By Lily Forster – Staff Reporter

The story of “Peppermint” revolves around Riley North, played by Jennifer Garner, a grieving mom who loses her daughter and husband in a gang-related shooting and goes on a campaign of targeted revenge. The title “Peppermint” refers to the flavor of ice-cream that her daughter was eating when she was murdered.

Five years after Riley North’s husband and daughter are killed in a senseless act of violence, Riley comes back from self-imposed exile to seek revenge against those responsible and the system that let them go free. According to the actress herself, the movie “Peppermint” is entirely fictional. This action/thriller movie is absolutely incredible.

This movie has an amazing plot and the amount of revenge that went on throughout the entire movie was outstanding. The choice of Jennifer Garner as the lead role in this movie was an amazing choice because of the other acting roles she has been in. No one had ever expected her to do something like this movie and people are so surprised on how she absolutely killed it. The acting in this movie was incredible within each major character.  

This storyline is chilling and emotional at first but then it gets quite crazy. A major strength is that viewers get so interested, they just want to keep watching to see what happens. This movie is the type that can just be watched and is easy to understand and go along with without brain power. It is simply just an entertaining movie and there were lots of twists and turns that keep viewers interested and wanting to know what’s going to happen next. But the biggest strength of the movie was 100% the ending…viewers will have to watch it to find out!

This movie did have a lot of visuals though. There was a decent amount of blood shown throughout this movie because there was quite a lot of violence. So if those types of visuals affect you: warning, there are some points where it’s pretty intense. But besides that and as a result, there aren’t too many crazy scenes.  

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Shane Cepalia – Staff Reporter

The 2012 film “21 Jump Street” is a comedy/action film based on a former television series with the same name.

The plot is based around two cops, Schmidt (played by Jonah Hill) and Jenko (played by Channing Tatum). These two are fresh out of high school and have recently graduated from the police academy. A mistake in their first arrest forces them to either join an undercover division or get fired. They are assigned to an undercover operation where they need to infiltrate a high school’s drug ring powered by their new classmates.

Throughout the movie, viewers get many relatable comedic references to modern day high schools and the students that attend them. The film also shines light on how awkward high school can be especially when students are forced to fit in. Jenko and Schmidt are both assigned classes to fit their interests, but a mix up in their schedules reverses the roles and the two are required to attend each other’s classes to add to the vulnerability and confusion.

All the while they have to “infiltrate the dealers, find the supplier” as commanded by their Captain played by none other than Ice Cube. Their assignment requires them to get a sample of the drug “HFS” and in a deal gone wrong, they are required to take the substance and almost overdose. Once they are in with the dealer, they have to take down the supplier at a drug deal on prom night, which goes south and ends up resulting in a firefight as well as a car chase scene.

“21 Jump Street’s” biggest pro is its comedic value and relatability, especially towards a teenage audience. The pain of moving back in with one’s parents and doing high school over as adults is real, and viewers can see it in this movie. The movie has a good balance of comedy to action. All of the jokes and bits nicely lined up and sometimes progressed the story, like when they got their first arrest and proceeded to mock the suspect as well as fire live rounds into the air in a crowded park as a way of celebrating.

However, the film doesn’t do very well with realism. That first arrest scene probably would have led to them being fired or even detained, and it’s not plausible that Jenko would have blended in as well as he did when he’s half a foot taller than the average senior. The film also shows the officers committing more violations in order to catch the suppliers including but not limited to: hijacking three cars, engaging in a limousine chase on busy roads, as well as a shootout from the sunroof, punching a student that provoked them, taking the substance itself, holding a party with alcohol and marijuana stolen from evidence lockers in an attempt to blend in, etc.

However, the pros heavily outweigh the cons in this movie, and it made for a very humorous movie. Even if it isn’t based in reality, some of those unrealistic moments triggered the funniest scenes. The film was very nicely paced and balanced, and that plus the comedic value made it a great movie.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

By Olivia Augustine – Staff Reporter

The award winning show “The Office” created by Greg Daniels, Ricky Gervais, and Stephen Merchant ran from 2005-2013. This show has won many awards including a Golden Globe for Best Television Series in 2010. 

“The Office” is a TV show about a group of co-workers who work at a paper company called Dunder Mifflin in Scranton, Pennsylvania. This mockumentary follows the lives of the manager and the employees he manages. 

This show starred Steve Carell as Regional Manager Michael Scott, Rainn Wilson as paper salesman Dwight Schrute, Jenna Fischer as Receptionist Pam Beesley, and John Krasinski as paper salesman Jim Halpert. As the seasons went on in the show Jim and Dwight would prank each other in the office causing some co-workers to laugh and others to get annoyed. Also as the seasons went on the relationships and friendships between some co-workers grew closer. 

A well-known line from “The Office” is “That’s what she said,” by Michael Scott. Michael adds this line into most of his conversations making the person he is talking to mad. People watching the show may find this funny. People may also find that line and Michael annoying because he doesn’t spend a lot of time doing his job. Instead he spends a lot of time walking around the office and talking with his employees. A hilarious quote from “The Office” is “Fact bears eat beets. Bears, beets Battlestar Galactica”, and “Identity theft is not a joke Jim.” Jim decided to prank Dwight by dressing up as him and Dwight found it flattering until Jim pulled out a suitcase that had a bobblehead in it. Dwight has a bobblehead on his desk. Dwight then thought Jim was trying to become him, which made this scene more hilarious. 

A less exciting point in the show is when Michael hits Meredith with his car in the parking lot outside of the office building, and Michael thought it was okay, but it wasn’t. Michael acted like hitting Meredith with his car was ok, especially when Meredith found out at the hospital that she also had rabies. Michael thought he saved her life. Michael’s guilt eventually causes him to organize a 5K run for Meredith. 

Comparing “The Office” and “Friends” they both show friendship. In “The Office,” Dwight and Pam become really good friends. Dwight is always there for Pam when she needed him and Dwight was never mean to Pam and Pam is always there for Dwight. In the show “Friends” Joey and Rachel are good friends. Joey is always there to make Rachel laugh and Rachel is always there for Joey when he needs someone there.

A memorable scene from the show is when Jim confesses to Pam that he loves her, which took him two seasons. Another memorable scene is when Michael comes to Dwight’s wedding after leaving Scranton, Pennsylvania about three years ago. 

“The Office” is expected to leave Netflix as of January 1, 2021. This show can be found on the channels NBC and comedy central. As of January 1, 2021, “The Office” will be on NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

(Some information courtesy of imdb.com and hollywoodreporter.com)

By Kaitlyn Goldberg – Staff Reporter

The CBS crime drama “Criminal Minds” follows the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI in Quantico, Virginia as they use the art of behavioral profiling to hunt down serial killers. The team is unique because they use not only evidence to solve the crimes, but using behavior to get into the mind of the criminal (hence the name of the show “Criminal Minds”)

In Season One, the team consists of Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner, Jason Gideon, Derek Morgan, Spencer Reid, Elle Greenaway, Jennifer Jaureau who is the communications liaison and technical analyst Penelope Garcia.  The show consists of 15 seasons and the three team members who continuously stayed throughout the entire series and they are Dr. Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) a genius with an IQ of 187 who can read 20,000 words per minute; Jennifer Jaurau (Aj Cook), a communications liaison eventually turned profiler; and Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness), the FBI’s technical analyst and also has a special relationship with profiler Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore) The other cast members overtime eventually leave the show being replaced by other characters. 

As the seasons progress viewers see the character development of each character as they all go through things to change them. For example, Spencer Reid went through some traumatic events during the course of his time at the BAU which made him go from being completely awkward and antisocial to being more social, outgoing and all around a stronger person.  Another good thing about  the show is that it’s not like any other crime show where they use evidence, they use the killers behavior from the crime scenes and how these people were murdered and that is what ultimately gets them to find the killers. That’s what makes it so interesting because viewers get to see what makes the bad guys do what they do and how the team solves it in such a unique interesting way that is not portrayed on most other crime shows.

The only thing  in the show that could’ve been better is that there are some plot holes. Some things that happened to the characters would get dropped and never spoken of again that the show could’ve made into something much bigger that would’ve been very interesting to watch  Overall, what makes the show good is the unique plot and way of looking at serial crimes and it is definitely worth watching. 

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

By Giuliana Aguilar – Staff Reporter

“Evermore” is Taylor Swift’s ninth studio album. The album is a sister album to her previous album released summer 2020, “Folklore”. The album features 15 new songs and the deluxe physical edition has 2 bonus songs. The Track listing is; “Willow”, “Champagne Problems”, “Gold Rush”, “Tis the Damn Season”, “Tolerate It”, “No Body, No Crime”, “Happiness”, “Dorothea”, “Coney Island”, “Ivy, “Cowboy like Me”, “Long Story Short”, “Majorie”, “Closure”, and “Evermore”. The two additional songs are “Right Where You Left Me” and “It’s Time to Go”.

The album is primarily alternative rock along with some chamber rock. Since Taylor left her previous label she is allowed more freedom to do what she wants with “Evermore”. The listener should be able to easily tell she is no longer trying to make radio hits, she already gained her status as an icon so in this album she focuses more on storytelling and creating pretty music. “Evermore” revolves around the different kinds of flaws in romantic relationships. The album is made for Taylor’s perspective in a bunch of different narratives. There are features on the album from American bands “Bon Iver”, “Haim”, and “The National’.” 

“To put it plainly, we just couldn’t stop writing songs,” Swift said. “To try and put it more poetically, it feels like we were standing on the edge of the folklorian woods and had a choice: to turn and go back or to travel further into the forest of this music, we chose to wander deeper in.”

A song that got a lot of people intrigued with finding the meaning is “Champagne Problems.” The song is about a relationship and Taylor sings from the perspective of the person who turns down a proposal. Verse one suggests that the man knew his relationship wasn’t working. The chorus describes the rejection and how the man was just left standing with a ring and a broken heart. Verse two tells that the man told his family despite knowing the relationship wasn’t going well, which made the rejection more awkward. In the second chorus Taylor dives deeper into the rejection. In the bridge, Taylor talks about the way his friends received the message with the lyrics such as “How evergreen, our group of friends/Don’t think we’ll say that word again” and “She would’ve made such a lovely bride/What a shame…they said.”

Taylor jokes that she lives in a madhouse which draws a parallel to the song “Mad Woman” on the “Folklore” album.  She again says sometimes there is no answer for the rejection and promises that he will find the right one for him that will mend the broken pieces that she created. In the last chorus, chorus three, Taylor parallels the first chorus but this time she imagines it as if the guy found the right girl who will say yes.

“Nobody No Crime” is a song that is similar to a murder mystery. The song is a country pop rock track about the disappearance of a woman named Esta, and her friends’ efforts to avenge her death. The lyrics “And I noticed when I passed by his house/His truck has got some brand new tires” infers that Taylor originally slashed his tires. Slashing tires is a common way to take revenge on a cheating lover just like in Carrie Underwood’s single, “Before He Cheats”, where she sings that she slashed a hole in all four tires of her cheating boyfriend’s truck. Taylor using these lyrics shows how deeply she wants revenge and she makes that her narrative. 

Something good fans realize in “Evermore” is that there is more variety and experimentation of sounds in this album, especially when compared to “Folklore” which just has an indie inspired sound. Also, every song has its own themes and tells a different story.  

Something that was  is songs that are forgetful such as “Happiness” and “Dorothea” which have a cliche Piano sound and are pretty but not mesmerizing or standing out so listeners remember them like others.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Ben Rossi – Staff Reporter

The holiday movie “Home Alone 2:Lost In New York” directed by Chris Columbus and starring Macaulay Culkin, is the sequel to the 1990 film “Home Alone.” Although the first film gets more of the fame “Home Alone 2: Lost In New York” serves as a perfect sequel to the first film and is just as funny and iconic. 

When his family goes on a vacation to Florida, 12-year-old Kevin McCallister gets lost in an airport and accidentally boards a plane to New York City.  When the plane lands Kevin soon realizes that he has made a huge mistake and is stuck alone in New York City. Left alone in a big city with his dad’s credit cards and his Talkboy voice recorder Kevin finds himself tangled up with the same bandits from the first film who plan to rob Duncan’s Toy Chest. Duncan’s Toy Chest is a toy store that plans to donate their earnings to the local orphanage. Kevin is forced to use his wits and clever traps to save the toy store and prevent the robbers from taking away Christmas for those in need.

“Home Alone 2: Lost In New York” is a family movie that brings laughs to any viewer. For example, Kevin decides to use his dad’s credit card to stay at a very fancy hotel where he buys tons of room service and rides in limos. Kevin also goes to several iconic tourist attractions in New York City such as the Twin Towers, Times Square, and Central Park.  While this movie is mostly a comedy it ends with a heartwarming reunion between Kevin and his family.

This film shows how family is the most important thing in life and that no matter what happens your family will always be there for you.  This is shown throughout the film because Kevin starts out very happy to be alone and enjoys not having parents to tell him what to do.  This changes towards the end of the film because Kevin realizes that even though his family may annoy him they love him and without them he is nothing.  Kevin is seen towards the end of the film in Rockefeller Center where he is very sad until his mom shows up and he runs to her with joy.

“Home Alone 2: Lost In New York” is the perfect sequel and gives viewers laughs while teaching them to love and cherish their time with family.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

By Alaina McCarvill – Staff Reporter

“The Grinch Musical!” offered holiday entertainment thanks to NBC’s 2020 adaptation of the 2007 stage production. Starring Tony Award nominee Matthew Morrison as the lead, “Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Musical” aired Wednesday, December 9, at 8 p.m. Joining Morrison on stage were Tony Award-winner Denis O’Hare playing Old Max, the Grinch’s loving canine companion, as well as Booboo Stewart (“Descendants 3”) as Young Max. Newcomer Amelia Minto (soon to be seen in “The Lost Girls”) played Whoville’s favorite child, Cindy-Lou Who, and the musical featured popular songs like “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and “Welcome Christmas.” Julia Knowles directed the event, working off staging by Max Webster, while Simon Nye adapted the script and Peter Bingemann served as set designer. 

