By: Kumari Mia Wijetunge

‘Coraline’ was originally released in 2008 by Henry Selick, and is a movie that contained magical twists and turns that left the viewer with the feeling of being stuck in a dream that felt like a nightmare at some points. This enchanting movie that told the tale of self discovery and bravery has now been reawakened this summer with the release of ‘Coraline’ in remaster.

Coraline’ tells the story of a young girl who finds a parallel universe behind a small door that’s in her new home “The Pink Palace”. Once she travels to the new world that inherently seems to have everything she’s ever wanted it soon turns into a dark and twisted nightmare that’s come to life. The remaster gives a new twist to the film’s complex visuals.

The remaster of the original ‘Coraline’ brings new life into the beautifully crafted stop motion animation which is a key part of the magical storytelling that this movie immerses the viewers in. The visual appeal to this movie is off the charts characterized by its bright, yet otherworldly color palette, and incredibly detailed character designs and sets that creates a captivating dream-like feel.

The audio remastering also plays a huge role in this re-release. The film’s hauntingly beautiful sounds by Bruno Coulais and its crisp sound design are heard with newfound clarity and depth. The atmospheric and eerie sound has a way of wrapping around the viewer’s head. The sonic enhancement adds an extra layer of engagement making the film’s already eerie moments even more chilling.

While this remaster was a long awaited film for long time fans it offered a new opportunity for newer fans to experience the magic of ‘Coraline’. The visuals and audio make this film an ideal introduction for younger audiences who may have missed the film’s original release.

The remaster of ‘Coraline’ is not only a nostalgic trip but is a celebration of a classic that brought so much joy to long time fans and allowed them to relive it all again. With the visuals and audio of this movie it offered a rich experience of Selick’s beautiful work. For both old time fans and new ones ‘Coraline in Remaster’ is a chance to rediscover, or discover the movie for the first time. Overall, it is a truly exceptional piece of animated cinema I would give it a 10/10.

Unfortunately, ‘Coraline in Remaster’ is not in theaters at this time, but you can see the original version on multiple streaming services.

By: Fletcher Pike

‘Shirley’ is a movie that was recently released on March 15th, 2024. This film shows the story of congresswoman Shirley Chisholm (Regina King), and her effort to become the first female president of the United States.

Shirley Chisholm was a real American politician who was the first ever African American woman to be elected to the United States Congress in 1968. Shirley was born in 1924, a time period where people of color faced harsh discrimination and received little opportunities for jobs or places of power. But this didn’t stop Shirley from becoming the first African American female candidate to run for president of the United States.

This movie showed Chisholm’s accomplishments and determination to win the votes of the people to become president. She ran a strong campaign to convince the people that they should vote for her. She recruited a team of people that would help her spread the word around in order to gain more votes, some of which included Robert Gottlieb (Lucas Hedges), Arthur Hardwick Jr. (Terrence Howard), Stanley Townsend (Brian Stokes Mitchell) and Barbara Lee (Christina Jackson).

Due to this unfortunate time period for people of color, Chisholm faced several setbacks that threatened her place of power and her campaign to gain votes. Many people thought that she would not be eligible enough to even be a congresswoman. Even stated by her own fellow congressman, “Why [does] she makes the same money as the rest of us”, in which Shirley quickly defended herself and stood up to him.

I thought that this movie was amazing at incorporating the story of Shirley Chisholm and I found it interesting to watch Shirley’s campaign progress throughout the film. I liked the soundtrack that was used and thought that it did a good job of showing the years of the 60’s.

Overall, I thought that this movie was really good and I would recommend it to anyone that is interested in learning more about Shirley Chisholm’s story and how she led a strong campaign in an attempt to become the first African American female president of the United States. I think that this movie deserves a 10/10. You can watch ‘Shirley’ on Netflix.

For more info on Shirley Chisholm’s story, please visit:

• https://www.biography.com/political-figures/shirley-chisholm.

By: Julia Yang

These will be based on the anime and not the game since I’ve never played, but you saw the title, let’s just get into it.

Number 10, Pancham

When I say Pancham, I’m talking about Serena’s Pancham from ‘Pokémon XY(Z)’.
I love his personality. He’s sassy, stubborn, bossy, and reserverved. Well, now that I’ve said it like that, he doesn’t seem like the best Pokémon— but I swear he’s an angel.

Pancham’s glasses, his moves, his charm, there’s nothing to not like about this Pokémon if you ask me.

He may be last on this list, but that’s only because I like the 9 others on this list more than him, not because he’s my least favorite of all time.

