Welcome back to the fun segment “A&E Trivia.” We will play a little quizzo with a total of four questions — one question from each category. You will be given three answer choices. The categories are movies, television, music and celebrities. Let’s go!
I hope you all enjoyed this week’s “A&E Trivia” and hopefully got a question or two right. Email tripodij2@lasalle.edu any questions you’d like to see asked in the next edition. Be sure to watch La Salle TV’s “Backstage Pass,” where you can see these questions asked in a video segment, in addition to celebrity and entertainment news. Check out the student-produced show on its YouTube channel, LaSalleTV Philly. You can also watch “Backstage Pass” twice a day on channel 56 on Comcast. The times are as follows:
AM Schedule: Backstage Pass—LaSalle TVPM Schedule: Backstage Pass – LaSalle TV
Welcome back to the fun segment “A&E Trivia.” This week, we have a special “Animals” edition. We will play a little quizzo with a total of four questions — one question from each category. You will be given three answer choices. The categories are movies, television, music and celebrities. Let’s go!
I hope you all enjoyed this week’s “A&E Trivia” and hopefully got a question or two right. Email tripodij2@lasalle.edu any questions you’d like to see asked in the next edition. Be sure to watch La Salle TV’s “Backstage Pass,” where you can see these questions asked in a video segment, in addition to celebrity and entertainment news. Check out the student-produced show on its YouTube channel, LaSalleTv Philly. You can also watch “Backstage Pass” twice a day on channel 56 on Comcast. The times are as follows:
Welcome to the wonderful world of entertainment. The following news includes highlights of celebrities, television, movies and music this week.
Will Smith resigns from the Academy
Actor Will Smith made headlines during the Academy Awards after he went onstage to slap comedian Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife’s struggles with hair loss. According to TMZ, Rock “didn’t know” Smith’s wife had alopecia. Later that night, Smith won an Oscar. He took home the award for Best Actor for his starring role in “King Richard.” According to Variety, the Academy is reviewing the incident and will make a decision later this month. Smith has since voluntarily left the organization, meaning he will lose membership perks.
The New York Times
Bruce Willis retires from acting amid aphasia diagnosis
“Die Hard” star Bruce Willis will be retiring from his acting career due to health issues. The 67-year-old’s family made the announcement through Instagram. The collective statement mentioned how the action actor’s cognitive abilities have been impacted by aphasia, which he has recently been diagnosed with. Willis, who was one of the most notable movie stars of the late 1980s and 90s, is receiving ongoing support from his worldwide fan base. Emma Heming Willis, expressed gratitude for her husband’s fans’ love and kindness on her Instagram story.
People
Katy Perry hilariously covers up wardrobe malfunction during performance
Pop singer and “American Idol” judge Katy Perry performed her 2010 hit song “Teenage Dream” for contestants on a recent episode of the hit ABC singing reality competition series. While singing the lyrics, “skin tight jeans,” the back of her pants literally ripped. The contestants in the audience were in shock. Country singer and fellow judge Luke Bryan laughed and told the crowd, “they busted.” Perry played the malfunction off as she humorously asked for some tape. She then allowed the crew to tape up the back of her pants in front of the audience.
Today Show
John Carney to direct Bee Gees biopic
“Sing Street” and “Once” director John Carney is set to direct Paramount Pictures’ upcoming Bee Gees biopic, according to Deadline. Carney is replacing “Belfast” director Kenneth Branagh, who backed out due to scheduling conflicts. The original screenwriter, Ben Elton, also departed from the project for similar reasons. Elton is being replaced by three-time Oscar nominee and playwright John Logan. This untitled film will follow the personal lives and musical success of the trio, which consisted of Australian brothers named Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. Throughout their active years, the Bee Gees encompassed different genres, such as pop, soul, R&B, soft rock and disco. They dominated the charts from the late 1960s to the late 1970s. The only surviving Gibb brother, Barry, will be an executive producer on this biopic.
