By: Natalia Gercheva

Fall is the time of year where more holidays and festivities happen, therefore many movies come out this time of year. Throughout the years, a collection of “classic” fall movies has grown. In this article, I will be listing what I think are the top 10 most noteworthy fall movies that everyone should watch at some point.

1. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ is a stop-motion film, and it’s definitely one of my personal favorite movies. It has a very autumnal vibe because of the colors of the ground, trees, and just the lightning overall, which makes it perfect to watch this time of year. It’s a heartwarming and entertaining movie that is sure to leave you with a smile on your face.

2. Coraline (2009)
‘Coraline’ is another stop-motion movie that many people find to be creepy and unsettling. The movie does a great job of continually building up suspense, and it has a great plot. I think many people have split opinions about ‘Coraline’, because some see it as a masterpiece, while others believe it is too scary to be marketed as a PG children’s movie.

3. Hocus Pocus (1993)
‘Hocus Pocus’ is another classic spooky and nostalgic movie. It became extremely popular, and many people will watch it annually as a tradition to celebrate the spooky season. There was even a sequel that was released in 2022 featuring mostly the same cast three decades later.

4. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ was written by Tim Burton, and it is one of the most favored Halloween/Christmas movies of all time. The storytelling and attention to detail in the movie is what makes it feel so imaginative and well-done. The soundtrack was inspired by popular classic composers that made the movie even more enchanting.

5. Beetlejuice (1988)
‘Beetlejuice’ is another one of Tim Burton’s most famous films. It became so popular that it even turned into a Broadway musical, and it is on tour now. ‘Beetlejuice’ was well liked for it’s memorable songs, impressive performances, and because it was hilarious and over the top,

6. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
‘Edward Scissorhands’ is another Tim Burton film that features Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder. The plot is amazing, and it has both a creepy but magical vibe. I watch it almost every year, and it never gets old because it is one of my favorite movies.

7. Corpse Bride (2005)
‘The Corpse Bride’ is the last Tim Burton movie on this list, but it is another one of my favorites. It spreads a great message to viewers about life and death. It does a great job of capturing Tim Burton’s creative visual style.

8. Ghostbusters (1984)
‘Ghostbusters’ is a great classic comedy movie that took the science fiction and fantasy part to another level. They utilized visual effects to create realistic ghost encounters that were advanced for its time, and a sequel came out in 1989. In 2016, another ‘Ghostbusters’ movie was released featuring an all-female main cast. It was aimed to challenge stereotypes, and offer a more diverse and inclusive version of the movie.

9. The Addams Family (1991)
‘The Addams Family’ has multiple variations that have been released throughout the years. The 1991 version is my favorite because I think it was cast well, and it captures what the Addams Family is all about. Since then, there has been a sequel, an animation adaptation, and more. The most recent adaptation was a TV series on Netflix called ‘Wednesday’ that was actually produced by Tim Burton (starring Jenna Ortega).

10. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
Charlie Brown films are some of the most classic nostalgic movies you can watch. ‘It’s the Great Pumpkin’ is the perfect fall movie with a beautiful soundtrack. It is also only 25 minutes long, and available to watch on many streaming platforms, so everyone should dedicate some time to watch it.

You may have noticed that four out of the ten movies on this list are Tim Burton films. Myself and others admire his distinct style that captures an imaginative audience. I hope everyone gets the opportunity to watch these films at least once in their lifetime!

By: Joey Briseno & Cade Sullivan

‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ (ROTB) is an action-stuffed adventure that revamps the Transformer’s movie franchise with a 90’s setting and all-new factions: the Maximals and the Terrorcons.

The story follows two brand-new human characters, Noah Diaz and Elena Wallace, who are pulled into an extraterrestrial struggle for a device called the Transwarp Key, or just the Key. The Key has the power to create space-time portals, making it a valuable device. Optimus Prime and his fellow Transformers (Bumblebee, Mirage, Arcee and Wheeljack) want the Key in order to return to Cybertron, while the antagonist Scourge wants the Key to bring his master, the planet-eating Unicron, to earth.

