Entertainment

Student Reviews of Music and Movies

Modern Touch Given to Classic in 2019's Little Women

By Angelina Ruehlemann May 16, 2022

The 2019 film Little Women directed by Greta Gerwig is definitely the best adaptation of the 1868 novel by Louisa May Alcott, which follows the lives of the March sisters Jo, Amy, Meg and Beth with themes of poverty, marriage and family. The book is essentially based on Alcott's own life. In the nineteenth century women were often only seen as accessories to their husbands as the social norm was for women to get married and be dependent on a man, Little Women highlights the exact opposite. Gerwig truly embraces the classic while adding a touch of modernity. Every performance in the movie was amazing. Florence Pugh had one of the most engaging performances in this film and it offers an alternative viewpoint. The cast, staring Emma Watson, Timothee Chalamet, Meryl Streep and Saoirse Ronan is incredible as well as the visual storytelling. I loved the editing choices. The nonlinear storytelling adds a refreshing and interesting spin to the movie. Gerwig seamlessly undermines the past and the present timelines, while Alcotts novel follows only one chronological timeline. The movie focused far more on the March sisters, their flaws and inner struggles and how they each overcome them turning into strong, independent and individual women as opposed to being centered only on who they would marry. But my favorite part of the movie was the first strange seeming ending. Jo’s publisher tells her she needs to revise the ending of her book to finish with the woman marrying if she wants her novel to sell. Jo eventually gives in saying she will do it. (Though Alcott herself, who as previously mentioned the book is based on, does not get married and wanted the character Jo to end up single and following her dream of becoming a writer.) The ending implied that Jo in fact didn’t marry Friedrich and that those scenes were merely a part of the book she wrote. Honestly, this movie deserves all the praise it gets and I highly recommend it. You should definitely go watch it.

Horror Meets Teen Comedy in Jennifer's Body

By Oliwia Korycka May 16, 2022

Jennifer's Body was written by Diablo Cody and filmed by Karyn Kusama in 2009. The story revolves around the protagonist, played by Megan Fox. Jennifer Check is the most popular girl in school who has had the misfortune of having a local indie-rock band murder her. In exchange for becoming popular, musicians sacrifice her to the devil. The issue is that the blood should belong to a virgin, which the main character in the film is not. Because they didn't realize the character was friends of the opposite sex, the girl gains demonic and radical changes in her diet at the time of her first death. We as audience learn all about this cannibalistic feast through the narrator Needie, Jennifer’s sidekick, played by Amanda Seyfried. The image is an excellent example of genre blending. Horror cliches prevail in terms of plot and visuals - after all, we have a possessed cheerleader - but there is also a lot of humor found in regular high school teen comedies. I would highly recommend watching this film, which can be found on a variety of websites nowadays. After seeing it myself and loving it, I have no doubt that it will become one of your favorite films.

Avatar Offers Anti-Imperialist Message

By Antonio Ferraro May 16, 2022

Given the recent release of the sequel’s teaser trailer, I decided to rewatch and review Avatar. Released in theaters in 2009, Avatar belongs to the sci-fi genre and was directed and produced by James Cameron with the participation of 20th Century Fox.

The plot is set in the year 2154 on Pandora, a planet belonging to the Alpha Centauri star system and satellite of the gas giant Polyphemus. An interplanetary terrestrial company, called RDA, heads to Pandora with the intent of exploiting its mineral deposits and obtaining unobtanium, a metal that acts as a superconductor at room temperature. On the planet, however, also live the Na’vi, sentient humanoids more than 3 meters tall with blue skin, who try in every way to hinder the RDA. Meanwhile, an invalid Marine named Jake Sully is called to replace his deceased twin brother and to take part in the Avatar program, a science project where a man’s soul and consciousness are transferred to a hybrid body between human and Na’vi. Jake, who is welcomed by the Omaticaya tribe, will be used to get information about an attack to be launched against the indigenous population. Soon, however, things will change as the protagonist, who falls in love with the chieftain's daughter, Neytiri, arrives to support the cause of the Na'vi, declaring war against his own race.

