The summer movie season is here, and with no film screenings scheduled at Coffman Union this summer, you might be wondering what other options there are for catching movies.

Whether you are anticipating upcoming blockbusters like “Deadpool & Wolverine” or are more interested in indie film festival favorites like “Dìdi” or “Kneecap,” there are accessible theaters near campus.

5. AMC Rosedale

While not the most convenient location for students, if you want to enhance your theater-going experience by seeing a movie in an IMAX or Dolby cinema, Rosedale AMC has both. Like any other AMC theater, Rosedale AMC shows just about all of the summer blockbusters the occasional independent film through their AMC Artisan Films program.

After making a connection from the light rail to the bus on Snelling Avenue, a trip to the AMC will take around 50 minutes. 

4. Lagoon Cinema

The only remaining Minneapolis location of the national chain Landmark Theatres national chain, the Lagoon Cinema is a long-standing theater in the Twin Cities that gets summer blockbusters as well as foreign and independent films.

Located just east of Bde Maka Ska, the best way to get to the Lagoon is by bus, which is around a 40-minute trip from campus. While the commute is certainly on the longer side, the movies they show across their five screens will appeal to blockbuster audiences as well as fans of niche art house films.

3. B&B Theatres at Mall of America

While the Mall of America is the furthest location from campus on this list, B&B Theatres is a quality option accessible through an hour-long ride by the light rail. With 13 screens and even a cocktail bar, B&B Theatres is a solid theater to catch a summer blockbuster at, not to mention you could pair it with a variety of activities and dining options at the Mall of America before or after the showtime.

Other than the length of the commute, the only real downside of B&B Theatres is the lack of independent films within their programming, but if you are looking for a theater that shows the biggest hits this summer, B&B Theatres will satisfy.

2. Trylon Cinema

For fans of independent films new and old, Trylon Cinema is the very best option in the Twin Cities. With screenings happening six days a week (several of which are shown on 35mm film), the Trylon Cinema shows an eclectic variety of brand-new independent films as well as older, niche films you can’t find at any other theater in Minnesota.

While there is only one screening room in Trylon Cinema with a smaller capacity than your average theater, there is so much care that goes into the programming and the overall experience that Trylon stands out as one of the most exceptional theaters in the area for movie buffs. If you don’t want to pay for an Uber, you can get to the Trylon by taking a 30-minute bus ride from the West Bank that will drop you off right across the street from the theater.

1. The Main Cinema

As a non-profit independent movie theater, not only does The Main Cinema strike an outstanding balance between independent films and big-budget flicks in its programming, it The Main Cinema is the closest movie theater to campus at roughly 2 miles from the East Bank. Not only is it a great option during the summer, but as a part of the Minneapolis Film Society, the cinema screens films for the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival every spring.

Whether you want to take public transit or enjoy a nice summertime walk, The Main Cinema is the best local theater to meet your summer movie needs. While it’s not directly accessible by the light rail, it is easily accessible by bus. If you live in the Dinkytown or Marcy-Holmes neighborhoods, you can walk there in just 20 minutes.

While it would be ideal for students if these theaters were a bit closer to campus, these are five good options to explore if you decide to go the extra mile.

Ishana Night Shyamalan, daughter of famous director M. Night Shyamalan, has followed in the footsteps of “The Sixth Sense” filmmaker by making a horror film with a plot twist, “The Watchers,” released on June 7.

However, based on her directorial debut, it is obvious that Shyamalan still has much room for improvement as a filmmaker. “The Watchers” stars a cast of forgettable characters and drags on too long, despite being less than 2 hours in length.

“The Watchers” is adapted from the 2022 novel of the same name by A.M. Shine. The film focuses on a young woman named Mina, played by Dakota Fanning, who finds herself trapped in a bunker with a few survivors in the middle of an Irish forest filled with terrifying nocturnal beasts. 

The issues with the film start with its premise. It has a plot structure that is cliche at this point: a few strangers are trapped together and have to overcome powerful forces to escape.