Staged at the Troubadour Theater in London, the presentation was playful, colorful and visually inventive, from the storybook backgrounds to having Morrison’s Grinch break the fourth wall early on, demonstrating his cruelty by insulting the home audience’s ugly couches. The songs have been described as unmemorable, other than the few cribbed from the original animated classic. And even with a whole lot of commercials padding out the two hours, the show felt bloated and flat, with a scant sense of the magic in all the fluff employed to flesh out the Grinch’s journey. It felt that the plot was expected to be assumed without context by viewers. The classic story was taken and just expanded with extra songs. 

The show, of course, felt aimed heavily at the younger part of a family audience, with the hope that parents would be happy to share a theatrical-style experience with them, especially now.

Morrison clearly threw his all into vamping things up, but the performance seemed a bit forced and veered too far from the live action movie. Amelia Minto, the tyke cast as Cindy-Lou Who, also exhibited a fine voice.

Although the show was not well received, the cast was very talented and the costumes were perfect for the show. In any sense this performance could have still entertained a younger audience and possibly convince young people to be further immersed into the arts. It is difficult to recreate a classic and it was not a complete flop, but the portrayal was disappointing for fans of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

By Truman Martin – Staff Reporter

“A Christmas Story” is a 1983 movie based on the book by Jean Shepherd. The movie is set in 1940’s Indiana where Ralphie Parker and his family live. The movie is narrated by Jean Shepherd who is supposed to play an older version of Ralphie later in life. Throughout the movie, Ralphie tries to get his parents (and Santa) to buy him a Red Ryder BB Gun that he saw in a store window. The movie follows the family all the way to Christmas Day, showing what Ralphie does at school with his friends and how he deals with bullies. The movie made $20.7 million in the box office, and it was directed by Bob Clark.

This Christmas movie is probably one of the best Christmas movies ever made. There are so many strong points in this movie, it’s hard to count. First off, the movie is hilarious. The lightheartedness that the narrator brings is very good. The way he gets into the mind of a child while he narrates the story is incredible, and it makes people really relate to Ralphie. Speaking of which, this movie is super relatable to pretty much everyone. Everyone has had a thing they wanted for Christmas, but their parents were skeptical. Also, everyone has had a Christmas where not everything really worked out.  It is not as magical as other Christmas movies, but that’s what sets it apart from all of the other Christmas movies. It doesn’t need to be magical. 

The movie’s pacing is good; there aren’t really any slow points in the movie. There are little flashbacks/daydreams that help with the pacing and add another comedy element to the film. There are many iconic things in the movie, like Flick sticking his tongue to the pole, Ralphie’s bunny suit, and when Ralphie says “Oh Fudge” (only he didn’t say fudge). The movie really cleverly tells the story of a pretty ordinary family. Also, there don’t seem to be any weak points to the movie. 

Now, everyone has their own opinions for the best Christmas movie ever made, whether it be “Elf,” “Home Alone,” or whatever else, but this movie holds a special place in many people’s hearts and they can deeply relate to different characters. Kids can relate to Ralphie and his friends, and adults can relate to Ralphie’s parents. All of the actors do a really good job portraying the characters from the book. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars, definitely a Christmas classic.

(Some information courtesy rottentomatoes.com)

By Jess Owens – News Editor 

The animated movie “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is a 1965 television special and was the first TV special based on the comic strip “Peanuts” by Charles M. Schulz. The movie was produced by Lee Mendelson and directed by Bill Melendez. 

The program debuted on CBS on December 9, 1965, and it remains a Christmas classic to this day.

Depressed at the commercialism he sees around him, Charlie Brown tries to find a deeper meaning to Christmas. His friend Lucy suggests that he becomes the director of the school Christmas pageant. He accepts but it becomes a struggle for him.

Charlie doesn’t want to let commercialism ruin his Christmas so he attempts to restore the proper spirit with a pitiful, little fir Christmas tree to show his cast that the “sad” tree will still work in the play, even though it is not what the others originally wanted.

Charlie uses the little tree to show his cast that they don’t need the type of Christmas that they see on commercials and that all they need is their loved ones around them. The story is meant to show them that there’s more to the holiday than just presents and money.

One of the most admirable things in the movie is that Charlie started off hating Christmas but came to love it when he learned what it was truly about. Another admirable thing about the movie is that it was people around him that helped him realize the true meaning of Christmas.

This is a great movie for kids being that it teaches them it is not about what presents they get but about what they can do for other people to spread Christmas cheer during the happiest time of the year.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Mia Cerrato – Entertainment Editor

The 2004 film “The Polar Express” is a holiday classic inspired by the 1985 children’s book of the same name that anyone can enjoy.

The story follows a boy named Chris, or “Hero Boy,” on Christmas Eve, as he spots a train on the route to the North Pole outside his window. A conductor steps out of the train and waves from him to come outside. He tells Chris the train is headed towards the North Pole. He accepts the invite, despite his skepticism of Santa and his workshop. Chris finds himself aboard the train with other kids. They soon become friends and venture on a journey to meet Santa and watch the preparation for Christmas.

“The Polar Express” is a family- friendly movie that tells a story that praises childhood curiosity and celebrates imagination. The look of the movie portrays this through the cross between live action and artwork. It makes the film catch people’s eyes and make each scene feel life-like. A scene that is truly memorable is the train emerging from in front of Chris. The way the snow falls and the lights from the train shine is captivating. Another scene that is unforgettable is when hot chocolate is served on the trail. The waiters serve it along with an acrobatic song and dance. 

However, this Christmas movie is not everyone’s taste. The life-like animation can be eerie and creepy. It has such a heartwarming message yet the animation seems a little cold and mysterious. One scene/character that just seems very cryptic is the hobo that lives on top of the Polar Express. He rides it whenever he wants for free. He doesn’t believe in Santa Claus or Christmas and always tells Chris his negative opinions on the holidays. Chris is the only one who can see him throughout the whole movie. 

“The Polar Express” is a film that is perfect for the holiday season and shows the joy of Christmas. 

By Stephanie Caron – Editor-in-Chief 

The award winning moving “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” directed by Stephen Chbosky, follows a socially awkward high school freshman on his journey of making friends and dealing with depression. 

The 2012 movie was based off of the 1999 book “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” written by Stephen Chbosky was the talk of coming of age movie category. Despite the release in 2012, the movie is as popular as ever.

With popular actress and actors: Emma Watson playing Samantha Button, Logan Lerman playing Charlie Kelmeckis, and Ezra Miller playing Patrick Stewart, we follow Charlie as he meets two seniors, Sam and Patrick, who take him under their wing after they find out Charlie lost his best friend to suicide the prior year and had no friends. 

The movie is a chilling reality to the hardships of high school. Moments throughout the movie are light-hearted and joyful but we also see the side of Charlie that he keeps to himself. We see his eternal struggle with flashbacks of his late Aunt Helen who died on his birthday years prior. 

Becoming close to Sam and Patrick introduced Charlie to a whole group of people who were like him, misfits. The movie shows how much of a difference friends can make in someone’s life. It was not until Charlie had lied to one of his friends in the group about his true feelings when his mental health took a major decline. Later it blew up in his face when the tight-knit friend group were playing truth or dare, and the seniors wanted nothing to do with him. 

Though the beginning of the movie was light-hearted and joked around about Charlie’s struggles with his mental health, once he had broken his friends trust the movie takes a dramatic turn. We see Charlie unravel, his depression and PTSD get worse and worse. He finally felt like he belonged somewhere, but now he was alone all over again. 

This movie is beautifully made, and the casting choices were incredible. Everyone should take the time to watch “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” because it shines light on a “taboo” topic that most coming of age movies do not always talk about. It is educational, emotional, and funny. This movie not only can connect to high school students who might be struggling with similar problems but many adults find this movie connects to them as well. 

“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” changed the coming-of-age movie category and continues to leave a positive impact on those who can relate to Charlie in any way. It is a memorable film that deserves the hype it receives. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars 

By Alexis Broderick – Social Media Editor-in-Chief

The classic movie “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” was released in 2000. The reclusive green Grinch (Jim Carrey) decides to ruin Christmas for the cheery citizens of Whoville.

Reluctantly joined by his hapless dog, Max, the Grinch comes down from his mountaintop home and sneaks into town to swipe everything holiday-related from the Whos. However, the bitter grump finds a hitch in his plans when he encounters the endearing Cindy Lou Who. 

The Grinch thinks that Christmas is all about the gifts, decorations and food. He steals all these things from the Whos and is surprised to find that they still sing and smile. They continue to have a great attitude even while the Grinch is trying to steal Christmas. 

The Grinch then learns that the Christmas spirit is more than the things that can be bought and is something inside everyone. His heart grows three sizes during the movie representing his love for Christmas and just being a better “Grinch” in general. 

The Grinch disliked Christmas because his shoes were too tight, his head wasn’t screwed on right, and his heart was two sizes too small. 

The Grinch who stole Christmas has a reason for growing up to be so bitter. As a child, he was picked on for being green and having hair all over his body and a beard.

One of the most admirable things in the movie is when the Grinch’s heart starts growing back to the size it needed to be. Another admirable thing is when everyone in Whoville didn’t let the Grinch steal Christmas and enjoyed the holiday season as much as they could. 

The only thing that young viewers may dislike about this movie is how scary the Grinch can be in certain parts of the movie. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Ethan Harrigan – Sports Editor

The holiday movie “Home Alone,” starring Macaulay Culkin and directed by Chris Colombus, is a classic comedy everyone should watch around Christmas time. It was released in 1990 and still stands as a popular movie, appropriate and funny for all ages. “Home Alone” is the first of five films and arguably the best of the series. 

The movie follows 8-year-old Kevin McCallister as he uses his wit to foil two bandits (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) attempting to break into his house. During the holiday, his family makes the trip to Paris but when they arrive they realize they have forgotten Kevin at home after his mother (Catherine O’Hara) sent him to sleep in the attic the night before. Left alone with no parents, Kevin has to get by on his own, making his own food, doing his laundry and shopping by himself. He is having fun with his mischief but is surprised when he sees local thieves making the rounds in his neighborhood. Seeing that they want to steal from his house while everyone is away, Kevin sets traps and uses trickery to deter the bandits.

“Home Alone” is a family comedy that you can watch alone or with others. It has many memorable moments like Kevin’s antics going shopping while he is home alone, when he uses a recorded TV sound to scare off the robbers, and when he uses countless traps he placed in his house to incapacitate the villains in funny ways. Kevin also manages to help a misunderstood Old Man Marley (Roberts Blossom) build up the courage to reconnect with his family. While in a large part humor, the movie ends with a wholesome reunion for the family for the holiday.

The film teaches you the importance of family, showing the viewer how Kevin is initially happy at the prospect of having them out of the house but at the end is grateful for their return. Old Man Marley is also portrayed as sad not being able to be with his family for the holiday but when given the confidence to reach out to them he fixes his derailed spirit.

“Home Alone” is a great movie for the Christmas season with an emphasis on the importance of family while still being a hilarious watch. It is a memorable film that everyone can enjoy watching together during the holiday.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

By Gillian Rees – News Editor

The classic holiday movie “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” released in 1998, stars a young Jonathan Taylor Thomas, (who viewers may also know as the voice of young Simba in the beloved “Lion King” movie), and is a film that can be enjoyed by all ages.

Directed by Arlene Stanford, who also directed the beloved Disney Channel movie “Good Luck Charlie: It’s Christmas,” “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” has the classic Scrooge undertone in the story of a college boy without Christmas spirit who then faces challenges and situations throughout the movie which makes him realize how important it is. 

The movie follows Jake Wilkinson (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), a college student who would rather avoid having to go home for Christmas, since his father (Gary Cole) remarried relatively too soon after his mothers death. Not only does his family have an issue with his reluctance to return home, but so does Allie (Jessica Biel), Jake’s girlfriend.  

It’s only when Jake’s father bribes him with a promise to receive a Porsche if he can manage to return home by 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve, that he makes an effort to go home, and agrees to bring Allie along with him because she grew up in the same town as Jake. 

Everything is seemingly sidetracked when his nemesis Eddie, a fellow college student that is too fond of Allie, manages to have Jake finding himself stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but only a Santa suit glued to him. Eddie then takes off with Allie, who thinks she’s been stood up, and leaves Jake facing a hectic adventure not only to satisfy his family, get home by 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve, receive a Porsche and to save his relationship spiraling with Allie. All in the spirit of Christmas, of course.  

One of the most admirable things about this movie is that throughout the film Jake becomes less selfish and realizes the bigger picture of how important family and relationships are.  He learns that sometimes you have to give things up for other people for the greater good. In other words, he gains the Christmas spirit. 

The only thing that viewers may dislike about this movie is that it does not stand out from other Christmas movies. The story theme is pretty recognizable. 

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

By Lucas Greifzu – Sports Editor

The holiday classic “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” starring Chevy Chase is a classic Christmas movie that everyone should see. It was released in 1989, and while it isn’t as popular as some other Christmas and holiday movies, it is still worth watching. It is the third of the National Lampoon’s movies, and it topped the box office in its third and 4th week. The movie was directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik.

The movie follows Clark Griswold and his family as they try to have their first big family Christmas. The movie opens with Griswold and his family driving to the woods to get the family Christmas tree. However, when they find the tree, they realize that they forgot the saw, so they dig up the entire tree. When they get back to the house with it the tree is too large for the house, and when he takes the rope off of it the tree breaks through the windows, and breaks things inside the house. These unfortunate incidents and slapstick humor keep taking place throughout the movie. But, in the end they all come together as a family, and have Christmas together.

