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

By Hanna Broderick – Staff Reporter

“John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch” is a children’s comedy special created by Mulaney and Marika Sawyer. The special came out on December 24, 2019 on Netflix, where Mulaney has done three previous stand-up comedy specials. Mulaney’s intention was to create a special that resembled 70s kids television. It was mainly inspired by classic series’ “Sesame Street,” “The Electric Company” and “The Great Space Coaster.” The special features Mulaney alongside 15 child actors and singers ages 8-13, and includes special guests Jake Gyllenhaal, David Byrne, and André De Shields.

At the beginning of the special Mulaney talks about how he was recently watching children’s TV and he didn’t like it. Remembering how much he enjoyed it as a kid, he concludes that TV was simply better back then and his goal was to create something similar to what he enjoyed as a kid. It does exactly that, each skit tackles a different topic through sketches and songs. 

The show is funny for adults because of how much of it represents the innocence and silliness of kids. It sort of pokes fun at the ‘dumbness’ of kids without being condescending towards them. It also makes multiple comments on how sometimes the more simplistic and oddly intelligent approach that children often take, could be the best.

In one sketch, the kids are sitting in a meeting room holding a focus group led by Mulaney about a fake movie he produced, one of the kids breathlessly explains the whole plot to him, despite him obviously already knowing. However, the child does a great job in summarizing the movie and Mulaney realizes that it would be the perfect logline. This is all why it is an appealing special to people of all ages.

Considering that the show was made for kids and adults, the actual format of the show could have been made more in mind of children. The special is 1 hour and 10 minutes long which most kids do not have the attention span to watch. It could have been served better as a multiple episode mini-series showing only one or two skits an episode. Besides that, the actual writing, directing, production and screenplay was phenomenal. 

“John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch” is the perfect special to watch for anyone, of any demographic. It is extremely funny and explores topics that have not been previously talked about in a kids show.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars 

By Tyanna Xavier – Staff Reporter

“Five Feet Apart” is a 2019 classic and romantic film that will have every woman at the edge of their seat in tears. This film was directed by Justin Baldoni and written by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis. The film was based on a true story of a couple named Dalton and Katie Prager who both had cystic fibrosis. 

Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease that affects the glands that produce mucus and sweat, causing mucus to become thick and sticky. As the mucus builds up, it can block airways in the lungs making it harder to breathe.

In the movie, the main character, Stella (played by Haley Lu Richardson), checks into the hospital for help with her cystic fibrosis (CF), as though it is her second home. Stella has been there so long she became friends with a lot of the staff and other sick patients that are around her age. When she is roaming the halls of the hospital she comes across another patient named Will (played by Cole Spouse) who also has CF. However, Will was there to do it through an experimental trial to help with the CF. 

As most women have seen many romance movies in their lives, this is one to remebever. Will was so tired of having this disease he didn’t care what would happen to him. However, Stella refused to let him think that way. Every day she would see him but of course, stand five feet apart and just help him stay organized with his medicine and tell him that they are going to get through this together. 

Some strong points of the film were that it was unpredictable, yet very realistic. This film was fiction but it introduced real life problems and complications in people’s lives. People with cystic fibrosis should never meet each other because they carry bacteria within their lungs that could be harmful to each other. Therefore, for this movie to be a rom-com about two teens who can love from a distance but never touch is very eye-watering.

As much as this movie was very thrilling, however, it did resemble many other romance movies. For one, it is similar to “The Fault In Our Stars” and “The Notebook” because the plot involves characters battling with medical issues. Notwithstanding, this movie was very entertaining. It just could have had a slightly different storyline than these other romance movies. 

This is a great movie to watch on a girls’ night along with some ice cream and a box of tissues. 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

By Maddie Papcun ─ Staff Reporter

Tim Burton is well known in the entertainment industry for his dark direction of macabre cartoons and horror films, such as “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Yet, while animated movies in general lend themselves more to whimsical or high-spirited themes, Burton pushes the envelope again and again, especially with “Corpse Bride.” 

Released on September 23, 2005, and now almost 15 years old, “Corpse Bride” is the tale of Emily, a bride of the afterlife, and Victor Van Dort, her still-breathing groom. It is set in a fictional, Victorian-era village of England. 

As the film opens, Victor, the son of newly-wealthy fish merchants, is set to marry Victoria Everglot, the daughter of newly-poor aristocrats. The hope is that such a union will raise the social status of Victor’s family, while simultaneously raising the financial status of the Everglots. 

Nervous about marrying someone he does not know, Victor struggles through the wedding rehearsal and eventually runs away to the forest to practice his vows alone. As he places a ring on a branch, it manifests into the hand of Emily, a dead woman in a tattered bridal gown who agrees, saying “I do.” Thus, Victor is caught between two marriages, and struggles to find his place in both the mortal world and the Land of the Dead. 

The strongest point of “Corpse Bride” by far is the soundtrack. The movie is semi-musical in nature, as some of the plot is told by songs the characters sing. These songs reach a wide range of genres, but the best one is titled, “Remains of the Day,” and utilizes a New Orleans jazz style to explain how Emily came to be the titular  “Corpse Bride.” 

Another strength Burton’s “Corpse Bride” holds is the casting. Johnny Depp voices Victor, and Helena Bonham Carter is the voice of Emily. Honestly, this should not be a surprise, as Burton has a habit of casting the two actors in opposing roles of his movies. This would seemingly make the pairing overdone, but the opposite is actually the case; each applies perfect emotion and characterization through their voice acting. 

Additionally, “Corpse Bride” does a fantastic job of explaining typically difficult concepts to its younger audience. It is an animated film and is intended for children, but it also deals with heavy topics such as death, true love, and murder. Burton’s film does not struggle in explaining these concepts simply, rather it perfectly breaks each difficult point down while telling an entertaining story. 

While “Corpse Bride” is a movie that’s a little older, it is a timeless story of love and loss told through Tim Burton’s classic style of stop-motion animation, suitable for all ages. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars 

(Some information courtesy of imbd.com) 

By Samiksha Mehta – Entertainment Editor

Tons of new songs have come out during these three months in 2020. Many of those songs have been on TikTok, which is a platform where people post videos to get likes and views and get “TikTok famous.” Some of the songs include “You Should Be Sad” by Halsey, “Yummy” by Justin Bieber, and “What A Man Gotta Do” by the Jonas Brothers.

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Halsey has been known for her distinctive singing voice and the way her songs make her fans feel like they can do anything. Some of her songs are about getting over bad breakups or about getting over that friendship that was so toxic you didn’t have anything to fall back on. “You Should Be Sad” is about a girl getting ready to breakup with her significant other and no matter how gently she’s doing it, she’s doing it in a way that makes it obvious that she never wants to see him again. 

The lyrics “I wanna start this out and say / I gotta get it off my chest / Got no anger, got no malice / Just a little bit of regret” start off the first verse by conveying the meaning that she’s had this in her for a while and needs to get it off in a way to let her continue to be free and without regrets.

One strong part in “You Should Be Sad” is the lyrics “Oh, I feel so sorry / I feel so sad / I tried to help you / It just made you mad” because it shows that she’s trying to be the bigger person while also trying to reject him as clearly as she can. It shows that you can do anything you put your mind to as long as you’re focused and ready. 

A confusing part of song is the line “Let me start this off by saying / I really meant well from the start” because it’s confusing and makes questions arise like “was she planning on breaking up with him before the relationship even became official?” or it could’ve given off the impression that she was in it for the glory or whatever and then ended it because she wasn’t satisfied.

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Before releasing his new album “Changes,”  Justin Bieber had about as many songs as diehard fans have on their liked songs playlist on Spotify. One of the extremely popular songs on “Changes” is called “Yummy” which is about his deep affection for his wife and how he’d do anything for her; drop everything and go to her if that was what she wanted. 

The most memorable lyrics in “Yummy” are “Say the word, on my way / Any night, any day / In the morning or late / Say the word, on my way” because it shows that he’s always ready to drop everything and go to her if she ever needs him no matter what’s happening and that’s basically what his whole album is about, basically just showing his true “intentions” (another song on his album) and letting his wife know that he’s always there for her since the album is basically dedicated to her and his relationship with her. 

A weak point in “Yummy” is when Bieber sings “Standing up, keep me on a rise / Lost control of myself, I’m compromised / You’re incriminated, no disguise / And you ain’t never running low on supplies” because it’s confusing, simple as that. Probably only Bieber knows what this means, and while that is okay and all because it’s his album, it’s a lot more confusing for his fans too because they would want to know what it means if they can’t figure it out.

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The Jonas Brothers’ album “Happiness Begins” is all about the era of being tied down, marriage, and the honeymoon phase in marriage and Kevin, Nick and Joe really play it up in their songs on this album. 

“What A Man Gotta Do” is about the passion behind the marriage and how the husband is reassuring the wife that they’re in it together no matter what. 

The lyrics “I’d move the earth or lose a fight just to see you smile / ‘Cause you got no flaws, no flaws” are memorable because it shows that the husband is pleased to praise his wife and that he’d do anything for her happiness, even if it made him a little upset. 

A weak point in “What A Man Gotta Do” is the lyric “Cut my heart about one, two times” because only the artist knows what it means and although that’s normal for songs because fans can’t be expected to know what all of the lyrics mean, it’s still confusing because they don’t know what the singers are trying to convey. 

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Overall, “You Should Be sad”, “Yummy”, and “What A Man Gotta Do” are actually really good songs to move around to and to gather inspiration from (especially “You Should Be Sad” for that last one).

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Samiksha Mehta – Entertainment Editor

Music fans may know “Falling” by Trevor Daniel. Well, he recently released a new song called “Past Life” which is him talking about his past life and basically what he would change to make his new life better. He reflects on all he did in his past life and how he’s trying to better himself by recounting what he did and would not do. 

“And I don’t want to sit in all my sadness / I know it’s a habit of mine” is a part of the song where Daniel acknowledges that he spends most of his time wallowing in his despair and that he doesn’t want to do that anymore in this “new” life of his. 

A strong part in the song is when Daniel sings, “Don’t re-, don’t remind me / I ruined it before it began” because of how he acknowledges that he ruined the life before it began, and that he doesn’t want to be reminded of his past actions. It shows that Daniel is willing to move on and forget his “past” life and transition into his “new life” while also making sure he fixes his mistakes or avoids making them again. 

One weak point point in the song is when Daniel sings, “Got me here like you can never figure me out / Last night was the last time, was the last time” because it gets kind of confusing. Like, why was last night the last time? What was it the last time for? What did he do to make it sound like he was definitely never gonna do it again? Also, what does he mean by “you can never figure me out”? Is he trying to block out the people who hate on him? Is he leaving clues that the recipient will never figure out? The lyrics are very confusing and leave a lot up to interpretation. 

Overall, “Past Life” by Trevor Daniel is a good song and it could inspire someone to block out their haters or cut off toxic people so they can move on and get started on their “new life” and make new friends or keep old friends and create new bonds. 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

By Addison Schwing – Editorial and News Editor 

WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR “PARASITE”

Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” has taken the box office by storm. The comedy-thriller premiered at the Cannes film festival in 2019, whereupon it received the Palme d’Or, the first South Korean film to do so. Upon its release in Korea at the end of May, Parasite was met with critical acclaim, going on to receive over 180 awards, including four Oscars. 

