Author Archives: Jake Ayres

How can hip-hop be dead if Wu-Tang is forever?

Coming-of-age comedies are a dime a dozen, and movie studios are well aware of this, with each new iteration trying to find the perfect blend of raw humor and pathos to suit the throes of adolescence. The maternity-pondering “Juno,” the latest to attempt that admirable feat, mostly succeeds in its efforts to make a resonant yet snarky comedy.

If you haven’t heard or seen the song and dance for “Crank That (Soulja Boy),” you must have been living under a rock. Actually, more like a boulder.

A jazz combo is a traditional unit of jazz performance featuring drums, guitar and … a Hammond B-3 organ? The Brent Canter Trio, comprising three fourth-year ethnomusicology students who met at UCLA freshman orientation, is one jazz band that subscribes to this unique definition. Brent Canter (guitar), Eli Sundelson (organ) and Mark Banner (drums) hope […]

Melnitz Movies is about to get louder, and it’s not because of THX. African drummers will be performing at Melnitz as part of a screening of “War/Dance,” the award-winning documentary about Uganda’s refugee population.

For students tired of long walks to Hollywood Video or long waits for queued movies on Netflix, there’s a new movie rental service in town.

Don’t make me say it. Every other review is going to mention it. But I won’t mention that other movie. You know, the one about the kid in Idaho who wears moon boots and has a llama? I will not mention it, even though “Eagle vs Shark,” the newest offering from New Zealand director Taika Cohen, shares much in common with that other, nameless film.