'Warrior' shows much blood 'n' guts

"The 13th Warrior" is the evolution of yet another Michael Crichton novel into a film that plays on the fear of the unknown for two mesmerizing hours. Maybe it's not all that different from the violence, mayhem and chaos Hollywood usually dishes out, but it is not without its own set of surprises.

Set in an obscure period way back when ships, horses and swords were the latest modes in warfare and transportation, "The 13th Warrior" stars Antonio Banderas as Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan, a Muslim poet in the court of a Middle Eastern palace. Forbidden love leads to banishment to a distant province as an ambassador.



Dixie Chicks 'Fly' high

The Dixie Chicks are still "the real deal." In the country music industry, that title refers to those artists who write their own material, play their own instruments, sing with their own voices and have real-life behind-the-scenes features stories as opposed to cover-story hype. In an age when the commercial radio airwaves are embarrassingly laden with shrink-wrapped, exaggerated talent, Musketeer-graduate "artists" and their committee-written ballads, it's almost an understatement to say that a "real deal" group like the Dixie Chicks is a refreshing diversion from the norm.

The Chick's newest release, "Fly," comes at a time when you can still find their debut major-label album, "Wide Open Spaces," sitting pretty in the upper half of Billboard's Top 50. Make no mistake, though, "Fly" is no hastily produced sequel. Rather, it's an evolutionary and enjoyable progression of the group's considerable talents and colorful personalities.



'Outside': no toilet jokes

It's the mid-1970s. "Outside Providence" ‹ Pawtucket, R.I., to be exact, is not the most happening place and "Dildo" Dunphy (Shawn Hatosy) is what you would call unmotivated. In fact, he's the epitome of unmotivated. He sits on top of a water tower with his best friend, "Drugs" Delaney (Jon Abrahams), and the rest of their useless crew, passing liquor and joints and wondering where the women in Pawtucket are.

One night, after his wheelchair-bound brother Jackie (Tommy Bone) convinces their father (Alec Baldwin) that his big brother's bong is a musical horn, Dildo and company crash their car into a parked cop car. He's definitely the familyıs quick thinker.



'People' adds new twist on mystery

Ever read a mystery where the killer is revealed on the first page? If you haven't, Richard Mason's first novel, "The Drowning People," will have you bewildered and intrigued from the prologue. If you have, prepare to do so again because it would be a mistake to overlook this half-century-long tale of four people brought together by chance.

"The Drowning People" is a complicated web of obsession set in London from the late '90s through the first half of the 21st century. Be forewarned, the ending will not necessarily make you a believer in the power of true love.



Skull rocks hard

The D.C.-area quartet Skull Kontrol may have formed fairly recently, but its members have had the idea for the group's antisocial punk rock for years. The band features Andy Coronado and scene veteran Chris Thomson of the Monorchid, a semi-legendary indie-rock act that won a small but feverish following for its captivating angularity and for Thomson's literate, snotty lyrics.

The Monorchid's cryptic, sarcastic rants and idiosyncratic starts and stops couldn't have come at a better time. Whether they intended to or not, the group was raising a collective middle finger to boring, cookie-cutter "punk rock," humorless mainstream pop stars and a borderline brain-dead record-buying public.



Freestylers bring big beats

The waning years of this decade have been characterized by attempt after attempt to meld disparate musical forms into an appealing package. Artists have tried to combine rock, hip-hop, hardcore, dance, jazz or even traditional Indian/Hare Krishna music (as in Cornershop's "Brimful of Asha") into an acceptable mainstream pop song. Few have succeeded and too many believe that novelty replaces craftsmanship, and that originality will make up for meaninglessness.

Unfortunately, the UK group Freestylers falls squarely within this group. Their debut album "We Rock Hard" offers up an eclectic and often interesting mix but ultimately fails to offer a sense of completeness necessary for a successful album. "We Rock Hard" reads more as a compilation of singles and quick hits thrown up on a CD rather than a full-blown creative mix connecting each song.



'Panic' fuses diverse styles

Widespread Panic, a band whose sound reveals musical roots in the Grateful Dead and bluegrass genres, releases their seventh album, " 'Til the Medicine Takes," with 12 songs that grip these roots and then carry them into a mixture of loops, banjos, New Orleans brass bands, turntables, synthesizers and gospel singing.

The band recognizes the fusion as they tip their hats to themselves when the album begins with an inexplicable clutter of sound that smoothes out after the first few seconds into a six-minute song ("Surprise Valley") that provides soaring jams on the guitar, bass, keyboards and vocals.



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