Rather than slogging through a lake of reviews to find something you’re just going to put down after 30 minutes, Cult of Mac has compiled this list of the best new movies, albums and books to come out this week.
Enjoy!
Best New Albums
Cults – Static
A lot has changed with Cults since the New York-based boyfriend-girlfriend duo released their highly-acclaimed debut album in 2011. For one thing, they decided to break-up after dating for four years and as a result their new album centers around their sadly dissolved relationship.
Produced with Shane Stoneback and Ben Allen the subject matter of Static is a bummer, but Cults has been able to effectively recreate the alluring low-fi retro sounds that made the their first record so enjoyable. Bottomline: it’s a solid breakup album that sounds surprisingly happy.
Pusha T – My Name Is My Name
Pusha’s album really came out a week ago so this isn’t a new new album, but My Name Is My Name is one of the best albums I’ve heard in months.
Pusha T may not be a household name, but you’ve probably heard him rapping on tracks for Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, 2Chainz and more. This is Pusha T’s debut solo album after splitting from No Malice as the rapping duo Clipse. Push’s unique storytelling weaves with some of the best modern production and features tons of guest appearances from the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Big Sean, Chris Brown, Rick Ross and Kelly Rowland.
If you’re looking for a great new rap album that’s not by a dude named Drake, try My Name Is My Name.
Pearl Jam – Lightning Bolt
Pearl Jam is here to let you know that they’re still kicking out the jams like it’s 1992. Lightning Bolt is the 10th studio album from the Seattle rockers and its pretty much everything you’ve come to expect form the band with heavy doses of reverb, ballards, distortion and thrashing.
Best New Books
The Circle
by Dave Eggers
“The Circle” is the latest from Dave Eggers, best-selling author of “A Hologram for the King,” a finalist for the National Book Award.
The plot involves Mae Holland, who is hired to work for the world’s most powerful internet company called the Circle. Run out of a sprawling California campus, the company links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company’s whirlwind of activity. There are parties til dawn, famous musicians playing on the lawn, athletic activities and clubs and brunches and even an aquarium of rare fish. What begins as the captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.
I Am Malala
by Malala Yousafzai Christina Lamb
“I Am Malala” is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls’ education, of a father who, himself a school owner, championed and encouraged his daughter to write and attend school, and of brave parents who have a fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons.
When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.
On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive.
Instead, Malala’s miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she has become a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest nominee ever for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Rosie Project
by Graeme Simsion
Don Tillman is a brilliant yet socially challenged genetics professor , who has decided it’s time to marry. And so, in the orderly, evidence-based manner with which Don approaches all things, he designs the Wife Project to find his perfect partner: a sixteen-page, scientifically valid survey to filter out the drinkers, the smokers, the late arrivers.
Rosie Jarman is all these things. She also is strangely beguiling, fiery, and intelligent. And while Don quickly disqualifies her as a candidate for the Wife Project, as a DNA expert Don is particularly suited to help Rosie on her own quest: identifying her biological father. When an unlikely relationship develops as they collaborate on the Father Project, Don is forced to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that, despite your best scientific efforts, you don’t find love, it finds you.
Arrestingly endearing and entirely unconventional, Graeme Simsion’s distinctive debut will resonate with anyone who has ever tenaciously gone after life or love in the face of great challenges. The Rosie Project is a rare find: a book that restores our optimism in the power of human connection.
Best New Movies
The Way Way Back
This comedy comes to you from the studio that brought you Little Miss Sunshine and Juno! While 14-year-old Duncan (Liam James) is being dragged on a family trip with his mom (Toni Collette) and her overbearing boyfriend (Steve Carell), he befriends the gregarious manager (Sam Rockwell) of a local water park. The two form a powerful bond, resulting in a vacation Duncan will never forget.
Monsters University
Disney•Pixar presents the hilarious story of two mismatched monsters who became lifelong friends. Ever since college-bound Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) was a little monster, he’s dreamed of becoming a Scarer—and he knows better than anyone that the best Scarers come from Monsters University (MU). But during his first semester at MU, Mike’s plans are derailed when he crosses paths with hotshot James P. Sullivan, “Sulley” (John Goodman), a natural-born Scarer. The pair’s out-of-control competitive spirit gets them both kicked out of the University’s elite Scare Program. With their dreams temporarily dashed, they realize they will have to work together, along with an odd bunch of misfit monsters, if they ever hope to make things right.
This Is The End
While attending a party at James Franco’s house, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel and many other celebrities are faced with the apocalypse. Hilarity ensues.
