There are a number of reasons why this offering from jeff obafemi carr’s Amun Ra Theatre could be a valuable and entertaining piece of theater. First off, James Weldon Johnson’s poems, inspired by key biblical passages and first published as a collection in 1927, were a major contribution to the Harlem Renaissance, capturing the humor, pathos, idiomatic phraseology and homiletic delivery of the black folk preacher. Then there’s the cast, which includes stage and film star carr (The Second Chance), singer Lisa Kimmey and other noted local performers like Bobby Daniels, Shonka Dukureh and Marlon Styles. But maybe most of all, this program marks the dramatic stage debut of Eddie George, late of the Tennessee Titans and surely one of the most recognizable faces in Music City. George recently expressed in a TV interview that he hasn’t closed the door to football opportunities, but history proves that veteran athletes in his situation—one full season removed from the game—are best advised to concentrate on a different calling. (Besides, being a thespian is a lot easier on the knees.) George displays his new theatrical moves for one show only, June 29 at 7:30 p.m., at the Belcourt Theatre. The production, under the direction of Robert Poole, will raise funds for Amun Ra Theatre’s Youth Summer Performing Arts Academy. Tickets are available at www.belcourt.org or by calling 383-9140. For more information, contact Amun Ra Theatre at 506-5988. —MARTIN BRADY MUSIC THURSDAY, 29TH DENITIA ODIGIE There’s little question that Denitia Odigie spent much of the ’90s poring over PJ Harvey and Portishead albums as well as plenty of other eerie, brooding alternative rock. On last year’s self-titled EP—which she recorded with artist/producer Quiet, KY—and a more recent four-song demo, she channels tinges of the grunge aesthetic through her avant-garde melodic sensibility, introspective songwriting and wiry three-piece band. Even with the percussive barrage of electric guitar on songs such as “5 Minutes,” Odigie’s music retains an ethereal frailty, because the low, warm tones of a bass guitar are conspicuously absent. During quieter moments, the Nashville singer-songwriter’s clear soprano and acoustic guitar playing veer into tattered indie art-folk territory, like Cat Power before her Memphis excursion on The Greatest. Sleepy acoustic trio Autumn People share the bill. ( www.myspace.com/denitiaodigie ) Springwater —JEWLY HIGHT ZOX Two hundred shows a year could whip even the worst band into serious musical contenders, but for a group as talented as Zox, they’ve become heavyweights. Spencer Swain’s lead violin invites Dave Matthews Band comparisons, but you’d have to throw in large dollops of The Clash and U2 to come closer to the Zox sound. The band can rock in the classic form but set off in a different direction at just the right moment before the excitement dissipates. Punk, pop, progressive, new wave and ska all get thrown into the mix and held together by drummer John Zox’s backbeat, with the band’s harmonies as icing on the cake. ( www.zoxband.com ) Exit/In —COLLIN WADE MONK COUNT BASS D Count’s 1995 debut Pre-Life Crisis was a heady collection of sharp arrangements and witty rhymes that had critics drooling. Though financial success didn’t follow, Count stayed in the game, wisely taking the DIY approach. Perhaps the freedom afforded by independent releases allowed his musical evolution to take place—1997’s Art for Sale had Count crooning over hip-hop beats touched by Donald Fagen, and the two most recent LP’s set in stone his reputation as a beat maker with skills equal to those of his peer MF Doom. Can it be long before Danger Mouse is on the phone? Count helps Coolout celebrate the release of his new CD Midnight this week (see below). ( http://countbassd.com ) The End —MARK MAYS COOLOUT’S CD RELEASE PARTY Coolout’s history in Nashville’s urban music scene is long and storied for such a young cat. An early adopter of the boho aesthetic, he co-founded “The Spot,” a weekly showcase for artists ranging from freestyle rappers to jazz musicians. This event became the premier joint for urban artists to showcase