Category: Columns

By Caleb Tiedemann

To end the year I wanted to find a good movie, one that I could recommend as a finale to all the reviewing work I have done throughout the year. Luckily I was able to find one through the constant ads and marketing on Instagram, which weirdly knows my tastes better than my own family. A film that goes by the name of The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. After watching the trailer about a week before actually seeing the movie I was interested and all the marketing only made me more excited. So I sat down hoping to see something enjoyable and funny. Lucky for me, it was just what I wanted. 

When it comes to comedy, you get a mix of movies, many claim to be comedic but are just worthless and unfunny outings. I am sure the first time a guy got hit in the crotch on TV, was like Jesus healing the blind man to comedic writers who believed they struck gold. Now, lets not deny, that is peak comedy, but today if you see that in a movie, it will not have nearly as funny of an effect as when it did ten years prior. You’re probably wondering why I made this whole paragraph, but there is a point. The point being that Massive Talent, is genuinely funny. It does not rely on cheap gags alone. It relies on that fact that you have some knowledge about film and culture.

The movie stars Nick Cage as Nick Cage (a daring casting choice) who is running out of luck and experiencing burnout. His career is dying as well as his marriage and relationship with his dughter. On the verge of financial collapse, he accepts an offer to make an appearance at a rich billionaire’s birthday party. However, there is a twist, the billionaire, Javi (played by Pedro Pascal)  is a super fan of Nick Cage, as well as a crime lord wanted by the US government. While Nick is pestered for information about Javi, the two of them start to become close friends and form a wholesome brotherhood, attempting to write a movie together. 

From that brief synopsis alone you can tell that this movie is already something interesting. The whole movie is one big love letter to two things: movies and film, and Nick Cage. There are multiple references to Nick Cage’s wacky and wild career, from his hits such as Face Off and The Rock to things like his voicework in Croods. It talks of movies, classic and non, poking fun at them and the cinematic “system.” Nick Cage is just awesome in this movie, he just seems to enjoy his time on screen and really sells his act. But the star of this movie has to be Pedro Pascal as Javi. The whole time he acts like the biggest nerd and is super convincing in every way, I literally loved his performance. 

The cinematography was just gorgeous as the whole movie takes place on an exotic country. The costumes were nothing special, but I just really love floral button ups so the whole movie was tailored to my choice of summer ware. The humor was funny and it had me laughign throughout the entire film. There is a plot point where in order to come up with ideas for their movie script Nick and Javi take LSD and I have not laughed out loud that much in possibly any movie theater. Overall, I strongly recommend the movie. If you do not want to take it from my word alone, check out the trailer because that enough convinced me to see it. In my mind it is the perfect 100 minutes to kick back and put your brain on autopilot. I strongly recommend the movie with one of the longest titles ever: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.

Grade: A

Wishing everyone a wonderful summer, I’ll see you all in the Fall!★

By Mary Hannah Kennedy

On Friday, April 22nd from 6-8 pm, the Ortlip Gallery will host a public reception for this year’s show for the Houghton art majors. There are 12 art seniors this year: Jessie-Fay Abbott, Nicole Dubay, Zoey Kasper, Mary Hannah Kennedy, Elisabeth Kettinger, Elise Koelbl, Zach McKay (Mixed Media Painting and Watercolor), Sarah Mertzlufft, Caroline Oakes, Rachel Smith, Julia Wilmot, and Chelsea Wood. The work featured ranges greatly in style, scale, and medium. The seniors have been working towards this group show for the past 4 years and are very excited to share their art with the Houghton community. The gallery is open weekdays from 8-6 pm and the senior show will be open to the public until the end of the school year.★

By Caleb Tiedemann

With Marvel producing more content than rabbits producing offspring, I have grown somewhat tired of the continual unchanging and bland structure that they have adopted. Sure, it’s cool to see new heroes, but eventually the same paths will be tread. DC, on the other hand, is the literal opposite of Marvel, they lack the ability to start their own universe, they shoot down success, and interfere in the productions, causing bad blood among cast and crew alike. In short, Warner Bros. has no idea what they want other than bringing in that sweet green paper. In recent times, movies like The Suicide Squad and Zack Snyder’s Justice League have garnered enough revenue that will hopefully mean they are on the right track. However, if their idea of “on track” is to hire the guy Marvel fired, and finally let the guy who needed a break because his daughter died to finally finish his dream movie nearly four years later, due to extreme cast and fan backlash, I would say they still haven’t figured it all out yet. With all that in mind, let’s talk about The Batman.