ROTB is on the shorter side in terms of normal action flicks at around 2 hours, but it moves at a good pace and doesn’t take much time to explain things. This is both good and bad; at times it feels as if the script was written by someone who just wants to get to the action, and at times it feels engaging to have a movie that is so light on exposition.

The movie attempts to include a family dynamic between Noah, his mother and his brother, but this falls flat as there simply isn’t enough time to help you get fully invested. His brother has a sickness, but it isn’t revealed what it is or how it’s affecting him. Noah’s brother radios into him during the final battle for some motivation, but otherwise he isn’t important to the plot.

Visually speaking, ROTB looks very clean for the most part while not really separating itself from the previous movies of the franchise in terms of CGI. The movie is very colorful, with specific elements like Optimus Prime’s red and blue coloring and the lush green of the Peru jungle being particular standouts.

Fights are explosive and frequent, and the action here is some of the best you’ll find in movies from 2023. While it isn’t necessarily creative, the action is captivating and does a good job of making it feel more realistic with Noah and Elena having to evade enemies.

One negative aspect here is that the backgrounds of these sets feel very empty. For example, there is a scene where Mirage visits Noah outside of his friend’s apartment. Not a single person notices the Autobot as he talks to Noah, making no attempts to whisper. However, this is more of a nitpick than anything as it isn’t majorly distracting.

Characters here are either a big focus or mostly ignored. Optimus Prime returns to the big screen, although he is a much colder and distrusting Optimus than we’re used to. Noah and Elena have a lot of screen time and plenty of development: Noah is down-to-earth and funny while Elena is reserved but proves herself to be very smart.

Bumblebee doesn’t have a lot to do in this movie; besides his return in the final fight, he is mostly sidelined for a new Autobot: Mirage. Mirage is voiced by comedian Pete Davidson and is a standout of the movie with his carefree personality and swagger.

Arcee and Wheeljack are impressive in fight scenes but aren’t given much to do; however, the biggest miss of this movie has to be the Maximals. Advertised heavily in the trailers, they are given nothing to do and are only there to help in the final fight.

Their leader, Optimus Primal, has an interesting backstory that isn’t expanded upon past the opening scene and, while he has a cool design, doesn’t offer a lot to the story besides revealing the location of his half of the Key. Overall, very disappointing for these promising characters to be built up by marketing and fall flat in the actual product.

The main antagonist of this movie is known simply as Scourge, with the secondary antagonist being Unicron. Scourge is a very menacing adversary, as it is revealed that he was given immense power by Unicron. Scourge launches an attack on the Autobots at the museum containing the Key, and he beats Optimus handily in their fight. It takes an appearance from the maximal Airazor to stop Scourge and his Terrorcons from eliminating the Autobots. Scourge is eventually defeated by Optimus Prime in the final battle, but not before cementing himself as a top-tier villain.

Overall, “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” is a great popcorn action movie that left us wanting more. We found the character development in this movie to overall be lackluster: for example, Scourge is given no backstory; he’s just evil and serves Unicron for an unexplained purpose. The Maximals were underutilized and the family dynamic was established but not extended upon. That being said, the entertainment value of this movie helped us turn our brain off more and not pay so much attention to the negatives. We would recommend checking this movie out, especially if you are a Transformers fan. We would give it 4/5 stars.

‘Transformers: ROTB’ is streaming now on Paramount Plus.

By: Cade Sullivan & Joey Briseno

*Warning: This review contains spoilers

“Adventure Time: Together Again” is an episode from the television series ‘Adventure Time: Distant Lands’ on the streaming service Max, and it is a 40 minute whirlwind that gives the titular characters a satisfying conclusion. This episode is a rollercoaster as we follow Finn on his journey to be reunited with his best friend Jake in the afterlife.

The main driving point of this episode, which is Finn’s struggle to find his best friend again, feels very human and very real, as it is extremely hard to lose someone close to you. This helps the story, giving it sentimental value and something for the audience to root for. We were so invested that we found Jake’s initial reaction to seeing Finn again very disappointing, as he didn’t seem to care at the moment that Finn had come all that way for him.

