The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Gist

The Great Gatsby
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Nick Caraway moved to West Egg and things in his life changed. Not just because of the careless, irresponsible people, but the over-the-top, party-every-night atmosphere of Long Island. He's a working man, and working men like him - without endless family money to fall back on - live in the much less fashionable West Egg, right across the Sound from East Egg, the place for wealthy people who don't have to work. Immediately he is alerted to the differences when his next door neighbor, Jay Gatsby, throws a party to which every person in West Egg and beyond goes to. At the other end of the Sound, on East Egg, Nick meets with a distant cousin, Daisy, her husband, Tom Buchanan, and a friend of their's Jordan Baker. Though Daisy is beautiful and exciting, she's not everything. No one from East Egg, or even West Egg, for that matter, seem to be all they appear, or all they want to be. Including, the mysterious Gatsby.

What We Think
Reviewed by Dream Catcher
Number of Pages: 180 
Let me tell you (though you probably don't need much telling) reading a book for class is no simple feat. I love reading. Everyone who's ever read anything I've written should know that. But somehow - and it's always been like this - reading a book for class lacks the usual shimmer of reading for yourself. But this book wasn't that way. I couldn't wait to read it everyday for class and discuss it with my American Lit. teacher. So great. This is one of my all-time favorites. I find myself wondering lately, though, if my love of the author has clouded my judgement as far as how I actually feel about the book. F. Scott Fitzgerald is awesome. But I think I love the book because it's truly a fantastic piece of writing, not just because it was written by Fitzgerald. Love.
What I love most about this book is what I'm going to address first. The writing style. Out of all the aspects of this book the writing style is my favorite. It's slightly poetic with enough description to understand your surroundings and be satisfied without ever being bored. He uses a lot of metaphor to get his point across, which I like. I really don't know what else to say...I've been putting off this review for awhile because, honestly, the hardest reviews to write are the ones you love. It's so much easier to rant about something you hate than describe your love for something. I dunno...I just love a lot of things without explanation. I guess with the Great Gatsby I should really just write about what I didn't like, as opposed to what I did, because it would make everything a lot shorter. Except there really wasn't anything I didn't like. Moving on...I'l just hurry up and get on with it. Now, I don't what to sound like a literary snob, talking about the symbolism of Daisy being names Daisy, or Jordan Baker being names for two car companies which relates to this which symbolizes that. I got all that from my discussions in American Lit. I would never have gotten any of it on my own, despite my love of metaphor. Nope. I take things pretty literally, in general. I found the whole symbolism thing fascinating, but I mostly really love the bare bones of a book like this; the love story. If Fitzgerald really meant for all that symbolism, then he's a true genius and you got to love him for that. If not, he's a romantic and you should love him anyway, because, in conclusion, his writing his spectacular. (That was the most random tangent-filled paragraph I've ever written...)
