Be Young & Wild This Valentine’s Day with John Butler Trio 

John Butler Trio1

Who: The first time I saw John Butler perform, he changed the way I experience live music. Butler put on a free concert outside the CUB at Washington State University. It was a cold evening, and not nearly enough people climbed the hill to see the Australian powerhouse, but those who did were rewarded with an intimate, emotional performance. John Butler is one of few people who can captivate an audience with a five minute acoustic prelude without a single person feeling like they need lyrics. He caressed his guitar with the longest finger nails I’d ever seen, and delighted the crowd

LegoMovie Dripping with commercial appeal and name brand recognition, The Lego Movie could have easily joined the ranks of previous toy-turned-tale blockbusters. With the likes of Transformers and Battleship, studios have established a shady history of leaning on bankable properties to churn out flimsy showcases that add up to little more than an audio assault and visual fireworks, a cheap attempt to

LaborDay

Jason Reitman’s Labor Day is a hokey, sentimental, botched abortion of a film, asking “Would you like some cheese with that ham?” Dreadfully sappy and spilling over with predictable narrative turns that’ll have you groaning in your seat, this gushing melodrama employs the trifecta of director Jason Reitman, Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin with all the elegance of buckshot into a watermelon.