Let Me In
By Della Nuno

Vampires are a phase for teenagers-and god knows why. They’ve been around since the 1920’s, but they’ve never really gotten as much traction as they have circa 2011, when Twilight, True Blood and Vampire Diaries took the world by storm.

Alas, none are as good a quality as Let Me In, a remake of an adaptation of a Swedish novel Let The Right One In. Rarely, a remake of a foreign film based on a book is successful, save for a film like The Departed.

The film is about a young boy named Owen(Kodi Smit Mcphee), living alone with his mother in a desolate New Mexico around 1980. When a neighbor named Abby moves in and the two children bond, things start going awry.

The setting for this film fits in so well that it’s a wonder it hasn’t been done before. The use of 80’s pop music and arcades flows into the background of the story in an almost eerie way. The story is most unconventional, it’s a kids movie with a hard R-rating. This is also a movie that has the power to appeal to horror fans alike, the way director Matt Reeves executes certain scenes, including it’s all too satisfying climax are exhilarating- many of the sequences are shot using only one take(a scene shot usually with one angle for a certain amount of time).These shots prove to be excellent, especially in a horror movie like this one.

One thing that certainly suits the remake as opposed to the original is it’s pacing, which could apply to teenagers looking for something to watch. The film moves along relatively fast, with intense moments happening at a quick rate, without seeming too in-your-face.

Teenagers should watch this movie – the appeal is right there. It’s eerie, shocking, gory, and yet still, it’s a movie that manages to tell a story using great young actors and absolutely stunning cinematography. Let Me In, while virtually ignored in it’s initial release, is due for some recognition from most people who haven’t seen it, as it’s an absolute gem.

Dr. Strangelove
Or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
By Rebecca Barrett

When I first saw Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love and Love the Bomb, I was not expecting it to be good. When I think of black and white movies I think dry, chaste, slow, humorless. Perhaps that is from too many years of watching MST3K. Dr. Strangelove completely shattered my notions about black and white films. From start to finish Dr. Strangelove is non-stop side-splitting political satire. The special effects and scerny, while being iconic, are fairly simple. What really makes this film is the acting.
Dr. Strangelove is a cold war era dark comedy about how incompetence and masculine sexual urges lead to the destruction of the world. It begins when General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) puts his military base under lock down and orders bombers under his command to cut off all radio communications and bomb the Soviet Union. It turns out the attack on the Soviets will trigger a Doomsday Device and destroy the whole world. U.S. President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers) holds an emergency meeting in the War Room. He is surrounded by swaggering, bickering Generals like George C. Scott, his wheel chair bound, ex-Nazi advisor Dr. Strangelove (also Peter Sellers), and the Soviet ambassador. Meanwhile General Ripper’s aide and voice of reason, British Group Captain Loinel Mandrake (again Peter Sellers), tries to get the access code from General Ripper. In doing this Mandrake has to listen to Ripper’s crazy theories about how there was a Communist plot to poison America’s “precious bodily fluids” by means of fluoridated water.
From Peter Seller iconic portrayal of Dr. Strangelove to Sterling Hayden as General Jack “precious bodily fluids” Ripper this film is filled with massive hams. Dr. Strangelove’s exaggerated German accent, his constant Freudian slips of calling the President “mein Fuhrer”, and his alien hand Nazi salutes all are iconic of former Nazi scientists. Dr. Strangelove’s alein hand repeatedly heil Hitlers and tries to strangle him when he is trying to talk. This portrayal is so influential alien hand syndrome is also known as “Dr. Strangelove Syndrome.” Peter Sellers claimed that Dr. Strangelove was not a parody of former Nazi scientist Dr. Wernher von Braun but it is clear that it is.
Another big ham is sex-crazy, war-hawk General Turgidson. He is in bed with is sexy secritary when he recieves a call from the President to come to the war room. She calls him while he is in the war room and everyone hears the following conversation.
I told you never to call me here, don’t you know where I am?… Well look, baby, I c-, I *can’t* talk to you now… my president needs me!… Of *course* Bucky’d rather be there with you!… Of *course* it isn’t only physical!… I deeply respect you as a human being… Some day I’m gonna make you *Mrs* Buck Turgidson!… Oh, listen uh, you go back to sleep hon, and Bucky’ll be back there just as soon as he can… All right… listen, sug, don’t forget to say your prayers! (IMDb)
George C Scott’s performance of Turgidson really makes the movie but it was not Scott’s intention. Scott was unwilling to do an over the top portrayal of Turgidson so director Kubrick had him do two takes of ever scene. One take was hammed up for the crew and the over was just straight acting. Kubrick promised Scott he would use the straight acting but almost all of the scenes of Turgidson that made it to the film were the hammed up scenes. This created one of the largest hams in history and also caused Scott to swear he would never work with Kubrick again.