Rolling Stone
Number one on the Billboard charts: week of April 9, 2022
According to “The Hot 100” on the charts, the number one song in the U.S. is “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals. During its 63rd week on the charts, this pop song remains at the top spot for the fifth week in a row. According to the “Billboard 200,” the number one album in the U.S. is “Mainstream Sellout” by Machine Gun Kelly. This alternative album is at the top spot during its first week on the charts.
open.spotify.com
Thank you for reading this week’s “What’s Trending.” If you’ve enjoyed this article, be sure to watch La Salle Tv’s “Backstage Pass” for more celebrity and entertainment news and content. Check out the student-produced show on its YouTube channel, LaSalleTv Philly. You can also watch “Backstage Pass” twice a day on channel 56 on Comcast. The times are as follows:
When it comes to movies, the anime community seems to be in a good place. With anime being the most mainstream it has ever been in the West, we can finally see more of our favorite shows get movies. No longer do we have to just stick to shows like “Dragon Ball” or “Pokemon” for us to have feature length films. With the rise in popularity of Gege Akutami’s series “Jujutsu Kaisen,” we were finally able to get a movie for the highly anticipated prequel book “Book 0,: and here are my thoughts on it.
Straight off the bat, the animation quality is phenomenal. It looks like the same quality they put into the cinematic openings for the show’s first season. Everything from the characters, and scenery, to just the buildings and environments was pleasant to look at and it’s like this throughout the entire movie’s run. Every frame seemed like it was handled with care and it makes the movie feel special to watch. It’s honestly hard to think of something bad about the visual quality of the movie.
Then there are the fight scenes which are intensely choreographed and dramatic. I feel like if there’s one thing that Studio MAPPA, the film and series’ animation studio, knows how to really do, is make an extremely good fight scene. Whether it be something like “Attack On Titan,” “Dorohedoro,” “God of Highschool” or any of their other works, they just love to grab the coolest moments from the manga and just push it to the max. I wasn’t sure how much effort they would put into some of the fights from the book that fans latched onto, but they went all out. MAPPA thought “Oh, dude wouldn’t it be cool if we just animate the hell out of these fights?” It’s insane how cool they made Gojo, the main character of the series, look in this film. While it’s still kinda cool in the book, it’s nowhere near what the movie gave. The panels of the manga were fun and had some good dialogue between the characters but the movie expanded its fights to full cinematic sequences that were truly a spectacle in the theater. Almost every battle in this movie goes extremely hard and had me and my friends losing our collective minds in the theater.
MAPPA
If I had to pick out a stand out character for the movie, it would probably go to the villain of the movie, Suguru Geto. Geto brought a fun loving nature to the movie that honestly matched the one that the main characters also brought. He managed to have a small comic relief to him while also being an extremely convincing threat. From his unique powers to the charisma he brought every time he was on screen, made him an enjoyable character. Geto felt like the perfect villain for this story and only added to its enjoyment.
If there was some downside to the quality of the movie, it would probably be that if you are expecting a lot of add ons from the manga, you at least aren’t going to get much in the first half. The first half of the movie is pretty much the exact same as source material with only a few additional scenes; however, once they get into the second half of the movie, we get a lot of extra parts to the story to help build on and expand what’s happening.
MAPPA
All in all, “Jutjutsu Kaisen: 0” was amazing and definitely is a perfect way to continue the hype leading up to the series’ second season. It brings everything from extremely exciting fight scenes to stunning visuals, to an enjoyable story. If you need something to show someone that could potentially get them into anime or just the “Jujutsu Kaisen” series, this is definitely the movie to do that. I would give this a solid 8.5 out 10 and would recommend you go watch it.
Happy Foreign Language Awareness Week, La Salle! In the same thread as Nolen Kelly’s past articles about favorite movies from Valentine’s Day or Christmas, here’s a small collection of some foreign-language movies and TV shows that you guys thought were pretty great.
Sarah Liszewski, ‘22: Skam (Norway) and Elite (Spain)
“Skam” is a romantic dramedy that follows friends from Hartvig Nissens school in Oslo. The story deals with very real issues that high schoolers face such as self-esteem, eating disorders, mental health, self care and sexuality. Some American critics have dubbed it the “Norwegian Euphoria” and the comparisons are apt. “Elite” is set in a similar world, albeit with a much more serious tone. The story follows three teenagers from working-class families as they clash with the overly-wealthy students of a bougie private school. The drama from these cultures repelling each other leads to a murder, the central conflict for the series.
“I like ‘Skam’ because it focuses on different characters every season and shows points of view that normal shows wouldn’t. ‘Elite’ is a blend of everything in one show: murder, mystery, love, revenge, and basically every theme you can think of.”