Yes, I am finally moving on to something else; characters. Nick is the main character and just an all-around loyal narrator. What I liked about his characters was his some times silent observation and simple truthfulness. He was a faithful friend to Gatsby and didn't like to make trouble where it wasn't needed, which was refreshing. He was a relatively straight-forward character; someone easy to like. Gatsby was another great character - though he was certainly more complex than Nick. With a mysterious past and a to-an-extent-unrequited love, he was a character you always rooted for, despite his occasional creepiness and bootlegging. He's a guy with a big heart and a lot of ambition. He's always one step behind everyone else, but so hopeful that the future will be better. Its impossible not to root for him. Daisy was a very...interesting character. At first I really liked her characters, in a weird way, because she was so out there. As my dad would say she's a bit of a space-cadet, like I said, someone who's a little out there. But as Fitzgerald reveals more about her character you really begin to understand who she is and how thoughtless she can be. His character development of her is really great in relation to the book as a whole. At the end he really makes you hate her. Tom Buchanan, on the other hand, is someone you hate consistently, and for good reason. He's a raging racist and a plain old jerk. Such a jerk. But you're really supposed to hate him, so on that front Fitzgerald did a great job again. Tom Buchanan is a truly nasty dude. The last real main character is Jordan Baker, and I really don't have much of an opinion of her. She was just kind of there; I didn't love her and I didn't hate her. She kind of annoyed me at the end but, again, she was supposed to. She was another straight-forward character. She served a purpose to the plot, so she was an important character, but I don't really have all that much to say about her. There were some other minor characters that played important roles in the story but are minor enough they just get some mentioning - Wolfsheim, a man who worked with Gatsby semi-illegally was a true-to-life interesting character. Mr.Wilson and his wife Myrtle were quite the pair. They weren't people so much as symbols for big ideas. All essential and all very unique. Well done.
I'm talk about the plot very briefly. Under all the symbolism and metaphor it really was just a simple love story. So maybe it wasn't the most creative story ever created but, keep in mind, this was written in the 20s - before there was such thing as stupid YA fiction. This is a story of real love - not trashy teen werewolf love. It felt real, which is what made the ending so sad. Its a tragically beautiful story.
Lastly I must talk about the beginning and the end, the title and the cover. Trivial things, perhaps, but I value them. The beginning is just Nick telling his back story with a little foreboding foreshadowing. When I first read that, I wasn't too pleased, because it didn't make me want to read more. I suppose it's needed and all...but it wasn't as impressive as I had hoped. The ending, however, makes up for that fact completely because it is so thoughtfully put together and thought-provoking. A great, great end to the book. The cover is very interesting, but considering the fact that its a classic, the cover doesn't really matter that much - neither does the title. It's reputation proceeds it. I really do like both though. But. In place of where I would outline the details of liking or disliking the cover and title, I have an interesting fact for you. Scott Fitzgerald had a relatively hard time coming up with a title for this, and after thinking of a few he wasn't crazy about he thought up The Great Gatsby, a title he was equally un-enthused about. But he really wanted to publish it so he asked his editor if he could change the title for the second printing of the book, and the editor agreed, thinking it wasn't going to be that popular. Much to their surprise, their book was a huge hit and by that time it was too popular and too well-known to change the title. Fitzgerald was not pleased. I think that's hilarious, though. I love weird facts like that.
Well. That's my review. The book's fantastic and everyone should read it, whether or not you have to for school. It's a classic for a reason; love stories like that are timeless. They never get old, and neither will this book.
Real Teen Rating ~ A+ : Why are you still reading this, go buy this book NOW!

