Guest Blogger: Alem 1

Rocky Balboa- This movie is about a dad who is a supportive father to his son and a good friend to others. He started boxing and made his way to the big leagues. Later on the movie, he meets his best friend’s sister and they start going out to places and dinner. They were having a good time and they fall in love during the whole series. Rocky Balboa was making a big name for himself with his boxing matches and his rep on the streets. Rocky, was always a good boxer and a good supporter to his friends when they are in a boxing match and need some advice to how to beat their opponent. Rocky and his son had a great bond between them and always had a good time with each other. When Rocky has any matches his son is always there watching him. They had some bad moments at times, when Rocky had to always train and leave his son behind and never spend father and son time. Another important character in the movie is Rocky’s friend Apollo; they were the best of friend’s. He was also a well-known boxer himself too. One of his traits is that he was quick on his feet and quick with his hands. Apollo had an important fight of his life against Ivan Drago. Apollo and Drago were in the fight for a long time but Apollo couldn’t hold off for a long time and he died in the match due to Drago’s KO punch. Rocky was angry at Drago and he wanted to have a fight with him. The theme of this story that you can get out of this is; if you train hard at what you do you can achieve it and be good at it. I agree with the critics because this movie is a great inspiring movie and it gives out a good life lesson on never give up on what you try to achieve in life. This movie is worth your time and money because like I said it’s inspiring, awesome movie to watch to see some action, and it has some funny scenes during the movie.

Guest Blogger: Tyree 1

Scarface is about a Cuban man named Tony Montana played by Al Pacino. Most of the movie is about Tony chasing the “American Dream”. This takes place in the 1980’s so America and Cuba are having diplomatic problems. The movie starts with Tony leaving a prison in Cuba and travels to Florida hoping to get a green card. While in Florida, Tony starts to hang out with a gangster by the name Frank Lopez, who is played by Robert Loggia. With the help of Frank, you runs the streets of Miami, killing anyone in his way. After letting the power and wealth go to his head, he kills Frank and then later on marries his wife, Elvira. Elvira is played by Michelle Pfeiffer. Tony “Scarface: Montana rises to the top of Miami as the leader of a cocaine empire. Along the way Tony made several enemies. Every great thing comes to an end. At the end Scarface’s empire is attacked by rival gangs, who want to take of the huge wealthy cocaine empire. Tony is the bad guy in the movie. He will do whatever it takes to get his “American Dream”. The only things he cares about is his family and money. He even kills his best friend, Manny who came with him from Cuba, because he was sleeping with his sister. With each dollar he made he became more ignorant and blind. He let the power go to his head and he made too much money to control, which ultimately is the cause of his empire to fall. A easy theme from the movie would be that it doesn’t matter where you come from, you can be successful. Even though Tony didn’t do it the right way, he came from Cuba. Once he made it to America he became one the richest people in MIami and the biggest cocaine dealer.

Guets Blogger: Hunter 1

Cast away is about a man named Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) who works for FedEx. He had to do a overseas delivery for FedEx and they ended up running into a really bad storm. During the storm the plane went down and crashed into the ocean. Chuck Noland was able to survive and found a deserted island. The rest of the movie is about Chuck trying to find a way off the island and get back home. There was only a few actors in this movie. Tom Hanks played Noland and he did an incredible job, you really felt his hopelessness and loneliness that he had to deal with being on that island alone. This is one of the best acting performances I’ve personally seen from Tom Hanks. The only other notable character in this movie is his long term girlfriend Kelly Frears played by Helen Hunt. She did an alright job for what her role was in the movie. There really wasn't enough screen time for her to actually judge her performance. Tom Hanks main motivation in the film was to obviously get back home safely from the island. He had to face many struggles to get back home that showed off his determination and “never give up” attitude. There was times that he felt like giving up, but always was able think differently and continue on. The main theme that I took away from this movie was never give up and also you can do whatever you put your mind to. I personally found this movie extremely entertaining the entire time and I don’t agree with Paul Clinton’s review of the movie where he said “With little dialogue and mind-numbingly dull, repetitive scenes” . I didn't find a moment of that movie dull. I feel that it was appropriate for the movie to show scenes multiple times so that the viewer can grasp that he had to do these things everyday and struggle to survive. To conclude I say that this movie is a 100% must see. I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes movies that show people overcoming what seems to be an impossible task. It is definitely worth your time and money.

