Four Years in Reviews: Final Thoughts

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. I was prepa

Wes Anderson’s “Grand Budapest Hotel”

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 q

The Quarters: Hadley’s Secret Spot

Restaraunt/Bar/Arcade 8 Railroad St, Hadley Open 5PM-1AM Mon, 12PM – 1AM Tue-Fri, 11AM-1AM Sat-Sun A common criticism of Amherst social life is the similitude and frequent mediocrity of larger, public options. The Socials and larger campus parties lose their appeal about a week into Orientation. The blinding elatedness of newfound freedoms diminishes, and uneasiness with the gross, sweaty spaces and with the shallow, ritualistic performance of ‘fun’ kicks in. Looking outside the campus, all tha

Pita Pockets: Cheap, Tasty and Friendly

103 N. Pleasant Street, Amherst (between Panda East and Bart’s Ice Cream) Casual Mediterranean Restaurant Prices: Quite affordable, especially in comparison to Moti’s Recommended Dishes: Kibbeh Football, Chicken Kabob Pocket, Hummus, Grape Leaves There’s a venue right off North Pleasant Street that boasts some of simplest yet most satisfying food in the Valley. No, it’s not that weird alleyway next to Antonio’s. Tucked away and slightly hidden, recently-opened Pita Pockets sits in the spot prev

Beck Finds Rebirth with New Album

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 distor

FAMS: Underrated and Underappreciated

As a first-year at Amherst my list of potential majors went something like: History, Sociology, Political Science, English, LJST, cultural elitism, turf & golf course management (available at the University of Maryland), entrepreneurship, constructed relativity, puppetry (University of Connecticut), mastodons in literature and society (personal favorite) and, of course, Film and Media Studies. I’d always been passionate about film, but had never found an outlet for serious film discussion in hig

Winter Films: From Hustle to Romance

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? “American Hustle” Rapidly ga

Albums of the Year: The Best of 2013

In the midst of daily crises over impending finals, I always try to find time at the end of the year to reflect on the media releases that did the most to keep me sane in the previous months, as well as to discover anything I may have missed. Thinking back, 2013 wasn’t a bad year when it comes to film, and I originally thought I’d use this space to remind everyone why that is the case. But then I realized that, despite all the great films I’d seen so far this year, so many of the films I’d been

"12 Years a Slave": Eye-Opening Must-See

As a history major at Amherst, I’ve taken numerous classes specializing in slavery in the US. I thought I could understand something of the history, the pain, the suffering, the anguish. I thought, to whatever extent it was possible for a white kid in the early 21st century to know, I knew. I was wrong. Sitting in the theater watching “12 Years a Slave,” I felt the inescapable grasp of history around my neck and I couldn’t do anything about it. Never before have I felt so clearly and achingly th

"Gravity" Touted as the Future of Cinema

I’ve never seen a film quite like “Gravity”. It’s a thrill ride to end all thrill rides, never letting up in subjecting its characters to situations from bad to worse during its 90-minute running length. “Gravity” is, for those who want a no-frills blockbuster, nerve-wracking in a way that few films are. This is a true edge-of-your-seat motion picture. In fact, it’s much more than that. “Gravity” is a film about mankind trying to control that which they may have no business controlling, an exist

“AM”: Confused, and Fascinating For It

“AM” is the Arctic Monkey’s most anticipated album since their sophomore release, 2007’s “Favourite Worst Nightmare,” and the band is well aware. With attention high since the release of single “R U Mine?” over a year ago, many doubted that the Arctic Monkeys could ever recapture the lightning-in-a-bottle excitement of their first album, 2006’s “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not.” Although their past couple albums have been solid and they showed a commendable willingness to experimen

Rejecting Violence Culture with Zombies

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 un

Protesting Protests

Amherst College in the 2012-2013 school year was a place and time filled with pain and discomfort in more ways than one. A number of important and contentious debates sprung up on campus. Words were spewed from many different angles. On the surface this was perhaps abnormal, replacing the usually somewhat tepid and quiet Amherst awkward and filling the space with radical action and concern over laudable, progressive causes. Everyone at Amherst, faces new and old, should be aware of this. But wha

The Serious Side of Summer Movies

The summer. When not forced to brave the heat and midday traffic to fetch coffee for your seasonal employer or trying too hard to avoid listening to your coworkers’ embarrassing and way-too-personal stories, students can hopefully make enough time in their schedule to see many of the year’s most anticipated blockbuster films. Designed to provide mass-entertainment (although not at cheap prices these days) and provide further respite from the heat, summer blockbusters are a staple of any young pe

The Social Order Project

Only the most cold-hearted and quite frankly misguided individuals uniformly support not giving aid to the homeless. Comparatively, there are many people who think the idea of giving money to the homeless is good and that supporting charity efforts to counter inequalities is the culmination of social responsibility to the disadvantaged. I see this sort of charity all the time: if people do interact with the town’s too-large and apparent homeless population, it takes the form of throwing a few co

"Jurassic Park": Unearthing a Blockbuster

Over the past 20 years, the man who invented the blockbuster film has time and time again attempted to retain his title as the king of popular entertainment in cinema while also distancing himself from the notion that he is a purely populist filmmaker cynically attempting to earn maximum profit at the expense of quality. In order to accomplish this he’s resorted every few years to the not-too-subtle tactic of releasing two movies within the same calendar year, one a serious drama and the other a

Roger Ebert's Lasting "Leave of Presence"