“National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” is a funny, family-friendly, and heartwarming movie that teaches us to persevere even when seemingly everything goes wrong. Watching everything go wrong in this movie is what makes this movie hilarious. From 25,000 lights not working, to the turkey exploding on the dinner table, and a SWAT team storming the house after one of the family members was suspected of kidnapping Griswold’s boss. This plus a great cast that really brings the holiday spirit to light in the movie. However, watching them together as a family at the end is what makes this movie truly special.

However, there is a trade off in this movie. With all of the humor, and the funny scenes, there is an element of inappropriateness with this movie. The movie might not be suitable for people of all ages. There is some inappropriate language, and some slightly inappropriate humor in the movie. However, for people of the correct ages it does add to the humor that is in this movie. But, the dry humor and slapstick comedy is what sets this movie apart from other Christmas and holiday movies.

“National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” is a holiday classic and shows everyone what the true meaning of Christmas is. It shows us that coming together as a family and spending time with each other is more important than anything else during the holiday season.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Sydney Simpson – News Editor

The holiday classic “Elf” starring Will Ferrell is a Christmas staple in some households. Since its release in 2003, the family comedy has been quite popular, hitting box office records upon its release and airing on AMC’s “countdown to Christmas” each and every year. The movie was directed by Jon Favreau, who has also directed many popular movies such as the newest rendition of “The Lion King” (2019). Favreau truly captured the real meaning of Christmas in this funny yet heartwarming story of a human elf trying to find his dad. 

The movie follows Buddy the Christmas Elf (Ferrell) as he goes on a journey from the North Pole all the way to New York to find his real dad. Buddy grew up raised as an Elf, but he was significantly larger than all the other elves and also did not possess the same amount of skill when it came to toymaking. The elves, along with Santa, felt that it was time to tell Buddy that he was in fact human, and that his father lived in New York by the name of Walter Hobbs (James Caan). Hobbs is not portrayed as a particularly nice man, always at work, not spending time with his family, and at first disregarding Buddy as crazy. The movie shows the viewers Buddy’s journey to finding his family, finding love, and even saving the holiday. Although there are many ups and downs in his adjustment to New York and his new family’s adjustment to him, the movie doesn’t fail to put a smile on the viewer’s face as Buddy and his family save Christmas. 

“Elf” is heartwarming, funny, and family friendly all in one, making it the perfect movie for the holidays. Watching Buddy win over his family and show both his dad and his love interest the true meaning of Christmas evokes a feeling of joy in viewers. He showed Walter Hobbs the importance of family, of love, and of laughter, effectively bringing his dad off of Santa’s naughty list. Hobbs’ transformation throughout the movie was a genius move by the director, creating a theme that family and love are what really make a person happy. Buddy was also able to bring joy into the life of his love interest Jovie (Zooey Deschanel), who wasn’t into the Christmas spirit previous to meeting the eccentric Elf. “The best way to spread Christmas cheer, is singing loud for all to hear,” said Buddy. 

The movie is also hilarious, with scenes of Buddy pouring syrup onto pasta, getting scared of the radiator, and even getting into a fight with a fake department store Santa. He decorated a whole department store with elaborate lego designs and lite brite’s overnight, and also pelted kids with snowballs with extreme accuracy after he and his brother were ambushed by bullies. This funny factor to Buddy’s odd behavior brings viewers in, grasping their attention and keeping them interested. It is what sets this classic apart from boring old Hallmark movies. “Elf” is also family friendly, a movie the whole family can enjoy. It does have many different plots occurring at the same time, however, which can be confusing for younger viewers. Buddy is building his relationship with his family whilst he is also doing so with Jovie, all while adjusting to New York and saving Christmas. Further, parents may not want to have their children watch “Elf” due to the scene where Buddy exposes a department store Santa for being fake. Some parents may feel like this ruins the experience for their kids of getting to visit Santa and tell him what they want for Christmas. 

All in all, “Elf” is one of the best holiday classics to watch as a family this winter season because it shows all the aspects of a good holiday movie and really drives home the point that Christmas is more about love and family than it is about giving. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Hanna Broderick – Editorial Editor 

Australian rock band “King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard” released their 16th studio album and marks 10 years as an active band.

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard was formed in 2010 in Melbourne, Victoria. The band consists of Stu Mackenzie (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, flute), Ambrose Kenny-Smith (vocals, harmonica, keyboards), Cook “Cookie” Craig (guitar, bass, vocals), Joey Walker (guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals), Lucas Harwood (bass, keyboards), and Michael “Cavs” Cavanagh (drums, percussion). The band is most well known for their psych rock but explores multiple genres.

Their album K.G. was released Friday, November 20, along with a live album from their show in San Francisco back in 2016. Because of lockdown, this has been a long time for King Gizzard since they have released a studio album.

Whether it’s “Straws in the Wind” where Ambrose Kenny Smith’s vocals sound a lot like a Cat Power feature or the psychedelic shuffle of “Honey” the band isn’t limited to their Saharan influences like they have been on previous albums. The best thing about this album is that they don’t prohibit themselves from experimenting with their sounds.

The live in San Francisco album has a lot of fan favorites such as “Gamma Knife” and “Trapdoor” and it’s nice to hear live music especially because of the lockdown.

The most admirable part of King Gizzard is their bravery. Most artists don’t have the guts to step out their comfort zone but King Gizzard really shows how beneficial experimentation and allowing yourself to just play music and not worry can be.

By Hanna Broderick – Editorial Editor

Fox premiered the show, “Scream Queens” on September 22, 2015. It was written by Ryan Murphy who
directed “Glee” and “American Horror Story.”

The first season of the show follows the sorority Kappa Kappa Tau, and their run from a serial killer who
dresses as the school mascot. It is set on the fictional college campus of Wallace University. The plot
surrounds the idea of toxic sorority culture and the lack of true sister-ship. Kappa Kappa Tau is run by
house president Chanel #1 (Chanel Oberlin) played by Emma Roberts, who has her ‘minions’ named
after her.

The Chanels are played by other well known actresses. Chanel #2 is played by Ariana Grande, and Chanel #3 is played by Carrie Fisher’s daughter Billie Lourd. Throughout the two seasons of the show many more Chanels are recruited, going all the way to #11.

During the second season, the Chanels and former sister Zeyday are reconnected, all working as med
students at the fictional C.U.R.E. Institute which is run by their former dean at Wallace University, Kathy
Munsch. Once again, the group is being terrorized by another serial killer, the Green Meanie. The cast
once again has to find a way to stop the murderer who is picking off nurses and patients one-by-one.
This season features many other well known actors including, Taylor Laugtner and John Stamos.

The show is completely ridiculous and yet somehow, hilarious. It does a great job of overacting in a way
that adds to the humor. Many of the sorority members and frat members that are introduced in the
show have the type of self involved idiocy that wouldn’t work in other types of shows.

“Scream Queens” is a fun watch. There are so many twists and turns and viewers find it easy to fall in love with many of the characters, and it should give them a good laugh.

By Hanna Broderick – Editorial Editor

Season 46 of “Saturday Night Live” aired its second episode on October 10 with host Bill Burr and musical guest Jack White.

Jack White is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. Some of his biggest successes include being singer/guitarist of the duo The White Stripes alongside his former wife Meg White, singer/guitarist of band The Raconteurs with Brendon Benson, Jack Lawrence, and Patrick Keeler. White has also had a lot of success in his solo career, and his biggest song “Seven Nation Army” has become a large part of many sports being played through stadiums across the country.

For his first performance he played a medley of The White Stripes’ “Ball and Biscuit” featuring a snippet of his collaboration with Beyoncé on her album Lemonade with the song “Don’t Hurt Yourself” and traditional gospel song “Jesus Is Coming Soon” which was written during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. In the third minute of his performance White shows his incredible skills on the guitar, and it was a performance that showcased the true rockstar that he is. 

In White’s second performance, once again he showed off his skill on the guitar and his unmistakable voice as he played his song “Lazaretto.” The guitar he used for this performance was designed for him by Eddie Van Halen to pay tribute following his death earlier that week on October 6. White also threw in a few finger tapping licks, a guitar technique popularized by Eddie Van Halen, at the end of the song.

Prior to the show, White posted on Instagram about the guitar and that he was going to use it for one of his songs during his SNL performance. White concluded his post by saying “i wont even insult the mans talent by trying to play one of his songs tonight. thanks again eddie for this guitar and rest in peace sir.”

When watching these two performances it’s easy to tell that White is truly ‘feeling’ the music rather than just going through the motions allowing him to soar through his unmatched performances. Jack White’s talent and passion for what he does is what makes him an amazing artist and his SNL performances proved that.

By Jaelynn Shelton – Staff Reporter

The science fiction film “Avatar” was released on December 18, 2009. The film is about another race being found on a different planet. Humans try and work hand and hand with them, or at least some of them do. 

A program is created so that humans can grow closer to the people of pandora. The program allows a human being conscious to be put inside of an avatar that looks just like the native people of pandora. The avatar allows the native people to feel more comfortable with the idea of a new race. 

There are basically two sides to this program, the military side and the scientific side. The scientific side wants to grow close to the native people, learn from them and help them learn as well. The military side is there to protect the science, although they go overboard most of the time. Businessman Parker Selfridge, played by Giovanni Ribis, tries to do whatever he can in order to steal metal from the planet that happens to be under the native people’s village. 

Jake Sully, played by Sam Worthington, takes his brother’s spot in the program, after his death. Sully looks forward to the program, due to the fact that he will be able to walk, which he can’t do in his human body after joining the military. 

Initially the main person in charge of the science part of the program is Grace, played by Sigourney Weaver. She does not like the idea of Sully joining but grows to it as he becomes the one that builds connections with the native people, after meeting Neytiri, who is played by Zoe Saldana. 

Neytiri is tasked with teaching Sully the ways of their people. As the program improves, it is clear that the business side of things is going nowhere, so in an attempt to retrieve the metal from under the village, they demolish the village. 

Sully, Neytiri and her people fight to keep Pandora safe. 

The film’s graphics are very unique as it shows the people of Pandora as big, tall, blue people and the planet of Pandora as bioluminescent, which allows the land to glow at night whenever touched. 

The actors all played convincing roles, all fitting to their unique character. 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

By Jaelynn Shelton – Staff Reporter 

The drama/comedy film “Instant Family” was released on November 16, 2108. The film is about a couple who decides they want kids, but instead of having their own they decide to foster. 

The film features Mark Wahlberg as Pete Wagner, the dad and husband of the group. His wife is played by the amazingly funny Rose Byrne as Ellie Wagner. They both play a convincing role as foster parents who grow to love the kids as their own. 

Initially they believed that fostering children is not that bad; they thought of it as another thing to do in order to improve their lives. Unfortunately, they had no idea what having kids was like especially seeing how they gained three overnight, one which was a teenager. 

The craziness began and both Pete and Ellie had no clue what they were doing. But then again does any parent know what to do when they first start off? Over time, the family began to make a routine, and grew closer. 

Lizzy Viara is played by actress Isabela Moner. Lizzy plays the role of the older, more protective older sister, who watches over her siblings, and supports them. The younger siblings are played by Julianna Gamiz as Lita and Gustavo Quiroz Jr. as Juan. 

Both Lizzy and Ellie try and build that mother-daughter connection. Lizzy tries to adapt to the new idea of having a steady home and being with people who love her. So she attempts to push them both away. They always come back and prove that they weren’t leaving. 

The children’s mom eventually comes into the picture and tries to fight for custody. At this point it seems like the only one who still wants to be with their biological mother is Lizzy, which is understandable, due to the fact that she is older and has more connections and memories with their biological mom. The two younger kids have already grown attached to their foster parents, and don’t want to leave. 

Court hearings are made, and the biological mom wins custody of the children. When the day comes for the children to go with her, it is clear that she is not coming. Therefore leaving Lizzy the oldest heartbroken, as she believes she has no one by her side. Except that’s not true – her foster parents become her family. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Madison Lusignan – Staff Reporter

The show “Gossip Girl” takes place in Manhattan, New York, on the Upper East Side, with a few privileged teenagers and a rollercoaster of romances. 

The actual “Gossip Girl” is a voice that reads from the Gossip Girl website that is filled with all of the characters’ dirty secrets, current secrets, and past secrets.

“Gossip Girl” remains a mystery for the majority of the show and is revealed in Season 6, the final season, although throughout the show, the secrets seem to never come to an end.

Chuck Bass, who probably has the majority of the family problems, reigns as the richest character on the show, followed by Serena Van Der Woodsen.

Serena is a blonde and beautiful socialite who was handed a tough batch of teenage years, but as the series goes on, viewers see her grow into a young woman who begins to value herself and her morals.

Serena’s best friend since high school at Constance is Blair Waldorf, who finds herself madly in love with Chuck Bass but is too embarrassed to admit it. Serena seems to always find the center of attention and that beyond bothers Blair. 

Another main character who seems to be finding himself into trouble often is Dan Humphrey. Dan is just being introduced into the world of the Upper East Side when his father marries Serena’s mother, and Dan’s sister Jenny starts her fashion business. 

Dan often struggles with his new life and has a lot to sort out. He struggles but grows as a character as the series moves on.

One of the more memorable scenes in “Gossip Girl” is when Rufus Humphrey marries Lily Van Der Woodsen, and they come out to the public about their relationship. Another memorable scene is when Chuck tells Blair that he loves her, which took him two seasons to admit.

A weak point in the show is when Chuck is shot in an alley, and the people who shot him steal the ring that he was keeping in his pocket.

“Gossip Girl” is an ever-changing series and there is always a new secret to be unfolded with each episode. Some of the most interesting parts in the show are when each character overcomes one of their biggest struggles, and then moves on with life like it never happened.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

By Adarsh Senthilnathan – Staff Reporter

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

“Knives Out,” directed by Rian Johnson, is about a rich crime novelist named Harlan Thrombey, who is played by Christopher Plummer, and the dysfunctional Thrombey family. 