Guest Blogger: Spencer 1

Anchor Man is a movie about a man named Ron Burgundy that works for a news station in the 70’s. This movie is extremely funny and I would defiantly recommend it to anyone. The actor Will Ferrell (who plays Ron) has a funny personality and makes the movie enjoyable to watch. He goes around to place to place where there are events and reports the story to the the KVWN Channel 4 News team. The KVWN Channel 4 News team consists of Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, and David Koechner. The Movie came out in July 9, 2004 and many critics loved it, other had other opinions. This film earned a 7.2/10 rating IMDb and a 63% Metacritic. The movie was directed by, Adam Mckay, and produced by Judd Apatow. Adam Mckay is known to have a hilarious personality and his movies show it. Ron has a 6 year old son named walter. Time passes and Ron, now a broken alcoholic who has been bouncing between jobs is offered a second chance by way of an offer to join the first ever 24 hour news channel in New York. This is reason enough to get his gang back together and give it another shot. They are all very excited and can’t wait to get back going again. The film is very realistic and the script is perfectly adapted with all the action still happening back in the 70s. The actors and directors do an outstanding job in dressing up and acting like they live in the 70s. if the date wasn’t shown on the movie no one would recognize that the movie the movie was made in modern day, it looks just like the 70s that I imagine, of course not knowing what they were like because im not that old but to my knowing it looks very realistic.

Guest Blogger: Nick B1

Stanley Yelnats IV is wrongly accused of stealing Clyde 'Sweet Feet' Livingston's shoe donation to a local orphanage and will either go to jail or Camp Green Lake. Stanley chooses Green Lake, where he is forced to dig big holes in the desert each day. The Warden is really trying to do is find a buried treasure that was cracked murderer Kissin' Kate Barlow's fortune long ago. But when Stanley and his friend Zero escape, things get really bad. The director is Andrew Davis ("The Fugitive") and the cast includes not only talented young stars but also adults such as Jon Voight, Sigourney Weaver, Tim Blake Nelson and Patricia Arquette. The main character Stanley is a very timid person, he always looks scared. The critics liked this movie, they said that its meant for adults and not the youth. I really liked this movie, it was very entertaining, the constant fighting through the camp kids and the warden and all the crime that’s going on behind the scenes adds a mystery feel to the movie. There is a clear moral scheme balanced by complicated characters, dumb humor combined with huge emotion and, most of all, enough plot to satisfy the youth of today. As many pleasures that there is ''Holes'' is equally known for what it lacks: the bad sentiment and makes too many efforts to turn the smarts and curiosity of young people into a source of profit. The director, Andrew Davis (''The Fugitive''), has turned the book's spare, tough story into a predictable or false story.

Guest Blogger: Nate 1

The movie I did was Django Unchained and the plot of the movie was Django was a African American slave that has been split up with his significant other who was also a slave by their owner because he sold them to two different places. Dr.king Schultz a German man comes along and frees the slaves but asks Django if he knows a man he is trying to kill. Dr. king Schultz is a bounty hunter and Django said he knew the man and during their adventure he teaches Django his tricks of killing and Dr. King Schultz said he’d lead Django to his wife if Django agreed to be his partner in bounty hunting. Once they reach the man their trying to kill they’ll act nice with him to try and get into his house and then they’ll try to take Django’s wife and somehow get out safely. Christopher Waltz who played Dr. Schultz was great in this movie. He played sarcastically funny perfect and serious at times during the movie. Christopher was awarded with his talented performance by winning Best performance by an actor in a supporting role at the academy awards. For a Man who hasn’t won an Oscar Leonardo Decaprio played a great role in this movie. Decaprio played one of the rich slave owners whose house they tried to get into because Decaprio owned Django’s wife. Decaprio was good because he would be so kind and happy and a nice guy then if something went wrong he’d blow up and be mad and I think it’d be hard to do both of those so well in a short time span. Just an example of how good Decaprio is was there was a scene in the movie towards the end Candie (decaprio) caught on to Schultz and Djangos plan and smashed his hand against the table and he actually cut himself and he was bleeding his own blood but he kept the character role going and finished the take and that ended up being the take they used for the movie. The New Yorker said this is Tarantino’s best piece and I’d have to agree because his movies aren’t the best but this one was amazing. the New Yorker also pointed out how Tarantino went back to a revenge plot because in the end Django is just going out for blood for what the whites have done to slaves which Django took seriously. I agree with that because Tarantino does revenge movies a lot. I would also say Revenge is the theme of the movie because during the whole movie Django is furious whenever a slave gets abused or treated wrong and Schultz tells Django to calm down and that he’ll have his chance to get them back. Another theme would be don’t give up on love. Django seemed like he lost his significant other for good but somehow and almost impossibly he found her and Django never gave up even if he had to die. Overall opinion for this movie as an A plus ten out of ten for me. I really loved it when I watched it I mean it had a lot of humor, a great cast, a lot of action, and it was a movie that always kept you watching and wanting to know what is about to happen. The movie itself did pretty good in the academy awards too so that says enough but I highly recommend this movie.