their talents. Coolout wisely ducked out while The Spot was at the height of its popularity, moving on to focus on his own music yet maintaining his presence as one of the city’s top beat makers and DJs—even recently undertaking the ominous task of taking over for Johny Jackson. Coolout celebrates the release of his new album Midnight this week. The record is a reflection of his persona, with rhymes about politics and women mixed with slick R&B, baile funk, Euro dance and straight-up hip-hop. Count Bass D, Mindub and J-Nastee will help get the party started. ( http://www.myspace.com/coolout ) The End —MARK MAYS JUNIOR VASQUEZ Junior Vasquez practically invented—and certainly defined—the “X-Beat” sound of mid-’90’s house music (“X,” “Dream Drums,” “Get Your Hands Off My Man,” “Drop a House”) on an international scale, and he and his engineering and programming personnel have been a vital part of remix culture for over 16 years now, having remixed practically everyone who has ever dabbled in dance music. His DJ residencies in New York have been a continued draw since his still talked-about time at The Sound Factory, and to be able to hear and experience Vasquez in a club without having to journey to Manhattan is a rare treat for dance music enthusiasts and the club-culture curious. As always, the joys of his sets include spur-of-the-moment and ridiculously exclusive mixes that simply cannot be found anywhere else—and here’s hoping he might throw in Catapila’s “Void (I Need You)” just for old times’ sake. ( www.juniorvasquezmusic.com ) Play —JASON SHAWHAN DEL MCCOURY BAND The much-heralded bluegrass band’s first all-gospel album, The Promised Land, highlights the quintet’s vocal harmonies, a talent that doesn’t get as much attention as their intricate instrumental fire or father Del’s glass-cutting tenor. It’s about time, though; their complex group vocal arrangements and from-the-book gospel songs have always been one of their strong points, with covers of “Get On Your Knees and Pray” and “I Can Hear the Angels Singing” ranking among their most potent showstoppers. The McCourys have been mainstays of the Ryman’s annual bluegrass series, but since the Mother Church’s acoustics are particularly friendly to conveying the nuances of harmonies, this year’s show promises to be a particular treat. Add in fellow grand ol’ man Larry Sparks as opening act, and what you have is a heavenly double bill. ( delmccouryband.com ) Ryman Auditorium —MICHAEL MCCALL DEL MCCOURY BAND The much-heralded bluegrass band’s first all-gospel album, The Promised Land, highlights the quintet’s vocal harmonies, a talent that doesn’t get as much attention as their intricate instrumental fire or father Del’s glass-cutting tenor. It’s about time, though; their complex group vocal arrangements and from-the-book gospel songs have always been one of their strong points, with covers of “Get On Your Knees and Pray” and “I Can Hear the Angels Singing” ranking among their most potent showstoppers. The McCourys have been mainstays of the Ryman’s annual bluegrass series, but since the Mother Church’s acoustics are particularly friendly to conveying the nuances of harmonies, this year’s show promises to be a particular treat. Add in fellow grand ol’ man Larry Sparks as opening act, and what you have is a heavenly double bill. ( delmccouryband.com ) Ryman Auditorium —MICHAEL MCCALL FRIDAY, 30TH ALY & AJ, JONAS BROTHERS Disney’s second consecutive tween-pop project to cross over successfully from Radio Disney to mainstream Top 40 (following the strangely super-powered High School Musical soundtrack), Into the Rush by SoCal sibling duo Aly & AJ is perfect for Kelly Clarkson fans tired of waiting around for the first-season American Idol to follow up 2004’s Breakaway. It’s high-gloss blow-dry pop about being all that you can be in the face of middle-school misanthropy. Not everything on Rush is as thrilling as “Rush,” Aly & AJ’s “Since U Been Gone,” but onstage the girls rock quite a bit harder than much of their mall-core cohorts. The Jonas Brothers, a trio of fresh-faced New Jersey brothers who’ve done time on the Broadway-musical