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(03/17/20 5:00pm)
by Trevor Sheffield
In the modern pop culture landscape, it would be a boldfaced lie to claim people aren’t obsessed with the fantastical. Whether it’s the longevity of the Lord of the Rings saga, the intense care people have for Harry Potter, or the many, many, many, shows on the Internet centered around the evergreen, tabletop favorite Dungeons & Dragons (or DnD), we live in an age where people care greatly about worlds of mirth and magicks, perhaps now more than ever.
However, this raises a thought: for all our modern world likes to pay tribute to days of swords and sorcery, what would happen if the two planes were to meet? It looks like Pixar may have found the answer.
(03/13/20 8:24pm)
by Mason Kupiainen
Slasher movies have been a staple in the horror genre ever since Halloween popularized the subgenre in 1978. Since its release, Halloween has inspired an entire genre and many films that have tried to copy its formula, including the Friday the 13th series. As with all franchises, there are many great films and just as many terrible ones.
(03/13/20 8:18pm)
In 2009, Justin Bieber released his first album My World, which sold 137,000 copies within the first week. Flash forward 11 years, Bieber is now married to model and TV personality, Hailey Bieber (formerly Hailey Baldwin) and has five studio albums including Changes. His music has gotten better over the years and there is a positive jump from his last album Purpose to Changes. Bieber is different now with both his music and his personal life. Changes is Bieber’s most unique album to date and possibly his best.
(03/14/20 4:00am)
(03/13/20 7:53pm)
Once upon a time in 1991, the world was introduced to Sonic the Hedgehog. Created by Japanese video game developer Sega and debuting with a self-titled game on the Sega Genesis console, he was created to embody everything “cool” at the time. Through an extensive ad campaign promoting this radical new character and the mythical power of “Blast Processing,” Sonic made people go wild. He came to dominate the 90s, with multiple successful games, cartoons, merchandising opportunities, and even theme parks.
(03/11/20 5:30pm)
by Rex Meyer
For the past few years, horror has seen a renaissance in the cinematic world aided by sophisticated storytelling, complex metaphors, and multi-dimensional characters. Films such as Hereditary showcase the turmoils of grief and familial relationships under the guise of the occult, while Jordan Peele’s Oscar-winning Get Out reflects the horrors of racism and the liberal ignorance of white America. Still, every so often there enters a horror movie whose intentions to tell a terrifying yet profound story are mutilated by a static, pretentious, and inept plot progression unable to sufficiently scare audiences and critics alike. Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s winter horror film The Lodge fulfills this sentiment to a bitter degree.
Released in a limited engagement on Feb. 7 before opening nationwide on Feb. 21, The Lodge details the bleak dynamics of a family ravaged by a tragic loss. Afflicted by an extended separation, Richard has recently informed his devout Catholic wife, Laura, that he plans to divorce her so he can marry his girlfriend Grace. Upon hearing this devastating news, Laura commits suicide, leaving her son and daughter, Aidan and Mia, grieving her abrupt departure from the mortal world. Now living full-time with their father, the pair accompany him and Grace on a trip to a remote New England lodge for the Christmas season. Due to prior work obligations, Richard ends up leaving his kids to adjust to life with their future stepmother. Unfortunately for Aidan and Mia, Grace’s dark and mysterious past full of grim secrets intrudes into their time inside the family lodge.
(03/11/20 3:00pm)
by Emily Worrell
On October 24, 2017, Netflix released the first season of The End of the F***ing World, a series based off the graphic novel of the same title by Charles Forsman. The show followed troubled teens James and Alyssa as they ran away from their homes to look for satisfaction somewhere else, and it became an unexpected hit. Flash forward to November 4, 2019, and the highly anticipated second season of the show dropped to the delight of audiences and critics alike. About two weeks later, writer Charlie Cowell announced that the show would not be continuing on for a third season, to the disappointment of many fans. Where else would we get a show that put so much teen angst into such an upbeat and interesting package?
Flash forward to February 3, 2020, and the first teaser trailer for a new Netflix show called I Am Not Okay with This drops. To fans of the show, the trailer no doubt felt familiar in tone, and for good reason: this new show would be based off of a graphic novel by Charles Forsman, the same man who wrote The End of the F***ing World. Meanwhile, the show was created by none other than Jonathan Entwistle, who directed and created the television series The End of the F***ing World. This left fans like myself both excited and apprehensive: would this new show be able to come close to what The End of the F***ing World had been for us, or would it just feel like a weak attempt to recreate what was over and done?
I Am Not Okay with This follows high schooler Sydney Novak, who struggles with the adolescent issues of friendships, family, her sexuality, and managing her feelings, all while still grappling with the fact that her dad committed suicide last year. When strange things start happening all around Sydney, she realizes that there are forces inside of her that she does not know how to control.
