A&E

Suburra: A Thrilling Crime Drama and Netflix’s Upcoming First Italian TV Series

November 13, 2015 by lpahomov 1 Comment

Sean Morris

Staff Writer

“The politics of House of Cards with the mob building of Boardwalk Empire” is the description by our own Mr. Herman that solidified my interest in the Italian film Suburra.

The film takes place in the city of Rome and its surrounding cities, and is about an interlocking tale of crime in which several mobsters want to turn the waterfront of Rome into the las vegas of Europe. However, peace does not last long after a favor from a corrupt politician goes awry. Explaining too much more would spoil the film, but it is an interesting plot that manages to get you sucked into the web of intrigue.

Reviewing the film wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the pitch- perfect cinematography and visuals. From the lighting, the very pink neon outside of one restaurant particularly strikes me, to the useage of rain and storms; which that combines with their impending theme of an apocalypse. In addition with their costuming and character designs- the film became a visual treat that, with an interesting plot make it very difficult to take your eyes off the screen, much less have a want to take them off. Theres one mustached character, Sebastiano,who has a nicely dapper sense of style, which this reviewer personally always appreciates, as well as the several handsome men in the film, and other characters like the criminal “Number 8” and his girlfriend, a Gypsy mobster and politician Filippo Malgradi all have interesting styles and tastes that reflect their character.

The actors all do a good job across the board, I might have liked to see a bit more power exerted from the well known and feared gangster known as “Samurai”, but this is a small complaint. I liked the soundtrack, which was mostly done with songs from the band m83, by itself although I question some of the placement within the movie. For some, it might be viewed as too “artsy,” especially in combination with some of its more stylized cinematography. However, I didn’t mind this and appreciated a different take on a crime story. Sometimes the stereotype holds that the more “gritty and edgy” crime dramas can wear on you down or the more “artsy aesthetic” films can be boring- this film manages to be both gritty and artsy but with none of the curses that come with it.

The movie is currently streaming on Netflix in the United States, and will be made into Netflix’s first Italian language tv series. Whether the series will become a is meant to be a retelling, an entirely different set of characters, or a (most likely) continuation of the film’s ending (which, from what is gathered is most likely) is not entirely clear, but either scenario leaves me interested in how it continue. And I can add on that it has the cinematography of “Drive” to it as well.
Overall, I would highly recommend this film to anyone who would be interested in this story. Since the story will continue, it will be a fascinating world and pleasant viewing experience to return to.

Get It Off Of Your Chest

November 12, 2015 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Staff Writer

Vilma Martinez

App Review: Vent

Do you ever feel like you just have something to say, but no one to say it to?

Recently as I was scrolling through the app store to look for something interesting to download, I saw an app that caught my eye: Vent.

When I read the name, the first thought that came into my mind was that this was going to be an app where teenagers could go to get things off of their chest. I was correct about that. After downloading the app and signing up, right away you can tell that this was an app meant for people who did not have somebody to talk to.

Right after signing up you are taken to a page where all of your feed is. “Your Feed” includes vents from people you decided to listen to and vents of your own. If you slide to the left there will be a tab named “Latest Vents” which is made up of the most recent vents from anyone on the app. Right next to the feed icon there will be a search icon which is where you get to search up users on the app. Underneath that search bar there are two tabs. One of which is a “Most Discussed” tab. This tab contains vents which people have interacted with the most and the next tab is the “On The Rise” tab which has vents that are being interacted with frequently, but not enough that they are in the “Most Discussed” tab. Now the icon next to the search icon is your notifications center. This is where you find out who has been interacting with your vents and who has decided to listen to you. Listeners are like followers, but the difference between the two is that listeners are there to hear what you have to say rather than liking anything you have posted the way Twitter or Instagram is used. The final icon is your profile. You can of course make your profile completely anonymous or make it your same profile as one you would have on Twitter or any other app where everyone you know, knows you.

Now one you have to keep in mind is that although this app is meant to be anonymous and private, it really isn’t. Yea you could try to to hide who really are as much as possible, but the makers of Vent have the ability to take your email address and do what they have to do in order to keep their community safe, which includes exposing someone who is saying what they should not be saying. Now I am not trying to scare you, of course they will not share your private info to anyone, but if you are taking things to extreme measures they will in order to protect everyone. Another thing about Vent is that when you are using the app you are making things public to everyone on the app. Of course you can make your account private, but when you interact with other people’s vents they are out there for everyone to see. Despite all of this, the app is still a good way to express yourself.

This app is a good and helpful way of letting teens know that they are not alone and that there are many people out there that are willing to listen to them without judging them. I know, I know what you are thinking. “Why would I want to sign up for that?” Well let me tell you that many people do not have someone to comfort them when they are battling depression, or are suffering because of all the stress school puts them through along with many other issues.

