Entertainment
Not Just Another Mall Cop Movie
By Broadside Correspondent Michael Kiely
Observe and Report opens with the typical, cliché setting of a suburban mall. Consumers wade through the merchandise of opening stores, grannies partake in their five hour-long power walks, while high school girls swoon over the hottest guy they can find.
All seems peaceful in this ordinary, suburban mall, except for the trenchcoat-wearing lunatic that runs through the parking lot, flashing his genitals and accosting anything with eyes.
Meet the Shakespeares
Check out this sketch from the latest live Mason Cable Network show, featuring a "dramatic end to a dramatic family." Watch campus cable channel 89 every Thursday night for more live entertainment.
Meet The Shakespeares from Stratospherikal on Vimeo.
Prince Is Better Than You
By Broadside Style Columnist Andy Minor
The world was greeted by yet another album from the artist currently known as Prince. There had been, as is typical with a Prince release, a whole lot of anticipation on the internet about this album. Prince was probably the source of this build up, but nonetheless it was there, and anyone who saw the countdown on his website knew that Prince, at least, was really excited about what was to come.
Rolling the Dice
By Broadside Correspondent Ian Crocker
When listening to the noise-rocking soundscapers Black Dice, it is always a make or break experience. You may regard the sound of the Brooklyn-based group as ground-breaking or you could get super frustrated and think of it as a pretentious hodge-podge of sounds and noises. No matter how you may have felt about past Black Dice releases, their new album Repo is clearly their most accessible yet. Their second release on the label Paw Tracks, Repo replaces the hardcore clash of previous albums with a more funky sound driven by fun samples throughout the record.
At Least it's Better than Paul Blart
Observe and Report hits theaters Apr 10.
By Connect2Mason Blogger Josh Hylton
Fans of Seth Rogen: be wary. Observe and Report is not your typical Rogen film. While he exuberates his usual charm into an otherwise plain character, the movie as a whole seems to be lost in translation. It's a muddled mess of loosely connected scenes strung together to form what may be the remnants of a decent story for a 22 minute television program.
Seth Rogen plays Ronnie, a mall security cop who takes his job way too seriously, even going so far as to believe he's a vital component to the stability and safety of the mall citizens. His dreary job finally becomes exciting when a naked pervert comes to town and starts to flash all of the female shoppers. Lucky for Ronnie, the flasher targeted the girl he is pining over, Brandi, played by Anna Faris, and he uses the opportunity to get closer to her and take down the flasher.
Top 10 Comic Book Mini-Series
By Connect2Mason Comic Columnist Greg Pelkofski
I considered making this the Top 10 Graphic Novels, but since most graphic novels were originally individual comics and either reprinted comics from mini-series and series, I decided to do a Top 10 list of mini-series (and Top 10 series next week). So here they are, the best of the best in the world of comics (according to me at least).
10. 300 – Frank Miller’s gruesome and violent retelling of the battle of Thermopylae is one of the best mini-series out there and one of the best comic book movie adaptations. Though not as violent as the movie, the graphic novel still brings up themes of honor, duty, sacrifice, and freedom that still have as much meaning today as it did in 480 BC.
Sinners Shine in Chicago
Connect2Mason Director Grace Kendall
It’s not every day you get to celebrate cold-blooded murder with over-the-top song and dance numbers. From the first juicy blare of the trumpet at the start of “All That Jazz,” you can tell you’re in for a musical full of color and sleaze.
Satirical and cynical, Chicago is the story of Roxie Hart (Charlotte d’Amboise), a 1920s woman who murdered her lover (“He was trying to walk out on me!”) and is now doing everything she can to manipulate the media and the courts to avoid being hanged.
Comedian Performs in DC
Photo by Samuel Primero.
By Broadside Staff Writer Kyle Ridley
While last year’s writers strike brought much of Hollywood to a standstill, it brought comedian Aisha Tyler to a stand-up comedy special. The former Friends guest star had cut back on live performing to pursue acting and used the strike to craft material for her return to the stage.
“It’s definitely been my first love,” said Tyler, 38. “It’s been great that I’ve had the opportunity to focus more on it.”
Tyler’s focus paid off in February when Comedy Central premiered her one-hour special, “Aisha Tyler is Lit: Live at the Fillmore,” filmed in her hometown of San Francisco, Calif. The special was released on DVD the next week.
Interviews in Adventureland
Photo courtesy of Miramax Films
Connell (Ryan Reynolds) and Em (Kristen Stewart) in the new movie Adventureland.
By Broadside Staff Writer Dylan Hares
Broadside had the chance to talk to Greg Mottola about his newest film, Adventureland.
Broadside: What do you say to people’s reactions about Jesse Eisenberg in Adventureland. He just seems like a Michael Cera replacement?
Mottola: Well, I guess what I would say is that I actually knew of Jesse as an actor before I ever met Michael Cera. Jesse’s first film was called Roger Dodger, which was a small indie film with Campbell Scott, and Campbell Scott was in a small indie film that I directed and wrote. As much as I love Michael, I actually felt Jesse was more appropriate for this movie because he’s a little more neurotic, a little older, and not quite as innocent as Michael.
New Column: In Bed With Billy
By Broadside Sex Columnist Billy Curtis
My friends fondly refer to me as the gay Carrie Bradshaw. With my life being more dramatic than a Jane Austen novel, I have always felt the name suited me all too well. Every day I would have a new dilemma that would occupy my mind for most of the day. Story after story, I would verbally paint pictures of my dates, relationships and even sexual encounters to my friends in the hopes that maybe they could help me with whatever problems I had. After becoming a fine-tuned storyteller, I realized that my friends—while their advice was always helpful—could not help me with my situations and problems with men, so I took a new approach. If my friends could not help me with the overly dramatic situations I encountered, then maybe I could use my own experiences to help anyone who has found themselves in the same situation at some point or another.