You know, it isn’t easy being this salty. Seeing a mediocre or bad film usually leaves me a little leeway, with so much to criticize I can normally focus on the most glaring of the glaring issues, and avoid having to get too embroiled in serious analysis. While there are times when a film is really bad that reviewing...
Drake is having a great year. In February, he dropped his unannounced mixtape, “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late” to much fanfare and critical acclaim. He followed that up by entering a bitter feud with rapper Meek Mill that resulted in the diss tracks “Charged Up,” “Back to Back” and another single, “Hotline Bling,” which dominated the charts....
The sun was shining and the energy was pumping as students made their way toward this year’s Block Party. Food tents were scattered around the middle of campus, and served everything from boba to bacon waffle cheeseburgers. The lineup did not disappoint either, as electronic groups Neon Indian and GTA dominated one half of the concert’s musical sphere, and...
There’s something very appealing about the European gypsy aesthetic that Beirut seems to portray. Their last albums, such as “The Riptide” and “The Flying Club Cup,” captured this aesthetic and perfected it, making the sound synonymous with their name. However, “No No No” tries to move away from that aesthetic with a more barebones approach rather than the previous...
Our story opens with a small cohort of adventurers leaving the world they knew to find salvation at a settlement in the mountains. Along the way, they are beset on all sides by dangers and lots and lots of tedium. By the time they reach their promised land, they realize that everything they were promised is a lie, there’s...
Lana Del Rey’s third studio album, “Honeymoon” finds her back to crooning beautiful, downtempo, melancholic ballads. Departing from its predecessor “Ultraviolence,” “Honeymoon” is much slower, elegant and controlled, with the overwhelming anguish cooling into a swooning sadness.
The opening track and album namesake “Honeymoon” is incredibly subtle, and sets the tone for the rest of the album. It begins with...
Pixar’s done it again. They’ve crafted another modern animated classic that hits all the zones: gorgeous animation, spot-on voice casting, an emotional story that doesn’t run itself into excessive sentimentality, jokes for both kids and adults and a nostalgic return to what it means to be human in a Pixar film. Following the plain-bad “Cars 2” and the...
As a young lass plopped in front of a VHS player and mini television combo, my third bowl of sugary cereal in hand, I discovered the wonder of violence and thrill that dinosaurs can instill in human beings. Star struck by the cunning velociraptors and, of course, Dr. Ian Malcolm’s sculpted chest (bless Spielberg for the fanservice), I never...
With 20 years and running under their belt, Muse have risen to be one of the biggest rock bands in the world. Their recent musical efforts have been experimental with orchestral sound in 2009’ s “The Resistance” and more of an electronic influence in 2012’s “The 2nd Law.” Now in 2015, Muse have gone back to a stripped down...
Riverside: where the good times roll and the summer heat wants to kill you. You’ll want to beat the sizzling heat by drinking plenty of water and using sunblock when venturing outside. Or, if you’re like me, sit in a freezer and binge-watch season five of “Game of Thrones” 10 times. If you’re not cool like me, then you’ll...