circuit, play squeaky-clean pop-punk. With B5, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ young R&B boy band. ( www.alyandaj.com ; www.jonasbrothers.com ) Ryman Auditorium —MIKAEL WOOD DAVID PETERSON & 1946 This nattily dressed Nashvillian is so steadfast in his dedication to traditional bluegrass that he named his band after the year that Bill Monroe first teamed up with Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt for mountain music’s big bang. His third album, In the Mountaintops to Roam, still serves that sound, especially on remakes of Monroe’s version of “You’ll Find Her Name Written There” and Mac Wiseman’s classic “I’ll Still Write Your Name in the Sand.” But Peterson also broadens his music a decade or so in each direction, covering W.C. Handy and ’30s Opry stars the Delmore Brothers as well as Hank Snow’s ’50s blast “The Golden Rocket.” As revivalists go, Peterson is a pedal-to-the-metal player with a ferocious band that revs it up with a precision most young punk-grassers can’t touch. When the group tears into an acoustic scorcher like “Red Rocking Chair,” Peterson and his crew reveal how an obsessive dedication to style can pay off when matched with talent and know-how. Radio Cafe ( www.1946band.com ) —MICHAEL McCALL ALY & AJ, JONAS BROTHERS Disney’s second consecutive tween-pop project to cross over successfully from Radio Disney to mainstream Top 40 (following the strangely super-powered High School Musical soundtrack), Into the Rush by SoCal sibling duo Aly & AJ is perfect for Kelly Clarkson fans tired of waiting around for the first-season American Idol to follow up 2004’s Breakaway. It’s high-gloss blow-dry pop about being all that you can be in the face of middle-school misanthropy. Not everything on Rush is as thrilling as “Rush,” Aly & AJ’s “Since U Been Gone,” but onstage the girls rock quite a bit harder than much of their mall-core cohorts. The Jonas Brothers, a trio of fresh-faced New Jersey brothers who’ve done time on the Broadway-musical circuit, play squeaky-clean pop-punk. With B5, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ young R&B boy band. ( www.alyandaj.com ; www.jonasbrothers.com ) Ryman Auditorium —MIKAEL WOOD SECOND SHIFT Atlanta’s Second Shift will abide by their motto “Shut Up And Play” during their upcoming show, with no worn-out stage banter or political diatribes to bore you—just good rocking fun from a band that rides fuzzy guitar riffs and snappy backbeats to garage-band promised land. Frontman Jonathan Baker swings his hips and delivers great classic-rock shaman moves while his gruff baritone brings to mind Caleb Followill of Kings of Leon. Their recent appearance on the Warped Tour should have the band in top musical shape and you bouncing up and down in your worn-out Chuck Taylors for their entire 45-minute set. ( www.secondshiftmusic.com ) Mercy Lounge —COLLIN WADE MONK JUAN PROPHET ORGANIZATION Murfreesboro’s bizarro-pop stalwarts Juan Prophet Organization play-act morbid lullabies with stunning Tom Waits abstraction, combing the hyperbolic minefields of Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy with an avant-garde relish. It’s a kaleidoscopic grab bag of Dixieland jazz, chamber pop, vaudeville and an anything-goes dictum puréed to perfection. And after slogging through a conceptual art-rock pace as an opening act to Bay Area experimentalists Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, this seven-year-old troupe has re-emerged to the local scene with tighter arrangements and an unflagging pluck. ( www.juanprophet.org ) Boro Bar & Grill —JOEY HOOD SATURDAY, 1ST DARRELL SCOTT “I am famous to my friends and family / To my friends and family I’m a household name,” sings Darrell Scott on his just-released The Invisible Man. Indeed, Scott spends much of his latest album wryly coming to terms with the highs and lows of his career—which includes writing the Dixie Chicks’ “Long Time Gone” and Sara Evans’ “Born to Fly”—and his comparatively minor fame. And yet, as mid-life crises go, The Invisible Man is often charmingly upbeat, more bemused than bitter, with a bit of Zen for good measure. Combined with