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‘Waves’ movie review

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By: Janessa Castro Cruz

‘Waves’ is a young adult film made in 2019. The film is produced by Trey Edward Shults, Kevin Turen and Jim Wilson. The main cast of the movie contains Tyler (played by Kelvin Harrison), Alexis (played by Alexa Demie), Emily (played by Taylor Russel) and Ronald (played by Sterling Brown).

The film starts off with Tyler, it shows his routine and how much pressure is being put on him especially from his dad Ronald. He has a lot of anger built up but his girlfriend Alexis is the only one to keep him at peace. One night, Alexis finds out she’s pregnant, and they plan on getting an abortion but once they get to the clinic, she changes her mind. They leave the place and end up arguing in the car about it which leads to Alexis stepping out of the car and walking home. Tyler was very angry about the situation and destroyed his bedroom out of anger, and they ended up breaking up which led to Tyler to start taking drugs. Around that time, prom arrives. They don’t end up going together and she decides to go with her boy best friend. Jealousy overcomes Tyler through an Instagram post of them together, and he decides to show up at the prom’s after party to look for Alexis.

He storms out of the house which makes his parents worried, and once he arrives at the party he sees Alexis walking upstairs with her boy best friend. He assumes the worst and once Alexis comes back down he follows after her. She went into the garage for some drinks and that’s when Tyler appeared. They started arguing again about whether or not she should abort the baby and should they get back together. She slaps him across the face because he was yelling at her and that’s when Tyler punched her, killing her. He runs away and Emily finds her body and eventually Tyler gets caught by the police which leads him to get life in prison.

The second half of the movie is about his twin sister Emily and about how after the tragic incident with Alexis she didn’t feel the same. She would get death threats and keep to herself, until one day a boy named Luke asked her on a date. She decided to go and they really liked each other. From that day on they would talk everyday and would go on trips with each other. They became a couple, and they were there for each other through the most rough times, like when Luke’s dad passed away, and when Emily would blame herself for Alexis. They made each other happy.

This film really feels like two different movies. The first half really shows toxic masculinity and the intense relationships between Tyler and his family. The film had a lot of vibrant colors for whatever emotion was portrayed on the screen. The second half of the film was very calming, as it emphasized love and forgiveness, dealing with the hate and overcoming the pain. The film did feel like a wave of emotions; I really like this movie because of that. The soundtrack was amazing as well (Frank Ocean, Tyler the Creator), it had a lot of good powerful songs.

I give this movie a 5/5. I recommend this film to whoever likes to feel the emotions through the screen. You can watch this film on Tubi, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.

Movies/TV/Theaters

Movie review of ‘Spider-Man’ (2001)

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By: Norah Hoglund

There’s a lot of different Spider-Man movies, but I’m my opinion, the best ones are the original ones. A lot of the time, they are referred to as the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies because that is the actor who plays him.

Summary

‘Spider-Man’ is about a teenage boy, Peter Parker, who gets bitten by a genetically modified spider and begins to develop powers. He decides to use his powers for good after his uncle is shot and killed by a carjacker. At his best friend’s father’s company, Oscorp, an experiment went very wrong and the father starts having episodes where he goes crazy and kills people. He is known as the Green Goblin. Peter has to protect the city against him and ultimately defeat him, all while balancing school, friends, his family, and his job.

Review

The plot of ‘Spider-Man’ is very intriguing. It’s really exciting to see Peter develop his powers and realize what he can do. Although he has superhuman strength, so does the Green Goblin. He has to use everything in him to fight him and save the city from his schemes.

The movie also has great special effects; for example, the scenes of Spider-Man swinging through the city are very realistic and ahead of their time. The movie also demonstrates good character growth. Peter starts out as a shy nerd type of person and by the end he has much more confidence as he has become a hero.

The soundtrack of the movie is also on point. The tones of different songs really add to the scenes to make them more suspenseful, emotional, etc. depending on the music.

The only thing I don’t like about this movie is how long the credits are at the beginning, but I do like the vibe and overall look of how they are presented.

Overall, this movie is honestly a classic for me and I would rewatch it. I rate it a 9/10.

You can watch ‘Spider-Man’ on Amazon.