“Knives Out” has won the Satellite Award for Best Ensemble – Motion Picture and the Costume Designers Guild Award for Excellence in Costume Design for a Contemporary Film. “Knives Out” has amassed a worldwide total of $309.2 million. 

The movie focuses mainly on Harlan Thrombey, Marta Cabrera, and private detective Benoit Blanc, but it also includes the entire Thrombey family. 

The movie starts off with Harlan Thrombey’s 85th birthday party at his mansion with his family. Then, the next morning the family’s housekeeper finds him dead, and the police suspect it was a suicide, but an anonymous party hires Benoit Blanc, a private detective, to investigate the death of Harlan Thrombey. 

After Thrombey’s birthday party, his nurse, Marta, accidentally gives him an overdose of morphine instead of his proper medication, and since she could not find the antidote, he only had a few minutes left of his life. 

During the last minutes of his life, Harlan instructed Marta to cover up the death by making a fictional alibi for her, and then Harlan dies suddenly. 

While private detective Benoit Blanc questions Marta, she gives incomplete answers to confuse Blanc, but she does not lie, and after this Blanc asks Marta to help with his investigation. While Marta helps Blanc with his investigation, she tries to hide evidence and lead him away from the clues. 

Eventually, Marta makes Ransom, one of Harlan’s grandsons, confess to the police and he is arrested for the murder of Harlan Thrombey. In the end, Marta gets to have the mansion all to herself because this was in Harlan’s will. 

One of the best parts of the movie was when private detective Benoit Blanc arrived at the Thrombey mansion and questioned everyone, this was funny because viewers saw various members of the family making jokes and making fun of each other. 

The director of the movie did a fantastic job of keeping the movie suspenseful. However, the movie could have included some more background into Harlan Thrombey. 

“Knives Out” can be compared to mystery movies such as, “Clue” and “Gone Girl,”

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Mayur Somalinga – Staff Reporter

“The Imitation Game”, the 2014 war/drama film loosely based on the novel “Alan Turing: The Enigma” by Andrew Hodges, details British mathematician Alan Turing’s monumental contributions to the Allies’ victory during World War II.

[WARNING: This review contains spoilers for “The Imitation Game.” Read ahead at your own risk.]

The film opens rather ambiguously with Turing (portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch) inside an interrogation room where his opening speech is meant to be for Detective Nock (played by Rory Kinnear), but also for the audience, as well. The main story, however, begins with Turing being interviewed by, head of GC&CS, Commander Denniston (played by Charles Dance) to be involved with a top-secret project at Bletchley Park during the darkest days of World War II. It is quickly evident to Turing during the interview, and, therefore, the viewers, that the top-secret project is known as Project Enigma, which aimed to decipher Nazi communications, which were assumed to be unbreakable. However, Turing was not to do this job alone, as Commander Denniston had already appointed other talented intellectuals, for example, British cryptanalyst, Hugh Alexander (played by Matthew Goode), for the task and expected them to work together as a team. Turing might have been, while he wouldn’t admit it himself, a mathematical prodigy, he found the very idea of having to work with those who have a similar intellectual prowess as himself, repulsive, even saying, “I’m afraid these men will only slow me down,” upon hearing the proposition. Turing was not initially liked by his fellow code-breakers, however, he eventually wins their favor as a valued team member, that paves the path for them to break Enigma, and as a friend, as well. 

This movie, while taking place amid World War II, is not entirely a war movie, but, rather, also a tale of alienation and the efforts made to overcome it – something everyone can relate to. Turing was one of the greatest mathematical minds Great Britain, not to mention, the world had ever seen at the time, becoming a fellow at Cambridge University at age 24 and publishing his first official paper at age 23. However, those as intellectually gifted as Turing seldom find it easy to mingle with others, and in his case, he was on the autistic spectrum. This was well-displayed in the movie through Cumberbatch’s flawless representations of Turing’s social-awkwardness through his mannerisms, speech, and overly-literal interpretations of the things said to him. Although this accurate depiction of Turing’s introversion makes for some intense scenes, it also leads to a level of comedy in the thick of the cold, callous arithmetic of war with the banter-laden dialogue, oftentimes from Turing unintentionally, and sarcasm that Turing usually fails to pick up on. 

“The Imitation Game” does an exceptional job of presenting activism for issues that were unpopular at the time. For one, it dabbles in the realm of Women’s Rights as Turing, at first, can’t stand to work with his peers and seeks to control those that he has to work with, so he contacts Prime Minister Winston Churchill and requests to be put in charge of his group, and once his request was confirmed, he swiftly fired those that he felt weren’t skilled enough to be there. As a result of the lack of personnel in Turing’s group, Turing set up a “help wanted ad,” of sorts, that consisted of a crossword puzzle in the newspaper. The candidates were thereafter asked to solve some sort of puzzle within a confined time limit, and the only female candidate, Joan Clarke (portrayed by Keira Knightley), was the first to finish the task in a room full of men. This scene was particularly powerful because she was almost not allowed to try completing the task on the account of her being a woman, and was even asked if she completed the crossword puzzle on her own and was labeled as a secretary by the security guard near the door, that is until Turing stepped in and let Clarke take a seat. Clarke and Turing became immensely close and their relationship seemed to improve Turing’s sociability with others. At one point, Clarke threatens to leave Project Enigma because her parents are worried that she hadn’t gotten married yet, so, to get Clarke to stay, Turing proposes to Clarke with a make-shift ring constructed out of wire. While everyone saw this as wonderful news, Turing found it daunting not because he didn’t like Clarke, but because he was gay. In fact, he was gay in a time when it was illegal to be as such, so he felt obligated to marry Clarke to make her happy and to protect himself from society and the law, but, in the end, he couldn’t pretend. This struggle that Turing faces mirrors what a lot of closeted minors, and, even, adults experience and allows them to find comfort in his triumphs and defeats. 

The film lacks any glaring weaknesses as the cast expertly delivers the story that plays to both the heart and the mind. It does, however, depict one of Great Britain’s greatest atrocities committed toward a war hero, which is quite unsettling. As the secret of Turing’s homosexuality surfaces, he is charged with “indecency” and is given the choice between two years in prison or chemical castration. Turing chooses chemical castration because it would allow him to continue his work, but, the hormonal treatment he receives causes an imbalance in his brain and led him to commit suicide at the relatively young age of 41. However, in September of 2009, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown publicly apologized to Turing for the mistreatment he faced, and although it was 55 years too late, it was an act of redemption on Great Britain’s part. 

“The Imitation Game” is, by no means, a traditional war film, as very little combat, is shown, and most scenes take place in an edifice and not on a battlefield, but the spirit of war is very much evident in Turing’s team as they fight the odds stacked against them, and prove to everyone that, “Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.”

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

(Some information courtesy of imdb.com)

By Malakai Pisacreta – Staff Reporter

Dashing through the middle of the arena, two teams of champions clash to meet an objective to defeat the other team. This is Paladins, a video game made by Hi-Rez Studios, who have created another game called Smite. 

Paladins is a FPS where two teams of five compete in different challenges such as Siege, Team DeathMatch, and Onslaught. The most commonly played game mode is Siege, where the two teams fight to see who can stay on the capture point, and after, push the payload/stop the payload to the appropriate area.

There is a wide variety of champions with each having a unique set of abilities and each being helpful to a team’s success on the battlefield. With four different classes, Flank, Damage, Medic and Frontline, each team can consist of many different styles of play. 

After each game, the player earns experience based off of their skill and how they did. 

The game runs smooth, plays well, though one downside can be unlocking the champions. Champions are unlocked by using in game currency or spending $25.99 to get all of the characters. This brings down the potential of the game since it is free to play, and it just feels like unless the player plays for hours on end, they will never get enough to buy a champion.

Overall, the experience that the game gives the player is well worth it considering that it is free.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

By Amelia Mower – Staff Reporter

Netflix released the second season of its current Top 10 show, “Dead to Me,” on May 8 and it is sure to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. Set in California, the show tells the story of Jen Harding, following the death of her husband, who was killed in a hit-and-run accident. After meeting Judy Hale and learning more about her husband’s death, season one left many questions unanswered for viewers. 

Season Two starts off immediately where the prior season left off, with a shocking twist of events. Throughout the ten episodes, Jen and Judy encounter old friends and new love interests, leaving them conflicted in their ideals. This season also has many, many plot twists that will shock viewers, making them feel like they are a part of the story. 

The never-ending plot twists and comedic relief make this show one viewers can not stop watching. Every single episode poses new conflicts in Jen and Judy’s lives that keep their story more entertaining than ever. From security cameras to storage lockers and social media, the show keeps throwing new obstacles in their way and the women somehow seem to get through everything. Viewers also get to see a lot more of the Harding sons, and how their mother’s endeavors affect them, which added a nice touch to Season Two. 

The only downside to this season is the huge cliffhanger it ends on. What happens to Jen and Judy? A third season of the show has not been announced by Netflix yet, which is leaving fans concerned about the fate of “Dead to Me.”

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Madison Lusignan – Staff Reporter

“Atypical” is a coming-of-age series on Netflix created by Robia Rashid, featuring a family of four that faces more challenges than accomplishments. 

The star of the show is Sam Gardner, an 18-year-old with autism spectrum disorder, who goes through the journey of life with more challenges and roadblocks than most people have in their whole life.

Sam is the older brother of his sister Casey, and son of parents, Elsa and Doug Gardner. 

Casey teases Sam throughout the show but is always there as a support system for him, and always helps him through his rough moments, and so do his parents.

Sam has a love for Antarctica and all of its creatures, and is soothed by the thought of them or by focusing on them when he is struggling or having a bad moment. 

One thing viewers discover about Sam is that change is hard for him. It makes his life so much harder especially in this evolving world. 

One of the most memorable moments in the show is when Sam gets into college and gets to start down a path towards his own life and decisions.

Another memorable moment is when Sam gets his first girlfriend and discovers all of the different opportunities she has in her life. She brings him a new perspective. 

One of the more upsetting moments in the show is when Elsa and Doug separate; after lots of fighting and arguing, they take a break. This was troubling especially after all they had accomplished with Sam and everything they had helped him with.

Another awkward moment in the show is when Sam is forced to get a new therapist. After 18 years, Sam had finally figured out he had developed feelings for his therapist which was not acceptable to her or Sam’s parents, so they forced him to find a new one.

“Atypical” really shows the lives of people on the autism spectrum and the friends and family around them. It gives the audience an idea of what life on the autism spectrum is like and the difficulties they face day to day.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

By Madison Lusignan – Staff Reporter

Set in Hawkins, Indiana, “Stranger Things” begins its first series in 1983 with the subsequent seasons covering the years of 1984 and 1985. The series was created by the Duffer brothers Matt and Ross.

In the series, a young boy, Will Byers, goes missing near a top secret government laboratory on the same night a strange girl named, Eleven or “Elle,” appears at a diner in the town. 

Will’s friends Dustin, Mike, and Lucas, all desperately search to find him in the first series, along with Will’s family. 

Will is discovered in “Upside Down” which has a connection to the character named Eleven, but what they soon find out is that the “Upside Down” soon starts to become part of their world.

As the series goes on, the “Upside Down” becomes more and more involved in the lives of the people of Hawkins, and begins to unleash its monsters into their world.

One of the many memorable moments from the show is when Joyce finds her son Will and they begin their journey to retrieve him.

Another memorable moment from the show is when Jim “Hopper” declares he will become Eleven’s parental guardian and takes care of her as a father figure. 

One of the more weak and sad moments of the show is when Joyce’s old boyfriend Bob dies so Joyce can live, saving her from a deadly monster from the “Upside Down.”

Another weak point of the show is when Dr. Alexei one of the sweeter characters who works for the Russian Government is shot and killed at a fair, he was an adored character whose death was tragic.

Overall, with each upcoming season the show just gets better and better; it never seems to get boring. In fact, with each episode things seem to be getting more and more interesting. 

One of the best scenes is when Eleven steals a box of Eggo Waffles using her powers, as it is her favorite thing to eat and must fend for herself in some moments.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Tyanna Xavier – Staff Reporter

The new “Charlie’s Angels” have come back from the 2000s and made their way up to 2020. This movie was very women empowering as you can see these women take on a variety of challenges facing criminals. The action in this movie was unreal and shocking and the action sequences were very realistic.

The series was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and was produced by Aaron Spelling. The new and improved 2020 version of Charlie’s Angels was produced by Elizabeth Banks, Max Handelman, Elizabeth Cantillon, and Doug Belgrad. This movie includes many aspects including crime-fighting adventures of three women working in a private detective agency in Los Angeles, California. As the girls all just met, it was difficult working together as they are all such independent, strong women and feel they can handle anything on their own. However, they quickly became friends and continued to take down crime together.

The movie included a curiosity between the detective agency and a surprising plot twist that was hard to predict. A movie with a good, unexpected feel such as Charlie’s Angels is always one that catches people’s attention quickly.

Some downfalls of the movie were only that it was basically remaking what occurred in the first two “Charlie’s Angels” movies rather than really making the latest version their own. However, the special effects that are put into place while making this movie were impressive, as the characters look very dangerous and powerful.

“Charlie’s Angels” was very entertaining because it was different from any other recently-produced action movie. Also, it sends a message to women all around watching that women are just as strong as men, no matter the challenge. 

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

By Malakai Pisacreta – Staff Reporter

Ahh Minecraft, a wonderful video game that is 11 years young, and still going strong.

Minecraft is a sandbox video game that was originally released on May 17, 2009, and has been going strong ever since. While there are two different versions, the original Java Edition version is only playable on Mac Os, Linux, and Windows and the Bedrock Edition, the multi-platform version playable on Ps4, Android, Apple, Amazon, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and Windows 10. Both versions are nearly identical, but have some key differences.

Minecraft Bedrock edition, originally Minecraft Pocket Edition, is the most common version of Minecraft played, because it is on pretty much all consoles. Minecraft is a game with no story mode like other video games; rather, it is a game with endless possibilities with no end. 