Batman is a somewhat controversial hero, some dislike him, and some love him. Personally, Batman is the best superhero, a man without powers who has to rely on his gut, intellect, and self-created gadgets to solve crimes from increasingly insane villains. But one of the things that makes Batman such a great hero is his enemies. A hero is only as good as his villains. Each of Batman’s main foes offer up a different challenge to him, whether a challenge of intellectual prowess or physical will. 

Over the years there have been many actors to play the Dark Knight, Michael Keaton, Christian Bale, and most recently, up until this movie, Ben Affleck. With the last solo Batman film releasing in 2012, we were long overdue for another outing. Enter Robert Pattinson. Now, I will fully admit when I heard that they cast Edward Cullen as Batman, I could not stop laughing. I was sure this movie would be a flop, but then I saw the trailer and became intrigued. Leading up to my viewing of The Batman I watched multiple movies in Robert Pattinson’s filmography, and I have to say that I was very impressed with how much better of an actor he had become. I was hopeful.

Matt Reeves’s The Batman is quite a good film; however, it is not the best Batman movie by a long shot, in my humble opinion. The Dark Knight is still the proud owner of that title. Clocking in at a whopping 175 minutes, The Batman is a dark and gritty detective tale, the likes of which we have never seen on the big screen. For the first half an hour the movie was amazing. The opening scene is masterfully shot and bone chilling. It all builds up so well and then manages to fall apart so easily. It is impossible to write this review without spoilers so there is a warning in effect. The beginning is solid, setting up Riddler as this sadistic killer, and I was in love with it. It was the Riddler of my dreams, insane and designing Saw-like traps just to prove that he was smarter than the Batman. However, all his traps had a purpose to expose the rich elitist evil in Gotham. It was not what I wanted exactly, but I was still happy. 

For me the entire film falls away once Batman gets involved with Catwoman. From that point on, we forget about Riddler and instead focus on the other villains: Catwoman, who is doing the exact same thing in every single Batman movie that she appears in; Carmine Falcone, who half the world either does not know or care about; and Penguin, who is hardly even the Penguin. He’s literally Falcone’s lapdog, and for the most part, his entire character is wasted in this movie. My biggest gripe was how much was done with Falcone. Falcone almost never takes center stage in any Batman related content, so it was really weird to see Matt Reeves take on a superhero Goodfellas. We then go on this whole tangent, for a solid ninety minutes about Bruce’s parents and their ties to the mob, Catwoman and her ties to the mob, Penguin and his ties to the mob, etc. We even find out that Catwoman’s father is Falcone, a reveal that was about as interesting and wanted as mowing the lawn. It turns from detective thriller to soap opera. 

There were also a lot of inconsistencies, like how Catwoman instantly trusted Batman and then got suspicious later on. Catwoman never trusted Batman in any other media, why did she start now? Just because of her friend? Also Gotham streets are rampant with a drug called “Drops” yet we never learn anything about them or what they do. It is referred to multiple times.

The final thing that the movie has going for it is the deleted scene that was released online, the one with our new Joker. He was teased in the movie, but now we get to actually see him. He’s… something. I am not ruling him out based on his looks, yet. There is potential. Barry Keoghan might do very well with it. I have hopes, and we all know a new Joker will roll in the big bucks. 

However, all these concerns are relatively minor. Where the plot is lacking, the movie still manages to stand with amazing performances from Paul Dano as the Riddler, Robert Pattinson as Batman/Bruce Wayne and Jeffrey Wright as Gordon. Zoe Kravitz was never really an amazing actor and seldom plays a unique role, her acting ability is decent enough but she hardly ever gets to showcase it. Colin Farrell was good whenever he was on screen, but that was not too often. John Turturro was a surprisingly good actor and fit the role of Falcone. The fight choreography, visuals and cinematography are jaw dropping and stunningly gorgeous. Then there is the score… beautiful, absolutely beautiful. These factors become the leg that this movie stands on. 