Parasite follows the story of the Kim family, who are destitute and live in a basement apartment in the slums of an unnamed Korean city (the movie was filmed around Seoul and in Jeonju). The Kim family father Ki-taek, mother Chung-sook, daughter Ki-jung and son Ki-woo hold temporary jobs as pizza box holders and struggle to make ends meet. One day, Ki-woo’s friend offers him a job as an English tutor for the exorbitantly wealthy Park family, who live in a lavish modern house and drive nice cars. 

Soon, Ki-woo helps the rest of his family infiltrate the Park family, with Ki-jung posing as an art therapist, Ki-taek working as the family chauffeur, and Chung-sook taking up the position of housekeeper. They revel in the glory of the Park family’s riches until they discover a secret that will tear the two families apart, and see innocent blood spilled. 

“Parasite” is a joy to watch. The stark contrasts drawn between the two families are evident in subtle symbolism, such as a scene where Chung-sook hastily prepares instant noodles for the Park family’s eccentric son Da-song, and tops it with high-grade sirloin beef, presumably to illustrate the sheer wealth gap in the movie. The film builds tension through the orchestra-focused soundtrack, with the sharp resonance of violins builds as the heat rises. On the surface, Parasite is an innocent enough comedy, but under its shiny surface lies a dark and malicious interior. 

The climax of the movie, where the Kim family discovers someone living under the house, signals a sudden shift in the movie’s tone, and the switch is so sudden it easily catches you off guard. You simply can’t prepare yourself for the sheer speed that the climax happens in. Many subtle, yet significant details lie hidden beneath the surface, commanding the watcher’s absolute focus. It is certainly a film intended for higher levels of thinking, and without such high attention, the watcher can quickly become lost in the metaphorical hurricane that is this movie. 

“Parasite” is a surefire win for anyone who wants to get deeply invested in a complex spiderweb-like plot with rich characters and gorgeous cinematography. This movie is a blast and is well-deserving of its innumerable accolades. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Mia Cerrato – Editorial Editor

“Black Mirror” is a show that was first released in December 2011. While it came out nearly nine years ago, it still managed to convey extremely technologically advanced ideas through each of their episodes.

“Black Mirror” speculatively examines modern society. The show executes this idea of a technological future by focusing on humanity’s relationship to technology and the consequences that may have on the world. Each episode of “Black Mirror” focuses on a different reality in order to allow people to understand that there may be future adverse effects to the technological advancements we are currently making.

For example, in one episode of the show, a top gamer company creates a video game in which players can physically enter the game. With the game eliciting a mix of thrill and fear, it results in the audience being on the edge of their seats. However, just like every other episode of “Black Mirror,” the episode ends in a tragedy, as the main character ends up dead because of a flaw in the game’s design.

With the end of each episode resulting in feelings of uncertainty and oftentimes bewilderment, the show manages to teach the audience lessons about how the misuse of technology can lead to our downfall.

By Mia Cerrato – Editorial Editor

“After Parkland” is an intimate documentary following the lives of families who lost loved ones in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. 

The documentary shows people navigating their way through life while dealing with grief and loss. It shows the effects of the shooting that took place only a year ago. Emily Taguchi and Jake Letterman, producers for ABC’s Nightline, followed the survivors months after the shooting. They follow multiple survivors as well as the lives of the parents who lost their child. 

The documentary is not about the shooting itself but how people grappled with the aftermath of the shooting. The film has a tone of sadness at the thought of so many young lives can be taken at any moment. It also touches upon how activism can be seen as a way to cope with the tragedy. The focus on activism serves as a remembrance of the incident.

One of the victim’s fathers creates pictures with his son’s images and slogan, “Change the Ref,” the name of the non-profit he and his wife created. This will be able to help their son’s generation to work against gun violence and other issues. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Jaelynn Shelton – Staff Reporter

The new “Bad Boys For Life” movie was released on January 17. The film was the fourth of the “Bad Boys” series and features Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett as the main characters.   

The new “Bad Boys For Life” movie stars Will Smith as Mike Lowery and Martin Lawrence as Marcus Burnett. The two characters were played perfectly by these amazing actors.

The two actors are portrayed as partners in crime, or more appropriately, partners in justice. The two are detectives in the Miami Police Department and chase down bad guys and fight for justice while having a good time. 

Although the film gives an interesting and fun insight into the field of police work, it is at times unrealistic and features many exaggerated scenes. One example of that would be the excessive car crashes, fires, and destruction that occurs in the film. While police work can be daring and harmful, these are extreme circumstances.

This particular film talks about Detective Lowrey’s life before he met his partner in justice. His life before his partner was interesting to say the least, as he was sent as an undercover cop to a Mexican cartel. In an unexpected turn of events, he fell in love with a vicious woman, a woman that defied all his principles. Many times in the film it is mentioned that she turned him into the man that he is. Without her, he wouldn’t have the hard-core exoskeleton that is so often portrayed throughout the series.

When terrible acts are committed to members of an old case, it is clear that a rivalry has appeared between the caseworkers and the convicted. In an effort to sort out the crime, Lowrey takes on the case. Only this time, Mike and Marcus can’t do it alone. 

A new team is then introduced to viewers. AMMO is introduced as a more new and younger way to solve crime. In a way giving that famous clash of the ages that we are so used to hearing or feeling. Both of the main characters struggle with the idea of this new and more efficient way of doing things.

At the end of the film, none of that really matters, as both the young and old crime workers come together to find the bad guys and try to solve the case.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Adarsh Senthilnathan – Staff Reporter

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

“21 Bridges”, directed by Brian Kirk, is about New York Police Department detective André Davis, played by Chadwick Boseman, and his involvement in uncovering a huge conspiracy involving corrupt police officers. 

“21 Bridges” has amassed over $48.9 million worldwide and over $28.5 million in the United States of America. 

The movie focuses mainly on Detective André Davis and how he discovers that there are some police officers that are not following the law and participating in illegal activities, but it also includes people like Captain Matt McKenna, Detective Frankie Burns, Michael Trujilo, and Ray Jackson. 

The movie starts off with Davis at his father’s funeral service at a Church in New York City. Davis’s father, Reginald, was a police officer who was murdered during one of his shifts, therefore there was a closed casket ceremony. 

19 years go by in the movie and then André Davis becomes a detective in the NYPD. Davis gets assigned to a case involving two drug thieves breaking into a building to steal a rival gang’s cocaine. At this point, Davis does not know that the responding officers to the break-in were actually trying to steal the cocaine themselves as well, but later on in the movie he will figure this out. 

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents Butchco and Dugan attempt to take over the case from Davis and Burns, but at the end of this argument Davis and Burns are allowed to lead the case. 

During the chase of Michael and Ray, the two suspects, Davis mortally wounds Ray and then Michael manages to keep Burns at gunpoint. Michael tells Davis how suspicious the whole everything is on the drives that he received from the money cleaner that they went to after getting cash from Adi, their drug dealing friend. 

Eventually, after looking at Burns’s phone, Davis realizes that she is a corrupt police officer and she was in on the plan to raid the drugs in the building. 

One of the best parts of the movie is when André Davis is in Captain McKenna’s home and he tells Captain McKenna that he knows that he was in the ring of corrupt police officers because he has proof from the drives. 

Soon after this, corrupt police officers and the two corrupt FBI agents, Butcho and Dugan, come to shoot Davis but he shoots them down and shoots Captain McKenna because he attempted to kill him. Davis then arrests Burns because she put down her weapon and badge. The movie ends with Davis driving off with the drives in a cup holder in his car. 

However, the movie could have been a little more clear in the beginning of the movie with the drug stealing scene and the aftermath of that scene. 

Overall, the director did a really good job at making the movie interesting and memorable. 

“21 Bridges” can be compared to other movies involving police officers and law enforcement agencies like, “21 Jump Street” and “The Heat”. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars 

By Mayur Somalinga – Staff Reporter

“The Flash,” ever since its pilot episode aired on October 7, 2014, has been a favorite among comic fans alike as a dynamic extension of the “Arrowverse.” However, in recent years, namely in 2016 when Season 3 debuted, the love for the show began to die out due to retcon inconsistencies, repetition, a lack of lightheartedness that made the previous seasons of the show successful, amongst other issues. Season 6, however, so far, seems to be an impetus for redemption for the show as a whole that has allowed for the return of viewers that were not fond of previous seasons.

[WARNING: This review contains minor spoilers for “The Flash” Season 6 Episodes 1 – 11 and Crisis on Infinite Earths. Read ahead at your own risk.]

The show features Iris West-Allen played by Candice Patton, Dr. Caitilin Snow/Killer Frost (Dr. Snow’s alter ego) played by Danielle Panabaker, Cisco Ramon played by Carlos Valdes, Joe West played by Jesse L. Martin, Cecile Horton played by Danielle Nicolet, Ralph Dibny (aka Elongated Man) played by Hartley Sawyer, Harrison Nash Wells (this season’s rendition of the Harrison Wells character), Allegra Garcia (the newest addition to “Team Flash”) played by Kayla Compton, and last but not least, Barry Allen, or better known as the fastest man alive, The Flash, played by Grant Gustin.

Season 6, while humorful, starts in a dark place as it begins right after the disintegration of Nora West-Allen (played by Jessica Parker Kennedy), the daughter of Barry and Iris that traveled back in time to see them. Although Nora is quite distant and mysterious in the beginning, especially with Iris, she eventually develops a tight-knit relationship with her parents which makes it all the more difficult for them to say goodbye after Nora disappears into thin air after a confrontation with The Flash’s archnemesis, The Reverse-Flash. To add insult to injury, Barry and Iris discover that Barry is fated to die during Crisis on Infinite Earths, an event that threatens the very existence of the multiverse.

However, no season of “The Flash” would be complete without a formidable antagonist and for this season, the directors introduced Ramsey Rosso (played by Sendhil Ramamurthy), a seemingly mild-mannered doctor who after witnessing his mother fall at the hand of HLH (a rare blood disorder), and knowing that he also will contract the disease, goes mad trying to develop a cure which leads him to break the Hippocratic Oath and become the villain known as Bloodwork. Bloodwork is unlike any of the other villains seen in past seasons as he is not a speedster but rather he is a meta-human that possesses the ability to infect others to create invincible henchmen that he can command. Overall, due to the uniqueness of the character and his motives, Bloodwork has proven to be a worthy adversary of The Flash so far.

