Sidebar
Exciting New Television
House of Cards returns on
February 14th, when all of the episodes of Season 2 will be uploaded
to Netflix. Sherlock returns January
19th on PBS.
Super Bolo?
Phillip
Rivers and his bolo tie have led the Chargers to five straight wins, including
their first playoff win since 2008 over
Andy “Red-headed Stepchild” Dalton and the Cincinnati Bengals. Next week, the
Bolts head to Denver to bully Peyton “Chekov” Manning and the Broncos.
Jameis Winston
Forget
the comeback win over Auburn, did you see the postgame interview?
Dennis Rodman
Rodman is again in Pyongyang, North Korea, playing
basketball for Kim Jong-Un. Afterwards, the two plan to catch a movie and
snuggle.
Yesterday’s Winners
Former
editor Thomas King guessed both lyrics quizzes correctly, “Reptillia” by The
Strokes and “Blister In The Sun” by the
Violent Femmes. Ms. Ryan also got the Violent Femmes one correct.
Lyrics Quiz #1
I
think I’ll go home and mull this over
Before
I cram it down my throat.
At
long last it’s crashed, its colossal mass
Has
broken up into bits in my moat
Lyrics Quiz #2
Down
in the shadow of the pennitentiary.
Out
by the gas fires of the refinery
I’m
ten years burning down the road
Nowhere
to run, ain’t got nowhere to go.
Articles
Winter Break Movie Round-up
By: Greg Feiner (Esteemed Film Critic)
Welcome back everybody! I don’t know if
anybody took notice over break, but movie theaters are currently LOADED with
quality cinema. Whether you’re into action movies, brain-candy comedies,
sophisticated Oscar contenders, or a mixture of all three, there is a movie out
there that you will enjoy.
Here
are a few bite-size reviews of the four movies that I saw over break.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
I’m still not quite sure how Peter
Jackson is stretching a 300-page children’s book into roughly nine hours worth
of movies, but gosh darnit, he’s doing it anyway. I thought An Unexpected Journey was entertaining enough, if not particularly
great. However, I was pleasantly surprised by Desolation. The first movie was more of an introduction than
anything else; this movie provides the meat of the Hobbit story, the real adventure.
The
only negative thing about Desolation
is its ending, a massive cliffhanger. But otherwise, it is a fun,
entertaining film.
79/100
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
I
thought that this movie provided some really clever satire about the news
industry and a lot of really intelligent insights into American culture.
I’m
kidding. It was one of the silliest movies I’ve ever seen.
If
I had to describe this movie in three words, those three words would be, “that
escalated quickly.” The first half proved as ridiculous as the first movie;
Will Ferrell’s Ron Burgundy was as legendary as ever, as were the rest of the
news team. But the second half reaches a new, mythical level of ridiculous. Ron
bottle-feeds a great white shark, for instance, and there is a news team fight
that is so funny, you’ll think you’re hallucinating. It’s glorious.
This
movie is a great one to turn your brain off to. Don’t question it, just let it
happen.
83/100
The Wolf of Wall Street
This
movie attacks you like a coked-out grizzly bear.
It
has more f-bombs than Al Pacino’s body of work, enough drugs to kill Ozzy
Osbourne, twice, and orgies that would put Caligula to shame. But what’s most
disturbing is that at least some of the stuff actually happened.
Director
Martin Scorsese presents this material masterfully, always providing enough of
Jordan Belfort’s wretched excess to illustrate how terrible of a person he is,
but always cutting away before the audience wants to throw up. Though a little
repetitive at times, it’s his best film since The Departed.
Leo
DiCaprio is incredible. This is his best performance since Blood Diamond, perhaps the best of his career. He and a supporting
cast headed by Jonah Hill are likely to get at least two Oscar nominations.
In
addition to being entertaining, Wolf
touches on such themes as corruption, excess, and abuse of power. I could talk
about this movie for weeks.
95/100
American Hustle
I
haven’t seen 12 Years A Slave or Inside Llewyn Davis yet, but American Hustle is my current vote for
Best Picture. It is everything you could ever possibly want in a movie.
To
say that the acting was incredible would be a drastic understatement. Director
David O. Russell (The Fighter, Silver
Linings Playbook) is known for coaxing great performances out of his
actors, but he has truly outdone himself this time. Christian Bale, Amy Adams,
Bradley Cooper, and Jennifer Lawrence all deserve Oscars. Bale, in particular,
is unrecognizable. He is so invested in
his character that you sometimes forget that he’s acting. It really is hard to
believe it’s the same guy who played Batman.
The
script, penned by David O. Russell and Eric Singer, is as awesome, dynamic, and
flat out cool as its characters. It is funny, but also dramatic. The plot
twists and turns and spirals and loop-de-loops in directions you’d never
expect, and it is just as engaging on an intellectual level, an amalgam of
clever and cool.
American Hustle is one of those rare
movies that I can’t think of anything bad to say about. Go see it immediately.
100/100
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