Not only is the plot uninteresting, but most of the characters are pretty boring too. While Fanning gives the best performance in the film as the starring role, the other performances by the main cast feel unnatural and rehearsed, likely a symptom of a film having an inexperienced director.

Once Fanning’s character enters the bunker, Madeline, the elder of the group played by Olwen Fouéré, delivers clunky dialogue that quickly shoe-horns into exposition explaining what the forest beasts are and how the characters ended up trapped there. Her delivery feels unnatural and she talks so fast that it feels as if you are watching the movie at twice the speed. While much of the movie could have been shortened, the exposition is one of the areas in which the filmmakers should not have cut corners.

“The Watchers” does have its frightening moments, but unfortunately they are few and far between. 

While much of the film is boring and slow, once the creatures are revealed, the visual effects and sound design work wonders to make for a truly chilling moment, and this feeling is replicated a few times thereafter. Every time we get a clear view of these creatures, they are pretty frightening, and at the end of the day that is the bare minimum requirement for a passable horror movie. But that’s all this movie is: passable. 

While Shyamalan seemingly tries to replicate pieces of her father’s classic films with the storytelling style, she should have tried to carve a unique path instead, as “The Watchers” just feels like an M. Night Shyamalan knock-off. It contains a classic Shyamalan-style twist but has some visual resemblances to his 2004 film “The Village,” particularly with the imagery of a creepy forest and mysterious creatures.

“The Watchers” feels like a rough draft. It has compelling ideas in a sea of cliches and dull writing. It is a horror movie that is, for the most part, forgettable. 

Shyamalan could very well go on to make great films like her father has, but based on “The Watchers,” she still has a ways to go.

Frontman and songwriter Courtney Taylor-Taylor has taken The Dandy Warhols’ audience on an exciting journey over the years by consistently putting out great albums while staying artistically inventive.

Known for their ingenious and uninhibited brand of neo-psychedelia, Portland rock band The Dandy Warhols are about to head back on tour in support of their twelfth studio album “Rockmaker,” which includes a stop at the Varsity Theater on June 28.

While they are most famous for their ‘90s and 2000s hits like “Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth,” “Bohemian Like You” and “We Used To Be Friends,” the band still sounds incredible decades later.

The group’s latest LP is not just unique because of its metal and hard rock influences, but the track list has a star-studded feature list that includes Slash of Guns N’ Roses, Frank Black of the Pixies and Blondie’s Debbie Harry.

The Minnesota Daily spoke with Taylor-Taylor on Zoom ahead of The Dandy Warhols’ Minneapolis performance.

The Minnesota Daily: Out of your guys’ 12 albums, it’s pretty rare for a featured artist to be on a Dandy Warhols track, but on “Rockmaker” there are three big names featured on the tracklist. What opened the door or inspired collaboration this time around?

Courtney Taylor-Taylor: “Slash was the first one, for that song we wanted that Vietnam vet, ‘wah-wah guitar’, you know, stoner rock thing. And nobody in my band has the chops to really do that, and our manager at the time said, ‘If you could get anyone to do it, who would you get?’

And we were talking about it and one of my guitar player buddies said ‘Slash is the last of that purist, funk, soul, metal, all of that stuff.’ So we said that and he reached out. But you know Slash is somebody we’ve known for decades, I like to say I bummed probably 300 cigarettes off that man during my career. So that one, he came right back, you know, like quickly, less than an hour. When you’re at that level of celebrity and legend really, your people get a hold of their people and you keep it as appropriate as possible.

And Frank Black, I am very good friends with his touring guitar player, and I ended up seated next to him years ago at dinner and we’ve been friends ever since. So for him, I just reached out to him personally. He happened to be in Zurich with four teenage sons on tour with the Pixies, and I said ‘Hey do you want to see the Giger museum?’ A friend of mine handles the Giger estate, so I hooked him up with them and they did the tour of the Giger world.

And he said, ‘If there’s anything we can do, just let me know,’ and I said, ‘You want to play on this song that kind of sounds like Pixies meets Danzig?’ and he said ‘Sure, send it over.’

