amoeba.com “There’s some bullshit idea that we’re not gonna sing along to my songs, like why the fuck’d I write them then, anyway?” So spoke Jeff Mangum, leader of influential ‘90s band Neutral Milk Hotel, trying to coax the hushed and sold-out audience at Toronto’s Trinity St. Paul’s to join[Read More…]
Arts & Entertainment
Keep up to date on local art, new albums, and everything entertainment-related.
Planet of the Apes
thegate.ca Director Rupert Wyatt rebuilt the Planet of the Apes series entirely from scratch, making the original series and a one-off Mark Wahlberg remake entirely non-canon. The first movie in a planned reboot series, Rise of the Planet of the Apes introduces the ape Caesar, whose heightened cognition is the[Read More…]
Harry Potter
amctheatres.com I’m not sure which part of the highly anticipated Harry Potter and the Death Hallows: Part II was worse: Voldemort’s laugh, or the fact that there was more laughing in the theatre during the “protagonists-are-dying” scenes than proper sobbing. While the first half of the film delivers a well-rendered[Read More…]
Crazy, Stupid, Love
moviemarketingmadness.com The romcom has morphed into a formulaic genre so rife with well-worn clichés that there’s often little room for creativity, honesty, or genuine laughs. Crazy Stupid Love isn’t an entirely new story, but its clever script and a believable cast set it apart from the pack. Ryan Gosling plays[Read More…]
NXNE
musicvice.com Back for its 17th year, the annual North by Northeast (NXNE) festival and conference brought over 600 bands to Toronto over the course of five sweltering days in June. One of the most anticipated shows was Toronto’s own Fucked Up playing a free show at Yonge and Dundas Square,[Read More…]
McConaughey rules
ramascreen.com At first glance, Matthew McConaughey’s new mystery/suspense/legal thriller The Lincoln Lawyer might strike you as an unusual project for the actor. A stray from his typecasting as a shirtless hunk in every woman’s favourite romantic comedy, McConaughey plays Mickey Haller, a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney. When he is[Read More…]
Mother Mother: Eureka
Eureka, the third album from Canadian rock band Mother Mother, really packs a punch. Full of dance hooks, swelling harmonies, and heavy percussion, the first four tracks showcase what the five-piece band does best. The pop and rock elements are spot-on, and the addition of heavier synth beats makes the[Read More…]
Hey Rosetta!: Seeds
When I saw Hey Rosetta! play in a crowded band shell in the pouring rain at Osheaga in 2009, the last thing on my mind was “Man, these guys sound like Coldplay” (coincidentally that night’s headliner). But when I started listening to Seeds, their third full-length album, I realized that[Read More…]
The Mountain Goats: All Eternals Deck
All Eternals Deck, the newest album from the Mountain Goats, represents an evolution from their last record, The Life of the World to Come. Their latest release is a melting pot of brilliantly worded social and political commentary, combined with an expanded instrumental repertoire. This latest release captures the listener[Read More…]
The new prince of Canadian hip-hop
deconrecords.ca Nowadays, the words “Canadian hip-hop” usually lead to a discussion of Toronto hitmaker Drake, whose surge in popularity has earned him fans all over the world. But Sunday’s Juno Awards saw Drake lose Rap Recording of the Year to Vancouver-based rapper Shad, whose 2010 album TSOL has also been[Read More…]