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We Need to Talk About Kevin - Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly and Ezra Miller

The Gist

We Need to Talk About Kevin
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Eva is trying to move on with her life. She's finding a new job, repainting her house. But moving on is easier said than done when everyone in town hates her. People throw paint at her house, slap her, and generally harass her. As Eva tries to put her life back together, she reflects on her life before the tragedy - a loving husband, a sweet young daughter, and a twisted older son who has always seemed to loathe her. She thinks on how her life went from trying to deal with a handful of a boy to visiting him in juvie after his homicidal spree. With nothing left in her life, she desperately tries to understand what happened with Kevin to make him so demented.

What We Think
Reviewed by Living Destiny
Run Time: 112 minutes
Rating: R
I'd heard of this before we watched it, but I still had no idea what it was really about. It was a drama psychological-thriller type thing with nobody I knew except for John C. Reilly. And it was an indie film, and the day before we watched this, we watched another indie movie film that got great reviews called Like Crazy that I really hated. So. I guess I just didn't know what to expect going into this. Which I guess is a good thing. I guess.
Anyway, the way the story is told is a combination of present day and flashbacks, but the flashbacks are told in chronological order, so it's almost like two stories running tandem with each other. In the present day, it shows mostly Eva (Tilda Swinton) trying to move on with her life, and attempting to avoid the people that hate her, which is basically everyone. It also shows her visiting her son Kevin (Ezra Miller) in juvie, which is awkward in the best way possible. Then in the flashbacks, it tells the story of Kevin's life, from when Eva met her husband Franklin (John C. Reilly) all the way up to the day Kevin "his animosity reaches its peak" (according to Dream Catcher). It sounds complicated or confusing, but this was actually a really effective way of telling a story. Something about flashbacks is attractive, as long as they're done well. These were great because they showed Kevin develop as a person, and they showed Eva's strained relationship with her son.
It's interesting to me that this movie is classified as a thriller. I mean, when I think of thrillers, I think something that makes my heart race and makes me jump. Like The Woman in Black, or stuff like that. And this really isn't like that. Not that it shouldn't be a thriller, because it was totally creepy, but in a different way. It was a slow sort of creepy. It all built up around Kevin, him getting more and more dark as he grew older, but also becoming more subtle and sly. It was like watching the birth of a super villain. Even at points where I could predict what would happen, it was still freaky, a he-can't-do-that feeling, and he always did whatever 'that' was. Very eerie.
The acting was so good. Tilda Swinton is someone that I have literally never heard of. She's been in tons of movies, won an Oscar, and I haven't seen her in anything except this. But she's really great. Her character is full of grief, but the way she plays it isn't typically grief-stricken. It's quiet, meek, like she takes all the responsibility for Kevin's actions, even though she isn't the one that did it. And speaking of Kevin, Ezra Miller. Yes. He hasn't been in much, and I think this is sort of his big role (although he's going to be in The Perks of Being a Wallflower this year). He was fantastic. So apathetic, it was like he had no soul. Well, maybe not that creepy. But it was definitely weird to watch. He was always two steps ahead of his parents, very sardonic and sneaky. Ezra Miller played the intelligent but uncaring attitude incredibly well. John C. Reilly was a nice supporting character as the clueless father. Maybe not clueless so much, because he only doesn't see how twisted Kevin is because Kevin hides it from him. John C. Reilly is the one person in this cast that I'd actually heard of before watching it, and I've always liked him, so it's no surprise that I like him here. He's the happy part of the movie, cheerful and smiling up until the end.
This isn't something I usually talk about, but I just want to touch on the story itself for a minute. Most movies recently are adaptations of books, or sequels, or adaptations of classic stories (I'm looking at you, Snow White and the Huntsman). Everything is just copying everything else. Now, I'm not saying that this is a 100% original idea, because honestly nothing is anymore. Yes, the idea of a troubled kid going crazy and lashing out is one that has been done before. And, admittedly, this movie is based on a novel too. But this version of it, it's really well done. It isn't overly dramatic or unbelievable. It stays mellow, and it's sketchy because it could be true. It's possible that this could happen. It wasn't overdone. The dialogue was natural, the progression wasn't too extreme. It was just a really good screenplay, and that isn't something that gets noticed all too often, so I want to give credit to the writers here, because they deserve it.
And since I'm already talking about things I don't usually mention, I'll go here too. This year I took a filmmaking course, and since then, it's been hard to watch a movie without noticing certain aspects of film. One of those is the color palette of movies. Some movies have tinting or specific colors they stick with. They usually symbolize something. This movie was hardcore red. Nearly everything in the movie was red. Walls, chairs, lamps, clothes. Everything. It was interesting to see. Obviously it was important, but it was just neat to notice. And now that I've said it, I dare you to watch this movie and not notice it.
Basically, this was an intense movie. Nothing flashy or over-the-top, but very awesome. Indie movies are a real toss-up, because they don't have to conform to the desires of a production company or Hollywood, and they can do what they want. In that way, they can either turn out really good or really bad, and I've experienced both. This was one of the good ones. It was refreshing to see a movie that didn't rely on special effects or big-name hot shot actors to get along. It was entertaining without any of the glamour of big budget movies. It can support itself through its screenplay, acting, and cinematography, and that's not something that can be said about most of the movies today, so it's definitely a win in my book.
Real Teen Rating ~ A-: See it with some friends!

