New shows I’m watching this fall

• Heroes
• Shark
• Smith
• Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
• ’til Death

Lucky Number Slevin

Back in 1995, “The Usual Suspects” blew my mind, like it did to a lot of people. It was clever, it used an unconventional (at the time) narrative structure and it played fair with all its twists and turns.

Soon after, it was totally overshadowed by all the filmmakers trying to do their versions of “Pulp Fiction,” but it was inevitable that someone, someday, would channel “The Usual Suspects.” And that’s just what “Lucky Number Slevin” does.

That’s not a bad thing: I love “The Usual Suspects,” but just like the films created by all the would-be Tarantinos, “Lucky Number Slevin” is a lesser film than the one it apes. It’s a bit too clever with the dialogue — which, despite deleted scenes showing how much many of the scenes were cut down, could still use still more cutting — and the character bits are more clever than plausible much of the time. What mobsters would really be called the Rabbi and the Boss? The stylized nature of the film is either too stylized for a realistic film or not stylized enough for a less realistic one.

That said, it’s an entertaining ride. The cast is uniformly strong, and it’s a treat to see Lucy Liu playing the girl next door (literally) instead of Yet Another Asian Dominatrix Type. The mob bosses are played with well-credentialed scenery chewing relish by a pair of Oscar-winners (Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley). And if Josh Hartnett and Bruce Willis don’t cover themselves in glory, they turn in solid performances.

It doesn’t escape from the long, long shadow of “The Usual Suspects,” but “Lucky Number Slevin” is a fun (if overly self-aware) film in the same vein.

Dengue Fever, for free

If, for some reason, you don’t get the Today’s Top Tune podcast from KCRW, make sure and sign up quickly, before “1000 Tears of a Tarantula” by Dengue Fever is no longer available for free.

I know, I know, you already have a bunch of surf rock by Cambodian rock bands, but this song is so damn cool …

Storm Large on iTunes

Storm Large has released her original song “Ladylike” on iTunes in both the clean “what the what is ladylike” and explicit “what the fuck is ladylike” versions.

Note that this is not the forthcoming version with Dave Navarro on guitars, which should be up soonish.

iTunes offering free ABC shows

For people who like to download TV shows from iTunes (Peter), for a limited time, the site is offering the season finales (and new season teasers) of Lost, Desperate Housewives and Gray’s Anatomy. Get them while they’re free; normally they’d go for $6 total.

Wait, these are all double-length episodes, so it’s a $12 value. Not bad at all.