So here it is, huh? Almost four long years ago I donned my writer’s cap for The Student for the first time. Now that I’m graduating, I’ve been feeling a little nostalgic lately. I decided to look back on some of my first reviews for The Student. I was prepared to be embarrassed by the poor quality of the writing, the less verbose vocabulary and the messily structured sentences. But, essentially, I kind of assumed they’d read like worse versions of my reviews today. I was quite wrong.
Wes Anderson is back at it again, this time with the shockingly successful money-maker that is “Grand Budapest Hotel.” Three years after the endearing and quietly affecting “Moonrise Kingdom,” a film which highlighted the best aspects of Anderson’s work (visual composition, off-beat dialogue, whimsiness) while moving away from his sometimes stuffy pretentiousness in favor of a story which favored thoughtful emotion over dry intellect. Nonetheless, these were tweeks, not overhauls; it was still quintessentially a Wes Anderson film.
March is around the corner, meaning the flurry of albums I’ve actually been looking forward to will be upon me soon. I’m struggling through the wait for the new Hold Steady and Drive-by Truckers albums (seriously, if anyone has any interest in rock music you really should check out these two criminally underrated bands), not to mention a new release by the seemingly unstoppable Neil Young, who continues to release music like the only thing between him and the reaper is a wall of cathartic distortion and his whiny voice.
With the Oscars around the corner, a month of marathon movie viewing behind me, and no Student articles to share my opinions through, I had a difficult time deciding which film to review with the start of the semester. So, allowing myself to make matters easier, I thought I’d review all of the films vying for Oscar glory I haven’t had the chance to share my opinion on already. Yeah, it’s a bit of a cheat, but who can complain about five reviews for the price of one?
Attending Amherst in the mid 1970s, it likely would have been impossible to hide oneself from the larger political and social issues that gripped the U.S. as a whole. These issues manifested themselves at Amherst as well: the civil rights movement, the feminist movement, the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal and the rise of the environmental justice movement. However, while many saw and understood these issues, few actively contributed to social justice initiatives.
“AM” is the Arctic Monkey’s most anticipated album since their sophomore release, 2007’s “Favourite Worst Nightmare,” and the band is well aware.
The day after I finished The Last of Us, near the end of my summer vacation, I was talking to my sister, who had, on-and-off, been watching me play through the game. When my sister asked me to catch her up on what she had missed one day, I described a series of moments and images I had witnessed. The general themes were loss, bitterness and the dimming light of hope. I witnessed suicide, the loss of children and numerous other difficult moments. I described the profound depression and malaise underlying the game.
