Review

Culture

Album review: Sinners and saints alike will love 'Cynics & Saints'

Skylar Griego | September 9

Picture a naked blue woman with fiery red and black hair flowing behind her sitting on a faceless white horse with freakishly long legs. They may say, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” but no one ever says, “Don’t judge a CD by its cover.” CD covers are made for judging. Combined with the first track, they give you an impression of what the disc inside will hold. First impressions aren’t everything. Lara Ruggles sneakily tricks listeners into expecting another simplistic, cookie-cutter indie rock album with the first impression of her newest release, “Cynics & Saints.”

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Culture

Movie review: 'Güeros' explores youth with subtle surrealism

Nathan Reynolds | August 31

"Güeros" brings a frenzied drama to adolescence in a film that follows Tomas (Sebastián Aguirre), a young boy, who has a series of adventures when he is sent to Mexico City to stay with his older brother Sombra (Tenoch Huerta). Tomas’ stay in Mexico City begins after his accidentally dropping a water balloon on a baby, which is only the first of several events that set a tone of understated surrealism in the film. Tomas’ visit serves to shake his older brother, who is in a rut because of the shutdown of his school due to student strikes.

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Culture

Album review: Metal snobs beware: 'No Epitaphs'; is fun, but nothing special

Skylar Griego | August 25

“No Epitaphs,” the upcoming release from heavy metal punk band Ramming Speed, is an interesting blend of traditional heavy metal and epic guitar riffs that actually consist of more than fast-paced power chords. The first track, “No Forgiveness in Death,” gives off an impression of energetic epicness. The fun riffs mixed with the perfect head-banging beat will make fans want to get up and move with the music.

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Culture

Movie review: 'American Ultra' underestimates the potential of its own story

Nathan Reynolds | August 24

Small-town American angst meets ultra violence in “American Ultra.” At least, that’s supposed to be the joke in the new stoner comedy. Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart are cute and convincing as characters Mike and Phoebe, a slacker couple whose mundane lives are upturned when Mike finds he might be something more than he thought. Mike is a nervous, unambitious guy who works nights at a convenience store and smokes heavily with his girlfriend, who is the best thing in his life. In one of the funnier recurring jokes, he tries to find the perfect time to propose to Phoebe.

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Culture

Album Review: Mike Krol lays an egg with "Turkey"

Skylar Griego | August 19

The problem with some music is one can’t tell whether the musicians are satirical performers, which typically consists of musicians performing badly on purpose for some unfathomable reason, or if some insane person actually thinks what they’re producing is good music. This is the bewilderment listeners may experience while listening to Mike Krol’s newest release, “Turkey.” Named after the term used for a third consecutive bowling strike, “Turkey” is supposedly the mark of Krol “making it.” If this is making it, then music standards have fallen even farther than I thought.

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Culture

Movie Review: Despite simple plot, 'Man from U.N.C.L.E.' nails action-comedy

Nathan Reynolds | August 18

With boxy German cars and stark, grey walls topped with barbed wire, the first 15 seconds of “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” thrusts viewers directly into 1960s Berlin, the Cold War era, as Napoleon Solo, played by Henry Cavill, crosses from West to East. The opening images of the film tease with the aesthetic of the time, complete with grainy, hand-held images. But this spy thriller never fully embraces ‘60s kitsch: it chooses instead to transpose the imagery onto a glossy Hollywood star vehicle, with the occasional zoom, rainbow sun flare or split screen shot to keep the audience visually in the time period.

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Culture

Album review: R&B album unique with grunge tones

Skylar Griego | August 10

With the fall semester approaching quickly, students are hustling to get ready for classes and cooler weather. One of the most important items on the checklist is, of course, what music they’re going to study to. Fans of R&B and Jazz may find “Under the Savage Sky,” the newest release from Barrence Whitfield and the Savages, moving its way up their “must buy” checklists. “Under the Savage Sky” opens up with “Willow,” a fun, energetic song with heavy guitar riffs and deep, gritty vocals complete with background “oohs” and “ahs” to round out the sound.

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Culture

Review: Rich lyrics strike spark in ordinary country album

Skylar Griego | July 13

Country boys and girls, grab your finest cowboy hat and a box of tissues and get ready to dive into the show. This is going to be a deep one. On Tuesday, the country band known as the Honeycutters will perform at Low Spirits Bar & Stage to show off music from their April release, “Me Oh My.” To give a preview of the material for their upcoming performance, this critic had the chance to listen to “Me Oh My” in its entirety.