The basic premise behind Minecraft is people play as their character, and they survive or build. In survival, players must build shelter, go mining, eat food, and fight monsters. This is the most prominent form of Minecraft, with the other mode being Creative where players can build anything you want.

Minecraft plays smoothly with beautiful music and easy-to-learn controls. Minecraft is a game that can be picked up by anyone. 

Minecraft will be getting a new update this year and that is already out on certain consoles. When it comes to Ps4, expect another review of the update.

Rating: 5 out of 5 Nether Stars

By Madison Lusignan – Staff Reporter

Co-created and executive-produced by Jonas and Josh Pate and Shannon Burke, “Outer Banks is set on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where there is an ongoing rivalry on the island between the “Pogues” and the “Kooks.”

Both rivals include a group of teens who are basically opposites of one another.

The “Pogues” are a group of teenagers who all have different futures and affluences that grew up together and one of the members, John B., is aspiring to continue his father’s journey to find the gold of a sunken ship. 

The “Kooks” are a group of stuck-up rich teenagers who do nothing but terrorize the “Pogues” but what they don’t know if one of their own will turn to the side of the “Pogues” and fall into a relationship with John B.

The interesting thing about the “Pogues” is that each member has their own story and their own view on life. They each experience their own challenges, some harder than others. 

Despite their challenges and despite being intimidated by the “Kooks,” John B. and his friends find the gold, but unfortunately that is right where their problems begin. 

Some of the best parts about this show is that it is the representation of every teenager’s dream and shows what a summer would look like if teens weren’t on their phones or submerged into technology for the the months they are let free. Their adventure shows how well they take advantage of their freedom and what they do with it. 

One of the few downfalls of the show is that it also represents some of the terrible things kids go home to, and how even some kids are straight up abandoned. It portrays the hard truth of some teenagers’ lives, but they do a good way of turning it around and showing how the teenagers make the best of it. 

Each episode of “Outer Banks” keeps you wanting more and more. People should follow the characters’ interesting adventures on their free time in quarantine. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Mayur Somalinga – Staff Reporter

“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is a romance/drama film that has recently been made available on Netflix that is based on the novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

[WARNING: This review contains spoilers for “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.” Read ahead at your own risk.]

The movie features Charlie (played by Logan Lerman), a high school freshman and the epitome of introversion who has spent his entire summer cooped up in his house with no connection to people other than his family, writing letters to a friend of his as a recommendation from his therapist, who is later revealed to be his only friend in middle school who committed suicide. Naturally, Charlie doesn’t initially acclimate to high school very well as he finds it difficult to interact with others and would much rather observe from the sidelines, and thus he is, as the title implies, a wallflower. Charlie continues down this path of loneliness and sorrow until Charlie befriends Patrick (played by Ezra Miller), Sam (played by Emma Watson), Mary (played by Mae Whitman), Alice (played by Erin Wilhelmi), and Bob (played by Adam Hagenbuch). While Charlie enjoys all four of his new friends he instantly gravitates toward Patrick and Sam the most. Before long the three friends become immensely close and turn Charlie’s entire world upside down for the better and lead him to new experiences, such as his first high school party, albeit short, but a romantic relationship with Mary Elizabeth, and much, much more. 

“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is a proper coming-of-age tale because it is so widely relatable as it tackles a multitude of issues that many kids, teenagers, and even adults struggle with. For one, it addresses the hardships that many people of the LGBTQIA+ community face as the viewers learn very early on that Patrick is a closeted gay who has a brief affair with a football player named Brad (played by Johnny Simmons), but Brad is not able to open up to his parents about it because his father is extremely homophobic, and consequently, Patrick faces harassment from his peers while keeping both of their secrets safe, and, at one point, even from Brad. The film also confronts the issue of sexual abuse on more than one count because it is explained that her past boyfriends have mistreated Sam, and although it is not mentioned explicitly, it is hinted that Charlie was abused as a child by his seemingly innocent and loving Aunt Helen (played by Melanie Lynskey). The movie also offers an apt representation of how mental illness can afflict people as it is very apparent that Charlie struggles with depression and anxiety to the point where he has a massive mental breakdown near the end of the movie that is easily one of the most moving scenes in the entire film.

While the movie can be praised for taking the initiative to represent tribulations that some know all too well, it also, arguably, more importantly, instills hope in those that identify as outsiders, like Charlie. Charlie goes from being an outcast in every facet of his life with his only friend no longer with him, trudging through his life all alone to being surrounded by friends who love and support him so that he can lead a happier, more fulfilling life. This drastic transformation that Charlie undergoes works to lift the spirits of those that consider themselves to be pariahs and give them faith that regardless of how secluded and displaced they may feel, things will eventually get better and they will meet their own Patrick and Sam.

The only complaint that can be made about this film is the realism, or, rather, lack thereof as most people can attest, popular or otherwise, as unfortunate as it is, that recluses are seldom adopted into a friend group, as Patrick and Sam did for Charlie. However, it can be argued that this is precisely why the film is so effective in inspiring people because it is an escape from reality that offers a more positive perspective on how their current situation could transpire.

Ultimately, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is a testament to teenagers everywhere regardless of their backstory because as much as it is a film that presents the life of a lonely freshman in high school and his turn of fate for the better, it is, in its simplest form, a story of growth, and that, is truly universal. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

(Some information courtesy of imdb.com)

By Jaelynn Shelton – Staff Reporter

The horror movie “Fantasy Island” was released on February 14. The movie initially starts off with five strangers being invited to an island that will supposedly allow their fantasies to come true. What they don’t realize is that their fantasies aren’t planned out exactly how they dreamed. 

The movie features many well known actors such as Lucy Hale, Micheal Pena, Maggie Q, Jimmy O. Yang, Austin Stowell, and Ryan Hansen. 

Michael Pena plays the role of Mr. Roarke, who is in charge of making the visitors’ fantasies come true. Mr. Roarke reveals that he’s made a deal with the island, and if he were to ever leave the island, the deal would be done. What the visitors don’t realize is that he would do almost anything to hold the part of his deal.

Lucy Hale plays as one of the visitors, Melanie Cole. Melanie’s fantasy is somewhat disturbing, as she plays an emotionally scarred girl who was bullied in high school. The trauma of her high school years led her fantasy to revolve all around her previous bully. She wanted revenge, but what she didn’t realize was the extent of the fantasy – or so we thought.

Maggie Q. plays Gwen Olsen. Gwen has the fantasy of wanting to have changed a past decision, which was to say yes to a marriage proposal from her long term ex-boyfriend.

Austin Stowell plays Patrick Sullivan, whose fantasy was to be able to be in the military. The island brings a little extra spice to his fantasy, as he sees someone important from his past.

Finally Jimmy O. Yang and Ryan Hansen play Brax and J.D. Weaver. Brothers’ fantasy was to party and live the life. They also didn’t realize that like everyone else’s fantasy there would be a twist. 

The end of the movie gives a sense of happiness, as tragic heroes and new views of life are exposed to both the visitors and workers of the magical Fantasy Island. 

The special effects and plot of this film were extremely strong. The actors in this film played very convincing roles that caught the audience’s eye. The only negative is the movie is not as scary as some might have predicted and placing it in the horror genre was an oversell.

By Lucas Greifzu – Editorial Editor

This year’s Wrestlemania was record-breaking and historic for multiple reasons. First, this year’s Wrestlemania was the first to be held without fans in WWE history. Second, it was the first Wrestlemania to be held over the span of two nights. While a lot of people were hoping that WWE would postpone the event so that it could be held with fans; many were happy with what they managed to get out of the show. The main card of Wrestlemania had 16 matches, eight on each night, and this article review each of them individually, and then review the event as a whole.

The first match of the first night saw the Kabuki Warriors (c) vs. Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross for the Women’s Tag Team Championships. This match was fairly average overall. There was good tag team wrestling from the Kabuki Warriors throughout the match. The match had good flow throughout, however it also had some mistakes; for example ,a couple of the moves at the end were not hit correctly. However, in the end, Bliss and Cross became the new Women’s Tag Team Champions. This match gets a rating of 2.5 out of 5 stars, but if there were not any mistakes with the moves towards the end of the match, it would have been 3 out of 5 stars.

The next match of the first night was Elias vs. Baron Corbin. This match was above average as a whole. Before the match Elias was able to smash a guitar over the back of Baron Corbin. As the match started there was some good back and forth wrestling; with both men being able to show their athleticism. In the end Elias was able to pull off a victory. This match gets a rating of 2.5 out of 5 stars.

The next match of the first night saw Shayna Baszler vs. Becky Lynch (c) for the RAW Women’s Championship. This match didn’t quite live up to the hype that it had laid out for itself. The match started off in a good way with some great back and forth wrestling. However, the match ended very quickly, and in an unexpected way. This unexpected ending made the match feel like it wasn’t important and that all of the buildup was for nothing. Nevertheless, Becky Lynch was able to retain her championship in a roll up pinfall victory. This match gets a rating of 2.5 out of 5 stars, but if there was an ending that was more befitting of the hype that this match would have received a rating of 3 out of 5 stars.

The next match of the first night saw Daniel Bryan vs. Sami Zayn (c) for the Intercontinental Championship. This match was fairly average overall. It started off rather slow as Sami Zayn kept dodging all of Daniel Bryan’s moves. However, as the match started to pick up both men were able to show their exceptional in ring ability. In the end, Sami Zayn was able to pick up the win and retain the Intercontinental Championship. This match gets a rating of 3 out of 5 stars.

Next, crossing the halfway point of the night, the next match saw John Morrison (c) vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Jimmy Uso in a ladder match for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships. This match was very good overall. This match was initially supposed to be a triple threat tag team match between the teams that these three men represent, but several of the wrestlers in the teams pulled out due to the Coronavirus. However, regardless of the circumstances of the match the wrestlers put on an excellent match. This match was full of back and forth action, as well as some incredible solo spots. In the end, John Morrison was able to pick up the victory by falling off of a ladder with the belts in his hands, and retain the Smackdown Tag Team Championships for his team. This match gets a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.

The next match of the night was Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins. This match was also very good overall. This match was different from all of the others on the card because it ended up turning into two matches. First, in a match without stipulation, Seth Rollins was able to defeat Kevin Owens via disqualification in an average match. However, following his defeat, Kevin Owens challenged Rollins to a no disqualification match. This is where things got interesting, as both men used many different weapons to their advantage. But, the spot that really stole the show was when Owens jumped off of the Wrestlemania sign through the announcers table onto Seth Rollins. This spot allowed Kevin Owens to win the match by pinning Rollins in the win. This match gets a rating of 4.25 out of 5 stars, but if the initial match had been more interesting and lasted a little longer, it would have received 4.5 out of 5 stars.

In the penultimate match of the night we saw Braun Strowman vs. Goldberg for the Universal Championship. This match was below average overall. Similarly to the Smackdown Tag Team Championship match, this match was also affected by the Coronavirus. Initially, this match was scheduled to be Roman Reigns vs. Goldberg, but Roman pulled out due to his personal health. However, the match still went on, but it was very underwhelming. In a match that lasted less than 5 minutes; Braun Strowman was able to earn a dominant victory over Goldberg, and become the new Universal Champion. This match gets rating of 2 out of 5 stars, but if the match were longer and had more of a story behind it, it would have received 3 out of 5 stars. Furthermore, there is no telling how good the original match of Roman Reigns vs. Goldberg would have been.

Finally, the main event of night one of Wrestlemania was AJ Styles vs. The Undertaker in a Boneyard match. This match was above average overall. This match had a lot of good attributes to it. However, this match felt more like a movie than a wrestling match. The match was filmed on a different set and was very high production. There were several special effects moments and many things that are much more theatrical than a regular match would allow for. That being said there were some great spots throughout, and both men sold moves well. In the end, the Undertaker was able to defeat AJ Styles by burying him in a grave with his name on it. This match gets a rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, but if the match were slightly less high production and felt more like an actual wrestling match, it would have received a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.

In the first match of the second night of Wrestlemania, we saw Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley for the NXT Women’s Championship. This match was above average overall. The match starts off with Charlotte showing that she is the more experienced wrestler. However,  the match quickly became more balanced. After some good back and forth wrestling, Charlotte Flair was able to win the match and become the new NXT Women’s Championship. This match gets a rating of 3 out of 5 stars.

The next match of night two was Aleister Black vs. Bobby Lashley. This match was average overall. The match started off with Aleister Black trying to take out the much larger Bobby Lashley, but Lashley was able to turn it around and take control of the match. However, in the end, Lashley’s wife Lana yelled instructions into the ring that led to Aleister Black spin kicking Lashley in the side of the head, thus picking up the victory. This match gets a rating of 2.5 out of 5 stars, but if the match had a more convincing ending to it, it would have received 3 out of 5 stars.

The next match of the night was Otis vs. Dolph Ziggler. This match was average overall, but the story was very entertaining. This whole feud started on Valentine’s Day when Mandy Rose supposedly stood Otis up for Dolph Ziggler. But, last week there was footage revealed that showed that Dolph Ziggler set himself up so that he would get to date Mandy and Otis wouldn’t. This led to the two of them having a match at Wrestlemania. The match itself was seemingly normal until Ziggler hit Otis with a low blow while the referee wasn’t looking. However, Mandy Rose came out and hit Dolph with a low blow while the referee wasn’t looking and helped Otis defeat Dolph Ziggler. This match gets 2 out of 5 stars, but the story gets a rating of 5 out of 5 stars.

The next match of the night was Edge vs. Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing match. This match was extremely good overall. In order to fully understand this story you have to go back to nine years ago. Nine years ago, Edge was forced to retire due to severe injuries in his neck. However, two surgeries and nine years of recovery later, Edge was able to return to the ring at the Royal Rumble in January. The night after that, Randy Orton came out and turned his back on Edge and smashed a chair over his head. At Wrestlemania this match was over 20 minutes long and was very gruesome to watch. It was a very personal match that saw many dangerous spots and potential injuries. The match ended in a similar way that the night after the Royal Rumble did, but with the roles reversed. Edge was able to put Randy Orton in a sleeper hold and then smash a chair over his head while holding back tears; which resulted in Edge winning the match. This match gets a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars.