Dystopian Beauty: 2081
By Ryan Shellady

In the category of short film, not a single step can be out of place. You have very little time to make a statement, send a message, and do so fluently. Chandler Tuttle has mastered this idea in his adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s short story, “Harrison Bergeron.” The film paints a picture of a futuristic U.S. government in which idealism is equality, but equality means that each citizen is handicapped with devices to place them on an equal playing field. The strong wear weights to hold them down, and the intelligent wear headphones that blare distracting sounds and noises into their ears to prevent deep thought. The film flips back and forth between the scene of an older, very handicapped man and his son, Harrison who has rebelled against the government to fight for inequality.
Though the plot of the film is not terribly intricate, the message displayed throughout is very striking. Through the use of lighting, and music effects, the tone of the movie is set as a beautifully solemn dystopian world. In home of the father and mother, Tuttle pulls on the audience’s heartstrings showing that even without fighting, their lives are burdened with misery. The green and brown color scheme also details the blandness of their lives where their only conversations are over trivial matters.
The television is on in their living room and the camera cuts to a ballet. The ballerinas all have to wear masks to hide their beauty, and weights and chains dangle from their limbs holding back the beauty of their dance. A sadness continues to swell for the audience as the ballerinas fall the the ground from the handicaps holding them back from distinction. Sympathy for this distorted society builds yet again when a news break interrupts the ballet. A news anchor with a heavy stutter attempts to explain why they cut away from the ballet. This is a satirical statement against equality shows how well Tuttle understands the angst Vonnegut originally intended for the story.
When the audience is introduced to Harrison for the first time, they see a heavily handicapped man whose tangled hair only better emphasizes his entanglement with the law. After breaking out of prison, he arrives at the ballet, ripping off his handicaps and showing that beauty lies in our differences. He shows that these chains and masks are more of a hindrance than an equalizer. He convinces a ballerina to do the same. She removes her mask and we see an entrancing young woman and her beauty only foreshadows what is yet to take place. After
Harrison orders music from the orchestra. A cellist plays a soothing, melodic tune. The music is captivating and dances just as Harrison and the ballerina begin to dance. When the camera cuts to show the audience’s faces, the expressions show a curiosity and a longing to be the two dancing on the stage. The actors here do a phenomenal job of portraying the angst this society has given them.
The movie has a controversial ending that will keep viewers talking and discussing for quite some time when the movie is finally done. I recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys thought provoking material, politics, rebellion, or drama. This short film will draw you in, and make you feel the weight of social disorder.

Dream High
By Thao Pham

Dream High is a television musical drama that has been attracting million viewers not only in Korea but also in the rest of the world.It brings a new inspiration for all teenagers by encouraging them to grow their own dreams in spite of difficulties. It also talks about love and friendship among the high school students, who are adorably naive and smart. Their most admirable trait is that they have a dream and dare to make it come true. The content is about a group of students from Kirin Art High School, about their personal life, and the toughness they have been through to achieve their dream. There are a lot of conflicts in the group. They sometimes misunderstand each other. All of them have the same dream: to be on the stage. Today, in Korea, entertainment is one of the most powerful industry. People are competitive and fascinated to become a star and to be loved by fans. Especially, high school students spend lots of time preparing for it. They practise day and night, attend to art school, and join every audition from any entertainment company.
The students include three girls: Go Hye Mi (Suzy), Yoon Baek Hee (Ham Eun Jung), Kim Pil Suk (IU) and three boys: Song Sam Dong (Kim Soo Hyun), Hyun Si Hyuk (but called by his friends as Jin Guk) (Taecyeon), Jason (Wooyoung). All of them are popular artists from top bands in South Korea. It helps to bring a big influence to young audiences. There are two main characters from the group: Hye Mi and Sam Dong. Hye Mi majors in classical music. She dreams to be a soprano, and plans to go a famous music institute. Suddenly, her family gets broke; her dad runs away to foreign country, and her dream collapses. Sam Dong , main boy character, is a farming boy. He inherents his singing talent from his dad. His mom has stereotypes about singing career, so she does not allow him to sing. Both of them are recognized by a mysterious principle of Kirin. With the teachers’ supports, they gradually improve their singing as well as their personality. Unfortunately, Sam Dong realizes he has a hearing issue. He is sometimes temporarily deaf. Other students from the group also have different issues challenging their dreams. Dream High build up cute loves between boy and girl in high school. Their love are all about caring for each other, which is sweet and meaningful.
The drama series show the characters’ efforts to achieve their goals. The high school students should watch the movie because it would never bore them. It has sophisticated tenor and attractive scene. The drama series also include lots of fancy performances. Dream High shows lots of interesting and new things about Korean culture. Students wear impressive uniforms and they all study in the same class for years.They are so close together that everything they do, they think for each other; they share the happiness , and also the sadness. The most important thing, once you set your goal or dream, chase for it and never give up. Believe in yourself!

