Thursdays at the Theater: Vol. X

By: Joshua Volkers

Hello there, everybody, this is the last week we have of school, most of you are beginning to take your exams, and I believe that most of the Grade 12s have finished their exams by today, so congratulations to every single one of you who are moving on from high school, and I wish you the very best in whatever you wish to do out in the big, wide world that we call home. Among these departing seniors will be none other than our very own Izabela Pitula and Carolyn Martinko! Carolyn’s been a big help with all of the wokr she has done as our copy editor and she is an incredibly enthusiastic individual, and you should know Izabela’s contributions already. Izabela’s just had her last sports round-up published, so believe me when I say that I have nothing but the best wishes for all of the Grade 12s. Now though, it’s time to talk some movies!

Photo Essay: The Fault In Our Stars

By: Angel Hsieh

Check out this series of pictures dedicated to the 2014 film adaption of John Green's novel of the same name, released in 2012. Enjoy!

Thursdays at the Theatre: Vol. 9

By: Joshua Volkers

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Hello once again, film fans! I’m coming at you with article number 9 and counting, I currently have a cold that makes my nose feel like the inside of a rubber balloon at a 6 year-old’s birthday party, but do not fret! For nothing will stop me from writing you guys another article, so allow us to dive right in.

Thursdays at the Theatre: Vol. 8

By: Joshua Volkers (featuring Angel Hsieh)

Hello again, fellow film fans! We find ourselves in the later part of the month of May, where the first large part of the summer blockbuster season begins to draw to a close to make way for Part 2, which is June. Despite the fact that really what everybody has been talking about at the beginning of May, and in the weeks leading up to it, was of course Avengers, we’ve seen a few other films released since then. But before I give my take on what is releasing, it is time to bring on a recent collaborator of mine. The high school newspaper’s very own Angel Hsieh was able to see Pitch Perfect 2 the other day, and so the following words are her review of the film:

Photo Essay: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

By: Angel Hsieh

The following collection of images is an ode to the 2012 film adaptation of Stephen Chbosky's 1999 novel, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Enjoy!

Thursdays at the Theatre: Vol. 7

By: Joshua Volkers

Hello there, ladies and gentlemen. It is finally May and that doesn’t just mean warm weather, that also means that the summer movie season is starting to kick into high gear. And man, did the summer kick off with a bang releasing Avengers: Age of Adaline -- I mean, Ultron, Ultron.

May The Fourth Be With You

By: Joshua Volkers

Daaaa, da da daah, du da daaaah dududududah dah daaah! Dah da daaaah dah, da dah daaah --
 
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, today is May the Fourth, and it is Star Wars day! A few years ago this article would have simply been a nice tribute article, however, seeing as the franchise has been bought by Disney and is set to be revitalized with this year’s The Force Awakens opening worldwide this December, we at the newspaper decided it would be a nice way just to recap everything that has been going on with Star Wars so that anyone who possibly feels confused about the announcements that have been released can get caught up on what’s what. Now, as a big Star Wars fan myself, even I get a little overwhelmed with the amount of news coming out about what Disney plans to do with this franchise and what they are currently in the process of doing as you read this article, so I hope that this clears the air for some people.

Thursdays at the Theater: Vol. 6

By: Joshua Volkers

As we see April come to an end, this means a lot of different things for us all. It means warmer weather, being able to roll out our summer wardrobes, and of course, the quickly approaching summer vacation that every student has learned to cherish and enjoy over the years. However, it is also when the month of May begins, and we get this giant bunch of summer blockbusters that satisfy our desires to have spectacular action and likable characters presented to us over the course of roughly two hours. Of course, the big movie that everybody’s going to be talking about is Avengers, and we’ll get to that in a second, but aside from that, this is shaping up to be a great summer for all audiences to enjoy due to the variety of films that I see slated for release.

Thursdays at the Theatre: Vol. 5

By: Joshua Volkers

As it stands right now, the weather outside in April may be a little bit colder than some would like it to be up here in Canada. So, that means we have to stay inside for at least a few more weeks before we can enjoy any warm breezes. Like I said in a previous entry though, that does potentially give you more time to go to your local theater and check out any new releases you’re interested in, or stay at home and watch some old ones!