Jake Eiseman, ‘22: Los Espookys (Chile)
“Los Espookys” is a dry comedy series from HBO co-created by comedian Ana Fabrega and “Saturday Night Live” alums Fred Armisen and Julio Torres. The show follows a troop of creatives that travel around an unnamed South American nation putting on horror shows and displays. Their skills as crafting haunted houses take them far and wide, and the plot is bizarre enough that they get wrapped up in crimes, politics and even alien experiments during the show’s single season.
“Los Espookys is one of the funniest series I’ve ever seen. It plays with the tropes of comedy and horror, which is unique in itself. But, it also does it from the perspective of some of the weirdest characters I’ve ever seen. The jokes are just as bizarre as they are unsettling and every episode just keeps getting more crazy. Highly recommend.”
Danielle O’Brien, ‘24: “True Beauty” (South Korea)
In the traditional “K-Drama” style, “True Beauty” is a one season show that tells a contained romance story and covers a lot of ground in its 16-episode run. “True Beauty” follows a high schooler who changes her visual style dramatically after experimenting with online makeup tutorials. The swooning of classmates and disapproval of others is where the comedy of the series comes in, but the story is rather dramatic as it deals with issues of self-image and beauty standards.
“It’s based on a webtoon series about a girl who ‘transforms’ into the most sought after girl in school, but her secret is that she looks totally different without it. The actors in the drama are so good, I recommend it!”
“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” has surpassed cult status in the U.S. over the last two decades, becoming a classic piece of martial arts fantasy that fans go back to for its over-the-top action and impressive choreography. The film is credited with spawning dozens of imitative works since its release, with the martial arts genre changing dramatically due to the cinematography and narrative style of the movie. While it is at times a cheesy martial arts movie, there is a special element about it that can’t be attained by its imitators.
“Fantastic characters, an amazing story, wild fight scenes, a great love story, gorgeous camerawork and visually striking settings make this one of the most unforgettable movies I have ever seen that I will recommend to anyone any time.”
Others’ Favorites
Anthony Pantalone, ‘23, thinks the French film “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” is “a fantastic slow burn” and has “an ending that stays with you long after the film ends.”
Enrique Carrasco, ‘24, likes the Japanese series “Attack on Titan” because of the intense and well-animated action sequences.
Gregory Shannon, ‘22, likes the South Korean film “Parasite” and the animated movie “Spirited Away” from Japan. He says “both are visually stunning and the story is just great. It’s hard to find flaws within these two movies.”
David O’Brien, ‘24, thinks the 1966 Czechoslovakian film “Daisies” is really funny, and Keri Marable, ‘23, is a fan of the French series “Miraculous Ladybug” because it’s about a “magical girl with cute transformations and fun powers.”
Ciara Ledgard, ‘22, likes the Spanish show “Cable Girls” (“Las Chicas del Cable”) because it takes place in the 1920s and 1930s and it involves mystery and drama.
Meghan Cain, ‘22, is fond of the Swedish show “Quicksand” because of its great storyline and ending.
My personal favorite at the moment is the German series “Dark,” which is a really great mix of a lot of really bad things: scandals, murder, affairs and nuclear waste. Plus time travel, which I usually don’t like, and history, which I always like.
Thank you to everyone who submitted a response. I hope you found a couple shows or movies that piqued your interest. Foreign Language Awareness Week is just beginning — today (Tuesday) from 12:30 – 2:00 is the food fair in the Hayman lobby, and there’s all sorts of other interesting presentations and events going on the rest of the week, all listed here.
“Elden Ring” has been the obsession of many on the internet since it was revealed in 2019, but for me, it has been an obsession for about two weeks.
Platforms: PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series, PC via Steam Price: $59.99 Rating: M
“Elden Ring” is a Hidetaka Miyazaki joint co-created with “Game of Thrones” writer George R. R. Martin. The latter you might know as the writer of the book series “A Song of Ice and Fire” which was adapted into the juggernaut HBO series. Martin was also heavily involved in the creation of the series as a producer and story consultant, and is hailed for his worldbuilding and character development… although maybe people give him a pass on the last few seasons of “GoT” because he wasn’t as heavily involved.
The former, however, is a visionary known to many, but not nearly to the degree as Martin. Miyazaki is the auteur behind the “Dark Souls” series of games, as well as “Demon’s Souls,” “Bloodborne” and 2019’s game of the year winner “Sekiro,” all of which have scored incredibly high with critics and have gathered large followings due to their punishing difficulty, unique game and level design and obtuse, well crafted stories. While “Dark Souls” is ubiquitous with difficulty in the gaming community, outside of its core audience, many people do not realize that people don’t like it because they’re gluttons for punishment, but because the games are completely unique in the way you interact with them, and Miyazaki is the creative director behind it all.
