The student-run community news site of Vermont State University - Johnson

Basement Medicine

The student-run community news site of Vermont State University - Johnson

Basement Medicine

The student-run community news site of Vermont State University - Johnson

Basement Medicine

A new kind of Disney princess

A new kind of Disney princess

Cayla Fronhofer February 2, 2017

Disney princess movies have followed a fairly standard formula for nearly 80 years, usually based on a fairy tale and including a prince in some capacity. November’s “Moana” broke that pattern with...

Sanctimonious Sanctum Sacking in Marvel’s “Doctor Strange”

Sanctimonious Sanctum Sacking in Marvel’s “Doctor Strange”

Cayla Fronhofer December 8, 2016

There might be something Strange in the neighborhood, but no one is calling the Ghostbusters this time. The newest Marvel superhero film brings us the origin story of Doctor Stephen Strange, a neurosurgeon...

Valhalla Rising: A new addition to reject fridge art

Avery Bliss December 8, 2016

When you sit down to watch a movie, you do so thinking that what you are about to watch has some semblance of plot or good character development. Not so with “Valhalla Rising,” a film from Danish...

“Raising Hope” raises your spirits

“Raising Hope” raises your spirits

Avery Bliss December 8, 2016

It’s not every day that you find a show that will make you laugh uncontrollably. I have been searching for such a show since I gained access to a Netflix account, and I believe I have finally found it.   “Raising...

A hoppin’ new tale from Disney

A hoppin’ new tale from Disney

Cayla Fronhofer April 14, 2016

It’s a dog eat dog world, but in Disney’s newest animated feature, that dog would be arrested by a rabbit for the crime. Directed by Rich Moore (“Wreck-It Ralph”) and Byron Howard (“Tangled,”...

Could be a sad day: Craig’s last waltz with 007?

Travis LeClair December 17, 2015

I speak to Daniel Craig lovers: it is a sad day. That’s not a spoiler, just a goodbye to the broody, moody Bond whose adventures have brought us through “Casino Royal,” “Quantum of Solace,” “Skyfall,”...

“Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2” offers more Panem and more Katniss

“Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2” offers more Panem and more Katniss

Travis LeClair December 17, 2015

So there I am, smack-dab in the middle of a theater full of fan-girls, high school groups, middle-aged loners, and families of Katniss worshippers. I wait for the fate of Panem to unravel, for Katniss...

“Baraka” is hypnotically watchable

“Baraka” is hypnotically watchable

Sam Hartley December 17, 2015

“Baraka” (1992) is an hour-and-a-half long visual experience that will leave you breathless or drooling from boredom, depending on whether or not you can stomach a film with no plot or characters. The...

“50 shades” not all it pretends to be

“50 shades” not all it pretends to be

Amanda Carman May 7, 2015

After reading the “Fifty Shades of Grey” series, I could not wait for the first movie to come out on Feb. 13, 2015 with a running time of 125 minutes (rated R for sexual content and language). Following...

Jon Favreau’s “Chef” a spectacular movable feast

Jon Favreau’s “Chef” a spectacular movable feast

Steve Gold April 23, 2015

Recently released on Netflix, the indie film “Chef” is delicious! “Chef” is a highly pleasurable movie about the relationship between father and son, husband and ex-wife, creative integrity,...

Insurgent: Hit and Miss

“Insurgent”: Hit and Miss

Gabriella Fecher April 23, 2015

After last year’s “Divergent” flopped its way onto the big screens, fans of Veronica Roth’s Young Adult (YA) dystopian book series weren’t quite sure what to expect when the franchise announced...

Cinderella and her Prince

“Cinderella” sparks controversy

John Berthiaume March 26, 2015

As a lifelong Disney fan, I waited anxiously for several months to see the premiere of Disney’s new live action remake of “Cinderella.” With a little magic, bits of humor and respect for cheesy romances;...

Eastwoods American Sniper hits the mark

Eastwood’s “American Sniper” hits the mark

Jeffrey Barr, Staff Writer/ Photo Editor February 10, 2015

“American Sniper,” the latest film from Director Clint Eastwood, has been nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screen Play and Best Actor.  There’s a reason for...

“Captain America” vs. Wes Anderson

“Captain America” vs. Wes Anderson

April 25, 2014

“The Grand Budapest Hotel” is “The Shining” as a humanistic comic fantasy. Both films are built on hotels. Both films center on their respective hotel’s distinctive caretakers. In director Stanley...

Look familiar?

Notes on “Muppets”

Thomas Benton March 27, 2014

There’s a new Muppets movie, “Muppets: Most Wanted.” If your heart still beats and occasionally sweats sugar, you’ll be most wanting to see it. The team behind the 2011 “Muppets” is mostly...

