The Bluffer - Red Bluff, CA
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/129400
A rts & Entertainment Page 4 'Oblivion' written well Owen Ritter Staff Writer The latest sic-fiction movie out in theaters right now is, "Oblivion." The name of this movie fits well with its form. This movie meets the expectations of its audience with a brilliant way of transitioning from speed, violence, and special effects. "Oblivion" stars one of the most famous leading men named Tom Cruise. The setting of this movie is in the year 2077, humans no longer live on Earth but instead reside on Titan, Saturn's largest moon. It begins with a black and white footage of a young couple on a deck on the Empire State Building while Tom Cruise introduces himself as Jack Harper. The footage that ended up being a dream quickly switches to him bring up something called a memory wipe. The conflict in this movie is an alien invasion called Scavengers has devastated the Earth. The Scavengers did a lot of damage to Victoria, who has many different relationships to Jack. In 2077, Jack and Victoria are a part of an "effective team," as they refer to it. Mostly everyone has left to go live on Titan, but the few remaining are fighting the Scavengers. Jack takes off every day in an aircraft to go repair the drones that suffer attacks and sometimes fighting off the Scavengers themselves. Victoria guides him on his expositions by an advanced communications system. Jack discovers a crashed space ship and rescues one of its crew members who is a young woman named Julia. She later explains to him that she's his wife and in fact the person in his black and white dream at the beginning of the movie. The movie was enjoyable; however, the expositions of Julia's, Beech's, or even Jack's didn't make a great deal of sense. Jack's own history and identity come into question during the movie. This leads him to wonder who he really is and what exactly he is doing. He and Beech join together in some battles against the enemies he believed were allies. Throughout the movie there was a lot of talking. This talking sometimes interrupted some perfectly 'Whale Trail' good app for wasting time and having fun Play as a whale named Willow and escape the clutches of the shadow monster, Barron Zachary Smith Staff Writer Imagine flying through the air, as a whale, in the clouds, leaving a trail of rainbows. D o e s n't it sound like a dream? Well, it isn't any more with "W hale Trail"! In this new and exciting app you play a whale n a m e d willow that is trying to escape a shadow monster that goes by the name of Barron. Willow the whale stays aloft in the air by c ol l e c t i n g little color bubbles that he transforms into his whale trail that is constantly changing colors. To stay in the air not only does Willow have to collect color bubbles, but he must also avoid the evil storm clouds in the sky that will zap him with lightening and drain his whale trail. The object of the game is to go as far as you can without plummeting from the sky. At the end of every stage a "goody" appears. The goody leaves a trail of bubble that you have to follow to survive and at the end of their trail they leave a prize bubble that leaves Willow a prize that you will get to use next round. This is a really good app for wasting time, and is reasonably fun. However, it seemed to be like so many distance apps out there. In this sense the app is repetitive. The app is more or less a combination of "Hill Climb Racer" because of having to refill your whale trail, and "Jet Pack Joy Ride" because Willow only goes up and down while avoiding obstacles. "Whale trail" also has upgrades for your whale trail itself and many other strange abilities. Something that I personally liked was the costumes. Most of them were creative and original and do a great job of putting a smile on your face. B o n u s levels are also available to buy using the games currency of krill. There are three different b o n u s stages that have about 32 levels, each level progressing in difficulty. "Whale Trail" is a great app for when you are feeling http://a1.mzstatic.com gloomy and down. It has some unique characteristics but is still like many other apps out there. Still, I suggest this game because of its general weird idea, game play, and its ability to lift the spirits. 