“I doubt you could even imagine it.”
So, Martin and Miyazaki unsurprisingly worked together to make an immaculate world with intrigue around every corner. But, none of that matters if it isn’t fun. “Elden Ring” is by all accounts, an open-world action RPG, but it would be more apt to call it “Souls-like,” as in the gameplay involves you running head first into handcrafted encounters with multiple enemies entirely more powerful than you leading up to a boss (usually of the giant monstrous variety) who will kick the sh*t out of you over and over. You lose, you die, you suffer, repeat. And I love it.
Each time you clear an encounter, you move on, not only with the game’s currency: runes, which can be used to make yourself more powerful and prepared to fight, but also with the knowledge of how to clear that area and the satisfaction that you figured it out. If you die, you can return to the spot you failed to pick up your lost currency, but if you fail again before reaching them, you’re back to your last checkpoint having made no progress.
Bandai Namco
Giant enemies are always scary, but sometimes it’s the small ones that give you the most trouble.
At the time of writing this, I have played “Elden Ring” for more than 60 hours and I have died over 500 times, most of which were from throwing myself at a boss until I figured out their patterns and was able to perfectly squeak out a victory. While seeing my character level up and become more bad*ss over time is a reward in itself, really a lot of the fun I’ve had playing “Elden Ring” comes from the satisfaction and happiness I get from learning and growing as a player, not necessarily as a character in the world, which is the same reason Miyazaki’s 2015 creation “Bloodborne” got me through the pandemic semester without going insane.
With a magical samurai sword in one hand and a staff that shoots lightning bolts in the other, I’ve never been so proud to be a nerd.
Capture courtesy of Jakob Eiseman
My character stands victorious after taking down a warlord in a hellish, war torn desert.
The story places you, an exiled “Tarnished” in a world torn apart by war over pieces of a Tolkien-esque magical artifact known as the Elden Ring that can control basically everything and grant the user limitless power. As a Tarnished, the story is one of a lowly underdog working his way up through increasingly more powerful enemies to eventually claim the ring and become the Elden Lord, punishing those who exiled their kind for decades. The story is incredibly well written and detailed, and Martin’s worldbuilding comes in spades. But, it is up to the player to interact with the story by exploring and reading into the lore rather than just telling you through cutscenes or menus, which makes it much more rewarding to learn about what’s truly going on and what factions you’ll side with.
“The fallen leaves tell a story, across the fog, the Lands Between.”
Capture courtesy of Jakob Eiseman
Torrent, the horned horse of “Elden Ring” quickly becomes a companion in a world full of hate.
I’m not a big fan of high fantasy, part of the reason why I never finished “Game of Thrones,” and why I was never a big fan of “Lord of the Rings” or aptly, “Dark Souls.” But, something about the vibe and setting of “Elden Ring” sparked my interest. Instead of everything being dark, brown and depressing, the world of “Elden Ring,” the Lands Between is bathed in bright colors, giant glowing trees, deep scarlet red swamps, sun bathed forests and crystal lit caves. I’ve never been one for the knights and dragons motifs, but when everything looks like this, and the dragon dive bombs me from the sunset sky I can’t help but be impressed.
All of Miyazaki’s creations are revered for their large worlds and interconnected maps, but oh my lord, this map is absolutely huge. Pictured left is the portion of the map I spent the first 20 hours of the game exploring, and pictured right is the entirety of the map, a majority of which I have yet to even see.
Bandai Namco
The Lands Between are twice as large as “Skyrim” and are about two square miles larger than “GTA V.”
Not to mention that the entire map has a system of underground caves, lakes and cities…
I will never finish exploring the Lands Between, and that’s okay. My favorite moments in “Elden Ring” have just been riding my horse around exploring and taking in the world that was crafted inch by inch to be filled with story, set pieces and cool interactions. If I see a random smoke signal, there’s probably a camp. If I see a mountain, there’s probably a giant cave system inside.