In my opinion the movie is fascinating because it features numerous parallels with the Disney classic Pocahontas and other multimedia works. From the plot also emerges an anti-imperialist message where the brutality of the methods of conquest and submission is highlighted and which will lead to the armed clash between the rigid capitalist system and the supporters of nature.

To highlight this scenario, Cameron uses the figures of Americans, stripped of their role as heroes – saviors of the homeland and turned into ruthless executioners. But the element that I personally love the most about this movie is the deep connection between nature and living creatures that characterizes Avatar’s story, taking on the traits of a real religion that urges man to revisit his relationships with the world around him.

Kalush Orchestra: Stefania

By Charlotte Losticka May 26, 2022

“Стефанія мамо, мамо Стефанія

Розквітає поле, а вона сивіє” What an unusual way to start a song.

- Stefania mom, mom Stefania. The field blooms, but she is turning gray. -

Why did a song mentioning someone's mother in a language most Europeans don't even understand, win the biggest singing competition in Europe?

On the 24th of February, Russia began a full scale,

unprovoked war towards Ukraine.

Three months later, the Ukrainian army surpassed any expectations. And apart from being largely victorious on the home front, they have also won the hearts of people across the world.

Stefania sings about a mother, who endures all the hardships thrown at her, and how grateful the child is for her, promising that they will return to her.

It sings about faith.

“Ламаними дорогами прийду я завжди до тебе”

- I will always walk to you by broken roads -

At the same time, the refrain sings about wanting to hear the native word, which implies strong love for their nation, a bit of the signature folk aestheticism which the band uses in their image.

This creative mix of folk and rap created an original song which allows anyone to know it thanks to the recognizable melody and a linguistically discernible word: mom. It gives it something personal. Something anybody can relate to: the love for (and from) their mothers, one which is so beautifully expressed in Kalush's song.

Ukraine is going through one of their historically hardest challenges and this strongly resonates in the song, which expresses so much thankfulness, and love, that it is hard not to agree that this year's Eurovision contest winner is undoubtedly and deservedly Ukraine.

Lord of the Rings Trilogy Worth the Effort

By Nicholas Bruni May 16, 2022

Today I’m going to review the Lord of the Rings trilogy, directed by Peter Jackson that came out in the years of 2001, 2002 and 2003.

During my life I’ve seen these movies at least 10 times each and I think that makes me qualified enough to make a review. The first time I saw them I was stunned by the original story, the characterization of every character and the way the story was portrayed on the big screen, and these thoughts are still the same.

The difference between the Lord of the Rings trilogy and other fantasy movies is the cinematography, that make the movies look very real, and I’m not just talking about the actual look of the characters and the places that you see, but I’m talking about the general mood given by the photography, the costumes, the makeup and the incredible soundtrack. All of these elements make these movies different from the classic fantasy stories full of cliches and that are all the same.

All of these are very good pros, and another one, which I think is the most important of all of them, is that the Lord of the Rings is the live action adaptation of a very successful book, and to make a movie from a book and make it at the same level without disappointing the audience is very hard, but these three movies are easily the best adaptation from paper to screen that the world of the cinema has ever had.

However, a couple of things that some people could see as cons are that they are pretty long movies, and this type is not made for everyone. The other one is that most of the people stop at the first hour of the first movie, which is actually a bit boring, and without even seeing the real beginning of the epic adventure, they give up, saying that this trilogy is boring. An advice is: do not stop before the real start, because after a point, everything will become way more interesting, and also don’t be scared by the big fantasy universe, thinking that it will be hard to understand, because it isn’t, and last thing, these movies are not boring at all.

The Lost City Entertainingly Exceeds Expectations

By Jane Mautz May 16, 2022

I haven’t heard much about the movie The Lost City so when I was watching the movie I was not expecting much of it. However, the movie proved me wrong. It was actually very entertaining. The movie is about a book writer, Angela, who writes about the adventure of Dash in the lost city. Angela’s husband died years prior to the release of the book. Due to this situation Angela didn't go out much and mostly stayed in her home. However, because of the new release of her book, her manager and best friend (Beth), forced her to get out of her home because of her book tour. During the book tour Angela was taken by two men who worked for Abigail. Abigail was the “bad guy” of the movie. He took Angela because Angela in her book translated an ancient language nobody else could translate. Abigail wanted to find the missing treasure of the lost city and could only do that if Angela translated a piece of parchment that was found. Soon, however, Dash came to save Angela from Abigail. Angela and Dash went on an adventure to find their way back home and ended up falling in love. A character I really enjoyed in the movie was Dash. Throughout the movie you can see Dash change and grow as a character through experiences that occurred in the movie. Overall I think this movie was great. I do think there were some scenes that felt out of place. But, I really enjoyed this movie and would really recommend it to a person who enjoys comedy movies.