Eva Green: “Rise” indeed

“300” sequel: 1D film, 3D sex

Travis LeClair March 27, 2014

“300: Rise of an Empire” takes battle to the seas and continues the stylistic gore and glory that was introduced to audiences in the original 2006 release. The film follows the Greek General Themistocles,...

A warm moment in Frozen.

Thawing out “Frozen”

Ben Simone March 27, 2014

Tuesday night I made the decision to watch Disney’s newest animated film: “Frozen.” For weeks, I had been hearing people across campus singing, “DO YOU WANT TO BUILD A SNOWMAN? IT DOESN’T HAVE...

The world’s most recognizable face

It was the hard-knock life for Ali

Josh Lemay March 27, 2014

To many people in my generation, Muhammad Ali is just a boxer, and a damned good one. Most of his power as a legitimate icon has been lost in time. “The Trials of Muhammad Ali” is a film that dives...

An appeal on behalf of “Veronica Mars”

Thomas Benton March 15, 2014

What rose-scented antidote is this? What flash of Hera’s bosom? What bellow from Heaven, startling jumpers back away from their ledges? What feminine hand, throwing funds into the cups of the spiritually...

All that glitters is not gold. It might just be the barrel of a gun.

Goldfingered

Jim Union February 20, 2014

Editor’s note: Jim Union’s Christian name is Richard Schlong, and he was once a private eye; kidnapped by his former nemesis, Kaufman (now known as "K."), and subjected to plastic surgery, Richard...

The new edition of “Ender’s Game”

“Ender’s Game” still enjoyable almost 40 years later

Lisa Kent February 19, 2014

Orson Scott Card’s "Ender’s Game" first came out in 1977. I read it then, and enjoyed it so much that I went on to read the rest of Card’s work as it came out. I didn’t expect to read this particular...

The Act of Killing

The Act of Killing

Travis LeClair February 18, 2014

Imagine living in a reality where war criminals are celebrated as heroes for mass murder. Imagine that genocide goes unpunished and untried after 50 years. Now imagine befriending one of these executioners...

Jared Leto and Matthew McConaughey, hanging out in “Dallas Buyers Club”

“Dallas Buyers Club” gives AIDS outbreak a personal look

Travis LeClair February 6, 2014

This year Hollywood delivered an unadulterated and personal view into the AIDS outbreak that shook the United States in the 1980s. An almost unrecognizable Matthew McConaughey stars in the sad and brilliant...

A tense moment in “The State of Arizona”

“Independent Lens” opens at JSC

Mariah Howland November 14, 2013

  The “Independent Lens” documentary “The State of Arizona” is playing at JSC on Dec. 3. The film documents the ongoing debate over immigration in Arizona. It is the most recent...

It’s either this or jokes about a metrosexual with a big hammer.

“About Time” Marvel learns about passion

Tom Benton November 14, 2013

  Richard Curtis is awfully undervalued. He’s the English chap who wrote “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Notting Hill,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” and wrote and directed “Love...

Machete Kills

“Gravity” sinks, “Machete” kills

Tom Benton October 16, 2013

“Gravity” and “Machete Kills” reach for the light in opposite ways. “Gravity” sees it in the stars; “Machete Kills” sees it in the Mexican sunlight. Which movie you prefer boils down to...

They said The Familys only worth a rental, huh?

Time to see “The Family”

Tom Benton September 25, 2013

"The Family" satirizes the glamorization of mob life we’ve seen since Martin Scorsese blew it up to magnificent proportions with "Goodfellas." (See also "Casino," "Boardwalk Empire," "The Sopranos,"...

Reactions to Man of Steel have a sobering effect on Henry Cavill

“Man of Steel,” as messianic as its hero

Tom Benton September 11, 2013

I’ll write 20 f-----g pages about "Man of Steel" someday, right after I finish my essays on Stallone’s American mythologies and why the ending of "Lost" didn’t suck. Stallone’s accurately regarded...

“Pain & Gain” rewards pleasure and insight

Tom Benton May 3, 2013

A lot of folks are going to take any reason to dismiss “Pain & Gain.” “Michael Bay’s a joke,” “Oh, it’s Michael Bay’s ‘pet project,’ chuckle, sneer,” “It’s about bodybuilders,”...

“To the Wonder” almost settles for love

“To the Wonder” almost settles for love

Tom Benton May 3, 2013

“To the Wonder” is so close to being a goddamned masterpiece. Terrence Malick, the writer and director, is a big name in “film circles,” in dusty basements and over-clean libraries, but he’s...

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