Arts & Culture

Don’t be fooled by the pastel exterior of The Grand Budapest Hotel. Although laced with comedic elements, this is a serious film with important things to say about suffering and hope, betrayal and courage, brutality and love. It is strange but worth a visit.

At its heart, Whiplash is the story of a young man who strives for greatness in his chosen career and who struggles to overcome the failings of his overbearing mentor to do so. The film is inspiring, not only because it portrays the quest for greatness, but because the people who created the film achieved greatness in their work.

Set in Chicago during the holiday season, Quent Cordair's screenplay Mujahid involves a conflict between Husam, a young Muslim man who takes Islam seriously, and his younger brother Jasim. The conflict escalates after Husam is handed a heavy bag by a bearded man and gets on a bus heading downtown.

The extravagant window displays at Bergdorf Goodman department store on New York’s Fifth Avenue are a popular draw this time of year, and for good reason. These dazzling arrangements entice pedestrians into the store and inspire crowds to stop, snap photos, and marvel. The artful windows celebrate commerce, wealth, and high-end goods.

Ari Armstrong reviews Chef, written and directed by Jon Favreau.

Renowned photographer Richard Berenholtz has been commissioned to document the construction of 432 Park Avenue, a building that, at nearly 1,400 feet will be the tallest residential tower in New York and the Western Hemisphere. Joseph Kellard recently talked with Berenholtz about his work on 432 Park, Manhattan’s ever-changing skyline, and his fascination with the construction process.

Star Trek: First Contact, directed by Jonathan Frakes. Written By Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, And Ronald D. Moore. Starring Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Levar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates Mcfadden, Marina Sirtis, Alfre Woodard, James Cromwell, And Alice Krige. Distributed by Paramount Pictures, 1996. Rated PG-13 for some sci-fi…

Edge of Tomorrow, directed by Doug Liman. Written by Christopher Mcquarrie, Jez Butterworth, and John-Henry Butterworth, based on the novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. Starring Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, and Brendan Gleeson. Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, 2014. Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of…

The Martian, by Andy Weir. New York: Crown, 2014. 384 pp. $24 (hardcover). Reviewed by Ari Armstrong Imagine you’re on a mission on Mars. Your space suit, not to mention your body, was punctured by an antenna blown loose by a raging sandstorm. Luckily, although the blow knocked you unconscious,…

The Rape of the Masters: How Political Correctness Sabotages Art, by Roger Kimball. New York: Encounter Books, 2005. 200 pp. $17.95 (paperback). Reviewed by Daniel Wahl Roger Kimball begins The Rape of the Masters: How Political Correctness Sabotages Art by asking why we teach and study art history. “It is…