Stop Making Sense, at its core, is the story of a band. It begins with a solitary man, who is faceless but familiar, walking out onto the stage. As the camera follows his feet out from the backstage shadows and into the limelight, this tolerably titled “concert film” has already made its statement as a higher performative art piece -and it’s just getting started.
I am a casual watcher of the show Bridgerton. Each season that has come out has been enjoyable. Though I have not read any of the books, Julia Quinn presents a fun and interesting take on the Regency era that Shondaland has adapted brilliantly for Netflix. Bridgerton is good entertainment, where I can be engaged while it's on-screen and then disengage and forget about it as soon as it's turned off. I started Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story with the same expectations, but I soon found myself thinking about it even when I was not actively watching. And now that I’ve finished it, I still find myself thinking about it because it was absolutely incredible. (Warning: Spoilers ahead)
With summer just around the corner, it is time to get in the proper mood. Just think about it, long walks on beaches, beautiful sunsets, swimming, and no more school. With all of that in mind, I have compiled a list of the perfect films to watch to get you ready for the best summer yet.
I am by no means a player of Dungeons and Dragons or DnD for short. My knowledge of the game is more peripheral - my brother and best friend are avid players, my roommate listens to DnD podcasts all the time, and I’ve made a character sheet or two for fun. But I am a Pine Nut (aka a Chris Pine stan) and a lover of a fun fantasy movie, so as soon as I saw the trailer for Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, I knew I was in for a treat. And I’m happy to say the movie did not disappoint.
The film fades in, and a piece of text appears, “For Our Father, for Fun as a Responsibility, for the Middle Perspective, a Lost Past, Lights on During the Day Time, Lost Love but Still Something There, Excuses, the Fridge Full of Games, Small Apartments & Our Mother." For the next hour and forty minutes, these seeming words of a trivial dedication metamorphose into tactile images, sounds, and raw emotion.
“Unconventional found family featuring parents with shady jobs” is a genre that seems to have taken the anime world by storm in the past couple of years. The most popular example of this is Spy X Family, featuring a spy father, assassin mother, and telepath daughter, who don’t know each other’s secret identities and end up a family out of convenience. But this 2023 spring season has given us another top-notch anime that fits into the genre: Buddy Daddies. The show tells the story of Kazuki Kurusu and Rei Suwa, two hitmen who are partners and best friends, and how they ended up the fathers of a young girl named Miri. Though none of them are related, the three swiftly become a family.
Starring Matt Damon and Viola Davis, Air is a triumph in the biographical film genre. The film tells the story of Sonny Vaccaro (Damon), a Nike executive trying to build up the struggling basketball division. He quickly sets his sights on Michael Jordan but knows that he has an uphill battle to even get a meeting with the rookie. Between going against his boss's wishes and the many arguments with Jordan’s agent, it feels like the deal is nearly impossible. While everyone knows how the story ends, the movie is able to build great tension and gives its audiences insight into what went down.
When I first heard that there was going to be a sequel to Scream 5, my first thought was that it wouldn’t be good. As a longtime fan of the Scream franchise, I was excited when they decided to reboot the story with Scream 5 in 2022, keeping the same storyline and characters involved, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I expected to. I figured the same thing would happen with Scream 6, but then I learned that it wasn’t focusing on the characters’ hometown Woodsboro anymore; it would be taking place in New York. I thought this was a great creative decision, but I still had doubt in the back of my mind. I didn’t want one of my favorite horror franchises just to become pure comedy with lazy plots.
Something that has been weighing on my mind, and I’m sure the minds of many others, is the potential ban of TikTok. Now, I am not embarrassed to admit that I have a minor addiction to the app, checking it a couple of times a day for no insignificant amount of time and also posting my own content quite frequently. The idea of my new favorite form of social media being gone is disheartening. It is an important app for many people who rely on it for entertainment, work, news, education, and more. But there are some serious security concerns regarding TikTok, as the data it collects could be used in dangerous and damaging ways. My questions are these: can those concerns be resolved in a safe, compromising way that doesn’t end in the ban of the app in the US? What did the Congressional hearing really accomplish besides showing everyone how technologically inept and incredibly rude US politicians are? And is TikTok even the real issue here, or is it just a front to cover up an incredibly invasive and privacy-breaching bill that the US government wants to pass?
Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Daisy Jones & the Six has taken the world by storm. The novel's rise to popularity has led to a television show adaptation on Amazon Prime that stars Sam Claflin as Billy Dunne and Riley Keough as the titular character Daisy Jones. The show has won the adoration of many fans. Because of this, many fans of the new show haven’t read the original book. The television format, especially with only 10 episodes, doesn’t allow the same amount of depth as a full-length novel. This means that not every storyline or detail is able to be translated into the show, nor do the showrunners want to use the exact same plotlines. With that being said, here is a guide to some of the biggest changes from book to show.