more sophisticated sonics, including a comforting chorus of background vocals, The Invisible Man easily eclipses Scott’s already outstanding catalog. Catch his free show at Opry Plaza while he’s still one of country’s best-kept secrets. Opry Plaza (www.darrellscott.com ) —KATIE DODD STUCK MOJO This Atlanta four-piece seem blissfully unaware of the dubiousness of their claim to be rap-metal originators and an influence over the likes of Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach and Linkin Park. With an AC/DC-like single-mindedness and just the right amount of audacity, Stuck Mojo draw on a musical vocabulary that’s long aged into cliché. Where just about any other band would fall flat on their face, Stuck Mojo at least hold your attention. Sure, the band might at first sound like holdovers from the era that gave us Ugly Kid Joe, but Stuck Mojo’s sense of purpose in reuniting is undeniable. Tracks from their latest album Southern Born Killers ripple with their energy and suggest that the band can deliver a concert that’s a sleeper hit with audiences who otherwise wouldn’t even touch this music as a guilty pleasure. ( www.stuckmojo.net ) The Muse —SABY REYES-KULKARNI SUNDAY, 2ND AS CITIES BURN This Christian screamo five-piece visit Nashville one last time on their final run of dates before breaking up. Admirably, when faced with the prospect of having to replace distinctive vocalist TJ Bonnette, the band chose not to carry on rather than compromise their existing chemistry. Strangely enough, their debut album, Son, I Loved You at Your Darkest was literally released days ago. As Cities Burn are arguably at their strongest during the ambient, drawn-out melodic sections that pop up frequently throughout the album. Song titles like “Thus From My Lips, by Yours, My Sin Is Purged” aren’t exactly subtle, and the music often veers toward typical screamo melodrama, but the band does manage some deft artistic moves in rendering its struggles with faith. ( www.ascitiesburn.com ) Rcktwn —SABY REYES-KULKARNI ACTION ACTION Even considering Victory Records’ progression from a mainly hardcore and emo vehicle to a more diversified stable, Action Action’s inclusion on the roster is still somewhat puzzling. All four members play synths (along with their primary instrumentation of guitars, drums and bass), and the band includes not one punk act among its influences, citing instead the likes of Depeche Mode, Elvis Costello and Echo and the Bunnymen. On a tune called “The Game,” the band manages to rather obviously channel The Beatles and The Clash, fusing them together for fresh results. After losing all the ideas for its second album, An Army of Shapes Between Wars, when bandleader Mark Thomas Kluepfel’s laptop was stolen on tour, Action Action emerged with new material that expands considerably on the more skeletal arrangements from its debut, the aptly titled Don’t Cut Your Fabric to This Year’s Fashion. The new album also captures Action Action in the midst of forging its own unique voice. ( www.myspace.com/actionaction ) Exit/In —SABY REYES-KULKARNI GARRISON STARR W/LANDON PIGG A local fixture since the summer of 2005, when she left L.A. for Nashville after seven years of archetypal record-industry runaround, singer-songwriter Garrison Starr plays jangly, tuneful folk-pop that sounds equally indebted to both those locales: On last year’s The Sound of You & Me, she and producers Neilson Hubbard and Brad Jones (a veteran of records by Josh Rouse and Butterfly Boucher) pair homey mandolin strums with gooey Fleetwood Mac harmonies. Opener (and fellow local) Landon Pigg pumps up his post-David Gray sensitive-guy confessionals with ringing Britpop guitars and pretty orchestral-pop textures; his first major-label LP—it’s called LP—comes out next month. Also noteworthy: In a dimly lit nightclub, Pigg could easily pass for Ashton Kutcher. ( www.garrisonstarr.com ; www.myspace.com/landonpiggmusic ) 3rd & Lindsley —MIKAEL WOOD WEDNESDAY, 5TH ACTION ACTION Even considering Victory Records’ progression from a mainly hardcore and emo vehicle to a more diversified stable, Action Action’s inclusion on the roster