The next match of the night saw Austin Theory and Angel Garza with Zelina Vega vs. the Street Profits for the RAW Tag Team Championships. This match was average overall. This match was thrown together in a hurry as one of the original competitors was injured before Wrestlemania. This was a standard tag team match which resulted in the Street Profits retaining their championships. However, at the end the challengers beat up the Street Profits, but Bianca Belair came to their rescue. This resulted in the Street Profits beating down on Garza and Theory while Belair beat down on Zelina Vega. This match gets a rating of 2.5 out of 5 stars.

The next match of the night saw Sasha Banks vs. Lacey Evans vs. Tamina vs. Naomi vs. Bayley in a Fatal 5 Way elimination match for the Smackdown Women’s Championship. This match was below average overall. While this match might look good on paper it didn’t turn out that way. In the beginning, all of the other competitors tried to eliminate Tamina because she was the strongest one in the ring. However the big problem with this match is that there was a lack of flow between the competitors in the match. This resulted in there being several gaps of silence in the match. In the end Bayley was able to retain her championship, but she might’ve damaged her friendship with Sasha Banks in the process. This match gets a rating of 2 out of 5 stars, but if the match had some more flow to it as well as a better story between the wrestlers, it would have received 3 out of 5 stars.

The penultimate match of both night two and the entire show was John Cena vs. “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt in a Firefly Funhouse match. This match was exceptional overall. The match started with John Cena coming out to the ring, but he was then teleported to the Firefly Funhouse, which is the residence of the Fiend. Cena then went through a door that changed the whole perception of reality. Bray Wyatt ran Cena through his history in the WWE and explained to everyone how he was a sellout and had everything handed to him. He then got to the part in the story where Cena and Wyatt crossed paths 6 years ago. Wyatt then went on an emotional speech saying that he had to fight for everything he had, and for a guy like Cena to tell him that he is over privileged was wrong. In the end, the Fiend appeared and put an end to John Cena and defeated him in the match. When everything was said and done, this match gets a rating of 5 out of 5 stars. Quick note, there has only been one official 5-star match in the modern era of the WWE, so this match was extremely well done. 

Finally, in the main event of night two and of the entire Wrestlemania card, we saw Drew McIntyre vs. Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship. This match was fairly average overall. This match went how a lot of people expected it to go. It started with Brock Lesnar dominating the match. He hit McIntyre with several German Suplexes and  three F5s, but he was unable to pin McIntyre. The momentum turned quickly as McIntyre hit Lesnar with several Claymore Kicks, and was able to pin Lesnar to become the new WWE Champion. This match gets a rating of 2.5 out of 5 stars, but if the match were a little longer and had some more depth to it, it would have received a rating of 3 out of 5 stars.

While there were several strong moments throughout this event. The three best moments would have to be the Firefly Funhouse match, Edge vs. Randy Orton, and the Boneyard match. The Firefly Funhouse match is the best moment of this Wrestlemania simply due to the fact that it gave the fans everything that they could have wanted and more. The amount of levels that were in the story that this match told were phenomenal. Plus, the Fiend was able to assert himself as the dominant character on Smackdown after he recently lost his championship to Goldberg. The second best moment would have to be the Edge vs Randy Orton match. This match told a very personal story between these two men. They were once a tag team and they were once brothers, but this match showed that they are neither of those things anymore, and put the feud to rest. Finally, the third best moment of the show was the Boneyard match. Even though the match was very high production and didn’t really feel like a wrestling match, it still told a very good story, and was very entertaining to watch.

There were also some not-so-good moments in this show that can’t be overlooked. The three worst moments of the match were The Smackdown Women’s Championship match, the Universal Championship match, and Elias vs Baron Corbin. Hands down, the worst moment of the night was the Smackdown Women’s Championship match. There was very little flow between the competitors, and the story between them didn’t make me interested in watching the match. Not too far behind that is the Universal Championship match. There was nothing in particular that was wrong with this match, but you have to wonder how much better it would have been if Roman Reigns was competing. (While I completely agree with and respect his choice to step away due to his personal health, I do still wish I could have seen him compete at this event.) Finally, the third worst moment of the night was the Elias vs Baron Corbin match. The main problem with this match is the lack of story between the two competitors. While there wasn’t really anything wrong with the match itself, it was strange that the match was happening at Wrestlemania. This match didn’t feel like a Wrestlemania moment and in my opinion it shouldn’t have happened at Wrestlemania.

All in all, Wrestlemania 36 was an above-average Wrestlemania, and certainly better than many of the recent Wrestlemanias. While there were some very noticeable bad moments, the good moments outweighed them for this event. Overall, Wrestlemania 36 deserves a rating of: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

By Gillian Rees – Staff Reporter 

Minecraft Pocket Edition is a 3D Sandbox Game where gamers can play with friends online or solo with or without internet connection. The company that developed Minecraft is a Swedish company named Mojang and is also owned by XBox Game Studios. Minecraft was initially made by a Java worker named Markus “Notch” Persson and was released in 2009 for PC, but then they developed the game for phones. Eventually, Minecraft was bought by Mojang and Microsoft. 

Minecraft is a very popular game with a massive following on YouTube, Tik Tok, and many other media platforms. There are Minecrafters who have made a living just by making a YouTube account based around their Minecraft prowess. Some of these Minecrafters are Skydoesminecraft, Captainsparklez, and TheBajanCanadian.

Minecraft is a game with endless possibilities and situations. Players can be in Creative Mode and build freely or be in Survival where players need to gather resources, food, build, mine, and fight monsters to stay alive. They can build a portal to go fight the ender dragon and “beat” the game, or go on the online servers and play mini-games. In Minecraft there are roughly 60 different types of biomes, including forest, snowy tundra, mountains, swamp, jungle, taiga, desert. There are also villages; some are different depending on what biome they are in. In the villages, there are villagers who players can trade with, and there are houses, crops and some chests around the villages with resources players can take. There are lots of different animals in the game, including cows, pigs, chickens, wolves, and horses which are tame-able, as well as fish, bunnies, foxes, pandas and many others. 

Overall, the mobile gameplay is satisfactory. Players can do pretty much everything that can be done on the PC version. The only difference is the controls, and in most cases, players prefer the PC controls because it makes a lot of things easier. Minecraft PE is fun and one could spend hours playing without getting bored. It is a game where players can do virtually anything they want. Playing Minecraft is a great way to waste a bunch of time and is perfect for the quarantine situation everyone is in right now. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Mia Cerrato – Editorial Editor

“Private Practice” is a show that takes place in the same universe as “Grey’s Anatomy.” It is a spin-off from “Grey’s” in which a neonatal surgeon named Addison Forbes Montgomery moves to LA where she works at a clinic called Oceanside Wellness Center. She builds close relationships with her colleagues including Sam Bennet, Naomi Bennet, Cooper Friedman, Violet Turner, Pete Wilder and later on in the season, Amelia Shepherd and Charlotte King.

Just like “Grey’s Anatomy” there is a lot of drama between relationships in the workplace. It allows viewers to get a glimpse on how doctors decide on what is most ethical treatment for patients. For most of the patients, the doctors discuss what they believe is the correct path regarding treatment. For instance, there was conflict between Pete and Sam. Pete’s patient was an elderly man who had cancer and was severely ill. He wanted to die and expressed that to Pete. Pete argued with Sam about physician-assisted suicide and their opinion on it. They were debating whether it was ethical or not. Pete felt as though it was justified because his patient was not living a good life due to the fact he was so ill. However, Sam felt otherwise.

Private Practice tackles popular societal issues that are commonly seen in real life. For instance, there was a patient who was a man who identified as a woman. She wanted to go through with gender reassignment surgery. Yet, the psychiatrist said she was not mentally fit enough to go through a surgery like that. Since she was denied the surgery, she executes it by herself at home. Through this patient, we see the struggles that the transgender community goes through in real life and all of the challenges they face. Another societal issue the show touches upon is the sexual assault of men in the military. In the episode, the man comes home to his beloved wife. They begin to have issues since they seem to be unable to reconnect. The wife did not know what had happened while he was away. They began to see a psychiatrist and it was revealed that the soldier was sexually assaulted by his commanding officer. He said he felt like he could not tell his wife due to the stigma surrounding the sexual assault of men. Even he couldn’t understand why he was unable to fight back when he was in the situation.

Overall, “Private Practice” was a thoroughly enjoyable show and is highly recommended. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Michael Loschiavo – Sports Editor

“All American” is a 2018 Netflix series inspired by the life of a professional American football player that is full of suspense and emotion. The show is directed by Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter and written by April Blairwould and is based on a true story about a young football player Spencer James who was just trying to fit in after transferring to Beverly High School from South Crenshaw.

As a high schooler, fitting into a new school is a problem students face everyday. Drama spreads like wildfire and can follow people until they leave those doors for the last time. In “All American,” the main character, Spencer James (played by Daniel Erza), is having trouble making friends after transferring to Beverly Hills. Jordan Baker (played by Michael Evans Behling) is the captain and QB for the Beverley Hills football team. The Baker family, Laura Fine-Baker (played by Monet Mazur), Olivia Baker (played by Samantha Logan), and father Billy Baker (played by Taye Diggs) lets Spencer  stay at their house slo he can play football.

Spencer is torn between his two worlds, as his mother and brother both want him to relocate while his friend Coop struggles with gangs and his cultural shift in lifestyles. Spencer also struggles with his father’s abandonment for a coaching job. On his first day, he plays exceptionally well much to the concern of Asher, (played by Cody Christian). While Spencer gets close with his girlfriend Leila who is extremely wealthy and takes a liking to him. Billy’s daughter Olivia seems to be more interested in him.

“All American” is very suspenseful. Similar to shows like “Grey’s Anatomy” and “This Is Us,” “All-American” will have viewers sitting on the edge of their seat, leaving them on a cliffhanger at the end of every episode. This is an amazing TV series to watch and shows the importance of friendships, high school love, and the love for football.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Mayur Somalinga – Staff Reporter

“To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You” is a 2020 Netflix teen romance film based on the novel P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han and a sequel to “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” which is based on a Jenny Han book of the same title. 

[WARNING: This review contains spoilers for “To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You” as well as “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.” Read ahead at your own risk.]

The movie starts, or more aptly, resumes, not long after the end of “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” which concluded with Lara Jean Covey (played by Lana Condor), better known as, Lara Jean, and Peter Kavinsky (played by Noah Centineo), beginning to date. Without delving too deep into the previous installment of the series, Lara Jean is the epitome of the modern-day hopeless romantic – from reading sappy romance novels to writing flowery love letters – she does it all. On the other hand, Peter is the stereotypical high school jock – tough, courageous, but still gentle when it comes to his girlfriend, Lara Jean. At first glance, Lara Jean and Peter could not be a more mismatched couple, however, their opposing qualities are what truly makes them such a good fit to the point where Lara Jean believes that Peter is her soulmate.

However, that is until Lara Jean receives a letter from John Ambrose McClaren (played by Jordan Fisher), or as he is more often referred to as, John Ambrose, the stylish, precocious, and devoted member of Model U.N., and childhood friend of Lara Jean. John Ambrose is introduced in the previous movie as one of Lara Jean’s previous crushes to whom Kitty Covey (played by Anna Cathcart), Lara Jean’s sister, sent Lara Jean’s secret love letters to, as well as the rest of her previous romantic interests (for more information on this plot point, watch “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”), in the prequel, including Peter, which ends with Lara Jean believing that was the last she was to hear of her infamous love letters, which given what happened, is not the case. Lara Jean being as quixotic as she is, after receiving the letter, can’t help but imagine, no matter how much she resists, what things would have been like if she was dating John Ambrose instead of Peter. These thoughts are further instigated when Lara Jean and John Ambrose end up volunteering together at Belleview, a retirement home, while Peter is volunteering at Oakwood Market. This, inevitably, leads to tension forming amongst Peter, Lara Jean, and John Ambrose for the rest of the film until Lara Jean finally realizes who she is meant to be with.

“To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You” is a noteworthy sequel to its forerunner because, as stated before, it links the two movies perfectly since it starts right after the end of the first movie, which gives it a sense of fluidity. Furthermore, this movie provides a sense of closure between two, feuding characters in the past installment, Lara Jean and Genevieve (played by Emilija Baranac), or as she usually goes by in the film, Gen, otherwise known as Peter’s ex-girlfriend. This was particularly satisfying to see because as detailed in the prequel, Lara Jean and Gen used to be the best of friends that tore away from each other after Gen realized that Lara Jean liked Peter as well. The fact that they were able to reunite was very heartwarming, and a testament to the existence of jeong (정), a Korean word meaning an inseparable connection between two people that can endure the harsh realities of life, between the two former friends, as explained by Lara Jean, herself. While Lara Jean is an enthusiast for love, she is not one to match-make, unlike Kitty, as she does in the case of her father, Dr. Covey (played by John Corbett) with their neighbor, Ms. Rothschild (played by Sarayu Blue). Although Lara Jean is indifferent in the beginning to set up a romantic relationship between her father and Ms. Rothschild because she doesn’t believe in forcing love, she eventually changes her mind after seeing that her father does fancy Ms. Rothschild.

This plot element was gratifying to see for viewers of the prequel for the sole reason that in the previous movie it was explained that Lara Jean’s mother died very early on in her life, so the prospect of Lara Jean’s father experiencing a romantic relationship after so many years was heartening to Lara Jean, as well as the viewers. A minor, yet tasteful, detail, also utilized in the previous film, was the use of the school ceiling banners to denote the passage of time, significant events, and also, in this film, Lara Jean’s mood.

