Published: June 04, 2009 03:07 pm      

Entertainment Picks (June 5, 2009)

3 Things to check out this weekend

A Bug’s Life

DVD $39.99 Amazon



Disney-Pixar collaboration from 1998, this computer-animated comedy by director John (“Toy Story”) Lasseter hips up the age-old Aesop fable of the grasshopper and the ant with the voices of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Hayden Panettiere from TV’s “Heroes,” Dennis Leary, David Hyde Pierce, Kevin Spacey, Phyllis Diller and Roddy McDowell. Generous special features on this new Blu-ray edition include a making-of documentary, character interviews and a classic Walt Disney theatrical cartoon from 1934.

—Neil Pond, American Profile





Tuxedo Country

The Tom Houston Orchestra

CD ($14.95)



Fans of big band music and classic country will love this roundup of well-known honky-tonk tunes “dressed to kill” with the full orchestrations of a jazzy, snazzy stage ensemble, a la Glenn Miller, Count Basie or Duke Ellington. Bandleader and clarinet virtuoso Tom Houston leads his first-class, 14-man band of saxophones, trombones, guitar, piano, upright bass and drums in “Crazy,” “Faded Love,” “I Fall to Pieces” and 17 other elegantly styled, uptown fusions of barroom and concert hall. (Available from tomhoustonorchestra.com)

—Neil Pond, American Profile





Movie Speak

By Tony BillSoftcover,

216 pages ($8.95)Amazon



You’ll sound like a real Hollywood insider when you throw around terms like “Doris Day Parking,” “brodkin,” “honeywagon” and “rough cut”—and actually know what you’re talking about! Written by an award-winning producer, this handy-dandy A-to-Z guide also includes descriptions of the jobs behind all those cryptic credits that run at the end of a film, like grip, gaffer, best boy and wrangler. Fun, fact-filled and full of insight into the backstage world of filmmaking, it’s a must-have for any movie buff!

—Neil Pond, American Profile