adventure

Review- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

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by Armando Vanegas

To begin, I’m a casual Star Wars fan. I enjoy them enough to say that I have fun just going along for the ride with the characters. I can’t say that I know all the minor characters and can name all the different ships and the droids. I don’t watch the cartoons or read the Extended Universe books. I will say though that The Mandalorian is doing a nice job at being a fun Western story that just happens to take place in the Star Wars universe. Star Wars is just a thing to me that exists that I have no ownership to and that doesn’t owe it to me to give me what I want. But in this day and age, the internet has allowed people to complain about many things, including movies. We can’t even go through watching sci-fi action movies made for the family without causing controversy these days. The Last Jedi wasn’t amazing to me, but it was a movie that made some interesting choices. I liked what it was doing with the universe and director Rian Johnson gave the franchise a chance to go in a new direction. But, no one can be happy with what they have and Disney decided to bring back J.J. Abrams to direct the last movie of the Skywalker Saga, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Let’s see if this movie was willing to continue on the path that TLJ laid out or they were going to backtrack and attempt to correct what never needed correcting. Spoiler alert: they end up doing the latter. Continue reading →

Review – Good Boys (2019)

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by Armando Vanegas

Studio comedies are in a weird place right now. For some time, there was a time where every other week, there was a comedy coming out that looked good to me. Most of the time, I seemed pretty pleased with what I got. Even the worst ones had something to giggle at, for the most part. Perhaps the fact that Judd Apatow had smash hits with The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up made a lot of studios wake up for a bit and try harder for a little while. Nowadays, I barely see many come out and most of the recent ones that do underwhelm me. It could also be more that I changed or the movies changed or most likely, both. Whatever it was, Good Boys has come around to bring some much needed laughs to the movies. While it seemed like the kind of movie that was going to follow the trend of being forgettable, I heard some good buzz that indicated that this was going to be a fun time and it delivered on that. The trailer wasn’t much of an indicator of its quality since it wanted me to think it was funny solely because it featured kids using profanity. I wondered how much that could carry a movie. As it so happens, there is more to the movie than that. While it does follow a lot of the same beats as other coming-of age comedies like Superbad or even this year’s Booksmart, it’s a movie that’s concerned with just making you laugh. If you’re looking to have a hilarious time at the movies, Good Boys will do the trick.

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Review – Good Boys (2019)

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by Nile Fortner

Even though the movie Good Boys has some wacky, gross-out jokes, and 12-year-olds in outrageous situations, this film has a lot of heart, especially towards the end. The movie’s charm comes from the way producer Seth Rogen and debut-director Gene Stupnitsky showcase the innocence of kids. The comedy comes from that innocence of children talking about things in an adult perspective. This film follows a similar format of Superbad or more recently Booksmart.

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Review – Toy Story 4 & Aladdin (2019)

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by Kevin Muller

It may seem that Disney is becoming a juggernaut of the film industry by buying every single part of Hollywood, but they have always been the forerunner in family entertainment. In the 90’s, they were the King of the animation field with classics such as The Little Mermaid, Mulan, and Beauty and the Beast. The latter was the first animated film to be nominated for “Best Picture” when the nomination pool only allowed five films. There was also The Lion King, which will soon have a photo-realistic remake that will have its own review, instead of a shared one. Personally, Aladdin was always a favorite, mainly due to Robin Williams’s legendary turn as the lovable Genie. On top of that, the film also had catchy songs and overall fast and frantic attitude.   Unfortunately, shortly after that film delighted audiences, the downfall of hand drawn animation was about to begin with Disney teaming up with a new company called Pixar. We all know outcome of that merger, but it was 1995’s Toy Story that changed the game forever. Now, both these 90’s properties are back to see what they can do with better technology and an even wider audience.

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