Encanto Magically Authentic in Demonstration of Struggle

By Jamie Simeone May 25, 2022

Disney’s Encanto is the story of 15 year old Mirabel whose family was given a magical miracle when her grandmother was young. As a strain in the family seems to grow larger, the miracle appears to be working less and less: Mirabel makes it her mission to discover what is wrong with the magic and fix it on her own. When I first saw Encanto I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it. Recently I have not been enjoying Disney's new movies, however, Encanto demonstrates real-life struggles in an authentic way while still being able to keep the magic of a Disney movie which I really enjoyed. Almost the entire family of Madrigal displays some hardship or another due to the pressure placed on them by the Abuela and the expectations of everyone around them which was shown in a way that reflects real pressure that people experience due to their family and societal expectations. Throughout the movie Mirabel realizes that she will not be able to solve this problem on her own, which is a very good lesson to learn through experience. The one downfall in this movie in my opinion is the ending. I think many people were expecting Mirabel to get a gift of her own from the miracle which could have been disappointing to viewers when she did not, however, I understand the message Disney was trying to make by showing that Mirabel is special just as she is. From the authenticity of the real world struggles, realistic looking characters that people can relate to, to the overall plot line, I think this movie was a success and I would recommend seeing it if you have not done so already.

German Hip-Hop Relaxes on "Nimmerland"

By Caius Knapp May 19, 2022

The album “Nimmerland” of the German rapper RIN released in December 2019 and is one of my most favorite albums of German singers. RIN is 27 years old and he started his career in 2012. He is one of the most favorite singers coming from Bietigheim-Bissingen. His single “Dior 2001” made it to the top of the German and Swiss charts. His music is the genre hip-hop.

My favorite song from his album is “Hollywood”. This album is relaxing music and you can hear it everyday. Every song has a different style and I like it because it contains a lot of parts of the live. The album has 14 songs and 3 of them are together with other singers. The text of the songs always has its reason and it is easy to learn the text because he is not singing fast and every word is understandable.

All in all I would recommend this album to anyone because it makes me happy listening to his music and even though it's German I think that everybody likes his music and the beats.

Soccer Fans Will Enjoy Baggio: The Divine Ponytail

By Stefano Mannino May 19, 2022

“Baggio: The Divine Ponytail” is a biographical Italian movie that tells about the life of Roberto Baggio, one of the most famous soccer players in Italy’s history. The movie goes from his childhood to his soccer career’s end, touching not only the soccer environment, but also dealing with his doubts, his problems and his sentimental and family life.

One strong point about this movie is that the actors are very similar to the real people and this makes the story more concrete.b Other strengths of this movie are the film script and the direction because of the good performances of the cast, the excellent chronology of the events, the perfect rhythm of the narration and the music choices.

To give more credibility to the story, Letizia Lamartire, the director of the movie, collaborated with soccer teams to make the shooting of the film better. If on one hand the structure of the movie is well built, on the other hand the only weak point is the duration of the movie, that is an hour and half.

This movie is very emotional and it’s perfect for people like me who have a big dream like that, so I really recommend that to all soccer fans.

1917 Offers One-Take Look at World War I

By Gabriel Penteado Manente May 16, 2022

The movie released in 2019 is about a journey of two men trying to deliver a letter that is supposed to save a whole battalion in World War I. The two soldiers go through together in many scenarios that are life or death situations.

