Score: 3.5/5
From Ocean’s 11 to Magic Mike, American filmmaker Steven Soderbergh’s style remains dynamic and undefined, and his latest horror-drama flick Presence is his most technically experimental and challenging endeavour to date.
While the TikTok ban on Jan. 19 stayed in effect for less than 24 hours after Trump put a reprieve in place, the popular entertainment app is still in danger of being censored by the United States Supreme Court, and with it, potentially the voices of many up-and-coming musicians.
Clerel, a Cameroonian-born Canadian artist featured on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and who is set to play at this year’s SXSW festival, innervated the ears and hearts of an intimate Burlington audience with a set of stripped-back soul-infused ballads during his first live performance of the year. The soul singer sat down to speak with me backstage where he contemplated playing live versus recording in studio, teased the release of his next EP, and got both philosophical and personal about where soul music is today and what the genre means to him.
Score: 3.5/5
The long-anticipated second season of Netflix’s Squid Game is a surprisingly solid follow-up to the show’s original nine episodes, though it doesn’t quite live up to the high bar set by the first season.
Renowned American filmmaker and artist David Lynch passed away at the age of 78 on Jan. 15. His death was felt throughout the film industry and cinephile community. An iconoclast and pioneer, there will never be another quite like Lynch.
Score: 3/5
Gia Coppola’s third film The Last Showgirl is a quiet, intimate portrayal of a woman grappling with her troubled past and uncertain future. It’s a dazzling albeit sobering reflection on social issues around aging.
Score: 4/5
The latest project from American singer-songwriter Hayden Silas Anhedönia, known professionally as Ethel Cain, is an unapologetic, challenging descent into the depths of lust, sexuality, perversion and self-realization.
Click here to read the first part of this series, which focuses on the lore associated with Twenty One Pilots’ album “Trench.” Click here to read the second part of this series, which focuses on the lore associated with the album Scaled and Icy. Click here to read the third part of the series, which focuses on the lore associated with the “Overcompensate” music video.
Score: 4/5
“Does evil come from within us or from beyond?” Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu asks with all the gothic horror immersion needed to portray such a question on the big screen effectively.
In the wake of the annual Hallmark slop that gets dished out every year, Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers skyrockets to the ranks of other beloved, acclaimed Christmas classics.
4/5
Kendrick Lamar’s surprise full-length release, GNX, shows the illustrious Compton MC capitalizing on the sagacious bellicosity generated by his decisive victory in the diss-track-mediated pop-culture-spectacle feud he had with Drake over the summer in fun and masterful West Coast hip hop fashion.
As December quickly approaches and it becomes socially appropriate to begin celebrating Christmas, I have been preparing my holiday playlists and slowly incorporating my favourite festive songs into the daily rotation.
Score: 4/5
The latest film from actor and comedian Jesse Eisenberg and starring Kieran Culkin is a humble blend of humour and sadness, depicting the complicated journey of processing grief.
Lydia Stephen, a recent Brock graduate, is trying to make a name for herself in the local music scene. Her recent performance at Cicada Music Festival suggests that she's on the right track.
Written by Stevie Nicks, “Landslide” is without a shadow of doubt one of mankind’s greatest gifts to the universe — yet Nicks’ rendition of the song is arguably not the best version of the track.
The squelching sound of sneakers pivoting on damp grass fills the air as the tired and freezing festival crowd shift their weight from one aching foot to the other, waiting for the set to start.
Florida-born singer-songwriter Hayden Silas Anhedönia, known by her stage name Ethel Cain, released the single “Punish” on Nov. 1 in promotion of her upcoming project Perverts, which is set to release in January.
4/5
Aaron Schimberg elevates his filmmaking to promising heights with his latest film A Different Man, casting him into the pot of independent directors to keep an eye on.