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
By Mason Greer

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner is an extraordinary film about racism trying to keep a couple apart but their love overcomes this. This might sound cliche but the way the director portrayed the characters and brought every form of racism to the screen in a one day time span was genius. What makes this film different from most was that while most films about racism take a stand in the future looking back at a point in time in our history; this film looks at what was present day and how segregated people still were. The actors do a good job with the way they react to each situation. Sidney Portier was relatively quiet for most of the movie, this showed that he was nervous about the whole situation while his (soon to be wife) was very enthusiastic about their relationship and in some ways a little naive about how her parents would react. The parents gave an interesting side of the situation themselves. Although they weren’t necessarily racist themselves, they were against the marriage because of how they were afraid of how society would treat them.

Roger Ebert said, “Yes, there are serious faults in Stanley Kramer’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, but they are overcome by the virtues of this delightfully old-fashioned film. It would be easy to tear the plot to shreds and catch Kramer in the act of copping out. But why? On its own terms, this film is a joy to see, an evening of superb entertainment.” I don’t agree with Ebert on this one. I think the director purposefully portrayed the characters this way. He wanted to show that there was racism coming from every direction and every shape and form.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner is a timeless classic, some may argue saying that racism has died so it cant be a timeless classic, but if you really think about it racism hasn’t died. It is still among us and will never disapear until not only people stop caring about our differences, but just plain don’t see them.

Gran Torino
By Anna Hollander

Clint Eastwood is back. For the first time since ‘Million Dollar Baby’ he is both in front of and behind the camera. His leadership behind the camera led to the development of multiple new actors; Bee Vang, and Ahney Her, both of whom gave eerily realistic portrayals of teenagers affected by gang violence.

His leadership in front of the camera was apparent, as usual. Playing the part of Walt Kowalski, a Korean War veteran, Eastwood’s stern face, and husky voice are perfect for the role. Walt is the epitome of an angry, racist, retired man. He still harbors grudges against Koreans and cannot stand the changes in American culture, isolating him from his family and others.

Walt watches in fury as his neighborhood fills with the Hmong people from Korea, their gangs changing his hometown into a violent and unsafe place. Walt’s racism restricts him from meeting any of his neighbors, until one day when his neighbor, Thao, attempts to steal Walt’s most prized possession, his Gran Torino. Coming from a traditional Hmong family, Thao is forced to work for Walt as a penance for his crimes. Played by Bee Vang, he is a bashful young teenager who is trying to find his way in life and become the man of his house.

Through Walt’s racist comments, Thao’s attempts to deny gang pressure, and Sue’s (Thao’s older sister) quick witted defiance, Walt begins to know and understand his neighbors, realizing that he may have more in common with them than his own family. Walt becomes a mentor for the family, not only teaching Thao how to be a man, and protecting him and Sue from the gang on multiple occasions, but also teaching all who know him how to live. How to handle the struggles of life, how to handle death. How to stand by your values, but also how to admit when your beliefs had been wrong. In the end Walt makes the ultimate sacrifice to save his neighbors from the gang, and his affect on those around him is highlighted as he lays like Jesus on the cross.

Gran Torino’s simple, yet well placed photography, realistic and quick dialogue, new actors, and relevant lessons, gives the movie a real feel that hits everyone close to home, and moves many to tears. This movie is a must see for teenagers and adults alike. Clint Eastwood is back, and better than ever!

The Sandlot
By Dwight Donahue

Without a doubt The Sandlot is arguably one of the best kids movies of all time. The Sandlot was released in 1993, and the setting takes place in the summer of 1962. This movie is a picture perfect window back to what it was like as a kid living in 1962. Being exactly 50 years ago, kids didn’t have all the stuff we have today, like Internet or cellphones. Instead they took to playing baseball, going to the pool, hanging out in tree houses, telling ghost stories, going to the fair, and playing more baseball. That’s all that they could do back then.

The story is centered around Scotty Smalls, (Tom Guiry) the awkward new kid in town and a group of teenage boys with a fanatical love of baseball. Smalls first has trouble fitting in with the group because he has no experience playing baseball. He can’t even throw the ball, and resorts to running across to the would be receiver and handing it to them. The other boys laugh at him and Smalls becomes discouraged, until the best player in their group, Benny Rodriguez (Mike Vitar), befriends Smalls and motivates him to keep with it. Over time Smalls learns to play ball and begins to find his own place within the group. The Sandlot itself is the name of the small dusty baseball field that the boys play ball on. It is situated between an old fenced in enclosure, and is the boys’ own little kingdom. However on the other side of the fence lies the territory of a terrible neighborhood monster dog known as “The Beast.” The boys try to avoid hitting home runs because their baseballs will fly over into The Beast’s lair, and are lost forever.Throughout the whole movie the boys play a lot of baseball and go on a couple of hilarious misadventures, but the real plot develops when a baseball signed by the legendary Babe Ruth is lost to the clutches of The Beast, and the boys must retrieve it to prevent Smalls from being “grounded forever,” (or as Squints Palledorous might say “fooorreevarr”)

