Top 100 Albums of 2014

Honorable Mention Sylvan Esso – Sylvan Esso; Empire – Orphan; Skrillex – Recess; The Drums – Encyclopedia; Run the Jewels – Run the Jewels 2; St. Paul & The Broken Bones – Half the City; Johnny Marr – Playland; Pharrell Williams – G I R L; Patterns – Waking Lines; Wu-Tang Clan – A Better Tomorrow; Mark Lanegan Band – Phantom Radio; Ray LaMontagne – Supernova; Blood Red Shoes – Blood Red Shoes; Jack White – Lazaretto; Coldplay – Ghost Stories. Top 100

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Top Ten Films of 2013: A year in cinema to write home about

2013 has been a banner year for cinema with a slew of quality pictures that makes you wonder how only nine got enough first place votes to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Most of my favorites could have filled that elusive tenth spot for some added acclaim—whether having a chance to win or not. I hadn’t even seen a good chunk of these until the calendar flipped to 2014, the sheer amount of winners was too vast. And after only awarding three films a 10/10 rating last year,…

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REVIEW: The Beauty Strip [2014]

“I think individuality is a very complex thing” There’s no better description for Marshmallow Press Productions than “cinema for the obscure viewer”—at least where their newest on-demand offering The Beauty Strip is concerned. Is its sixty-minutes a series of erotica music videos for electronica bands like Zigo Rayonpineal, Occurrences in Rain, Names, and Bob Orum? Maybe an art piece by writer/director/cinematographer Ginnetta Correli depicting staged documentations of women in multiple states of undress? Both? More? Alternatingly pulse pounding with Skrillex-esque dubstep and calmly serene with smooth atmospheric noise, we visit…

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REVIEW: Spring Breakers [2013]

“He’s going to give you a way out” Writer/director Harmony Korine has created an anthem for the hedonistic American Dream of hustling, fucking, and giving the middle finger to the consequences. It only feels this good when the stakes are high enough to barely make it out alive, after all. This is the balls-to-the-wall atmosphere cultivated when sex-crazed co-eds leave the real world behind for a week of unadulterated fun in the sun at interchangeable Pleasure Islands—churches to sin the titular Spring Breakers have visited for decades in pure electric…

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