Movies/TV/Theaters

Review on ‘(500) Days of Summer’

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By: Marina Yang

This is my review of the movie ‘(500) Days of Summer’ by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, produced by Mark Waters. The plot of this movie revolves around two co-workers/main characters, Tom (our protagonist) and Summer (the supposedly “antagonist”). Tom is the typical “lover boy”, falling heads over heels for his “soulmate”, believing love to be like a fairy tale. This is compared to Summer (his “soulmate”), who’s more laid back on the topic of love, and isn’t so serious but has her moments.

This movie is very intriguing as we revolve between the two, not truly knowing if either or both are the “antagonist” of this story; truly shaping people’s different perspectives and ideas on it. The two sides of the story are so simple yet complex, it causes the crowd to be in a dilemma between determining who’s truly in the wrong. Leading to no true answer.

But for me, I would say both are in the wrong and right, we are all humans with our own wants and morals. Tom took the friendly gestures to heart, taking them as signals that she “liked” him, and considered him as a “boyfriend”. While Summer used his devotion towards her for her own wants, only using him physically yet still seeing him as a “friend”. Though I can’t truly blame Tom for thinking like this, he really had no right to go berserk on her behalf and grow obsessive, because she never verbally confirmed the status of dating. But that does not make her innocent either. She played with him knowing he was affectionate towards her, easily being able to skim over conflict and start back at square one. I definitely found myself in a conflict at times throughout this movie, because although I resonated more with Tom, I understood Summers’ perspective too.

Despite my opinion, I would recommend this movie, like I said before it’s intriguing and I believe it could be a valuable lesson for some of us. It contains explicit language and behavior, but it lightly goes over it, so it’s not much of an issue.

I would give ‘(500) Days of Summer’ a 4.5/5. If you want to watch this movie, you will have to either buy or rent it as it is not streaming for free anywhere at this time.

Movies/TV/Theaters

Movie review of ‘The Truman Show’

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By: Norah Hoglund

*Warning: This review contains spoilers.

Brief Summary

Essentially, the plot of ‘The Truman Show’ is that a TV company adopted Truman as a baby and are filming his entire life through hidden cameras all over this island that he lives on. The whole thing is a set. He does not know this. He thinks he is just a regular guy. The producers staged Truman’s dad dying, which made him afraid to ever touch the water or even go over a bridge.

The reason he first became suspicious was that he saw his father dressed as a homeless man, many years after he died, which was, of course, the same actor that had snuck back onto the set. Truman begins to pay more attention to everything and realizes everyone is paying attention to him and doing everything for him. He has to find a way to trick the cameras and escape the island.

Review

‘The Truman Show’ is not a typical movie. The plot is very creative and the movie is a little bit unsettling and weird, but I like that about it. I also liked how captivating it was. I found myself on the edge of my seat a lot because Truman was so close to finding out the truth. I felt a lot of empathy for him because everyone was trying to make him think he was going crazy and he had just lived a whole life of mental manipulation.

I wish that they would have included more about what happened to Truman after he escaped the show, because I wanted to see him reunite with the girl he fell in love with but the movie did not go that far.

Something that didn’t make sense to me was how the producer of the show wanted Truman to come back to the show after he knew the truth. What would be the point of the show then? The viewers only liked it because Truman was not acting and he was real and authentic. I don’t understand why he was talking to Truman and trying to convince him to return to the island.

Overall, this was a very good and intriguing movie. I rate it an 8.5/10.

You can watch ‘The Truman Show’ on Amazon Prime.

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Movie review: ‘The Mist’ (2007)

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By: Kumari Mia Wijetunge

*Warning: This review contains major spoilers for this movie.

Stephen King’s ‘The Mist’ was originally a book written in 1980 as part of his collection called ‘Dark Forces’. The movie was released in 2007, directed by Frank Darabont, it follows King’s original story where a mysterious mist, that coms with terrifying creatures, engulfs a small town. Darabont did change the ending giving a darker twist compared to the original story.

In Stephen’s book the ending was purposefully left open, creating a hunting sense of uncertainty. After escaping the grocery store where they had been hiding, David Drayton, his son Billy, and two other survivors, Amanda and Dan, drove through the mist, hoping to find a safe place free of deadly creatures. As they travel they run out of places to seek refuge and when they eventually pick up a faint word on the radio, “Hartford,” this gives them a feeling of hope that there might be a safer civilization somewhere. However, King leaves the reader with David’s final uncertain thought as they continue driving into the unknown. The fate of characters is unknown, creating a lingering sense of dread mixed with just the slightest possibility of survival.