There’s nothing like walking along in a major walled city, taking a look at all of the shops and homes when out of nowhere intense music starts playing, a giant health bar appears at the bottom of my screen and an eldritch horror, the likes of which Lovecraft only dreamed of, claws its way out of the ground into the streets. Every single location on this gigantic map just makes you appreciate how much thought, care and pure fun went into the creation of “Elden Ring.”
“You are Tarnished.”
I’ll level with you. Since I got my hands on “Elden Ring,” my productivity has hit rock bottom;I spent most of my free time over spring break hunched over, eyes burning, being the quintessential mom’s basement geek playing “Elden Ring,” it’s bad. This is my game of the year so far, and it’s one of the best I have ever played.
Every time I think I’m getting close to the end, another five hour adventure falls into my lap, and every time I think I’m about to get bored, one of the coolest things ever happens, like a man using a dragon’s head as an arm to eviscerate me or finding a random treasure chest that rewards me by teleporting my character to actual hell.
Bandai Namco
The bosses in “Elden Ring” are incredibly difficult by design, which turns some people off to the game.
But, its issues are still incredibly noticeable and distracting, and while I don’t think they take away from the experience explicitly, they do really make me disappointed that the developers can’t just bring themselves up to 2022 standards for certain things like accessibility, player choice and respect for time.
First off: there is no pause button. You are either playing “Elden Ring” or you are not. I found myself wanting to take small breaks between work to play for 10 or 15 minutes, but it was about five minutes of setup each time because I couldn’t just pause the game, I’d have to completely exit out each time. People defend this decision by saying that feeling immersed in the world with no distractions is part of the artist’s creation, but that’s completely derisive to me and I’m sure many others. People can’t always dedicate mass amounts of time to a game, and people should be able to experience it how they can.
On that theme, there are next to zero accessibility options in “Elden Ring,” subtitle size is small for the visually impaired, there are no closed captions for the hearing impaired and most of all, there are no difficulty options. Every time a “Soulslike” comes out, there is a debate about why they have to be so hard or so punishing so that some people are not able to experience the story or talk about it with their friends to which many respond that the difficulty is part of the overall experience you get while playing, and to make it easier would take away from its themes and the satisfaction of winning.
To that I say, you are wrong and naive, and I 100-percented “Bloodborne” and killed two of “Elden Ring’s” main bosses on my first try. I don’t want these games to be easier, although I do admit the balance can be off at times, but there are so many people I’m talking to who are interested in “Elden Ring,” because of the world, the critic reviews or Martin’s involvement that simply won’t touch it because they know they won’t have any fun playing it. That is a shame. Let people tailor their experience to how they want to play. The perception of art is subjective and video games are art. Do better.
“The Elden Ring, that which commanded the stars.”
I cannot recommend “Elden Ring” to you unless you’re incredibly committed to learning and being beat down over and over. But, if you’re open to the challenge, and want to learn more about the incredibly detailed world crafted in the Lands Between, I’d say go for it. It is an excellent entrypoint to the “Soulslike” genre as it has many quality of life improvements that make it easier on newcomers, and the visuals, while not amazing, are still beautiful and compelling for those who like a great artistic depiction of a fictional world. If you’re a “Souls” veteran, this is a no brainer. I will continue playing “Elden Ring” likely until I keel over from playing too much and maybe, just maybe, one day I’ll actually beat the game.
“Elden Ring” is a 9/10 for me, and I can’t wait for other people to experience it as well.
Welcome to the wonderful world of entertainment. The following news includes highlights of celebrities, television, movies and music this week.
Kanye West is banned from performing at the Grammy Awards
According to The Blast, rapper Kanye West’s team has received a phone call that he will no longer be in the lineup of performers at the 2022 Grammy Awards due to his “online behavior.” This announcement has come after the “Eazy” rapper’s recent 24-hour suspension from Instagram for using a racial slur towards comedian and television host Trevor Noah. Ye became angered with Noah for showing support for Kim Kardashian, Ye’s ex-wife. Noah, who is hosting the upcoming annual award ceremony, referred to the rapper’s behavior towards Kardashian as “belligerent.” Ye is being nominated for five Grammy awards, including album of the year.
Entertainment Weekly
Rachel Zegler says she was not initially invited to the Oscars
Actress Rachel Zegler surprised fans when she took to social media to share that she did not receive an invitation to the 94th Academy Awards despite her starring role in the film, “West Side Story,” which is being nominated for Best Picture. After this revelation took the internet by storm, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided to invite Zegler to the Oscars. She is also being asked to be a presenter. The 20-year-old actress is currently in London shooting “Snow White,” but accommodations will be made in the shooting schedule in order to allow her to attend.