And then Debbie was the same kind of thing, where I was singing the falsetto part and my manager again was like, ‘Well, if you could get anyone, who would you get?’

I said, ‘Well, Debbie Harry.’ And that one took longer, that one took months, but she did it and it’s absolutely beautiful, so cool, sounds like silver.”

Daily: When you guys go into an album, do you do it like some artists where they write 100 songs but only 10 songs end up making the album? What is it like for you?

Taylor-Taylor: “Well, that’s like real songwriters that do that. I can’t really do that. I finally in my life practiced doing that during COVID, we released a 30-second-long song every week, fast writing. During COVID I made a lot of work for myself, that’s for sure. I went to the studio every day like a job and was there, nine-to-five kind of thing. But really it was fantastic, got a lot done, I learned a lot. I learned how to do that trick, if you have to do it, do it. You know, that was Frédéric Chopin’s take on music, waiting around for inspiration is for losers. You’re a great artist or not, but if you’re an artist at all, you make something on command, you should be able to, that’s what you are right? So I never agreed with that, I never believed it, but I did it and it’s totally doable. And some are, of course, better than others. You know, your output will be pretty much right in the middle of how good you actually are.”

Daily: On most of the early Dandy Warhols songs you were the sole songwriter, but in recent years the other band members have played a larger role in the songwriting. What has that been like and how does that affect the creative process?

Taylor-Taylor: “Well, I think the reason that we have been able to stay together and really dig doing this is because we never really know what any other person is going to bring to the table. We all have a lot of whack job ideas, and some of them are amazing. On this record, it was the law, every song has to start with a metal riff, so Pete went, you know, crazy and he came up with way too many riffs. So in that respect, like those songwriter guys that have 100 songs and narrow it down to 12, Pete became that guy of guitar riffs. So most of the songs are Pete’s guitar riff and then, the classic, he’s a guitar player, I’m the singer, I’ll sing over your guitars. So that was fun, and it was just about right. We kind of had that many songs, I came up with different sets of lyric ideas and thoughts and feelings and whatever. We also all take them home to our own little studios a lot and add those midnight, three in the morning tweaky things that you might not come up with when you’ve got an engineer there and you’re at the studio.”

Daily: Whenever you guys play in Minnesota, do you guys have a conversation while making the setlist where you’re like “We have to play ‘Minnesoter?’”

Taylor-Taylor: “Yes. Generally during the day in Minneapolis or even on stage. That and ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,’ these are things we should be playing there, why not every time?”

Daily: Do you have any thoughts on what musical direction The Dandy Warhols will go in next?

Taylor-Taylor: “We want to do a big, pillowy, soft, dub-y thing, and with a lot of trippy swirly things out in front. That’s kind of what I want to do is get back into what sounds are and have a vision of that and you just interpret the songs through those kinds of sounds. It’ll be a lot of turning the high end all the way off and then bringing one tiny bit of the micro frequency of the sound back, so it’s all pillowy big or small puffy things that are different colors and shapes. Less traditional, this record is blatantly traditional.”

The Dandy Warhols play at Varsity Theater on June 28.

This interview has been edited for clarity, grammar and length.

Billie Eilish is now three for three — the pop trailblazer’s third album “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” is immersive, meditative and has no songs worth skipping.

Eilish continues to prove that she is one of the most exciting artists in modern pop on her third LP as she takes her sound in a new direction.

Her new album, once again produced by her older brother Finneas, sounds jarringly different from her last two albums. For some, this change might take some time to get used to, but if you let the album’s rich atmosphere grow on you, it will prove to be an incredibly rewarding experience.

The album’s tone is embodied by its opening track “SKINNY,” where Eilish sings beautifully over a gentle instrumental. The track packs an emotional punch toward the end with its orchestral string section from the Attacca Quartet.

On this album, Eilish incorporates orchestral arrangements into several songs, one of the many examples of creative growth she presents on the record. Eilish’s vocals paired with cello, violin and viola feel like a match made in heaven.

