Pick Hits

Off The Record

Up - R.E.M

With Up, the remaining members of R.E.M. prove that they can make compelling, confident music even without drummer Bill Berry by their side.  Many of the 14 songs here don't move forward so much as they move, well, up, and out. That dynamic is ideal for the lyrics, which time and again come back to images of nighttime and dreams as evident in their newest release, Daysleeper. Because the band is unafraid of its new potential to be clumsy, Up comes off as anything but.

At The Movies

The Waterboy

Bobby Boucher (Adam Sandler) is a lowly waterboy for a college football team in Louisiana, until a new coach arrives on the scene and unleashes his potential. It turns out that all of that pent-up aggression makes Bobby a killer linebacker. Back to his Happy Gilmore ways, this film is stuffed to the brim with low-brow sight gags and relentlessly sophomoric humor. Sandler is so in tune with his material, he gives even the cheesiest gags that perfect spin. Terrifically funny stuff.

On Video

Armageddon

Bruce Willis heads an all star cast that battles an asteroid that threatens to wipe out earth as we know it. Sure, it's a tried and true formula, and there are enough American flags waving to make any resident outside of the U.S.A. cringe, but competent performances from Steve Buscemi, Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler provide a nice balance against the brilliant CGI effects. If you can get past all the hype, what you have left is one slick action/adventure flick.

The Buzz...

Bob Kane, the comic book artist and writer who created the mythic hero Batman for DC Comics while still in his teens, died at his home in California. He was 83 years old.

Dustin Hoffman has been tapped to receive the American Film Institute's 1999 Life Achievement Award, which is considered the most prestigious career honor in Hollywood.

Jeri Ryan, who plays ultra-sexy human-Borg hybrid Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager, has filed for divorce from her husband of seven years.  Wynonna Judd is also splitting from her husband after two and a half years of marriage. Both cited irreconcilable differences.

Marilyn Manson and 'N Sync were the top winners at the 1998 Billboard Music Video Awards. The shock-rock act and the pop vocal group each won two awards.

McDonald's Corp. has opened its first McStore, selling everything from tennis socks to mouse pads featuring the fast-food giant's golden arches logo. The retail store is located in Oak Brook, Illinois, at the corporate home office and near the Hamburger University training center.

Nintendo of America has won the right to sell and distribute two video games based on George Lucas's upcoming Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.

It was only a matter of time until the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted these three legends, Billy Joel, Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen.

U2's Best of 1980-90 is now the U.K.'s fastest-selling record of all time. The album is on the top of the country's charts and has outsold Alanis Morissette's latest 11 to one.

There's further proof that Britain's monarchy is becoming more modern. Prince Charles has launched his own web site. You can find him online at www.princeofwales.gov.uk.

Jason Priestley isn't taking any breaks after finishing his mutli-year stint as Brandon on Beverly Hills 90210. Right now, Jason's busy editing the documentary of rock's Barenaked Ladies that he directed. 

Meanwhile, the real Kiss was bogged down in L.A. traffic after its Halloween concert at Dodger Stadium. The rockers walked the last six blocks to their hotel in full stage makeup, unnoticed amid costumed revelers on Sunset Boulevard.

LeVar Burton is directing and makes an appearance in the 100th episode of Star Trek: Voyager, which airs Wednesday, Nov. 18.  

Production on End of Days is being accelerated to make the film debut before the millennium, which is a crucial story point. The Arnold Schwarzengger end-of-the-world opus will finish filming by mid-March so the heavy FX can be done by the end of 1999.

Comedian Steve Martin and feature writer and director Noah Baumbach have teamed up to create a sitcom about an acting class for fall 1999. Martin will write, but not star in the comedy.