As stated before, Season 6 of “The Flash” is more of a reboot for the show in terms of its reputation amongst its fans. The primary reason for this being the case is the fact that this time around the show has been made to mirror the cheerfulness and humor that was the cause of Season 1’s enormous success. Also, in past seasons, namely Seasons 4 and 5, Iris has played the role of leader of “Team Flash,” and while there is no doubt that Iris and Barry are soul mates, most fans would agree that the role of leader does not highlight Iris’ strengths as a character and that showcasing her as the intrepid investigative journalist that she is by nature would be a lot more beneficial to the show which is how Iris has been portrayed thus far in the season. Another highlight of this season, in particular, has been the version of The Flash suit Barry has donned which compared to the previous 5 seasons, is the most comic-accurate and aesthetically pleasing with the reintroduction of the chin strap and overall minimalistic design. This season also displays the adept acting ability of the cast through the perfect combination between intense emotional scenes and those that present the dorkier and more hilarious sides of the characters. All of the previously mentioned high points of the season are worth discussing, however, the most impactful was the fact that as a result of the aftermath of Crisis on Infinite Earths, the multiverse was destroyed which means that all the superheroes and villains now reside on one Earth, known as Earth-Prime. Of course, this is also quite unfortunate as many of the fans fell in love with the concept of the “Arrowverse” characters being able to travel to other worlds, often intensifying the plot. However, with all that being said, it is quite an exciting installment as at the end of Crisis of Infinite Earths Barry creates a union amongst the heroes, much like DC Comics’ “Justice League.”

Although just above, the death of the multiverse was stated as a positive, there is one repercussion of the end of the multiverse that makes the event seem very indecorous, indeed, which is that, with the multiverse being a construct of the past, it eliminates the possibility of another Harrison Wells character being introduced. This is quite upsetting to fans as the introduction of a new Harrison Wells character every season has garnered the affections of many fans and has been very helpful to “Team Flash” as they work to quell their ever-expanding rogues’ gallery. In contrast, now, “The Flash” is left with Harrison Nash Wells being the only version left to assist “Team Flash,” however, the accuracy of that statement may need to be furthered examined as at the end of Season 6 Episode 11 (“Love is a Battlefield”) there is a shot in which Harrison Nash Wells sees Harrison “Harry” Wells (first introduced during Season 2) for a quarter of a second before he disappears. It is currently unclear what the implications of this happenchance are, however, fans theorize that it may be a hallucination caused by the guilt he faces since he incidentally started Crisis on Infinite Earths out of hubris leading to the subsequent destruction of all other worlds and thus all versions of Harrison Wells, also. 

Although most viewers have stopped watching since Season 3 onwards, as alluded to previously, Season 6 is a perfect opportunity to return without any feelings of regret with the introduction of the Season 1 inspired approaches to plot construction and character development.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Addison Schwing – Editorial and News Editor

At first glance, Mecha Noodle Bar is quite unassuming. It’s tucked away in a side street off of US Route 1, nestled carefully among boutiques and grab-and-go restaurants, with only a bright orange sign out the front. They don’t take reservations or call ahead seating, and they don’t deliver either. With locations in Stamford, Norwalk, and New Haven, one would assume it’s just another chain. However, once crossing through the double doors and past the curtains, you’re immediately greeted with quite the spectacle.

Every surface of the restaurant is covered with black metal and hardwood furnishings. Diners sit at communal tables chowing down on soup as waiters weave their way through the crowded dining floor. Behind a counter of noodle chefs sit shelves stocked with various Japanese foodstuffs. A portrait of the late Anthony Bourdain hangs behind the diligent chefs behind the counter, tucking into a bowl of ramen. It’s small and crowded, packed to the brim routinely with hungry patrons looking to warm up with a hot meal.

I was seated after a while and presented with the menu, which offered both ramen and pho, a handful of appetizers, and an extensive drink list on the back. The menu, while small in terms of individual items, offers many customization options for its dishes, such as soft boiled eggs, scallions, and corn. I opted for the Red Oil Dumplings and the “Tonkatsu Ramen,” two obvious favorites given everyone else’s orders at the tables nearby. To drink, I ordered one of their house-made sodas, a ginger beer. 

My appetizer arrived; four hefty dumplings sitting in dark red chili oil garnished with scallions and fried shallots. They were big, stuffed to the brim with pork and shrimp, and perfectly pan-fried, with a satisfying crunch to boot. The heat and acidity of the chili oil cut through the richness of the dumpling, which acted more as a vessel with which to deposit some of the hoisin sauce sitting at my table. It was fantastic; rich and spicy and flavorful all in a hand-sealed package. My ginger beer was spicy with a sweet, tart undertone – a perfect palate cleanser.

Eventually, my ramen arrived, and what a sight it was. It was unlike anything I had ever seen; a big blue bowl of thin noodles swimming in a light brown-ish broth, with a slice of chashu pork belly, a half of a soft boiled egg, and wide strips of nori flanking the bowl. At first bite, I was enthralled by the complexity of the broth, offset by the firmness of the noodles. The taste was indescribable; traditional tonkatsu broth takes anywhere from 24-48 hours to make, and its time on the stovetop certainly lent it a rich umami sensation accentuated by fragrant spices. The pork belly was tender and pleasantly fatty and not at all conflicting with the rest of the dish, the soft boiled egg was soft and, while a little bit strange to eat, was still delicious in its own right, with delicate savory notes poking through the richness of the broth. The nori served little purpose other than some textural difference, but it was a welcome change of pace from the rest of the dish. By the end, I was totally full, and after paying my bill, I actually had some difficulty getting back to my car, thoroughly incapacitated by the delicious meal I had previously consumed.

Fairfield, Connecticut is a haven for restaurants such as Mecha, boasting a wide array of restaurants, from simple pizza and sandwich joints to upscale gastropubs. Mecha Noodle Bar is an unpretentious, yet satisfying restaurant that serves filling meals made with quality ingredients and prepared with care. Even if it may be a little pricy (my meal for one ran me around $30), it’s well worth the cost and the drive to get there. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Samiksha Mehta – Entertainment Editor

The sequel to the bestselling “Jumanji” movie is now here…and it’s a movie viewers don’t want to miss.

[WARNING: Review of this movie comes with spoilers. Read ahead at your own risk.]

“Jumanji: The Next Level” came to theaters on December 13 starring Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Nick Jonas (all returning) and a new cast member, Awkwafina.

The movie starts off with Spencer coming back home from college in New York. He’s made plans to have a sort of reunion with his friends from high school: Bethany, Martha, and Fridge at their favorite diner, now called “Nora’s”. When Spencer gets home, he finds out he’s sharing a room with his grandpa, and things get interesting from there on.

When Eddie’s (Spencer’s grandfather) old friend comes by his house for a visit, Eddie gets mad because Milo (old friend) abandoned their old restaurant to “retire” and relax. Milo gets mad back at Eddie for taking things to the extreme and says that he just wanted to relax with his wife and retire because he knew his “time” was up.

Spencer rediscovers the Jumanji game, after thinking that it was gone after the last time he went in. Curious, he goes in again, and goes missing. When he doesn’t show up to the diner with his friends, they get worried and go to his house to figure out where he’s gone. They snoop, and they find the game in the basement, shock taking over all their faces after they see it. Since Spencer’s grandfather is down in the basement with them, he gets sucked into the game with Milo when they start and Bethany is left back in the real world.

The roles are switched when the characters enter the game. Instead of Spencer becoming Dr. Bravestone, Eddie becomes Dr. Bravestone, and Fridge becomes Prof. Shelly Oberon. Martha is still Ruby Roundhouse, and Milo becomes Franklin Finbar. Milo and Eddie are confused when they find out what they are, and because of their short-term memory, Fridge and Martha have to keep telling them what’s going on. Meanwhile…Bethany, having been left behind from the game, goes to Alex to help get them back. When Bethany and Alex get into the game, she turns into a flying horse and Alex turns into the famous Nick Jonas, who is Alex in the game as well. 

The goal to get out of Jumanji is to recover a stone from Jurgen the Brutal, and to do this, they need to get Spencer, who turns into Awkwafina, whose character is someone skilled in lockpicking and stealth. Spencer, while in the character’s body, feels even worse about himself, because being in that specific body reminds him of who he is in real life, and he’s devastated because instead of becoming Dr. Bravestone, he’s basically another version of himself. 

The movie follows the main cast as they retrieve the stone and save Jumanji, once again. Once they get back home, the four friends decide never to go back in and they destroy the game console. Martha and Spencer are back together, and everything is just as it was in the first film. 

A strong point in “Jumanji: The Next Level” is when the characters switch avatars. This is a strong point because it shows how the different characters can make the avatars their own and it shows independence and that people don’t have to always be the same person; they could always use different personality traits to express themselves.

A weak point in “Jumanji: The Next Level” is when Spencer goes back into the game without notifying his friends. The whole foundation of their friendship is honesty, because when they first became friends, they had to depend on each other to survive. Him not telling his friends about going back into the game was a breach of that.

Overall, “Jumanji: The Next Level” is a really good action movie, and it’s not one moviegoers want to miss. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars 

By Jaelynn Shelton – Staff Reporter 

The new animated film “Frozen 2” premiered in theaters November 22. This movie is a sequel to the first “Froze”n film which was released November 27, 2013. The film features Queen Elsa and her sister Princess Anna as the main characters. Queen Elsa is known for her magical powers that allow here to control the cold (thus the name “Frozen”). 

Idina Menzel plays the character Elsa in the film. India does a great job at being the voice of the character, as she can clearly portray how the character feels in the way that she talks. 

Kristen Bell plays the character  Anna in the film (Elsa’s younger sister). Her voice also fits her character well, and allows the audience to fully grasp the tone of the scenes. 

The movie although having to do with magical/mythical powers, of course has a deeper meaning. The deeper meaning being that sisters or family, is extremely important and should be there through all your imperfections or problems. 

In the first “Frozen” film Elsa runs away from the kingdom and everyone believes that she has been cursed and that her powers are a sin. Anna her sister decides to journey off by herself and find her sister, because she knows how her Elsa must’ve felt and how scared she was. Anna after staying in her home for years leaves the kingdom defenseless and has no idea what’s to come. When Elsa is in distress Anna risks her life, as she stands in front of a blade to save her sisters life, risking her own. The tables are switched and there is one way to save Anna (true love), of course the audience believes this involves true love with a man, but that’s not the case here. In this case true love was Anna and her sister as Elsa truly loved her sister and Anna truly loved hers. The love that they had for each other saved each other. 

That is why the film is appealing to most audiences. It can appeal to the younger generations as well as the older ones in a way that most films wouldn’t. 

New songs were put in the film they could only be described as catchy as they pull the audience in and make them sing along. 

The movie also appealed to the imagination of the children that watched it, as the animations were as detailed as they could be for an animated film.

Rating:  3.5 out 5 stars

By Briana Hernandez – Staff Reporter

AJR is an American pop band composed of multi-instrumentalist brothers Adam, Jack, and Ryan Met. The band is a pop group who write, produce, and mix their material in the living room of their apartment. Their most successful songs are “I’m Ready,” “Weak,” “100 Bad Days,” and “Burn the House Down.” In 2019, their third album “Neotheater” debuted at #8 on the Billboard 200, and hit #1 on the Top Rock Albums chart.

The name “AJR” comes from the first initials of the three brothers, Adam, Jack, and Ryan. Their musical style has been described as “electric,” combining elements of pop, doo-wop, electronic, and dubstep.