In conclusion, The Batman is a very fun movie to watch. It does not always feel like a Batman movie but there are many qualities that make up for everything I dislike. Reeves is very obviously building up for a sequel, so I will still attend and pay my tuition to Hollywood for making another movie. ★

Final Grade: B+

By Rachel Huchthausen

During the weekend before break, the Greatbatch School of Music presented two concerts: Contrasts and Way Over in Beulah Lan’.  The Wind Ensemble’s Contrasts, on February 19, was just that—a collection of contrasts between periods and composers, as well as selections of works by the same composer that have contrasting styles.  The program included works such as selections from Percy Grainger’s famous Lincolnshire Posy, William Still’s Folk Suite based on African-American Spirituals, and, most aptly, contemporary composer Leslie Gilreath’s Oppositional Elements.  

Most interesting to me was the Wind Ensemble’s foray into electroacoustic works by Alex Sharpiro.  Her Depth blends electronic sound from the depths of the ocean with the brass and reed instruments.  Sharpiro’s Tight Squeeze is described as a mash-up of Techno, Latin Bebop, and the Twelve-tone music of Arnold Schoenberg.  If you haven’t listened to twelve-tone music before, you should give Schoenberg’s Suite for Piano a try.  You likely won’t thank me, but you would understand why I was skeptical of the combination.  I should not have been worried.  The Wind Ensemble’s performance was a delightful, foot-taping rendition of Sharpiro’s great work.  

On February 20, the College Choir presented their concert, Way Over in Beulah Lan’: Spiritual Arrangements Old and New, a collection of spirituals arranged by various composers.  These men and women—such as R. Nathaniel Dett, Florence Frice, Moses Hogan, and Rosephanye Powell—who notated the tunes and words passed down by oral tradition.  These Spirituals ranged from the melancholy stillness of Dett’s Deep River (also presented by the Wind Ensemble in Still’s Folk Suite) to the lively insistence of Hogan’s Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel, to the joy of Powell’s Good News!.  The title piece, Stacy Gibbs’s Way Over in Beulah Lan’, was conducted by graduate student Rachel Logee.  As a whole, these works expressed both longing for heaven and the present “troubles of the worl’.”  

Audience members expressed how apt this program was for celebrating Black History Month and how expressive the choir and the soloists Josey Ikker, Lydia Rech, Adeline Roeske, Caleb Durant, and Michael McLure were.  President Lewis was also in attendance.  He also expressed how timely the concert was, writing that, “The concert was easily one of my favorite Houghton experiences thus far,” and that “The performance of negro spirituals that are so central to the African American story during this year’s celebration of Black History month was very special.”  

Thank you, Wind Ensemble and College Choir for a great weekend of music making! ★

By Caleb Tiedemann

Armageddon is a movie that I randomly remember renting from the library because I was looking for something to watch that night, little did I know I was just briefly glancing at what would be my favorite movie of all time. It’s very weird, explaining that your favorite movie of all time is a movie that very few people have seen or even remember seeing. Directed by Michael Bay, it’s a movie that many might glance over. Michael Bay is not necessarily known for anything great, other than the Transformers movies and a love of seamless explosions and action. You can guess how quickly interest is lost when someone hears that Bay is the director. Now, is this movie a masterpiece? No, it very clearly is not. However, in my humble opinion, it is.

Michael Bay’s 1998 film: Armageddon, centers around an asteroid the size of Texas hurtling towards Earth that will surely wipe out the entire planet. Eager to destroy the asteroid before it hits, the world governments want to send a team into space to deposit a nuke on the asteroid and blow it up. The only problem: the nuke has to be planted within the asteroid for it to properly explode, which would shatter it into enough pieces that if any chunks did hit the Earth it would not be detrimental. With that in mind, NASA and head Dan Truman (Billy Bob Thornton) request the help of Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis) and his team of misfits (Liv Tyler, Ben Affleck, Michael Clarke Duncan, Steve Buscemi, etc.) all who work for Stamper Oil, a drilling company. These men are humanity’s final hope of survival. 

The first and possibly best thing about this movie is the characters. Within its 150 minute runtime, you are introduced to a multitude of characters, all of which have differing and quirky personalities setting each aside from another. Another amazing thing was that they were all absolutely hilarious, each character had at least one memorable line or scene that made me laugh aloud. It is through these personalities and brief lines that you can really glimpse each character for what they really are, which I absolutely adore. However, this makes the movie more nerve-wracking to watch as not all of these characters are going to make it back alive. With this knowledge, I was incredibly saddened, but also incredibly surprised with how quickly I fell in love with these characters. 

