Leisure

Reviews and think pieces on music, movies, art, and theater.

Leisure

Tour de Force: Abrams Reinvigorates the Star Wars Franchise

“Luke Skywalker has vanished.” These four words kick off the seventh installment of the Star Wars saga, The Force Awakens. An unbelievable amount of hype has surrounded the film since... Read more

By December 19, 2015

Leisure

A Perfect Ten(01): H Street Restaurant Boasts Unique Style and Tastes

Walk up a flight of stairs next door to the H Street outpost of DC’s beloved Ben’s Chili Bowl, and the atmosphere takes a turn towards that of a familiar... Read more

By December 18, 2015

Leisure

An Artist’s Touch: Hooper, Redmayne, and Vikander Make The Danish Girl A Delicate Triumph

Today, movies about LGBTQ characters are often relegated to a subgenre—Netflix has a whole category of “Gay & Lesbian” movies that is often left untouched by many simply because of... Read more

By December 13, 2015

Features

Best of 2015: Music

1.) To Pimp a Butterfly — Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar’s latest LP is not for the faint of heart. In To Pimp a Butterfly, the Compton native directs his wide eyes... Read more

By the December 11, 2015

Leisure

No More Than Meets the Eye: Howard’s Direction Barely Keeps In the Heart of the Sea Afloat

Herman Melville’s Moby Dick is considered by many to be the greatest American novel of all time. Melville takes a fairly straightforward story of a captain’s quest for revenge against... Read more

By December 11, 2015

Features

Best of 2015: Movies

1.) Mad Max: Fury Road: Mad Max: Fury Road is a brilliant revival of a franchise long considered to be dormant. Tom Hardy takes over for Mel Gibson as the... Read more

By the December 11, 2015

Leisure

Critical Voices: Roy Kim, The Great Dipper, MMO Entertainment

Georgetown’s resident K-pop star, Roy Kim, released his third studio album, The Great Dipper, last Friday. The South Korean singer-songwriter has won several major music awards and topped the charts... Read more

By December 9, 2015

Leisure

Critical Voices: A Head Full of Dreams, Coldplay, Parlophone

If you were worried that Coldplay’s newest album would resemble the somber, surprisingly dark Ghost Stories released in 2014, fear not. A Head Full of Dreams is a complete turnaround... Read more

By December 8, 2015

Leisure

GU Jazz Ensemble Delivers Christmas with a Twist in Performance of The Nutcracker Suite

Jazz is, ultimately, a purely American genre. With its roots in the South, jazz was originally a blend of Creole, French, and African American traditions (now known as the New... Read more

By December 8, 2015

Leisure

Sign of the Times: Lee’s Chi-Raq Leaves Nothing to the Imagination, Lays Its Heart Bare

“Lacks subtlety” is often thrown around in a derogatory fashion, used as a way to belittle or infantilize someone’s work. Chi-Raq, director Spike Lee’s new film, lacks subtlety. This, however,... Read more

By December 7, 2015

Leisure

Pretty and Pure: Brooklyn’s Talented Cast Triumphs With Subtle Charms

Beautifully crafted, with stunning scenes on the Irish coast and in historic New York, director John Crowley’s Brooklyn is a pleasure to watch.  A period drama set in the 1950s,... Read more

By December 2, 2015

Features

Nice Work If You Can Get It: Spotlight and the Future of Investigative Journalism

Over and over again, taking responsibility proves to be a challenging task for human beings and their institutions. Individuals go to great lengths to deny and conceal; as a result,... Read more

By November 20, 2015

Leisure

McCarthy Highlights both Clerical and Journalistic Flaws in Spotlight

The procedural genre— one in which a problem is presented, investigated, and solved—encourages precision and economy, allowing for the comparatively unaffected telling of true stories. It’s also a genre that... Read more

By November 20, 2015

Leisure

Newts Occupy Gonda Theater in Department’s Adaptation of War with the Newts

All newts are salamanders — but not all salamanders are newts. Celebrating their 10-year anniversary, Georgetown’s Department of Performing Arts launches its season with a world-premiere adaptation of Karel Čapek’s... Read more

By November 18, 2015

Leisure

Dull Bits Cut Out: On Orson Welles

Quick – what’s the best movie of all time? Casablanca? The Godfather? The Dark Knight? Statistically speaking, you probably said Citizen Kane. Probably the best-known film about the newspaper industry,... Read more

By November 14, 2015

Leisure

See and hear the heartbeat of Black Movements Dance Theatre in On the Way Home

Based off of Jacob Lawrence’s iconic exhibition, Migration Series, Black Movement Dance Theatre’s upcoming On the Way Home highlights the idea of and emotions attached to a journey home. The... Read more

By November 12, 2015

Leisure

DBMOAF Goes Above and Beyond through performance of One-Acts

2015 marks the 30th anniversary of Mask and Bauble’s Donn B. Murphy One Acts Festival (DBMOAF). Each year student-written scripts are selected and performed in honor of Dr. Murphy, who... Read more

By November 12, 2015

Leisure

SPECTRE Solidifies Craig, Casts Shadows on Franchise’s Future

Spectre opens with James Bond sporting a skeleton suit, weaving in and out of a chaotic Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico City. His outfit changes many times over... Read more

By November 6, 2015

Features

A Brief History of Bond (James, Bond)

In the early days of James Bond, the protagonist was based around a very simple idea: women wanted him, and men wanted to be him. Surprisingly enough, this was never... Read more

By November 6, 2015

Leisure

Masseria—A Drop in the Glass for Pricey Italian Restaurants

Saturday, 6:30 p.m. The cold doesn’t stop us from accepting a table on Masseria’s patio, under a heat lamp’s shelter. It was the latest we could make our reservation for... Read more

By October 28, 2015