This group would originally perform covers of songs until they started to make themselves more known through singing at Washington Square Park and Central Park with their own original songs.

The brothers released their third EP, titled “What Everyone’s Thinking,” on September 16, 2016, which features the lead single “Weak.” The lead single was written by the band in a day, within a few hours, without any idea of the future success the single would have. “Weak” has been certified Platinum in the U.S., Canada, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium, and Gold in Germany, Italy, Sweden, and Australia. It has over 320 million streams on Spotify.

The band released its second studio album, The Click, on June 9, 2017, featuring the singles “Weak”, “Drama” and “Sober Up”, which features frontman Rivers Cuomo from Weezer, who co-wrote the track. This song reached number one on the Mediabase Alternative Singles chart in 2018. The band’s 2018 tour in support of the album, The Click Tour, featured Hundred Handed, Grizfolk, Ocean Park Standoff, and MAX as openers.

An extended version of The Click was released on September 21, 2018. The Click (Deluxe) included new tracks such as “Role Models”, “Normal” and “Burn The House Down”, the latter which the band released in March, 2018 as a single and reached number two on the Mediabase Alternative Singles chart. Also included was “Pretender – Acoustic”, an acoustic version of “Pretender”, which was a collaboration between AJR, EDM artist Steve Aoki and American rapper Lil Yachty.

In all of their songs the lyrics are easily known and are stuck within the beat of the songs. Their songs are easily relatable to a degree for their targeted audience. Even those who don’t listen to pop, electronic, doo-wop or anything like that, they can still can get glued to at least one of their songs. This being due to how they suck listeners in.

They don’t target everyone instead they only make songs specified group. For those who like rap, heavy metal, or etc. those are the types of people who would not like this type of music. 

In the beginning of this song there is a short clip of “I’m Ready” from Spongebob Squarepants. This song has an upbeat and is very positive in its tune. This song talks about being crazy about a girl and how they’re going to “set the night on fire”. With this song they put a twist on the meaning of the blues, with an upbeat tune, but talking about a girl. They are similar to most boy bands out there, including One Direction, the Jonas Brothers, and the Backstreet Boys.

This song brings the relatable state that not everyone wants to get up everyday. Also, brings how even though one person may be weak it doesn’t mean anything, there shouldn’t be discrimination against it. Part of their lyrics that play into this is, “But I’m weak, and what’s wrong with that”. Everyone is weak at one point, it doesn’t mean that someone should be attacked for being so. 

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

By Adarsh Senthilnathan – Staff Reporter

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

“Angel Has Fallen,” directed by Ric Roman Waugh, is about Secret Service Agent Mike Banning, played by Gerard Butler, and his interactions with President Alan Trumbull, played by Morgan Freeman. 

“Angel Has Fallen” won the Labor Day weekend box office with an estimated $11.5 million. 

The movie focuses mainly on Mike Banning and how he is falsely accused of planning an assassination attempt on President Alan Trumbull and his entire Secret Service team, but it also includes people like Leah Banning, Clay Banning, and Wade Jennings. 

The movie starts off with Banning at a Secret Service training facility and when Banning comes out of the facility, Jennings takes Banning’s helmet and collects DNA evidence, such as hair and sweat. Of course, at this time, Banning has no idea that Jennings did this and will plan to betray him in the future. 

During one of the President’s fishing expeditions, Wade Jennings and his Salient team fire drones that target and kill all the members of Mike’s Secret Service team, but they do not target Mike and the President. After this, the Federal Bureau of Investigation falsely accuses Mike of an assassination attempt on the President and his own Secret Service team because of the DNA evidence that Jennings planted in the van that fired the drones.

Eventually Mike escapes custody of the FBI and custody of Salient Global because of his Secret Service training. 

One of the best parts of the movie is when Mike Banning and Clay Banning press buttons and wires on land in the forest and a bunch of bombs go off and kill the bad people from Salient Global that Wade Jennings sent to kill Mike. 

Banning is thought to be a criminal during most of the movie, and as a result his family is poorly treated. After President Alan Trumbull clears Banning’s name, he is uncuffed and allowed to help out in protecting the President from Wade Jennings and his Salient team. 

Banning successfully takes the President out of the hospital, but then his team is attacked by Salient, and it turns into a bloody gunfight. At the end of all the fighting, the President is safe and Mike Banning lives and becomes promoted to Secret Service director. 

The previous Secret Service Director David Gentry arrests the acting President Martin Kirby for helping Salient Global plan the assassination attempt on President Alan Trumbull in order to raise up to the office of the President of the United States and help give military contracts to private military companies. 

However, the movie could have included more action in the beginning part of the movie, like before the training exercise. 

The director did a really good job and the actors were very good at making the movie interesting. 

“Angel Has Fallen” can be compared to the two previous movies in the “Fallen” series, which are “Olympus Has Fallen” and “London Has Fallen”. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Mia Cerrato – Editorial Editor

“Joker” is a new psychological thriller based off of the D.C. comics. 

The film was directed by Todd Phillips and produced by the Warner Bros. Some of the cast consists of Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, and many more.

The plot follows Arthur Fleck, who is a part-time rent-a-clown. He is working for a sketchy talent agency. Fleck is mentally ill and takes medication as well as attending court ordered therapy. 

This leads to him resorting to crime to make a living in Gotham City. 

Arthur wears two masks. One for his day job as a clown and one that is a way to attempt  he is part of the word that surrounds it. His isolation and loneliness built up into madness and the movie follows his self destruction. 

The movie is creepy and keeps the audience on the edge of their seats.

All the actors performances’ were highly praised. The were able to capture the dark tone of the movie as well as the topic of mental illness.

The film was suspenseful and eerie and is able to appeal to a large audience. It keeps the viewers scared yet entertained. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars 

By Samiksha Mehta – Entertainment Editor

The last song ever sung by Selena Gomez before October 2019 was “I Can’t Get Enough” with Benny Blanco, J Balvin and Tainy. “I Can’t Enough” was released on February 28, leaving many of her fans a little more than eight months wondering if she’d release new music or not. 

AJustin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin’s second wedding was on September 30. Selena’s new songs “Lose You To Love Me” and “Look At Her Now” released on October 23, not too long after the wedding. Many fans speculated that the pop singer’s two new songs were about the marriage and that the songs were revealing how “betrayed” she felt that Justin moved on so quickly. Selena was quick to shut that down and Hailey also shut those rumors down, but some fans can’t help but wonder if it’s actually true or not. 

“Lose You To Love Me” is an almost “soft” and emotional song – supposedly – conveying Selena’s feelings towards Justin and Hailey’s wedding. “In two months you replaced us / Like it was easy / Made me think I deserved it / In the thick of healing, yeah” is one of the phrases in the song, referring to Selena’s feelings on how fast Justin moved on from her to Hailey. “Lose You To Love Me” is a very emotional song, which will really put anyone “in their feelings”, and want to play it for any sad event or anything.

A strong point in “Lose You To Love Me” is the way it flows and the lyrics “And now the chapter is closed and done / To love love, yeah / To love love, yeah / To love, yeah / And now it’s goodbye, goodbye for us” which basically means that Selena’s over Justin and that she is officially ready to say goodbye to what once was between them. A weak point in “Lose You To Love Me” is the lyric “Set fire to my chorus” because it doesn’t really go with the meaning of the rest of the song. 

Another new song of Selena Gomez, called “Look At Her Now”, is just the opposite of “Lose You To Love Me” although conveying the same meaning — just in a different way. “Look At Her Now” is all about how she’s sad about moving on but also about the fact that she’s happy to live life and that she’s glad she’s not tied down anymore. A strong point in “Look At Her Now” is the lyrics “Of course she was sad / But now she’s glad she dodged a bullet” which really conveys how Selena and Justin were always on and off and that there were many accusations in their relationship (all of them about Justin doing something wrong or cheating on her). This phrase in the song really conveys the meaning that she’s glad she’s out of the relationship, otherwise it might’ve grown toxic. A weak point in “Look At Her Now” is the lyrics “Not saying she was perfect / Still regrets that moment” because it doesn’t really relate to the rest of the song and could be confusing for many people. 

After a little more than eight months without releasing a song, Selena Gomez is back and better than ever with “Lose You To Love Me” and “Look At Her Now” for her new fans, and a lot of them seem to be eating it up. Her two songs really put into perspective the topic of breakups and moving on and being happy, which could sound really good to newly-single people.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Samiksha Mehta – Entertainment Editor

This – although typical romance movie – is so good viewers wouldn’t want to miss it.

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

“After” came to Netflix on October 9, starring Josephine Langford as Tessa Young and Hero Fiennes-Tiffin as Hardin Scott, the two main characters. “After” is a movie based on college romance, and the ups and downs that come with it. Tessa Young is a freshman in college who thinks she has her whole life sorted out. She has the perfect boyfriend, her mother is supportive, and she feels like she knows what she wants to do. She meets her dorm mate Steph, who can be a little rowdy, but that’s not a bad thing. She goes to a party, and there she meets Hardin Scott, the sophomore who’s bad news. Hardin hangs out with the “rebel group”; Molly, Tristan, Zed, and Steph. Molly doesn’t like how Tessa is, because of how “good” she is and how “innocent” she is. Tessa doesn’t like Molly because of how rude she is and how “blatant” she is. 

After the party, Tessa finds herself attracted to Hardin, the mysterious bad boy who has an affinity for classic books but doesn’t seem like the reader type. She neglects talking to her mother and boyfriend back home as she hangs out with Steph and Hardin more. She finds herself cheating on Noah (her boyfriend) with Hardin, and Noah catches her when he comes by for a surprise visit and she comes out wearing Hardin’s t-shirt. No matter what she tries to do to fix their relationship, Noah breaks up with her and tells her mom what she did. The next day, Noah tells Tessa that her mother doesn’t approve, which Tessa doesn’t like because she should be able to do whatever she wants as long as she’s responsible now. She finds herself hanging out and becoming closer with Hardin more often and she eventually becomes his girlfriend. 

He shows her his secret spot in the woods and they spend time there talking and whatnot, and when they get home, she gets ready for yet another hangout with Steph. While she’s getting ready, she gets a surprise visit from Molly, who doesn’t like her because of Tessa being with Hardin. Molly tells Tessa that Hardin has kept a secret from her for the whole duration of their relationship which Tessa doesn’t believe at first. She believes that Hardin’s told her everything and their relationship is good. However, Molly brings her to the local hangout and sits her down with their group of friends, where Hardin also seems to be. Tessa confronts him about something he hasn’t told her and he denies her accusations. Molly doesn’t seem to like that, so she shows Tessa a video of Hardin accepting a bet that he’d get her to fall in love with him and then leave her, because he doesn’t believe in love. Tessa gets heartbroken and leaves him, saying how she loves him and thought he loved her too. Despite how much he tries to get her to believe that it was a bet at first but he didn’t realize he was in love with her, she leaves him and that’s when the movie ends. 