Guest Blogger: MIranda 1

I Am Legend is an emotionally and intense combined movie that tells the story of Robert Neville (Will Smith) trying to live in a world that has been taken over by humans that have been infected by a deadly outbreak. The setting starts off with us seeing Manhattan three years after a virus has hit causing all humans except for Robert to change into zombies. Neville is racing down the streets of Manhattan is a red sports car trying to kill a deer for food. Unexpectedly we see a lioness catch the prey before Neville can. The only company Robert has is his dog Marley and they both stay camped out barricaded in their home in Greenwich Village. Robert locks it up every night with heavy steel shutters and locks. They have to do this because after sundown is when all the zombies come out and roam the city looking for anything alive they can get their hands on. Once humans they are now more like hairless, savage creatures with fangs. Robert has a laboratory in his basement where he tries desperately to find a cure for the deadly virus which was one a vaccine used to cure cancer that backfired. Neville sends out a radio broadcast saying he will wait everyday for any other survivors to show up. Eventually someone hears the broadcast and together they continue to fight to find a cure. The two main characters in this film, Will Smith and Alice Braga, both are good choices for their character. Smith is a popular actor who always plays a strong lead and has won many awards. According to Roger Ebert’s website this movie originated from a 1950’s book by Richard Matheson and has been filmed twice before as “The Last Man on Earth” and “The Omega Man”. In the movie there are questions of logic. Does Robert really believe he is the last man alive and if so then who could the vaccine be for? There could be a number of themes to this movie but one that stands out to me is courage and survival. For one man to be alone in a world of infected zombies, people he knew and loved, and to not give up takes a lot of courage. He could give up but instead fights on and fights to find a cure to save the world. The audience should gather all that from the film. Other critics have rated this movie three and a half out of a four star rating and I would at least give it a full four. Overall I would strongly recommend you see this movie of your not scared of zombies because it has a great storyline.

Guest Blogger: Megan 1

8 mile is a movie with Eminem is the main character and he’s struggling to get through life. His friends and he like to go and rap at the shelter. His first time going on stage he looked at himself in the mirror and throws up because of his nerves. His name is Jimmy Smith Jr. in the movie but all his friends call him rabbit. Rabbit lives with his mom in a trailer and with his daughter. He doesn’t like anyone knowing where he lives because he’s embarrassed. Rabbit is determined to get through his life and is working two jobs to take care of his daughter and his mom. Rabbit had a temper with his mom’s boyfriend and with the groups of people at the shelter who think they can rap better than him. Rabbit is one of the best rappers but he’s too scared and is afraid of getting booed off the stage, again. Rabbit jump through many hoops through the movie. He gets jumped multiple times, try’s to work two jobs with no car, and is trying to make it in his wrapping career. Rabbit finds love in the movie with a girl and is having sex with his best friend but loves her anyways. Everyone constantly going down in his life he is slowly but surely losing hope. His mom hates him for getting into a fight with her boyfriends and his daughter is now scared of everyone because she watched the fight. The critics gave the movie 3 starts. I don’t agree with that because this movie can inspire so many people who don’t have much to live for that there is hope. People from the streets can make it no matter where they come from. The theme of this movie is to not be scared to follow your dreams. Rabbit killed it in the last performance and showed all those ‘thugs’ that they don’t run anything.

