This year has been disastrous for film fans. There were countless incredibly huge blockbusters originally slated for this year including Dune, Black Widow, Eternals, A Quiet Place Part 2, and No Time to Die. There were also some interesting smaller titles such as The Green Knight, Willy’s Wonderland, and Spiral. In what felt like a blink of an eye, all these films and more were pulled from their schedules and tossed into 2021. The next 12 months were slated to be jam-packed with an abundance of films scheduled to roll out. However, Warner Bros. has completely changed the landscape and broken all the rules, doing the unthinkable with their latest announcement.
When 'The Last of Us Part II' released on Jun. 19, its thrilling performances, pulse-pounding gameplay, and breathtaking visuals were all acclaimed. However, the same cannot be said for its narrative. Said narrative saw 19-year-old Ellie, one of the protagonists from 2013’s ‘The Last of Us’, go on the warpath in order to avenge the death of Joel, her father figure, and the other protagonist from the original game. The person responsible for Joel’s death was a young woman named Abigail “Abby” Anderson. In a shocking twist, players were made to control her for nearly half the game’s runtime. Such a tactic allowed for her perspective of the game’s storyline to be illustrated.
Shawn Mendes’ cover of “As Long As You Love Me” brought his name into fame that would later lead to three studio albums with an incoming fourth album, Wonder, hitting shelves Friday, Dec. 4. The singer’s career has been crafted with bridges, scars, and love that only furthered his path to continue forward instead of turning back.
Streaming services seem to be popping up almost daily. Just within the last year, we’ve seen four major new services join the already crowded market: Apple+, Disney+, HBO Max, and Peacock. One of the other streamers to launch during this time was Quibi. Now, if you’re unfamiliar with this service, don’t worry because everyone else is as well. Quibi seemed to have come out of nowhere, just to leave as quietly as it came. But what led to this service being a failure?
Jennifer Lawrence’s acting skills expand well beyond The Hunger Games. Over the past decade, Lawrence has appeared in various genres like horror, drama, romance, and action. The actress can separate her real-life persona from each character’s personas and comes off as a strong, independent, and fierce actress. Here are the actress’s top five films that are a must-watch.
With the popularity of big-budget, high profile fantasy shows popping up everywhere recently, streaming services seem to be looking for the next Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones to fill in that empty void. Shows like The Witcher and the upcoming Wheel of Time, Lord of the Rings, and the Game of Thrones prequel will hopefully continue to provide great, epic fantasy entertainment. There are many other fantasy book series that often get overlooked by bigger series however, they deserve the same, if not more, recognition as the bigger show stoppers. These series could also make for great book-to-screen adaptations, like some of the others. Considering the state of the world right now, we all could use a break and jump into a fantastical world where our problems don’t seem quite as bad.
Whether it is the unique animation-style music videos, canned lemonade, organic environment flourishing within a warehouse in Chicago, or Summer Smash music festival; Cole Bennett, 24, has quickly become a prominent figure in the music industry and he is nowhere near slowing down. What originally formed as an idea for a blog, quickly became more after Bennett swiftly established himself as a prominent figure amongst the hip-hop/rap community. Bennett released his first music video in high school, at the age of 17. Thus, his brand, Lyrical Lemonade, has spearheaded itself to be a symbol of attaining any dream, no matter the depth.
For anyone looking for new music, I highly recommend checking out Sammy Rae. Last year when I was getting prepared for a long car ride, I reached out to people asking for new music recommendations and a friend of mine told me about Sammy Rae’s EP, The Good Life. Unlike some groups where if you’ve heard one song you have heard them all, Sammy Rae keeps the listener interested by reflecting many genres such as jazz, pop, blues, and rock in her music. With a diverse array of genres in her music, every song has a distinctive sound.
The ‘Uncharted’ series is without a doubt one of the most popular PlayStation franchises. Created by the now-former creative director at Naughty Dog, Amy Hennig, the series began in 2007 with ‘Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune’ on the PlayStation 3. Unlike the developers’ previous efforts, ‘Drake’s Fortune’ sought to replicate the experience of watching an action film: it was plentiful with charismatic characters, brisk pacing, and wildly bombastic set pieces. The 'Uncharted' film; however, calls for conversation.
Blake and Aaron break down the new choose your own adventure film where the audience makes life and death decisions
Role-playing mechanics were never at their peak until 2001’s Final Fantasy X was released. Easily one of Final Fantasy’s best releases, if not the best, the tenth video game entry holds superior gameplay and a story lasting well past a decade that can’t be said for other role-playing games since then. Japanese company Squaresoft, now Square Enix, is known for its work with other popular titles, like the Kingdom Hearts Series. The series, which featured characters and designs inspired from the Final Fantasy Series, unknowingly reached a gold status when 2001 came around.
Once Disney+ finally launched in November 2019, things started off great in terms of content. They launched with The Mandalorian, one of the most exciting shows in recent years, as well as a large library of content, unlike other streaming services like Apple+ and CBS All Access that launched with smaller amounts. However, once The Mandalorian‘s first season came to an end, the streaming service quickly began losing steam and soon became one of the more disappointing services out there.
I am a 19-year-old political science minor, and I voted for the first time last week. As a junkie for political science research, I have always been aware of my place in the election process. However, this year was different. It felt like I was standing in a room surrounded by people screaming at me; those people being older politicians, celebrities, advertisers, etc. Everyone demanding me to vote, but never looking at who I am. Politicians seeing me as a percentage, just a mindless number in their popular vote.
Three years ago, the Nintendo Switch was released, and it quickly became one of the company’s most popular home consoles. However, one aspect of the Switch that was less marketed was the company’s decision to let indie game developers publish and port their games to the console. This has given a variety of indie games a chance at a wider audience and greater acknowledgment for their work. Here is a list of the top underrated indie games.
In 2017, an 18-year-old was introduced to the world through YouTube and social media as a young man capable not only of writing, but wrestling, singing, and potential being a voice for the LGBTQ+ community. It’s 2020, and Geick’s channel lies empty without updated content and a trail of breadcrumbs that left him leaving the spotlight possibly for good.
From a young age, Quentin Tarantino has been interested in movies. Tarantino’s writing is inspired by movies, books, and spaghetti western film director Sergio Corbucci. Tarantino follows a nonlinear storytelling style: We can see in the films Reservoir Dogs, Inglorious Basterds, and the Kill Bill volumes that he jumps around storylines. In Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, the audience bounces between Sharon Tate, Rick Dalton, and Cliff Booth’s storylines.
Blake and OK break down the upcoming iPhone 12 and what it brings to the table over past models.
One of my favorite up-and-coming artists right now is BETWEEN FRIENDS. After hearing their debut single — “suburban wonderland” — my senior year of high school, I was immediately drawn to their sound. I dove head first into the rabbit hole that was their Spotify artist page and wondered how this band, that I now adored, wasn’t more popular. Their self dubbed “laptop-dream pop” was something I couldn’t get out of my head. I found myself reverting back to “suburban wonderland” over and over again. Now, they not only have that single, but they also have an EP titled, we just need some time together.