A strong point in “After” is when Molly tells Tessa that her and Hardin’s relationship was a bet. This was a strong point because it shows how real Molly is being and it relates to many stories where there’s always a jealous girl who wants to get rid of her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend. This also shows how real the movie is and how there’s always a plot twist in these types of movies. Viewers can almost the waves of jealousy flowing off of Molly when she tells Tessa that Hardin won a bet. 

A weak point in “After” is when Hardin takes her to his special spot. Although he and her talk alot and even wade in the lake, the tension and feel of the actual relationship doesn’t feel like it’s really there. They only spend time kissing and talking about meaningless things, especially since they’re a new couple. Since they’re a new couple, viewers expect them to talk about what it means and how to proceed. The lake scene was just a little confusing for me because there wasn’t anything explaining what they did and they didn’t really talk all that much, they just swam and kissed. 

“After” is definitely not the typical “high-school romance” movie, because of the plot twists and the characters’ diversity, which gives a little more in-depth reasoning to what they do and how they do what they do. This movie is definitely worth watching (especially before the sequel comes out next year!)

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Lucas Greifzu – Editorial Editor

*WARNING: This article does contain spoilers for Avengers Endgame*

Marvel has leaped over the highly set bar that it set for the final chapter in the decade long story that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Heading into Endgame, the MCU has grossed nearly $19 billion across 21 movies, including four of the 10 biggest movies of all time. The trailer promised Earth shattering (literally) action throughout the movie, and it delivered on that promise quite thoroughly. This movie has had even more hype leading up to it than Avengers Infinity War did, and with it being the aftermath of Infinity War, it surely lives up to the hype.

Thanos is back in the latest and final installment of this branch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After fulfilling his destiny in Avengers Infinity War, many people were left wondering what could be next. While 50 percent of all life in the universe was wiped out by Thanos, Earth still has some defenders. Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow, War Machine, Rocket, Nebula, Ant-Man, and Captain Marvel headline the list of heroes that Earth has left after Thanos’s snap. However, Thanos has an army of his own with him including the Black Order. Avengers Endgame is set up to be one of the better movies that Marvel has put out in the past decade.

The movie starts off with Tony Stark and Nebula stranded in space on the remnants of the Guardians of the Galaxy’s ship. It mentions how they have been drifting through space since their battle with Thanos. It also mentions how they have been without food or water for days, which means that Tony is severely malnourished. The next scene shows that Tony is fading towards death, however Captain Marvel appears from the depths of space and rescues the pair. When they arrive back on Earth they are greeted by the remainder of the Avengers, as well as Pepper Potts. After a brief discussion between the group it is revealed that Tony has no knowledge of where Thanos might be, but his adopted daughter Nebula does. The group discovers that Thanos is on a remote planet, and they go to visit him to get some answers. When they arrive they come to the realization the Thanos has destroyed the infinity Stones, thus ending their hopes of bringing back the 50% that was lost.

Next, the movie jumps forward in time five years, and we see Captain America leading a group therapy session in New York City. He tells the group that the world is in their hands, and that they have to do something with it. Next we see Scott Lang escape from the quantum realm, where he has been trapped since Thanos’s snap. He returns to the Avengers headquarters where he explains that instead of five years he was only trapped in the quantum realm for five hours. He continues to explain that using this knowledge they might be able to use the quantum realm in order to travel back in time and get the Infinity Stones and bring everyone back. They bring the idea to Tony Stark who is living in the woods with his wife and daughter. Tony says that it can’t be done and that even if he could, he can’t risk losing what he has gained.

Not wanting to give up, they bring the idea to the other genius that they know, Bruce Banner. It is revealed that Banner has found a way to combine his two forms and become Professor Hulk. He says that quantum physics isn’t really in his wheelhouse, but he still offers to help. They return to HQ and try to send Scott back in time. However, it doesn’t go fully according to plan. First they try and bring Scott back but he comes back as a teenager, then he comes back as an old man, then as a baby, before finally returning as his normal self. After this semi success, Captain America goes outside, where he is greeted by Tony. He reveals that he has cracked the code on time travel and has fully functional time space navigators. He also reveals that he has the original shield that Captain America used, which he gifts to him. They now have to gather the whole team in order to go on the mission. Hulk and Rocket travel to New Asgard in Norway to bring Thor back to the team. However, when they get there they discover that Thor has PTSD from the battle with Thanos. After some convincing they manage to get Thor to come back to the team, and the whole team is back together. 

After that, they have to plan where to go in order to get the Infinity Stones. After some deliberating, they find out that there are three Stones in New York in 2012, 1 Stone is Asgard in 2013, 1 Stone on Morag in 2014, and 1 Stone on the planet Vormir in 2014. On the mission to New York, Hulk is assigned the task of getting the TIme Stone from the Ancient One. After he promises to bring all of the Stones back to their proper timelines once they finish using them, she allows him to take it. On that same mission, Captain America is tasked with getting the Mind Stone, (Loki’s Scepter), after the battle of New York. Finally, Tony and Scott are in charge of getting the Space Stone, (Tesseract), from the Avengers after the battle of New York. All goes according to plan until Tony accidentally gets hit by the Hulk and loses the Stone to 2012 Loki. 

Meanwhile, on Asgard, Thor and Rocket don’t run into too much trouble while getting the Reality Stone. Thor seeks some advice from his mother prior to leaving Asgard. She tells him to stop trying to be someone that you are not. Thor also manages to grab Mjolnir before they travel back to the present. On, Morag, War Machine and Nebula easily manage to capture the Power Stone. However, Nebula is captured by 2014 Thanos, who takes advantage of the connection between present Nebula and 2014 Nebula. They devise a plan to send 2014 Nebula to the future in order to bring 2014 Thanos to the present. Subsequently, on Vormir, Hawkeye and Black Widow are greeted by the guard of the Soul Stone. He informs them that one of them will need to sacrifice themselves in order to get the Stone. In the end, Black Widow ends up sacrificing herself in order for Hawkeye to get the Stone. FInally, back in 2012 New York, Tony and Captain America devise a plan to get the Space Stone. They travel to SHIELD HQ in 1970, this allows them to get more Pym Particles, and the Space Stone. While there, Tony has an encounter with his dad Howard Stark. He thanks him for everything that he did for him and says he wasn’t that bad of a dad. Captain America also sees Peggy Carter while he is at the camp and pauses to think about what he’s going to do when this is over. 

Upon returning to the Avengers compound, Clint is forced to break the news that Natasha has died to the rest of the group. They all agree that they have to continue on with the mission for her as well as for the countless others that have been snapped away by Thanos. After some deliberation on who should wear the gauntlet Hulk ends up putting it on and snapping his fingers. However while this is happening 2014 Nebula is busy bringing Thanos’s ship into the future. After Hulk snaps his fingers there are some subtle clues that show the snap worked and that everyone is back where they were before the snap. Unfortunately, the Avengers are greeted with several blasts from Thanos’s ship which blow up the compound and leave a giant crater in its wake. First out of the rubble we see Hawkeye who finds the gauntlet in the remains of the building. He is greeted by several of Thanos’s hound creatures. He manages to escape before being greeted by Nebula who alerts Thanos that she has found the gauntlet. But before she can take it and leave present Nebula and 2014 Gamora show up and kill her.

In the final portion of the movie we see Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor standing on a ledge looking down on 2014 Thanos sitting in the crater. They then approach him and begin to fight him. This fight doesn’t amount to much accept for the discovery that Captain America is able to wield Mjolnir, which he was previously believed to be unable to do. Thanos eventually quells the forces of the three Avengers, breaks Captain America’s shield and severely injures his arm and leg. While Captain America is getting up from this blow, Thanos’s army comes down from the ships and prepares to attack whatever remains of the Avengers. But, before he can do this, the Avengers who got snapped away by Thanos appear out of portals created by Doctor Strange. This leads to the final battle scene in which there are several good matchups, however it has a not so happy ending. In the end, Tony ends up getting the Infinity Stones on has hand and snaps away Thanos and his armies; this unfortunately does end up killing Tony Stark. 

After the huge battle scene, we see a message that Tony recorded before he went on the time travel mission. He says that he’s recording the message in case of an untimely death on his part. We then see the funeral that is held for Tony. All of the heroes are present, as well as the kid who helped Tony out in Iron Man 3. We then see a heartfelt moment between Hawkeye and Wanda. The final scene of the movie takes place when Captain America goes to return the Stones to their proper timelines. He goes on the mission, but flies past his return point on the way back. The camera shows a man sitting on a park bench in the woods where the mission took place. This is Steve, and Falcon approaches him. In the end, Captain America ends up giving Falcon his shield and telling him that he deserves it. The final shot of the movie is a clip of Steve back in time dancing with Peggy Carter, who he decided to spend the rest of his life with.

Overall, there are a lot of good things in this movie. But the primary thing is the final fight scene. This scene was so high budget and so well made that it takes the cake as the best Marvel fight scene that they’ve put out. This scene is very similar to scenes from movies like Ready Player One, because it’s on such a massive scale. What I mean by that is that every possible character that they’ve introduced in the MCU are all coming together to fight Thanos and his massive army. This is something that Marvel movies don’t traditionally do well, so it is very noticable when it’s done correctly. 

Another positive thing is the movie’s run time. Avengers Endgame clocks in at just over three hours. While some might think that three hours is a little long for a movie, Avengers Endgame manages to keep your attention throughout the movie. Also, since this is the final installment in this chapter of the MCU, a longer movie that wraps everything up is what was needed. Finally, the long run time allowed for all of the stories that needed to be wrapped up to do so. What I mean by that is, for example, Iron Man and Captain America’s stories both got wrapped up in a good way. This is good because a lot of franchises don’t do this with their characters, and it leaves the fans wanting more.

The final positive thing is that there were a lot of good spots and lines in this movie. Everything from the women power scene, to Captain America lifting Mjolnir, to Howard Stark, to Captain saying “Avengers Assemble at the end, to Tony repeating that he is Iron Man before he snaps his fingers. These are only a few of the spots and lines that take place throughout the movie, and there are so many more that are worth taking a look at. 

However, every movie has its low points, and the big one in Endgame is that it might raise more questions than it answers. With main character such as Tony and Cap dying, people are wondering what’s next for the remaining heroes. We get to see that Thor is joining the Guardians of the Galaxy and that Clint is going back to be with his family, but we are still unsure about what might be next in the MCU. 

Another downfall is that time travel being introduced can lead to future problems. For example, why wouldn’t the Avengers just go back in time and bring a version of Tony or Natasha back. Another example would be if the Avengers do ever lose again they could just simply go back in time and fix it. While using it in this movie worked out well, using it in the future might prove tricky. 

Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

By Mia Cerrato – Editorial Editor

“The Lion King” was unarguably one of the most popular movies of 2019. 

A live-action and computer-animated remake of Disney’s original animation, the film has a cast that consists of talented actors and actresses such as Donald Glover, Seth Rogan, John Oliver, Beyonce, as well as James Earl Jones, who played Mufasa in the 1994 film.

The long awaited movie came out on July 19. Plans for the remake was finalized in September of 2016, shortly after the remake of “The Jungle Book.”

This movie shows Simba, a young lion, who is struggling to fill his role as king of his land after the murder of his father Mufasa due to his uncle Scar. 

