BAM! It dawns on you: “Home is where the war is”.

Homefront grabs the player and thrusts them into a world most would rather leave unexplored. From the opening scene the message is sent that this is a battle worth fighting. The game exposes the atrocities of a totalitarian occupation as well as the adaptation of a nation changed for the worse. Nothing is more emotionally engaging than fighting on your own soil, and that’s Homefront’s greatest strength.

The game play is playable but uninspired. Seldom were there any innovations. Most of the time you moved at a snail’s pace because your allies got their feelings hurt if you tried going on alone. It often felt that any innovations in the game were just something the developer thought was cool at the time. For example towards the end of the game the player is given control of a C-130 gunship. This lasts less than a minute… Another example is around the halfway mark you are given control of a “Little Bird” helicopter. However, for being the climax of the game it is uninspired and is annoying to play.

Homefront’s multiplayer is fun, but gets old. Yes it’s fun to defend a position until you’re out of ammo. However the game is plagued by snipers. It suffers from sudden death almost immediately after spawn and causes major problems for the player.

Homefront’s story is amazing. The settings, and the sound, all prove themselves. Homefront’s focus was misplaced and that’s its greatest weakness.

Kyle (Alex Pettyfer) is a superficial, popular icon at his high school who is currently running for class president. He uses his good looks and wealth to win the election over. While the election goes on, Kendra (Mary-Kate Olsen) plays the role of a spiritual “witch” at the high school who casts the spell of turning his looks from hot to hideous. She does this to aloow his ugly personality to be seen on the outside. She also explains that he has a year to find someone to love him for who is and not what he looks like to get his old looks back.

The movie goes through his year of feeling doomed and locking himself inside an excluded home with only his maid and blind tutor to keep him company. Then later he becomes fascinated with a girl named Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens) who is need of his protection due to her dealing father. As in the classic, Lindy is forced to stay in Kyle’s custody until she is safe.

Also, a similarity in this film is that it brought back various Disney actors including Hudgens and Olsen. They both use to be quite popular in the Disney world and now they are both back on the big screen from a time of little to no work.

The romantic and comedic performance explores the idea of whether if love does see past looks and money to a deeper meaning. The film suggests that true beauty is beyond what is sometimes seen as beastly.

The movie was funny and did not drag on, although at some points it became cheesy. It is a great movie to see with a boyfriend or girlfriend for a date. The attempt of giving an old story, a modern twist, was successful. Beastly was an overall good movie with good graphics for the beast himself.

The show is supposed to explain the life of an “All American Teenager” which I believe is nothing but an overrated stereotype. The cast includes nine teenage boys and girls who each have their own unique stories. So far each episode goes into the life of one character, their background, and who they are now. Every teen has problems of their own which can range from substance abuse, to dysfunctional families, to mental illnesses like eating disorders.

A lot of discussion has gone into if the show is not suitable for MTV’s viewers. MTV has even lost sponsors due to keeping the show on air. Some lost sponsors include Schick Hydro and Taco Bell who have completely pulled their ads. The cast members ages range from fifteen to twenty, which is raising eyebrows due to the stunts and scenes they are in that they may not be suitable for minors.

To be sure, the program is a little more “out there” then most shows but it is entertaining, and shows like Jersey Shore and Teen Mom, also on MTV, also promote bad behavior. Even sponsors backed off when Jersey Shore first aired but it was able to stay showing on MTV. In a way it is just trying to be realistic although Skins may overdo it a bit. Not every teenager or I even think majority of teens act out as much as the cast does on Skins.

Before the show starts there is an obvious warning that the show is rated MA, for mature audiences. The show is also is in a late time slot which helps keep it from younger audiences. It is a scripted show that is not showing actual actions by these kids.  MTV has mostly reality shows and wants to bring back a scripted show into their programs

What it’s about:
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer was not accepted by his fellow reindeer because he had a red nose. They didn’t allow him to play any reindeer games. Santa accepted him though, and brought him to success.

Why you should watch it:
 It’s a Christmas classic and there are many different versions, among them, claymation and animation. It has become a part of American Christmas culture.

#9 – THE SANTA CLAUSE

What it’s about:
A father sees Santa fall off a roof and then has to assume the role of Santa Claus.

Why you should watch it:
It’s a twist on the traditional Christmas movies, and it would be so much fun to have your dad be Santa.

#8 – A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS

What it’s about:
Charlie Brown searches for the true meaning of Christmas when he notices everyone is too materialistic. He tries to show everyone what Christmas really means.

Why you should watch it:
Charlie Brown is another classic. People have grown up with with it since the 1960s. This movie teaches everyone what Christmas is all about.

#7 – FROSTY THE SNOWMAN

What it’s about:
A group of kids put a magic hat on a snowman and he came to life! They befriend him as they try to run away from the magician who is trying to steal his hat back.

Why you should watch it:
Frosty the Snowman is another Christmas classic. It’s a really fun movie that’s good for all ages.

#6 – CHRISTMAS CAROL

What it’s about:
Scrooge is a stingy man who hates Christmas, and he is visited by three ghosts of past, present, and future that try to make him change his ways to save his fate.

Why you should watch it:
The Jim Carrey version is the first 3D Christmas movie, which makes it awesome in itself. The animation is really good and it’s a modern look on a classic book.

