From haunted houses to witches, the creators of the “Paranormal Activity” series never know when to throw in the towel. Demonic presences in WASPy suburban neighborhoods get really old after four movies. However, in “Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones,” Christopher Landon, the writer and director for the previous films, decided to introduce some diversity and change the setting to...
As we slog through the inevitable drag of week 10, a beautiful endgame lays not far from here: winter break. Though Riverside severely lacks anything resembling winter weather, our time of servitude to the university has earned us a short break that we should nonetheless be thankful for. Opportunities abound — if only for a few weeks. Time for...
Cover albums are always a tricky thing. It’s difficult for musicians to encapsulate the original artist while incorporating their own twists and originality. This is where things get complicated on “Foreverly,” as Billie Joe Armstrong and Norah Jones leave their respective genres of music to cover The Everly Brothers’ 1958 album, “Songs Our Daddy Taught Us” — which is...
For a while now, Disney’s been aching to recapture that string of commercial success and universal acclaim that characterized the Disney Renaissance of the 90s. The entertainment powerhouse tried here and there, be it through live action flops of “John Carter” and “The Lone Ranger,” or through the commercially successful but critically panned “Planes.” Thankfully for us, “Frozen” quells...
Oh, what a time to be a woman! As I finished cleaning the kitchen and preparing a sandwich for my husband, I logged onto Amazon and stumbled upon a category of books called “Women’s Fiction.” The titles in this section featured such scintillating titles as “50 Shades of Grey” and covers with flowers and curlicue lettering. And me? Well,...
Chances are, if you were on the Internet on Saturday, you saw someone mention what is now officially (according to Guinness World Records) the largest ever television simulcast: the “Doctor Who” 50th anniversary special. We knew “The Day of the Doctor” was going to be a big one, teaming up the two most recent Doctors (Matt Smith’s Eleventh and...
How do you think the apocalypse will come?
Meteor impact is always a popular choice. With global warming increasingly in the spotlight, some have argued that we’re in for massive flooding. If “World War Z” and “The Walking Dead” are any indication, zombie invasions have gained ground in recent years.
But if UCR’s Comedy Apocalypse is the final arbiter of what...
In 2011, Ken Scott directed a French-Canadian film called “Starbuck,” a heartwarming story about a slacker 40-something who finds out that he has fathered 500 children due to his sperm donations at a fertility clinic. Despite being a Canadian hit, the only attention the film received was from viewers randomly searching through the foreign movie category on Netflix.
Scott and...
The UCR theatre department’s attempt to modernize “The Rover,” a 1677 play written by Aphra Behn, fell short of capturing the attention of its audience. While the play was not terribly dull or uninteresting, the language barrier between this traditional old-English piece was quite the stumper due to the diction with which this play was written.
“The Rover” is about...
When the thought of a music album crosses one’s mind, it is usually defined by a potpourri of an artist’s recent works thrown together in a 10 to 15 track conglomerate. But with his debut album “Damage Control,” EDM standout Mat Zo takes the listener on a 60-minute journey through a meticulously designed track list whose elements transcend the...