What makes this movie successful is that it is centered around the kids. There are very few adults, and the cast of boys does a great job. Each boy has a unique personality and nickname. There is Ham, the pudgy loudmouth catcher, Kenny DeNunez, the pitcher who can throw a mean “Heater”, and Squints Palledorous the mischief maker who has a crush on a lifeguard. There is a great camaraderie between them all despite their constant cat-calls and insults. The way the boys talk back and forth, the banter between them is somewhat intriguing. This leads to much of the movies comedic value. The movie does a great job of showing you how kids were back then, how they interacted with each other rather than showing kids interacting with their parents and other adults. Comparing kids now to back then, kids today can text, tweet, and Facebook socially, while kids back in 1962 would run over to The Sandlot and play baseball all day. This makes The Sandlot boys’ friendship seem so much more genuine compared to the practically artificial friendships of today.The Sandlot is kind of like what The Goonies would be like if there wasn’t a big adventure, you have a humorous group of boy’s and you get to see what they would do in their free time.Overall, this movie is a classic fit for children, teens, and adults, reminding us of how fun it was to be a kid.

The Hiding Place
By Mary Kimani

The Hiding Place is a movie made in 1975 that is extremely religious. However even if you are an atheist, this movie based on a true story that you can not deny will warm your heart. The story is about a watchmaker in Harlem and his two daughters, that against the Nazi law, gave refuge to Jews in Holland. This movie made by Billy Graham Pictures stars Julie Harris and Jeannette Clift brings a different view on the concentration camps during World War 2.

Now I know that there will be the question what do Nazis have to do with an American High school student, but our culture definitely has definitely been impacted by WW2. In the hallways it will not be uncommon to hear someone asking their fellow student “If you could back into time and you met Hitler’s mother and she was pregnant would you kill the baby?” In the movie industry Captain America the first Avenger, and X Men First Class have relevance to WW2. Then adding to that Lensherr bitter about his mother’s death uses a Nazi coin to kill Shaw.

The ten Boon family was a highly respected family in Harlem. Casper ten Boon, played by Arthur O’Connell is pratically the perfect father, he always shows love for his two single daughters Betsie (Julie Harris ) and Corrie (Jeannette Clift and is definitely the bulwark of the family. For example, when they get taken by the government. The police officer gives Mr. ten Boon the chance to stay in his home as long as he promises not to hide any more Jews. Casper’s response is :”I’ll open my door to anyone who knocks and offer my home to anyone who needs shelter.
One fault that I find in this movie is the way that they soften the very painful experiences of Ravensbruck the concentration camp. They have all the major elements but many things that Corrie describes in her book The Hiding Place , which was basis of the movie, were not depicted as well as they could have been. In this case I believe that being more graphic would have enhanced the radical faith of Betsie and Corrie

Faith is exactly one of the things that this movie addresses that seems unrealistic. Through out the whole ordeal in the concentration camp the Ten Boon sisters never question God or his attributes (e.g. love, sovereignty, faithfulness.) To modern readers this idea of unfailing faith probably seems absurd. I challenge you however to think about most of the other religions in the world, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism…. The followers of these religions are known as fanatical wiling to do things that are considered crazy to us, but they do it any way without any question or doubt. With Shia Islam for example we are so used to hearing about suicide bombers that we now fail to realize the commitment that must be ther to complete such a horrendous act. This movie show this radical commitment in Christianity a religion that has fallen in some respects to the way side.
At the very end of this movie they show Corrie ten Boon in the 70’s considerably elderly, but still strong enough to walk on her own, go into the old watch shop in Harlem and sit on a chair in a cozy living room atmosphere. Her eyes seem alive with alertness and she smiles brightly into the camera. This is not a fake celebrity type of smile on the contrary. Her smile is the genuine almost grandmother like smile. She ends by sharing a little bit about her faith but you could never say that she was trying to push religion down your throat. Her few comments leaves one reflective and gives you something to ponder. How would you respond if you went through something like as traumatic as a concentration camp and would you be able to come away from that experience with the kind of joy that Corrie ten Boon seems to spill over through the movie and to everyone who met her or how would we respond?
Going back to Lensherr, this man was gifted but he was extremely bitter which is totally understandable, but somehow we know that acting out this grief is not going to help or do any good instead we usually hurt those around us. In contrast, Corrie ten Boon came face to face once with of the one guards who had mocked and visually raped her sister and her, yet she was able to shake his hand and actually love the man in front of her. What a contrast between these two people one dominated by hate and revenge the other by love and faith.