Opposite ends of the spectrum
FILM
Under the Same Moon
As the title suggests, there is a little bit of fairy-tale moon dust sprinkled over this story of a 9-year-old boy who runs away from his home in Mexico to find his mother in Los Angeles. As with all fairy tales, the magical glow makes it easier to address some heart-wrenching themes that might be too disturbing if told in a more straightforward manner. Rated PG-13 for some mature thematic elements Three-and-a-half stars — Nell Minow
[The Grand Cinema, 1:40, 4, 6:20, and 8:40 p.m., $4.50-$8, 606 Fawcett Ave., Tacoma, 253.593.4474]
HARDCORE
Helms Alee
When Tacoma post-hardcore poster boys Harkonen called it quits in 2005, Ben Verellen, who played bass and sang in Harkonen (and also plays with Roy), needed a new gig. He enlisted Dana James, who’d moved to Seattle from California and had (conveniently for Helms Alle) just quit the band Your Enemies Friends. The two started “loosely” writing music shortly thereafter and eventually enlisted Matheson-Margullis. The pounding threesome of Helms Alee was born, and what’s followed has been an assault on eardrums and preconceptions alike. This band, mashing vocal harmonies with amped-up noise rock sweetened with just the right touch of melodic sensibility, defies classifications and bludgeons fans with a HUGE rock that makes you beg for more. — Matt Driscoll
[The Viaduct, Helms Alee, Bloodhag, Lozen, Mendozza, Funerot, Conteminator, Friday, April 18, 7 p.m., all ages, 5412 S. Tacoma Way, Tacoma, www.myspace.com/viaductvenue]
METAL
Zero Down
Like a trick-out lime green Gremlin flying off a cliff at 200 mph, Zero Down is too fast to live, too fast to care and too fast to replace that smelly tree on the rear-view mirror — impact is imminent, man. A veritable convenience store of complex, spidery guitar solos, bludgeoning riffs, right-on drumming and kill-’em-all attitude and British heavy metal abandon, you’d have to rewind the security video to tell if Zero Down stole anything. Sure, it’s 2008 and these guys are backstroking through the smoldering ruins of revivalist metal. So fucking what. If the Judas Priest/Motorhead annex of the metal university is closed, thank the Metalhead Minister for not telling Zero Down before they laid down Good Times at the Gates of Hell. Class dismissed. — Brad Allen
[Capitol Theater, Zero Down, Hell’s Belles, Mom’s Rocket, 9 p.m., all ages, $10-$12 at Phantom City Records and www.buyolympia.com, 206 Fifth Ave. S.E., Olympia]
LINK: Mount Eerie and others in the clubs tonight.
LINK: Let’s eat Asian today.
