Adam Beam Asst. Opinion Editor

Articles

More articles

Bombs and Barbies: 2023 summer movies

2022 proved to not only be a great year for movies critically, but financially too, and it cemented that going to the movies is back in style. Studios are clearly capitalizing on this as the 2023 Summer Movie season is stacked to the brim with some massive blockbusters and highly-anticipated tentpole films.

Does Hollywood really have an originality problem?

So this week was an unusually big week for entertainment news. We had trailers for several new big releases like “Barbie,” “Blue Beetle” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider Verse.” On the flip side of things we also got news that we would be getting remakes of all seven “Harry Potter” books as an HBO Max series and a live-action remake of “Moana” with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson reprising the role of Maui. 

Stop trying to avoid the news: Journalism matters

It seems like every time you turn on the news, all you see is the world on fire. Politicians would rather fight amongst themselves than propose any kind of solutions to issues like gun violence, climate change, economic disparities, racism, etc. However, as a journalism major, I have noticed a very shocking trend among people. 

Students in Washington, DC  protest against gun violence in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida in 2018.

This country cares more about guns than us

As a journalist, they teach you to be impartial. They teach you to not show biases and to report the news without showing a political stance. But with the recent events in Tennessee, I have to ask: When did children being murdered become a political issue? When did people being murdered in mass numbers on a near weekly basis become a political issue?

Celebrity Egos: Sacrificing art for image

 We often have those celebrities who everyone treats as the Hollywood darlings. The celebrities with no haters or the ones who always seem to appear over and over again as the safe bet for drawing in audiences. One of the mainstay celebrities for nearly a decade now has been Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. However, I feel the cracks in the nice guy facade are starting to show.

Where is the respect for animation?

In honor of the 95th Academy Awards, I decided to check out some of the nominees that I had missed from the year prior. One I was excited to check out was “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.” The film garnered an insane amount of critical praise, currently sitting at a 95% critic score and 94% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. While it didn’t win Best Animated Feature, it still was one of my favorite films of last year.

Double standards: The lack of male nudity in film needs to change

I recently took three hours out of my busy schedule to check out the re-release of “Titanic” in theaters. Ignore the fact I saw it by myself the day before Valentine’s Day — it is one of my favorite movies, so I put the loneliness aside. Even if you have never seen the film, chances are you are familiar with the iconic scene of Kate Winslet being drawn like “one of those French girls.” It has a surprising amount of nudity for a PG-13 film.

“Anastasia” is a beautiful journey to the past

Since the Broadway shutdown, my musical intake has been pretty subpar. The last show I saw on Broadway was “Beetlejuice” in February 2020. And the last show I saw on tour was in December 2021. So, of course, I was thrilled to see “Anastasia” was making it to Luhrs, and seeing it live truly reminded me why I love musical theatre.

Is there value in hate-watching something?

It is evident that nowadays, everyone loves to voice their opinions on certain media they either like or dislike. I know that is rich coming from someone like myself, who’s practically made it their job to let everyone know what they thought of the latest movies to hit streaming, but my point still stands.