Another interesting element here was the main villain, New Death, and his relationship with his father Death. While it isn’t a major focus of the plot, we are given an insight through a flashback. Death tries to teach his son a lesson, but his son is indifferent and disrespectful. This soon grows into anger that we can assume has been building up for a long time, and New Death strikes down his father and becomes the new Lord of the Dead, suffering the consequences for his inpatience and temper.

“Adventure Time: Together Again” is an impressive achievement of modern animation, and it’s crazy to think how far the show has come since its first season in terms of looks. Colors are either bright and vibrant or gloomy and sad depending on the environment. The multiple “dead worlds”, which is the term of worlds in the afterlife, are especially impressive, with each having their own look, feel, and unique sounds. Sound design is up to par, and it’s noticeable from the beginning that this is not a low-budget Saturday cartoon.

The main character here is definitely Finn, as Jake becomes more of a supporting character throughout the runtime. Finn’s friendship with Jake is the driving force behind all of his actions, as he traverses through countless dead worlds looking for his buddy. Jake is his normal self once he leaves the zen state of the 50th dead world, and is his trustworthy self as the two rebel against New Death. Other than those two, no characters are very important to the story besides New Death’s servant Mr. Fox, who strikes down his ruler to become the new Lord of the Dead.

The antagonist, New Death, is a conflicted character whose backstory paints the picture for his personality: a petulant child. New Death hasn’t matured from his backstory and continues to rule the dead worlds with an iron fist. He also poses a threat to Finn and Jake, as until they receive the Kiss of Life from Life itself, they are unable to hurt their foe. New Death is never a likable character, as he has no redeeming qualities to speak of, and his demise at the hands of Mr. Fox serves as the total end of his character.

“Adventure Time: Together Again” is a satisfying conclusion to the stories of Finn and Jake, if a little too long. While the plot and dynamics are interesting, the pacing was a little slow and caused the episode to feel longer than it should have. However, that doesn’t take away from the strong emotional core and beautiful animation. If you follow ‘Adventure Time’ or are just a fan of the series, we would recommend watching this spirited conclusion of Finn and Jake’s character arcs. 4.5/5

By: Cleo Newton        

*Warning: This review contains spoilers

‘Grave of the Fireflies’ is a studio Ghibli movie about two siblings trying to survive through World War Two in Japan. At the beginning of the movie, a sickly boy is sitting hunched over against a column; a couple scenes later, he dies. The movie then shows what events happened that led up to this point in the movie.

The 14-year-old brother, Seita, is responsible for taking care of his little sister, Setsuko. During the first air raid, Seita was seen quickly burying supplies like food in their family’s backyard. He tells his mom that he would meet her at the safe house with his little sister in a bit. The mom leaves and in a couple minutes, the bombing starts.

After the bombing, everybody in the town was called to meet at the elementary school to get food, medical attention, or any other help they can provide. There, Seita and a friend line up to get food. Seita leaves his little sister with the friend to go see his mom after hearing she was injured in the bombing. His mom was in terrible condition; she has really bad burns covering her entire body.

After seeing her like this, Seita doesn’t want Sesuko to see her until she gets better, so he lies to her and says that she’s in a hospital and that they can see her when she gets better. Seita and Setsuko go to stay at their aunt’s house which is nearby. Their house, and many other buildings, were destroyed during the first bombing.

There, they eat and sleep. Seita works to get food and plays with his sister in his free time. He also writes to his dad who is a soldier fighting in the war. Their aunt may be providing them with food and shelter but she isn’t very caring. She gets annoyed when Setsuko cries; she tells Seita that he isn’t working hard.

Later, Seita and Setsuko decide to move out, and they find a sheltered place by a lake to live. They brought things like a mini stove, bedding and some food with them. They have fun the first couple of days but they soon run into another problem; they’re starting to run out of food.

During the air raids, Seita goes and steals things from people’s houses after they leave so that he can trade them for food. Even though he has things to trade, people won’t trade with him. Seita struggles to find food for him and his sister as they don’t have any money and no one is willing to trade with them.

Later, Seita finds out that Setsuko is sick and brings her to the doctor. The doctor just says that she needs to eat more food. Seita resorts to stealing food from other people’s gardens. The owner of the garden eventually finds out and turns him in to the police after beating him up. Luckily, the police let him go since he’s still a kid.

