by Rebekah Stogner | Jun 20, 2015 | Arts and Entertainment, Opinion
I knew from the instant I saw the trailer that this movie was either going to be excellent or terrible. When I got to the theater to see it, I had to wait almost an hour for a showing that wasn’t sold out since it was a rainy Friday afternoon on opening day. Luckily, it was well, well worth it. Currently holding a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and climbing to the top of the box office as of writing this, Inside Out is proof that Pixar’s original movies are unbeatable in animation, story and just about everything else. This whimsical story follows the emotions Fear, Joy, Sadness, Anger, and Disgust in the head of 11-year-old Riley during a life changing move to San Fransisco with her family. When her personality begins to drastically change as a result, it’s up to the emotions to work together and bring everything back to a perfect balance. This movie is absolutely flawless. The human designs are amazing to look at, a long way even from Up, the studio’s last original film. The designs of the emotions are adorable and perfect. Each of the sections of Riley’s head, including imagination, dreams, long term memory and more are all colorful and delightful to look at. The way the movie explains how the mind works is simple enough for children, yet made so much sense to me as an adult. I think this movie caters even more to adults than children, with the stunning originality and hilarious voice acting, especially by Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith and Lewis Black as Joy, Sadness and Anger respectively. There’s...
by Erin Turner | Jun 17, 2015 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
The sounds of Bison Square ranged from children bowing their first note on a violin to professional musicians playing overtures and dances from composers all around the world Tuesday night. The Nashville Symphony visited Lipscomb for “Symphony Under the Stars” as a part of the free community concert series. John Lowry, executive director of Spark: Lipscomb’s Idea Center, said the last time the Nashville Symphony performed at Lipscomb was in 2010 with Martina McBride in Allen Arena. “If you remember back in 2010, Lipscomb was honored to serve as a host of the Nashville Symphony for many of their concerts as they were reacting and responding to the flood — they made their home,” Lowry said. “We’re excited to have them back.” Although he’s relatively new to Music City, Nashville Symphony conductor Vinay Parameswaran said that the Nashville Symphony has collaborated with Lipscomb many times before he joined, and that all of the community concerts are important to the symphony. “I really love doing these concerts,” Parameswaran said. “It’s fun for me and I know it’s fun for the orchestra. As someone who’s kind of new to Nashville, it’s cool — I get to see new people and different places.” Parameswaran said that many of the program attendees may be symphony subscribers, but the unique thing about the summer community concerts is that they reach a new audience. “For us, we’re able to reach thousands of people through community concerts like this,” Parameswaran said. Symphony Under the Stars even brought along some little musicians who visited the instrument petting zoo, a symphony education program that allows children to get their hands on instruments...
by Anna McClure | Jun 13, 2015 | Arts and Entertainment
Following a successful first set of photoshoots, rising sophomore Sarah Johnson is preparing to continue her project in which she hand makes costumes and then photographs students from the theater department in them. During the spring semester, Johnson completed several shoots of various Disney characters at locations around Nashville. The characters included Alice, the Mad Hatter, Belle, Ariel, Tarzan, and Jane. “The first round went really well. Johnson said “I was blessed with actors willing to give a lot to the characters and work very well with an amateur photographer to create magic for a few moments, enough to capture and share with others.” Johnson faced several challenges along the way, including hand sewing costumes after her sewing maching broke and photographing Lacy Hartselle underwater as Ariel. Johnson purchased a waterproof camera case, which had a built in floatation device. “I had to physically push the case underwater and hold it down while trying to take pictures and not resurface. Johnson said “Each time we went under, we only had about a 7 to10 second interval to get pictures before I was pushed to the surface again. [Lacy] worked equally hard, trying to swim with her legs in a tail and keep her wig on, all while looking like a princess.” An additional challenge she faced was directing the actors about what to do and how to pose. She often gave them free reign as their characters and captured the moments as they happened. Despite the challenges involved, the end results have surpassed Johnson’s expectations. “I’ve loved every one thus far. Johnson said “Each character or set of characters...
by Rebekah Stogner | Jun 7, 2015 | Arts and Entertainment, Opinion
I can be spontaneous sometimes. I got off work at 9 p.m. on a Friday night and saw a friend of mine Tweet, “Someone go see Insidious 3 with me.” I responded, “Okay,” jokingly of course, only to have him reply that he was serious and wanted to go see the movie in an hour at the last showtime of the night. At that point, I really couldn’t say no, so here we are. Sitting at a 61% Rotten Tomatoes rating (though I believe it deserves higher), and in the top three at the box office as of writing this, Insidious: Chapter 3 is actually a prequel to the two films before it. It follows a young girl named Quinn Brenner, whose mother passed away from cancer, as she seeks the help of saga psychic Elise Rainier, who has recently given up use of her other-worldly power due to an entity that haunted her. As Elise tries to contact Quinn’s mother, she accidentally summons a horrifying demon, named “The Man Who Can’t Breathe,” who begins to attach himself to Quinn and wreak havoc. I have a love-hate relationship with horror films, usually. I enjoy the thrills and haunting atmospheres (as well as the screaming audience members in the showings with me), but usually not the acting or much of the setup. Here, I thought the setup and performances were very interesting. Newcomer Stefanie Scott did a great job steering away from the horror movie teenage girl cliches, and Lin Shaye delivers a strong performance as Elise. Much of the second and third acts of the movie focus on her backstory and abilities,...
by Rebekah Stogner | May 30, 2015 | Arts and Entertainment, Opinion
I remember three years ago when a former voice coach gave me two free passes to see some movie called Pitch Perfect. I passed, thinking that it looked incredibly stupid and would probably bomb at the theaters. Oh, how far we have come. Currently the reigning movie at the box office with 66% on Rotten Tomatoes, Pitch Perfect 2 is the second big blockbuster of the summer that girls everywhere (and probably a few boys) are flocking to see. Even though the movie’s been out for over two weeks, a large group of high school girls and even two grandmothers piled into the matinee I saw. As a fan of the original movie (and a capella singing in general), I was really hyped to see this. I adore Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld and was excited to hear more amazing mashups of popular songs through beat-boxing and harmonies. My main problem with this movie is the amount of rehashing of the plot and the jokes. In 2012, we saw the Barden Bellas struggle to redeem their boring routine with the help of newcomer Beca and go on to win the national title. Here, we see them struggle to redeem the world-renowned status of their group after a mishap at a national performance with the help of newcomer Emily as they try to win the world title. Fat Amy and creepy Lily’s one-liners have the same formula as before, even though Wilson improvises most of her lines, and the jokes relating to racial and sexual minorities still play to the lowest common denominator of their stereotypes. Sequels are supposed to...