Now, I am not saying that you need to sign up for this app, but let’s just say that there are moments in your life where you just wanna put your feelings out there, but you don’t wanna tell someone you know because they might think you are weird. This app is not just meant to put your bad feelings out there, but your good ones as well.

When writing a vent you have 7 feelings to choose from (Fear, Surprise, Sadness, Anger, Affection, Happiness, Feelings). Within these 7 feelings there are more specific feelings ( Fear – Anxious, Insecure, etc. Surprise – Shocked, Confused, etc. Sadness – Heartbroken, Lonely, etc. Anger – Frustrated, Jealous, etc. Affection – Loving, Supportive, etc. Happiness – Proud, Calm, etc. Feelings – Hungry, Lazy, etc) and once you have chosen a feeling, you write your vent. It is a simple app and many people actually enjoy using it.

Now as someone who has dealt with things I decided to take a moment and vent. Right after a few seconds of posting people were supporting and kind to what I had to say. The teens that use this app are sincere and know that everyone has issues that they deal with and try their best relieve the pressure that is being put on them.

Now I am not saying that you should go out of your way to download the app, but if you do, go right ahead. Trust and believe when I say that you are going to enjoy this app, you will. The community is sweet and supportive, and they will listen to you no matter what.

It Will Be Alright Cry Baby, So Please Don’t Cry Again

November 5, 2015 by lpahomov 1 Comment

Vilma Martinez

Staff Writer

I know you had a rough time Cry Baby, but please don’t cry your eyes out.

“Someone’s turning the handle to that faucet in your eyes they’re pouring out where everyone can see” – Cry Baby, Melanie Martinez

back_cover

Credit to Melanie Martinez

This album has been out since September and I never really got into it. It seemed like just another album that mixed pop with punk. But then, after listening to the album countless times I realized that the album is not your average Pop Punk, but a new take on Alternative music. I also realize that every song tells a different story– both from Cry Baby’s perspective and about her. Not everyone’s life is a picture perfect world, and those whose world seems like that on the outside is hiding something on the inside.

So what’s so special about this album?Let’s take a deeper look into some of the songs.

Cry Baby & Dollhouse

Cry Baby is the introduction to the entire album and the character Cry Baby. A girl who wears her heart on her sleeve. She has had a lot of losses in her life and has carried them for as long as she can remember. She takes everything to heart and this is what makes her emotional and her crying is all you see. Which is why they call her Cry Baby. Dollhouse introduces Cry Baby’s family and all of the problems that family has. This song along with a lot of the others that follow, hint at the story that the next song will tell. Dollhouse tells the story on how their family pretends they are perfect in front of others, but when they are home, behind all closed doors and curtains everything is not so perfect. Parents fight and lie to one another, their son smokes, and Cry Baby tries her best to remain uninvolved.

Sippy Cup

Sippy Cup revolves around Cry Baby’s mother. Her mother is a drunk whose husband has a mistress and when she catches them together, she ties them up and kills them due to all of the alcohol in her system that riles up her anger. She tries to hide their bodies, but when Cry Baby wakes up and happens to walk to the kitchen she finds the dead bodies, but just to her luck, her mother knocks her out and takes her to her room where she awakens and her mom filled her sippy cup with a syrup that made her forget what she saw. So when Cry Baby woke up for the second time she did not remember what she saw in the kitchen.

Carousel & Alphabet Boy

Carousel tells the story of Cry Baby going around and around, trying her best to catch up to a boy she loves. As she plays catch up, he plays around with her heart. Stuck on a ride that goes in circles, she can’t seem to move forward and is glued in one place as he appears and disappears, moving on with himself, but she can no longer move as she goes through the same thing like a broken record, or more like a carousel. Which leads to the next song Alphabet boy, who involves another boy, a boy who thinks he is better and smarter than Cry Baby, but she proves him wrong with that one clever song.

Soap

Soap tells the story of Cry Baby letting her crush know that she has feelings for him, but she always lets her feelings consume her and she ends up saying too much. Her crush takes in everything she tells him and does not know what to do, but will do something once he sees something bad happen. Soon she starts to regret everything she says and has to “wash her mouth out with soap”.

Training Wheels & Pity Party

In Training Wheels Cry Baby finally finds someone she can love and can go farther into a relationship with. She falls in love with him and every single little thing he does. She is not ready for certain things that are to come, but she is willing to risk it for him. Of course she is not asking for marriage, but all she wants is a strong relationship, but all she needs to do is confess to him and that is when Pity Party comes into play. When she invites him along with a bunch of other kids to her party, not one person shows up and she thinks everyone is playing a cruel joke on her so she throws herself a pity party.