The lead single for Eilish’s new album, “LUNCH,” is the apex of energy on the LP and is already a strong contender for song of the summer. Eilish’s lyrics express her sexuality, as she details an intense crush on a woman in this lustful banger.

“LUNCH” is arguably out of place on the album because of its high energy, but it will surely satiate Eilish fans who prefer danceable songs to mellow ballads. Regardless, it is one of the album’s best songs.

The album’s hot streak continues with track 3, titled “CHIHIRO,” where Eilish shows off her vocal range by singing expertly in falsetto over the chorus. The song is a prime example of Eilish and Finneas’ incredible use of dynamics in their songwriting, as the otherwise chill track hits an emotional peak when loud, pulsating synths come in halfway through.

Eilish and Finneas showcase their ability to make a catchy song while still fitting perfectly with the album’s sonic direction on “BIRDS OF A FEATHER.” The song’s chorus is light and understated but still very catchy as Eilish sings, “Birds of a feather, we should stick together, I know / I said I’d never think I wasn’t better alone / Can’t change the weather, might not be forever / But if it’s forever, it’s even better.”

Along with “LUNCH,” expect “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” to have repetitive power on the charts this summer.

One of the most striking moments on the album is the beginning of “L’AMOUR DE MA VIE,” where Eilish starts by singing in a lower register than what her audience is used to — another example of her vocal performances getting even stronger over the years. Halfway through the song, there is an amazing beat switch accented by bright ‘80s-style synths as Eilish sings in autotune, a tool she has used conservatively but methodically in her work.

Out of all 10 songs on the album, “THE DINER” leans into Eilish’s edgy image the most, recalling some of the sinisterness of her debut album “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?”

On this track, she sings from the perspective of one of her stalkers: “I memorized your number, now I call you when I please / I tried to end it all, but now I’m back up on my feet / I saw you in the car with someone else and couldn’t sleep / If something happens to him, you can bet that it was me.”

One of the strengths of the album’s latter half is the stunning beat switches on several tracks. Second to last in the track list, “BITTERSUITE” stands out as it has two different beat switches, both of which are remarkable.

While some have suggested that Eilish and Finneas over-relied on beat switches on this album, there is no denying that they make several songs more powerful by taking them to the next level.

Like she did on her debut album, Eilish wraps up everything with a bow on the closing track “BLUE,” as she sings lyrical callbacks to the other nine songs on the album. On top of it being a fantastic closer, Eilish gives one of her most moving vocal performances on the album.

“HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” is another stunning album from Eilish. She tops the vocal performances on her last two albums and expertly displays her personal and creative growth throughout the 10-song tracklist. With three amazing albums under her belt, it is clearer than ever that Eilish has cemented her place among the greatest artists in modern music.

There is an abundance of Chinese food on the University of Minnesota campus, more than any other cuisine. With so many options, I decided to order beef and broccoli at five of these restaurants and rank them based on taste and price. I am looking for dishes that are flavorful and reasonably priced for a college student.

Here’s a rundown of five Chinese restaurants that aren’t Panda Express.

5. Legendary Spice: Legendary Spice sits in the same building as Wahu Apartments in Stadium Village. With a full bar and an overall fancier vibe, it is one of the more sophisticated Chinese spots on campus. The resources that went into the presentation of the restaurant sadly did not trickle down to the beef and broccoli that I had this Tuesday, as it definitely could have been better at its near $20 price point. The thinly sliced beef needed more seasoning. It is not flavorless, but their recipe could use some tweaking as there is an underlying unusual flavor. Not a terrible dish, but definitely not memorable. 

Score: D+

4. Tea House: Tea House is on the fancier end of things when it comes to restaurant atmosphere — it is probably the nicest space you can sit down and eat on campus. The price of their beef and broccoli, however, is not so nice — I paid $25 for mine. This dish is hearty and chewy. It is an enjoyable order, but it does not have anything super special to make it worth the extra money. For most college students it would make most sense to go with some friends to Tea House and share some dishes to split up the cost.