In contrast, the 2007 movie ending is much darker. The protagonist David, and four other survivors run out of gas as they are in the mist. Believing there is no escape and fearing the worst if the creatures find them, David decides to kill the others including his son. Moments after he does this, the military arrives clearing the mist and saving everyone else. The twist is much more tragic, if David had just waited a little longer they would have all survived.

I personally really enjoyed this movie. Where the movie mostly takes place in the grocery store adds a really stressful and intense environment to the movie and really puts you on the edge of your seat. I would give ‘The Mist’ a 9/10.

You can watch ‘The Mist’ (rated R) on Amazon Prime, or rent it on other streaming services.

Movies/TV/Theaters

Jim Henson’s ‘Labyrinth’ 1986: Movie review

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By: Gabriella Bell

On June 27, 1986, the fantasy movie ‘Labyrinth’ was released, starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly. It was directed by Jim Henson, who is most popularly recognized for some of his well known productions such as  the Muppets and ‘Sesame Street’, as well as dozens of other (primarily) children’s movies and TV shows.

This movie takes on an original format with its combinational use of both fantastical and adventure elements. It begins with its introduction to the main protagonist, Sarah (Jennifer Connelly), a teenage girl, who is forced to venture into the Labyrinth in order to rescue her baby brother, Toby (Toby Froud) from Jareth, (David Bowie) otherwise known as the Goblin King, who is the main antagonist.

The unique inclusion of Jim Henson’s puppets throughout the movie helps to expand on the enchanting experience for the audience as they are consistently introduced to new characters. Through their introductions to the story, as well as each’s developing character, the audience is prompted to relate to them as they grow to both understand and love them. Along with the use of puppetry, the intricate and creative aspects across the different characters helps to set a specific aesthetic for the entirety of the movie. This is especially included in the various sets and costume designs, especially with the Goblin King’s diverse wardrobe.

Another notable aspect within the movie would most importantly be regarding Jennifer Connelly’s strong performance as Sarah. This is crucial to mention considering her initial introduction to the audience as a frustrated and impulsive teenage girl can originally be seen as negative and off-putting for the viewers, especially as the main protagonist. Although, as the movie progresses, her character development is recognized as she is seen to steadily grow into a determined and thoughtful young woman by the end of the movie. Sarah Connelly displays this transition beautifully, as it is through very subtle changes at first, and by the end her character has undoubtedly matured.

Another important role to mention would most definitely be David Bowie’s performance and addition to the character of Jareth. This is not only because of his acting but also due to the various instances of the inclusion of musical aspects. Notably, there are several of his own original songs included throughout the movie, some memorable ones being “As the World Falls Down”, “Within You”, and “Dance Magic”. These songs help to capture the atmosphere of their respected scenes and further contribute to the necessary charm of Jareth’s entire character.

Overall, Jim Henson’s ‘Labyrinth’ is a very creative and unique take on usual fantasy-adventure films. Especially with its specific methods of storytelling and bonding the audience with each character. If you are fond of anything fantastical, a bit strange or out of the ordinary, this is most definitely the movie for you. I would give this movie a 9/10.

‘Labyrinth’ is available on most streaming services.

Movies/TV/Theaters

‘Elf’ movie review

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By: Lily Sheldon & Sophie Elmstrom

*Warning: This review contains spoilers.

The movie ‘Elf’ is a comedy Christmas movie starring Zooey Deschanel and Will Ferrell. It was directed by Jon Favreau and was released on November 7th, 2003. This movie is a fan favorite amongst many Christmas fans and we will give you a rundown.

The movie starts when Buddy the Elf (Will Ferrell) is accidentally transported to the North Pole as a baby and raised with Santa’s elves. One elf (Bob Newhart) in particular stands up and becomes Buddy’s “father”. Buddy realizes that he doesn’t fit in when he starts towering over the elves, so he travels to New York to find his real father (James Caan). Santa (Edward Asner) gives Buddy a warning ahead of time informing Buddy that his father is on the naughty list and Buddy is determined to fix him.