Tag, You’re It & Milk and Cookies

In Tag, You’re It Cry Baby gets stalked by a stranger known as The Wolf and soon follows her until he captures her and takes her to his home and keeps her hostage for his own pleasures. Everything changes in Milk and Cookies when she goes crazy from being held hostage and is sick and tired of being held that way, so when The Wolf leaves the door unlocked, she sneaks out and makes cookies and gets a glass of milk for The Wolf. When The Wolf ate the cookies and drank the milk he did not realize that they were poisoned and he died. With his death, Cry Baby was able to escape.

Pacify Her

At this point Cry Baby does not care anymore, so she when she crushes on someone and realizes that he has a girlfriend, she just takes him away from her. Though the girl starts to get annoying and Cry Baby tells the boy to shut her up. Cry Baby knows that he does not love that other girl and that she was able to take him away from her because he wanted Cry Baby anyways.

Mrs.Potato Head & Mad Hatter

Cry Baby saw something appear on tv about a woman who has gotten plastic surgery and look amazing, but it is all fake. She thinks about it and wonders if plastic surgery is the only way for someone to actually love her and will that person stay with her is all that plastic in her starts to fall apart and she is no longer beautiful. Mad Hatter shows how crazy Cry Baby has gotten. She sees a Psychiatrist and think it is ok to be as mad as she is. Her imagination has gone wild and can not seem to control all of the crazy thoughts that run through her head.

Play Date, Teddy Bear, & Cake

These 3 songs are bonus songs in the deluxe version and are not included in the storybook that comes with the deluxe version, but I thought it would be fun to show you what they mean. In Play Date she is always chasing after a boy, and although he invited her over in the first place he never communicates with her. making her the one to put the effort in that relationship. Soon they do get together, but in Teddy Bear she loved to be with him cuddling with him and just being with him. Cry Baby starts to notice that when he talks in his sleep he says the bad things he does to her. She was not scared at first, but then she found odd things around their room and she started to fear him, so she ended up dumping him, but that did not stop him because he started to try and get her back to do her harm, but she manages to avoid it and meets someone else. In Cake the guy she met stopped loving her and treated her as if she were a piece of cake. He thought she was something that he could throw out. So she let him go and let him know that he should regret treating her the same way because she is not just a piece of cake, but the entire bakery.

The album goes as far to tell moments in Cry Baby’s life by using songs that seem innocent, but if you really listen to them, you will see the dark and evil things that the lyrics are trying to say. I do highly recommend this album, because once you will listen to it your heart just might warm up to Cry Baby, she truly has been through alot in her lifetime.

Demons And Diversity And Fairy Tales, Oh My!

October 29, 2015 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

POC representation and diversity of casts on Television is hard to come by, and even harder to do well. While it is becoming more and more common to see diverse casts, often times the diversity is the main selling point of the show. They tell us to focus on the token black female character, or the clueless asian comic relief. As a result, the attempt falls short.

Not with Fox’s Sleepy Hollow, because there are no token characters in this show. Three of the main characters are women, two of whom are African American. The show’s cast includes POCs like Nicole Beharie, Orlando Jones, Lyndie Greenwood, and John Cho, alongside three of the main characters: Tom Mison, John Noble, and Katia Winters. And all of that is solely based on Season 1.

The plot of Sleepy Hollow revolves around Ichabod Crane, a soldier from the Revolutionary War who was pulled two and a half centuries into the future, and Abbie Mills, a black lieutenant in the Sleepy Hollow Sheriff’s department. The two of them are bound together in a fight against evil neither of them signed up for. It sounds a little corny, and it is. But it’s also funny and sarcastic and incredibly poignant from time to time, and bringing the story into the present day is what allows the cast to be so authentically diverse. Abbie and Ichabod’s character chemistry is electric, but other relationships aren’t ignored. Platonic and familial relationships are just as important as any kind of romantic one. In fact, romance is hardly a factor at all in the series. It’s there, but it’s never oppressive.

Of course, the show is not without its faults. Ichabod can be incredibly aggravating and he somehow knows about or has already met every monster or threat they face. The writing can be cliche at times, and several of the shifts in the storyline are awkward and forced at best. But the characters are compelling and three-dimensional. Every character has their flaws and faults and the contribute well to the story. All of the personalities are incredibly strong, and everyone’s sense of humor is different, but they flow well together. The villains are developed and coming from places you’d never expect, most of the time, anyway. The demons and challenges they face are terrifying and always keep you on your toes. When watching: be prepared to be scared.

Sleepy Hollow is written and created by the people who did the new Star Trek movies, Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who have both worked on several movies and shows that work to incorporate women as strong, well-developed characters. These include: Both Star Treks, The Amazing Spider 2, Scorpion, The Proposal, and Alias. This is one of the first projects that the two of them have worked on that really incorporates POCs in a big way. And they do it well. That could be because of the other two creators, Phillip Iscove and Len Wiseman, whose lists of projects are much shorter than Orci’s and Kurtzman’s; thus leaving them far more open to new ideas. Race and gender are never issues. Of course, Ichabod is confused by things like the fact that his being questioned by a black, female lieutenant in pants, but they touch upon it and move on. There are more important things that the characters need to be worried about, like that fact apparently it is their job to stop the Acropolis from destroying the Earth.