Eventually, Seita does manage to buy some food after extracting money from his parent’s bank account. While he was at the bank, he overheard people talking about how Japan lost the war. He’s really upset because this means that now both of his parents are dead. He buys more food but Setsuko has already been starving and dies later that night. The next morning, he gets some coal so that he can cremate his sister. After he finishes cremating her, he puts some of her ashes in a tin and leaves. The movie ends with Seita walking down the hill leaving the shelter and everything else behind.

I got a copy of this movie from the library, but you can also watch it on AppleTV. Overall, I would give this 4.5/5.

By: Beverly Stinson

*Warning: This review contains spoilers

‘The Black Phone’ is a thriller-drama movie released on June 24th, 2022. It’s about a 13-year-old boy who gets kidnapped by a serial kidnapper and communicates with the ghosts of the kidnapper’s past victims to help him escape. This film is rated ‘R’ for violence, bloody images, profanity, and drug use.

The main charecter in this movie is a 13-year-old boy named Finney Blake. He lives in a small town with his sister and father. He and his sister have a troubled home life with their father being an alcoholic and violent. Finney often gets bullied at school but receives help from Robin Arellano his best friend.

During the first part of the movie multiple kids go missing, most of which are kids Finney knows in some way. It then leads up to Finney’s kidnapping, where after he’s been taken, he wakes up in a small room in a basement. Inside the basement is a bed, toilet, and a black phone. The kidnapper (known as “The Grabber”) continuously speaks to Finney, seemingly trying to make small talk. The Grabber mentions the phone and how it doesn’t work.

Even though The Grabber states that the phone doesn’t work, it eventually starts ringing, and when Finney picks it up, the voice of a kid speaks through the phone; the kid being one of The Grabbers victims. After that, The Grabber’s other victims start calling him, with all of them giving him tips on how to escape.

Finney’s sister Gwen is a major character in this movie. When Finney goes missing, she tries to find him with some new senses that she has.

‘My review’
When I first saw the trailers for ‘The Black Phone’, I didn’t think I’d watch it. I’m not so big on thriller or horror, especially movies that have to do with kidnapping. But after a year of it being out, I decided to watch it (mostly because of edits of characters I saw). But before watching it, I had done so much research that I spoiled everything for myself, which isn’t the first time I’ve done that.

I do wanna say even though it’s already mentioned in the R rating that this movie does have a lot of violent scenes, some of which are of Finney and Gwen’s father. So, if that’s a hard topic for you then take caution when reading.

So, even though I was skeptical about watching it at first, I will honestly say that it’s a great movie. There’s always so much suspense and the storyline of not just Finney’s story but also Gwen’s and the ghost boys is so thought out. I love how they mix a realistic scenario with the supernatural; when movies or shows do that it makes it more interesting and original.

I like how they touch on bad households with both the siblings and The Grabber. It is said that The Grabber ends up the way he is because of how his father treated him. He started kidnapping 13-14-year-old boys who he deemed bad, to punish them like his father did to him. Which ya-know, does not justify his actions in any way. Actually, as I’m getting into the fandom, I’m noticing that no one really likes him, and that’s actually pretty surprising to me as I am also in fandoms like ‘Scream’ and ‘IT’ and even though the villains in those movies did bad things, the fandom still seems to like them (myself included).

And other than the siblings and The Grabber, one other character apparently had a troubled home life as well, this character being Vance Hopper, who is actually my favorite character. Vance doesn’t have a lot of scenes but based off of his character, and what the actors have said, you can kinda guess how his life is.

A lot of people might say that this is a lot for one movie, but seeing as how it’s based in the late 70s it’s sorta realistic. Since back then it was more acceptable to treat your kids that way, or at least people didn’t talk about it as much.

I really think it’s great that they talk about it, because tons of movies try to dodge topics like that instead of facing them.

So, this next thing I like about it does include some spoilers so take caution!

My favorite part of the entire movie was the ghost boys; in total there are 5. In order they are:

1. Griffin Stagg
2. Billy Showalter
3. Vance Hopper
4. Bruce Yamada
5. Robin Arellano

There would’ve been 6 but the ghost boys wanted to make sure there wasn’t.

