At a glance, “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters” seems like a fairytale mash-up of “Van Helsing” (2004), “The Brothers Grimm” (2005) and the “Underworld” film series. It comes from the same mythic potpourri of campy flourishes, stylized violence and a wistfully over-earnest stab at being dark and edgy, but it lacks one important ingredient that proved to be the...
Although it isn’t very evident in modern American pop culture, Spanish classics from the 1700s are very much a part of the history of music. Despite its growing unfamiliarity today, this centuries old genre of music and dance still elicits a sense of awe. The Department of Music here at UCR, in cooperation with the Center for Iberian and...
(Spoiler alert text)
Over 2 million viewers tuned in last Wednesday night for the season finale of “Asylum.” Aptly titled “Madness Ends,” the episode neatly ties up loose ends for audiences, though not without some disappointments. Creator Ryan Murphy disclosed before the finale that only one of the leads would emerge from the shadows of Briarcliff alive, and that this...
As the star of director Taylor Hackford’s crime thriller “Parker,” Jason Statham (“The Expendables,” “The Transporter”) is part Robin Hood, part righteous villain and all brawn. As the film’s eponymous antihero, he throws impressive punches, drops cliché one-liners and inexplicably survives fatal stab wounds and gunshots. Basically, Statham plays the same character he usually brings to the screen. “Parker’s”...
Don’t exactly have the moves like Jagger? How would you like to smell like him instead? Better yet, how would you like to smell like Adam Levine? The pop-rock god is now advancing his influence to the world of fragrance—currently overrun by the female persuasion—with the introduction of his new scent, which is rumored to be called 222. As...
Shugo Tokumaru is one freakishly gifted multi-instrumental/bedroom-pop composer who is able to magically pile his copious instrumentals on top of each other in an arrangement that looks outrageous on paper, but ultimately works in implementation. His calm, sweet-sounding music evokes a dazzlingly eccentric and meticulously-crafted environment in his latest album, “In Focus?”
Tokumaru’s childlike glee is first introduced and conveyed...
There isn’t much to say when it comes to the humorless, scatologically driven train wreck that is “Movie 43,” and that’s because there is absolutely nothing worth seeing. But for you, noble Highlanders and other folk, I will try my darnedest. This quasi-metafictional nightmare is hands down the best example of a squandered all-star ensemble, and the least entertaining...
Author James Patterson’s name evokes a sense of nostalgia for me. As a middle school bookworm I’d stay up late at night, voraciously flipping through the first few releases of his “Maximum” series under the glow of my dollar-store book light. This is the only reason why I gave his novel “Private: #1 Suspect,” the fourth installment in a...
“Sometimes I wonder if the world’s so small / Can we ever get away from the sprawl?” So sings Regine Chassagne, multi-instrumentalist and occasional vocalist of Arcade Fire. The “sprawl” referred to in the lyrics can be defined as “the norm"; it’s suburbia as we know it. With that in mind, my goal is to expose readers to relatively...
This week’s episode of Showtime’s hit comedy “Shameless” began with the best of intentions. Unfortunately, the first 20 minutes or so of “The American Dream” were hit and miss compared to past gems. The premiere of season three ended with suspense, drama and laughs, and I was hoping that I would be pulled in again by the show’s usual...