Score: C+

3. Hong Kong Noodle: More on the casual side is Hong Kong Noodle, nestled between Raising Cane’s and ValU Liquors in Stadium Village. This beef and broccoli is very typical in terms of taste. However, the dish was drenched in sauce, allowing for the pieces of broccoli to soak it up to make for an explosion of flavor when you take a bite. The quality of the beef is average, but it is nicely seasoned and, of course, covered in sauce which helps the overall taste. A good dish, but it would be better if it weren’t $20.

Score: B-

2. Lao Sze Chuan: On the bustling corner of Washington Avenue and Oak Street is Lao Sze Chuan, a restaurant that should be talked about more. Out of these five beef and broccoli dishes, this stands out the most because of its notable sesame flavor in its sauce. The broccoli and the sauce complement one another really well and the broccoli is tasty, juicy and slightly sweet. This is a very good dish — the beef and broccoli combination has a nice balance between sweet and salty. The only drawback is it’s in the $20 range that several of these dishes are.

Score: B+

1. Shuang Cheng: Serving Dinkytown since 1990 is Shuang Cheng, the homey restaurant right next to the Varsity Theater. Shuang Cheng has a reputation for a reason: it’s the best Chinese restaurant on campus, and their beef and broccoli is exceptional. For just over $10, the dish is very reasonably priced considering the quality of the food, especially when contrasted with the near $30 beef and broccoli from Tea House. Served with plenty of sauce, this meal is flavorful and big enough to share. This is the best bang for your buck.

Score: A

Taylor Swift’s new double album “The Tortured Poets Department” shows Swift singing eloquent, illustrative lyrics all about a break-up over compelling instrumentals, yet the album is slightly long-winded with a tracklist of 31 songs.

Swift gave her fans two album re-recordings last year. Now, with a new double album released Thursday night, Swift is truly keeping her fans fed — especially those who are into breakup ballads.

Swift’s newest album seems to be a victory lap after breaking Ticketmaster, selling out stadiums around the world, sweeping at this year’s Grammys and going on the mega-successful “Eras Tour.” 

“The Tortured Poets Department,” stylistically, steers toward Swift’s more stripped-down style. Swift collaborates with Aaron Dessner of The National, who worked on many tracks from “Folklore” and “Evermore.”

Some of Swift’s writing choices will certainly come across as head-scratchers to some, like the curiously titled “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)” and “But Daddy I Love Him.”

On the title track, “The Tortured Poets Department,” Swift sings, “You smokеd, then ate seven bars of chocolate / We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist / I scratch your head, you fall asleep / Like a tattooed golden retriever.”

Some will find these lyrical details to be a bit too much, but Swift succeeds by being as descriptive as ever. Lyrics aside, the title track is musically remarkable with its atmospheric, sugary-sweet production.

The biggest problem — using the word problem loosely — with this album is the long tracklist. Both halves of this double album have impressive tracks, however it feels like there are some lulls in quality between the high points.

The first several songs on the album are some of its best.

The album opener “Fortnight (feat. Post Malone)” has an ‘80s-style rhythmic synth, foreshadowing a bit of ‘80s nostalgia in the production of this record. The track is emotional and, by its end, it swells and becomes very sentimental.

Any Swiftie knows that the fifth song on any Swift album packs the biggest emotional punch, and track five on this album does not disappoint. 

“So Long, London” opens on a reverb-y call-and-response choir vocal before transitioning into a bubbly, eccentric synth pattern as it fleshes out into an atmospheric ballad. The track is speculated to be about Swift’s ex, English actor Joe Alwyn.

The strongest track on the entire project comes 11th, “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can).” This song has a sinister grungyness that no other in Swift’s catalog has. It is an outstanding example of Swift staying creative and experimental.

While much of the album is quiet and stripped-down, one of the more high-energy pop-adjacent tracks on here is “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.” This song is dancy and fun with a chorus dominated by a moving synth bass.

The album’s second half has its strong tracks as well.