I believe that this movie is perfect, it has one of the best dramas and action figures I have ever seen in my life. All of the emotions you go through when you see this piece of art is amazing. And because of the one-take technique it makes everything more amazing. One particular scene is when both soldiers stand in a German banker and it is filled with bombs. When the bombs are triggered by a rat the place starts falling a part and the whole scene is the soldiers trying to escape that place, because of the one-take it seems you are with them, which brings more tension to the movie. Another scene that deserves a reminder is the final one, when the soldier that survives needs to run through a battlefield to deliver the letter and bombs are falling near him blowing up many soldiers and all his expressions give a perfect idea of all the emotions he has been through. The most emotional moment has to be when the younger soldier dies, after a knife to the stomach, he cannot hold his life anymore, therefore lies dead there.

The audience of the movie nearly 95% liked it and 92% of the critics liked it as well. It is truly one of a kind. The only “problem” with this movie is that it is supposed to be a one-take movie, which means the camera never stops or cuts in the middle of the movie, but you can actually see some cuts in it. But it is not a big deal and does not ruin any part of the movie at all. My only request would be to make a follow-up version of this movie.

Uncharted: Interesting, yet Imaginary

By Alberto Di Girolamo May 16, 2022

Uncharted is an action-adventure movie that came out on February 22nd of this year. The story is based on a video game where we can find the same banter between the main characters: Nathan Drake and Sully. I watched the movie a couple days after the official release and found it very interesting because of the plot but there were some scenes that in my opinion were a bit too imaginary.

In fact when the movie ended I thought that, even though it was very intriguing, it didn’t fully respect its category of action-adventure movie because of many unreal parts. For instance, my opinion was fully represented when two ancient sailing ships tied to one helicopter flew and chased each other.

Besides this, I believe that this movie was great also because of the scenography and the actors. The two main characters, Nathan Drake and Sully, who were played respectively by Mark Wahlberg and Tom Holland, in my opinion made the difference making the movie much better.

In conclusion I would recommend watching this movie even though some scenes in the movie were surreal and I would have liked it more if there was more action rather than talking. However if you are a fan of action-adventure films, I would advise you watching it because it’s very accurate, with many details and skillful actors.

Italian "Rockstar" Uses Collaboration with American Quavo

By Lapo Talamini May 16, 2022

This is probably the album which I am most fond of. The artist Sfera Ebbasta is my favorite singer and he is probably the most famous right now in Italy, this album has been a turning point for his career because all the songs in the track list quickly became hits that everybody in Italy knew. This album is not important only from the point of view of Italian fame, but also for the international one. In fact this album has been probably the first case of a collaboration between an Italian and an important American artist like Quavo. For Italy was and is still really difficult to collaborate with Americans because it’s totally another world talking about music but since this first collaboration we have seen more cases. Analyzing the album we can say that all its success was deserved because it brought a new sound in Italy that is totally different from what we were used to. Even if some songs are more famous and streamed than other ones, all of them had a big success, and this is for sure the result of a lot of work. To certify this album there are 6 platinum discs and for each song at least a golden disc.

No Time to Die Signals End of James Bond

By Mattia Meucci May 16, 2022

No time to die and unfortunately the last James Bond thread, where James Bond must try to gut a nuclear attack to trigger a third worldwide lawsuit, through the counterintelligence agency M16 he finds the terrorist group and tries to stop the launch, when everything seems to be going well we need a person who sends back to the island to stop the missiles, and the missiles will have to expose him as a hero on the island so as not to kill anyone. James sacrifices himself and greeting his daughter and wife remains there on the island and he dies, I personally liked this film very much I'm a big fan of the 007 saga of films, I've seen them all at least twice and I've seen all the evolution of films and actors. I liked it because this is a film where something always happens and it is always shot in a different place, you can see that it is not shot like many other films in a cinema shed, but the production spends a lot of money to make these shots around the world, I'm sorry there won't be a next 007.

"You Little Beauty" Evokes Dancing in Strobe Lights

By Jordan Plamondon May 16, 2022

I am reviewing a song by FISHER called “You Little Beauty”. The song is overall really good. It is techno. So it is really an acquired taste of music. It has its high and lows in the song but when the bass drops you just want to dance. One downside of the song is that it is very repetitive. So if you find songs like that annoying then I would stay clear from FISHER's work. But if you ever want a good song to dance to with some friends. And you also have strobe lights. I would recommend his music.