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
Ryan Hemsworth – Guilt Trips
Canadian DJ and producer Ryan Hemsworth has made a name for himself by producing a mountain of spacey instrumentals for rappers like Deniro Farrar, Shady Blaze, and Berkley’s 100s while also creating some hot remixes from artists such as Kanye West, Frank Ocean and Cat Power, but Guilt Trips marks Hemsworth first solo record, and what a joy it is.
Hemsworth’s sound teeters along the edge of hip-hop and dance music without fully crossing over into either for a truly unique and grounded sound that’s sprinkled with enough R&B to keep it away from being “too experimental” for casual listeners without drowning in pop.
After releasing his Still Awake EP in May, Hemsworth’s Guilt Trip focuses on adding clarity to his sound by reining in his wandering instrumentals and giving vocals a stronger emphasis. You won’t find any superstar guest appearances on the album, but featured verses from spitters like Haleek Maul and Kitty prove that Hemsworth can produce hit pop tracks like the best of them.
iTunes – $9.99
Poliça – Shulamith
If Shulamith proves anything, it’s that the Minneapolis group’s sudden success is no fluke. Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon once famously said that POLIÇA was the best band he ever heard, and he sings along to the mysterious lyrics of “Tiff.”
The ambling percussion of “I Need $” shares the brio and aesthetic of hip-hop as Channy Leaneagh glides and freestyles over the song’s icy plains. Her haunting processed vocals meld with the echoing effect of two drum kits, a super-funky bass guitar, and the trip-hoppy exhalations of an alien synthesizer. I wall makes a potent statement: to be a modern creature is to reside in the surreal space between the digital and the organic.
iTunes – $9.99
Katy Perry – PRISM
A lot’s changed since Katy Perry catapulted into superstardom with her breakaway hit “I Kissed A Girl” in 2008. Marriage, divorce and an ocean of fame have led to some of Katy’s bluntest lyrics to-date on her third album.
PRISM is chock full of the bouncy pop tunes Perry’s become famous for while also covering some rocky ground in the singer’s personal life. As the lead songwriter of the album’s opening track, “Roar,” Perry kicks off her third studio endeavor with stadium-sized guitars, a stomping beat and an epic sing-along hook. Perry’s assertive return is underscored by other early tastes from the album, including “Dark Horse,” which features a menacing bass line, crackling beat, and a sharply styled guest verse from Juicy J of Three 6 Mafia fame. PRISM’s parade of singles continues with the banging house-influenced groove and whistling hook of Perry’s euphoric, party-all-night anthem “Walking on Air” while tracks like “By the Grace of God” divulge into the heartbreak of Perry’s failed marriage to Russell Brand.
iTunes – $11.99
Best New Books
The Goldfinch
by Donna Tartt
“The Goldfinch” starts off with a bang – literally – as a 13-year-old New Yorker named Theo and his mother are rocked by an explosion at a New York museum. Theo survives the blast, but his mother doesn’t, leading to 800-pages detailing the aftermath of his experience over the course of a decade and a half.
Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don’t know how to talk to him and tormented by an unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small 17th-century painting that he jacked from the museum during the chaos of the explosion.
The book moves us through the life of Theo as an adult, as he drifts between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of antiques in his shop. He is alienated and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle as the novel unfolds with a healthy serving of suspense.
iTunes – $10.99
Allegiant
by Veronica Roth
Teens who have been sucked into Veronica Roth’s Divergent series will be ready to lock themselves away to finish Roth’s final book in the Divergent trilogy – “Allegiant.”
The story picks up with Tris Prior who’s witnessed the downfall of the faction-based society she’s believed in her whole life. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she’s known, Tris is ready. Perhaps she and Tobias will find a simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties, and painful memories.
But Tris’s new reality is worse than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend the complexities of human nature—and of herself—while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice, and love.
If you liked “The Hunger Games” and “Twilight” and are looking for a new teen series to dive into, try this. But get started now if you want to finish before the Hollywood adaptation hits theaters in March 2014.
iTunes – $6.99
Provence, 1970
by Luke Barr
“Provence, 1970” is about a singular historic moment. In the winter of that year, more or less coincidentally, the iconic culinary figures James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, Richard Olney, Simone Beck and Judith Jones found themselves together in the South of France. They cooked and ate, talked and argued, about the future of food in America, the meaning of taste and the limits of snobbery. Without quite realizing it, they were shaping today’s tastes and culture, the way we eat now.
The conversations among this group were chronicled by M.F.K. Fisher in journals and letters—some of which were later discovered by Luke Barr, her great-nephew. In “Provence, 1970” he captures this seminal season, set against a stunning backdrop in cinematic scope—complete with gossip, drama, and contemporary relevance.
Best New Movies
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Extended Cut)
Just in time to prepare fans for the wide-release of the “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” Apple has released an exclusive extended cut of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” this week that contains tons of new Extras that almost double the length of the original film.
Set in Middle Earth 60 years before the epic Lord of the Rings trilogy, the movie follows the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, who is conned swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom from the fearsome dragon Smaug.
Hardcore LotR fans might take offense that the plot of the movie doesn’t exactly follow the details of the book, but casual fans will be enthralled with Bilbo’s journey after he’s approached by the wizard Gandalf to join a company of dwarves set on retaking their homeland. What follows is steady medley of action and suspense as Bilbo and the dwarves find themselves caught in a series of goblin tunnels on their march East. Oh yeah, and Gollum and his Precious make a brief appearance too, so you finally find out where Bilbo got the all-powerful One Ring in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
iTunes – $19.99
The Conjuring
Halloween is fastly approaching, which means its time to gather your friends and load up the scary movies at night to scare the living shit out of each other. Classic horror movies are always a great choice, but if you’re looking for something freaky and new, try “The Conjuring.”
The film details the horrifying “true story” of world renowned paranormal investigators Ed and Lorrain Warren who are called out to help a family terrorized by a dark presence on their secluded farm. After waking up with a mysterious bruise and finding their dog, Sadie, dead, mom Carolyn calls the paranormal investigators for help. As you can imagine, all hell breaks lose once Ed and Lorrain arrive at the house, making for a truly terrifying movie experience.
iTunes – $14.99
Turbo
Over the last decade Hollywood has given us animated movies about rats, Kung-Fu pandas, dragons, ants, and clown-fish, so why not give a nitrous oxide-charged snail a shot at the big screen?
Voiced by Ryan Reynolds, “Turbo” is a tale about a misfit snail with a need for speed as he strives to earn a slot in the Indy 500. While Turbo craves speed all of his fellow snails — including his brother Chet (voiced by Paul Giamatti) — seem to savor the slow life. At one point, Turbo gets sucked into the intake valve of a speeding muscle car. After getting spit through the volatile nitrous oxide that fuels the car, Turbo is imbued with new masterful speed powers that allow him to travel at speeds up to 200 miles per hour.
Armed with his speedy new powers, Turbo’s journey is far from over as he realizes his dreams are finally within reach, but runs into a number of obstacles on his way to the Indy 500. Other actors appearing in family-friendly movie include Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Peña, Bill Hader, Luis Guzman and even Snoop Dogg
iTunes – $14.99
