“Dick Johnson Is Dead” Review: Film about Dementia and Death is One of the Year’s Most Uplifting
by Hunter Johnson
The premise of Netflix’s new film may initially make audiences wary of pressing the play button. In “Dick Johnson Is Dead,” award-winning documentarian Kirsten Johnson both tells and foretells the story of her father's death.
Kirsten’s father, the aforementioned Dick Johnson, is a retired clinical psychiatrist who has been diagnosed with dementia. With his health deteriorating, it becomes clear to his family that he only has a few years left to live. Kirsten takes ...
Recovering the Right Stuff: Episode Four Successfully Develops Characters, Story
by Breanna Beers
[Editor’s Note: The following contains minor spoilers for “The Right Stuff” Season 1, Episode 4]
As fledgling NASA fumbles, “The Right Stuff” finally starts to hit its stride. The narrative is allowed to breathe in this character-focused episode, a literal Christmas vacation from the confused pacing of the last two episodes.
The script is flipped as we see Alan Shepard (Jake McDorman) spending time with his family over the holidays while John Glenn (Patrick J. ...
Cedarville Alumna Trains for 2021 Paralympics
by Tim Smith
The year is 2016. The location? Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The occcasion? The 2016 Paralympics. For runner Grace Norman, this was the moment she had been working toward.
Norman lost her left leg at birth after being diagnosed with con - genital constriction band syndrome. After years and years of adversity and training, the time had come for Norman to shine, and it was up to her to take advantage of the opportunity. And take advantage she did, earning the gold medal in the ...
We’re All Looking for Something: Characters, Show Trying to Find Their Way
by Breanna Beers
[Editor’s Note: The following contains minor spoilers for “The Right Stuff” Season 1, Episode 3]
The cracks in everybody’s armor are starting to show. Episode three of “The Right Stuff” develops characters in compelling ways, but suffers from uninspired writing and choppy editing.
John Glenn’s (Patrick J. Adams) articulate geniality has always set him apart from the rest of the team, but, seemingly for the first time, it’s not in a good way. First, he ...
Five Movies to Watch this Halloween
by Sam Acosta
The Halloween season is upon us and with cities around the world canceling trick-or-treating, it’s time to find another way to get into the holiday mood. What better way to celebrate the day of spooky, scary skeletons than to sit down on the couch and watch a spine-chilling Halloween movie? Here are five great movies to watch during this socially distanced Halloween.
1. “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”
There is no better way to enjoy the holiday than with ...
Playlists, Porches and Trees
Bergthold finds hope amid tornado wreckage
by Abigail Hintz
“For we are fallen like the trees, our peace
Broken, and so we must
Love where we cannot trust,
Trust where we cannot know,
And must await the wayward-coming grace."
“A Gracious Sabbath Stood Here,” by Wendell Berry
Trees are overlooked. They’re taken for granted. They’re mourned when they fall but not thanked while they stand.
On Easter Sunday, Laini Bergthold learned the importance of trees.
Early in the ...
“Star Wars” That Fans Love: Looking Back at “The Mandalorian” Season 1
by Hunter Johnson
“The Mandalorian” is returning for a second season, which means fans are gearing up for an explosive return of the first live-action “Star Wars” television series ever made.
Last year, Disney released “The Mandalorian” as the flagship series for its new streaming service, Disney Plus. Not only did the show succeed but it was also largely responsible for the over ten million subscribers the service received on the day of its launch.
The show abandoned the ...
Fake It Till You Make It: Episode Two Sure Wants to Say Something
by Breanna Beers
“You don’t have a rocket problem. You have a people problem.”
“The papers like these guys. And people read the papers.”
“People will want to know how this story ends. And people vote.”
And what’s gonna make all our problems go away? What do votes mean, Bob?”
“Money.”
The second episode of Disney+ and National Geographic’s “The Right Stuff” begins to deliver on the trailer’s promise of addressing celebrity, but stilted writing combines with ...
The Builders of the Modern Blockbuster
by Ben Hiett
The term “blockbuster” originally referred to WWII aerial bombs capable of taking out entire city blocks. However, by the 1980’s, the word had come to be associated with the larger-than-life adventure, explosive excitement and widespread popularity of movies like “Jaws,” “Star Wars,” and the like. In more recent years, we’ve seen this trend continue, with blockbusters becoming an established pillar of the film industry. I set out to determine which directors have ...
Reasonably Good Stuff: Disney+ Original Space Drama Launches Unremarkably
by Breanna Beers
National Geographic’s eight-episode Disney+ original series “The Right Stuff” launched exactly as a rocket should: successfully, but uneventfully.
The first episode outlines the selection of the ‘Mercury Seven,’ with a focus on three: John Glenn (Patrick J. Adams), Alan Shepard (Jake McDorman), and Gordon Cooper (Colin O'Donoghue). The early part of the episode focuses on the first two, foreshadowing a rivalry that we can expect to develop over the next seven ...