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Culture

Musicr eview: "Born on Fire" an ideal album - if you like one specific sound

Skylar Griego | June 15

Ike Reilly’s seventh album offers many things for fans to look forward to: raspy vocals, upbeat rhythms, occasional guitar solos and a few misspelled titles. The indie rock “Born on Fire” is a record five years in the making, but it sounds more like country rock meets campfire sing-along with instruments. A truly great record is able to capture the hearts of listeners regardless of whether they are die-hard fans of a particular genre. Unfortunately for Reilly, his release falls short of that: this album can expect to be bypassed by those of the heavier rock n’ roll community.

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Culture

Review: French film similar to Helen Keller story

Nathan Reynolds | June 1

Feeling, hearing, speaking: the often intense, sometimes intimate relationship between the senses and interpersonal communication. These are the elements that make “Marie’s Story,” the new film by Jean-Pierre Améris, a unique variation on the common subject of communication. “Marie’s Story” centers on a French monastery — a school for the deaf — and a nun named Soeur Marguerette, played by Isabelle Carré. Her sole mission is to teach Marie, a young, blind and deaf girl portrayed by Ariana Rivoire, how to communicate and eventually find pleasure in a world outside her own perception. The story is similar to that of Helen Keller, which has been dramatized as “The Miracle Worker” in English several times. The concept is well-trod, and it feels that way in the film. The two primary characters go through little development. Marguerette starts out as a woman with something missing from her life and trying to fill the void with teaching Marie. She then discovers a newness and excitement about the world through her own eyes in the process.

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Culture

Review: 'Fury Road' does action right

Nathan Reynolds | May 26

In “Mad Max: Fury Road,” the latest addition to the groundbreaking post-apocalyptic film series directed by George Miller, Mad Max describes himself as “a man reduced to a single instant.” “Mad Max: Fury Road” is very much a film obsessed with the instant: particularly frantic instants of fire, twisting metal, and endless sand. Miller has taken the Mad Max concept and not only expanded on the world of the story, but pushed the elements that made the earlier movies popular as far as he could. The plot of “Fury Road” revolves around Max, played by Tom Hardy, and Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa as they attempt to steal the wives and war rig of the tyrannical warlord Immortan Joe, played by Hugh Keays Byrne, who also played the villain in the original Mad Max. Immortan Joe, not too happy about theft of his wives, sets out after the heroes with a whole party of white-painted warriors on an array of deadly vehicular monstrosities. The breakneck narrative of “Fury Road” takes place almost entirely in, on and around these constructions — particularly the war rig, a giant semi equipped with armored hatchbacks and machine guns.

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Music

Album review: Folk band's music lovely in any language

Skylar Griego | April 30

The beautiful thing about music is you don’t have to understand what a musician is saying to connect with it. Regardless of whether or not lyrics are present, one only has to listen to the melodies, harmonies and beats of a song to feel what the artist is conveying. Of course, it still helps if you speak the language. “Têtu,” Le Vent Du Nord’s latest release, captures its audience with a traditional style unlike any found in today’s popular music. The opening track, “Noce tragique,” has an abrupt beginning that quickly draws you in with a steady beat, a repetitive accordion melody and the strong presence of a hurdy-gurdy. When the lead vocalist begins singing, one will be surprised to hear a voice full of timbre in contrast with the light melody. The music complements him beautifully.

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Culture

Movie review: Visual feast pays homage to Coen brothers

Graham Gentz | April 16

“Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter” is a love letter to many things. First, it is loosely based on the urban legend of the 2001 death of a young Japanese woman said to have been looking for the buried money from the Coen brothers film “Fargo.” Emphasis on loosely. The opening title card of “Fargo” is even recycled for “Kumiko,” in which it falsely claims to be a true story. Since “Kumiko” is a movie that claims a fictional event to be true, which in turn involves a movie that claims a fictional event to be true. The levels of “truthiness” in how stories are told is chiefly of concern here.

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Opinion

Review: UNM's outdoor festival satisfies

Matthew Reisen | April 13

Fiestas 2015! was a huge success this weekend – filling Johnson Field with good music, students, beach balls, hula-hoops and so much more. Hearing the words “miniature-Coachella” was a common happenstance at Fiestas this year, and to any attendee, the reasons for such a comparison were obvious, with the event taking on the very look and feel of a music festival. The skies above may have been mainly overcast but the positive energy was palpable, with people coming and going for a good time throughout the day.