Time News
“The Bachelor” makes history twice in one night
ABC’s hit reality show “The Bachelor” aired its season finale and history was made twice during its two-hour time slot. For the first time in the show’s history, the bachelor was rejected by the final woman. As a result of the rejected proposal, the leading man, Clayton Echard, walked away broken-hearted. However, Echard and the contestant who rejected him, Susie Evans, reconnected after the show and are now dating. The second historical event took place on the “After the Final Rose” special, which aired right after the season finale. For the first time in the show’s history, it has been announced that the next season of “The Bachelorette” will feature two women, as they will star alongside one another and find love on the same journey. These two women, Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia, were finalists on Echard’s season of “The Bachelor.”
Variety
“The Adam Project” is trending on Netflix
Top trending on the streaming platform is the Netflix original film “The Adam Project.” Directed by Shawn Levy, this sci-fi/adventure tells the story of a time traveler, Adam Reed, who is from the year 2050. He tries to go back to the year 2018, but accidentally lands in the year 2022 instead. Here, he comes face-to-face with his 12-year-old self. The big Adam and the little Adam, who are complete opposites, must put their differences aside in order to team up and save the future. “The Adam Project” is rated PG-13 and stars Ryan Reynolds, Walker Scobell, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner and Zoe Saldaña.
Hit Network
Number one on the Billboard charts: week of Mar. 26, 2022
According to “The Hot 100” on the charts, the number one song in the U.S. is “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals. During its 61st week on the charts, this alternative/indie song remains at the top spot for the third week in a row. According to the “Billboard 200,” the number one album in the U.S. is “7220” by Lil Durk. This hip-hop/rap album is at the top spot during its first week on the charts.
Welcome back to the fun segment “A&E Trivia.” This week, we have a special “Crushes” edition. We will play a little quizzo with a total of four questions — one question from each category. You will be given three answer choices. The categories are movies, television, music and celebrities. Let’s go!
I hope you all enjoyed this week’s “A&E Trivia” and hopefully got a question or two right. Email tripodij2@lasalle.edu any questions you’d like to see asked in the next edition.
Who could’ve predicted that a Batman movie would include Nirvana in the soundtrack twice, draw inspiration from David Fincher movies and real serial killers, slip in some surprise jokes and it would all be good? Life could not be better for annoying people, film bros and The Official Robert Pattinson Fan Club. I am all three.
“The Batman” is a dark and sinister crime drama with a lively depiction of a struggling city choked by a crime-ridden underbelly and an insane new killer in the streets of Gotham, all fended off by one man, Batman, played by Robert Pattinson (“The Lighthouse,” “Twilight”). “The Batman” is everything that I have ever wanted a movie about the caped crusader to be and is very much nothing we have ever seen before.
The Battinson Begins
Normally this is the part of a review where I talk about whichever side I have less of an opinion on, but with total honesty I have nothing negative about “The Batman” to say. Every complaint or minor issue that people have with this movie, I totally acknowledge and understand. But, I think most criticisms are easily defendable. The most common complaint that people have with the movie is the runtime, which clocks in at 2 hours and 56 minutes. If there is anything actually wrong with this movie, it’s that sometimes you can feel that it is three hours, but personally I love that feeling of a movie being long like this.
The story takes place in Batman’s second year as the vigilante in Gotham City and there are a lot of nice and specific details that show that he is still learning but already knows some stuff. A section of the movie is dedicated to one clue Batman is given that he figures out, but is also misled by the wording. In every movie Batman just gets it all right, which is great most of the time, since he’s a detective, but the fact that he couldn’t solve this one problem or understand the clue left my jaw on the floor five rows down from my seat. “The Batman” is mostly about the unraveling of the mystery of the story and it works wonders. This is a long movie with an antagonist who kills politicians and leaves riddles and clues all over the place; this was never going to be a straightforward narrative, so all the twists and turns in here are well worth the buildup and payoffs.