The movie is fun and nostalgic as well as visually amazing.

The new technology brings the story and characters to life. After 20 years, it is refreshing to see this movie brought to light again.

“The Lion King” is a movie that appeals to everyone; it does not matter your age or gender. Although the majority of the audience knows what is going to happen in the film, it keeps viewers entertained and at the edge of their seat.

While the remake is visually flawless, it is still unable to top the original. 

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

By Justin Judge – Staff Reporter

Juice Wrld (real name Jarad Higgins) is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Over the past year Juice has become an internet and music sensation creating R&B hip hop hits.

Juice was born on December 2, 1998, in Chicago, Illinois. In 1999, he moved to Homewood, Illinois, and attended Homewood-Flossmoor High School. As he grew up he was surrounded by pure religion and conservation.

Juice gained mainstream recognition after the release of the single “Lucid Dreams” in 2018, which peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. After securing a recording contract with Grade A Productions and Interscope Records.

In February 2018, a music video directed by Cole Bennett was released. Following the release of his “All Girls Are the Same” video, Higgins was signed to Interscope Records for $3,000,000.

Juice has had many different influences in his life, such as rappers Chief Keef, Travis Scott,Kanye West and British rock singer Billy Idol. His other influences include Wu-Tang Clan, Fall Out Boy, Black Sabbath, Megadeth, Tupac, and Eminem.

Juice began to pursue his career and develop himself as an artist in his freshman year of high school. Juice would record his music through his cell phone and upload them to Soundcloud his sophomore year.

At age 20, he has become one of the most recognizable artists in the music world. After several tragic events in the music community, such as the passing of Jahseh Onfroy Son, the community needed a boost in moral spirit. Juice Wrld came into the music world at the perfect time.

Juice is available on many platforms such as YouTube, Spotify, Pandora, Soundcloud, and many more music stations. Over the past four years, he has racked up his overall net worth of $3,000,000, which makes him one of the youngest and highest paid rappers in the industry.

Juice has gigged a lot of big name events such as 2019 Rolling Loud Miami, the Hammerstein Ballroom, the Skyline Stage, and many more.

Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars

By Samiksha Mehta – Staff Reporter

“Sucker” by The Jonas Brothers – their first song since rejoining – has already reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 list. This shouldn’t be surprising because of how popular they were before they broke up, and how (even more) popular they are now that they got back together.

No one knows yet why the Jonas Brothers decided to get back together now, but surprisingly, they don’t care that much because they’re just too focused on the “Sucker” song and music video, which, by the way, stars all three wives of the brothers.

“And you’re making the typical me break my typical rules,” is one of the lyrics in the infamous song mentioned. This will make fans think about how far they’ve actually come. The Jonas Brothers broke up at the height of their careers, stating that “musical differences” and a “deep rift in the band” were their reasons, in January 2018, they mysteriously opened their group social media pages up again and started posting. Not too long after, the youngest, Nick Jonas, married Priyana Chopra.

Could The Jonas Brothers’ significant others have something to do with their getting back together and releasing of “Sucker”?

“We go together / Better than birds of feather, you and me” – this lyric might just be the answer to the question asked above. Even some fans are speculating whether or not Priyanka Chopra convinced Nick to get the band back together.

Well, fans may never know. But until then, they can enjoy their new song “Sucker” and play it on repeat as much as they want. It’s a really good one.

Rating: 5 out 5 stars

By Lucas Greifzu – Staff Reporter

*WARNING: This article does contain spoilers for the first trailer for “Avengers: Endgame” as well as the movie “Avengers: Infinity War.”*

Marvel has set the bar even higher for the final installment of the Avengers series, which closes Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This will likely be the last Marvel movie that advances the timeline for a while. The new Spider-Man movie will likely cover the events of “Infinity War” as well as “Endgame,” and the remaining scheduled Marvel movies have to deal with the X-Men universe. So, they are going to go all out in this movie. If viewers thought that Infinity War was good, then they will love this movie. Prior to “Avengers: Endgame,” the MCU has released 21 different movies over the span of nearly 11 years, and all of which have built up the this massive, explosive conclusion.

This movie is being considered across all fan groups as the conclusion of this phase of the MCU. This could mean a lot of things. A lot of likely theories point to the fact that at least one of the original characters will die in this movie. While others suggest that everyone will die. There are so many theories about this movie that it is very hard to keep up with. The good thing about the amount of hype leading up to this movie is that all of these theories are circulating through all of the fans heads that everyone will want to go just to see what happens. In terms of marketing for this movie the second trailer doesn’t supply a lot of promising information, so it is not going to get talked about in this movie. In order to dissect what will happen in this film, let’s start by doing a quick synopsis of what happened in “Avengers: Infinity War.”

In “Avengers: Infinity War” we have a lingering enemy coming back to face the avengers again. In this film we meet Thanos; the Mad Titan who sent the attack on New York in the original Avengers movie. This time Thanos is taking the fight into his own hands as he sets out to capture all six of the Infinity Stones and place them on his Infinity Gauntlet. There are six Infinity Stones: Reality, Soul, Mind, Time, Space, and Power; each represented by a color: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple, respectively. Each stone has its own set of powers, but with all six stones he can wipe out half of all species on Earth with a snap of his fingers. As one would expect, because this is a two part movie, Thanos does successfully manage to collect all six stones and snap half of the universe out of existence. The total list of characters that died in the movie is: Loki, Heimdall, Gamora, and Vision. The total list of characters who turned to dust at the end of the movie is: Black Panther, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Winter Soldier, Scarlet Witch, Drax, Groot, Star Lord, Mantis, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Hope and Hank Pym, Janet van Dyne, and Shuri. We also see characters such as Iron Man and Nebula stranded on Titan after their battle with Thanos. Obviously the biggest question heading into “Endgame” is how many of these characters will be brought back.

The trailer for “Endgame” opens up with Tony Stark floating through space in the remains of the Guardian’s ship. He then records a message using his helmet to his fiance Pepper Potts, which basically says that she shouldn’t feel bad about him dying if he does. This is similar to “Iron Man 3” when Tony records a message for Pepper through the Iron Man suit. In the later part of his message he says that the food and water on the ship had run out four days ago, and that the oxygen runs out tomorrow morning. This means that the movie does not take a 10-year jump like a lot of people originally thought it would. This is also consistent with how long it would take for people to start to die of dehydration. He also believes that he has no chance of being rescued, but we can assume that is not how it ends for Stark. Especially given we see him in the second trailer (more on that later).

There are a number of characters that could save him. Captain Marvel being an obvious thought, but there would be no real way for her to know where, or even who, Tony is. There is Thor because his new weapon Stormbreaker has the power of the Bifrost. But again he would not really know where to find him. There are also smaller characters like Karaglen and Valkyrie but the same problems also present there too. Finally, there is Rescue, the name of the character that Pepper becomes when she puts on her own armor. This seems the most likely possibility because she likely has a tracker onto Tony’s suit and the name is mentioned in the trailer. Moving on, Thanos’s armor is hung up like a scarecrow on his new planet called Titan 2. We hear Black Widow say that he did what he set out to do which was that he wiped out 50% of all life. This shows that the remaining heroes are rattled by this because they are all staring at the screen of all the people that are missing and are clearly saddened and beat down about it. The next clip has Captain America saying that they all lost, every single one of them. He also says that each of them lost friends, family, and a part of themselves. This clip also shows that Hawkeye has turned into the dark version of himself that the comic books call Ronin. And it shows him using a blade rather than a bow and arrow. This likely means that similarly to the comic books most, if not all of his family has died in the snap, thus causing him to go dark.

In the next scene they appear to be referencing some huge plan that they need to work. Captain says that he does not know what he will do if it does not work. There are so many potential huge plans that have been talked about by countless people to mention in this article, but we could assume that something huge, and most likely obscure will happen in Endgame. The next clip is the title reveal. The movie being called Endgame could have many implications. First, it was mentioned by Doctor Strange when he said that the characters were,”in the endgame now”. This is because when he looked forward into time at 14,000,605 different timelines and they only won in one of them. So, everything that happened from that moment on was all part of that one timeline that Doctor Strange looked into. In the final clip of the trailer we see Ant-Man outside of the Avengers facility announcing that he is not dead. It also shows that he has the van with the quantum realm device in it. This could be a potential timeline for the upcoming film.

The build up has a lot of positives going for it. For instance, the buildup makes it seem like a big conclusion, which is what this movie is supposed to be. Considering the movie is, as mentioned before, the last MCU movie for a while, this movie needs to be an epic wrap-up to the last 11 years. Knowing the way that “Avengers: Infinity War” left the world half destroyed, “Avengers: Endgame” will undoubtedly reverse this in some way.

Another positive is that it seems like the movie will be less crowded than “Infinity War.” Considering this was a huge problem and it made “Infinity War” hard to follow, this is a very welcome change. The movie will mostly take place on Earth because the vast majority of characters is on Earth. Even though Tony and Nebula are still floating through space the trailers show that they will be returning to Earth at some point in the movie. This leaves Thanos as the only character that is not on Earth. This is not a problem because the battle will just likely take place on Titan 2, which is the planet that Thanos retired to.

There don’t seem to be that many bad points from the marketing for this movie, but there is one really noticeable one. This movie is going to be really stretched out. The current time estimation for “Avengers: Endgame” is just over three hours. Other than the length of the movie, it seems like it will be even better than “Infinity War.”

Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

By Addison Schwing – Staff Reporter

“Captain Marvel” flies into theatres as the 21st film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The sci-fi flick follows Carol “Vers” Danvers, a Kree soldier who ends up on Earth to fight a race of alien shapeshifters known as the Skrull.

The movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have garnered a reputation for being exceptionally well done, and Captain Marvel is no exception. Brie Lawson and Samuel L. Jackson steal the show, leading the movie with unbridled confidence. However, their work in the film is diminished by the bland plot. It’s a very generic redemption story, complemented by boring side characters and awful pacing. The film almost seems to jerk from setting to setting, side story to side story with no real direction. An interesting twist in the middle of the movie changes things up, but only enough to minorly renew the viewer’s interest.

Seeing Captain Marvel mop the floor with bad guys outside of Earth’s orbit is an exciting spectacle to behold and Samuel L. Jackson interacting with an orange tabby cat named Goose is hilarious. The two work extremely hard to prop up the movie. It’s not a bad film per se; far from it, in fact. It’s a solid superhero film that most people will not find hard to enjoy. However, it suffers from an identity crisis and breaks some already established rules in its universe that make no real sense.

Captain Marvel is one of the worst films in the MCU, but again, it’s far from bad. If Marvel fans have the time, they should go ahead and see it. Just be ready for a bit of a snooze fest part of the time.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

By Thea Ryan – Staff Reporter

The musical romance drama “A Star A Born” is the 2018 adaptation and fourth remake of the 1937 film of the same name. Staring Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Dave Chappelle, Sam Elliott, and Andrew Dice Clay, the movie was directed by Cooper to tell an emotional story of love, fame, substance abuse, and addiction. The movie is centered around a seasoned musician Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) who falls for an aspiring singer Ally (Lady Gaga) and their love story. Jackson first falls and hears Ally sing at a drag bar where she is singing the classic “La Vie En Rose” by Édith Piaf. This song is actually what landed Gaga the role when Cooper heard her sing it at a cancer benefit in L.A.

