Tag Archives: movies

Entertainment, Reviews

‘Bones and All’

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By Lukas Prominski

     Luca Guadagnino’s “Bones and All” is one of the most thrilling movies I’ve ever seen. For a movie about cannibals on the run and shockingly little action, the intense moments that it does have are extremely well done.

     The film stars Timothee Chalamet and Taylor Russell as the story’s lead protagonists. It opens with Russell’s character Maren sneaking out to hang out with friends, only to bite off the hand of one of the girls she’s with. 

     Soon after, her father leaves her to fend for herself, citing the fact that he can’t deal with “whatever problem she’s got,” while handing her an address to find her mother, which leaves her in an unfortunate spot, unable to provide for herself and find friends.

     Eventually, she meets actor Chalamet’s character Lee, another cannibal who is also, coincidentally, on the run with no friends or family. The two hit it off immediately, starting a long road trip for Maren to find her long-lost mother. 

     They encounter several other characters on the way, but, staying spoiler-free, none pose any actual importance to the plot other than her mother.

     The acting performances from the two leads are phenomenal. Chalamet plays a very stone-cold teenager, hardened by the world around him. It’s a nice contrast from the normal characters he plays, like the lead in “Wonka” or the laid-back “cool kid” in “Lady Bird.” Despite this, he plays the part well. 

     Russell’s character, on the other hand, hasn’t had the same amount of experience as Chalamet’s, and the dynamic is both written and directed very well.

     The romance that blossoms between the two characters is great as well. Guadagnino’s directing really portrays how they feel about each other, despite the fact that there isn’t a ton of dialogue in the film.

     The cannibalism in the film is also really well done. The gore, while very realistic and graphic, provides an emotional reaction from the viewer.

     Not only that, but the cannibalism in the film as a whole is up to interpretation. Obviously, there’s the interpretation that what happens in the film is real, but the cannibalism could also be a metaphor for anything from love to desire.

     Ultimately, Luca Guadagnino’s “Bones and All” is a great watch. Chalamet’s and Russell’s performances are great, the writing is phenomenal and the metaphors that arise from the premise of the film are very well done as a whole.

Entertainment, Front/Home, Reviews

‘10 Things I Hate About You’

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By Lillias Cummings

     “10 Things I Hate About You” is one of the most iconic and well-known rom-coms for teens and adults since it first came out in 1999.

     The movie begins with a new student, Cameron James played by Joseph Gordan-Levitt completely head over heels for one of the most popular and kind students, Bianca Stratford played by Larisa Oleynik. There’s only one problem–she’s not allowed to date until her sister Kat does.

     Kat Stratford, played by Julias Stiles, is a beautiful, yet abrasive teenager who has absolutely no interest in dating and is very stubborn about the subject.

     Cameron and his friend Micheal decide to come up with a plan to get the school bad boy, Patrick, played by Heath Ledger, to date Kat, so Cameron can date her sister Bianca.

     Cameron, to speed up the process, deceives another popular kid interested in Bianca and says he will be the one to date her if she gets Patrick to date Kat.

     After Patrick agrees to get involved with Kat, they gradually become friends and more. Patrick commits a series of funny and sweet gestures to win her over.

     The end of the movie is sweet and the perfect ending to a great plot, the movie comes to a perfect full-circle ending without any sense of something being missing or being open-ended.

     The movie’s coloring is also extremely vibrant, making it the perfect film to get ready for the bright colors of spring and summer that are slowly approaching. The vibes of the movie along with the colors shift it into the movie to watch when especially missing the summer while amid a dreary cold winter. 

     The chemistry between Kat and Patrick is electric once they begin to become fond of one another as well. They perfectly match each other with their initially stubborn and cold personalities that slowly stop when their walls come down for one another. They begin to show care and love for each other, which is the opposite of their initial personalities. There is an immense amount of character development between all the characters that makes you love them even more.

      They also make each other more thoughtful to other people. Once they truly get together, Kat and her sister Bianca get along better and Patrick becomes more friendly to the people around him who truly mean no harm to him.

     Teens tend to enjoy romantic comedies, as they perfectly grasp the kind of life some people desire. “10 Things I Hate About You” has the type of relationship many would love in the end, of course without the bribery and lies that came with their original relationship, but after Patrick truly realizes he loves her, he becomes the type of person any girl would want.

     “10 Things I Hate About You” is overall the perfect movie to get excited for the upcoming spring and summer with the beautiful colors, the character development, and one of the most iconic endings to a film.

Front/Home

Mean Girls was a stunning success

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     This year’s new adaptation of the 2004 film, Mean Girls, is not what was expected by audiences. With new and rising stars like Reneé Rapp, Avantika Vandanapu, Angourie Rice, Ashley Park and more, this film allows new audiences to experience the excitement the original film sparked. Some old talent reprise their roles once again like Tina Fey as Ms. Norbury and Tim Meadows as Principal Duvall.

     Many reviews seen online have had poor experiences with the movie. The movie currently has a rating of 6.3 stars out of ten on IMDb. Some reviews complain about lyric changes, the fact that this movie is a musical unlike the original and many other critiques. 

     This film can somewhat be compared to the broadway version of Mean Girls. There are very similar songs that reappear like, “Watch the World Burn”, “Stupid with Love”, “Meet the Plastics”, “Apex Predator” and others. 

     I believe that the way that the new actresses for the main plastics perfectly represent what Mean Girls is about. Having an experienced musical actress like Reneé Rapp play Regina George was exactly what the film needed. 

     However, the music backing the vocals was lacking throughout the movie. Comparing the upbeat instrumentals in the broadway version people were expecting, to get a seemingly lofi-version was disappointing. I fully believe that this was an artistic error, not on the actors themselves, but on the directing team who chose to let this happen.

     Additionally, I have seen the hate that has been spreading about the actress who played Cady Heron, Angourie Rice. I do not think that it is fair to blame her for her singing. She is an Australian actress trying to sing songs out of her range and also in a different accent entirely. This fault is onto the casting directors who did not understand the effect this would have on the actresses reputation.

     With the controversy surrounding the movie, it hurt the movie before it even was released in theaters. Even if it is currently number one in the box offices, the movie cost twice as much to make as its predecessor according to Rotten Tomatoes. Originally costing around eighteen million dollars, the new adaptation cost nearly twenty-four million dollars to make. Although the movie has grossed nearly fifty million dollars after a ten day run, it was projected to earn upwards of eighty million dollars.

     Even considering all of these negative effects, Reneé Rapp’s career has been better than ever. Her music is being popularized and she was even asked to play on Saturday Night Live with Jacob Elordi hosting it. 

     Many other actors and actresses involved with the show have started to receive praise for their renditions in the new movie. 

     Avantika Vandanapu has been praised for her amazing performance of  “Sexy” for being such a young actor at only the age of eighteen.

     Overall, the movie is practically the same as the Broadway performance in my own opinion, I thoroughly enjoyed it and being able to see returning actors throughout the movie was enjoyable,

     The singing was very fun to listen to, even if the instrumentals were not on par with the talent. Each actor was able to put a modernized spin on the personalities of each character and I enjoyed that they were not trying to make a carbon copy of the original movie.

     If I had to rate this movie I would give it a solid 6.5 or 7 out of ten due to a few of the director’s choices. This movie was an enjoyable watch in theaters, but I do not know how many times I would watch it outside of the first time.