Warner Bros. Studios
Characters
Pattinson is the best Batman, bar none. He’s a real detective, he doesn’t kill, has insane bat technology like his grappling hook and he is terrifying. The movie introduces him with shots of dark alleys and shadows, building Bats up in the most appropriately and bad*ss way possible. A lot of the tone of this movie is carried by Pattinson and his naturally brooding energy. His ability to play off or work with anyone he is sharing the screen with felt super organic, like he was friends or enemies with everyone. I believed he hated his villains The Riddler, The Penguin and Carmine Falcone. I believed he loved or could love Selina Kyle aka Catwoman. I believed he was still traumatized by his parents’ death and was taking some of it out on Alfred. I believed he was real friends with Gotham Police Officer Jim Gordon. This is a dark world, so both Batman and Bruce Wayne needed to fit this mold, and who better to do that than Pattinson? He makes sense in this role and fills it out completely. I have a feeling both Pattinson and Wayne’s music rotations are Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor’s movie scores and Death Grips.
Paul Dano (“Little Miss Sunshine” “There Will Be Blood”) was someone I was always excited for in this movie and he more than lived up to the expectations. Delusional, maniacal, intelligent, evil, lost and broken are all words that come to mind from Dano’s performance. I loved his overall rise to control and how he didn’t reveal his master plan until it was already in motion and too late to prevent, but even then he still didn’t even fully reveal it. The plan just happened and it was all so crazy. The final twenty minutes of the movie are some of the finest moments of writing in any comic movie and of any noir film in my opinion all because of the complexity of Riddler’s plan and how it unraveled very quickly. Aside from his big plan and his disturbing performance, I loved a lot of the small details he included in his character, like when he attacks someone he lets out a small scream because he’s not athletic or a fighter. Whenever he wears his mask he breathes really heavily, but not like panting, more like soaking in what he just accomplished, and it is freaky as hell. Dano is a talented actor, but he is sort of like a more confident Michael Cera, so seeing him in the antagonist’s chair for once was invigorating.
Warner Bros. Studios
Zoë Kravitz (“X-Men,” “Mad Max: Fury Road”) as Catwoman is easily my favorite interpretation of the character. She felt closer to an actual spy than a thief in this film and her scenes in the Iceberg Lounge were some of my favorites of the movie. She had several moments where she perfectly balanced being a one-woman wolfpack and a vulnerable victim of circumstances. In my eyes, Kravitz is the only person who could play Catwoman currently. She makes sense in this world, in this character and in this movie. She’s quiet, yet ostentatious when she decides to be. She blends into the background but always stands out in every scene. On an unrelated note, I am currently in love with Kravitz and I will be shooting my shot in the near future. Wish me luck, readers.
Jeffery Wright (“Westworld,” “Casino Royale”) is also the best Commissioner Gordon in any interpretation. Gordon and Battinson have a very good working relationship and bounce off each other really nicely. They crack some light jokes at times, organically, and are really funny together. Gordon feels like a good cop. He’s someone you can trust and want to work with. There’s a scene that was aired on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” that shows Gordon and Batman talking in the GCPD and it encapsulates every scene the two are in together.
I’ve talked a lot about the characters, but there’s one more character that is absolutely worth going out of your way to see and that is the unrecognizable Colin Farrell as The Penguin. He’s a nasty crime boss. He’s hilarious in almost every scene. He is an important character who spends a lot of time passing along information but still acts as a key figure in the story.
Colin Farrell as Oswald ‘Oz’ Cobblepot AKA The Penguin
Colors, Cameras and Cobain
“The Batman” is a good-looking movie. Despite being a dark thriller, there is a pretty unique color palette to this film. While the majority of the movie is in darker shades of black, green and brown, there is a surprising amount of yellows, reds and oranges. The Iceberg Lounge has tons of flashing red lights, there are numerous scenes with a gorgeous yellow/orange sky in the background and there is a notable shot from the trailer with Batman holding a flare that just looks incredible with the red light contrasting the blackness of the scene. Cinematographer Greig Fraser may have topped his previous best-looking movie “Dune” with “The Batman,” because I could stare at this grimy, filthy, rainy, sloggy, pretty cinematic experience for a while. Michael Giacchino more than delivered on his score for the movie, making every scene feel grand and intense with his almost orchestral score. The main theme of the movie, “The Batman,” is such an epic piece of music that I wouldn’t mind if it was my theme music since I am vengeance. Speaking of music, I referenced Nirvana earlier because they are featured in this movie twice. “Something in the Way” is the closing song off of the band’s seminal 1991 grunge rock album “Nevermind.” The song appears in the first trailer and at the beginning and the end of the film. It’s a perfect fit for the tone and is a great song, too. At some point I got lost in the character of Bruce “Kurt Cobain” Wayne and believed that Pattinson was singing “Something in the Way” at one point.
Warner Bros. Studios
In Summation
“The Batman” is a movie I have been looking forward to for a long time and, as a lifelong Batman fan of the comics, video game series and previous films, it more than lived up to what I wanted. It’s long and exciting and an immersive experience worth sitting through. It’s been a long time since a movie has given me a refreshing experience like this. What else is there This should not be a surprise to anyone but I think this movie is a perfect 10 out of 10. “The Batman” is in theaters now.
Joachim Trier’s 2021 feature “The Worst Person in the World” explores the endless purgatory of a person’s 20s and the uncertainty and crushing anxiety that coincide with the freedom of adulthood. Set in Oslo, Norway, the film follows Julie — portrayed masterfully by Renate Reinsve (“Welcome to Norway,” “Oslow”) — as she waits for her life to start. After dropping out of medical school and switching various career paths, Julie is unsure of what lies ahead. She bounces between career paths in psychology, photography and commentary writing. She finds herself in a relationship with a man in his 40s. At the beginning of the movie, she does not know what preferred shape her life will ever take. The next two hours detail the experiences of the protagonist as she grapples with various relationships, doubts about the future and the pervasive feeling of being stuck.
Nominated for Best International Feature Film and Best Original Screenplay at this year’s Academy Awards, the film has already received widespread critical acclaim. While set to face stiff competition from Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” in the International category, “The Worst Person in the World” may hold a realistic chance of winning Best Original Screenplay. The Cannes Film Festival in summer 2021 even nominated the film for the highly coveted Palme d’Or before awarding it to Julia Ducournau’s “Titane.” Reinsve obtained the Best Actress award at this film competition though — an achievement appropriate for her entrancing performance.
Oslo Pictures
The nomination for Best Screenplay is an inspired choice by the Academy, because the script from Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier easily serves as the film’s strongest quality. Split into a prologue, twelve chapters and an epilogue, each section varies in length and details pivotal moments for the main character traversing her 20s. This story-telling device feels ingenious as it progresses the story forward easily while effectively showing how each character grows over time. The prologue finds the main character pivot from various career paths as she faces indecisions. Each chapter then focuses on a specific period in this young woman’s life and slowly creeps towards a crescendo in the final chapters and epilogue that reveal deeper insights about life and love. As a coming-of-age film, a theater goer already knows the main character will learn an important lesson and undergo a transformation, but Joachim Trier somewhat subverts genre norms with this movie. The screenplay takes the audience on an imaginative route to the film’s finale by making you feel like you are reading chapters in a book about this young person’s struggles. Certain sequences utilize animation and hallucinations, and one scene even shows the main character stopping the world around her. This particular sequence was my personal favorite scene andshows Julie flip a light switch and freeze almost every single person around her in place for an entire day. She then runs through the quiet, sun-soaked streets of Oslo in a moment of jubilation and glee. The rest of the day is spent on a date with a potential love interest with whom she had shared a night years earlier. The scene feels utterly euphoric and overcomes the anguish and regret of youth. When one feels stuck in a career, living situation or relationship, they often somewhat desire to diverge on a different unknown path. There is an underlying desire to try out a new relationship, quit their job or even fundamentally change their life. In reality, a person cannot stop time to find what they actually want before settling down and making a life for themselves. The protagonist does though. Her own freedom from the constraints of mundane life and the opinions of other people reflect the strong desire of many young people to freeze everything and break away from their current life trajectory.
Oslo Pictures
As someone who recently turned 21 and now faces the rest of my 20s laid out before me, the film strikes a terrifyingly relatable chord. It’s difficult to figure out what I should be doing — what to reasonably yearn for within a career or a fulfilling existence. I don’t think I ever truly will know. I also think that no one ever truly does either. This film at least makes me feel less alone in this search. It presents the idea that some fulfillment can be simply found in the journey and not just by reaching a desired destination, career or relationship. It’s a soothing reminder that humans always have the ability to find some semblance of stability throughout the chaos of youthful instability. Julie continuously does not feel secure and stable even though she continuously grows older. Her resistance to getting her life together causes this protagonist to continuously make misguided decisions and view herself as “the worst person in the world.” The inherent doubt and indecision that comes with being an adult must make every young person “the worst in the world” to some degree.
The La Salle Collegian 