This Week in Entertainment
Grand Theft Auto V
The largest and most ambitious installment in one of the most critically acclaimed, best-selling video game series of all time marks the first new entry in nearly five years after being long delayed. The latest edition takes place in Los Santos, a sun-soaked city of chaos where users can play as three different protagonists on the road to survival and success.
World War Z
After several delays, Brad Pitt's apocalyptic epic was finally released in theaters to financial success and strong critical reception this summer. In the film, a former United Nations investigator is tasked with finding a cure to a zombie outbreak, traveling around the world in order to save the lives of his family and humanity. Bonus features include exclusive behind-the-scenes documentaries. Also in 3-D.
Insidious: Chapter 2
The follow-up to the surprise 2011 runaway horror hit reunites cast members Patrick Wilson (The Conjuring) and Rose Byrne (Bridesmaids), who reprise their roles as a husband and wife investigating the secret that has haunted them from the spirit world. Fighting off paranormal activity and mysterious surprises, the couple find themselves picking up right where they left off: in a thrilling, suspenseful battle versus the unknown. PG-13. 105 minutes.
Prisoners
Fresh off its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, the work of director Denis Villeneuve is already earning acclaim for its star-studded cast, including Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman, and dramatic plot about the sudden disappearance of two young girls in a small town. When the police release the only suspect in the case due to a lack of evidence, one father (Hugh Jackman, The Wolverine) tries to take matters into his own hands and becoming a vigilante. R. 146 minutes.
Feels Like Home
Sheryl Crow
While she has had a successful career in adult contemporary rock, Sheryl Crow has decided to diversify her musical tastes and now presents her first country album, preceded by hit single "Easy." Each song on the CD was co-written by another songwriter, including country star Brad Paisley, giving the album an added sense of novelty. While Crow fans should expect a new sound, they can still anticipate the same powerful lyricism they have grown to love.
From Here to Now to You
Jack Johnson
The sixth album from the folk-rock singer-songwriter marks a return to his acoustic, "surfer-vibe" genre after the darker, electric guitar-driven work of recent years. This album is composed in his traditional style of self-penned, self-produced tracks. This time around, though, he adds a layer of instrumentation to his traditional sound that should set him up for the mainstream success he has lacked in recent years.
More from The Rice Thresher
Founder’s Court goes alt-rock as bôa kicks off U.S. tour at Rice
Founder’s Court morphed into a festival ground Friday night as British alt-rock band bôa launched the U.S. leg of their “Whiplash” tour. The group headlined the third annual Moody X-Fest before what organizers estimate was “a little bit over 2,000 students” — the largest turnout in the event’s three-year history.
Rice launches alternative funding program amid federal research cuts
Rice is launching the Bridge Funding Program for faculty whose federal funding for research projects has been reduced or removed. The program was announced via the Provost’s newsletter April 24.
This moment may be unprecedented — Rice falling short is not
In many ways, the current landscape of American higher education is unprecedented. Sweeping cuts to federal research funding, overt government efforts to control academic departments and censor campus protests and arbitrary arrests and visa revocations have rightly been criticized as ushering in the latest iteration of fascism.
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