(03/11/20 2:00pm)
by Mason Kupiainen
It’s no secret that video game adapted movies are not very good. Time after time, Hollywood has tried to take a popular video game property and adapt it to the silver screen with little-to-no success. Not only do these movies receive poor reviews, but box office numbers have shown genuine disinterest or distaste in these movies. Looking at the box office, the highest grossing video game movie is Warcraft with $439,048,914. For comparison, looking at a similar genre, the highest grossing comic book movie is Avengers: Endgame with $2.8 billion. These two genres are very similar, with many of the same fans, but why is the box office gap so wide? Why are so many people going to see comic book movies and not going out to support video game movies, despite the fact that more people play video games compared to those who read comic books? There’s not one simple answer. However, there are a number of reasons why the critical and box office for these movies is so low.
(03/10/20 9:00pm)
by Daniel O'Connell
Fantasy Island was a staple of 1970s television. It starred the late great Ricardo Montalban as the enigmatic yet charismatic Mr. Roarke, who oversees a mysterious island in the Pacific Ocean. On the show, Roarke and his sidekick Tattoo (Hervé Villechaize) would offer guests to come and live out their fantasies—for a price. Oftentimes these fantasies would be used to help the guests learn a lesson, come to terms with something in their past, or just become better people. While the show would be considered campy by today’s standards, it is still fondly remembered as a classic. Flashforward 42 years later, and reboots and remakes of old television properties are all the rage. That means some idiotic Hollywood executive thought that it would be a great idea to take a property like Fantasy Island and reboot it into a horror movie. Helmed by the infamous Blumhouse Productions and directed by Jeff Wadlow (who directed both Kick Ass 2 and the hilariously bad Truth or Dare), Fantasy Island brings a fantasy that’ll have you bored to tears.
The film follows your standard plot of an episode of Fantasy Island: Mr. Roarke (this time played by Michael Peña) entertains five guests that come to his island to fulfill their fantasies. Melanie Cole (Lucy Hale) wants revenge on a childhood bully, Patrick Sullivan (Austin Stowell) wants to enlist in war to honor his late father, Gwen Olsen (Maggie Q) wants to accept a marriage proposal she rejected years ago, and step brothers J.D. (Ryan Hansen) and Brax Weaver (Jimmy O. Yang) want to party it up. However, things take a sinister turn as the fantasies continue on.
(03/10/20 8:30pm)
by Blake Chapman
Disclaimer: This is a review of the english-dubbed version of “Mewtwo Strikes Back - Evolution”
The 1990s were a chaotic, albeit exciting, time in entertainment history. Television was ablaze with new shows like Friends, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and The Simpsons. Similarly, new spectacles for the silver screen came in excess, such as Titanic, Jurassic Park, and even the arrival of the Disney Renaissance. Finally, the advancement of 3D graphics, thanks to the release of the N64 and PlayStation, meant games like Final Fantasy VII and Ocarina of Time would set a standard for years to come. However, there was one series that began at the tail end of this impressive decade that would stretch its influence across all three of these dominant mediums: Pokémon.
It did not take long for the widely acclaimed Nintendo series to land in North America following the release of Pocket Monsters: Red and Green in Japan during the spring of 1997. Within the span of only two years, Pokémon became a worldwide sensation that included a syndicated anime, a global release of the first generation of games, and even a trading card game. In November of 1999, Pokémania would hit cinemas as Pokémon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back would be the first theatrical release in North America after the film premiered in Japan a year earlier. Such recognition amongst American audiences for a Japanese animated film was previously unheard of.
While it was critically panned for its impersonality and terrible pacing, fans of the series still hold it in high regard for its animation and the creation of current series staple Mewtwo. After 20 years, a remake of the landmark film has been released on Netflix after premiering in Japan last summer. Though the effects of this computer-generated iteration are impressive, the spirit of the original is lost in every facet.
(03/10/20 5:30pm)
by Katherine Simon
Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for the ending of Dragon Quest: Your Story
Dragon Quest is one of the most prolific franchises in all of gaming. Since the first game was released in 1986, the series has become a cultural phenomenon in Japan and the foundation for the JRPG genre as we know it today. The franchise has also maintained a decent cult following in North America, which is continuing to grow after the Hero’s introduction in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and the success of Dragon Quest XI. Personally, I didn’t become a huge Dragon Quest fan until I picked up XI for the Switch and got sucked into the game’s world. While the Dragon Quest series doesn’t have the thematic or mechanical depth of most modern JRPGs, its simple mechanics and engaging stories help the series withstand the test of time and remain fresh while sticking close to its roots. But I’m not here to gush about how great Dragon Quest is, I’m here to talk about the recent film that dropped on Netflix, Dragon Quest: Your Story.
Now, this film is very interesting for numerous reasons, the first of which is that it’s an adaptation of Dragon Quest V. DQV is one of the most influential and beloved entries in the series and is credited for helping popularize the monster-collecting mechanics present in other popular franchises like Pokemon. The other is that when the film was released in Japan back in the previous summer, audiences hated the movie (warning: spoilers in the link). Considering how much of a monolith the franchise is in its home country, it’s a pretty big deal to have a piece of Dragon Quest media that wasn’t well-received upon its release. So now that the film is available worldwide via Netflix, the question is, did the film deserve the insane amount of backlash it received, or was it a decent flick that hardcore fans were too harsh on?
