. In Spanish, with subtitles. Starts Fri., Jan. 15. Regent Square (Al Hoff) [3 out of 4 stars]

• by Al Hoff

The Lovely Bones

In adapting Alice Sebold's novel -- a wistful, sprawling tale of tragedy and its aftermath, told in the voice of a murdered 14-year-old – director Peter Jackson has trampled all over it -- cutting, appending, mischaracterizing -- while choosing to reach for just two incompatible tools: bloodless thriller and rainbows-and-sparkles after-life fantasia. Susie (Saoirse Ronan) is hunted and killed by a neighbor, Mr. Harvey (Stanley Tucci). She floats away to a place that isn't quite heaven, and from this aerial perch, watches how her death affects those still living. This is the meat of the novel, how Susie's relatives are undone -- then, rebuilt -- by their grief and anger. But the film scrimps on fleshing out the family, presenting them as one-dimensional. And poor Susie is left to cavort through one loopy CGI landscape after another. Jackson has rounded up a decent slate of actors, but given them little to do in a story that is primarily about relationships. The impact of the death of a child is tricky material, to be sure, and an effective telling should run viewers through a vicarious catharsis from shocked and wrung-out to consoled. I felt bad, all right -- but mostly for the decent folks on screen caught up in this floundering mess. Starts Fri., Jan. 15. (Al Hoff) [1.5 out of 4 stars]

• by Al Hoff

The Book of Eli

An unnamed man (Denzel Washington) trudges across a post-apocalyptic U.S.A., determined that his precious cargo – a book – reach its destination. All goes relatively well, until this stranger ambles into your typical, lawless frontier town (like Deadwood, after The Bomb), run by a violent despot named Carnegie (Gary Oldman). Carnegie also wants the mysterious book, and thus, a number of shoot-outs, brawls and road chases ensue. Carnegie has a posse of toughs, while Mr. X is burdened with a bratty teen-age girl named Solara (Mila Kunis). (Solara is a bum note in this unrelenting murk-fest -- an obvious bit of eye candy, with her unchapped pouty lips and brand-new skinny jeans. Everyone else shops at Mad Max R Us.)

The movie, shot in a super-saturated near-monotone by Albert and Allen Hughes, looks great: The production designer had fun making our nation look appropriately obliterated, and the Hughes take plenty of inspiration from classic Westerns. Unfortunately, there just isn't much of a story, no real surprise or tension, and the big "reveal" (which you'll guess well in advance) struck me as amateurish, and not quite defensible.

But Washington and Oldman are always fun to watch; they can play this pulpy stuff with just the right balance of winking sincerity. If you thought The Road needed more zingy violence -- Denzel shoots a hairless cat! -- then this American dystopia might be for you. Starts Fri., Jan. 15. (Al Hoff) [2 out of 4 stars]

• by Al Hoff

Leap Year

Following what she believes to be an Irish tradition, Anna (Amy Adams) plans to propose to her boyfriend on Feb. 29, while he's on business in Dublin. So, in Anand Tucker's romantic comedy, off Anna goes to the Emerald Isle. But not so fast -- we've at least 75 minutes of wacky and heart-warming obstacles to get through. (Will the city girl fall in the country mud?) Travel crises leave control-freak Anna in the hands of pub-owner Declan (Matthew Goode), whose easy humor, low-key manner and soulful brown eyes seem just perfect for some lucky gal. (Hint, hint.) It's the same old premise, marginally enlivened by Adams and Goode (both of whom are better than this), and mile upon mile of lovely scenery. Though this Ireland seems curiously absent of other people, except for a dozen of those twee, tweed-cap sorts. Which, I guess, just makes it all the more romantic ... (Al Hoff) [2 out of 4 stars]

• by Al Hoff

Youth in Revolt

Fed up with troubles at home, a sweet, nerdy teen-ager named Nick Twisp (Michael Cera) sets his sights on losing his virginity in Miguel Arteta's adaptation of C.D. Payne's novel. Nick's target is Sheeni (Portia Doubleday), a wannabe-sophisticate, who is equally stifled at home. (Her parents are strict Christians.) Hoping to appeal to Sheeni's love of Franco bad-boys like Belmondo, Nick develops an alter-ego -- Francois Dillinger, a rakish, chain-smoking rogue whose rash acts derail a number of lives. But hey! -- it works. Once again, Hollywood delivers its signature teen neo-classic, the one where the geeky guy gets the totally hot girl. (The inverse is never proffered.) Cera really needs to move beyond these roles, but he's so darn Pound Puppy cute that it's hard not to hitch your wagon to his dreams. Like Juno, Youth is overloaded with droll, dead-pan one-liners that no teen would ever be sharp enough to quip. But at least that's more fun than a bunch of realistic moody silences. (Al Hoff) [2.5 out of 4 stars]

• by Al Hoff

An exhibition of pulp-film posters at the Warhol delights and stupefies.

The viewer rides the current of over-stimulation without a life-jacket, which is really the only way to give the show its due.

• by Curt Riegelnegg

This Just In: January 14 - 21

Highlights from the local TV news: Pushing the Envelope(s)

• by Frances Sansig Monahan

Lawrence C. Connolly's fantasy and science-fiction shines in the retrospective collection Visions.

The latter is a genre hybrid slamming low-rent crooks into a space-alien scout via a convenience-store holdup.

• by Bill O'Driscoll

Alonzo King's LINES Ballet brings a new work, and a revised one, to Pittsburgh.

"What affects me every time when I look at primordial dance is that presently we are doing the same thing, the same goals, because it is humanity."

• by Steve Sucato

Short List: Week of January 14 - 21