'Whale Trail' could be the next big game! 595 Antelope Blvd Red Bluff, CA 96080 (530) 529-6400 www.shopcrossroads.net Bring this ad to receive $10 off a pair of Miss Me Jeans. (at regular price, coupon must be present) Expires 5/19/13 May 3, 2013 acceptable action packed moments. Also, thoughts of the characters in the movie caused confusion. Over all the movie "Oblivion" was a very good movie and had a well written plot. Bluffer Staff Pick 'The Wall' Owen Ritter Staff Writer If you are anybody who is somebody or even if you are a nobody then you must know of the band Pink Floyd. Whether you are an active listener or not what is not as commonly known is Pink Floyds movie 'The Wall', released in 1982. This is not to be confused with their album 'The Wall', released in 1979, though they intertwine spectacularly. As you may have guessed, the movie was written for the album. 'The Wall' tells the story of a young Mr. Pink Floyd, (Bob Geldof), growing up into a rockstar and along the way building his wall. To understand 'The Wall' you must first understand the concept of what is meant by a "wall". This movie speaks of a mental wall, it is built up over time, closing you in. It may be built by fear, hate, confusion, but usually something that (1982) makes you uncomfortable. Everyone builds a wall, be it a social wall, a laziness wall, a love wall, a trust wall. Whatever it is built for the wall is something to overcome. This is what 'The Wall' is all about, Pink growing up, building his wall, higher and higher, and his slow descent into madness. Now to grasp a better understanding of the movie you must listen to the story 'The Wall' tells by listening to the album. The movie may become confusing at times, but the key point is not to overthink it, also it will make more sense if you first understand the album. Since the album is the movies soundtrack and it tells of Pink's story there is hardly any audio except for the music. Don't get me wrong, 'The Wall' is nowhere close to a musical, though it is psychedelic at times and may seem complicated, but don't let the visuals perplex you. While many strange things happen, the plot is mostly chronologically and simply Pinks journey through the loss of his father in World War 2 and his wife, Vera Lynn, (Eleanor David), dropping acid alone, and fame into Nazism insanity. Small parts of the movie are drawn as impressive cartoons, these are Pinks LSD trips, and symbolize his reflections, and the thoughts in his mind. These trips are definitely the coolest parts of the movie. The soundtrack is phenomenal, the acting is good, the plot is exciting and can be applied to real life. All in all 'The Wall' is one heck of a trip man! and developed wonderfully. Seph, the main character and young wizard, was particularly fun to read about and watch change throughout the story. He is quite a complex character who goes through many changes during the course of the novel. Also, the author switches the perspective of the story to different characters so that it is not just told from Seph's point of view. The story is not told from first person, so when the perspective was changed, it added more information about different situations and made the story more interesting. At the beginning of the book, Seph causes a disaster since he is a really powerful wizard, but he is untrained so he cannot control his gift. As a result, he is forced to enroll in a high school called the Havens. It is supposed to be a school for problematic boy teenagers, but Seph quickly finds out that there is something else entirely that is going on behind the scenes. Seph tries to learn as much wizardry as he can to try to escape the Havens and the powerful headmaster who wants Seph's powers all for himself. The story continues to get even more exciting and thrilling. When I was reading, I could not put down the book at certain times. 'Wizard Heir' is actually the second book in the Heir series, but really the series is just a trilogy so far since the series only has three books in it. The first book in the series is the 'Warrior Heir'. I would recommend this book to teenagers who like strong male roles. Also, it would help if they liked magic, sorcery, mystery, drama, and action 'The Wall' one heck of a trip !!!!1 'Wizard Heir' exciting, interesting, dramatic Ceighlee Fennel Staff Writer The novel 'The Wizard Heir', written by Cinda Williams Chima, was an interesting, exciting, and dramatic story. This novel is packed with magic and wizardry. The story started off great with crazy action and I was instantly hooked. Although as the story moved on past the first huge action scene, I kind of lost interest. I did not feel like the story was really moving forward a whole lot and that it was at a standstill. The author had to set up the emotional and dramatic setup plus all the undercurrent plots that revolved around the story during that part, but it just took too long for me and I became a little bored. Other than the slow set-up, the story was definitely enjoyable. The characters were set up A novel packed with magic and wizardry