is still somewhat puzzling. All four members play synths (along with their primary instrumentation of guitars, drums and bass), and the band includes not one punk act among its influences, citing instead the likes of Depeche Mode, Elvis Costello and Echo and the Bunnymen. On a tune called “The Game,” the band manages to rather obviously channel The Beatles and The Clash, fusing them together for fresh results. After losing all the ideas for its second album, An Army of Shapes Between Wars, when bandleader Mark Thomas Kluepfel’s laptop was stolen on tour, Action Action emerged with new material that expands considerably on the more skeletal arrangements from its debut, the aptly titled Don’t Cut Your Fabric to This Year’s Fashion. The new album also captures Action Action in the midst of forging its own unique voice. ( www.myspace.com/actionaction ) Exit/In —SABY REYES-KULKARNI BOMB THE MUSIC INDUSTRY While humor and personality go a long way, Bomb the Music Industry bandleader Jeff Rosenstock’s wit comes into sharp relief on the strength of the band’s wide musical range. While Rosenstock is almost inescapable within the music—he is the only person who plays on existing recordings—he crafts music with the requisite dimension and depth to make him feel like a living presence rather than a caricature, someone who comfortably inhabits rather than overwhelms, despite the forcefulness of his approach. You may have heard BTMI described (in Rosenstock’s own words) as “ska punk,” but don’t expect the digestible, easily categorized nuggets that define the legions who fly the ska-punk banner. In fact, Rosenstock barely succumbs to typical hallmarks of ska or punk. When he plays something recognizable as either, he applies unconventional instrumentation that makes the original styles seem like distant, almost ethereal influences rather than concrete boundaries. ( www.bombthemusicindustry.com ) The Muse —SABY REYES-KULKARNI THEATER ALMOST A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM Boiler Room Theatre mounts yet another of its fractured musical versions of the plays of Shakespeare. The setup here isn’t too different from the company’s previous lampoons of Macbeth and Hamlet, as a troupe of well-intentioned semi-pro performers go on with the show against all odds, then manage to mangle the Bard with hilarious results. The original adaptation is by Michael Bouson and Joe Correll, with revisions to book, music and lyrics by Kathy Shepard and BRT jack-of-all-trades Jamey Green. The A-team cast features Jack E. Chambers, Douglas Goodman, Megan Murphy, Erin Parker and Scott Rice. Performances continue through July 22. For information, call 794-7744. —MARTIN BRADY THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF AMERICA (ABRIDGED) The Reduced Shakespeare Company has been around for more than 20 years, cranking out a franchise of loony spoofs based on cultural icons. The California-based group counts among its best-known works The Bible: The Complete Word of God (Abridged), All the Great Books (Abridged), The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) and this delightful, Monty Python-like amalgam of vaudeville sketches and parodies offering a 90-minute sojourn through U.S. history. With an eye toward the forthcoming Fourth of July celebration, Street Theatre Company will present weekend performances June 30-July 15 at East Academy, 108 Chapel Ave. in East Nashville. Cathy Sanborn Street directs the stalwart cast of three, including Chris Campbell, Dave Williams and John Holley. For reservations, call 319-9661 or visit www.StreetTheatreCompany.com. —MARTIN BRADY SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN It’s a two-hour trek from Nashville to Crossville’s Cumberland County Playhouse, but adventurous theatergoers might be rewarded with this relative rarity—a full-blown stage version of the 1952 film, certainly one of the greatest musicals ever. The incredible dancing performances of Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor had a lot to do with the movie attaining classic status, but the clever script and energetic songs stand on their own. Plus CCP