“imgonnagetyouback” is well-produced and features a beautiful vocal performance from Swift. “Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus” is one of the quietest and softest songs on the album but is still notable.

“So High School” is up there with “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)” when it comes to the best songs on the album. “So High School” is more indie rock with a hint of shoegaze in its guitar playing, differentiating itself on the double album. Make sure to listen to this one if you have ever wanted to hear Swift sing the words “Grand Theft Auto” on a song.

“The Bolter,” 29th in the track list, is stripped-down but super catchy, for example. The warm presence of acoustic guitars on this track calls back to “Folklore” and “Evermore.”

Things are business as usual with Taylor Swift, she has released another good album. While it may not be the strongest in her discography, fans will love dissecting the lyrics and instrumentals of this over-two-hour-long album.

Black Fashion Week MN returns to showcase the work of Black Minneapolis designers from May 3 to May 11.

The event started in 2017, striving to platform talented creatives in the Twin Cities fashion industry, according to their Instagram page.

“The purpose of it was to have a platform for people of color to express their creative side,” said Black Fashion Week founder Natalie Morrow.

Morrow said the organization has grown a lot since 2017.

“We started off with 150 people, and we’re up to over 10,000 people who follow us. And we’ve done some big things,” Morrow said. “We were the only organization to ever do a fashion show at Paisley Park, so we’ve done that, and I created a Met Gala for Minnesota.”

Black Fashion Week’s Minnesota Met Gala boasts an encouraging tagline for designers and models: “Be iconic.”

“It was designed behind the New York Met Gala, but from Minnesota, so it’s a little bit different,” Morrow said. “It is a space for those that are very talented, and they’ve done everything they can to get to that mark of the best status.”

Natoya Doulatt, a Minneapolis fashion designer from Jamaica, has been designing women’s clothing for over 20 years. Doulatt is one of the designers whose work will be showcased in Black Fashion Week’s Minnesota Met Gala on May 11 at the American Swedish Institute.

“Based on the events that we’re having, being that this is the Met, I want to do something that is more avant-garde,” Doulatt said. “The idea of making something that will definitely leave a mark or leave something that you will remember.”

Morrow described what compelled her to Doulatt’s work and inspired her to include Doulatt in the fashion show.

“She’s really into dresses that are like evening dresses but super dynamic,” Morrow said. “She started off as a volunteer and then told me that she’s a designer. Then I looked at her stuff – I was just floored. She’s really, really good.”

Happening a couple of days before the Minnesota Met Gala is the Brown Girl Magic Fashion Show hosted at the Neu Neu in Minneapolis on May 9.

Dominique Johnson, a freshman admissions counselor for the College of Design who started modeling six months ago, will be walking in the Brown Girl Magic Fashion Show on May 9.

Johnson said that Black Fashion Week is a good way for entry-level models to get their feet wet in the industry.

“I think it’s really uplifting,” Johnson said. “I see a lot of different designers and different shows like working together, designers working together and event organizers, and they always just pull off something so amazing.”

Johnson added that Black Fashion Week is a positive platform for highlighting Black designers in Minneapolis

“It’s a really amazing opportunity for Black culture to be celebrated,” Johnson said. “It’s really innovative. I’m happy that we have a vibrant design community within Minneapolis.”

Hot off the release of a new album, and a positive review from Pitchfork to boot, the growing hype around Minneapolis band Vial is seemingly unending.

The indie-punk trio, composed of Katie Fischer (drums), Taylor Kraemer (bass) and KT Branscom (guitar), have been making music together since 2019 and have since gained a national following.

Their sophomore album “burnout,” released on March 29, is a short but sweet punk record with a runtime of 19 minutes spread over 10 tracks. After kicking off the tour with an album release show at the Whole Music Club April 6, Vial is touring the U.S. in support of their latest album.

“It was amazing,” Branscom said of the tour’s opening night at the Whole Music Club. “It was sold out. People were moshing so much and dancing and singing the brand new lyrics, which just felt really good.”