The movie has been critically acclaimed and has been nominated and has received many awards such as best drama motion picture, best actor, best actress, best album, and best original song for “Shallow.” The cast is outstanding and critically acclaimed for their other works. Cooper has been an Oscar and Golden Globe nominee for best actor for his performances in American Hustle and Silver Linings Playbook. Gaga has won a golden globe for best actress for her performance in American Horror Story: Hotel, an Oscar nominee for best original song “Til It Happens To You”, and is a six-time Grammy winner.

The movie and cast really deserves all of this recognition from the media because of all of the hard work that they put into this film. For instance, Bradley Cooper learned how to sing, play piano, and play the guitar for his rockstar role while also directing the film. Cooper also worked with a dialect coach for months to mimic his brother Bobby’s voice, played by Sam Elliott. Also, a majority of the songs on the soundtrack were co written by Gaga, Cooper, and Lukas Nelson.

During the title sequence, Gaga pays tribute to Judy Garland, who played that role in the original movie, by singing “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.” This adaptation follows the same plot line as the previous versions; however, it has a more modern take on the story

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Stefanie Lojko – Staff Reporter

Netflix’s newest psychological thriller, “You,” based off the novel by Caroline Kepnes, is making viewers want to get rid of social media and buy curtains for their windows.

The show stars Penn Dayton Badgley as Joe Goldberg and Elizabeth Lail as Guinevere Beck. It also stars Shay Mitchell (Peach Sallinger from Pretty Little Liars) and Luca Padovan, who plays Paco, Joe’s next-door neighbor.

Many may remember Badgley as Dan Humphrey from the hit series “Gossip Girl,” “John Tucker Must Die,” and “Easy A.” He also is the lead singer of the Brooklyn based indie band MOTHXR.

The suspenseful show follows Beck as she is an aspiring author living in New York City and Joe the book store owner, who instantly takes a liking to Beck as she browses his shop.

The show seemingly starts out to be a guy noticing the beautiful blonde that walked into his show and Joe’s inner thoughts talking about how he walks and how she looks. The start of it makes the viewer take a liking to Joe because of how he’s talking about this girl. It seems as though it was love at first, until his comments get a little inappropriate for just meeting this girl.

Beck is first portrayed as a sweet girl trying to become a writer but as viewers learn more from her, she’s not all that she seems.

In the beginning, Joe is sweet and charming. As the story progresses, viewers see more of his obsessive side. He turns into a mysterious man who is concerned with collecting precious copies of books in the basement of his shop.

There are parts where viewers almost feel that Joe has good intentions because of his neighbor, Paco. He’s a troubled boy with a drug addicted mother and her abusive parole officer boyfriend. Joe gives Paco new books to read every day and that’s when you feel that maybe Joe isn’t as bad as he seems.

The writers were very good at portraying Joe as someone with mental health issues before anyone would actually be able to tell. They were also good at the developing these characters into people that would become unrecognizable compared to the beginning. They also did a good job at combining suspense and romance without overloading viewers with one or the other.

It escalates from there rapidly with Joe making very illegal and rash decisions all because he supposedly loves Beck and wants to protect her. The end unravels and viewers learn more of why Joe is the way he is and why this obsession started.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Michael Loschiavo – Staff Reporter

Brett Young is a top country music performer. His new hit song is called “Here Tonight“ which is off his new album “Ticket To L.A.”

The Orange County, California, native was born on March 23, 1981, and began his music career in 2007. Young’s forthcoming album “Here Tonight” is a heart-felt and hook radio-ready debut.

Young started singing in the late ’90s when he stepped in to replace the absent leader of the band during a Christian worship meeting at his high school. In high school, Young was the pitcher on his high school baseball team and led the squad to a CIF championship. He also went to Ole Miss on a baseball scholarship in 1999 after turning down the pre-draft selection of the Tampa Bay Rays and the Minnesota Twins.

After college, Young decided to start singing again because he was inspired by Gavin DeGraw after he heard his album “Chariot.” In 2007, Young independently released a self-titled four-song EP. He followed that up with “Then Make Believe” (2011) and “On Fire” (2012).

After eight years in Los Angeles, Young moved to Nashville and was soon signed by Big Machine Label Group in August 2015.

Young is often compared to Luke Bryan because he is a pop country singer that produces catchy songs that will be stuck in your head for days like “Country Girl” and “Drunk On You.”

“Ticket To L.A.” is another big song for the country singer it describes how his career all started and what made him who he has become. The song also shows his viewers and who he is and what made him an artist.

“Ticket To L.A.” and “Here Tonight” set a perfect tone for each subject being described. The album’s top song, “Here Tonight,” talks about Young and his girlfriend and how he never wants her to go because “he wants to get wrapped up in her love and stay here tonight” which means he is deeply in love.

Young has made himself bigger with the song hit “Here Tonight “ and he hopes to become bigger in the coming months.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

 

By Jess Owens – Staff Reporter

Travis Scott’s third album is unarguably his strongest to date.

“Astroworld” re-imagines the defunct Six Flags AstroWorld theme park of Scott’s native Houston, but made perfectly to his liking. The 26-year-old is an avatar for a generation of playlist-making curators who have positively embraced “creative” as a job title.

The album was released on August 3rd, featuring artists like Drake, Frank Ocean, the Weeknd, Pharrell Williams, two-thirds of Migos, John Mayer, James Blake, Swae Lee, Stevie Wonder and many more.

Travis sold 553,408 copies of Astroworld first week with 270,355 of those as pure sales, putting him at #1 on the charts.

The album has 17 tracks starting off with “Stargazing,” an atmospheric track that sets the trap tone. Travis says in the song, “Whenever I’m down, it got me goin’ crazy/Psychedelics got me goin’ crazy.” It’s a reference to the highs, lows, and flows that he’s been through.

“Sicko Mode,” featuring Drake, is the main attraction of the album. Its three sick and overwhelming beat change-ups are like a roller-coaster that jabs your sides with sudden twists and turns. This track become the biggest hit of the album hitting #1 on the charts almost everywhere.

“Astrothunder” has contributions from Thundercat and John Mayer, while “Stop Trying to Be God” plays host to the record’s most involved vocal take from Scott, with beautiful harmonica lines (from Stevie Wonder) and keys surrounding his voice.

It’s on “Coffee Bean” that Scott talks about his unexpected parenthood with Kylie Jenner. He explains his complicated feelings on the subject. “Your family told you I’m a bad move,” sings Scott.

Travis isn’t a typical rapper and he’s never tried to be. “Astroworld” stands out in today’s hip-hop generation largely because Travis is the only MC in 2018 who could possibly have created a project with this style of sound.

“Astroworld” may have some slight flaws, but the project is Travis’ best, most progressive and put together album to date. Travis is out to win it and at the rate he is at, he’s unstoppable.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Justin Judge – Staff Reporter

A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is known for his musical hits that catch the attention of all listeners.

A Boogie was born on December 6, 1995. He grew up in the Bronx in New York and started rapping at the age of 12. A Boogie creates many upbeat songs that bring in roughly 16 million monthly listeners. Boogie’s has multiple labels including Highbridge the Label and Atlantic Records.

Before A Boogie started gathering his fame, he dropped his first song, “Temporary,” at age 19. This song was in the making for months because Boogie’s rap flow was nowhere close to where they are now. He actually had to hire a professional singing coach to help him with his vocals.

A Boogie’s most recent album, “Hoodie Szn,” has a total of 20 songs. Boogie’s album had some big name features including Juice Wrld, Nav, Offset, Tyga, and others. This album was released on December 21, 2018.

Of the 20 songs on “Hoodie Szn,” it is clear that A Boogie’s favorite is “4 Min Convo (Favorite Song).” This song has a unique type of flow to it. It isn’t too fast but it is very easily to go along with.

Being from the Bronx, A Boogie always had some type of competition growing up. But now because he’s become a big name rapper many other young rappers found inspiration in the vocals of Boogie, such as Lil Tjay, Jay Gwuapo, and Lil Tecca.

One point that was noticeable about the entire album was that each song sounded different from one another. This album also included many different types of beats ranging from lots of bass in one, to more a of low-key quiet beat. All these songs come together and make up an all around great album.

Some of the songs that have a slower, quieter beat may disappoint A Boogie’s fans – and that disappointment has show up in YouTube views. For example, the song “I Did It” only has 800,000 views while “Swervin’” has a total of 9.7 million views.

Rating 4.3 out of 5 stars

By Bridget Kinross – Staff Reporter

The Netflix original movie “Bird Box” is a suspenseful story about a woman and her two children who have to make it across a dangerous river all while not being able to see or speak so they must keep their blindfolds on. There is a “darkness” that if they see, they will either be compelled to take their own life or try to convince others to take their lives. In this case, the mother (played by Sandra Bullock) was the only survivor out of all her friends and she managed to keep her two children safe and bring them all to safety across the river. This movie demonstrates courage and the importance of family. Throughout the movie, viewers will see themes of sacrifice, selfishness, and love.

One strong point of this movie was how suspenseful it was it kept the watchers wanting to know what happened next. The audience is never lost or bored which is a flaw in some movies. For example, at one point the characters had to drive blindfolded to get supplies and they almost got in an accident. Suspenseful scenes like this will leave viewers wanting a sequel right away.

The main characters change throughout the movie, which kept it interesting. Bullock plays the lead, Malorie, who is pregnant and gives birth during this crisis (and takes in another child of a deceased mother) and goes through five years of this to bring them all to safety. In the beginning of the movie, Malorie did not want to deal with adulthood and as she became a mother her only focus was to protect them and to put them first unlike her old selfishness. The audience gets to see her change and that storyline keeps people watching.

“Bird Box” is similar to “A Quiet Place” which was a film where the characters were not able to talk or an evil presence would take their life. It was similar to “Bird Box” in that if characters opened their eyes, the evil would take their lives.

“Bird Box” was produced very well with the many fight scenes and Bullock’s very convincing performance during the more intense scenes.  For example, Malorie had to go into an abandoned building to gather supplies and her children left the boat so she had to run around blindfolded trying to find them before the evil did. This scene and many others showed the actors and actresses ability to keep audiences on the edge of their seats.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Samiksha Mehta – Staff Reporter

This sci-fi movie is not one moviegoers want to miss.

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

“The Darkest Minds,” filmed on August 3 is a sci-fi movie based on people diagnosed with Idiopathic Adolescent Acute Neurodegeneration (IAAN) which the government deems dangerous and thinks it’s something they can get rid of. They separate the kids into groups named by color, based on how dangerous their powers are. Blue, the color classification for those who develop telekinetic powers. Green, for those who developed enhanced mental and intellectual powers. Yellow, for those who developed electrokinetic powers. Orange, — classified as the most dangerous one — for those who developed mind control.

