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When Humphrey Bogart appeared in the 1939 horror film “The Return of Doctor X” as a scientifically engineered vampire, he already had a couple of dozen movies behind him but was still two years away from becoming a true star with John Huston‘s “The Maltese Falcon.” As a contract player at Warner Bros., the studio that signed Bogart when he came there to reprise his stage role as Duke Mantee in “The Petrified Forest,” the actor was largely subject to the idiosyncratic whims of his bosses, and it was clear that they didn’t quite know what to do with Bogart before Huston got a hold of him.

In 1939 alone, he appeared in a Western “The Oklahoma Kid,” a tearjerking melodrama, and multiple gangster films. Several of these films are better remembered than “The Return of Doctor X,” but as Bogart’s only horror film, “X” is a fascinating curiosity,...

Cyndi Lauper has never been the type who does things the quiet way. Forty years after she blew up into an Eighties pop icon, she’s still making a great big noise. Lauper just began her Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour, rocking arenas around North America up to December, going out in style with opening acts including Aly and Aj, Amanda Shires, Elle King, Tones and I, Gayle, and Trixie Mattel. It’s a celebration of her eccentric musical journey, going back to her revolutionary feminist new wave manifesto She’s So Unusual,...

“If you’re lost, you can look and you will find me / Time after time / If you fall, I will catch you, I’ll be waiting / Time after time.”

Those are some of the lyrics from Cyndi Lauper’s iconic song “Time After Time.” Co-written by Lauper and Rob Hyman, it was the second single from the singer’s debut album, “She’s So Unusual.” And 40 years ago this month, “Time After Time” became her first number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

Lauper had actually come very close to topping the chart earlier that year. Her debut single, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” made it to number-two in March 1984.

The soulful “Time After Time” knocked “Let’s Hear It for the Boy” by Deniece Williams from the Billboard top spot. “Time After Time” would remain there for a second week, but its “Time” was up when Duran Duran...

“Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and “Time After Time” hitmaker Cyndi Lauper has revealed plans for her farewell concert tour, set to take place across North America this fall.

The Brooklyn-born singer-songwriter will embark on a 23-city trek from October 18 to December 5, her first major tour in over a decade. The two-time Grammy winner’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour” will kick off at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

The tour announcement coincides with the premiere of a new documentary that chronicles Lauper’s rise to fame. Directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Alison Ellwood, Let the Canary Sing debuted on Paramount+ this week in the U.S. and Canada. The film explores Lauper’s meteoric ascent, pioneering punk-inspired style and tireless advocacy work.

Lauper, known for classic songs like “True Colors” and “All Through the Night,” will also appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Wednesday to discuss...

The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 9, "Subspace Rhapsody," now streaming on Paramount+.

Musical episodes have become a standard for television shows, fueled by the success of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 6, Episode 7, "Once More with Feeling." The Star Trek franchise gets onboard with Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 6, "Subspace Rhapsody," as a quantum singularity causes the crew to spontaneously break out in choreographed musical numbers. It's hardly an original moment, but it gives fans a breather after the previous episode -- "Under the Cloak of War" -- went very dark. It also gives the characters a chance to sort through their various relationships, which have lately taken a turn for the messy.

Though most of the episode's songs are original, it starts with a telling number: "Anything Goes" by Cole Porter, which Uhura describes as "something from the Great American Songbook." It's used as...

(from left) Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington in David O’Russell’s Amsterdam. Photo: 20th Century Studios Amsterdam, David O. Russell’s 1930s-set caper film, zooms along unexpected narrative curves with a tremendous self-confidence it mistakes for grace. In actuality, it’s more of a shamble, like a...

When I first walked out of The Many Saints of Newark, my initial reaction was to call it a B-movie. What I didn’t say at the time, however, was how much I love B-movies. While I saw the flaws in the film and couldn’t wholly endorse it to cinemagoers spoiled by the perfection of The Godfather, Goodfellas, and New Jack City, I can wholeheartedly recommend it to people like me. Those who appreciate the low-budget gangster movies sometimes because of their warts. A majority of fans of The Sopranos will have the same reaction: Meh, The Many Saints of Newark could have been better. So when’s it playing next? I plan to see it again, more than once, on the big screen.

In one of the film’s quieter moments, the Soprano family is gathered around a TV set, watching the classic Key Largo (1948). The specific scene...

Time is always fleeting, but never has it seemed as warped and malleable as it has in 2020. Reality has been a painful pill to swallow at times this past year, but thankfully we’ve seen bright spots through it all, from much-needed movements for social justice to people casting their ballots for a more stable future than what we’ve experienced these past several years.

As important as it was to stay in tune with the world at large in 2020, it was also important to take the time to unplug, unwind, and relax our minds. For many of us last year, occasional escapism wasn’t just a luxury, it was a survival skill, and thankfully there were still plenty of new horror films, books, video games, and other forms of entertainment to enjoy from the comfort (and safety) of our quarantined homes. Here are some of the horror genre’s...

According to our recent Gold Derby poll results, many music fans hope that Melissa Etheridge will be inducted in 2021 for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She is the top choice, receiving 29% of support from our voters in a poll asking which overlooked female artist most deserved induction next.

The person with the next most votes was Oscar, Grammy and Emmy winner Cher with 16%. Up next were Tina Turner and Pat Benatar tied with 13% each. See the complete results for all 12 ladies below.

SEEGolden Globes 2021: Cher is your overwhelming choice to receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award

The Hall of Fame committee continues to be criticized for its lack of female inductees over the decades of its existence. Whitney Houston posthumously joins the 2020 induction class later this year in a delayed ceremony on HBO.

The previous year had both Janet Jackson and Stevie Nicks be inducted at the 2019 ceremony.

Whitney Houston posthumously joins the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame later this year in a delayed ceremony on HBO. Her family waited a long time for to finally be recognized by voters. There are still quite a few female artists that have also been patiently been waiting their turns. Vote in our new poll below about which female rocker deserves induction in 2021.

SEERock and Roll Hall of Fame 2020 inductees: Depeche Mode, Doobie Brothers, Whitney Houston, Nine Inch Nails, Notorious B.I.G., T-Rex

The previous year had both Janet Jackson and Stevie Nicks be inducted at the 2019 ceremony. Both ladies had been snubbed for years and finally got their due at this year’s ceremony. In fact, Nicks became the first woman to be inducted twice (along with her band Fleetwood Mac) even though many men have had multiple inductions.

During their speeches, both Jackson and Nicks mentioned that...

Cher and Tina Turner are your top choices for induction into the 2020 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Those results from over 1,000 people worldwide are from our recent poll offering you 12 female artists that have been overlooked by voters in recent years. See the full results below.

Lady rockers have had a hard time getting inducted many years, but the 2019 ceremony had both Janet Jackson and Stevie Nicks finally getting in. In fact, Nicks became the first woman to be inducted twice (along with her band Fleetwood Mac) even though many men have had multiple inductions. If Turner gets the call for induction, it would be her second time as well after a selection with ex-husband Ike Turner in 1991.

And here are the results for our recent poll about overlooked bands, which was won by The Doobie Brothers. Look for a male artist poll in the near future.

SEEKennedy Center...

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame voters finally got it right for 2019 with inductions of both Janet Jackson and Stevie Nicks. Both ladies had been snubbed for years and finally got their due at this year’s ceremony. In fact, Nicks became the first woman to be inducted twice (along with her band Fleetwood Mac) even though many men have had multiple inductions.

During their speeches, both Jackson and Nicks mentioned that voters should be selecting even more female artists for 2020 and beyond. So let’s give them some great suggestions in our new poll below, where you can vote for your favorite among 12 women singers.

And here are the results for our recent poll about overlooked bands, which was won by The Doobie Brothers. Look for a male artist poll in the near future.

SEEKennedy Center Honors: 50 Entertainers Who Deserve To Be Selected

Pat Benatar

Eligible since 2004. Top songs include “Heartbreaker,...

By Todd Garbarini

According to actor and film historian Douglas Dunning, his friend, legendary actress Barbara Rush, will be appearing in-person for a Q & A following a 60th anniversary screening of Vincent Sherman’s The Young Philadelphians. The 1959 film, which stars Paul Newman, Alexis Smith, Brian Keith, and Robert Vaughn among many others, will be screened at Laemmle’s Royal Theatre in Los Angeles on Wednesday, August 7th, 2019 at 7:00 pm. The film runs 136 minutes.

From the press release:

The Young Philadelphians

Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.

60th Anniversary Screening

Q & A with Actress Barbara Rush

Wednesday, August 7, at 7 Pm at the Royal Theatre

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a rediscovery of a juicy melodrama from 1959: The Young Philadelphians, which boasted a vibrant cast headed by Paul Newman and our special guest, Barbara Rush. As Leonard Maltin wrote in his review,...

We’ve got questions, and you’ve (maybe) got answers! With another week of TV gone by, we’re lobbing queries left and right about shows including Legends of Tomorrow, Empire, A Million Little Things and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

1 | Does Last Man Standing save money by letting Jay Leno wear his own clothes?

More from TVLineAnother Law & Order: Organized Crime Fatality?! This Job Should Come With a Surgeon General's WarningIs Taylor Swift More Prolific Than Tyler Perry? Was Survivor Tribal One for the Books? John Wick Cameo on FBI? Did Svu Trial Satisfy? More TV Qs!Is New Ghosts Lingo Too Ribald?...

We’ve got questions, and you’ve (maybe) got answers! With another week of TV gone by, we’re lobbing queries left and right about shows including Legends of Tomorrow, Empire, A Million Little Things and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

1 | Does Last Man Standing save money by letting Jay Leno wear his own clothes?

2 | Would Ian’s final Shameless episode have made a better midseason finale, what with it being his swan song, plus the big bombshell about Ford?

3 | Is it safe to assume that the group to which The Walking Dead‘s Anne had been supplying specimens is — however...

Musical star and actress Cher is having an incredible year! She co-starred in the hit summer film “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.” She has her life story on Broadway in November. She will receive the Kennedy Center Honors in December. And she just overwhelmingly won our Rock and Roll Hall of Fame poll about which female artist should be inducted next.

See Cher, Reba McEntire and ‘Hamilton’ to receive Kennedy Center Honors

Over the past week, we offered you a poll featuring 12 female artists who have been overlooked by Hall of Fame voters in recent years. In our results from over 900 people worldwide, Cher received a whopping 50% of support. The only other person with double digit results was Cyndi Lauper with 28%.

The 2019 nomination list from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will be released in a few weeks. Look for our other polls in the near future asking...

When we suggested 12 female rockers late last summer to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame voters, not one of them was chosen for induction. It’s still one of the biggest hot button issues for this group that they continue to insanely overlook some of the greatest ladies in this genre, almost always choosing male groups and solo men instead.

The only female artist inducted this year was the late Nina Simone, known more in her career for soul, R&B and blues than rock. Sister Rosetta Tharpe was recognized at the 2018 ceremony for her early influence. In fact, some of the only female artists inducted in recent years have been Joan Baez (2017), Darlene Love (2011), Linda Ronstadt (2014) and Donna Summer (2013).

So we provide you with the same dozen ladies below for consideration to be inducted in 2019 because we feel like they all eventually deserve to join the Hof. Vote now...

Well, it didn’t take long for Riverdale — The CW’s moody, sexy new take on the classic Archie comics — to get dark, did it?

Thursday’s series premiere opens with aspiring novelist Jughead telling us how the town of Riverdale’s innocent exterior hides some nasty secrets. One of those secrets: the fate of high-school jock Jason Blossom, who vanished on the Fourth of July after an early-morning rowboat ride with his sister Cheryl. (Oh c’mon, like you didn’t take early-morning rowboat rides with your siblings growing up.) Cheryl is later found drenched on the riverside, and Jason is missing.

After 27 years at the New York Post, film critic Lou Lumenick is retiring. The 67-year-old has served in that role since 1999, though he traces his career at daily newspapers back a full 48 years. The longtime journo announced the news with a tweet reading, “After 48 amazing years of working for daily newspapers (27 at @nypost) I am retiring on October 7!”

Read More: Blind Film Critic Reviews ‘Don’t Breathe,’ Reveals Visually-Impaired Character’s One Unrealistic Trait

Born and raised in Astoria, Queens, Lumenick now lives in Manhattan. He served as the Post‘s metropolitan editor before transitioning into his current role, which was preceded by a nine-year stint as The Record‘s film critic; Lumenick also worked at The Hartford Times.

