“Salinger,” a documentary directed by Shane Salerno, hit theaters Sept. 6, a release date that was chosen so the film would qualify as candidate for the 86th Academy Awards. Unfortunately, Salerno did not take into account any other qualities of Oscar-winning films in the making of this documentary. With a score that will rattle your bones and have you questioning whether you entered the correct theater (perhaps you accidentally wandered into “Insidious: Chapter 2” instead?), “Salinger” is 120 minutes of pure sensationalism and phoniness that Holden Caulfield would shudder to behold.
“The Spectacular Now,” which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Festival and hit theaters everywhere Aug. 2, is an honest and unapologetic depiction of love on the cusp of adulthood. Based on the book “The Spectacular Now” by Tim Tharp and directed by James Ponsoldt, the film stars Shailene Woodley of Golden Globe-winning “The Descendants” and Miles Teller of “Project X” as teens in their senior year of high school in Atlanta, Georgia.
This past Saturday night, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, with opener Sol, played the Spring Concert here at Amherst College. To say that this was a step up from last year’s Ludacris (“What up, Connecticut?!”) Spring Concert would be an understatement. Macklemore rocked this campus. In the midst of pre-finals tension and hysteria, he got Amherst College students to throw shit to the wind for one night and actually enjoy themselves. If that isn’t a miracle, I don’t know what is.
The two latest James Franco movies, “Spring Breakers” and “Oz the Great and Powerful,” were released within weeks of each other, and could not appear to be more different. In “Spring Breakers,” sex, drugs and violence abound in pursuit of the “American dream” — embodied, in this case, by a killer spring break. “Oz,” on the other hand, is a 3D Disney wonderland with scenery stronger than its plot. Neither film is a great success, but each has its merits, and it’s quite magical to watch them back-to-back and see Franco transform from a greasy wannabe gangster into a dapper wannabe wizard.
During this increasingly digital age, instant gratification is something we are starting to take for granted. It’s becoming easier and easier to get our hands on any sort of media we want with the click of a button or the touch of a screen. CDs are bought more for their nostalgic value than for the music they hold; when the Internet has made it so simple to instantly listen to newly released music, it’s often unnecessary to pay for music at all, let alone purchase physical copies of it.
Currently in the midst of its third season, Workaholics airs on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on Comedy Central. The raunchy 21-minute-long sitcom revolves around the lives of college dropouts who are having trouble adjusting to their newly adult lives. Blake Henderson (Blake Anderson), Adam DeMamp (Adam DeVine), and Anders “Ders” Holmvik (Anders Holm) form something of a family as they share a house in Rancho Cucamonga, California as well as a cubicle in TelAmeriCorp, a telemarketing company.
The release of Blink-182’s latest EP “Dogs Eating Dogs” on Dec. 18 marked the band’s second release since their reunion in 2009. Although they reunited in 2009, they didn’t come out with “Neighborhoods” until 2011, which meant that fans weren’t quick to hold their breath in anticipation of new material any time soon. “Dogs Eating Dogs” should by no means be considered to be the stopgap that most EPs are, however.