There were all different reasons why the grabber took them but all of them are summed up to them being “bad boys”, at least in his eyes. For example, Vance Hopper AKA Pinball Vance, was an extremely violent person, and was a bully. In one scene, he beats up two kids after one of them bumped into him while he was playing pinball, which caused him to lose. He is said to be a borderline sociopath (I don’t believe that but I’m biased).

I would also like to mention the cast as I really love the cast. I really think they couldn’t have done better with the cast; the actors fit the roles so well. My favorite actors are definitely Brady Hepner (Vance), Mason Thames (Finney), and Tristan Pravong (Bruce).

Ever since I got into the fandom I’ve been watching their Instagram lives and watching interviews and they are so awesome. Sadly, they aren’t in a lot of movies or shows, which is so funny because it always seems like the actors I love aren’t in a lot of things.

If you like suspenseful movies, I’d recommend you watch this movie. It does have a little comedy in it if you don’t only like plain thrillers. Remember that it is rated R and that you should be cautious when watching with children or if you are sensitive to blood or violence.

Thank you for reading my review and I hope you enjoy the movie if you decide to watch it. Hopefully my review makes you want to watch it ❤

You can watch ‘The Black Phone’ on Peacock.

By: Abisola Dosunmu

‘A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder’ by Holly Jackson, is coming to the big screen as a television series soon. As of October 2023, there is still no set premiere date. It will be set to air on BBC Three.

So, what do we know so far? Well, the cast has been released. Emma Myers and Zain Iqbal are set to be playing the main characters, Pip and Ravi. The author of the series, Holly Jackson, is well aware of the casting choices for the characters, and has been enthusiastic about it, even speaking out on it, saying, “I am so unbelievably excited that Emma is our Pip. She is phenomenal and this role was truly always meant to be hers. And we found our perfect Ravi in Zain. I can’t wait for us all to be able to watch their scenes. I smile every time I see them together, because I know that we’ve pulled off the impossible, and Emma and Zain are the only two people I would trust to bring these characters to life. Everyone’s going to be just as thrilled as I am.”

So, what’s the book about? Pippa Fitz-Amobi is the 17-year-old protagonist in the book, reinvestigating the death of a beautiful teenage girl named Andie Bell, who was allegedly killed by her boyfriend Sal Singh five years ago in her quiet hometown. Ravi Singh is the younger brother of Sal, a member of a family still broken by their elder son’s death and presumed murder. Together, Pippa and Ravi, working together over a long cold case, work to solve the mystery that has divided their town, and with that, finally put Sal and Andies’ lives to rest. But secrets are too interwoven with each other in their tiny town, and time is running out. The mystery the readers must figure out is, are things really as they seem?

Some other details about the upcoming series is that it’s being filmed in the South West of England, and ‘A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder’ is the first in a trilogy, featuring two other books named, ‘Good Girl, Bad Blood’ and ‘As Good as Dead’.

By M. Ahmadad

“Stunning animation sparks this cross-cultural, high-concept ‘Romeo & Juliet’ romantic comedy, inspired by the periodic chart of elements that one recalls from science class.” (Critic Susan Granger on ‘Elemental’)

‘Elemental’ is one of the most recent Pixar films, released in June 2023. Despite receiving a 75% on Rotten Tomatoes and being generally seen by the media as a cute, likable, and enjoyable film with a nice plot, the movie suffered an unfortunate flop.

The first opening weekend for ‘Elemental’ only made $29 million, and over the span of two months grossed $425 million worldwide. The budget for the movie’s creation was $200 million dollars, so the profit made was much smaller than other Pixar films opening weekend, like ‘Inside Out’ or ‘Coco’.

Prior to the movie’s release, people were skeptical about ‘Elemental’ and didn’t have high hopes. Now that the movie is released, a lot of people are actually quite satisfied with it; the movie having a 4.2 star rating.

The problem likely stems from the promotional marketing strategy for ‘Elemental’. Fans were already skeptical about newer animated children’s films from Disney/Pixar, so seeing the first teaser for ‘Elemental’ made already wary people form assumptions about how the film would go.

