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Summer video game preview

The heat is setting in, so step inside for some cooler entertainment. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of big-name game releases across a number of platforms this summer. Long-awaited titles such as Diablo III kick things off in May. Grab a controller, and prepare to retreat to your air-conditioned abode. We’ve got the latest on the most promising games of the season.

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Summer video game preview

Soak up the A/C with your PS3

(Web Exclusive) The heat is setting in, so step inside for some cooler entertainment. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of big-name game releases across a number of platforms this summer. Long-awaited titles such as Diablo III kick things off in May. Grab a controller, and prepare to retreat to your air-conditioned abode. We’ve got the latest on the most promising games of the season.

Summer movie preview

Your guide to a season at the movies

Wondering which movies will be coming out this summer? You can find all of them here in Vox's summer movie preview.

Movie Review: Damsels in Distress

This comedy puts a twist on the portrayal of college life

(Web Exclusive) A group of popular girls uses their powers for good in this comedy, which manages to reverse all of the stereotypical clique portrayals that audiences have grown accustomed to over the years.

Movie Review: The Avengers

Avengers fans assemble!

(Web Exclusive) The Avengers hit screens with a clang at the premier last night, and it lives up to the hype. Perfect character development, big-budget visual effects and a blend of epic drama and light-hearted humor makes this film something to watch out for. We're talking to you, Batman.

Fun facts about beer color

Don't judge a beer by its shade

Beer Color is tricky. Dark beers don’t have to be scary, light beers aren’t always an easy drink, and there are a number of factors that affect taste. Vox asked some color questions to beer expert Michael Lewis, the academic director of one of the only brewing programs in the country at the University of California- Davis. What did we discover? Purple beer does exist, and Guinness is lighter than many think.

Play This: Starhawk

The anticipated PS3 sequel hits stores on May 8

In an era of exploration, a new Gold Rush has swept the colony of Frontier. Miners harvest an energy called rift. But its power corrupts humans and transforms them into monsters that kill without mercy. Now, a battle is raging.

The DoDeca-Con comes to Columbia

Comic fans and spandex come to Columbia for its newest comic-con

Like Clark Kent in Superman, comic-con goers are taking off their glasses and becoming cool. Although the hordes of fans wielding lightsabers and masquerading as superheroes in spandex used to be considered nerdy, they are now joined by huge numbers of pop culture fans.

See This: Puss In Boots

Movies in the Park starts May 4 with the Shrek spinoff Puss In Boots

At Flat Branch Park, blankets will replace theater seats with popcorn kernels smashed in the cracks. Tomorrow, the park becomes an open-air theater for Puss in Boots, the first movie in this year’s Outdoor Movies in the Park series.

Movie Review: The Raven

Quoth the raven, nevermore, Mr. Cusack

(Web Exclusive) A Vox movie reviewer writes a letter to John Cusack asking him to please stop the Edgar Allen Poe charade.

Movie Review: The Pirates! Band of Misfits

An excellent claymation comedy strikes again

(Web Exclusive) Today’s pirates illegally download films and music, but 1837 Victorian England pirates do things a little bit differently. Based on a novel by Gideon Defoe, is this stop-motion animation film The Pirates! Band of Misfits. The same team that brought you Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit, Aardman Animation, is at it again with this claymation sensation, and it’s in 3-D!

Movie Review: Coriolanus

Shakespearean adaptation seeks and finds little affection

(Web Exclusive) Coriolanus is a difficult character to like. A Roman general who despises the common people and holds the upper class in similar regard, he cares little for tradition or custom. He exhibits no affection for his wife, criticizing her emotional response to his safe return from war. The only thing he does love is hating his enemy, and even to that solitary mistress he’s unfaithful.

Movie Review: The Yellow Sea

This slice-em-up thriller stars the mean streets of South Korea

(Web Exclusive) Director Hong-jin Na creates a bloody thriller that involves assassinations, car crashes, police chases and plenty of gun action.

Movie Review: Miss Bala

This film gives a look inside Mexican drug cartels

(Web Exclusive) Miss Bala provides a repetitive take on the drug issues in Mexico by telling the story of a pageant contestant who finds herself caught up in a gang.

Movie Review: The Five-Year Engagement

Jason Segel provides comic relief in this otherwise dry film

(Web Exclusive) A five-year engagement sounds amusing. Jason Segel and Emily Blunt fail to amuse in this one, unfortunately.

Drink This: Perennial Artisan Ale Beer

Perennial Artisan Ale, made by MU alumni in St. Louis, is now available in Columbia.

MU graduates, Emily and Phil Wymore opened their St. Louis brewery in September 2011. In March, they started selling two of their Belgian beers in town: Hommel Bier and Saison de Lis. Emily describes the Hommel Bier as “hoppier” and says the Saison is lighter to preserve chamomile accents. Hops, the flowers of a plant used in beer making, contribute to the flavor. Beers with more hops tend to be crisp and dry; beers with fewer hops have more malt and are sweeter. Billy Cabral coowner of 1839 Taphouse says both beers are selling well.

Restaurant reservations

Reserve a private room at your favorite Columbia restaurant

In our reservation guide, Vox gives you the juicy details on how to dine in private at these eight restaurants.

Nana's Pies have a literary twist

Cynthia Kramer crafts pies inspired by her favorite books

Cynthia Kramer stands surrounded by whole wheat, barley and maple sugar crust filled with rolled oats, maple syrup and walnuts, and she sees a story. She’s making her Shire Breakfast Pie, a Kramer creation fit for Hobbits.

Movie Review: Chimpanzee

Disneynature tells the story of a young chimpanzee and the male who adopts him

(Web Exclusive) In Disneynature’s sixth feature film, Chimpanzee, moviegoers are treated to an intimate look at the circle of life for a community of chimpanzees.

Movie Review: The Lucky One

Zac Efron encounters death and romance that's almost too good to be true ... typical Sparks

(Web Exclusive) Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling star in this Nicholas Sparks romance novel adaptation. Set in Louisiana, the two characters fall in love dramatically in a small Southern town.

Sake downtown to reopen in early May

This spring, Columbia's sprouting a revamped downtown bistro

Sake, formerly Sake Japanese Bistro, will reopen in early May in the newly gutted and redone 100-year-old building at its same address on tenth street downtown. After the previous owner had to close because of family commitments, the old bistro will open with a new design, kitchen and menu.