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5 Second Films

Reviewed by The North Star

Last summer Living Destiny and I were extremely bored and had absolutely nothing to do.  We went to YouTube and there was nothing interesting there so we decided to check out Vimeo (the cooler version of YouTube).  On the home screen of Vimeo the staff picks their favorite videos off of the site and features them.  We noticed this video called "You Got Mail" and so we thought what the heck and click on it.  The whole film was 8 seconds long and the first 3 seconds was a title card.  At the end of the 5 seconds I was both confused and disturbed but I was also laughing so hard that my sides hurt.  After doing some more hunting we found that there was a whole channel on Vimeo where these people posted a new video every weekday and every video is 5 seconds long.  That day Living Destiny and I literally wasted 2 hours watching all of the films over and over and over again and laughing.  After she left I continued watching them and I couldn't stop until I watch almost all of their films.  These films at points can be a little inappropriate so be warned before you watch them that some of the shorts are...interesting.  The great thing about these films are that if you don't like it then you only have to wait about 3 more seconds and then it will be over and you can go onto the next film.  The other good about the shorts are that there is at least one that is your personal favorite but it is almost never the favorite of someone else.  I would have to say my favorite is "Crabwalkin'" where Living Destiny likes "Planking" and Dream likes "Late For Work".  I enjoy all of these and so do they but we all have the different favorites and can relate to them in different way which, is what makes them awesome.  They used to post all of their videos on Vimeo.com but they have now switched to posting their videos on their website 5secondfilms.com.  To go on their website you can just click on the picture in this post as well.  In short, if you have nothing better to do check them out because you will probably find yourself laughing as hard as I did, if not harder.

Real Teen Rating ~ Ingenious

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New Girl- FOX

The Gist

New Girl
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Jess is a fun and quirky girl (who sometimes likes to sing to herself) looking for a home after she finds her boyfriend cheating on her.  She see's an internet add for one opening in an apartment, thinking that she will be sharing her new home with 3 girls she arrives to find 3 guys (Nick, Schmidt and Winston) who based off the internet application seemed like women.  After much reluctance all 3 guys agree to let her move in.  Together the four of them form an...interesting relationship as they become more comfortable with one another living under one roof.  


What We Think
Reviewed by The North Star
Number of Seasons: 1
When I first saw commercials for this show over the summer I was sure that it was going to be AWFUL.  The commercials did not make me chuckle or even smile in the slightest and I was not the least bit interested.  Dream, Living and Shore kept saying that it was going to be good and they couldn't wait and I was the only one is the group skeptical and not that eager to watch.  Truthfully, the only reason that I ended up watching the first episode was because they put it directly after Glee but before Raising Hope, so I didn't think that it would hurt to at least try.  Boy, was I COMPLETELY wrong about this show.  The entire episode had be smiling and having my sides hurt I was laughing so hard.  Even the jokes from the commercials were 10 times funnier in context.  This show really gave me hope for comedy shows (which have seem to have become not funny at all) and I think everyone should be looking to higher the writers from this show.
I started this review when the show first started and I was completely in love with it, but as the season went on the episodes weren't as funny and I started to get really sad.  This show had started out so strong but then it feels that they tried to hook the audience on the first 5 episodes and then ran out of really good jokes by the end.  Don't get me wrong this show still has its funny moments but they are very rare.  But, when the show has these moments they have me laughing for an hour after the show ends.  The characters kind of lost the little quirks that I used to love about them.  Nick and Jess used to have fun flirty banter but now Nick is just obsessed with girls and making sure that he has a girlfriend at all times which at points it extremely annoying.  Jess is still quirky and funny, but for some reason to me it seems like she whines a little to much now which is disappointing.  One of the things that I loved about Jess was that she took any challenge that faced her and overcame it in an empowering and funny way.  Now all she does is complain about her problems and usually finds a way around them but it is not the same as it used to be.  I still love Schmidt just as much as I did before.  His character is constantly jerky and funny at the same time, which I love, so it is good that he is still the annoying "douche bag jar" guy that the audience knows and loves.  Weird enough I actually liked Winstons character more as the series went on for some reason. He isn't featured as much in the later episodes but I think that is how his character works best because when he does have a part it is really funny and one of those rare moments that I talked about above (singing to unexpected music in the car).
The plot of the show is still a great idea and the good thing is that the writers haven't lost complete sight of what the show started out being.  A girly-girl living with guys that only use girls for their bodies and then she teaches them how it is to live with a girl.  That is a great concept and so I am hoping that next season they stick with it and don't try to make it more about some of the other characters in other places, (which is a possibility if you have seen the season finale).
I just want to take a second to give credit to Debra McGuire who does costumes for this show because they are truly awesome and I wish that I owned a lot of Jess' clothes and I also think that the guys are always dressed in the appropriate attire.  Whatever they are wearing, totally matches their personalities and I know that usually don't notice that kind of thing but it is really good, so great job!
If you haven't watched this show and you are looking for a good show to watch over the summer then I would recommend it but just let yourself know now that as it goes on you will get some episodes where you will not laugh AT ALL but there are some episodes that are worth watching.  I will watch next season, but I really hope they get the old humor back because that is what made this show from ok to fantastic!