This is also one of the few movies that makes me cry and not just a couple of tears either, literal bawling like a baby, the using up tissues, and sobbing kind of cry. A testament to my love of this movie and firm belief that it is amazing. There’s just such a good combination of intensity and emotion, all of which is way too much for me to handle. The main characters have to watch their friends and family die, brotherly love, romantic love, parental love, all forms are on display in these amazing characters. There’s fear in not knowing if Harry will return to see his daughter, fear in not knowing if AJ will return to be married to his fiance. It’s the combination of all these things that put intense emotional stress upon the viewer. Somehow Michael Bay makes it all work.

Along with those primary elements, the CGI is quite amazing, especially for a low-budget 90’s movie, with the explosions and space CG being surprisingly realistic. Secondly, the score and soundtrack work very well. It helps to build the intensity of each situation as your group of characters are put through trial after trial. The single song, I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing by Aerosmith is an immaculate song that was instantly added to my favorite playlist. In conclusion, I personally think that Armageddon is the best movie, as of now, that I have ever seen. A unique plot and cast of characters further prove my point. The combination of score, cinematography and acting combine into a beautiful creation and an experience that I will never forget and want to share with as many people as humanly possible. I urge you to see this movie, I doubt many people will have the same reactions as I did but I still think the movie is worth your time to enjoy. ★

By Anna Zimmerman

The Center for Sustainability hosted a chocolate sampling event in the campus center on Valentine’s Day. There were eight different types of chocolates to sample from six different sustainable and fair trade companies. Around 50 students stopped by to grab some chocolate, of which Unreal’s Dark Chocolate Crispy Quinoa Gems seemed to be one of the big hits. Erika Nash (‘22) grabbed an extra piece of her favorite, Theo’s Dark Chocolate Sea Salt, which was “some of the best chocolate” she has had. The other brands consisted of Alter Eco, Beyond Good, Tony’s, Dr. Bronner’s, and Candid. 

All of the chocolate was bought from Hive, an online store that focuses on ethical sourcing of products, recycled/compostable packaging, and carbon offsets to work towards a “more sustainable and equitable world.” All of the chocolate brands have practices that support both more environmentally conscientious, as well as ethical practices for the people who are involved in the industry. Unfortunately, much of the chocolate industry is entwined with high rates of deforestation, unsustainable use of resources, underpaying farmers, and child labor. Clayton Hardiman (‘22) reflected on this by saying, “knowing that there is ethical and responsible chocolate out there is comforting. It really makes you think about the decisions you make when buying something as simple as chocolate.” ★

by Rachel Huchthausen

Dr. Sharon Johnson, Prof. Roy Smith, and Mrs. Julie Smith shared a magnificent program of film music arranged for flute, trumpet, and piano last Tuesday (January 18), featuring the music of John Williams (Star Wars, Catch Me if You Can, Far and Away, and Harry Potter), Thomas Newman (Little Women, 1994), and Michael Giacchino (Ratatouille and Up!).  The making of these particular arrangements were yet another creative outlet during the last year of the Pandemic.  Noting the lack of duets for flute and trumpet, the Smiths found themselves given enough time to finally amend this lack through the quarantine period of this past year.  

Arranging for these two instruments is particularly challenging because of the imbalance of sound between the Smith’s respective instruments—it is easy for the trumpet to overpower the flute.  However, the Smith’s arrangements of these scores were up to the challenge.  

The concert last Tuesday featured many virtuosic passages for flute and the warm iconic sound of the trumpet so essential for scores such as Ratatouille, Catch Me if You Can, and “Married Life” from Up!. Particularly notable were the balance and tight collaboration especially in “Joy Ride” from John Williams’ Escapades Suite, the haunting Irish melodies and accompaniment from Far and Away, and the moment at the end of “Married Life” when both flautist and trumpeter lowered their instruments to watch Dr. Johnson call from the keys the final heartbreaking statement of the theme.  

Their recital left the audience members wanting to hear more live performances of film music, flautists, trumpeters, and pianists hoping to try their hands at collaboration together, and musicians with the euphoric feeling of having listened to great music.  Thank you, Dr. Johnson, Prof., and Mrs. Smith, for a marvelous Night at the Movies.★