Social commentary done right: That is what “Beyond the Lights” manages to achieve in its almost two-hour running time. With precise focus it tackles tantalizing issues such as media scrutiny, family pressure and concerns over personal image. “Beyond the Lights” strips these issues down to their core and analyzes them on a level so deep the average viewer might...
Once a band of five strangers put together by Simon Cowell on the X Factor in 2010, One Direction has made their name within the music industry indestructible — four years and four albums later. With the world at their feet and their careers in their pockets, the 20- to 22-year-olds have seized the opportunity to make a concerted...
It’s something that inevitably happens to someone who listens to a ton of music, watches a ton of movies, or consumes a large amount of any type of art. Suddenly, you’re watching a band or movie that’s really hyped, or the latest single from an artist you like a lot and there’s just … nothing. No, we know there...
At the risk of hitting the point too hard, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” really needs to fix its problem with Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg). The fixation on Jake has been a theme throughout season two, and “Lockdown” is no exception, which is unfortunate because the episode brings the ensemble together in a way that we haven’t seen a lot of this...
Big K.R.I.T.’s come a long way from his days of being a 2011 XXL Freshman or the victim of Kendrick Lamar’s notorious “Control” verse. With his sophomore release “Cadillactica,” K.R.I.T. makes up for the lost potential of “Live From the Underground” with spacey synths, soulful compositions and encapsulating concepts. Big K.R.I.T. has always been known as the underground’s rapper...
Last Friday was host to the Ladyfest IE concert at the Blood Orange Infoshop. The sheer volume generated from the event showed the artistic aspirations that Riverside possesses, and certainly ran contrary to the generalized claim that Riverside has nothing to offer. They also made rent, so it was a happy ending for everybody!
According to their website, Ladyfest is...
UCR students brought “Monty Python’s Spamalot” to life in front of a packed house at the University Theater Thursday night. The Tony award-winning musical comedy was adapted from the film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” Around 7:45 p.m., the doors opened and began to let in an enormous line of people stretching from the University Theater doors to...
Before we begin, I would like to touch briefly on the subject of sequels. As we all know, Hollywood has been putting out sequels with surprising regularity. A good sequel is supposed to use the original film as a jumping-off point, using established characters and setting to explore new situations and tell a story that demands to be told;...
On Nov. 4, Natsume yet again released its redundant farming simulator under a new title, "Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley." Since its first installment on the SNES, the Harvest Moon series has been making its way through all of Nintendo's home and handheld consoles with generally the same story, protagonist and objective — as an ungodly optimistic newcomer in...
As a preface to this review, I would just like to say that I am a huge fan of Pink Floyd and always will be. However, Pink Floyd's latest and final album “The Endless River” has succeeded at almost nothing, other than inducing me into a state of unbearable grief, followed shortly by an endless river of tears. These...