Thursdays at the Theatre: Vol. 4

By: Joshua Volkers

Hello there, Titans! It is now officially spring and the fact that the temperature is slowly but surely maintaining an average of above zero, as well as that spring smell that comes once the soil is not capped by snow, we are looking at warmer times coming fairly soon. But, before all of that, we still will have to stay inside before doing anything out in the warm outdoors, seeing as it’s not warm at the moment, so that does force you to do more indoors. And hey, you found this article, didn’t you, so why don’t you read through the whole thing and see what I have to say this week about movies?

Thursdays at the Theatre: Vol. 3

By: Joshua Volkers

Hello there, Titans! It’s time yet again for the bi-monthly dose of your local high school blog talking about movies. Now that we’re beginning to wrench winter’s grasp off of us, the season of movies for the year of 2015 is probably going to kick in really soon! At least, I hope. To be honest, there haven’t been very many movies so far this year, just one really, that I can recommend that aren’t, er, strictly mature, we shall say. And any others that are fun watches are few and far between. Again, like I said in the first volume of this feature, January is toilet-bowl season, and February isn’t much better. But going into March, things have got to get better, right?

International Women's Day: One Day Later

By: Ema Brazdeikyte

Here’s to the women who are told they need to change to fit into society’s narrow-minded view of femininity. Here’s to the women who face discrimination because of their skin colour – you are beautiful. Here’s to the women who never stop studying and those who want to stop – proving you are capable of making your own decisions. Here’s to all the women: you are strong and capable of many great things.

Calling All Greasers

By: Rebecca Vukojevic

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Are you interested in making a change in the world while having fun? If you answered yes, then movie night will be perfect for you! On Wednesday March 11th, Free the Children is hosting its second movie night. This time, we're watching Grease! The doors open at 6pm and the movie begins at 6:15. If you're thinking "tell me more" about this event, keep reading!

Oscars Red Carpet Recap

By: Katherine Liakakos

The 87th Oscars fashion compiled of pearls, slicked-back hair styles, sequins, and an assortment of necklines. There were the good, the shocking, the bad, and the ugly. With laughs and tears throughout the Oscars, as well as throughout the years of the film industry, we always witness spectacular fashion by the world’s most eminent designers.

Thursdays at the Theatre: Vol. 2

By: Joshua Volkers

Hello, Titans! For anyone reading these as they come up on the blog, this will have appeared to you the day after the Oscar’s overview that was posted yesterday and written by yours truly. It serves a great companion piece to this article, because, you know, movies. So, if you haven’t already, then why don’t you check it out right here.

Okay, so as some of you may have realized over the years, whenever the Oscars do their show, it almost always seems as if the week that follows is rather... limited. Not that there aren't movies that constantly come out every week - of course there are. It just seems that compared to other weeks, there are a lot fewer. We went over all of the films that are out already, so let’s run down the ones that are coming out this weekend and the following weekend. And when I say that, I mean the ones that I’m allowed to talk about due to certain necessary restrictions following our school’s guidelines. Want to know what’s coming out? A horror movie called The Lazarus Effect, which is PG-13, stars Olivia Wilde and focuses on people dying and coming back to life. And that’s it. No, I’m serious, that’s all I can talk about. There are three other major-release films coming out this weekend and the next, but they’re all rated R or are very heavy 14A films up here. (And on a side-note, why is the horror movie the one that’s the friendliest one to families, relatively speaking? Well, it’ll probably stoink, but you never know.) And even then there are only four movies coming out in wide-release that we Canadians can get in the bitter cold of our stubbornly proud yet quiet country. FOUR!!!

Argh, forget it, I need to take my mind off of this. Well, it’s February, and it’s almost over, so what classic movies released in February? Let’s see here... no... no... that one was in summer... oh, Batman and Robin, what are you doing here...! Ah, here we go! Ta da da daaah! 

The Breakfast Club, photo via
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A classic that’s almost 30 years old, this film, which was widely considered to be ahead of its time, details a single all-day detention shared amongst five high school students who seem to have absolutely nothing in common. As the day progresses, however, the students begin to talk with one another and divulge why they’re there and eventually why they are the people that they have become. They realize that they’re all much more similar than they first anticipated, showcasing how individuals can rise above the stereotypical labels that are set upon them by other people. Written and directed by John Hughes, it’s often considered one of his best works, and as it was released in February, hey, why not talk about it? And since this is being posted on a high school blog run by high school students and teachers, written by a high-schooler who may be branded with the stereotypical label ‘mystery man’ (I try not to flatter myself), that makes it even more important in my eyes. 

Oh, the film is also being released on March 26-31 of this year to celebrate its 30 years of release. I don’t know if any of you would be able to attend a screening, or even would want to, but in case anybody wanted that info, you’re welcome.

That’s all for this week, folks; be sure to tune in a couple of weeks from now when I post the next entry of this bi-monthly article, and I’m sure we’ll be able to cover at least a little bit more next time around. I’m Joshua Volkers, reporting for The Titan Times, bringing you the latest and greatest in the world of cinema. As always, I humbly request that you follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook so you can keep up to date on everything we post, and don’t feel afraid to drop a little comment for us to read down below. See, a ton of options for you to interact with us, right at your fingertips! With that, I’ll be seeing you in two weeks’ time. 

Remember Titans, stay strong!

The Oscars Overview

By: Joshua Volkers

Ah, another year, another Oscars, and with that comes cries of outrage, cheering, flat jokes and a whole bunch of golden statues! (Among other things.) While our resident fashion guru Katherine Liakakos covers the Red Carpet for this prestigious event, this will be the actual overview of the show itself. Of course, we’ll be going over the actual show, but first I want to get to the awards. Enough blabbering though; it’s time to dive into a pot of tears, laughs, speeches, upsets, and of course our old friend controversy, so let us talk about the Academy Awards!

Now, we’ll get the big one out of the way first: Birdman won the night with Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Original Screenplay and the biggest award of the night-Best Picture overall. But remember kids, even though it’s rated 14A up here, there’s still a lot of, er, explicit and brutal content throughout the film. What’s curious is that Birdman is described as a ‘black comedy-drama’ film, and is the first comedy film to win Best Picture since Shakespeare in Love, 16 Oscar shows ago. For anybody who consciously remembers when that happened: feel old yet?

I’ll quickly run down the rest so that we can get onto some of my criticisms for the show in just a sec here. The Grand Budapest Hotel, with just as many nominations as Birdman, won awards for Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Production Design, and Best Original Score; Best Sound Mixing and Film Editing went to Whiplash and J.K. Simmons won Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film; Interstellar was awarded with Best Visual Effects; Big Hero 6 was named Best Animated film of the year by the academy; Best Animated Short was Feast (not the 2005 horror movie); Best Adapted Screenplay went to Graham Moore for The Imitation Game (great speech by the way); Best Foreign Language film was a Polish movie named Ida; American Sniper was awarded best film Editing: Selma had the best Original Song, Glory, (breathtaking performance by Common and John Legend); Best Live Action Short Film went to The Phone Call; Best Short Subject and Feature Documentaries were Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 and Citizenfour; Best Supporting Actress went to Patricia Arquette for Boyhood; Julianne Moore won her first Academy Award after five nominations over her career, including this year; and finally Eddie Redmayne won for his role as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, (loved his enthusiasm!)

Oh holy rusted metal Batman, that was a lot to recite in one paragraph! But, anyways, this is really what I wanted to talk about, the show itself. It… fell flat. I would say it sucked, which it kind of did, but then again we live in a world where the 83rd Oscars Ceremony happened (the one James Franco and Anne Hathaway hosted). But really, the Oscars do not have a good grip on making an entertaining show for people to watch. Look, I’m not saying you put on something that’s the quality of Macbeth, but for the love of every single frame captured in Hollywood, that Oscar ballots joke was chuckle-worthy at best the first time they brought it up. After that, pfft! Flat. The jokes when NPH was walking through the audience? Flat. There were a few good ones of course; Adele Dazeem made a stunning return, as John Travolta acknowledged his mistake and apologized to Idina Menzel on stage for the whole world to see. He got a little creepy there for a few seconds, but he brought it under control. Over the past few years, Oscar hosts have been sketchy, with mixed feelings on Seth MacFarlane and Ellen DeGeneres, Franco and Hathaway an absolute embarrassment, and Billy Crystal as the Oscars’ literal golden boy being deemed the best of the bunch.

So what is it? Is it the writing? Is it the hosts? What is it that makes the Oscars unbearable to watch at points? I’d say it’s a few things: for starters, it’s too long. They devoted 14 minutes to Best Original Song-and only a few minutes to Best Picture. They need to shorten the time they take for each category, and I think it`s time to move a few of the categories to a separate night to cut time. There is a second Oscars show that`s not televised for the rest of the awards they can't show on the big night, so why not do that? I think that you could also televise it as an accompanying show before the main show.

Aside from the length of the show, I'd also say get a better team of writers who know how to keep a large crowd entertained, and also, let the hosts fly off the handle a little like with Seth MacFarlane. I would love to see Dwayne Johnson host an Oscars someday. I mean, imagine all of the smack talk that would go on! I don't know if the Academy would ever allow someone like him to do that, but it would certainly give that spark that the show has been missing for a little while.

As you can probably tell, I could talk about the Oscars for an hour, but I feel I have to wrap it up here. So, that was the 2015 Oscars, and while the show itself was disappointing, hey, we stay for the awards, don't we? Anyways, I’m Joshua Volkers, reporting for the Titan Times. Follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, stay tuned to any articles or news we put out, and hey, there’s a comment section down there, so why don't you give us your thoughts on the 2015 Oscars? Talk about anything that happened during the ceremony; the recipients of the awards, the host, the skits, the guests, anything! And with that, I will see you next time, Titans! Stay strong.

Black History Month Celebrity Profile

By: Julio Balda

Throughout this century, black men and women have been dominating both politically and musically. Constantly in the news, black people now have a voice through means of others. A few of these many successful people are mentioned in the following article.

Barack Obama, the first ever black president, is one of the most liked politicians and influential people in the world. He continues to support strong causes such as gay marriage, and equality.

An amazing philanthropist, producer, and talk show host, Oprah Winfrey is a well-known household name! Most known for her talk-show The Oprah Winfrey Show, (one of the highest-rated programs in history), she has also written six books, and is one of the richest black people in North America.

Constantly talked about in media, Beyoncé is not a stranger to anyone. She has had five number one hit albums, is a successful actress starring in The Pink Panther as well as Obsessed, and made jaws drop in 2014 when she suddenly released an album without knowledge or promotion for it, which caused a huge wave in the media.

The talented Kevin Hart never ceases to amuse people and make them die of laughter. One of the biggest names in comedy at the moment, he’s hosted many award shows, such as the MTV VMAs, BET Awards, and many others. Hart has also won many awards himself, including Best Actor in a Comedy Series for the NAACP Image Awards, as well as Best Actor for the BET Awards in 2012, and other amazing awards.

Both the newest face for Lancome and named Woman of the Year by Glamour Magazine, Lupita Nyong’o has rapidly become one of the most loved actresses in the world. She starred in the award winning movie, 12 Years a Slave, and received an Oscar for her amazing and captivating performance. Nyong’o is the first black spokeswoman for Lancome, which is monumental. She was featured as the cover girl for the UK’s Dazed & Confused Magazine, as well as on Vogue. She is set to star in Queen of Katwe, a biopic portraying the rise of a young African chess prodigy.
 
Over the last couple of years black men and women have taken the entertainment world by storm, whether it’s through politics, music, or other forms of media. Black men and women have always been and always will be great leaders and influential people, despite being in a white oriented world.

Thursdays at the Theatre: Vol. 1

By: Joshua Volkers

Hello, Titans! Today marks the first day for a bi-monthly article on movies, the ones that have recently come out, are coming out, and then we’ll be taking a quick look at a film from the past as a bit of a ‘Throwback Thursday’ element. After all, you’ll have the entire four-day weekend to have the opportunity to check out some of the films that I’m going to list here.

Valentine's Day Movie Night

By: Carolyn Martinko & Kristyn Farrell

Valentine’s Day is coming up quickly, and whether you plan to spend time with friends, family, your significant other, or on your own, make sure to check out some of these great romantic comedies.