Ruby Daly, a sixteen year old girl, is an Orange. She developed her powers at ten years old, when she woke up and accidentally wiped her parents’ memory of her. She got shipped off to Camp Thurmond, base camp for kids ten years or older. They try and “take away” the kids’ powers, so that they aren’t a threat to the government anymore; no matter what color classification they fall under. Blues, least dangerous and oranges are the most dangerous.

A strong point of the movie is when the high-speed car chase comes in. Ruby had run away from the camp and had met some new kids on their way to a safe haven. She got in the car, and immediately people from the camp got notified of her disappearance and set people to go after her. Two people in a car chase after the minivan the kids had stolen, and zoom behind them, the driver shooting a gun and hitting the front mirror. The driver of the minivan, a Blue kid named Liam, instructs Ruby to drive while he goes to the back, saying, “it’s just like riding a bike.” Ruby gets in the driver’s seat and starts driving, as best as she can. Meanwhile, Liam throws open the back door and starts using his telekinesis powers to try and throw the people in the other car off their track. This is the best point of the movie because viewers can witness the adrenaline rushing through their veins as they use their powers. It’ll make people sit at the edge of their seat, wondering if they’ll make it or not.

A weak point of the movie was when they when they got to the camp to see the Slip Kid (the kid who’s rumored to help everyone realize/control their powers). The Slip Kid was expected to be this kid who was basically a god, or someone every kid looked up to. Instead, they found out the Slip Kid was the president’s son, Clancy Grey. Ruby, Liam and the other kids (Charles “Chubs”, a Green; Suzume (Zu), a Blue) who tried to get to East Haven (the camp Slip Kid was in charge of), all thought Clancy was a guy who could help them and not make them feel left out. But, Clancy turned out to be evil.

“The Darkest Minds” is definitely more science than fiction, which gives a little in-depth explanation of their “disease” called IAAN. This movie is definitely worth watching.  

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Mia Cerrato – Staff Reporter

Milford, Connecticut has its very own sliver of heaven called “Taste Of Thai.”

Taste of Thai is located in downtown Milford. This restaurant is the first authentic Thai restaurant in Milford and was established in 2012.

The Taste of Thai has a truly welcoming atmosphere and extraordinary food luring tourists and citizens of Milford to attend.

One positive aspect of the restaurant is, of course, the food. Every dish is thoroughly enjoyable. There is a variety of meals to choose from. Their selection varies from sweet to spicy to salty. They are all equally phenomenal. Some of the most notable dishes are the pad thai, drunken noodles, T.O.T fried rice (Taste of Thai fried rice) and wild boar basil. Taste of Thai food doesn’t contain Monosodium glutamate or MSG. This is a flavor enhancer often added to Asian meals, canned vegetables, processed meats, and soups. Typically, the FDA requires that the use of Monosodium glutamate should be listed on the label of any menu or label. This additive is known to cause asthma headaches or even brain damage.

The food is not the only remarkable thing of Taste of Thai. The service is tremendous. It is guaranteed that each customer will be served with a smile. Their service could often be compared to the reputation of Thailand the “Land of Smile.” The skilled and considerate staff are accommodating to their customers. Their goal is for everyone to enjoy their dining experience

The menu has a large variety for any type of diet. They tend to vegans, vegetarians and meat eaters. Some of their vegetarian options include spicy eggplant and T.O.T garden (Taste of Thai Garden). Their meat lover options include panang nuah, salmon teriyaki, and poo pong gari. Some vegan choices are som tum and garden salad.

Taste of Thai is incomparable to any other restaurant. It has a very authentic feel and creates memorable experiences.

The only downside of Taste of Thai is that on the weekdays its hours are cut short compared to the weekend. During the week, it opens at 11:30 a.m. and closes at 2:30 p.m. It then reopens at 4:30 p.m. and closes at 9:30 p.m. On the weekends, it opens at 12:00 p.m. and closes at 9:30 p.m. Many customers would agree a few extra hours during the week wouldn’t hurt.

Overall, a meal from Taste of Thai could put a smile on anyone’s face.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Addison Schwing – Staff Reporter

“Aquaman” rides the wave into theaters as the 6th installment in the DC Extended Universe. Directed by James Wan, “Aquaman” tells the story of Arthur Curry, the mixed-race son of a human lighthouse keeper, and Atlanna, the deposed queen of Atlantis. The movie follows Arthur as he explores his Atlantean heritage, and quests to fulfill his destiny as the Aquaman, the rightful king of Atlantis, and ruler of the Seven Seas.

“Aquaman” has many high notes. The combat sequences are electrifying and are complemented with excellent cinematography to boot — the usage of continuous shots with no breaks, and effects such as spinning and wide-angle shots. One of the best examples of this is the fight between Aquaman and the Ocean Master, where the ferocious, one versus one combat is captured on a single angle rather than many jump cuts. The visual effects are very stunning as well. Everything pops with vibrant colors, and the city of Atlantis is stunning. The creatures in the movie are very well done, from the many species of fish and other aquatic life to more legendary creatures like the Fishermen and the leviathan Karathen are brought to life with stunning reality. Moviegoers can still notice that they are computer animated, but the work is impressive nonetheless. Jason Momoa does a stellar job as Aquaman, bringing a well-balanced mix of gruff seriousness and lighthearted comic relief. Other

The movie does suffer from some low points as well. For example, the pacing is horrendous. The plot jumps erratically from destination to destination, and many moments, such as the first reveal of Atlantis, feel extremely out of place. The movie also puts a great deal of emphasis on marine pollution, which while serving as a logical motive for King Orm, the movie’s villain to declare war on the surface world, feels forced. The plot is unoriginal and uninspiring, featuring a cookie-cutter hunt for a legendary MacGuffin to resolve a conflict in a somewhat peaceful manner, culminating in a final battle and only being averted before one particular side comes out on top.

Aquaman is a notable departure from other films in the DC Extended Universe. It’s a lighthearted romp that is fun and engaging, if only jumpy and cliche. It’s not a bad film by any means; it has merely some rough edges that prevent it from being perfect. Either way, it’s an exciting film that should pique viewers’ interest – whether they are die-hard DC fans or not.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

By Rachna Vipparla – Staff Reporter

Sabaa Tahir utilized her outstanding writing skills by crafting the book, ”An Ember in the Ashes.”

The novel was instantly #1 in the New York Times Bestselling list and the People’s Choice Award. In addition, it was also nominated for eight other awards including, the Goodreads Choice Award, the Milwaukee Teen Book Award, the Children’s Book Council Award, the Lincoln Ward, the Evergreen Teen Book Awards, and The Magnolia Award.

The historical fiction book was based off of the military conquests in an ancient Roman society. Tahir was initially inspired by The Liberian Civil War, but later created parallels to the clash between the common people and soldiers in ancient Sparta. Since this novel is based on a conglomeration of historical events, there are unpredictable twists that make “An Ember in the Ashes,” unique.

In the novel, part of the population lives under the martial law in fear, and the other half works for the military under a merciless emperor. It is a detestable system to live with for both parties, but regardless, everyone obliges without protest. However, when rumors of a war begin brewing across the land, the citizens and soldiers are filled with unrest and chaos begins breaking out. The book discusses war, sacrifice, chaos and poverty by portraying the story through characters with different perspectives.

Many factors make ”An Ember in the Ashes” an amazing literary piece. The character development put into the story is phenomenal. It adds depth to the book and creates an atmosphere that makes the story engaging. Each character is easily understood and the amount of pain they endure throughout the novel allows readers to sympathize with them. In addition, the unpredictable storyline leaves readers to be on the edge of their seats and constantly wanting to read more. The story is not cliche and is truly unique in comparison to more common teen novels. It is also remarkable how the author managed to make risky decisions in respect to the plot while maintaining clarity in the storyline.

Due to the realistic traces of historical tragedies, ”An Ember in the Ashes” may be too difficult to read by a sensitive audience. The story contains many unpredictable deaths, some of which are main characters. There is also an unsettling amount of sadism and hatred that is plainly reflected by the characters.

Without question, ”An Ember in the Ashes” is an amazing literary piece that is definitely worth a read.

Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars

By Stephanie Caron- Staff Reporter

Marvel’s take on “Spider-man: Homecoming” makes viewers fall in love with Peter Parker all over again.

In recent years, there have been multiple actors who have taken on the role of Peter Parker/Spider-man in Sony movies. The first actor to take on the geeky, innocent teenager was Tobey Maguire in “Spider-man” released in 2002. Maguire went on to play Spider-man in “Spider-man 2” in 2004, and “Spider-man 3” in 2007. In 2012, Sony’s “The Amazing Spider-man” came out starring Andrew Garfield as Spider-man. Then, in 2014, Garfield returned to the big screen playing Spider-man again in “The Amazing Spider-man 2.” In 2016, Marvel got rights to the character Spider-man and that same year “Captain America: Civil War” came out with Spider-man’s cameo played by Tom Holland. Mr. Stark (Iron Man) discovered Spider-man’s talents where he invited Peter to come and help him fight the Avengers. The most recent Spider-man movie, “Spider-man: Homecoming,”  starring Holland, came out in 2017. A new Spider-man movie is releasing in the summer of 2019 called “Far From Home” starring Holland as Spider-man once again.

In “Spider-man: Homecoming” Peter Parker is a 15-year-old sophomore living in Queens, New York, with his Aunt May and a secret no one knows. After his experience with the Avengers, Peter returns to his normal routine as a teenage boy. Although Peter starts to fully embrace his alter ego of Spider-man with the mentor of Tony Stark (Iron Man), he is soon known as “the friendly neighborhood Spider-man” but he wants to prove to Stark and everyone else that he’s more than that. He soon will put his powers to the test when the evil Vulture comes in and threatens everything Peter holds dear.

Director Jon Watts revamp Spider-man that is making fans, and critics love the newest version of the movie.

Casting for this movie was amazingly done with Zendaya as Michelle, Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds, Marisa Tomei as May Parker, Laura Harrier as Liz Allan, Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, and Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man.

The writers revamped Aunt May who takes care of Peter as when he was a young boy his parents died. In previous Spider-man movies May Parker and her husband Ben Parker took young Peter into their homes, during that time they were both seen as older characters. In “Spider-man Homecoming” and “Captain America: Civil War” Uncle Ben is not seen, and Aunt May is a young, vibrant character who brings this new sense of adolescents to the film. Critics say the revamping of Aunt May refreshed the Spider-man movies, and created a whole new dynamic to her character.

Critics are also saying Holland’s performance and his ability to bring a new life to Peter Parker made the movie aspect feel more relatable and making this Spider-man movie the best one yet. In all aspects Holland brings a lot to the table as spider-man.

The editing and stunt scenes in this movie makes the movie unexpected and thrilling. With having all of the cool tricks Spider-man can do there are parts of the movie that makes it feel more relatable to the average teen. Peter has a crush on the character Liz and although confident in Spider-man’s suit, Peter chokes up whenever he has to talk to Liz, which many teenagers can relate to now.

If fans are looking for a thrilling yet charming Marvel movie, “Spider-man Homecoming” might be the perfect movie to watch because of the unexpected plot and exciting scenes.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars