Review - The Brown Daily Herald

Review

‘The Life of a Showgirl’ has nothing to show

By Alyssia Ouhocine | October 5

Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated 12th studio album misses the mark in more ways than one.

A frame from "Eleanor the Great" showing its protagonist Eleanor Morgenstein (played by June Squibb).

Review

‘Eleanor the Great’ is good, but not great, at exploring grief

By Alice Xie | September 29

The film explores an unlikely friendship forged through loss and lies.

A frame from The Thursday Murder Club, showing three of the show's lead characters around a bulletin board of evidence.

Review

‘The Thursday Murder Club’ offers new perspective on aging

By Talia LeVine | September 29

Netflix’s “The Thursday Murder Club” is well worth the watch.

Press release photo for the Doja Cat album, "Vie"

Review

Doja Cat’s ‘Vie’ is a stranger to her previous style

By Manav Musunuru | September 28

The artist’s fifth studio album could be her most successful if she plays her cards right.

A still from the short film Pirinha depicting a woman in a yellow dress standing in a field.

Review

Natasha Craveiro’s ‘Pirinha’ is a love letter to familial care and Cape Verdean folklore

By Nora Rowe | September 25

The film was screened for the African Film and Art Festival this weekend.

The cast of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Providence Performing Arts Center.

Review

Providence Performing Arts Center’s ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ stuns with magic, stage effects

By Alice Xie | September 25

The production will be showing at PPAC from Sept. 19 to Oct. 4.

Album art for “The Dream,” which features a portrait of FINNEAS and Ashe, two of the band’s members, standing together and looking away in opposite directions.

Review

FINNEAS and Ashe collaborate on ‘The Dream,’ a beautiful modernization of retro aesthetics

By Talia LeVine | September 22

The Favors’s debut album is full of catchy melodies but often feels repetitive.

A black album cover and an identical pink one. Black part says "Swag" in all capital letters while the pink one says "Swag II" in all capital letters. The images are overlayed and divided diagonally in the middle.

Review

Justin Bieber’s ‘SWAG,’ ‘SWAG II’ are little more than glorified background music

By Ann Gray Golpira | September 17

Bieber’s 2025 albums, released in July and September, lack depth and originality.

The third season cover photo of the Amazon Prime Video Series, "The Summer I Turned Pretty." Featuring a curly haired man in a grey suit sat on a chair facing the front, a dark haired man in the background behind a table draped in white cloth wearing a light blue suit shirt looking to his left towards a blonde haired girl wearing a white dress with black polka dots looking to her right at him. A blonde haired man in dusty blue suit has his hand in his pocket looking at a dark haired girl who is looking at the front and is in the center of the set and wearing a white dress. They are all in a garden with a dining table topped with white and blue china.

Review

‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ finale is the ending everyone has been waiting for

By Talia LeVine | September 17

Viewers, rejoice. The ending everyone has been waiting for has finally arrived — and in great fashion.

Review

HAIM’s ‘I quit’ tells it like it is

By Nora Rowe | September 17

Rock band HAIM’s fourth studio album, “I quit,” is an overlooked but powerful contribution to the 2025 summer music scene.

Photo of a boy gently placing his hand on the nose of a black dragon with green eyes.

Review

Live-action ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ fails to even replicate the original

By Alice Xie | September 16

While the adaptation preserves nostalgia by staying close to the original, the changes that were made detract from Hiccup’s character arc.

The album cover, which depicts a green lime with rings of lime peels around it. It stands out against a black background.

Review

Big Thief brings raw sincerity, percussive soundscapes to ‘Double Infinity’

By Nora Rowe | September 10

The band’s sixth studio album expands on their genre-building tendencies with freshness and maturity.

A photo of a person playing a trombone while facing toward a stage on the Main Green at Brown University. There is a screen that displays "Spring Weekend" in a funky font several times.

Review

Live performances underwhelm at Spring Weekend 2025

By Alice Xie, Ann Gray Golpira and Gabriella Wrighten | May 5

Herald writers reviewed a day of performances by Zack Fox, Ravyn Lenae, JT and Offset.

The RUSHMERE album cover, with RUSHMERE printed across in bold red letters over a blurry black-and-white photo of the band as well as other men in various stages of distress.

Review

Mumford & Sons’s ‘RUSHMERE’ is an unimaginative replication of the past

By Alyssia Ouhocine | April 25

“RUSHMERE” is a mediocre folk release by Mumford & Sons with little nuance to celebrate.

A picture of Cate Blanchett looking at Michael Fassbender.

Review

‘Black Bag’ lacks the ‘thrill’ in thriller

By Rebecca Goodman | April 24

Steven Soderbergh’s newest film is entertaining, but lacks build in terms of both plot and suspense.

A group of four people are in a bar, dancing. On the left are two women, one wearing a gray cap and tiara, the other letting her black hair flow. On the right are two men, one with glasses and short, cropped hair, the other with hair that covers his eyes. The light filtering through the room is tinted in violet.

Review

‘The Wedding Banquet’ excels in portraying vulnerability, despite cliche delivery

By Alice Xie | April 21

The advance screening was shown as a part of the 24th annual Ivy Film Festival.

Photo from the film in which two people are looking at one another on a rolling hill landscape with a sunrise in the background

Review

‘No Other Land’ resists sensationalism to present devastating reality

By Ayana Ahuja | April 20

The documentary depicts the aftermath of the forced displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank.

A picture of a pink square with a black square inside of it.

Review

‘SABLE, fABLE’ is a masterful rebirth by Bon Iver

By Alyssia Ouhocine | April 14

Split into two parts, the album explores what it means to emerge from darkness intact.

A photo of Michael Cera and Michael Angarano in a car driving down the road.

Review

‘Sacramento’ depicts the whining of two struggling, selfish men

By Rebecca Goodman | April 14

The buddy-comedy road trip movie fails to adequately address themes of mental health.

Various characters from the cast under a blue sky with a Minecraft creeper in the corner.

Review

‘A Minecraft Movie’ has something for everyone

By Gabriella Wrighten | April 7

The film stays loyal to its namesake game, delivering vivid visuals alongside a family-friendly story.