The Office is a 2005 television show that revolves around a hilarious boss named Michael Scott and his efforts to run a branch of a paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. This show is pretty popular, and you’ve probably heard about it before, and probably have seen it before too.

The show has a total of nine seasons, and what it does really well is distinguish them from each other. Looking back, you can remember moments from certain seasons because of how the characters acted in each season. This show is anything but repetitive, and the gradual shift of the characters throughout the show is one of the greatest things about it.

Still, The Office has a great idea of it’s humor through its characters. Michael Scott, the boss, is hilariously oblivious to everything around him. He has a certain kind of charm and always says the wrong thing in every situation, leading to all sorts of hilarious hijinks. The single worst part of The Office as a whole is when he leaves the show in Season 7.

There’s also memorable characters such as Jim and Pam, who have a will they/won’t they sort of relationship, because Jim likes Pam but Pam is engaged. Once again, this storyline develops naturally and is mostly resolved after season 4, so it doesn’t get old or unrealistic.

One of the more unique characters is Dwight Shrute, a paper salesman who is Jim’s rival/friend. Dwight is kind of hard to describe, but to sum it up: he’s a man with a lot of pride. He is also very gullible, and falls victim to Jim’s pranks all of the time, which always end up being hilarious and unique.

However, this show isn’t for everyone. It’s rated PG-14, and if you don’t like shows that deal with sex or cursing, this probably isn’t the show for you. However, it’s certainly not overrated like a lot of the haters of this show say. The plot is solid, the characters bounce off each other in a realistic way, and the show could easily drive itself on humor alone, but has several storylines that are entertaining in their own way.

My final rating for this show is a 10/10.

By: Isaac Basques

Drive (2011) is an action packed, raw thriller/drama with a story that will keep you on your toes.

Drive was released on September 16th, of 2011, and made $81.4 million in the box office. The movie is about a no named character (Ryan Gosling) who is a getaway driver for heists. When he meets his next door neighbor in his apartment (Carey Mulligan) and her young son, he
begins to develop a very close relationship with them. Once her husband (Oscar Isaac) comes home from prison, he gets himself caught up in a life or death situation between him and friends from prison, and it’s up to him and Ryan Gosling to set it right.

This movie is very unique cinematically and takes its action in a very different way pace wise. It
doesn’t make action its main priority; it’ll focus heavily on the characters’ relationships and makes you root for them more if something bad were to happen. But when the action actually occurs in the movie, it gets very intense and keeps you on your toes.

The soundtrack in this film is what really stood out to me; it has a very retro theme to it, but it takes place in modern time and it fits very well.

The acting in the movie is good and feels raw and realistic.

Although, there are moments in the movie where the characters will often have very long pauses between dialogue and it makes for a kind of awkward scene for the viewer. This kind of goes for the whole movie; it’ll have too long of pauses and it seems like they’re trying to stretch out the runtime a bit.

One thing I’ve somewhat noticed over time is that they don’t really give too much personality to the main antagonist. They give him personality, but just not enough. They kind of feel as if they were written mainly to be enemies of the film and no one else.

Other than a couple small issues with this film, I’d say it is highly worth watching and will keep you entertained.

I give it an 8/10

Ever since COVID-19 the world has been on quarantine, putting on pause the entertainment world. Many things have been canceled like, professional sports, movie releases, and concerts. It would be an understatement if I said I was bored, so here’s some of my favorite movies to watch in quarantine.

While we are on quarantine I’ve had a lot of time to catch up on the movies I haven’t watched in the past few years. Here are some recommendations for movies to watch that can be found on major streaming platforms like Hulu, Netflix, and Disney+. 

To fit the mood, you can start off by watching movies that are about apocalypses, and the world ending.

2012 is about a man trying to keep his family safe as strings of natural disasters engulf the world.

If you’re looking for an apocalyptic movie The Train To Busan is your best choice. Produced in South Korea, this movie follows a father and daughter on their way to Busan from Seoul. When a zombie apocalypse breaks out, they are forced to make difficult decisions on their journey to escape the zombies (Uses subtitles).

During this time I have also decided to binge watch fandom movie series like The Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, and Harry Potter. You can watch the MCU and Star Wars on Disney+ and can buy Harry Potter on Amazon Prime. 

Since the movie theaters have closed temporarily many movies haven’t been able to come out. Some movie companies have turned to putting their movies on streaming services. You can now watch Onward and Frozen 2 on Disney+ if you have a subscription to the streaming service.

