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For years, the GRAMMYs have been quite a predictable and uninspired affair, playing it safe by repeatedly favoring the same industry darlings like Taylor Swift while falling short of its reputation as “Music’s Biggest Night.”
Before its wide release, The Brutalist was framed as the cinema event of the year by passionate enthusiasts who were entranced with the mere depth it offered. The three-and-a-half-hour historical epic — intermission included — was lauded with exceptional praise from its premiere. For fans of celluloid, it’s the first film since the 1960s shot almost entirely using VistaVision, which is a super high-definition, widescreen format. Directed by actor-turned-auteur Brady Corbet, the film was shot in only 34 days and, even more impressively, was made for less than 10 million dollars. The Brutalist is not only a feat of the form but a sign that independent projects fueled by a passion for the craft could be actualized.
This past Friday, I had the chance to attend Witness Theater’s premier of their 2025 I-show — a performed collection of student-written plays — which were then acted and directed by the talented students of Hopkins.
Hello and welcome to another week of media recommendations from the Arts and Entertainment section! As February begins, we hope you can find the time to enjoy some of these upcoming releases in the arts, from film and television to books, music to live events. As always, the full list is provided below, but here are my personal picks for new media to consume in the upcoming week.
Bob Dylan is an enigma. Despite being a towering force of American culture, he has always defied easy interpretation, too slippery to fit into categories or expectations. So, do we really need a Bob Dylan musical biopic? The genre is synonymous with clichés and unoriginality — notoriously squeezing complex lives into generic, done-to-death narratives.
After watching the first season of XO, Kitty on Netflix I can confirm — my high school career was decidedly boring. I did not, in fact, get a scholarship to study abroad in Korea. I did not chase an online boyfriend halfway around the world as a sweeping romantic gesture. And I did not discover that said boyfriend already had a girlfriend, yet still decide to room with him and his two friends.
The 2025 Oscar nominations are out, and, trust me, they did not disappoint. This year’s list of contenders is a cinematic fever dream of groundbreaking films, historic nominations and a little bit of controversy to keep things spicy. From Emilia Pérez making history, to Wicked bringing Broadway glam to the big screen and The Brutalist sparking debates about technology in film, it’s a lineup worth dissecting. So, let’s roll out the red carpet and break it all down.
Welcome back to the Art & Entertainment’s “To watch and watch for”: a weekly column where we inform you about upcoming film, TV, book and album releases, along with artistic performances happening in Baltimore! If you’ve been trying to widen your horizons in seeking new artistic releases, then you are in the right place.
On Jan. 1, American rapper and record producer Lupe Fiasco announced on Instagram that he will join the Peabody Institute’s faculty as a Distinguished Visiting Professor for the new Bachelor of Music in Hip Hop program. This new initiative from Peabody, starting in fall 2025, will include the first undergraduate performing hip hop degree ever to be offered in the United States. Fiasco indicated that he will be focusing specifically on teaching rap within the program.
Peabody Opera Theatre (POT) and Peabody Symphony Orchestra (PSO) presented four days of sublime opera from Thursday, Nov. 21 to Sunday, Nov. 24 in the Miriam A. Friedberg Concert Hall. The groups showcased L'enfant et les sortilèges and The Classical Style: An Opera (Of Sorts) which has music by Steven Stucky and libretto by Jeremy Denk. The casts alternate every other day, while musicians performed in every show. Differing from the usual concert set up in the hall, the musicians were all in the pit underneath the stage, leaving room for the performers to perform the opera on the stage above.
The Booker Prize — as defined by the foundation of the same name — is “the leading literary award in the English speaking world,” and it’s awarded to “the best sustained work of fiction written in English and published in the UK and Ireland.” On Nov. 12 of this year, the Booker Prize was announced. It was presented to a novel lauded in a unanimous decision by the panel: a novel with “capaciousness and resonance,” one boasting “beauty and ambition.”
With Thanksgiving not far behind in the rearview mirror, Heretic is a movie that may feel familiar to many viewers — even if you aren’t one of two young Mormon girls spreading the Word to an older atheist man who traps you in his house, subjecting you to Saw-like games. The reason for this is because Heretic is about more than religion itself, the movie focuses on the arguments in which religion is entrenched. The point of Heretic is not to question what religion is but to question how people interact with religion — specifically, the fine line between burning bridges and finding community.
The Johns Hopkins Taskforce on the Arts (the Taskforce on the Arts) is a group of 15 members, ranging from faculty to students with an interest in the arts. These representatives are serving to help the Taskforce on the Arts identify opportunities and improvements across the University’s various arts programs and schools. This group meets as a whole each month, with subgroups of the task force meeting more frequently to discuss specific areas such as programming, collections and facilities, and possible partnerships and collaborations across the University and in Baltimore.
SLAM’s 16th Annual Benefit & Showcase gathered folks from Hopkins and Baltimore in Shriver Hall on the evening of Nov. 16 for a night filled with high-energy performances and stylish choreography. The event featured 12 student-led groups, from Hopkins, neighboring universities or the DMV area, and showcased each one’s passion for urban dance and free expression.
Is a text supposed to die?
Rock, pop, metal, punk — and more — were on full display last week, courtesy of student bands from Hopkins and the Peabody Institute. Harnessing the power of live music to raise money, two fraternities threw a Battle of the Bands event and donated the proceeds to charity.
In a time when the leaders of 2010s SoundCloud trap find it hard to maintain consistency and relevance, SahBabii remains something of an outlier. While Lil Uzi Vert releases cash grab sequels and Trippie Redd sinks to KSI’s level, others have adapted for greater mainstream appeal. Post Malone — as expected — has fully embraced the highly lucrative white country audience, while Playboi Carti has cultivated an even more hyper-exclusive, fashion-forward persona.
The Peabody Concert Orchestra (PCO) displayed an exceptional performance on Saturday, Nov. 9 in the Miriam A. Friedberg Concert Hall. The excitement in the packed hall could be felt, especially as Dean of the Peabody Institute Fred Bronstein dedicated the opening of the annual PCO in memory of Steven Muller — former president of the Johns Hopkins University and the Johns Hopkins Hospital — who passed away in 2013. The program notes describes him as — “a visionary leader who reshaped and reinvigorated JHU during his long tenure as president.”
Bryson Tiller: a name synonymous with R&B, known for his hits such as “Don’t,” “Exchange” and “Whatever She Wants.” Tiller has nearly 22 million monthly listeners on Spotify, three Grammy Award nominations, multiple Billboard Music Award wins; and for only $15, any Hopkins student could see him up close during a campus concert on Nov. 9 hosted by Student Affairs.
Do you feel winter on its way yet? The Arts & Entertainment section is here with another list of media to make your next week a little more colorful. If you’re looking for visual entertainment, we’ve got you covered with our film picks in the “To watch” section. If you’re on the hunt for exciting new reads, look no further than the books we’ve included below. For listening material, please turn to our selection of album releases to listen to, and for live events stick around till the very end.