Given the album’s short length with many songs being shorter than two minutes, Vial plans to perform the entire tracklist each night of the tour.

“We’re planning on playing every song from the record during our sets,” Fischer said. “Because the record is like 20 minutes long, we’re playing the entire record and also a bunch of old stuff too.”

Even after five years of work as a band, they are still learning and growing on tour, both personally and professionally.

“Tour specifically is such a pressure cooker,” Fischer said. “When you’re together 24/7 and you’re working all the time and you’re tired and you’re hungry and you’re stressed, communication is so, so important. And that is something we had to work on a lot, but I think we’ve gotten a lot better, and we definitely have room to grow, but it gets better every time.”

Ahead of the release of their 2021 debut LP “LOUDMOUTH”, Vial gained notoriety on TikTok before music venues re-opened after COVID-19. As of right now, the band has amassed over 132,000 followers on the platform.

Branscom said the band’s TikTok account blew up after having several viral videos. 

“It got to be a little bit too much after a while, of like, every single time we’d see each other, instead of prioritizing the music and prioritizing rehearsal, we would be prioritizing making content for TikTok and that just wasn’t healthy musically and creatively for us as a band and it wasn’t healthy for us and our mental health,” Branscom said. “That attention can get to be a f—ing lot.”

Kraemer said this experience influenced the lyrics on their latest album.

“I think that’s what a lot of ‘burnout’ is about,” Kraemer said. “That burnout of the initial record’s hype. The hype for this record has been a lot more kosher.”

In the past three years, the members of Vial have dealt with personal and professional challenges, which have served as inspiration for their new music.

“Creatively, we were going through a lot within the band and in our personal lives as well, a lot was changing. We were getting older. And specifically in the band, like we started touring, we had a lineup change. And all of that led to a lot of stress, and a lot of burnout. So that’s kind of where a lot of the songs’ inspiration comes from,” Branscom said.

Some songs on “burnout” had been in the band’s backlog for years. “falling short,” for example, was written before the release of the band’s debut album.

“It’s kind of interesting to see, like the state of mind, I guess, that some of the songs were written in over the course of three years of like, emotions changing quite a bit,” Fischer said.

Amidst the new album release and the ongoing tour, Vial has already made demos for their next album.

“Hopefully by the end of 2025 we’ll have some new stuff out,” Branscom said. “We have plenty of stuff on our end of things. What takes the time is like, recording it and mixing it and mastering it. And doing all the art and all the planning and pressing the vinyl.”

With their latest album, the members of Vial say they have reached a point where they have a lot of creative freedom, as they balance the lighter and aggressive sides of their music.

“On ‘burnout’ we have ‘two-faced,’ which is like super punk and heavy and angry, but then we also have ‘broth song’ and ‘bottle blonde,’ which are more indie, light and fun,” Branscom said. “We feel even freer to write literally whatever we want.”

“Challengers,” the latest film from acclaimed director Luca Guadagnino, the filmmaker behind “Call Me By Your Name,” releases on April 26 and is one of the strongest films of the year so far.

The film tells the story of an elaborate love triangle between tennis players. As the film opens, the on-screen marriage between tennis players Art Donaldson and Tashi Duncan, played by Mike Faist and Zendaya respectively, is highlighted. 

Duncan, a former professional tennis player-turned-coach, coaches her husband, a professional tennis player, amid consecutive losses in major tennis matches. To boost Donaldson’s confidence, they decide he should enter a lower-level competition, so he can win easily. The catch, however, is that Donaldson’s ex-best friend Patrick Zweig, played by Josh O’Connor, will be competing against him after the pair have purposefully not spoken to one another in years.

The film is artsy, dramatic and slightly humorous throughout its 131-minute-long runtime — all major elements of “Challengers” benefit from Guadagnino’s singular direction. The film’s cinematography is especially inventive: tennis matches are shown on screen, at one point showing a match from the perspective of a tennis ball being pummeled back and forth across the court.

The main cast, consisting of Zendaya, Faist and O’Connor, is excellent throughout the movie as they illustrate an extremely unhealthy relationship dynamic between the three characters over the course of several years. 