Read More: Tiffbot: Meet The Robot Film Critic That Will Help You Decide What to Watch at the Toronto Film Festival

Outside of dailies, Lumenick’s writing has made its way to the Criterion Collection,...

Exclusive: Icelandic companies plan joint slate of Icelandic and English-language films including Óskar Jónasson’s Habeus Corpus.

Icelandic production companies Truenorth and Mystery are partnering on an ambitious slate of eight films to be shot over the next five years.

“Both companies were looking to expand into more European co-productions so we decided to join forces,” said Kristinn Thordarson, head of production at Truenorth.

David Oskar Olafsson of Mystery added that the slate’s eight productions are five in English and three in Icelandic.

“We had the same goals and ambitions,” Olafsson said “By joining teams, we felt we could be working on broader profile films.”

Leifur B Dagfinnsson of Truenorth said that both companies would continue to work on their own projects as well as the joint slate, and they would continue to have separate offices in Reykjavik.

The plan is to have eight to 10 films on the joint slate continually.

The initial...

We can't quite believe this is already happening, but the grand final of The Voice UK is on Saturday! We've already got the pizza place on our speed dial and we've obviously turned our sofa away from the television, but we felt that wasn't quite enough preparation, so we decided we should take a little time to assess the top four.

So if you've not been watching - or if you just want a reminder of everything that's led to this point - you're in luck. Read on for our complete guide to the final four...

Emmanuel Nwamadi

Basics: 23-year-old student from London (originally from Nigeria)

Team: Ricky Wilson

Songs performed so far: 'Sweetest Taboo' - Sade (blinds); 'The Living Years' - Mike & the Mechanics (battles); 'I've Been Loving You Too Long' - Otis Redding (knockouts); 'Another Day In Paradise' - Phil Collins (first live show); 'A Whiter...

Hello, good evening and welcome to our first Voice UK live blog of 2015. In a neat twist of fate, we're going live at the same time as this year's hopefuls. How about that?

Based on previous series of the spinning-chair spectacular, don't expect any overly harsh judicial criticism from the coaching panel - but do expect the Top 12 contestants to take to the stage, plus performances from reigning Voice UK champion Jermain Jackman and the omnipresent Olly Murs.

Join us from 7.15pm tonight to find out how it all pans out. Maybe, if we're all really good, we'll even get a 'Yeah!' from the one and only Sir Tom Jones.

22:09Howard and Lara from Team Tom, Autumn from Team Ricky and Clark from Team Rita are going home. Ricky comes up to the stage to give Autumn a hug.

Sir Tom is "lost for words" that both his...

Hello, good evening and welcome to our first Voice UK live blog of 2015. In a neat twist of fate, we're going live at the same time as this year's hopefuls. How about that?

Based on previous series of the spinning-chair spectacular, don't expect any overly harsh judicial criticism from the coaching panel - but do expect the Top 12 contestants to take to the stage, plus performances from reigning Voice UK champion Jermain Jackman and the omnipresent Olly Murs.

Join us from 7.15pm tonight to find out how it all pans out. Maybe, if we're all really good, we'll even get a 'Yeah!' from the one and only Sir Tom Jones.

21:54Smooth-voiced series 3 champ Jermain Jackman is back in the house, sharply attired in Voice UK red. 'How Will I Know' is a solid enough first single - but I think it undersells his talent, which is a bit of a shame.

In 'Run All Night,' Liam Neeson plays a hitman trying to protect his son from a vengeful mob boss (Ed Harris) and his thugs. All through the night, we imagine this old warhorse dispensing some fatherly advice about how to man up in a violent, Liam-Neeson-Movie world. Here are five tips he might share with his on-screen son – and with you. 1. When threatening your adversaries, always speak with a husky voice. You're not scaring anyone with that nasally tenor....

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The Grammys are on Sunday, so let’s investigate its most bizarre category: Best New Artist. Both Christopher Cross and Esparanza Spalding have one. That’s real. And that’s why we’re counting down the ten best winners and the five worst losers. Because maybe we’ll learn something! That’s what I’ll go with.

10. Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee may not have had as gigantic a Billboard career following her Best New Artist win as some of the other stars here, but her debut album is such an assured, unpretentiously poetic, rich listening experience. “Chuck E.’s in Love” and “Young Blood” are whimsical and catchy while “Night Train” and “The Last Chance Texaco” are crackling, despairing portraits. She was also so rad, and that made her bohemian folksiness so much fresher than you’d expect.