successfully mounted the show a decade ago, and the company has a track record for doing challenging works in a big way. This new edition benefits from expanded production values, including a live downpour on the theater’s specially constructed “rain stage.” Britt Hancock, Pamela Morgan, Daniel Black and Summer Dawn star. Through Sept. 3. For tickets and information, call (931) 484-5000. —MARTIN BRADY THE MUSIC MAN Its performing venues and board members may change periodically, but Circle Players continues on, now in its 56th season. The community-theater group’s big summer musical is Meredith Willson’s familiar crowd-pleaser, nearly 50 years old but still enjoyable and laced with blockbuster Broadway songs, including “Till There Was You,” “76 Trombones,” “The Wells Fargo Wagon” and more. Clay Hillwig directs the cast of 40, with Douglas C. Shaffer in the leading role of charming huckster Harold Hill. Performances are June 30-July 16 at the Looby Theater (2301 Metrocenter Blvd.). For tickets, visit www.circleplayers.net/ or phone 332-PLAY. —MARTIN BRADY “THE PULITZER PRIZE PHOTOGRAPHS: CAPTURE THE MOMENT” Among the 130 images on display in this collection organized by the Newseum—the Freedom Forum-funded news museum, which opens its new Washington, D.C., location in 2007—are photographs spanning more than 60 years of wars, natural disasters and other dramatic moments in the human experience. While the pictures reflect changes in the medium and approaches to gathering and disseminating news, the arresting qualities of the photographs remain consistent, from iconic images to the 2006 winners: the Dallas Morning News photographs of New Orleans just after Hurricane Katrina and Todd Heiser’s Rocky Mountain News series on funerals for Marines killed in Iraq. Related programs include a lecture by Newseum curator Cyma Rubin on “Defining Moments in History by The Pulitzer Prize Photographers” at 7 p.m. July 21, and a “Friday Night ARTini” program led by Frist associate curator Nancy Cason, 7 p.m. August 18. The show runs through August 30 in the Frist Center’s upstairs galleries. ( http://fristcenter.org ) —MICHELLE JONES LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! Terrence McNally’s play about eight middle-class gay men frolicking one summer at a secluded house in upstate New York won the 1995 Tony Award for Best Play. Of course, the principals aren’t always about high jinks or referencing Broadway musicals: there are some negative vibes between twin brothers, another fellow has AIDS, yet another is HIV-positive and still another wants to seduce the host’s blind boyfriend. ACT I’s new production, under the direction of Daryl Pike, features a familiar local cast, with Daniel Vincent, Brian Hill, Gregg Colson, Ivan Everitt, Danny Proctor, Ben Papa and Obadiah Ewing-Roush. Performances are July 1-15 at the Darkhorse Theater. For reservations, call 726-2281. —MARTIN BRADY ART CHRISTOPHER KUHN: “THE STRIP REDRESSED” The Belcourt Theatre has long been a venue to view media spectacles not often seen at other locations, and the tradition continues with an exhibition of works by painter Christopher Kuhn. Through the use of layering, spray paint, text and repetition, former Los Angeleno Kuhn examines the Sunset Strip as he knew it, exploring concepts of landscape and remembrance. The exhibit runs through July 31. ( www.christopherkuhn.com ) —ARMON MEANS “THE PULITZER PRIZE PHOTOGRAPHS: CAPTURE THE MOMENT” Among the 130 images on display in this collection organized by the Newseum—the Freedom Forum-funded news museum, which opens its new Washington, D.C., location in 2007—are photographs spanning more than 60 years of wars, natural disasters and other dramatic moments in the human experience. While the pictures reflect changes in the medium and approaches to gathering and disseminating news, the arresting qualities of the photographs remain consistent, from iconic images to the 2006 winners: the Dallas Morning News photographs of New Orleans just after Hurricane Katrina and Todd Heiser’s Rocky Mountain News series on funerals for Marines killed in Iraq. Related programs include a lecture by Newseum curator Cyma Rubin on “Defining Moments in History by The Pulitzer Prize Photographers” at 7 p.m. July 21, and a “Friday Night ARTini” program led by Frist associate curator Nancy Cason, 7 p.m. August 18. The show runs through August 30 in the Frist Center’s upstairs galleries. ( http://fristcenter.org ) —MICHELLE JONES FILM BELCOURT LATE SHOW SERIES: THE DARK SIDE OF THE RAINBOW All you folks who reminisce about the rowdy midnight movies at Cinema South and North—your wishes have been granted. Starting 11:30 Friday night, with a second-chance show Saturday, the Belcourt revives the tradition of not ready for prime-time cinema: movies too wild, too weird or too beloved to be seen before the kids have gone to bed and the dullards have crept home. First up is the by now obligatory pairing of The Wizard of Oz with Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon as synched-up soundtrack: the last time we saw this at midnight, the air was as green as Emerald City. Come early Friday and get free “Dark Side of the” Moon Pies while supplies last. Coming up soon: Evil Dead 2, The Goonies, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and—dust off those parachute pants—Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo with a live breakdance battle. Kudos to Josh Hayes and the Belcourt staff for bringing midnight movies back in style. —JIM RIDLEY WETBACK: THE UNDOCUMENTED DOCUMENTARY Care to meet some of the people we’ll soon be greeting at the border with shotguns? Curious about why they’d risk rape, robbery, amputated limbs and murder just to scrub our toilets or roof our houses? See Arturo Perez Torres’ muckraking documentary, making its Nashville premiere as part of the DFA Film Club’s new screening series hosted by Democracy for Tennessee. Distributed by Ironweed Films, a conduit for politically progressive cinema, the movie shows 7 p.m. Thursday at the Watkins Film School, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Scene editor Liz Garrigan. —JIM RIDLEY SUPERMAN RETURNS Is it a bird? A plane? Nacho Libre? No, it’s Brandon Routh as the Man of Steel, taking up the cape from the late Christopher Reeve in Bryan Singer’s long-awaited revival. It opens Wednesday at area theaters, with a special IMAX 3-D version exclusive to Opry Mills. —JIM RIDLEY LADY VENGEANCE Not since the coming of Quentin Tarantino has a director polarized and commanded a worldwide audience the way South Korean director Park Chan-wook has with his feverish “vengeance trilogy,” begun with the icily controlled Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and continued with the delirious blood-letting extravaganza Oldboy. It ends here, with Park’s fiendish stand-alone thriller about a female convict (Lee Yeong-ae) who emerges from the pen to exact deliberate—and gruesome—retribution against the child murderer who framed her. It opens Friday at the Belcourt. —JIM RIDLEY PROVIDENCE CINEMAS 14 For the past decade, two chains, Knoxville’s Regal Cinemas and Georgia’s Carmike Cinemas, have carved up the overwhelming majority of Middle Tennessee’s moviegoing market. Things are getting a little more interesting, though, now that two other contenders are muscling onto their turf. Coming soon is a 14-plex off Smyrna’s Sam Ridley Parkway, the first local outpost of Arkansas-based Malco Theatres. Opening Wednesday is Mt. Juliet’s Providence 14, which marks the return of North Carolina’s Consolidated Theatres to Tennessee. The grand-opening weekend features free popcorn, live radio remotes and other extras, with goodie bags for the first 500 patrons Friday. The location is 401 South Mt. Juliet Road; call 866-5333 for show times. —JIM RIDLEY THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA As the tyrannical fashionista of Lauren Weinberger’s juicy roman à clef—who bears just a teensy resemblance to Weinberger’s former boss, dominatrix Vogue editor Anna Wintour—Meryl Streep digs her impeccably slender heels into hapless assistant Anne Hathaway. David Frankel directed this version of Weinberger’s best seller, opening Friday everywhere; see Rob Nelson’s review online at www.nashvillescene.com. —JIM RIDLEY