Stranger Things Season 4

It’s rare that a piece of fiction can find fans across generations, but the 80’s themed Netflix original Stranger Things has pulled it off. Set in Hawkins, Indiana the series follows a group of teenagers unraveling the mysteries surrounding their town, including a series of disappearances and a young girl with mysterious powers. The most recent addition, season 4, continues the story, introducing new fan-favorite characters and a terrifying new villain. 

“Lots of crazy energy.” Benny Kay said. “This is definitely the most horrifying it’s been, I would say with all the bone breaking.”

Unlike the other seasons, this one sports a rating of TV-MA, a step above the TV-14 rating of the other seasons. With a higher rating, and more freedom to explore mature content, this season pulls out all the stops, drawing on classic horror movies as inspiration, something viewers seemed to enjoy. 

 “I really liked it. I like how they took everything from the seasons prior and they amplified it a lot,” Kay said. “There’s a lot more horror aspects and it’s more over-the-top in comedy too, just kind of wacky.”

Overall, reviews of Stranger Things 4 have been positive, celebrating its uniqueness and intricate plot, leaving viewers in anticipation for what the Duffer brothers plan in the final season.

“Summer I Turned Pretty”

Amazon Prime’s “Summer I Turned Pretty” became the new obsession for avid bingers, taking summer 2022 by storm. The show, adapted from a book series, tells the story of fifteen-year-old Belly and her memorable summer vacation at Cousins Beach. The seven episode show focuses on the steamy love triangle between Belly and brothers Jeremiah and Conrad. The show received multiple positive reviews, even though the series changed up a few things that happened in the books.

“I thought it was pretty good, the aesthetics were nice, and it was very entertaining,” Yupapone Phetsavong (12) said. “I watched it all in one sitting up until like four o’clock in the morning.”

It held classic scenes of awkward teen romance, struggles of growing up, family drama and the importance of friendship. Ending up a big success, the show had fans flocking to social media to debate whether they are #TeamJeremiah and #TeamConrad, filling everyone’s TikTok feeds with arguments and fan edits.

“I feel like people should read the trilogy, and then see if that changes their decision on what team they’re on. I would have chosen Jeremiah, he could have cheated on me and I would not care. Everyone should be on Team Jeremiah, Team Jeremiah for the win.” Phetsavong said.

“Minions: Rise of Gru”

By now, probably everyone has heard of Minions: Rise of Gru, especially Generation Z, thanks to the TikTok trend “Gentleminions” that has teens showing up to movie theaters in suits and bananas to watch the movie. The movie did so well that it broke box office records by pulling in a revenue of $129 million in ticket sales. Alex Moreno (12) and his friend group jumped on this trend and proudly showed off their best suits at the movie premiere.

“I liked the movie [because of] the trend and the fact that I got to hang out with my friends and do something fun. We got a good experience out of it.” Moreno said.

Moreno’s friend group had a fun time after this long awaited addition to the series. Their favorite character being a minion named Otto that they claimed had the best character development. The movie followed Pixar’s favorite villain, Gru, and how he rose to power with help from the banana-obsessed deviants.

“Like you cannot really expect anything out of it other than a funny minions movie, but given those expectations it was really good.” Andy Blumberg (12) said.

Rumor has it that there will be another minions movie coming out later, so it will be interesting to see if the suits trend continues.

“My favorite scene was the very end scene,when they go goofy mode,” Mercer said. “The scene ended with a nice cliffhanger of a villain faking their death.”

“Elvis” 

The joke all Memphians share is never actually stepping inside of Graceland nor listening to Elvis’s music, despite this city being the birthplace blues This summer, however, things seemed to change when news picked up that heartthrob Austin Butler was to play the legendary rock and roll star in the movie “Elvis.” Once “Elvis” hit the movie theaters, it was an instant hit and even influenced some students to start listening to Elvis music. 

“I have never been an Elvis fan, the appeal was that it was a Memphis thing and had music, but I have never really been an Elvis fan and the movie highlighted some of his songs for me so I will start listening to some of his songs.” Lexie Heath (12) said.

The movie centers around Elvis’s rise to fame and his life’s downhill turn due to his drug abuse. With the excellent director Baz Luhrmann and talented actors such as Austin Butler and Tom Hanks, the movie was a guaranteed hit. 

“This movie definitely met my expectations, and I have watched some stuff by the director before that I liked so I was very pleased with it, and even ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would.” Heath said.