Zendaya evokes the presence of a legendary retired athlete well as she gives concentrated stares from the front row of the bleachers as her husband competes against his lower-ranked rival. Faist and O’Connor have excellent on-screen chemistry as the film looks back on their bromance and the same chemistry that still lingers when the two are feuding on the tennis court again years later.

The majority of the story is told through flashback sequences showing the audience how Donaldson and Zweig had a bad falling out after being best friends for many years and how Zendaya’s character played a role in that. This method of storytelling was incredibly effective, as the plot elements are slowly revealed as the viewer will start to make sense of this messy and dramatic love triangle.

The only real flaw of “Challengers” is that it is slightly too long. At a certain point the flashback sequences feel like they have been going on for too long, and the audience will wonder what it all is leading up to — when is Guadagnino going to cut to the chase? Had the film been shortened by just 15 minutes, its pacing could have benefited greatly.

One of the most outstanding parts of the film, unsurprisingly, is the techno-influenced score by two-time Academy Award winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails. 

Whenever Reznor and Ross tackle a film score, it ends up being one of the very best of the year, and their immaculate track record continues with “Challengers.” With a score that steers in an electronic, dance-heavy direction, it shows the genius duo branching out of their expected sound palette for film scoring. The score is so great that Reznor and Ross are, at the very least, deserving of an Academy Award nomination for their work on this film.

This is yet another incredible film from Luca Guadagnino. “Challengers” has set a high bar for film quality this early into the new year. Unless a slew of mind-blowingly good movies are released this fall, expect “Challengers” to appear on lots of ‘Best of 2024’ lists at the end of the year.

The “Ghostbusters” series released its fifth installment, “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” on March 22, starring Paul Rudd with supporting appearances from some of the original film’s cast. 

Unfortunately, the series has become a shell of its former self in the nearly 40 years since the original, losing much of its wit and charm.

Directly following 2021’s “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” also starring Paul Rudd, “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” is about Gary Grooberson, played by Rudd, and the Spangler family, played by Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace, working alongside members of the 1984 Ghostbusters crew as they fight against an ice-powered ghost that came from a haunted antique orb.

If the plot sounds unambitious and boring, that’s because it is. “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” does little to progress the franchise in a meaningful way as it over-relies on nostalgia and lame attempts at comedy.

Within around 10 minutes of the movie,  Dan Aykroyd reprises the character Dr. Ray Stantz. The filmmakers had to think of a way to make his character modern, so they took the easy way out and decided he has a YouTube channel now.

Following Aykroyd’s return, we also see Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson reprising their classic roles. Re-introducing these old characters felt too rushed, as the audience barely had time to re-familiarize themselves with the new characters before the filmmakers decided to shoe-horn in the old characters for the sake of nostalgia.

In the spirit of using fan service as a gimmick, yet another callback to the original film is when the new crew visits the New York Public Library, which was notably featured in the first film. Here, they consult Patton Oswalt about the orb containing the ice-themed evil spirit. 

Again, this feels like a cop-out by the filmmakers, shoving in as many references to the original as possible instead of trying to make something interesting out of a continuation of the franchise.

The most compelling part of the film that centers around the new characters is the friendship between Phoebe, the youngest member of the new Ghostbusters crew, and Melody, a ghost who died in a fire in a previous life played by Emily Alyn Lind. While these two characters on their own aren’t that interesting, together they had on-screen chemistry that proved to be one of the rare examples of the new characters being entertaining.

One strength of the movie is the special effects. The new ghosts look pretty cool, especially the film’s main villain.

While there are a few references to the ghosts from the original movie, the filmmakers actually do a pretty good job of focusing on the new main villain rather than shoving more old villains down our throats.

For the most part, “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” is lackluster and forgettable. While there are a couple of funny jokes, much of the humor falls flat and is sure to sound dated years from now, which can’t be said about the original film. 

Unless you are a “Ghostbusters” completionist, there is no reason to check out this new movie.