Guest Blogger: Katie 1

I will be talking about the movie seven pounds. It is about a character named Tim Thomas and when was reading a text message while driving and he kills seven people which include six random people and his fiancée Sarah. Now Tim is off to save the lives of seven good people. He is on the search for people to donate to. He finds this girl named Holly. He donated his liver to her. He asked Holly before she died if she knew anyone that was in need of help. Tim changed his name to Ben. Ben reached out to Connie but she kept denying his help and then later she contacted him. She moved out from her house with her children away from her abusive husband. He keeps reaching out to people trying to find people to help out. He changes his name to his brothers and tries to get things through the IRS. Will Smith is the main character in this movie. He is such a great actor and he plays the role of Ben very well. Also Rosario Dawson did an awesome job of playing Emily in the movie. The traits of all the characters in the movie are motivated. Ben is so motivated to help others because of bad things that happened in his life. Something bad has happened to his fiancée and he decided to try to turn it into something good. I believe a theme in this book is when life brings death, death brings life. This represents when a life is taken away, you don’t just grieve and morn about it. You take that life and what they brought to this world and celebrate and learn from it. The ratings on this movie are very mixed with if people like it or not. It is serious and thrilling so some people don’t like that. I would say it is worth your time if you like those kinds of movies. Otherwise I wouldn’t bother going to see it.

Guest Blogger: Kami 1

The movie I picked is What Maisie Knew directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel. This movie is about a six year old girl, Maisie, who is stuck in a custody battle between her rock star mom and her business man dad. Though out the movie both of the parents remarry and the burden of taking care of little Maisie falls on them. Both parents soon are divorced again and still seem to need the two ex-spouses to do all the hard work with little Maisie. This movie is biased off of the book What Maisie Knew written by Henry James published in 1897. Julianne Moore plays the mother who is not all there all the time. Steve Coogan plays the father how it seems can’t be bother by his child because he has better work to do. 6 year old Onata Aprile plays six year old Maisie in the movie. She does a fantastic job of well…being six! The many them though out the movie is family. Yet one can also say that it may be love. Maisie is very much loved. The love she gets comes in strange forms but she is still very loved. Critics have given this movie on IMDB a 7.4. Personally I feel like this movie deserves a 9. I really found that I loved the story and was in a way on the edge of my seat to see how the story played out and who little Maisie would end up with. I would recommend this movie. Yes, it is a bit sad but you will leave it feeling happy and feeling the love that is show though out the film. If you like a good film all about family and love I would say this is the movie for you.

Guest blogger: Justin 1

The Shawshank Redemption is a very character driven movie. The story is about Andy Dufresne and his wrongful conviction of murder and being sent to prison. In the beginning, Andy is out drinking and his plan actually was to kill his wife and her lover. He was drunk and depressed because she left him. The movie then shoots to the present time in the court room where Andy is stating his testimony. The court finds him guilty of murder and is sentenced to two life sentences back to back. Andy is supposed to serve life in prison but quickly becomes friends with Morgan Freeman’s character, Red. Morgan Freeman did a great job playing the role of Red. Freeman also narrates the movie from time to time. Who better to narrate?! Tim Robbins was great for the role of Andy and really pulled it off. Bob Gunton who played Warden Norton has a fierce look and feel to him. He was really great in this movie. He really pulled off the attitude of an actual prison Warden. So let’s talk about the characters. Let’s start with Andy…. Andy Dufresne is a banker on the outside world. He is a very smart man. Even inside his knowledge comes in handy, he creates a fictional man with all the right credentials and paperwork to pass as an actual citizen while he is just a figment of Andy’s mind and he even helps out the guards with their taxes. Red is the guy who knows how to get things. Every prison has one guy who can get you what you want. Cigarettes, drugs, alcohol, you name it, Red can get it for a price obviously. Warden Norton has a cold, dark feel about him. He believes in two things, discipline and The Bible. He stares as the guards beat a man half to death without even flinching. Simply put, Warden Norton has barely any sympathy for criminals. The theme of this movie is the pain of being locked up and how it can get to you. Some prisoners are just used to jail while others are scared to death of it. Brooks, the librarian, was so used to prison that when he got out he couldn’t handle the real world and ended up committing suicide. He was in jail for 90% of his life. Rotten Tomatoes did an article that stated that “The Shawshank Redemption is an uplifting, deeply satisfying prison drama with sensitive direction and fine performances.” It was given a 9/10. If I could I would give this movie a 100/10. I love this movie. Realistically I give it a 10/10. It’s practically perfect. This movie is definitely worth your time and money. I would recommend it to everyone and if I could, make it mandatory for everyone to see it. It’s that good!