Buddy goes through quite the journey while he is walking to New York City, including a scuffle with a local raccoon. Once Buddy arrives he soon realizes that people aren’t as nice as they seem to be. He visits his father’s office in the Empire State Building but Buddy is quickly kicked out by the security. With nowhere to go Buddy finds himself at the store Gimbels and gets mistaken for a worker at their Christmas area. He meets Jovie (Zooey Deschanel) who shows a cold personality towards the Christmas season and is just at her job for the money.

Buddy learns that Santa is visiting the store the next day and spends all night setting up decorations for “Santa”. Buddy then causes a brawl when he realizes this mall Santa is not in fact the one he knew in the North Pole. Buddy goes to jail and his father picks him up with resentment towards him, but he gives in and takes Buddy to get a DNA test where they soon discover that Buddy is in fact his real son.

Once Buddy finds a place to stay with his father and brother he begins hanging out with Jovie a lot more and introduces her to why Christmas is the best holiday. They soon fall in love with each other.

Walter, Buddy’s father, works as a publisher and gets fired once Buddy runs away from home and he has to leave his meeting to search for him. Michael (Buddy’s half brother) is concerned and scared for his safety while he and Walter frantically search for Buddy. While on this search, on Christmas Eve, Santa’s real sleigh crashes in Central Park, and Buddy and his family are left to save Christmas. In order to save this holiday they must make the holiday spirit come back to life as this is how Santa’s sleigh is powered. Many people in the park begin to sing Christmas carols and it generates enough energy to power his sleigh. Christmas is saved and Buddy makes a book about his adventure to New York with his father’s publishing company. Buddy marries Jovie and they bring their newborn to the North Pole to visit Papa Elf.

This movie received 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 7.1/10 on IMDb. Some audience reviews loved the humor aspect of the movie, and the light-hearted feel. People also really enjoyed seeing Will Ferrell as Buddy, as they think he fit the role very well with his humor. Reviewers think that this is one of the best Christmas movies out there and it will put you in the holiday spirit with a smile on your face.

Overall, we rated this movie a 10/10. It is very funny, and a classic Christmas movie. We have both watched this movie countless times, and it never fails to keep us entertained. We think the story line is very unique and that they casted the movie perfectly. This movie gives us more Christmas cheer every time we watch it. We are so glad to have this heart-warming comedy for the holiday season.

You can watch ‘Elf’ on Hulu.

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Movie review of ‘Twilight’

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By: Max Cahoon & Norah Hoglund

Overview

We did a review on the movie ‘Twilight’. The movie came out in 2008. It’s based on the book ‘Twilight’ by Stephanie Ann Meyer. The 2 main characters, Bella and Edward, are played by Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. The movie is 2 hours and 10 minutes long, which is pretty average for a movie.

Summary

This story starts off by the main character, Bella Swan, introducing herself. She is moving from living with her mom in Arizona to living with her dad in a small, rainy town in Washington called Forks. She immediately notices the Cullen family at school, a family of adopted children with a local doctor as their father. She notices how beautiful and graceful they all are and is curious about them. She goes to her next class and sits next to Edward, one of the Cullen boys. He doesn’t talk to her and tries to stay as far from her as possible, and she wonders what she did wrong.

He doesn’t show up to school for 2 months, until one day he comes back and talks to Bella in class. He says he wants to be friends with her, but it wouldn’t be a good idea for her to be friends with him. They start talking to each other more and she notices strange things about him. His eyes change colors, his skin is very cold and he doesn’t want her to touch him, and when Bella almost gets hit by a car, she notices he got from very far away to right next to her in a second and blocked the car from hitting her.

He won’t tell her anything. She and her friends visit the beach on the Quileute tribe reservation and she hears one of the boys there mention the Cullens. She decides to ask a boy she knows about the Cullens, and he tells them the legend the tribe has about them being vampires.

The next Monday, she confronts Edward about it and it’s true. Edward explains that his family doesn’t drink human blood, only the blood of animals. He also admits that Bella’s blood was the most appealing he had ever come across and he had a hard time not killing her. Even so, they now love each other and she trusts him enough to believe he wouldn’t kill her.