While this film extends the plot of its predecessor in a very realistic manner, the biggest issue in the film is a matter of how anticlimactic the story truly is. The movie does a stellar job of presenting the conflict from Lara Jean’s perspective, however, once the story reaches its apex at the defining moment when Lara Jean ultimately has to choose between Peter and John Ambrose, it staggers downwards abruptly, as opposed to deescalating slowly. The sensation is hard to describe without giving too much away but it can be equivocated to the sensation of going outside with an umbrella open because it is raining only to have the rain stop two seconds later. If the movie were to build from the climax for even as little as 15 minutes, the ending would feel much more rewarding. However, it could be argued that this swift resolution of the plot plays into the novelty of the story, and the certainty of true love.

All in all, “To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You” will leave romance-film-aficionados divided as Lara Jean works to look beyond what she thought she knew about love and uncover who her soulmate truly is.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars 

(Some information courtesy of imbd.com) 

By Taylor Firla – Staff Reporter

Harry Styles is a former member of the popular boy band One Direction. One Direction went on a hiatus in January of 2016 for the other band members to pursue other projects. Harry Styles’ “Fine Line”  is the artist’s second album and was released on December 13, 2019. The album included the four singles “Lights Up,” “Watermelon Sugar,” “Falling,” and “Adore You”. 

“Fine Line” can be described as pop, rock, or pop-rock, and features 12 songs. Since Styles has grown from being a member of a band to a solo artist, it’s helped him express himself more as a person. His music helps him reach out to his fans so that they can know him better as a person and a singer. It’s common for artists to communicate with others through the lyrics of their songs, and Styles is a good example of an artist who uses their lyrics to communicate and help us understand what type of person he is.

As fans go through the track list you can tell how different each song is, based on its pace, the emotion, the vibe, all of the details that are put into each song. The songs “Falling” and “Adore You” are diverse towards each other. “Falling” is a slow song with compelling lyrics about wanting to be this type of person he envisions  himself. The lyrics in the song “What if I’m someone I don’t want around?” and “What if I’m someone you won’t talk about?” really show that Styles is trying to tell his fans something. “Falling” also seems to be a sad song that tells us he’s going through a controversial time with asking all these questions. “Adore You” on the other hand is a more upbeat song. The lyrics “You don’t have to say you love me/You don’t have to say nothing/You don’t have to say your mine” and “I’d walk through fire for you/Just let me adore you” shows that the song has a happier tone than “Falling.” It also shows that Styles likes to experiment with different types of beats in his songs.

There are no weak points on “Fine Line.” Styles explores and creates his music by making different genres of music his own. He shows the listener how diverse his music is compared to other artists today and shows how much he’s grown as a singer.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars 

By Alexis Broderick – News Editor 

“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” premiered on September 20, 1999, as the second series in Wolf’s successful “Law & Order” franchise. After the premiere of its 21st season in September 2019, the series became the longest-running U.S. live action series on television. This show features Mariska Hargitay as Olivia Benson, Ice-T as Officer Tutuola, and Christopher Meloni as Elliot Stabler.

The Special Victims Unit, or SVU, is a specially-trained squad of detectives in the N.Y.P.D., that investigate violent crimes, particularly sexual assault cases. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.

One of the most memorable episodes of the season is Episode 19. In this episode, the SVU struggles to find a serial predator who uses a drug that leaves no evidence behind.

“Law and Order: SVU” can be very educational to the viewer. For example, a 2015 Washington State University study found that college students who watched shows from the “Law & Order” franchise were better educated about rape and sexual consent. The study concluded, “For some people, shows like ‘SVU’ are helpful because it can help them categorize: ‘Wait a second. What happened to me looked like that, and that’s a crime.'”

The female actors in the show are very relatable and while this show can be scary at times, it is also super-informative and a good binge show to watch. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Samiksha Mehta – Entertainment Editor

This dance movie with a hidden motive – action-packed yet super sad – is so incredibly good, you don’t want to miss it.

[WARNING: Review of this movie comes with spoilers. You have been warned.]

“Street Dancer 3” came to theaters on January 29 starring Varun Dhawan, Nora Fatehi, Shraddha Kapoor and Prabhu Deva, the four main characters essential to the plot. “Street Dancer 3” is a movie based on two rival dance crews competing in a worldwide dance competition for the ultimate grand prize: 100,000 euros ($107,865 U.S. dollars). 

While Sahej’s (Varun’s) crew prepares for the competition, Inayat’s (Shraddha’s) crew tries to help illegal immigrants while also preparing for the competition. However, when Sahej and a couple of his crew members (his crew name is “Street Dancers” while Inayat’s crew name is “Rule Breakers”) transfer over to an enemy crew (“Royals”), the rest of “Street Dancers” and even some of “Rule Breakers” get a little upset and try to convince them to join them in order to get the best result.

Sahej, of course, does not believe anything they’re saying because “Rule Breakers” is their enemy, and while “Street Dancers” was part of his family, he thought that joining “Royals” would give them a boost in the win because of how good the original dancers are. Besides, Mia (Nora), Sahej’s girlfriend, is also in “Royals” which makes it easier than to just meet up at different times behind the “Royals”’ back. 

As they’re prepping for the competition, Inayat tries to hide that she’s a dancer from her parents because her parents are extremely conservative and believe that all dancing is associated with revealing clothing and forbid it. However, she gets caught one day and is in the middle of being yelled at when her brother brings Sahej in and as an apology for smack-talking her crew. 

When one of Sahej’s best friends and crew members finds out what “Rule Breakers” ultimate motive is to win the competition, he switches from “Royals” and Sahej gets mad because they’d always said they would stick together. When Sahej’s friend leaves, he finds out “Street Dancer”’s motive for winning and tries to persuade Sahej but he doesn’t believe anything because of their ongoing rivalry.

As the movie progresses, however, Sahej comes to realize that what his friend was saying about “Street Dancer” was true and just at the start of the final performance, “Street Dancer” and “Rule Breakers” join together for a big breakout performance and end up winning the competition. Now that Sahej and everyone knows the real motive behind “Rule Breakers” insistence for them to join, they donate the money to the illegal immigrants that Inayat was secretly helping and at the end of the movie, there’s a scene of a special S.W.A.T. team helping out with food and other necessities for other people in need.

All in all, this movie – while incredibly action-packed – also carries a hidden message of “treat others the way you’d want to be treated”. The dance crews, all caught up in their rivalry, didn’t even notice the immigrants until Ram (Prabhu Deva) pointed them out with his failed attempt at secrecy. But when they did notice the immigrants, they immediately forgot or pushed back their own selfish needs and chipped the prize money towards the immigrants to get home and safe to their families. 

Besides the heavy plot, the movie also contains really good dance scenes and songs at enjoyable intervals, so when people aren’t concerned about the immigrants and what’s going to happen, they can enjoy the dances and songs as ways to get their spirits up. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Hailey Boyle – Staff Reporter

“Dear John” is a romantic drama-war film based on the book by Nicholas Sparks. The movie stars Amanda Seyfried as Savannah Curtis, and Channing Tatum as John Tyree. The film was released on February 5, 2010, and displays a love story between a soldier, and a college student. 

John Tyree is a Staff Sergeant for the US Army, goes to Charleston South Carolina while on leave for two weeks. Savannah Curtis is a college student who is there on her spring break building houses for humanity. After saving her purse in the water, John and Savannah instantly hit it off. The two spend every day they have left with each other and grow towards a stronger and stronger romance. After Savannah meets John’s dad, John gets angered towards a comment she made saying his dad has autism like Allen, her life long friend Tom’s son. This caused John to storm off and accidently punch Tom in the face. The next day they both have to leave each other and Tom agrees to give Savannah a note that John left for her. When she receives the note she instantly goes to John’s house where they agree they will write letters to each other documenting everything, until John gets discharged in one year. 

While both lovers are counting down the days until the year is up, 9/11 happens. After the attack, John decides to re-enlist with his team which saddens Savannah tremendously. Their romance through letters continues, until Savannah stops writing for months. She finally sends one final “Dear John” letter, telling John she had met someone else and they had to break up. John loses his true love and stays in the army, until he is sent back home to see his father in the hospital after having a stroke. After his dad dies John visits Savannah and finds out the other man she married was Tim, who is suffering with lymphoma. 

This movie tugs on many heart strings with everything that is involved. An autistic child, a killer romance breaking up, war, a character with cancer, and a death of an autistic single father. This film is filled with passion and heartache that touches every viewer. The movie shows countless numbers of ups and downs making it more and more interesting. “Dear John” displays a beautiful, love at first sight, relationship that has everyone routing for the two. It makes the watchers emotional from seeing the tragic love story that doesn’t work out.

The film displays multiple things that are very heartwarming. Aside from the heart aching love story, it also shows a struggling father raising an autistic child, soldiers fighting in war, and the death of a single autistic father that loved his son. It goes back and forth from one heartwarming thing to another to create a theme of love, betrayal, and bittersweetness. The sweetness from both characters triumphs the heart wrenching break-up that everyone dreads. 

All in all, the movie “Dear John” is a great watch that will definitely make one shed a tear or two. The movie shows great love and passion throughout and the struggle of two lives just not meant to be.

Ratings: 5 out of 5 stars

By Eva Carroll – Staff Reporter

The movie “2012″ is an apocalyptic thriller released in 2009 directed by Ronald Emmerich. “2012″ is about a geological disaster that ultimately brings an end to the world. Dr. Adrian Helmsey and other geological scientists discover that increased radiation from the sun has melted the Earth’s core and caused the crust to destabilize. As a result, the crust will be free to rotate causing devastating earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. To save the human race, the United States government and other nations build storm proof ships which can protect 400,000 civilians. The story follows the journey of Jackson Curtis trying to save himself and his family from the coming disasters by traveling to the ships in hopes for salvation.

“2012” is an adrenaline-inducing film. The film includes multiple scenes where the family teetered on the verge of death. The suspense and fear over what could happen to the family stimulates adrenaline throughout audiences while at the same time keeping them entertained. One scene that was particularly thrilling was when Jackson gets the map to the government ships from an RV at Yellowstone park. During this scene, the Yellowstone Caldera erupts which will kill the family if they do not escape quickly enough. The scene includes multiple frames of the blast using proximity and vantage point to make the explosion seen even more destructive. The scene then alternates between Jackson madly driving away and gigantic chunks of debris crashing into and destroying the area around him. This feature highlights the imminent threat of danger that Jackson is faced with. At first, all other audio is cut besides the sound of the explosion. This technique isolates all other parts of the scene bringing undivided attention towards the devastating blast.

Afterward, intense crescendo music starts to build as Jackson gets closer and closer to the plane which builds up the intensity and urgency of the situation. When Jackson reaches the plane, he stays inside the RV looking for the map. As he does this, the ground underneath the RV collapses and the RV is seconds away from plummeting down to the core of the Earth. At this moment, the music stops and his children start to cry. Viewers are led to believe that Jackson is going to die. This scene has everyone jumping out of their seats pleading for Jackson to get out of the RV before it’s too late. Miraculously, Jackson manages to climb out of the RV and onto the plane runway. Jackson is seen running after the plane with the ash cloud and debris bellowing after him. He manages to make it on the plane with the map safely and escape from his near certain death. The producer could have made Jackson’s quest for the map easy, but he purposely made the task dangerous to make the film more adrenaline inducing. They incorporated multiple film techniques to increase the thrill and intensity of the scene such as manipulation of sound, usage of particular media elements (proximity, vantage point, etc.), and variation and alternation of frame clips. This was just one scene that made the movie all that more thrilling. 

“2012” spreads a positive theme about good vs. evil. In the film, there were multiple conflicts that the characters were faced with, but one in particular demonstrated the good nature of human beings against the evil nature in human beings. Different characters represented different sides to this battle. Characters like Mr. Anheuser, a greedy and selfish government official, and Yuri Karpov, a misogynistic billionaire, represent the evil in people. Characters such as Dr. Adrian Helmsey, a young geologist, represent the good in people. Dr. Helmsey works for Mr. Anheuser. Mr. Anheuser hid the truth from the American people and led the execution of anyone who tried to speak out. Whenever Dr. Helmsey tries to persuade Mr. Anheuser to let the public know, Mr. Anheuser shuts him down. It seems for the majority of the movie, evil is in control. However, at the end of the movie this changes. One of the final scenes takes place right after the boarding gates to the ships close. Hundreds of people who paid for their tickets were not boarded onto the ship. There is only 15 minutes until the tsunami wave hits the ships and the unboarded passengers herd outside the boarding gate. Dr. Adrian Helmsey makes a speech about how it is inhumane and wrong to allow hundreds of others to die. Mr. Anhueser argues that if they open the gates, they may not be able to close them in time and they will all die.

Dr. Helmsey attempts to convince the heads of the mission to open the gates by saying, “The moment we stop fighting for each other, that’s the moment we lose our humanity.” They have to decide if doing the right thing is worth the sacrifice. If the gates stay closed, it shows how evil nature wins because Mr. Anhueser gets what he wants and what is left of humanity is motivated by self interest and greed.

If the gates open, it shows how good nature wins because people are still fighting for each other and doing what is right. After a long silence, they open the gates spreading a message to viewers that the good in people will always trump the evil.

On the other hand, “2012″ is very cliche and repetitive. This movie has all the end of the world cliches out there. First of all, the stereotypical “loony bin” is the first one who tells Jackson about the coming events. Just like every other apocalypse movie, Jackson plays his warnings off  and later realizes that he was right the whole time. Further, it just so happens that Jackson can save his family from any situation even though it would be literally impossible to do so in real life. One example of this in the movie is when Jackson gets his family out of California which was becoming destabilized. Not only does he successfully swerve every falling car and piece of debris, he manages to speed through both a collapsing bridge and collapsing glass building completely unscathed. He also randomly has access to all different types of last minute transportation including two different planes. Throughout the movie there were so many unbelievable crazy coincidences that saved Jackson and his family that the movie became a little too unrealistic. On to my next point, some scenes were way too similar. For example, when Jackson drives out of California, the road behind them starts to crack and break apart as the crust destabilizes. Then, when Jackson and his family try to leave California by plane, the runway behind them starts cracking down and breaking as well. Moreover, when Jackson and his family leave Yellowstone park by plane, the same thing happens where the runway starts to crack and fall apart behind the plane’s path. Finally, when Jackson tries to get on a plane to china where the ships are located, the runway cracks and falls apart directly behind them….again.  

