Contributor: Adam R. Holz

After serving as an associate editor at NavPress’ Discipleship Journal and consulting editor for Current Thoughts and Trends, Adam now oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children. In their free time, the Holzes enjoy playing games, a variety of musical instruments, swimming and … watching movies.

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UPDATED REVIEW: Meghan Trainor was one of the breakout stars of 2014. Now she’s transformed her four-song EP into a full-length debut full of massively mixed messages about self-acceptance and sexuality.

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Songs of Innocence

Bono and the boys surprised pretty much everyone by turning up at the 2014 Apple conference and offering up their Songs of Innocence to 500 million iTunes users … for free.

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“Jealous”

Nick Jonas’ “Jealous” isn’t as edgy as his DirecTV show. But it still makes it clear his JoBros are far behind him now.

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The Identical

What if Elvis Presley’s twin brother had lived … and been secretly adopted by a minister’s family? The Identical ponders that oddly provocative question.

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V

Maroon 5’s playboy frontman Adam Levine has got himself … all hitched up and married! So does his new matrimonial mindset trickle down to his lyrics?

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My Everything

Ariana Grande’s Nickelodeon days are in her rearview mirror now. So far back, in fact, that you can’t really see them anymore from the vantage point of her raunchy second record, My Everything.

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“Animals”

If there was such a thing as the Callously Creepy Video Hall of Fame, Maroon V’s seriously stalkerish take on an already problematic song would be an instant nominee.

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When the Game Stands Tall

From the first snap, then, When the Game Stands Tall offers a powerful reminder of what the best kind of coach looks like in action.

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“Shake It Off”

The first big frothy, poppy single from country-no-more Taylor Swift’s 1989 album tries to dismiss all the haters … while ironically drumming up a few more along the way.

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Let’s Be Cops

It’s a felony to impersonate a police officer. And now we think it outta also be a crime to make a movie about it.

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Flushed Away

From the makers of Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit comes a CG mouse who discovers a whole new (under)world when he’s flushed down the toilet.

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Babylon A.D.

Vin Diesel makes his return to the sci-fi action genre with a confusing, violent, pseudo-religious mess of a movie that even the director says he doesn’t like.

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What If

Clearly, in its worst moments, What If conforms ever so snugly to 21st-century society’s anything-goes sexual ethos.

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Stay Alive

One by one, a group of teens playing the mysterious video game ‘Stay Alive’ are murdered exactly as their characters in the game perished.

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“Anaconda”

Nicki Minaj raps out an outrageous ode to her backside. And we could probably end with just that.

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