Guest Blogger: Jacob K1

Sherlock Holmes In Sherlock holmes Robert downy jr. plays the role of holms. The movie is about the search for Lord Blackwood and his ‘magic’ doings. In the opening seen of the movie holms finds Blackwood and stops him from murdering a young woman, Blackwood is jailed, tried, and hung. But this is only the beginning, Blackwood supposedly rises from the grave and is murdering once again in attempts to take over England and all of America under his new order by taking over public opinion and officials with fear. Sherlock of course is the protagonist in the movie added by Jude law playing Watson the doctor. Both Jude and Robert play astounding rolls filled with humor, sadness, and ambiguity. Sherlock is an intricate detective for hire, he is brilliant and sees literally every detail in all of his cases and because of which makes him the go to for murder, theft, and other cases of the sort. Watson however is an educated doctor, and a military man. He is clean, pressed and primed for all occasions and assists Sherlock in his cases. Watson also had a gambling problem but is still brilliant but not as precise as Sherlock. The major themes of the movie are detail oriented and this leads me to the conclusion that a good theme is details no matter how small make the biggest differences. This is shown throughout the movie as Sherlock picks up on all of the clues that eventually solve the mystery. Reviews for this movie were stellar from all the articles I have read and I have to agree that the movie is funny, suspenseful, thrilling and gripping for the whole length of the move. Over all for these reasons I have to say this is one of my personal favorites and is a great movie with stellar performances from all of the actors which fit all the rolls perfectly.

Guest Blogger: Haris 1

I Robot starts off with detective Del Spooner (Will Smith) getting into an accident with another car and are driven off a road into a river. He is saved by a robot that he orders to save a little girl that was in the other car. The robot didn’t want to listen to him because he had a higher life expectancy then she did. From that day on he has had a grudge and a dislike for all robots. Then when he was assigned an investigation to find out who murdered a robot scientist all the evidence points to a robot that was a special project that the doctor was working on. The doctor wanted to make robots that have emotion and that is dangers because they can’t comprehend emotion. The robot he did this experiment on is Sonny. Spooner accuses Sonny of the murder but does not realize that Sonny was the one trying to help Spooner find out who had killed his master (the doctor). So who could have been the one that killed the doctor? Was it the head corporate leader of the new developed robots, or the old robots killed him for making new robots and throwing away the old ones, or maybe the doctor committed suicide? Will Smith puts on a good performance and really makes his character come to life and can see that he wants to know who did this to the doctor. He is driven because he does not like robots and wants to make sure that he pays for his crime that he thinks the Sonny committed. The movie wants to let people know that just because you have something that does well and is useful does mean that it is. That people should be careful with what they create and make sure that it will not cause a problem that can’t be contained. Critic A. O. Scott said “I, Robot is one of the smarter dumb movies I've seen in a while” and that exactly how I felt about it too. The movie over exaggerated about robots taking over, but all the action, suspense, and thrill of the movie make it amazing watch.