On Amazon Prime, YouTube, and Vudu you can rent Trolls World Tour for twenty dollars.

With other movies that were meant to come out March through May, many companies have come out with new release dates for the movies. Disney’s Mulan will be released on July 4, 2020 and Black Widow will be released on November 6, 2020. 

Levius is an a steampunk action anime available on Netflix that features a kid named Levius Cromwell battling other opponents in a sport called “metal boxing,” which is just normal boxing, but they use robot arms. Unlike most anime, this show uses 3D models instead of 2D drawings. The models are done really well and gives the show a sense of energy that you don’t see in other shows of the same type.

The plot of Levius revolves around an upcoming metal boxer named Levius. Metal boxers have metal arms filled with a special water called Agartha Water, that when mixed with a drop of the users blood, turns into steam and falls under their control like a natural extension of their body. When contained inside a prosthetic arm, it’s like the person using it has a normal arm that can hit a lot harder. I like the inclusion of Agartha Water as a plot element because it makes the metal arms seem realistic when the show takes place in an 1800s time period.

Levius lost his arm in a war before the series started, and after moving to his uncle Zack’s house, they bonded through their love of boxing. Soon afterwards, Levius became a rising star in the metal boxing world. The premise is simple enough, a lot like you would see in any other sports anime. But what sets this show apart is the characters.

The supporting cast, which consists of Levius’s one-eyed uncle Zack, his personal mechanic Bill, and his rival Natalia are all great and unique enough that they don’t get boring, but the real star of the show is Levius himself. Right away in the first episode we learn that he doesn’t really know why he boxes, and that he is looking for a reason through the sport. Watching him trying to discover his reason for fighting through the show is easily the most intriguing part of it.

Also, the action in Levius is amazing. Even though every single fight takes place in the same boxing ring and it’s not like they can have weapons in there, the animators still make each fight unique, with each boxer having a unique fighting style and every single fight turning out differently. Each punch has energy you can feel, and the sound effects make you feel the action.

So, if you’re into anime, steampunk, or just like fast paced action shows, then you’ll love Levius. For those into deeper plots and more intricate storylines, Levius’s relationship with his friends and his rival boxers keeps the story moving, and the music is top tier when it comes to a score for a show. 

My only real complaint I have for this show is that one of the episodes near the climax feels like it’s just filler and interrupts the final fight, but because it is so intense, I think it works, and doesn’t interrupt the action. Other than that, sometimes the lips of the characters seem like they don’t match up with the voices, but I think that’s just my brain being too slow.

My final rating for this show is a 9/10.

Who doesn’t love a good war movie? They’re raw, intense and the fact that it’s based on an historical event makes it much better. 1917 in particular stands out from the rest and I believe you’ll love to know why.

1917 came out on December 4, 2019, and made $323.8 million in the box office. The movie is a dramatic narrative film based in World War I and follows two British soldiers by the names of Lance Cpl. Schofield and Lance Cpl. Blake. These two men are given a mission to give orders to another team that the battle they are about to fight is a trap, and they’re about to lose 1,600 of their comrades, along with Cpl. Blake’s own brother. It is up to these two men to go and stop this mission before time runs out.

This movie may sound somewhat simple, but it takes big twists that makes the audience feel more hooked and engaged to the film.

One thing that really stands out, and probably is the most known element about this film, is that they make it look like the whole movie was filmed in one single shot. This makes the audience feel stuck in the movie and it feels as if the story wouldn’t have an end. They also cut scenes in a very clever way, they have the character they’re focusing on walk into a very dark room and that’s when the next scene starts.

The acting in 1917 is very good for the most part. The writing for the characters that the actors play on the other hand can be a bit questioning. For example, the main character would see an enemy and wouldn’t shoot, they would rather wait for the enemy to shoot at them. Or they would try and save the enemy from a freak accident. Moments like these are somewhat irritating because the movie is meant to focus on a soldier who is meant to do their duty and they seem way too soft on their enemy and almost see them as an ally.

One thing I believe really stood out in this film is the color scheme. It has a realistic tone to it but still stays on the grayish and dark green spectrum, which I believe really fits with the time period it’s meant to take place in and the location of the film. 

The film does a really good job at making the audience nervous. They have the movie feel as if it’s going to have a huge blast of action at any moment or that the character next to the main character will get shot with a big loud bang to make everyone jump. It makes the whole audience feel uneasy, and I think the soundtrack plays a big part in this feeling.

