Music

T. Hardy Morris

Rozz-Tox

Thursday, October 24, 9 p.m.

Founding Dead Confederate musician T. Hardy Morris performs a special concert at Rock Island's Rozz-Tox on October 24, and in reviewing the singer/songwriter/guitarist's solo debut Audition Tapes this past summer, Paste magazine wrote, "It's like Morris abandoned the 'shrooms in favor of a nice Americana-nodding spliff." The review went on to call the CD's title track "a simple slice of alt-country pie" with "a scoop of emo melting across the molasses-drenched crust," and the album itself "an all-ages potluck" and "worth a toast."

Gosh, that's an awful lot of food references. Are we sure it's not the Paste author who favored that nice Americana-nodding spliff?

GRAVITY

Alfonso Cuarón's space thriller Gravity opened this past weekend, and if you haven't seen it yet, you really should. Like, now. I'm serious. Step away from whatever electronic device you're using to read this and get in line at the cineplex - or, if the cineplex isn't currently open for business, drive over there and wait. Don't be one of those people who procrastinates until the movie hits home video and then whines about missing it on its initial release. Because I'm telling you: You're gonna want to catch Cuarón's latest on the big screen, and preferably on the biggest screen possible with your 3D glasses firmly in place. No kidding, folks: This thing is going to blow your mind.

DON JON

Writer/director/star Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Don Jon casts its auteur as a New Jersey bartender obsessed with pornography, and you can view the film as an extremely raunchy romantic comedy, or an untraditional coming-of-age saga, or a mostly lighthearted exploration of the perils of addiction. But I prefer to think of Gordon-Levitt's sprightly, confident filmmaking debut more as a modernized Pinocchio, in which, through lessons learned and a touch of magic, a creature made of wood - or rather, one sporting wood - eventually becomes a real live boy.

PRISONERS

Prisoners, which features Jake Gyllenhaal as a feverishly driven detective, is the most exciting and emotional cop thriller we've been treated to since last fall's End of Watch, which Gyllenhaal also starred in. Beyond that, director Denis Villeneuve's effort is probably the most suspenseful, evocative, and disturbing procedural thriller since David Fincher's 2007 Zodiac ... which also boasted Gyllenhaal in a leading role. I'm generally skeptical about the effectiveness of good-luck charms, but if the actor cared to accompany me the next time I buy a lottery ticket, you wouldn't hear me complain.