Real Teen Rating ~ B- : Worth watching, but no need to DVR 

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The Walking Dead- AMC

The Gist

The Walking Dead
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Rick is an average guy just like everyone else in the world.  He a wife, Laurie, a son, Carl, and a best friend, Shane, who along with Rick is a local police officer.  One day Rick and Shane get a call about a hit and run and so they head off in their cruiser to respond.  When they arrive the criminals start shooting at the officers and in the line of fire Rick is shot and rushed to the hospital.  When Rick wakes up he notices that his room hasn't been tended to in a long time.  He tries to call the nurse but no one answers.  When he finds a way out of his room everything is destroyed and blood is everywhere.  He walks around and sees a door marked "Do not open. Dead inside." which is written in blood.  Once he successful gets out of the hospital Rick learns that the world has been over run with a disease that turns people into "walkers" or the living dead.  Now Rick has vowed to find his wife and son in this world of hopelessness. 


What We Think
Reviewed by The North Star
Number of Seasons: 2 
Ever since this show started I had been hearing about how good it was.  I read about it in every magazine at the stores and even heard my friends talking about how good it was.  The final straw for me was when the season 2 finale premiered and it was on the cover of Entertainment Weekly and the basically the whole issue was about this show.  At that point I decided that I was going to watch this show no matter what.  Luckily, the show was on Netflix and so I asked my mom and sister if they wanted to watch with me and they were glad to.  After the first episode I was completely hooked and wanted to sit on my couch for 24 hours just watching all the other episodes in a row.  I was skeptical of this show because of all the good ratings but it lived up if not exceeded the things that I had heard about.  Everything from start to finish is perfect.
First off, the characters/the script.  This show is actually based off of a graphic novel series originally written by Robert Kirkman. From what I hear, the comic books series is very different from the TV show, so if you have read the comics then you can still watch the TV show without anything being ruined.  The script for the TV show is brillant.  Every episode is interesting from beginning to end and keeps you rapped up in the characters the whole time and it is nearly impossible to tear your eyes away from the screen.  Each character is developed so much (with the exception of a few) and it feels like you really know them and everyone I have talked to has been able to connect with a couple of the characters, but different traits from each.  That fact that this show portrays characters that could be actual people in real life is rare because most TV shows now-a-days just portray characters for the audience to fantasize about but in reality would never exist.  I would start talking about my favorite characters *cough*glenn,rick*cough* but I am afraid that I am going to give something away because with this show there are so many twists and turns if you aren't careful it is easy to give away something really big that happens to someone who has never seen the show.  Speaking of twists and turns, one of my favorite things about this show is that at the end of every episode there is a cliff hanger so you want to automatically want to watch the next episode.  I was lucky enough that I was able to watch the next episode because the first two seasons were over but next season I am going to be in trouble!
The next thing about this show is the plot.  One of the reasons that I actually wanted to watch this show was because I had never seen a movie/tv show about zombies, which was surprising because everyone always talks about zombie apocalypses.  Just to warn anyone who doesn't like gore in any way, if you are the least bit grossest out by blood and guts, I strongly suggest that you DO NOT watch this show.  This show is quite graphic but that is realistic, because in a zombie apocalypse things wouldn't be neat and clean.   This show is also very gritty and at points some of the characters are downright evil to one another but that makes sense because the whole world around them has turned into anarchy. It makes sense that people would be rude and harsh because they have been losing people, but everyone still has their moments of kindness.  This is the main reason that I say to watch it, because it is a real result of a zombie apocalypse and I'm not afraid to admit that in the event of a zombie apocalypse I feel a lot more ready now!           
In short, if you are reading this and haven't seen the Walking Dead, you should go and buy/watch it right now because it is totally worth it and you will be demanding season 3 once you finish! 


Real Teen Rating~ A+:  MOST DEFINITELY SHOULD WATCH!

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