This new take on Washington Irving’s classic American fairy tale is strange, and often scary, but it’s funny and poignant and like nothing else I’ve seen. Lines like, “ I’ve lived on borrowed time; more than any man deserves. I’ve seen wonders beyond my wildest imaginings. And through these centuries, against the impossibility that we would find each other, we did. And I am most grateful for it,” can end up in the same episode as this: “You know, there are two things in life I believe a person should hold on to for as long as possible: virginity and skepticism. Surprisingly, I already lost the first thing so I’m going to hold on for the second one as long as possible.”
If you need a good show that will scare you, surprise you, and make you laugh, all in the same episode, this is just what the doctor ordered.

Da Vinci’s Demons: AKA Let’s Go Crazy With History

October 23, 2015 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

By Sean Morris

Staff Writer

Shows about the lives of famous and infamous characters in history can often be well and entertaining — think of “The Borgias and Narcos ” — but can just as often be dulled or limited by how they tell it- think “Reign” I am happy to report that this is not the case with Da Vinci’s Demons. The show manages tell actual historical events while also creating original content and incorporates several fantasy elements that give the series a unique and vastly interesting edge.

The series follows a young Leonardo Da Vinci as the genius vastly ahead of his time when he is entangled in the political mechanisms of Renaissance Italy with the Medici and Pazzi clans, and especially the Church of Rome lead by the sinister Pope Sixtus IV. Leonardo also discovers a cult known as the “Sons of Mithras” who send him on the path to find an object known as “The book of Leaves”: a mystical object said to contain a wealth of hidden knowledge.

While this could come off as cheesy, it does for the better part able to keep it genuinely interesting and fascinating- especially how they are able to mix in the actual historical events during this exciting time. For example how they include the assassination attempt on the Medici family, the mad King Ferdinand of Naples’ museum of mummies, the Ottoman Invasion of Otranto, and is able to make detours off the historical map like when Leonardo and company take an expedition to South America (actually) to Machu Picchu and more: but I won’t be revealing much more as it would spoil some interesting surprises.

Aside from Leonardo, there are a wealth of interesting historical figures from patron of the arts Lorenzo de medici, the right hand of the pope and essentially the Darth Vader (black cloak and all) for the Catholic church: the hoarse count Riario, the man who became the namesake of America: Amerigo Vespucci to Vlad the Impaler aka Dracula himself, who steals the show in one of the series’s best episodes –and looks set to return for its final season.

As fun and cool I find the show, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t mention my gripes with the show as well. One of which is the character of Niccolo Machiavelli, who in his late teens seems to have been made to be one of the least interesting characters of the show when he was one of the most interesting men of not only his time but all time. Unfortunately, He is a thoroughly un-Machiavellian Machiavelli, while some could chalk that up to his youth, it still would have been satisfying to see seeds of his nature and the origins of that. I felt that Eros Vlahos was a miscast in the role, and should have been taken by someone who could tap into the darker and more ruthless side that someone can take, rather than both looking, acting and being used as a sort of damsel of distress, which was as far from what the historical character could be.

Additionally- and this is one of my biggest critics of the show is on the subject of Leonardo Da Vinci’s sexuality. In the show his main love interest is a woman, and suppose to be attracted to women, while in history it’s quite clear that he was gay. While they do mention and show that he is attracted to men as well (such as having him arrested on charges on sodomey like in history) it’s played VERY second base to his relationships to women. For example in the show his main love interest (although the show does not center on this) is Lucrezia donati and they have sex like three times, later marries the Incan priestess has sex with her, but hey he gets one guy kiss on screen. This bothers me a lot since there isn’t any hour dramas–at least that I can think of–that are lead by a gay man; and this becomes a thoroughly missed opportunity that should have been clear as day for them to do.

Despite my critiques, I do, on the whole, enjoy the show. It’s cast is the rare combination of being both eye candy and good at their jobs- especially the energy from Leonardo and the menacing whispers from count Riario. The costumes are wonderfully designed, the sets are craftily made, the score is beautiful and its opening credits sequence is one of the best I’ve ever seen. They do an excellent job at bending the reality of history sometimes straight up breaking it but ultimately incorporate multiple elements from history and work with them to create one of the best and most interesting not only historical shows, but of all shows that I’ve seen in a long time.

The final and 3rd season premiere is this Saturday the 24th on Starz, but feel free to catch up by viewing the first two seasons on demand or through Starz online episodes.