Arts & Entertainment

The work of Wharton Esherick just asks to be ignored. Sitting in Van Pelt amongst angrily buzzing computers and tired students buzzed on caffeine, an art exhibition doesn’t stand a chance.
December 2, 2010 at 4:32 am

I was pretty much destined to have a complicated relationship with Nicki Minaj. On the one hand I just want her to succeed; one, because she is trying to revive the sadly lapsed tradition of fierce female rappers, and two — my more visceral reason — because she, like me, is a woman of Caribbean descent trying to do big things.
December 2, 2010 at 3:27 am

I wasn’t always ashamed of Frampton Comes Alive! I disowned it only in my mid–adolescent hipster years, after the following words, encountered in a magazine, dealt my innocence a cruel blow: “Frampton Comes Alive! is a fixture of record store bargain bins.” I hadn’t known that five–minute talk–box solos, exclamation–pointed album titles and cover art showing Frampton doing his best impersonation of Christ were not cool.
December 2, 2010 at 3:26 am

If you thought Gorillaz were satisfied with this year’s Plastic Beach, their epic, critically–acclaimed third album, you’d be wrong.
December 2, 2010 at 3:22 am

All Day is, by its very nature, an extremely difficult album to review. There aren’t really “songs” to highlight, themes to pick up on, lyrics to quote.
December 2, 2010 at 3:16 am

Where does Larry King belong in relation to Ghostbusters? If you answered that he probably knows the famous spectral exterminators well, having been mistaken as a walking corpse by countless concerned citizens, you would be wrong. Mr. King can thank the civet cat for providing him with the enviable status of being only one degree of separation shy of the 1984 classic. After a nice meal and some r–and–r the night before Thanksgiving, my recently–reunited family settled down for some bonding time.
December 2, 2010 at 3:13 am

Black Swan begins with an exhilarating ballet number. The camera circles continuously around Nina (Portman) as she performs Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, a ballet that requires her to adopt the personalities of both the “White Swan” and the “Black Swan.” The cinematography and choreography are breathtaking as the number progresses, slowly spiraling out of control as the dark side increasingly takes over. This tension between the bipolar personalities of Swan Lake’s protagonist drives the film, as Nina embodies the White Swan’s grace and fragility but cannot quite demonstrate the manic intensity required to play the Black Swan.
December 2, 2010 at 3:11 am

It’s telling that The Fighter is named as such. A more descriptive title might have been “The Boxer,” but this is not a biopic about boxing.
December 2, 2010 at 3:09 am

It’s late afternoon on a cloudy day in Los Angeles, and everyone in the press room has a reason to be nervous.
December 2, 2010 at 1:55 am

Faster’s unoriginal and awful title suggests a forgettable experience, and unfortunately the film’s content does nothing to counteract our initial impression.
November 23, 2010 at 5:20 pm

In 127 Hours, Aron Ralston’s lower arm joins one of the many body parts lost to the world of celluloid.
November 18, 2010 at 4:48 am

Kill two birds with one stone at this charming furniture/clothing store hybrid. Shopping at Matthew Izzo is like entering a kitschy, candle-scented Wonderland, with wildly different items from African drums to delicate silver chains tempting your wallet in every direction.
November 18, 2010 at 4:46 am

As is the problem with all book adaptations, the Harry Potter movies struggle between appeasing pedantic super fans and providing enough modification to warrant a cinematic retelling.
November 18, 2010 at 4:44 am

Aron Ralston traveled to a national park in Utah for a typical adventure involving rock climbing and hiking.
November 18, 2010 at 4:41 am

Earlier this week, an ancient horse statue was recovered in Hawaii, barely escaping an attempted theft by an imposter posing as a Mrs. Carol Brady’s deceased husband, who had originally discovered the statue shortly before being murdered under mysterious circumstances. Mrs. Brady was kidnapped from her home in California by said imposter, who had integrated himself into the Brady family, taking the family for shopping trips and gifting Mike Brady’s son, Peter, with a pair of nunchucks. The imposter was discovered by super sleuths and step–siblings Bobby and Cindy Brady, who had recently been given a detective kit. The entire incident is thought to be Jan Brady’s fault. Well, that’s almost how it happened.
November 18, 2010 at 4:39 am

One of Wu Tang’s most active members in the current music scene, Ghostface Killah shows no sign of slowing down, following up last year’s misguidedly R&B–centered Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City with The Apollo Kids, set for release Dec.
November 18, 2010 at 4:32 am

After a first listen, “Car Crash” seems like a major contradiction: the song’s airy, unmistakably happy hook draws us in while the morose opening lyrics question this upbeat nature.
November 18, 2010 at 3:42 am

Kanye West has a lot of haters. With his type of personality, it’s hard to imagine he wouldn’t.
November 18, 2010 at 3:39 am

Though I was only five at the time of its 1996 release, my awkward adolescence was in full bloom by the time I discovered Belle and Sebastian’s If You’re Feeling Sinister in high school.
November 18, 2010 at 3:36 am

Rihanna’s fifth album, Loud, celebrates sex, love, and having a good time ­­— a stark contrast with the anger emanating from her previous album, Rated R.
November 18, 2010 at 3:29 am