The ultimate feel-good movie
With plenty of dark humor strung throughout the film, St. Vincent narrates the touching relationship between a grumpy, old alcoholic named Vincent (Bill Murray) and his young neighbor Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher). As Oliver tags along with Vincent during his daily routine, Vincent quickly takes Oliver under his wing, showing him the local race track, protecting him from a gang of bullies, and teaching him how to fight. As their relationship develops, Oliver realizes that despite Vincent’s miserable outward appearance, the old man’s heart is still in the right place.
Definitely not plain sailing
Southern Air, the last album from pop-punkers Yellowcard, featured the prominent lyric “I’ve been here a while/ staring at the screen wondering what I’ll write.” It’s a sentiment I can empathise with. The ninth studio album from the Jacksonville quartet, made famous by their unique guitar-meets-violin rock sound, is the product of many factors, and to address any one without context of the others seems unjust. Music does not exist in a vacuum (technically because there’s no air to propagate sound waves, but allow me the metaphor), and this album has a great deal going on behind the scenes.
Traces at ArtsEmerson
In my dreams sometimes I fly. I just take a really long step and then the next without my feet ever touching the ground. It is a peculiar yet precious feeling. The Quebecois troupe Les 7 Doigts de la Main (literally, the seven fingers of a hand), makes the dream a reality in their theater, dance, and circus crossover Traces, running in the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston’s Theatre District until October 12.
Lehninger leads impeccable BSO
Marcelo Lehninger, the young Brazilian-born Associate Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra proved himself worthy of widespread praise Saturday night. Leading the BSO through program centered around Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C Minor Op. 67, Lehninger captivated the audience’s imagination and left them awestruck.
Off to the symphony
Last Saturday evening I had the pleasure of watching the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s 2014 Fall Season premiere. But before I got there, I had to actually get there, a process that no one had really explained to me before. So, for all the other hapless fools like me out there, here is how to get a ticket to watch a BSO performance.
A good old-fashioned action movie
With a gang of Russians, a fair amount of blood, and shot after shot of Denzel Washington in slow motion, The Equalizer checks off every stereotype for the action movie genre. Washington stars as McCall, a man with a mysterious past trying to return to a quiet life. When he finds out that a young girl, Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz), is brutally controlled by a Russian gang, McCall seeks justice in the form of violence. He must once again take up his role as “The Equalizer,” punishing those who do harm.
Boston Calling returns for round four
The fourth installment of Boston Calling this past weekend had its ups and downs but was overall an exciting, enjoyable festival that catered to Boston’s immensely diverse music scene.
The good kid is going back to school
This past week, news circulated that Georgia Regents University Professor Adam Diehl had chosen rapper Kendrick Lamar’s album good kid mAAd city (2012) as the subject of his English class Good Kids, Mad Cities.
J Dilla: A lasting presence
The Smithsonian Institution announced in July that equipment belonging to celebrated producer J Dilla (born James Dewitt Yancey) — a MIDI Production Center beat machine and a synthesizer custom-built for Dilla by Robert Moog himself — would be housed in the new National Museum of African American History and Culture, slated to open in 2016. The announcement came at the D.C. Loves Dilla Tribute Concert, courtesy of Ma Duke, who was there to see the crowd’s reaction to the memorialization of her late son’s legacy.
The story behind Boston Calling
Even though only in its fourth installment, the three-day Boston Calling Music Festival is already becoming a landmark of Boston’s entertainment scene. The lineup for this week’s shows includes The War on Drugs, Lorde, The National, Nas with The Roots, and Future Islands. The Tech recently interviewed Brian Appel, co-founder of Boston Calling, to find out how the festival was conceived and what happens behind the scenes during the show.
Understanding the power of art and architecture
Can art and architecture help heal cultural conflicts? Azra Akšamija PhD ’11 explores the power of art and architecture in resolving conflicts and identifying contexts in which these conflicts can be analyzed and explored. Akšamija is an Assistant Professor at the Art, Culture and Technology (ACT) program and MIT’s Department of Architecture, where she works as an artist and architectural historian in addition to teaching both undergraduate and graduate classes. She recently talked to The Tech about her origins, the ideas behind her projects, and her artistic vision of helping resolve the lingering conflicts in her native country, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Giver is just another dystopian movie
Like so many elementary school children, I read The Giver for the first time in fifth grade. In 11th grade, I picked up the book again, but I found myself reading through a much more intricate book than I had remembered. Its concise yet terrifyingly vivid portrait of a dystopian community left me wrestling with complex questions about society and modern culture.
Honesty drives Linklater’s Boyhood
I am unsure whether Boyhood is one of the greatest films ever made. I am certain Boyhood could be many times better. But I agree with film critic Joe Williams in saying Boyhood is “the closest thing to a lived life that fictional cinema has yet produced.”
A beginner’s guide to Restaurant Week
Sunday, Aug. 17 marks the start of my favorite biannual holiday: Restaurant Week (RW) in Boston! Starting then, restaurants in the area will offer special menus at a fixed price to entice new diners to enter their doors. Technically, the two-week event is now called “Dine Out Boston,” but it will always be RW to me. The name and format change occurred this past winter, and officially participating restaurants can now offer two- or three-course meals for $15, $20, or $25 for lunch. For dinner, restaurants can now choose between $28, $33, or $38. From my past experiences with Restaurant Week, I’ve picked up some general guidelines that help ensure your RW meal is worth it.
It takes Argentinian steak to ta
The quest for the perfect steak may take you places: you might have to go on a pilgrimage to unfamiliar faraway lands, cross a language barrier with the chef to find your favorite cut, or spend a late night at someone’s grandma’s kitchen. Tango was all of that to us — a virtual trip to Argentina, a mine of perfect cuts, and a table for home-cooked meals.
Sometimes titles are deceptive
Sometimes, contemporary art is inaccessible. It can be excessively abstract or seemingly absurd. Some of the art in the List Visual Arts Center’s current exhibition, 9 Artists, falls into this category. But on the whole, however, this exhibition brings together an interesting and diverse group of contemporary artists in a very powerful presentation.
Godzilla is great eye candy, but not much of a story
Feel free to call Godzilla (2014) — by far and without contention — the best Godzilla movie ever made after the 1950s. The reference to the 1950s should spare you the thorny task of comparing this new work with the first Gojira (1954), and its American remake, Godzilla, King of Monsters! (1956), which are now well-established classics. So, if you are a Godzilla groupie, this is a five-star movie for you.
Be brilliant
As if opening a treasure chest to discover a trove of precious stones, the audience oohed and aahed every time the curtains were raised to reveal dancers in glittering costumes, poised in front of sparkling backdrops of enormous gems. Boston Ballet’s 50th season concluded this year with George Balanchine’s Jewels.
Bringing the X-Men back to life
X-Men: Days of Future Past is one of the most satisfying fantasy action movies I’ve seen in years. Director Bryan Singer has managed to build upon the storylines of many previous X-Men movies and generally maintain narrative consistency (except where it would limit his artistic freedom) in order to create what many critics consider the best entry so far in the successful X-Men franchise.