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Culture

Review: New Nightwish singer makes studio debut

Skylar Griego | April 9

It took four seemingly endless years, but it has finally happened. Nightwish has unleashed their eighth album into the world. “Endless Forms Most Beautiful” has been highly anticipated by long-time Nightwish fans ever since the replacement of former vocalist, Anette Olzon, with Floor Jansen in 2013. This is the first studio release featuring Jansen’s vocals, and it’s been long overdue since “Imaginaerum” in 2011. Like many fans, Jansen won my heart with her kick-ass vocals and goddess-like stage presence in the live DVD, “Showtime, Storytime.” After seeing what she can do on stage, hearing her voice in Nightwish’s latest masterpiece is breathtaking. Not only is Jansen’s voice the perfect combination of original frontwoman Tarja Turunen’s operatic voice and Olzon’s light melodies, but she also brings a heavy edge with gritty metal vocals — all giving Nightwish an entirely new range of sound.

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Culture

Review: Short stories explore life's breakups

Moriah Carty | April 9

While many people may try to forget about past loves and relationships, Tony Rauch decided to write about his in a way that’s so exciting and curious that it’s hard to put down. The book, “what if I got down on my knees,” is Rauch’s fourth compilation of short stories. The title represents his passive nature and already clues the reader into what may be, perhaps, a series of mental breakdowns and hardships. This collection is cleverly imagined. It touches on the essence of being human creatively. It isn’t too far-fetched to say everyone can relate to at least one of his stories.

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Culture

Review: Singer stretches her limits

Skylar Griego | April 2

Imagine this: It’s 1 o’clock in the morning, and you’re counting the minutes until you can finally put the notes away and sleep before tomorrow morning’s exam. To help with your struggle to stay awake, you decide to play your newest indie rock album. Immediately after pressing play, your ears are struck with a dissonant ringing that makes you cringe. This is the first impression Waxahatchee’s “Ivy Tripp” gives poor unsuspecting night owls. It might be best to wait until daytime to listen to the band’s third release. “Breathless” doesn’t improve much musically. It’s about as good as an untrained child experimenting with the effects on a keyboard. The atonal music is redeemed only by Katie Crutchfield’s mellow vocals. Her light and airy harmonies only go so far. For listeners who prefer their music to sound like, well, music, expect to skip this track often.

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Culture

Review: 'Chupacabra' lost its focus

Graham Gentz | April 2

It is never a good sign when any script contains five different names under the writing credits. Such is the troubled production of the original work “The Chupacabra Cantina,” created by the local activist and Latina performance troupe Las Meganenas, which recently finished performances. The play attempts to tackle a baffling number of discordant social issues while unfortunately illuminating none of them, attempting to embed them sneakily within a broadly-cast net of New Mexican culture and convention. Where to begin? “The Chupacabra Cantina” is set in a bar in Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico, but none of that really matters. Nothing in the play really matters. There is no conflict, no tension, no plot and certainly no story. There is a lot that’s distressingly wrong about “The Chupacabra Cantina.” But the single biggest issue is simply the atrocious writing.

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Culture

Review: 'Big Hero 6' a surprisingly fresh Disney effort

Graham Gentz | March 5

Disney is one of the six corporations who control 90 percent of American media. Disney owns ABC, ESPN, Pixar, Miramax, Lucasfilm and Marvel Entertainment. The main way this has changed American media is the shaping of the thunderously lucrative Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Big Hero 6,” which recently came out on DVD, is probably the most creative use of Disney’s ownership of everything Marvel. “Big Hero 6” was originally a 90s comic series failure. I’m a huge comic book nerd and even I hadn’t heard of it before — it is essentially the artistic dregs of the Marvel’s comic history. But since Disney purchased Marvel Entertainment in 2009, this provided an opportunity to deconstruct and reinvent.

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Culture

Review: Best picture winner flaunts industry's vanity

Graham Gentz | February 26

On Sunday, the 87th Academy Awards rained down their judgment on all moviedom for 2014. The Oscars have long been criticized as being out of touch for everything from the masturbatory glitz to the selection of each actual award. None receive more attention and examination than the politically-driven selection of the highly coveted Best Picture. I was fairly excited to see “Birdman,” which stars Michael Keaton, take the top spot. It seemed surreal and cerebral and looked to be filled with many long takes, but I failed to anticipate the rather shallow message the movie expounded, which explains its political selection by the voters of the Academy Awards.