By: Stephanie Caballero Benitez

*Warning: This article contains spoilers

Today, I will be reviewing and summarizing one of the most awaited movies of this year, ‘Five Nights At Freddy’s’. ‘Five Nights At Freddy’s’, also known as ,FNAF’, was originally a game. This game came out during 2014 and gained a large amount of attention from a young audience. Ever since, the game has been rising in popularity. The popularity allowed for this game to continue to make 9 more games starting from 2014 all the way to 2021. The creators of this game also made some books in addition to the games; the books explain some of the lore behind the game.

In this movie, we start with a scene of the main character, Micheal Schmidt, also known as Mike. Micheal Schmidt is an adult that has custody over his sister, with no other family to care for her he takes the responsibility to do so. Mike struggles to keep a job and suffers from the same nightmare every night. His nightmare every night is about the day that his younger brother Garret was taken. He allows these nightmares to happen and continue because he feels as if he pays more attention to every detail that he will somehow figure out who took his younger brother.

After consulting a work counselor, Mike gets offered a night job as security at a place that shut down. He isn’t told a lot of information about this place besides having to keep people out at night.

At first he refuses it as he has his younger sister to take care of during the night, but later on he accepts. He leaves his sister with one of his neighbors and takes the job.

This job is more unusual than the other jobs he has had; there are animatronics that give off a sinister vibe. During the night he falls asleep and has the same repeated nightmare but this time 5 different children appear; they stare at him and run away when he tries to approach them. During these nightmares he tries to stop the children, and each time he tries he gets hurt in the dream but also out of the dream. Soon he finds out the animatronics aren’t just animatronics, they also have the souls of children trapped in them making these animatronics aggressive.

We also find out later that Mike’s younger sister has been talking to the souls of those children. In  return for information on who was responsible for his younger brother’s disappearance, the souls ask him to give them Abby, his younger sister. He agrees but later on regrets it. The animatronics try to get Abby into a suit that would kill her and turn her into one of them.

Mike and Vanessa stop them. Vanessa is a town sheriff that meets Mike on his first night of the job. While all this happens, another person shows up, a person in an animatronic suit. This person turns out to be the job counselor, also known as William Aston, also known as Vanessa’s father. William controls the children with fear and makes them attack everyone who enters the place. William gets upset at the fact his own daughter is helping Mike, so he stabs her, leaving her in a coma.

Abby communicates with the animatronics on what the truth is behind their deaths through drawings. She draws them a picture of William killing them which makes them turn on him. When they turn on him the spring locks on his suit go off causing him to be in extreme pain. As the animatronics attack William, Abby, Vanessa, and Mike get out of the pizzeria.

The movie overall is a really good movie, although I feel disappointed in the horror theme. Their animatronics weren’t as off putting as they are in the video games and they didn’t have many scenes where I would call them scary. As a fan of many years, I also think that the lore they chose to follow is a bit confusing as William is supposed to have a son named Micheal but in the movie instead he has a daughter. Some theorize that the movie followed the books more instead of the games, which is a bit disappointing as most of their audience follows the game lore. Overall, this movie gets a 8/10.  You can see ‘FNAF’ in theaters and on Peacock.

By: Joey Briseno & Cade Sullivan

Rating: 3/5

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR ‘MORBIUS’ AHEAD

‘Morbius’, directed by Daniel Espinosa, is the latest addition to the ever-expanding Sony Cinematic Universe, which began with ‘Venom’ in 2018. The story is centered around a lesser-known character named Micheal Morbius from the Spider-Man comic books. While it may not be the most groundbreaking or memorable entry into the superhero genre, the film manages to be an entertaining and visually interesting experience for fans of the Marvel franchise.

Jared Leto stars as Dr. Michael Morbius, a brilliant but tormented scientist who suffers from a rare blood disorder. Driven by a desire to find a cure for his disease, he captures dozens of vampire bats, hoping to splice their DNA with his. However, his cure backfires and transforms him into a living vampire. Leto’s performance is convincing if a bit wooden, and his portrayal of Morbius is a bright spot in such a subpar film.

One interesting character dynamic in this movie is the one shared between Morbius himself and the movie’s antagonist, Milo. Morbius and Milo are lifelong friends who met in the same hospital as kids, both suffering from the same blood disease. The two also shared a surrogate father named Emil Nicholas, but Milo feels that Morbius was always the favorite of the two. Morbius grows up to be an intelligent doctor nominated for a Nobel prize, while Milo establishes himself as the rich benefactor to Morbius’ research of vampire bats.

The two take drastically different paths, however, when they both gain vampiric powers from their cure. Milo leans into his new abilities, feeling powerful for the first time in his life, while Morbius is wary and tries to convince Milo to take an antibody. Eventually, Morbius is forced to eliminate his surrogate brother, as he becomes too corrupted and begins to lash out at the human race.

The film’s visual effects are undoubtedly one of its strongest aspects. The transformation sequences, flight scenes, and battles look realistic and add a layer of thrill to the film. The dark, gothic aesthetic of the film is convincing and captures the tone of Morbius’ character and situation very well.

While Leto’s performance is the standout, the supporting cast, including Adria Arjona as Martine Bancroft and Matt Smith as Lucien Crown/Milo, offer support, although some performances are much better than others. Unfortunately, the character development outside of Morbius himself is lacking, leaving the supporting characters feeling ignored by the plot and one-dimensional.

The plot of ‘Morbius’ skims familiar ground, taking some elements from other superhero origin stories. This copy of other stories may disappoint some viewers seeking a more innovative and unique kind of story. Additionally, in some parts, the pacing can be irregular/bumpy at times, with the film struggling to find the right balance between character development and action in most scenes.

Unfortunately though, another one of ‘Morbius’s’ biggest weaknesses is its connection to the bigger Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even though it attempts to tie into the Sony Spider Verse and the broader Marvel Universe, it feels forced and is somewhat lacking the spotless integration we’ve come to expect from the Marvel Universe.

‘Morbius’ is a somewhat mediocre addition to the Marvel Universe, with Jared Leto’s performance and the stunning visual effects being its most outstanding features. However, we feel the film falls short in terms of originality and its character development, and its connection to the broader Marvel Cinematic Universe may leave some fans wanting more. It’s worth a watch for the superhero enthusiasts, but it may not leave a lasting impression beyond the initial viewing.

(‘Morbius’ is streaming now on Amazon Video, Apple TV and Netflix)

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+.