Stories by Kayla Upadhyaya
Big-pop climaxes with Usher's latest album
- RCA
BY KAYLA UPADHYAYA
Usher calls the genre of Looking 4 Myself “revolutionary pop” and considering the way the album culminates so many influences into a cohesive sound that highlights the multi-platinum, multi-Grammy-winning artist’s finest skills, he might just earn such an enterprising claim.
Breathtaking imagery, little else in 'Snow White and the Huntsman'
BY KAYLA UPADHYAYA
“Huntsman” is as obsessed with aesthetics as its villainess, but the careful attention given to indelible, beautiful imagery isn’t seen in other aspects of the film — especially the dialogue, which excepting a few pulsing utterances from Ravenna, is colorless.
'Cougar Town' season finale full of heartwarming yet hilarious conclusions
- ABC
BY KAYLA UPADHYAYA
While comedy lovers should be thrilled that this isn’t the end for “Cougar Town,” few can say that seeing Jules and Grayson literally ride a stallion into the sunset wouldn’t be a charming, fitting final image.
Changes for 'Community' leave series creator Harmon and fans reeling
- NBC
BY KAYLA UPADHYAYA
Creator-showrunner-producer-writer-wizard Dan Harmon has been replaced — not as an insane revolution staged by Ben Chang and the “Doppeldeaner” — but by an entity far more evil: Sony Pictures Television.
'Vampire Diaries' proves deeper than a quick bite
- CW
BY KAYLA UPADHYAYA
After over 30 significant deaths and approximately three shocking moments per episode, you would think that “The Vampire Diaries” would be starting to run out of ways to make its viewers say: “Did that really just happen?” But alas, the third season of the CW’s super-serialized vampire saga might just be the most twisty, risky season yet.
'Avengers' earns comic nerd's stamp of approval
BY KAYLA UPADHYAYA
“Iron Man” used to be my gold (and red) standard for a comic-book-based film. It’s equal parts heart and action, exactly what I look for in a superhero tale. “Avengers” is all that and more, with layered, crisp dialogue and characters that are super and human all at once.
Joss Whedon's 'Avengers' to pack new punch behind overworked concept
- Marvel
BY KAYLA UPADHYAYA
It’s fitting that a man with the super skills of Whedon has stepped up to write and direct Marvel’s “The Avengers,” the much-anticipated culmination of four years of box-office-exploding Marvel superhero movies.
'Five-Year Engagement' strays from rom-com form, fails to impart meaning
- Universal
BY KAYLA UPADHYAYA
Starting where most end and far exceeding the usual 90-minute time frame, “The Five-Year Engagement” makes it clear that it does not wish to be a standard rom-com. But even after all the ways it departs from form, it is still a boy-meets-girl movie that excites, but never touches too tellingly on the supposed life lessons it wishes to impart.
Kayla Upadhyaya: HBO's 'Girls' misses opportunity to showcase diversity in the Big Apple
BY KAYLA UPADHYAYA
If “Girls” is supposed to be the voice of a generation — or a defense and critique of a generation, as Nussbaum calls it — it’s certainly painting a very narrow picture of what that generation is: white, liberal, educated.
Best Pizza: Pizza House
- Erin Kirkland/Daily
BY KAYLA UPADHYAYA
A beacon of hope shines on East University — Pizza House is alive and bumping, and their famous deep-dish Chicago-style pizza is calling to you.
