By Stephanie Waldrop

John Travolta is back in action in the new movie, “From Paris with Love.”  John plays a shaved head, cocaine sniffing Secret Agent Charlie Wax who has been sent to Paris to stop a terrorist attack… Along for the ride is James Reese, played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Reese is a low key spy who was always hoping for a high key job and he gets just that when he’s paired up with Charlie, which begins them into a terrorist conspiracy. Director  Pierre Morel (who also directed Taken) seems like he’s just focusing on Cinematography and violence.

It’s nice to be watching a movie and seeing the beautiful sites of Paris, but you need more to a film. The camera-work used during the fight scenes is just horrific. It really hurts to see a movie with such action have poor shots. It really creates a bad movie. What didn’t lapse was the action. But too much action can be possible. This movie is just over-the-top. Don’t get me wrong, I love a fast-pace movie as the next person, but at the end of this one, I had a headache! Not to forget that half the town gets killed before the movie is half over.

Overall, if you’re a fan of Travolta I say wait till it goes onto DVD. This might be the last thrill ride movie he’ll do. If not, go see Avatar for the 5^th time. I’ll say one thing: If Travolta wasn’t in this movie; it wouldn’t be worth even mentioning. His co-star lacks mostly everything.  From Paris with Love is just another movie that could of been, but wasn’t.

by Vanessa Paredes
It’s here. The highly anticipated, overly hyped, oh so talked about film: New Moon. The second installment of the Twilight Saga hit the big screen this November and you can bet your life savings that the lines were outrageous and theaters were sold out all over the nation. Fully equipped with a new director (Chris Weitz), New Moon definitely out staged the production of Twilight, but not by a long shot. If one thing is for certain though, it’s that Edward Cullen is about to blend into the shadows and a new obsession will arise; his name is Jacob Black.

In New Moon, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) couldn’t be more awkward with each other, and there is a reason behind it. Edward plans to leave forks and Bella behind. He does so early into the film, and the “break up” shakes up the story line, bringing forward Jacob black (Taylor Lautner) to our attention. Once Bella really starts warming up to her new “friend” another fantastical secret is unraveled. Vampires are not the only non-humans roaming around Forks; Jacob and his “clan” take the form of wolves in order to “protect” the town from vampires, or at least the evil kind. Naturally, Jacob falls in love with Bella while Edward is absent, and this creates a chaotic love triangle that will be a major theme in the movies to come. Just when it seems like Bella is finally warming up to the idea of liking Jacob back, Edward is forcefully engrained back on to her feeble mind when he makes a phone call to the Swan residence for the first time after his disappearance.

Bella gets on a plane to Italy faster than you can say vampires are not real, in attempts to save her soul mate from killing himself. Edward had been mal-informed that Bella had passed away, and finds only one solution: plead the Volturi (Organized coven of vampires) to take his life, which is no easy task, being a vampire and all. The Volturi consisted of the best actors in the film, including big shots such as Dakota fanning playing Jane, and Michael Sheen as Aro. How the movie ends can be yours to figure out.

New Moon shouldn’t break a sweat impressing the teenage female population. Weitz incorporates all the right elements, and some of the scenes are beautifully done. Although the movie does lack decent actors, because let’s face it, Robert Pattinson can’t act to save his life, the movie-goers will still sink their teeth into this vampire fantasy flick. In addition the film was successful in staying true to the book, which will hopefully keep the Twi-hard’s complaints to a minimum. So get those movie tickets and enjoy the era’s newest craze.

by Angela Robledo

A film about a husband’s journey as he copes with life after the love of his life dies, The Boys Are Back is a story that depicts the harsh realities that come along with drastic change. Joe Warr has a seemingly perfect life until the unthinkable happens: his wife is plagued with cancer. He is forced to take on the role of sole parental figure with his youngest son, Artie. Adopting the phrase “Just Say Yes,” Joe attempts to raise his son in a fun, loving, and lenient environment. Just as he grasps the vast transition, his son from a previous marriage moves to live with him from England. The boys bond and the three of them come together as a family. Even with a few hiccups along the way, Joe manages to keep his family afloat.

Heartfelt scenes and quick, raw lines, The Boys Are Back was without a doubt the most powerful movie I’ve seen all year. My eyes watered throughout the movie; sometimes it was out of sadness, but most of the time it was in complete appreciation of the beauty of the scenes and how they accurately illustrated real life dilemmas. I can usually describe movies down to the very last shot, but this time the words don’t come so easy. The only thing I can assuredly say is that this movie was wonderful. It was the most emotional and stunning I have seen in a very long time. It tugs at the heartstrings, and there was not a dry eye in the theatre.

(4 stars out of 4)

Going in to the film I had a mind free of all preconceived notions and was pleasantly surprised. While Post Grad was undeniably predictable, many scenes made up for the overall uninteresting plotline. Ryden Malby (Alexis Bledel) is forced back home to live with her eccentric family after her life basically crumbles. From early on she had her goals planned out, and upon graduating college she thought she was going to land a job at the hottest publication company in California. However when she realizes her life may not meet the pivotal reqirements as she hoped, Ryden is forced to come to terms with the fact that real happiness is “not just where you are in life, it’s who you’re with”.

While the script fits everything a typical romantic comedy is, what surprised me were the comedic performances by the supporting cast. Carol Burnett plays the crazy grandma everyone secretly wishes they had, and provides laugh after laugh between the static storyline gaps. Michael Keaton uncharacteristically brings a hilarity to every one of his scenes, including those intended to be more sentimental. Overall the witty one-liners and jaw-dropping comedic bits provide redemption for the same old sappy love lost, love found romantic movie.

The cast’s chemistry pulls together a story we’ve all seen before but adds the one thing that can make or break a movie of it’s kind: believablility. We all know what it’s like to have a family that has an innate ability to embrass us, and it’s nice to be able to laugh at someone else’s compications no matter how different they may be than our own. Beneath the chuckles and kisses, Post Grad educates the audience in a life where love and family take precedence over materialistic successes. I give the film 2 ½ stars (out of 4).

Angela Robledo-Cooper City High School
The Rock Star Stories