Number 9, Plusle and Minun

These Pokémon are old but gold. They’re just little Pichu’s with more color and cheer. They’re adorable cheerleaders to support you along the way. You can’t have one without having the other, isn’t that cute?

In the anime, there’s an episode where a trainer is sick and his Plusle and Minun are just on his hospital bed trying to cheer him up by doing their little cheer routine.

This is so impossibly heartbreaking, I love them.

Number 8, Popplio

Popplio is just an outstandingly skilled and talented Pokémon. They’re the destined entertainers of their world, not to mention how charming they are.

Lana’s Popplio from ‘Pokémon Sun and Moon’ is just so fun and bubbly to watch. Popplio usually have a fun, silly, and cheerful personality which makes everyone love them.

The power to create basically indestructible bubbles is also an awesome power to have, like, who thought of that?

Number 7, Grookey

Grookey is basically literally just a monkey with a stick and it’s perfect, I couldn’t ask for anything more from this Pokémon. All Grookey does is just hit things with their stick, and cause trouble. A pretty good Pokémon if I do say so myself.

Number 6, Sobble

Most people either don’t like Sobble or they hate them, but I love Sobble. Sobble are just silly little Pokémon who want to go home all the time, who want to do no harm. They cry and cry, waiting for someone to make them happy again.

The thought of an extremely overpowered move to cry and force others in the area to cry is just a funny thing since Sobble are the scaredy-cats of Pokémon; so emotional, timid, nervous, and all of that with zero confidence.

Number 5, Diance

Diance is just such a stunning Pokémon, and her abilities are incredible. Imagine being able to make diamonds. Isn’t that insane? No wonder why people were trying to track her down. Diance is such a sweetheart in the movie, she just wants to make everyone happy whilst trying to keep herself safe.

Another thing, have you seen her mega evolution form? It’s extremely ethereal.

Number 4, Mew

I’m not sure why, but I’ve always taken a liking to Mew ever since I found out Mew was a Pokémon. Mew is just an overpowered baby if you really think about it— like Jack Jack from ‘The Incredibles’ movie. If you don’t know for some reason and are reading this article, Mew’s power is to become any Pokémon of its liking. Mew has every single Pokémon DNA in its body, allowing it to become the Pokémon and do/use whatever the Pokémon does.

This counts for legendaries and mythicals too. Now you get the scale of its power, right? Insane.

All of this power given to this playful and unintentionally dangerous Pokémon— and don’t even get me started on its passive abilities. This Pokémon is such a danger, I love it.

Number 3, Chespin

I want to make this very clear. When the name ‘Chespin’ comes out of my mouth, I’m only talking about Clemont’s Chespin, I couldn’t care less about any other Chespin.

Clemont’s Chespin is like Grookey, but 10x better.

He’s effortlessly funny, he’s sarcastic, he’s relatable, he causes trouble, and he’s expressive. We have all of this information about him, but he can’t even say anything other than his name. That’s how expressive he is. I’ve loved him since day one.

The best Pokémon personality to ever exist.

Number 2, Zeraora

Zeraora’s backstory is what gets me— its purpose for wanting to live is what gets me.

Zeraora— in the movie ‘The Power of Us’— is the guardian of the surrounding forest. Swearing to protect the nature and wild Pokémon inhabiting it due to humans/trainers burning it down in the past.

As long as Zeraora had lived, that forest would never be touched by mankind.

Zeraora is a Legendary Pokémon, making it extremely rare and difficult to catch. Throughout the movie, we see Zeraora getting hurt as a result of Pokémon hunters wanting to catch the all-powerful Pokémon of the forest. They never catch Zeraora of course, but they always get close.
Anyways, Zeraora is a fantastic Pokémon with a fantastic story, I’d highly recommend watching ‘The Power of Us’.

Number 1, Hoopa

Words cannot describe how much this Pokémon means to me. I believe Hoopa was in the first Pokémon movie I had watched, so it holds a very special place in my heart.

Hoopa is an extremely playful Pokémon with a curse of having its larger and more powerful form have an evil presence in it. Hoopa shows throughout the movie, it doesn’t want to hurt trainers and Pokémon, all it wants to do is impress everyone and have fun.

Hoopa has the ability to make portals with it’s hoops, isn’t that fun? I’d enjoy having Hoopa around anytime. Hoopa could turn big after the curse is gone, and we’d have a jolly time together.

Hoopa just seems like an extremely fun and exciting Pokémon to be around, and I think we all need a Hoopa in our life.

I believe fun and troubling Pokémon are the best, but I think we both have figured that out by now.

I hope you enjoyed reading my ranking with reasons.