review Archives - University Chronicle

A Journalist’s Take on A Journalist’s Take

Published on April 26, 2017 in Lifestyle/Movies/Reviews by Alexis Pearson

Curiosity is the catalyst to discovery. A journalist’s job is to follow where their curious minds take them, fueled by a passionate desire to come upon the truth. It is in these truths that we establish our beliefs and morals. As a journalist, there is no greater reward than pursuing a story and turning a hunch into a reality. But sometimes the truth isn’t the result of initial expectations. Sometimes it forces us to come face to face with one of the biggest decisions a person can ever be asked to make: follow the facts or believe in the fiction. Based on a true story, the 2017 American Christian drama, “The Case for Christ” follows the life of journalist Lee Strobel (played by Mike Vogel) in his pursuit to uncover the truth behind Jesus Christ. After Lee and his wife Leslie (played by Erika Christensen) witness a stranger save their daughter…

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All action in “Fate of the Furious”

Published on April 23, 2017 in Lifestyle/Movies/Reviews by Bailey Cossairt

From the series inception in 2001, the ‘Fast and the Furious’ has become Universal’s greatest franchise. It delivered financially once again as the 8th film in the series generating the largest opening weekend earnings of all time with $532.5 million globally in the box office. “The Fate of the Furious” departs the story away from the Brian O’Conner (previously played by the late Paul Walker) while staying true to the action that made the series famous. Opening with Dom (Vin Diesel) and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) honeymoon in Cuba, the movie quickly jumps into scenes of fast driving and aggressive action. Dom quickly defeats Raldo, a man seeking to repossess his cousin’s car, and chooses to give his current car to his cousin. This seeks to emphasize Dom’s commitment to “family” which is a topic repeatedly touched on in the previous films. Dom faces a huge obstacle when approached by Cipher…

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Belko Experiment: Not for the faint of heart – or anyone

Published on April 14, 2017 in Lifestyle/Movies/Reviews by Robert J. Erickson

After seeing the trailer for, “The Belko Experiment” I was definitely expecting some dark and/or gory moments. The movie portrays a government office in the middle of nowhere, where the workers get too-good-to-be-true benefits, and they all have a “tracking device” in their head. However, nothing could have prepared me for the gore I witnessed. The film’s plot takes shape through a voice over the loudspeaker in their 80- person office building, telling the workers that if 30 of them aren’t dead within the next hour, 60 of them will be dead. The workers all laugh as if it’s a complete joke, until large, metal doors that are unbreakable come down over every window and door in the building, trapping the workers inside. At first, everyone besides a few believe that this has to be an elaborate hack or prank. That is – until the killing starts. The first death…

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Ghost in the Shell: factory recall recommended

Published on April 2, 2017 in Lifestyle/Movies/Reviews by Cody Poirier

For a good number of people, the 1996 film “Ghost in the Shell” (GitS) is classic dystopic cyberpunk. A movie about investigating terror plots and internal political chess games in an age where you can ‘physically’ move on the internet; it can easily be said that it is a movie for those people who like their movies to have an intellectual meat to their fantasy. For fans of the series, there is only one real debate in the community that resurfaces: ‘Which is better, subtitles or the English voice dub. The reboot/remake/homage clip show that is “Ghost in the Shell” (2017) decided to attempt to bring both camps of the debate together. What results from this combination is just one example of a growing hypothesis that the movie development team had little to no idea what they were doing outside visuals. I am certain that, outside the actors’ costs, the…

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Evolver: You will believe a man can fry

Published on March 23, 2017 in Lifestyle/Movies/Reviews by Cody Poirier

If you ever wanted to watch a film that embodies the essence of the late 80’s and early 90’s do I have a bad movie for you. It was a simpler time when virtual reality didn’t cost a new computer and $700, and people got away with wearing clothes from the abstract art collection. The movie of focus for this session of “Attack of the Bad Movie Stack” is “Evolver” a movie about love, high stakes laser tag, and brutal robot murder. “Evolver” starts with our protagonist, Kyle Baxter, playing the virtual arcade game “Evolver” and has drawn a crowd that surrounds him, not unlike people who excel at DDR back when arcades were still popular. Kyle has made it to the final stage and his friend is taking bets on whether he’ll survive. The lone vote against him is the school bully Dwight, who wins the pot with Kyle losing to…

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Get Out: Expect the unexpected

Published on March 5, 2017 in Lifestyle/Movies/Reviews by Robert J. Erickson

When I saw the trailer for Get Out, I was immediately intrigued, but ultimately, I came to the conclusion that it would likely be another cheap, typical horror flick. Two things changed my mind on this film: that its director is Jordan Peele of Key and Peele fame, and that it currently has an 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes by critics. Peele had never directed a movie before, but I’m a big fan of their show, so it made me excited to see what he could do in a movie. It’s also very rare to see a movie with so many unanimously good reviews, so I thought I’d go check it out. The premise of this movie shows a young black man, Chris (played by Daniel Kaluuya), and his white girlfriend, Rose (played by Allison Williams) and their trip back to Rose’s house for the weekend. Chris had been worried…

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John Wick Chapter 2: Bliss and bullets

Published on February 23, 2017 in Lifestyle/Movies/Reviews by Cody Poirier

I periodically mention in these reviews of how tired I am of modern filmmaking and the products they output. A good majority of the films that will release this year are sequels or are a part of an established franchise, and it’s honestly becoming tiresome to just keep seeing series just going on seemingly perpetually. That being said, if future entries into the John Wick series are just as enjoyable as the first and this second film I will be discussing, then I will be willing to start an exceptions list. For those who are unfamiliar with the plot of John Wick, let me give you the backstory of John Wick’s character before the first film’s events. John Wick was an extremely successful assassin who managed to do something unheard of in his occupation: retire. John married a woman named Helen and lived happily with her until death from an…

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Big Sean’s I Decided: A new Sean Don

Published on February 22, 2017 in Lifestyle/Reviews by Robert J. Erickson

Big Sean is a rapper who has hit it big in the rap game with hits like, “Dance (A$$)”, “Clique”, “Blessings”, “I Don’t F*** With You” and many others. After the release of his last studio album, Dark Sky Paradise, which charted at number one on the U.S. charts, hopes were high for Sean’s new album. After much anticipation, the G.O.O.D. music rapper released his fourth album, I Decided, on February 3, 2017. As usual, he did not disappoint. Upon first listen through, the first songs that really jumped out at me were, “Bounce Back”, “No Favors” and “Sacrifices”. Each of these songs, like many others on the album, have very fluid, hard hitting beats. Sean, who is often accused of writing cheesy rap lyrics, brought great lyricism to these tracks. A line from the chorus of, “Bounce Back” that immediately jumped out at me was one that had very…

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