They start acting like a normal couple would, and then one day Bella went with the Cullen family to a vampire baseball game. Another group of vampires came and found them, and these ones did drink human blood. The Cullens tried to hide Bella but they found out she was there. One of them was a tracker named James, and he hunted down humans. He wanted to hunt down Bella now.

The Cullens split up and Bella goes with 2 of them to Arizona while Edward and his brother and father go hunt James. In the end, he finds her in Arizona and tries to kill her, but Edward gets there in time to save her. She has a broken leg and lost a lot of blood. Edward sees how dangerous it is for Bella to be with him, and it’s clear he thinks leaving her would be the best option.

Review

This movie was very intriguing. There were a lot of small conflicts that intertwined with the main one, like the fact that Bella was so appealing to Edward and Edward’s family thought it was a bad idea. It also kept you wanting to see what was going to happen next.

The main conflict wasn’t introduced until pretty late in the story, but it was very intense. The story didn’t come to a full resolution.

The acting was pretty bad in our opinion. It was very corny and way too dramatic at times which got very tiring to watch.

Overall we rate this movie a 7/10 and would recommend it to anyone that is interested in drama, romance, and vampires.

You can watch ‘Twilight’ on Amazon Prime.

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‘Frozen’ (2010) movie review

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By: Sophia Elmstrom & Lily Sheldon

*Warning: this review contains spoilers

This title may sound misleading, but this is not what you think this is. The movie ‘Frozen’ is a psychological horror made in 2010. It was directed by Adam Green, and stars Shawn Ashmore, Kevin Zegers, and Emma Bell. ‘Frozen’ is rated R and is very violent. This movie would not be suitable for young people or if you get grossed out easily.

Here’s a rundown of the plot. ‘Frozen’ features two young men, Dan and Joe, and a young woman, Parker. Parker and Dan are dating and Joe and Dan are best friends. The three decide to go to a ski resort to enjoy a day on the slopes. On the night of their last day, the friends convince the ski lift operator to let them on the lift for one last run down the mountain. The operator went on break and a new guy came to take his place. The operator told the new guy that there were still 3 skiers who needed to come down. The second operator mistakes 3 mingling skiers for Dan, Parker, and Joe and he shuts down the chairlift, leaving the 3 friends trapped. To make matters worse, the ski resort was closed for the whole weekend.

The friends start to get worried and realize they will be there for the whole night if not the whole weekend. The 3 call out for help, and they see a snow plow arrive under them, but it fails to notice the stranded group on the lift. The group realizes they are going to have to find a way down the mountain.

Dan jumps off the lift in an attempt to get help, and breaks his legs once he realizes how far down it really was. With Dan now unable to move, Parker and Joe try to find a way down to help him. A pack of wolves soon arrive and Joe and Parker are unable to help him, so they have to listen helplessly as their friend gets torn apart by the wolves.

The next morning, Joe tries climbing on the chairlift cable to find a way down. He makes it to the support pole and climbs down. The wolves come back but he fights them off with a ski pole. Joe slides down the mountain on Dan’s snowboard, but the wolves follow.

Now Parker is alone on the ski lift, and she tries to escape by getting to the support pole. As she stands up on the chair, the bolts disconnect and the lift falls a little, and now is hanging on by a single wire. Parker jumps off and is able to take the fall, but the lift then falls on her ankle. Parker pries the chair off her foot, and crawls down the mountain to find help. She gets to the street and flags down a car to take her to the hospital. Parker is relieved to finally be rescued and to get home safely.

This movie received a 63% from Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.5/10 from IMDB. We believe this is way too high of a rating and think that this movie was truly very bad. Many people say it reminds them of a movie they have seen before, ‘Fall’. We have seen this movie and agree that it is very similar, almost like they copied the plot of ‘Fall’ which follows two girls who get stuck on a telephone pole. Many other reviewers rate this movie 5 stars out of 5 and say they loved the movie. This movie was too gory for our liking and was just a bad plot line. Although it was very psychological and kept us wondering the entire movie we just do not get why people gave it such high ratings.

Overall, we rate this movie a 2/10 because the plot was boring and way too violent with many scenes involving very descriptive noises and images. We disagree with all of these ratings and we do not understand why people liked this movie so much. You can watch ‘Frozen’ on Prime Video.