The trailers and ads on social media, like TikTok, did not attempt to showcase the two main characters and the chemistry between them, which was the highlight of the actual film. Instead, they tried to go the comedy route and advertise a minor side character, in hopes that he would be endearing to viewers.

However, Clod has less than 3 minutes of screen time in the actual movie, so the amount of time they spent promoting this character lead to people finding it misleading. There was even a short-lived meme where people made sarcastic comments behaving like they cared about Clod, saying that they screamed when he came on screen and cried.

It is generally agreed that the marketing of this movie was not up to par, considering that the trailers decided not to promote much of anything about the two main characters and their relationship, which was the highlight of the actual film.

So, while ‘Elemental’ may not have been given the chance to shine, many people think it’s a touching and beautifully animated film. If you’re considering watching it, it’s recommended to not keep the ads in mind.

You can watch ‘Elemental’ on Disney+.

By: Cade Sullivan & Joe Briseno

*Note: This article contains spoilers

‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ marks the return of our favorite crime-fighting turtles back to the big screen. Unlike other TMNT films of the past that struggled with finding its identity, this film knows exactly what it wants to be. This movie is an entertaining time for all ages, a modern story of teenage life and brotherhood with a few elements of fiction to make it original.

The story follows four familiar faces in Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael. The turtles meet a girl named April O’Neal, who gives the teens a shot at becoming heroes if they can take down a mysterious mutant named “Superfly”.

This film does a great job with balancing action with comedy, as the Turtles’ witty banter keeps the intense fight scenes light and funny. The pacing here is consistent, and we never once felt like the movie dragged on or outlived its welcome.

‘Mutant Mayhem’ does a great job of including real-life human elements to its story, one of those being April’s anxiety about being in front of a camera. April had an unfortunate incident happen to her while she was on camera for her high school, which caused her to never want to talk in front of a camera again. However, this changes when the villain Superfly attacks New York. April runs to the local news station and pleads her case that the turtles aren’t villains. Her passionate words change New York’s perception of our shelled heroes, and soon the turtles are able to defeat Superfly with the help of New York citizens.

Another human element to this story was Splinter’s unwillingness to let his kids go. I’m sure parents can relate to this one; Splinter wants to keep his boys safe and is distrustful of the human world. It’s only after hearing Superfly saying that his way is the only way, something Splinter told his boys before, that he realizes the error of his ways. Splinter then apologizes, stating he trusts his boys, and allows them to go to high school in New York.

‘Mutant Mayhem’ brings the turtles to life with a unique animation style, which makes them appear as genuine creatures rather than ugly hyper realistic CGI. The film’s cinematography impresses with an active moving camera that gives new angles to fight sequences. Vibrant colors mix with dull ones, giving the animation further layers and originality.

‘Mutant Mayhem’ may be a lot different than what we’ve previously seen from the Turtles, but the brothers’ personalities are here to stay with Leonardo’s leadership and commitment to his brothers, Donatello’s intelligence and dry wit, Michelangelo’s humor and innocence, and Raphael’s hotheadedness and determination. The Turtles are played by actual teenage actors who voice their characters authentically. This is a far cry from past TMNT productions where adults voice acted in these roles. New and old characters make their way into the story, some to be recognized and others to establish their place in the new era of TMNT.

The film’s soundtrack combines nostalgic 90s tunes with new age techno tracks. This mix of songs complement the film’s fresh energy and enhances action sequences and emotional moments. Sound design is crisp and well-done, helping to further immerse viewers in the Turtle’s world. Care and attention to detail in terms of audio  heightens both the action sequences and the overall experience.

‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ is an exhilarating and action-packed cinematic adventure that captures the essence of our beloved turtles. With its engaging plot, fantastic visual effects, well-developed characters, and a great soundtrack, it’s a must-see for enthusiasts of the TMNT franchise. The film skillfully strikes a balance between honoring the Turtles’ roots and introducing fresh elements, which provides an enjoyable experience for both newcomers and long-time fans. So grab your popcorn, get comfortable, and prepare for an awesome, shell-shocking adventure!

Overall, we give the movie 4/5 stars. You can watch ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ on Paramount+.

