The life and times of a loveable curmudgeon
A Man Called Ove is a retelling of the classic "grumpy old man has a heart of gold" trope.
Well, that was an interesting train ride
Looking through a train window and wondering what’s going on in the houses that we pass — it’s something that we’ve all done. The Girl on the Train digs into this curiosity, and follows Rachel (Emily Blunt), a 30-some year-old alcoholic who rides the train everyday to do just that. She stares out the window to watch a seemingly happy couple enjoying themselves on their porch at 15 Beckett Road, narrating that “they’re everything I want to be.”
Powerful, but at times heavy-handed, the Birth of a Nation succumbs to its flaws
The Birth of a Nation depicts the story of Nat Turner (Nate Parker), a Bible-educated slave who comes to believe that he is a messenger of God, destined to lead his fellow slaves in a rebellion for freedom.
Regina Spektor’s Remember Us to Life: Some pretty good shit-ake
While chatting with my friend about Regina Spektor’s new album, Remember Us to Life, I commented that I found it neither extraordinary nor particularly memorable. I did not really care for it at first, but after the third or fourth listen, I thought that it might be starting to grow on me, to which her response was, “Huh, kind of like a fungus.”
Deadpan comedy mashup of the classic coming-of-age story mostly succeeds
Being a teenager is hard. While experiences may vary for each individual, most are at least familiar with the idea of the angst-ridden, hyper-aware emotional upheaval that the stereotypical adolescent experiences.
Classical music and brassy improvisations find harmony in Killian Hall
Almost every single seat in MIT’s intimate Killian Hall recital space was filled last Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2016, for Grammy-award winning tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano’s performance.
Ólafur Arnalds – Island Songs
Seven years ago, Icelandic multi-instrumentalist Ólafur Arnalds — who was just starting to receive widespread acclaim at the time for his solo work – released a collection of tracks titled Found Songs, which consisted of seven compositions that were recorded daily for seven days and immediately released online.
Oh, What a Night!
It’s one of those musicals that’ll have you humming its tunes all week long. Packed with energy and addicting melodies, Jersey Boys recounts the rise of one of America’s most beloved bands from the 1960s, The Four Seasons.
Spectacular cities, visionary artists
Depending on what sort of connoisseur you are, the neoclassical-like Beaux-Arts style of architecture that Despradelle loved would have either satiated your cravings for elegance and decoration, or disgusted the modernized MIT techie inside of you.
Masterminds or brainless?
Masterminds’ zany plot makes it enjoyable to watch, and viewers will laugh along with the characters’ absurd antics and irreverent dialogue. However, the storyline dips its toes in clichés, and the characters are wacky to the point of disbelief.
Out of China, a monumental addition to the sci-fi genre: Death’s End
In terms of sci-fi fare, Liu delivers his usual well-crafted showcase of ideas. What makes Liu’s fiction unique is that the science fiction interest doesn’t simply emerge from the introduction of a new technology, but from key shifts in realizations about the universe.
A look at FredFest
An eclectic mix of band performances ranging from avant-garde to punk rock, East Campus’s annual concert FredFest is a reflection of the dorm community itself: idiosyncratic yet inclusive.
Carmen sets out to shock: opera for millennials
“Love” and “death” sound remarkably similar in French: l’amour and la mort. This near-homonymity is the thematic core of the opera Carmen. The titular main character is inexorably drawn to the two.
How a nuclear missile and falling socket almost obliterated Arkansas
On September 18, 1980, Arkansas was almost obliterated when a mechanic dropped a heavy socket down a shaft, puncturing the fuel tank of a Titan II missile carrying a nuclear warhead. If nothing else, Command and Control will inspire engineers striving to build redundant, foolproof safety measures on their dangerous devices.
Kidnapping, Korean film, and Kim Jong Il take center stage in gripping documentary
North Korea is a black box that always seems to be lurking in the news with headlines that range from the shocking to the downright bizarre. The Lovers and the Despot, directed by Rob Cannan and Ross Adams, straddles both the shocking and the bizarre as this documentary unpacks the compelling true-crime story of Kim Jong-Il’s kidnapping of famed South Korean actress Choi Eun-Hee and her ex-husband, the accomplished South Korean director/producer Shin Sang-Ok.
Dark comedy and stunning fashion shine in Jocelyn Moorhouse’s newest Australian film
Picture a small, dusty town evocative of the American Wild West. Now, in lieu of cowboys, gunslingers, and rugged beards, imagine a small pack of women milling around town aimlessly, leaning dramatically against pillars, and stretching theatrically atop ladders, all while dressed in the finest haute couture more appropriate on a Milan or Paris runway rather than in the Australian Outback. It is precisely this sort of visual and contextual dissonance successfully powering the darkly comedic engine of The Dressmaker, an Australian film directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse, that keeps the viewer engrossed and laughing for the majority of its 118-minute runtime.
In the beginning, storks delivered babies
Storks presents a new twist on the classic notion of “storks delivering babies.” After a human girl named Tulip (voiced by Katie Crown) is orphaned in a stork-related disaster, storks give up their high-pressure gig and now deliver for an online store reminiscent of Amazon.com. Junior (voiced by Andy Samberg), is up for promotion, but in order to get the job, he has to fire Tulip, working at the warehouse due to a lack of a human home, who doesn’t fit in with the storks — after all, “birds of a feather flock together.”
A rare gem: Dvořák’s only grand opera Dimitrij performed in concert
Telling a sweeping tale of the struggle for the throne in tsarist Russia, Dimitrij clocks in at nearly four hours across four acts. This rare opera, chosen and conducted by artistic director Gil Rose of Odyssey Opera, is epic, luscious, and riveting to the last note. It truly lives up to its genre.
Connecting the dots in Sunday in the Park with George
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago, served as a theatrical and musical inspiration for Stephen Sondheim, who has been described as “the greatest and perhaps best-known artist in the American musical theater.” For actor Chanler-Berat (Broadway's Peter and the Starcatcher and Next to Normal) and director Peter DuBois (A Little Night Music), who hopped on a plane to view the original painting, it was a source of creative energy.
Shedding light on campus
Light Matrix, as the work of art is officially titled, is part of the List Center’s Percent-For-Art program, which has been commissioning art for campus renovations since 1968.