(03/05/20 3:47pm)
by Baylie Clevenger
The sun is bright and happy; almost seeming to foreshadow the night ahead. The road is bumpy on the way out of Muncie, but we don’t mind.
250 miles. 100 miles. 50 Miles until we reach our destination. Zero miles. We’re here—only a few hours until the lights, laughs, and loud sounds. We’re in Detroit and we came for the music.
(03/02/20 11:00pm)
The Cardinal Esports League of Legends team took on Northern Illinois University (NIU) for their college tournament series on Feb. 22 in the Unified Media Advertising and Creative Suite. Cardinal Esports went into the match with a 4-0 record, but ended up finally breaking their winning streak after losing 0-2 to NIU.
Photos By: Adele Reich
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(02/26/20 7:03pm)
(02/26/20 5:44pm)
[embed]https://soundcloud.com/user-519363288/input-2-s8e3-how-isekai-animation-is-engulfing-entertainment[/embed]
Hello, film fanatics! Welcome back to another episode of Input 2! This week we identify and discuss the slow engulfment of Isekai Animation in the Entertainment Industry. What are some great Isekai films in the industry? What are some that could be improved? What are we expecting for the future of isekai animation? Find all this our and more in this week's episode of Input 2!
Hosts: Tanner Kinney and Katherine Simon
Edited by: OK Schlatter
Graphic by: Malia Hutton
(02/26/20 4:26pm)
by Mason Kupiainen
The second-largest box-office market in the world is China, trailing just behind the United States. Before the coronavirus outbreak, China was close to topping the U.S. box office, but now it has become improbable. Big budget blockbusters, like Warcraft. Transformers: Age of Extension, Pacific Rim, and Rampage made a majority of their money in China and depended on those numbers to help them from not becoming complete disasters. Since China’s box office has been shut down for the time being, this has put an enormous question mark on the success of upcoming films like Mulan and F9, and the effects on the industry as a whole.
(02/25/20 9:00pm)
by Blake Chapman
After arising from the ashes of former YouTube notoriety, Joji has taken the alternative R&B and lo-fi scene by storm. Ever since he joined Asian rap collective 88rising, Joji has made a lasting impression on the Billboard charts culminating in his sophomore album Ballads 1 debuting at No. 1 in 2018. In the time after that impressive showing, he has been working primarily with 88rising on their second full album "Head in the Clouds 2" along with another single that released last June, titled "Sanctuary." After the former had time to gain traction, he posted on Twitter that he would be returning to his own projects and fans should get ready for what is next.
The three months of work since that announcement have resulted in his latest single "RUN." While the complications of love and loss remain a steady theme in this new track, Joji does little to advance the overall quality of his work as he has done in the past and leaves fans wanting more.
(02/25/20 6:00pm)
by Olivia Weinzapfel
After what seemed like a wait of a million years, the Aussie psychedelic rock band, Tame Impala, finally released their fourth studio album after a painstakingly-long wait. The album, The Slow Rush, was released in full on Feb. 14, 2020, and it was inarguably the best Valentine’s Day present anyone could have asked for.
Thankfully, however, none of us had to wait until 2020 to get even the slightest taste of new music; we were gifted with the single "Patience" in late March of 2019, the first work of musical art from the band since Currents in 2015. Although not on the album, this track alone gave us a great taste of what new to expect from the band that put out three full-length albums prior, all distinctly different in sound and character. Listening in retrospect, "Patience" introduced us to some of the themes covered in the new album and gave us a decent introduction for the “feel” of the music we would later get to experience in The Slow Rush. This sampling trend continued on with the release of the single "Borderline"—not long after "Patience"—and then so on and so forth with the releases of "Posthumous Forgiveness," "It Might Be Time," and "Lost in Yesterday," all featured on the album. A little bit at a time, we were drawn into the album and the ideas that fueled its creation before it was even released. With all the single releases—and later with the full album—we received everything we love about the old Tame Impala but with a new, fresh twist.
(02/20/20 9:00pm)
by Nick Black
Remember when the Wii U came out and Ubisoft made a big deal out of its exclusive game, ZOMBIU? The game was remembered fondly for its death system, environment, and even characters and story… but also made fun of and torn apart by critics because of how bad the forced Wii U motion control and menu system interface was. It hosted systems that screwed with gameplay and the ability to make quick decisions. Now, also remember that this game, 4 years ago, was remastered for both Xbox systems and Steam and re-titled ZOMBI. It took all of those garbage motion controls out for a smoother, simpler first-person survival horror game. Remember all that? Probably not, no one bought a Wii U anyway.
Now, imagine that a game came along on another new generation’s form of interactive gameplay, that not only is zombie-survival-based, but is almost completely the same game as beforehand but with less creativity, and attached to a franchise who refused to stay dead after jumping the shark. Well, imagine no more my friends, for it exists. And its name is The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners.
(02/20/20 8:49pm)