“2012” is successful in creating suspenseful and thrilling scenes that the audience expects in a thriller/action film. The film is also successful in incorporating deeper themes such as good versus evil. However, the film was cliche and repetitive which is why it does not deserve a 5 out of 5 rating.                    

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

By Adarsh Senthilnathan – Staff Reporter

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!

“London Has Fallen,” directed by Babak Najafi, is about Secret Service agent Mike Banning, played by Gerard Butler, and how he saves President Benjamin Asher, played by Aaron Eckhart, from terrorists in London, England. 

“London Has Fallen” has amassed a worldwide total of $205.9 million and $62.7 million in North America. Angela Bassett, who played Lynne Jacobs, was a nominee for the Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture. 

The movie focuses mainly on Mike Banning and how he manages to keep President Benjamin Asher safe and save him from the terrorists that capture him, but it also includes people like MI6 Agent Jacquelin Marshall, Secret Service Director Lynne Jacobs, and Vice President Alan Trumbull. 

The movie starts off with G8 intelligence services tracking Aamir Barkawi, who is an arms dealer and terrorist, and authorizing a US Air Force drone strike on his compound during his daughter’s wedding, the strike apparently killed and injured some of his family members, but not him. After this, two years have gone by in the movie, and British Prime Minister James Wilson suddenly dies, so President Asher, Mike, and Lynne go to the funeral in London. 

During President Asher’s car ride to Saint Paul’s Cathedral, mercenaries disguised as police officers and emergency responders coordinate attacks that kill five leaders that were set to attend the funeral proceedings. When President Asher arrives at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, gunfire reaches his location and many mercenaries attempt to kill him and his security detail, but Agent Voight escorts President Asher, Agent Banning, and Director Jacobs out of the cathedral plaza, until he is shot and killed. From that point, Agent Banning escorts President Asher and Director Jacobs to Somerset House, and they get on board Marine One, then Marine Two and Marine Three follow Marine One out of Somerset House. 

Eventually, President Asher is kidnapped by Barkawi’s men and severely physically harmed, and Agent Banning works with the British military to save President Asher from Barkawi and his men. 

One of the best parts of the movie is when Mike deleted the resignation letter that he had after he watched Vice President Trumbull talk about the United States of America prevailing. 

Previous to President Asher’s kidnapping, Mike and Benjamin enlisted the help of MI6 agent Jacquelin Marshall, the terrorists capture Trumbull’s encrypted message that they would send a delta team to Mike’s location, but the terrorists get to the building and attempt to assassinate Mike and President Asher. 

Agent Marshall found out that MI5 Intelligence Chief John Lancaster aided Barkawi through his attempt to assassinate President Asher, so she goes to arrest him but he goes for his gun, so she shoots at him and kills him. 

However, the movie could have included some more action in the beginning part of the movie, like before the drone strike. 

The director of the movie did a really good job of providing vivid details and action-packed fight scenes. 

“London Has Fallen” fits nicely between the two other movies in the “Fallen” series – “Olympus Has Fallen” and “Angel Has Fallen.”

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Stephanie Caron – Entertainment Editor

“Animal Crossing” is a fun-loving, classic video game that was first released 19 years ago on the Nintendo 64. “Animal Crossing” is a game where the player’s character is a human who lives in a village that is inhabited by various animals. In the game, the player goes fishing, searching for fossils to put into their museum, and bug catching. The last release of an “Animal Crossing” game before the latest one was “Animal Crossing: New Leaf” on the Nintendo 3DS back in 2012. The anticipation of the new game that is loved by so many was long, and highly demanded. “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” was released on the Nintendo Switch on March 20 and is better than anyone could have ever expected. 

Many features were updated and changed in the newest game: better graphics, new villagers, new buildings, new clothes, and many more. In the release in 2012, the main goal of the game was that you were the mayor and had to create the town from scratch, but with this release you are not the mayor, you are now on a deserted island and your job is to create a new town for visitors to come visit and live with you. You are given set goals to do to get further into the game, and many tasks to get new villagers. 

Including the basic features many there are smaller changes of the game that might not seem like a big deal to a new player, but to a fan of “Animal Crossing” it is a huge deal. Nintendo created a phone for you to carry around to connect with your encyclopedia of insects and fish, see what friends are on, your nook miles, and your DIY bench. The DIY bench and the Nook Miles are two new features that really shape the game as you are given many different quests to obtain your miles, and DIY projects to expand your village. It is shown throughout the game how much thought and detail went into the creation, and production of this new version. 

This game is very addicting, as you want to grow and expand your village to be the best it possibly can. Although the wait for this new “Animal Crossing” was long, it was completely worth the wait.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Jaelynn Shelton – Staff Reporter

“To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You” was released as a Netflix original sequel to the first movie, “To All The Boys I Loved Before.” The film was released on February 12 in the U.S. The movie features Lana Condor as the main character, Lora Jean. She tries to navigate her new relationship, in the harsh high school environment.

In the first movie, it is shown that Lora Jean writes love letters to all of her crushes in the past. Lora Jean’s sister grows sick and tired of watching her older sister have no social life. In an attempt to better it her Lora’s younger sister releases her letters, to Lora’s past crushes in hopes that it will spice her life up. Lora Jean tries to run from her sister’s ex boyfriend (whom she wrote a letter to), as she tries to save the embarrassment. While running from one boy, she runs into the arms of another, unaware that they would fall in love. 

Lora’s love interest, Peter, is played by Noah Centineo. Peter and Lora make an agreement to start a fake relationship (they each have their personal reasons). The fake feelings eventually become real. They have their problems but by the end of the first film they end up together. 

In the sequel, Lora and Peter are dating, but Lora has a hard time adapting to the life of a girlfriend as she overthinks about both her and her boyfriends every move when they are together. She gets a letter in the mail from another one of her past crushes that received one of her famous crushing letters that she wrote when she was younger. His name is John and it is clear that he has feelings for Lora Jean from the letter. Lora tries to put the letter aside but when signing up for a volunteer opportunity, she gets stuck with John. Lora struggles with who to pick in a crazy love triangle, but in the end one connection is stronger than the other, and she finds her true love. 

There are many strong points in the sequel. The actors seemed really committed to the roles as they all played convincing parts. In some scenes, however, the camera work is a bit cringy. Sometimes, it’s best to keep it simple, but not awkward. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Amelia Mower – Staff Reporter

An inside look into the daily affairs and scandal of Washington, D.C., along with the duties of President Tom Kirkman are encompassed in “Designated Survivor’s” third season, launched exclusively on Netflix. As former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, having no prior political experience, Tom Kirkman became President of the United States in the wake of tragedy. In Season Three of “Designated Survivor,” Kirkman is running for reelection as President, facing many unexpected challenges along the way. 

The 10-episode season touches on many sensitive and controversial topics that President Kirkman has to consider on his run for reelection. These topics range from bio-terrorist attacks and opioid addiction to the debate over immigration and transgender rights in the United States. The last episode of the season shows the ultimate result of Kirkman’s reelection and closes up some of the loose ends found in prior episodes. 

This season also digs deeper than ever before into the background and lives of some of the Presidential Cabinet members and people close to the President. Viewers find out about Aaron Shore’s questionable past, Emily Rhodes’ family issues, and Hannah Wells’ motivation. Affairs between colleagues and secrets between members of the Cabinet are sure to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. 

Although slightly different from the two seasons before it, the third season of “Designated Survivor “is definitely one to watch. It does a good job of portraying real-life issues, ones that even parallel the debates going on in our country today. One thing that is very unique to this season is the inclusion of real, non-actor people of the United States in President Kirkman’s campaign. This aspect and the input of actual people’s opinions and experiences make this season of “Designated Survivor” special.

The only downside of “Designated Survivor’s” third season is that it is the final one. Netflix cancelled the show after the third season aired in June 2019. Because of the cancellation, the last episode of the show poses many unanswered questions about the fate of Tom Kirkman and his Cabinet. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Morgan Taylor – Editor-in-Chief

The documentary series “Tiger King” was recently released on Netflix and quickly grew in popularity to make it onto the Top 10 list of shows to watch in the US. The story follows the life of Oklahoma native, Joe Exotic. Not only does Joe act like a character out of a dramatic TV show about country life, but he also owns over 200 big cats. While running his own private zoo called Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park, Joe finds himself fighting against various animal rights activists, including one woman named Carole Baskin. Each episode of this seven-part series is filled with immense amounts of drama. From a disappearing husband to polygamy to a murder-for-hire trial, this show truly encompasses the drama that is involved with the private ownership of exotic animals. 

Although the show revolves around Joe Exotic, whose personality takes over the screen with his eccentric lifestyle of running his own broadcast network, filming a reality TV show, and continuing a singing career, the other people involved make the documentary really worth watching. Carole Baskin, the animal rights activist from Florida and Joe’s sworn enemy, runs her own sanctuary called Big Cat Rescue. With millions of followers on different social media platforms, Carole has a huge impact on the animal rights world. The feud between Joe and Carole gets more and more extreme throughout the series and makes the storyline that much more interesting. Joe accuses Carole of feeding her husband to her tigers and continuously berates her on his broadcast network. People such as John Finlay (Joe’s husband) Rick Kirkham (the reality TV show director), Doc Antle (a fellow big cat owner and breeder), and Joshua Dial (Joe’s campaign manager in his run for president and governor) all contribute to the dramatic storyline that explains Joe’s seemingly insane lifestyle.

If people are looking for a series to binge for the entire day during quarantine, “Tiger King” is perfect. The fact that this show is completely true makes it that much more interesting and keeps the viewer on the edge of their couch. Grab some popcorn and take a seat cause you won’t want to get up until the whole show is over.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Malakai Pisacreta – Staff Reporter

“I NEVER LEARNED HOW TO READ!” says an angel who has just been sent into the distance by a plumber with a red hat, blue overalls, and a mustache that no one can forget.

This is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a game pitting video game characters from different licenses, developers, and franchises, against each other. Though the game has been out since December of 2018, this game is only just getting started when it comes to content for players. 

This game has the largest roster yet of any Super Smash Bros. game with 74 characters at launch, six DLC characters, and six more to come.

The game play is typical of other Smash Bros. games, multiple different modes such as, Classic, Stadium, Smash, and Online.

The main mode that most play is Smash, where you can have up to eight people play at once, which is a fun way to have family and friends alike, good or bad, enjoy the game.

There is also Classic Mode, which takes the player through different challenges as the character they choose, ending when they give up, or beating the final boss.

With not many things to do in quarantine, gamers can turn to Smash to help fill the time by playing online, with friends or strangers.

Playing online is fun, but without a stable connection, the game can feel super slow, and unresponsive.

Smash is also a good way to have fun with younger siblings or parents, because the controls are simple enough. 

Unlike other fighting games, 77 characters in the roster do not need those complex button inputs, (ex, down, forward, down, forward a). 

Most fighters will only need to have the a or b button pressed while holding the joystick in a direction or without a direction.

The three exceptions are for fighting game characters, Ryu, Ken, Terry Bogard. These characters require the experience of either, playing the games they come from, or button-mashing.

Overall, the game has so much potential, and hopefully many more years of play to experience.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

By Sydney Simpson – Staff Reporter 

The CW series “All-American” starring Daniel Ezra is now one of the top three most streamed shows on Netflix due to the release of its second season on March 7. Loosely based on the story of former NFL star Spencer Paysinger, Season 1 of the show follows main character Spencer James (Daniel Ezra) who is a junior in high school and who also happens to be one of the top 100 football players in the country. 

James was originally from South Crenshaw, a tight, loving community and a town that suffers massive amounts of gang violence. After being recruited by Beverly Hills High School’s football coach Billy Baker (Taye Diggs), James left South Crenshaw to play for Baker in hopes of more opportunities. In order to meet the requirement to be a student at Beverly, James had to move in with coach Baker and his family, further separating him from his friends, family, and community. The first season of the show focused more on James’s football career, how he acclimated to life in Beverly Hills, and how he led his new team to the state championship, while season two focuses more on his home life, and the heartbreaking issues occurring in his community. 

Season 2 of the show was inspiring, heart wrenching, and frustrating all in one. With multiple plots occurring at once, the show really keeps the watcher on their toes. There are a multitude of characters, all with their own complex emotions, backgrounds, and problems that add to the interesting and exciting storyline. It was inspiring by showing that anyone, no matter where they come from, can overcome even their biggest obstacles. Almost every character in this show had at least one struggle during season two, either external or internal, and the ways that each individual dealt with those struggles were different. Some needed more help than others, but in the end, almost all of them were resolved. 

Season 2 of the show focuses more on the home lives of the characters rather than just on football, and it really goes in depth with the struggles of being a teenager and the pressures that kids put on themselves to make people proud or to be the best. It has heartwarming moments, such as the teenagers of both communities coming together at points throughout the season to fight for what’s important to them, and the multiple times that James and his friends stood up for each other no matter what happened. Family values were instilled throughout the season as well, by showing how Spencer remains close with his Mom and his brother while living in Beverly, and how he deals with the issues he has with his father. On the downside,  there is a lot going on through the season and it could be hard to keep track of, which makes the show slightly confusing. It also discusses many mature topics, such as depression, drugs, violence, and more that could be unsuitable for younger viewers. 

All in all, the show “All-American” is an incredible view into the struggles of teenage life while at the same time being an entertaining and realistic show about American high school football. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars