LOVE IT
GAME
Madden NFL 10
ESPN’s first game of the year Thursday was a preseason rematch between last season’s Super Bowl contenders, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals. Not coincidentally, the cover of Madden NFL 10, which came out Friday, features a player from each team: Troy Polamalu of the Steelers and Larry Fitzgerald of the Cardinals. If you have a spouse, a sibling or some other relative or friend who loves football and video games, don’t expect to see much of him (or her) this weekend. LOU KESTEN, AP
SONG
Imelda May
“Love Tattoo”
Imelda May is a new talent out of Ireland who plies her trade as a rockabilly singer of all things, but manages to transcend that genre and come across as something of a rocking chanteuse. It’s a compelling mixture and the British media has been charmed, including major league tastemaker Jools Holland. Sarah Zupko, popmatters.com
LIKE IT
SONG
Slaughterhouse
“Slaughterhouse”
Slaughterhouse is being touted as a hip-hop supergroup and the hype has been near-deafening. Joe Budden, Royce Da 5’9″, Joell Ortiz, and Crooked I team up here for some good, but not revelatory tunes that, while clever at times, are still steeped in the sort of macho competition and bragging that one would expect from a project such as this. Sarah Zupko, popmatters.com
TV
‘Nite Tales’
2 a.m. Saturday, WGN America of TBS(check your listings)
Gary native Deon Taylor launches his late-night horror anthology series with help from Chicago comics DeRay Davis and Rodney Perry. In the first episode of the “Tales from the Crypt”-style horror show, Davis stars as a night security guard at a mall warehouse full of mannequins; Perry is his supervisor. The story isn’t all that original, but the moody music and off-kilter camera work add tension. And Flavor Flav introduces each tale a la the Crypt Keeper. That’s scary. CURT WAGNER, REDEYE
LOATHE IT
DVD
’17 Again’
It’s too bad for “17 Again” that young Zac Efron doesn’t have a little bit more Lindsay Lohan in him. Efron is effortlessly diverting as an adult trapped in a teen’s body. But, unlike Lohan — who gave a rich performance as another adult trapped in a teen’s body in the 2003 remake of “Freaky Friday” — Efron has no edge. THE WASHINGTON POST