By: Judah Gregory

*Note: This article contains spoilers

‘Hustle’ is a movie produced by Adam Sandler, Lebron James, and Maverick Carter that was created on June 3, 2022. The movie is about Stanley Beren (played by Adam Sandler), who is an NBA scout for the Dallas Mavericks, trying to recruit prospects for their franchise. But the general manager overrides and vetoes everything he does with prospects and actually threatens to fire him when the general manager messes up the draft and picks someone who Stanley didn’t advise. This is when we meet the main character, Bo Cruz, played by real NBA player Juan Hernangomez.

Bo lives in Spain with his mother and daughter. He doesn’t actually play basketball professionally for their country but makes money off pickup games at the park when Stanley, who happens to be there, is scouting. Stanley sees how good he is and immediately tries to talk to him, but his limited Spanish made him say something weird to him and made Bo walk off. But him being a scout, he followed Bo to his house, where he met his mom and daughter, and ended up convincing Bo to play with the promise of money and getting his family out of Spain.

This is where the antagonist for Bo is Kermit Wilts, played by real NBA rookie of the year Anthony Edwards. This part of the movie everyone loves because Edwards played his part very well and already talks trash in games, so in the movie he said some crazy things. But they first met at a pickup game just to showcase their talents, and Kermit dominated the game while Bo underperformed, played pretty badly, and was basically shut down due to the trash talk of Kermit.

I like this part because it shows how, in basically every sport, letting someone talk trash to you can take you out of your game and put you out, so you have to be mentally ready, and that’s the same advice Stanley gave him to use.

Kermit and Bo would meet two other times, and in their second meeting, they were playing at a combine in front of thousands of people, and Bo took his mother and daughter to help him perform better, but when Kermit’s regular trash talk didn’t work (because he saw his daughter), and blocked Bo’s shots out the stands, he then waved at his daughter. He takes another loss but actually isn’t upset, and his performance in the game already brought scouts so that he would be able to declare for the NBA draft.

The third and final time they meet is in the NBA, where the movie ends at the tip-off to start the game.

I like this movie because it’s about basketball, and in the movie, it shows one of the routes to the NBA which is the international one. The acting for the movie, I think, is good, with Anthony Edwards playing the main antagonist, which was good for the movie and definitely was my favorite character. Since there have definitely been worse basketball movies, I think this one is worth watching.

Overall, I would give this movie a 8/10. You can watch ‘Hustle’ on Netflix.

By: Chloe Rocha

*Note: This article contains spoilers and deals with mental health issues including suicide

This article is a movie review on ‘All The Bright Places’ directed by Brett Haley. This movie was originally a book by Jennifer Niven, but was turned into a movie in 2020. The movie follows the story of two individuals; one being Theodore Finch, who is diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

In my opinion, Justice Smith who played Finch did a really good job at representing someone who would have bipolar disorder, shown by his experienced manic episodes and depressive period.

The other individual that the movie follows is Violet Markey, played by Elle Fanning. At the beginning of the movie you see Finch on a run and he comes across Violet standing on the ledge of a bridge looking down. The first thought that came to mind was that Violet may be depressed and is thinking about taking her life.

It is later revealed that she was on that bridge because that was where her sister Eleanor passed away at the age of 18 in a car accident 9 months prior. Violet was in the car when they crashed and she only suffered minor injuries but unfortunately Eleanor lost her life.

Throughout the movie the two are partnered together for a class project where the objective is to discover the “natural wonders” of their home state Indiana. While on their adventures they begin to develop feelings for each other and Finch helps Violet find happiness again after the loss of her sister. On the other hand, Finch begins to spiral out of control and eventually takes his own life at the end of the movie by drowning in a lake that is known to have no bottom, other wise known as “the blue hole”.

I really enjoyed this movie and have yet to read the book, but I have liked this movie for a long time and have rewatched it multiple times. I do recommend this movie, but in my opinion, you can either really like it or not care for it, so there is a select few that may enjoy it just as much as I do even though it’s not the typical “happy ever after” ending that you usually see in movies. This movie takes on serious topics about mental health and in my opinion is more realistic because in life it’s not always a happy ending and this movie showed that.

If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or go to the 988 Suicide & Prevention Lifeline site for a list of additional resources