Guest blogger: Cody F1

Elf is a classic Christmas movie that lots of kids from the 90’s/2000’s love. Buddy the Elf is played by Will Ferrell, who found his true calling with this movie since he’s a comedic genius. The movie starts off with a baby crawling into Santa Claus’ present sack. When he grows up, he realizes he’s a lot different than the other elves. He’s way bigger than everyone else, and finds out that he’s from New York by his adopted elf father. Buddy the Elf sets off to the big city from the North Pole. His real father is a cranky children’s book writer played by James Caan. Buddy’s mission is to get some Christmas spirit into his real father, and be accepted into his family. Buddy is very determined throughout the movie to get Christmas spirit into his father. Since he’s not from the North Pole, Buddy isn’t used to things in the big city. He loves every minute of it. I personally love this movie, especially during the holiday season. It’s one of the funniest movies I’ve seen and will never get old. I believe everyone needs to see this movie, if they haven’t. Elf also is somewhat in a way romantic. He meets a girl at the Christmas shop called “The North Pole” and is instantly in love with her. He starts to take her out, and go ice skating and snow ball fights, and is entertained by spinning doors in big buildings. Buddy is also obsessed with sugar, he loves putting maple syrup on everything. Buddy at the end finally puts Christmas spirit into his father and is now accepted by his family.

Guest Blogger: Chris 1

“Olympus has fallen” was one of the better movies that I have seen this year. The movie is about the North Koreans attacking and taking over the White House and capturing the president played by Aaron Eckhart. Then Gerard Butler, who plays as an ex secret service agent Mike Banning, has to infiltrate the White House and try to save both the president and his son. The big names in this movie are Aaron Eckhart, Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, and Melissa Leo. I believe that all of the actors/actresses that preformed in the movie performed extremely well. Gerard Butler did a great job playing the tough as nails secret service agent. Aaron Eckhart also did a good job portraying the President of the U.S. As for the characters they portrayed Mike Banning was a strong willed and fearless agent. He is driven by his old muscle memory and this causes him to be thrust into the Americans scheme to rescue the president. The president is Benjamin Asher; he is compassionate and is also strong willed. In the movie he called for a visit with the North Koreans in order to find a way to bring peace between them and at the end he is still trying to do the same thing. Bill Zwecker states that the special effects and attention to detail in "Olympus Has Fallen" are superb. He also says that while "Olympus Has Fallen" breaks no major new ground in the political thriller genre, Fuqua has directed a sharp, very taut adventure that keeps you engrossed from start to finish. I completely agree will Bill Zwecker that this was a very good movie, not the best I have ever seen but it was still good. The critics on NY times however didn’t think it was good at all in fact they said that the most recent “Die Hard” movie which the record shows I reviewed a little more than a month ago, although I have no recollection of it was terrible, but it turns out not to have been the worst “Die Hard” movie this year. That honor, for the moment at least (it’s only March!), belongs to “Olympus Has Fallen.” I disagree with them even though the script or the believability of someone actually getting to the president was bad; it is still a good movie. I would recommend this movie to people it is a good movie full of action and suspense.

Guest Blogger: Carter 1

Get Rich or Die Tryin The main character in the movie get rich or die tryin is famous rapper 50 cent (Curtis Jackson). This movie is based on a true story about 50s life growing up. 50 never knew who his father growing up and his drug dealing mother was killed when he was young. 50 also grew up being a drug dealer in the streets of New York City, and is also famous for getting shot 9 times in his early life. In the movie 50 is raised by his grandparents Viola Davis and Sullivan Walker. 50 was a drug dealer because he needed money and wanted to get some nice shoes and eventually ends up getting a car. His mother tried to shield him from the drug dealing business but he saw what happened and caught on to it, and learned who the real players are. Early on in the movie there were a lot of turf wars, and who sells drugs at what corner sometimes was settled by death. A lot of customers were whites form the suburbs. In the movie 50 ends up in prison which was just the beginning of his new life. In prison 50 was approached by and old friend from the hood who said “you need a manager”, this was right before his career started. 50 always to become a rapper but couldn’t find time because drug dealing was his 1st priority. Since he was in prison he had a bunch of free time which then he started writing raps in a daily basis. “After Tupac, everybody wanted to become a gangster rapper” said 50. When 50 is released from prison he went back to the hood to settle business with one of his OG’s (original gangster). After the business was settled 50 started his rap career and has been very successful with it. 50’s rap voice is unique because when he was shot he was hit in the jaw and to this day the bullet casing is still in his jaw because it made his “rap” voice unique.