The soundtrack is very slow during a majority of the film and it really fits with the timing and moments. Though sometimes it seems to get really dramatic and too intense and it seems they’re trying a bit too hard for the audience to get really into a scene. A majority of the time though, the slow and eerie music makes the movie feel a lot more intense.

Overall, I believe this movie did a solid job at making itself unique and have an interesting take on the war film genre. 8/10

In April 2014 To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before was published by Jenny Han who followed with two more books: P.S. I Still Love You (2015)and Always and Forever, Lara Jean (2017).

After watching P.S. I Still Love You I was disappointed. I was expecting a big feud between Peter Skavinsky and John Ambrose, but Ambrose wasn’t even in the movie much. They had times where they met and talked but it was mostly still about Peter and Lara.

I would give this movie three out of five stars as there where parts of the movie that lacked emotion and were just slow paced. Also the characters were still brand new even though we were in the second movie. I also thought that Peter was portrayed as a bad boyfriend the whole movie and they put a halo on John making him seem like he was the good guy, and for them to just get back together doesn’t make sense.

The Netflix show, Iron Blooded Orphans, also known as Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans, is a story set around 300 years after something called the Calamity War. The Calamity War refers to a great conflict between the Earth and Outer Spheres that lead to the establishment of the Post Disaster Timeline. 

The war put Mobile Suits in high demand, and the mass fighting caused a lot of destruction. Mobile Suits are humanoid combat vehicles, typically employing two arms to deploy weapons, two legs for propulsion, and a head that acts as a main camera. Generally, a mobile suit is approximately 60 feet in height, with the cockpit located in the Mobile Suit’s torso.

In the story humanity has terraformed Mars. The Mars colony is still under an Earth-based rule and is effectively an economic slave state that now wants its independence. This creates child soldiers that make up the ranks of a civilian security company called Chryse Guard Security. This force is tasked with escorting a Martian noblewoman called Kudelia Aina Bernstein to Earth to go against Mars being under earth’s rule. The Earth military force of Gjallarhorn has plans to stop this escort to earth so that Mars can stay under Earth’s rule. 

All the complex machines they use something called the Alaya-Vijnana System, which is a cybernetic interface across the spine that directly connects the machine to the pilot. The children use the cybernetic interface, or the Alaya-Vijnana System, to create an army of child soldiers that are remarkably adept at handling complex machinery but are a cheap and expendable workforce from a business standpoint. The Alaya-Vijnana System process is a dangerous one to make and almost any adult would not survive the process if they tried to have it done. The group of child soldiers is called Tekkadan.

So, the Gundam series Iron-Blooded Orphans is without a doubt among the best the Gundam franchise has to offer, especially when it comes to the alternate series in the franchise. This is aimed at older audiences since it has a brutal, and very gritty story. I would recommend this to people who like a good story, like seeing big battles with mobile suits and Gundams, and like great character development. 

Recently the Kpop Industry has made a rise to fame in the western music industry.

The popularity of Kpop has gone up tremendously since 2018. Since then, many groups have teamed up with American music record companies to expand their audience.

For example BTS, a well known Kpop group, has broken many world wide records on many platforms. On Youtube they have constantly broken records for the most views in 24 hours, their music video (MV) for “Boy With Luv” got 74.6 million views in 24 hours beating Blackpink’s, a fellow Kpop group’s, “Kill This Love” MV. The biggest accomplishment so far is BTS being the first Korean group to perform at the Grammys.

Being a Kpop fan is different than being an American music fan. In the Kpop industry you have different versions of Kpop albums. The album includes photo cards, which are pictures of each member of the group. Also, the album includes a photo book, which is just a bunch of pictures from a photo shoot, a poster, and a CD for the album.

Another thing that the Kpop industry does is have light sticks at their concerts so the artists can interact with their fans. Unlike many American boy and girl artists, they sing and dance during concerts with full choreography for each song.

Ever since Kpop has become a popular genre to listen to many artists have “borrowed” many ideas from the Kpop industry. For example, Taylor Swift has four versions of her new album lover and it includes different photos of her.

Additionally, Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran have given their fans flashlight attachments to go on their phone cameras so they can interact with fans during a concert.

Recently, the Jonas Brothers have made a comeback with their song “Sucker.” On Twitter they posted saying that “DNA,” a BTS song, inspired the music video for “Sucker.”