In 2016, Tory Lanez released his debut solo project, “I Told You,” an album that was riddled with problems from the start. It not only reflected Lanez’s lack of individuality in comparison to other Toronto rappers and R&B crooners, but was riddled with skits whose purpose didn’t amount to much other than unnecessarily extending the length of an already...
In Sophocles’ “Antigone,” the titular character breaks the law when she decides to give her brother — who was killed in battle — a proper burial. Creon, the ruler of Thebes, sentences her to death for defying him, claiming “Simple obedience saves the lives of hundreds of honest folk.”
“But when do those laws cease to protect?” is a question...
In memory of Anton Yelchin, 1989-2016.
Navigating the spotless, pearly interiors of the Connecticut mansion where most of “Thoroughbreds” takes place is a foreign exercise, the old-money exuberance displayed having more in common with a Giger-esque tesseract than any house most of the world is familiar with. Much of the film takes place here, though perhaps only a quarter of...
I’ve sat in front of my computer screen for the past 13-and-a-half minutes watching a video on Youtube called “Every gunshot from the Deathwish movies.” In it, Charles Bronson shoots thousands of bullets, a rocket and two rifle-mounted grenades at hundreds of goons in LA and New York City. With action so comically over-the-top as to erase any recognition...
Janelle Monae returned this week with two new singles, “D’Jango Jane” and “Make Me Feel” off her forthcoming concept album, “Dirty Computer,” an album which is poised to build upon her previous universes with a sharper, more focused and ambitious world-building.
On “D’Jango Jane,” Monae reads off her decade-long resume, flexing along the way as she sings, “We ain’t...
A Russian ballerina thrust into the world of spies, an American mole in the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and a secret romance between agents on opposing sides — these are all the components that make a heart-pounding thriller filled with sex, murder, secrets and betrayal (e.g. “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” or “Casino Royale”). And while “Red Sparrow” has...
Coming in hot after their stellar performance on the “Black Panther: The Album” track “Paramedic!” SOB x RBE are back with the release of their debut studio album, “GANGIN.” The album is a follow up to their eponymous 2017 mixtape, a release that showed promise but overall felt riddled with untapped potential. But that’s not the case with “GANGIN,”...
Winter Soulstice is an event that comes to UCR once a year courtesy of ASPB, a time for all the R&B heads on campus to come together and sing their hearts out for one night. It’s more low-key than any of the other concerts, being held in the Student Recreation Center (SRC) and lacking the large-scale advertisement that other...
Remember the rumor that circulated middle school campuses nationwide that Marilyn Manson surgically removed his own ribs to fellate himself? I certainly do. Remember when Ed Norton was The Hulk? What about “Fight Club”? “Eyes Wide Shut”? Mark Perez, the writer behind “Game Night,” does, and he wants to make sure you do too.
“Game Night” is directed by...
Cells, high-school biology and protagonist Lena tell us, divide and proliferate, creating life as we know it through self-sustaining processes of growth.
But what the hell does it even mean to be alive?
I ask this mostly rhetorically, but also to invite you to consider. To be alive is to have cells, surely, so discount rocks, include fungi, coral,...