Guest Blogger: Brody 1

Bambi- The movie is set in the woods and takes place over the span of a year or two. You see Bambi start from a fawn and grow into a young buck. You also meet Bambis mom and many other nature characters. One’s name is Thumper and he is a rabbit that always is making noise with his foot. The skunks name is Flower and it’s ironic because he’s a skunk so most people think a skunk would stink. You also meet birds, opossums and the owl. Later on in the movie you meet The Great Prince of the Forest who happens to be Bambis dad. Bambi starts out as a little scared deer. He is very shy and doesn’t like to meet new people. Bambi is mostly a momma’s boy who never wants to be on his own. Eventually Bambis mom gets shot and Bambi is forced to live on his own until his father takes him up. Bambi shows the audience how he overcomes the fears and carries on with life. Bambi meets a girl at a young a when he is a fawn (Farline) and reunites with her when he grows up. He falls in love with her and then finds out she has a boyfriend. Bambi and the other buck (Rambo) fight in the movie over Farline and the scene is around 3 minutes. Bambi eventually kills Rambo and Farline falls for Bambi. Later in the movie Bambi and his father must face hunters and their dogs. The hunters start the woods on fire in pursuit of the two bucks. Bambi gets hit with a bullet and is wounded has a hard time running but they escape the hunters. Farline helps Bambi to recover and take care of him. I agree with the critics when they say Bambi helps teach young kids to know they will need to live on their own. I believe Bambi is a great character driven movie and you get to see a great evolution of a character.

Guest Blogger: Bria 1

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is a good example of a character driven movie. After winning the 74th hunger games, Katniss and Peeta are re-selected into the 75th as victors to compete against other victors to be the only one survivor. In the movie they inspired rebellion in Capitol so the Capitol leader wants to bring them down. The actress named Jennifer Lawrence played Katniss. And she played her VERY well. Her performance was very persuading, and believable. She acted so well that I cried at some parts! An actor named Josh Hutcherson played Peeta, and he was just spectacular. His performance and looks of course... It was almost as he was actually the same person. Again, very believable and persuading acting. He was wonderful, he nailed the part, and he also knew what he was doing and it showed very much. Katniss in the film is a very stubborn girl, not wanting to listen to people. But she is stubborn for a good reason. She also is very brave, considering she volunteered for her sister, as tribute for The Hunger Games. She is also very strong, both physically and mentally. She doesn’t let bad things get into her mind and screw her up. She keeps herself sane. She is a hard worker; she is caring for other people, and also very determined. She was determined to win and she did! She is also very smart!! The basic theme of The Hunger Games is really inequality between the rich and poor. You have the Capitol which is rich and stuffs food in their faces, and has power of the districts, which is the poor. They struggle for food while the rich drink a certain liquid to throw up to they can just keep eating and never get full. I will agree with the critics who say that the movies are very close to the books. Because they are! Critics also say, how the movie is different than most, especially for being based in the future. You would have never guessed it was in the future based on some of the clothing… In my opinion, The Hunger Games series of movies and books are totally worth people’s time and money if you are interested in suspenseful, thrilling, make you cry, and violent movies.

Guest Blogger: Amanda 1

Dan in Real Life is a dramatic comedy simply about real life. After losing his wife, Dan struggles to raise his three daughters alone. At their family’s lake house for a reunion Dan experiences many challenges trying to get along with his family even though he can’t seem to do anything right. And on top of all the other craziness he goes through, he connects with a woman for the first time since the passing on his wife, even though this woman turns out to be his brother’s girlfriend also staying with them. Steve Carell stars as Dan. His quirky and sort of confused stature made his role as Dan perfect. He fits the lost and slightly dorky aspect of Dan’s character. Dane Cook, who plays Mitch, Dan’s younger brother, also was a perfect match for his character. His laid back attitude is reflected in Dane’s look. Juliette Binoche, or Marie, was also a perfect fit for the character. Her independent, smart and intelligent personality is strongly portrayed in Juliette’s acting. The main theme of this film is all about family, family is the most important thing, they will always be there. Dan struggles to connect and feels distanced by his family but at the end of the day they just want him to be happy and will do anything to help him. I agree with most critics, it is a fun story but it does have a serious undertone that makes it more of a drama than a comedy, but, what makes it great is how it is about real life and everyone can relate to it in some way. I recommend Dan in Real Life because it is a well told story that is relatable, funny, and lighthearted. It is definitely worth the hour and a half of your time.