The Brothers Grimsby stumbles in its attempt to mix action and comedy
If you’ve ever seen a Sacha Baron Cohen movie, you should have an idea of what to expect when you walk into a theater to see his newest film, The Brothers Grimsby. The comedian and actor is known for pushing the boundaries of good taste with his work, and this is no exception. To describe some of the movie’s cruder jokes as obscene would be an understatement, and in fact, when I went to a screening in February, Baron Cohen said that it had only been a week since the film had been edited down enough to not be given an NC-17 rating by the Motion Picture Association of America.
Zootopia is humorous but drives home a hard message
Animated movies can be fun for adults, but they’re aimed at kids. And at first, Zootopia feels like purely a kid’s movie with a straightforward plot that we’ve seen before: two clashing personalities must come together to save the day. But as the plot shifts, building up to the movie’s core message, you find yourself engaging with it on a level uncommon to a typical kid’s movie. And that’s where the magic happens.
The Embrace of the Serpent: a song, a prayer, a symphony
Deep in the Amazonian rainforest, we embark on a journey with Karamakate (Nilbio Torres), a shaman who is one of the only survivors of his tribe. Colombia is being torn apart and pillaged by the rubber plantation barons who control the country during the colonial era. Director Ciro Guerra’s The Embrace of the Serpent is an intricate and mournful examination of the ravages that this period in history wrought upon the indigenous peoples of Colombia. It is based on the travelogues of two explorers, German ethnologist Theodor Koch-Grünberg (Jan Bijvoet) and American biologist Richard Evans Schultes (Brionne Davis), who wrote some of the only existing accounts of many of these indigenous tribes.
WTF offers a unique perspective on life on the front line
Reviews often destroy movies, and only rarely, as in the case of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, do they create them. In 2011, a New York Times review of Kim Barker’s wartime memoir The Taliban Shuffle described Barker as “a sort of Tina Fey character, who unexpectedly finds herself addicted to the adrenaline rush of war.” This caught the eye of Fey herself, who began pulling strings to bring Barker’s story to movie audiences as Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
Behind the scenes of Zootopia
Nick Orsi is a Visual Development Artist from Disney who spent a year working on developing Nick Wilde, the con artist fox protagonist of Zootopia. After a special animation presentation to the MIT community, I sat with him for a quick conversation.
Art of the Internet scam
While waiting for the train back to Boston last Thanksgiving, I was approached by a fellow traveler with a tragic story. He had lost his wallet through a recently-discovered hole in his pocket. Now he was stranded in the station with nothing. Would I be able to spare anything? Sure, no problem. I had $5. I would be glad to help out. Sitting on the train a few minutes later, I was kicking myself. Why did I fall for such an obvious scam? How could I have been so gullible? Weeks later, at an art exhibit, I found some answers. In the MIT List Center’s most recent installation, “I Must First Apologize…,” Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige pick apart the art of the online scam. Through a presentation of video and collected text, the duo examines the construction of fake online identities.
The Boston Ballet presents Onegin
Ever since the Boston Ballet first brought this John Cranko classic to the U.S., Onegin has been a fan favorite. It is one of the most moving pieces in the classical ballet repertoire, telling the story of the naïve Tatiana Larina who falls in love with the brooding Eugene Onegin. But the older Onegin finds her childish infatuation tiresome, and spurns her — only to have the tables turn when he comes to his senses years later.
Hannibal Buress performs stand-up comedy at MIT
Stand-up comic Hannibal Buress performed to a sold-out Kresge Auditorium on Friday night, in a comedy set ranging from commentary on the previous night’s Republican debate to a solid five minutes of gibberish rap. The show was sponsored by the De Florez Fund for Humor, and tickets were distributed by lottery to members of the MIT community.
The life of Kanye West
Kanye West is a visionary, a jackass, a gifted musician, and an awful fashion designer. And after an admission of being $53 million in debt, irrational Twitter behavior, a leaked SNL backstage rant, and multiple tracklist and title changes, he has finally released a working version of his seventh studio album titled The Life of Pablo.
Tweeting in the theater
The audience is gathered in the cozy Oberon Theater, with performance areas spread out between and around us. We are embedded in what promises to be a novel theatrical experience — an engaging mixture of dialogue, dance, and video.
A picturesque brunch at Loyal Nine
Weekends were made for brunch, and the recent polar-chill weekend was no exception for me and my buddies, Julia and Krystal. We ventured over to Loyal Nine in the East Cambridge area, and we were welcomed into a light-filled, rustic-themed restaurant. Our booth’s raw wooden seats looked (and felt) as if they just came out of a woodworking shop, and our napkins were what I like to call “faux washcloths” — those white square linen cloths with a single washed-out blue stripe. The water came in a pour-it-yourself tall bottle, and I could see a bit of the open kitchen on the other side of the room. The ambience was the perfect recipe for an artsy Instagram post, but their actual food recipes could have used some help.
Moore’s war of hearts and minds
The title of Michael Moore’s latest documentary, Where to Invade Next, seems to reflect ambivalence on the part of its creator. It is after all no coincidence that Moore’s trio of breakout box office hits — Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, and Sicko — appeared during the administration of his antagonist-in-chief, George W. Bush. Though no one would pretend that mass shootings have subsided since the release of Bowling for Columbine, the election of President Obama saw the formal end of the Iraq War and the passing of health care reform — the subjects of Fahrenheit 9/11 and Sicko, respectively. The working title of Moore’s latest project might as well have been, What To Tackle Next?
Ann Hirsch: “Sexy” (Un)Sublimated
I had never been in MIT LIST’s project exhibition room before. It was smaller than I expected, and yet somehow this almost claustrophobic quality lent itself to Ann Hirsch’s work. The darkened room was illuminated by the screens dotted about the walls, and the tiny crackles from the adjacent headphones were sporadically drowned out by the main speakers. With white fur rugs and black bean bags on the floor, it was easy to attach oneself to a screen and become immersed. This learned transportational quality of screens — our ability to willfully submit to their immaterial reality and allow it to transcend our surroundings — became more visible and reflexive as I explored each piece.
The NYC record industry comes to life in ’70s rock drama Vinyl
He’s a record man. Snorting coke in his car, his personal life on the verge of collapse, wanted for questioning for murder, trying to escape. Escape everything.
Mack Avenue Superband: jazz legends, educators
The Mack Avenue Superband, an energetic and star-studded six-piece jazz ensemble, performed at the Berklee Performance Center last Thursday.
That Dragon, Cancer: a powerful story about loss and its emotional baggage
“I’m sorry guys, it’s not good,” says a man in glasses and a button-down shirt, hesitance in his voice. He’s seated next to a woman holding a clipboard, her head tilted in sympathy at the receivers of this ‘not-good’ news. They are addressing our main characters, arranged on a couch facing them: a husband, a wife, and a small child who happens to be the unwitting subject of the conversation.
Remembering David Bowie
David Bowie, a legendary music and fashion icon, passed away on Jan. 10 after an 18-month battle with liver cancer. Following his death, numerous artists and public figures paid their respects to the singer via social media by thanking him for being a source of inspiration throughout their lives. Last week, the entrance to the Infinite Corridor was embellished with a banner that paid homage to Bowie through his verse from “Space Oddity,” while Lobby 7 greeted the MIT community with imagery of his eccentric outfits. Surely, every Bowie fan can cite a multitude of reasons why this icon should be remembered and appreciated, but I can understand why someone who did not follow his career might ask a simple question — why should we care about David Bowie?