I learned of Roger Ebert’s death not two days after he reported that he would be stepping down from reviewing 200+ films a year in favor of reviewing one or two a week. What he called a “leave of presence” now means more to me than simply an affirmation of his witty and clever phrasing. Roger Ebert will never write a review again, but his comment reminds us that the legacy of the man who dedicated 46 years to professionally writing about film will never go away. Just as his writing allowed his v

"The Thin White Duke" Strikes Again

In late January, I remember scratching my head in elation when I heard that David Bowie, the famously press-shy, eccentric whirlwind of a musician who all but promised us he would never release new music again, announced a new album, “The Next Day.” It was due in March (only two months away!), and a song was made immediately available with no prior announcement. I thought I would have to wait until its proper release date of March 12 to enjoy it, but Bowie, proving his marketing skills may very

A White Male's Perspective on Sexual Assault at Amherst

Last week Professor Thomas L. Dumm wrote an article for The Amherst Student entitled “The Elephant in the Room,” concerning the Special Oversight Committee on Sexual Misconduct at Amherst and their questionable exclusion of the intersection between athletics and sexual respect issues on campus in their official report on sexual respect released recently. As per usual, the comment board on The Student website quickly overflowed with spewed vitriol and poorly thought out, overly simplistic critici

Jake Weighs In: The Oscar Predictions

It’s that time again: Time for me to have an excuse to talk about the Oscars without complaining about how meaningless they are! But seriously, the Oscar nominations proved me wrong this year by taking some interesting chances and meting out some snubs which, whether I agree with them or not, at least show the Academy is perfectly willing to upset the public if it wants to. There are surprisingly few locks this year, especially in comparison to recent years, and I can honestly say I’m not 100 pe

When Terror and Torture Cross Paths

In the past few months, much has been written about “Zero Dark Thirty,” Kathryn Bigelow’s dramatization of the hunt for Osama bin Laden through the eyes of fictional CIA officer Maya (Jessica Chastain). By a wide margin, it’s the best-reviewed film in what was generally a pretty good year for films. It’s been praised as a more than worthy follow-up to director Bigelow’s and screenwriter Mark Boal’s Oscar-winning previous release, “The Hurt Locker,” and was at one point all but assured to win thr

Even Better Than We Expected: “Lincoln”

Going in, I was fairly skeptical about “Lincoln.” Naturally, the desire to see Daniel Day-Lewis in one of his patented live-as-the-character method roles excited me, but the potential for a movie about one of our greatest presidents to be little more than a waxworks show was undeniable, and the presence of Steven Spielberg at the helm left me even more ambivalent. Don’t get me wrong: Spielberg has made several of the greatest films of the modern era, and his ability to craft equally compelling f

Throwback Horror Films for Halloween

I love horror movies. Unfortunately, it seems like I’m increasingly alone in this statement — not that I can blame people for a lack of interest in a genre that self-cannibalizes and generally trades character identification and suspense for cardboard cut-outs and shock value. That being said, the number of horror films, including “Psycho,” “Jaws” and of course, “Halloween,” that are affectionately deemed cinema classics is larger than you may think. Are these, however, really the only films wor

For Affleck, Argo is Three for Three

“Argo” is the second of the handful of year-end films carrying with them heavy loads of Oscar buzz and attempting to bring home the hearts of film-goers and, more specifically, the Academy Awards come February. Following “The Master,” the result of a five-year toil of the director whose previous film was perhaps the most critically acclaimed of the last decade, hype for “Argo” was comparatively restrained. With two stellar efforts behind him, director Ben Affleck still likely hoped this film wou

“Looper:” For Once, Time Travel Done Right

There’s a lot to be said about “Looper,” [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iQuhsmtfHw]but perhaps the most important speaks less to the successes of the film than to the dreary state of the pseudo-genre “time travel” movie and the larger science fiction genre as a whole. Simply put, time travel in film is usually a gimmick, and most science fiction movies that use the trope are not interested in exploring the intellectual, emotional or ethical quandaries presented by these subjects, but instead p

The Mars Volta Gives Us True Progress

On March 26, The Mars Volta released their fifth album, “Noctourniquet.” For any who aren’t familiar, the album title should provide a clear indicator that their music isn’t exactly main-stream. The Texas-formed outfit definitely isn’t for everyone; calling them esoteric would be charitable. But they’re also one of the most accomplished rock acts of the past 10 years, and they’re almost single-handedly keeping progressive rock alive for whoever wants to listen. And when I say progressive, I do m

The Modern Classic Albums of 2011

Despite my appreciation of music and almost-unhealthy habit of listening to it while doing just about anything, I am often accused of not appreciating newer music enough. However, my complaint is not with new music in general; I just wish that the most popular artists were also the best. Unlike in the 1960s and early 1970s, when the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye, the Rolling Stones and Black Sabbath were among the biggest artists in the world as well as the best, nowa

The Almighty Alum: Frits Van Paasschenn '83

“The Almighty Alum” is a series of interviews with alumni who have meandered far beyond their college majors. Last Thursday, Frits Van Paasschen ’83 gave a presentation about his role as C.E.O. of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc, a global company with approximately 1,000 owned and managed properties worldwide and 145,000 employees. He presented to a room of interested parties, many of whom were Amherst students eager to find a job and learn from the experienced Paasschen. He covered

Drive Takes the Scenic Route and Outraces the Competition

The day has finally come. One of cinema’s most esoteric, obtuse-sounding pairings has finally been realized. “Drive,” the new film from Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, deftly blends two dissimilar cinematic worlds: those of the art and action film. In its sensibilities, it’s at one with any of the most popular art films to come out of Europe in the past 10 years. And yet, particularly in the later half, it adopts a distinctly 70s action crime film vibe. It’s about as strange a pairing as c