9. Sade

If timelessness is a criterion for the music and musicians who win Best New Artist,...

Eleanor Parker: Palm Springs resident turns 91 today Eleanor Parker turns 91 today. The three-time Oscar nominee (Caged, 1950; Detective Story, 1951; Interrupted Melody, 1955) and Palm Springs resident is Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of June 2013. Earlier this month, TCM showed a few dozen Eleanor Parker movies, from her days at Warner Bros. in the ’40s to her later career as a top Hollywood supporting player. (Photo: Publicity shot of Eleanor Parker in An American Dream.) Missing from TCM’s movie series, however, was not only Eleanor Parker’s biggest box-office it — The Sound of Music, in which she steals the show from both Julie Andrews and the Alps — but also what according to several sources is her very first movie role: a bit part in Raoul Walsh’s They Died with Their Boots On, a 1941 Western starring Errol Flynn as a dashingly handsome and all-around-good-guy-ish General George Armstrong Custer. Olivia de Havilland...

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The Grammys are just a week away, and I feel that justifies an exploration of one of my favorite topics: wonderful music from god-awful movies. Here are my 10 favorite tunes specifically produced for the soundtracks of wretched movies.

10. Michelle Pfeiffer, "Cool Rider" from Grease 2

Grease 2 is a confounding mess from start to finish, but it's a complete blast if you're into campy singalong experiences. The movie's best tune is undoubtedly the brassy, kicky "Cool Rider" where The Greatest Catwoman croons like Benatar over a rip-roaring pop hook. It's damn replayable, which is something not often said about Grease 2.

9. Alanis Morissette, "Uninvited" from City of Angels

City of Angels is one of those infuriating movies that dares to take its ridiculous melodrama seriously. It's a feature-length Creed video. Thankfully its soundtrack was a rightful blockbuster featuring original tracks by U2 and -- perhaps most famously -- the Goo Goo Dolls,...

“40 films from the ‘40s” is a movie challenge to watch and write about one film from that era weekly. Why the ‘40s? That decade is fascinating, because of the juxtapositions between films released during WWII and those released after. Half the decade was spent scrambling to keep nations afloat during war and the second half was spent trying to pick up the pieces and move forward.

****

All Through The Night

Directed by Vincent Sherman

Written by Leonard Spigelgass and Edwin Gilbert

USA, 107 min. 1941

Five days before the Japanese Imperial Navy bombed the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, triggering the Us’s entry into World War II, Warner Brothers released All Through The Night. The film is effectively a comedic-thriller, heavy in the anti-Nazi war propaganda that would dominate Hollywood’s slate of pictures in the war years. It also stars Humphrey Bogart, in a character that’s a...

The Brooklyn-based disco band Escort released the lush throwback “Starlight” online in 2006, and gained some viral recognition thanks to the Muppet-laden recut of its hyperkinetic 2007 follow-up “All Through The Night.” Both tracks are included on the band’s fine, long-in-the-works debut LP, which puts Escort in the rarefied disco-revival company of fellow New York act Hercules And Love Affair and Milwaukee 10-piece Kings Go Forth (which got the Tom Moulton remix treatment on 2010’s Don’t Take My Shadow Ep). Blending lessons learned from Moulton and his genre-blending contemporary Walter Gibbons, the lush proto-disco productions of Gamble ...

If the Alamo Drafthouse were a bar, directors Adam Green and Joe Lynch would be the salty regulars whose names everyone knew – pictures of their debauched antics would proudly adorn the walls. These filmmakers cut their teeth to the sounds of cheering genre fans in the hallowed arena of Fantastic Fest; Lynch with Wrong Turn 2, Green with Hatchet. Ever since their Fantastic Fest premieres, the Drafthouse doors have been open arms to these two passionate and insanely creative geeks. Without venturing too closely to the vocabulary of cults, Green and Lynch are our kind of people. To wit, the Drafthouse invited them to host an evening of cinematic mayhem dubbed A Very Green & Lynch Christmas. Our duly appointed masters of ceremonies would be presenting a showcase of their early work, current collaborations, and hints and teases at their upcoming projects. All through the night, they would be answering questions and providing humorous anecdotes about long, long...

Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Lil Dagover, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Conrad Veidt on TCM: The Hands Of Orlac, Casablanca, Nazi Agent Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 6:00 Am Above Suspicion (1943) A honeymooning couple are asked to spy on the Nazis in pre-war Europe. Dir: Richard Thorpe. Cast: Joan Crawford, Fred MacMurray, Conrad Veidt. Bw-91 mins. 7:45 Am Contraband (1940) While held up in a British port, a Danish sea captain tussles with German spies. Dir: Michael Powell. Cast: Conrad Veidt, Valerie Hobson, Hay Petrie. Bw-87 mins. 9:30 Am All Through The Night (1942) A criminal gang turns patriotic to track down a Nazi spy ring. Dir: Vincent Sherman. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Conrad Veidt, Kaaren Verne. Bw-107 mins. 11:30 Am Jew Suss (1934) A Jewish businessman using his wealth to benefit his people discovers he's not Jewish. Dir: Lothar Mendes. Cast: Conrad Veidt, Frank Vosper, Cedric Hardwicke. Bw-104 mins. 1:...

What the hell kind of cake is that?

Birthday Roundup! Jai Rodriguez (above) is 33, Lindsay Wagner and Meryl Streep are both 62, legendary film director Uwe Boll is 46, and fabulous icon Cyndi Lauper is 58! Okay, time to name your top five Cyndi songs! Here are mine: 5. "The Goonies R Good Enough," 4. "All Through The Night," 3. "Hole In My Heart (All The Way To China," 2. "Sally's Pigeons," 1. "Time After Time."

Trip Out Travel interviews Infomania stars Bryan Safi and Erin Gibson. Bryan's idea of a perfect sexy date: Sizzler, and a cemetery screening at Hollywood Forever. Via Towleroad comes this Extremely Nsfw audio rant by a Southwest Airlines pilot who didn't know his mic was on. Both 'F" words fly freely. But don't worry, he was suspended and received "diversity education."

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has announced the llist of celebrities who will receive stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame...

There are many actors who might get a 24-film set released which would make for a collection of great and/or important films, but few would be so filled with legendary efforts. This is not only true today, as The Humphrey Bogart Essential Collection makes its way to stores, but it will probably always be true. The combination of talent, charisma, and timing is unlikely to come together in such a way again, and no matter what actors come along, none of them will exist in the right decade.

Certain films may leap to mind, of course, like – Casablanca, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, etc. – and these giants are wonderful to own, but the collection really gets its value from some of the films that aren’t on the short list of titles that everyone automatically thinks of when they hear his name.

Craig here with another Take Three

Today: Peter Lorre

Take One: When you're strange...

Lorre did Stranger on the Third Floor (1940) because he owed Rko Pictures two days work; just enough time to fit in a slippery six-minute cameo role, though top-billed, as the titular stranger. Boris Ingster's B-movie has been long thought to have kick-started Film Noir - though some point to The Maltese Falcon, also starring Lorre - and the long, angular and accusing shadows from M have certainly followed Lorre to '40s New York; he's hiding in them again, under stoops, around stairwells, sporting a foppish white scarf and fixing passers-by with his signature beady glare (think Steve Buscemi playing Quentin Crisp). Lorre's cypher-like stranger could just be the real killer responsible for several throat-slit murders witnessed by reporter Mike Ward (John McGuire), the blame for which has landed at cabbie Joe Briggs' (Elisha Cook Jr.) feet.

Sounds like The Killers, but better

This whole album is good, just know that up front. You can do what the kids used to do—“buy” this music at a “record store”—and you will be happy. But let’s say you want to go track by track. First download “Disarming The Car Bomb,” a burbling rocker with an endlessly re-playable outro that sounds like Springsteen hooting over a battered barroom piano. Then go for the Auto-Tuned “Heartbeat” and the creamy tropical bliss of “On Foreigner.” And why stop there? You also need “No You Don’t,” which borrows its tasty keyboard lick from Cyndi Lauper’s “All Through The Night.” This song is about drugs, and it gets so stuck in your head that the howling refrain of another song, “The Drums,” sounds just like “The Drugs.” That’s how Vapours works: The songs don’t sound much alike,...