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As the season of midterms comes to an end, the season of growth begins, and spring arrives with its full force of beauty. Whether you’re going through the peak of your midterms now or already out enjoying the spring weather, hopefully you’ll be able to find some time to enjoy these picks from the Arts section!
It feels as if spring is flying by before the spring weather truly arrives. But now, with the first signs of sun, one can slow down to appreciate the pleasant weather, even if it’s not possible right now to slow down in classes (or appreciate them). To help you reach calm in at least some facets of your life, the Arts section presents our weekly picks for new media releases, beginning with my personal recommendations.
Are you an Opium-pilled truecel chud? Have you heard about Clavicular being frame-mogged by an ASU frat leader? If even some of this makes sense to you, you might sit nicely at the intersection of Gen Z brainrot and the underground rap scene.
The Los Angeles heist thriller is scarcely an original premise, but Bart Layton and his star-studded cast fully lean into the intrigue in this adaptation of Don Winslow’s short story of the same name.
The Nasser brothers’ feature film Gaza mon amour, in its manageable one-and-a-half hour runtime, lumps subtle commentary on contemporary life in Gaza in the same package as well-timed satirical humor that has many viewers laughing out loud. The film made $58,090 in the international box office and served as Palestine’s representative for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars in 2022.
It comes as no surprise that Emerald Fennell, the daughter of a wealthy jewelry baron, gravitates toward stories drenched in excess. While she certainly brings copious amounts of style with her shocking and provocative films, a common critique of her works is in their lack of substance. Her films A Promising Young Woman (2020) and Saltburn (2023) allude to commentaries on the #MeToo movement as well as wealth and class struggles, respectively, that never actually present themselves, and her latest venture, “Wuthering Heights” (2026), completes this trifecta of disappointing discourse bait — films designed less to mean something than to make everyone argue about what they think they meant.
Whether or not you had an eventful or ordinary month, the last week of February is an uplifting time with the promise of March and warmer weather ahead. Before spring can get started, you may be struggling to push through the last bits of remaining snow or chilly wind. If that’s the case, we have some media recommendations to help you persevere through this midway point of the semester.
In the aftermath of Valentine’s Day, there is much preparation to be done for the coming year. The snow is melting as the weather warms up for springtime, and although Punxsutawney Phil cast a different omen for us, we’re beginning to see the grass again. If you celebrate Lunar New Year, look forward to the prosperous Year of the Horse and the influx of red envelope stimulus checks! Maybe you’re spending this week single and recovering from the onslaught of cute couples’ posts. Maybe you’re hunkering down for a week of midterms. Maybe you’re procrastinating calling your parents back home. Regardless of what it is you’re looking for, this week’s To Watch and Watch For has something for you.
It’s that time of the year. You’re either counting down until The Day arrives, you’re dreading it or you have complicated feelings. Valentine’s Day is not for the weak of heart. Whether you’re spending this Valentine’s with a significant other, platonic or familial relations, or by yourself, the Arts section has the latest installment of To Watch and Watch For, guaranteed to hold media picks that will either enhance your experience with someone else or at least distract you from a double-edged holiday. If you’re lost for where to begin, here are my personal favorites:
From Friday, Jan. 30 to Sunday, Feb. 1 the Barnstormers performed Stupid F##king Bird, written by Aaron Posner as a modern and satirical adaptation of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, originally published in 1896.
Contrary to the prevailing Valentine’s Day sentiment, the question the Arts section poses this holiday is not “who wants me,” but rather, “what do we want?” The time of selfless love and devoted yearning has not come to an end, but we are putting it on pause. Instead, take this year’s Valentine’s Day to make sure that you’re showing love to yourself — in the form of, you guessed it, love-related arts to consume. Movies, television, literature and music, all about love. What better gift could there be from your favorite section of your college’s newspaper? Regardless of if you do or don’t have a special love in your life at the moment, remember this: The News-Letter’s Arts & Entertainment section always loves you — and here are our specially curated picks of Valentine’s Day art, for all of our loyal readers.
Witness Theater’s I-Show, one of the University’s most exciting theater performances for audiences and theater practitioners alike, occurred at the Bloomberg Student Center’s theater from Feb. 6 to Feb. 8. The performances saw four one-act plays that were entirely written, produced, directed, acted and turned into reality through all other necessary countless jobs by Hopkins students themselves.
The impact of the original 2009 Avatar is undeniable. As a self-proclaimed “Disney Adult” who lives 7 hours away from Orlando, Fla. I will proudly boast that my favorite attraction at Walt Disney World is the “Avatar Flight of Passage” ride (at this point, I’ve ridden it at least 20 times). However, long before its theme park implementation, Avatar had made strides in both cinema and pop culture. Directed by James Cameron, the film has grossed over $2.92 billion and has continued to represent the unyielding power of imagination and capture the dangers of unchecked colonial expansion.
The first week of February is cold but promising; students are regaining their academic footing as the spring semester starts, and others are looking forward to the warmth the rest of the month will bring as Valentine’s Day approaches. Regardless of your relationship status, if you’re seeking any form of comfort from the harsh snow and wind this week, we have media recommendations for you to sink your senses in.
Following the soaring climax of “Defying Gravity” from 2024’s movie adaptation of the cultural phenomenon that is the Broadway musical Wicked, audiences everywhere have eagerly anticipated John M. Chu’s interpretation of the divisive Act 2. In Wicked: For Good, which landed in cinemas on the Nov. 21, the director delivers a spectacle that is... somewhat good?
AI has become prevalent in our world in a remarkably short amount of time. It infiltrates many aspects of our day-to-day lives almost imperceptibly while industries wrestle with the ethics and legality of using this new technology in their businesses. Take Hollywood, for example, which must now come to terms with AI and determine not just if the artificial can create art, but also what rights creatives have to their works and performances.
Call me biased, but the worst snub this year for the Grammy nominations was The Weeknd – Abel Tesfaye. As Abel’s #1 fan (you’re talking to someone who is seriously considering getting a “Stargirl” tattoo), this year’s Grammy nominations were nothing short of criminal.
In a world that seems to have lost its creative spark, doomed to forever remake the same stories in an eternal cycle of references, Guillermo del Toro creates Frankenstein — one of the most adapted works of all time. A classic del Toro film, with gorgeous visuals and a piece of real-estate I, too, would break the laws of nature for, Frankenstein was a respectful take on Mary Shelley’s original 1818 novel.
From Nov. 6 to Nov. 9, the Hopkins Program in Theatre Arts and Studies presented show-stopping performances of “Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde.” Written by Moisés Kaufman and directed by Sean Elias, the show offered a unique look at the downfall of Oscar Wilde’s career and an introspective view on the role of the artist in society.
Slowly but surely, we are inching our way closer to the end of the semester. These final few weeks come fast. Fall recess lulls you into a false sense of security before the merciless onslaught of study nights, final exams, papers, presentations and more that all happen only within a couple of weeks. During those precious days of rest leading up to and during fall recess, however, we encourage you to seize the time to relax and unwind with some of these hand-picked, timely media recommendations.