#5 – HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS

What it’s about: Based on the book by Dr. Suess, the Grinch hates everyone in Whoville and plots to steal everyone’s Christmas presents. However, a little girl tries to befriend him and change his ways.

Why you should watch it: Dr. Seuss is timeless, and it demonstrates the meaning of Christmas. There are animated versions and a real life version, so no matter what, so it suits different tastes.

#4 – JOYEUX NOELWhat it’s about:
On Christmas Eve during World War I, the French, Scottish, and German call a truce for that night so they call all celebrate the holiday together.

Why you should watch it:
The movie is in partly English, French, and German, and it’s just all-around great. The change among the languages makes it all the more interesting, along with the really good message.

#3 – THE POLAR EXPRESSWhat it’s about:
Based on the picture book, The Polar Express, a boy gets on a magic train headed for the North Pole on Christmas Eve.

Why you should watch it:
The animation is very life-like, and who doesn’t want to see a movie based on a book from their childhood?

#2 – ELF

What it’s about:
Buddy, a baby taken up to the North Pole to work as an elf, finds out that his real father is in New York. He goes on an epic journey to find his family and instill Christmas spirit in everyone.

Why you should watch it:
It’s funny and there’s just something so humorous about a giant elf that tries to fit in in a normal world.

#1 – A CHRISTMAS STORY

What it’s about:
A nine-year-old boy named Ralphie really wants a BB gun for Christmas, and despite what all the adults say, he knows it’d be perfect. He and his friends get into all kinds of shenanigans along the way.

Why you should watch it:
It has become a classic and you can watch it hundreds of times, and it’ll never get old

Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) created Facebook while attending Harvard, after getting several thousand hits on Facemash, a website he designed and created.

Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) and some other friends help Mark create Facebook, while Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (Armie Hammer) claim that Facebook was stolen from them, so they filed a lawsuit against Mark.

Mark gets caught in another lawsuit with Eduardo because of complications with Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) and the amount of Facebook that he actually took part in.

The best part of this movie is the script. There aren’t any special effects or epic battle scenes. It’s just the story and the characters that make The Social Network such a great movie.

The cast was amazing as well. I thought Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss were played by two different people, but Hammer played both very well. Eisenberg was brilliant as Mark Zuckerberg.

The beginning of the movie was a little slow. It seemed like nothing really happened until at least a half hour into it. Also, the ending was pretty abrupt. It kind of ends with no explanation.

All in all, The Social Network was an all-around great movie with an awesome cast that anyone can be interested in and love.

Season four started on a high note, with the events from season three wrapping up with Dexter killing “The Skinner” and getting married to Rita (Julie Benz). Everything seemed to be going well and the mood was happy going into season four. When season four started Rita had already given birth to their son Harrison and they moved from Rita’s old house to a house in the suburbs. Clearly things are changing in Dexter’s life, and that doesn’t settle well with his “dark passenger.” His urge to kill and his new family life don’t go together well and he starts to get anxious to kill again. Also, the new baby is a pain to deal with, and Dexter always finds himself tired and off his game around work. At his worst Dexter fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into a tree. Nothing bad came out of this accident besides for a concussion, but it made Dexter realize he needs to do a better job of spreading his time out.

Meanwhile there’s a new serial killer on the loose in Miami. His name is the “Trinity Killer” (John Lithgow) because his killing spree is always the same three kills detail for detail. First he murders a young woman in a bathtub, then forces an older woman with two kids to jump to her death, and finally bludgeons a father of two to death. Dexter later discovers the process started with the abduction of a ten year old boy.

Season four was also eventful as it was the return of Special Agent Frank Lundy (Keith Carradine). He retired from the F.B.I. but is back in Miami on personal business to hunt down the Trinity Killer. He had to go on this investigation independently because Trinity does such a good job of hiding his crimes and being sporadic about it that Lundy couldn’t convince the serial killer even existed. The original hunt of the Trinity Killer started with Lundy, but ended with Miami Metro taking the case and then once it was solved the F.B.I. took the case to clean up the edges and find the killer.

With the return of Frank Lundy came the complication with Deb (Jennifer Carpenter) and her current boyfriend Anton (David Ramsey), who she met when he was a confidential informant to her last season. Deb starts to fall for Lundy again, and begins to work with him on the case. But when they started getting close, they were shot by some unknown person, who turns out to be Trinity’s daughter, in the middle of the night in the parking lot of Lundy’s apartment. Deb survives, but Lundy doesn’t.

Dexter decides to pick up on where Lundy left off with his hunt of the Trinity Killer. When he discovers Trinity’s identity, he is surprised to find that the guy is a family man like Dexter. The shocker made Dexter curious about what this guy was like so he starts to get to know Trinity. Things get dangerous when he realizes the killer isn’t the good guy he portrays. Dexter decides he has to kill him as soon as possible, but things get complicated and eventually the killer finds out who Dexter really is, and advises him to stay out of his way. Dexter continues to pursue him and on the final episode successfully catches and kills the Trinity Killer.

Everything seems to be ending well for Dexter when he returns home that evening. He’s supposed to pack and head on vacation with Rita who left earlier that day. Dexter didn’t go with because he wanted to kill Trinity before hand, so he told Rita he had work. When Dexter arrived at his house he listened to a message on his phone from Rita from earlier that morning saying she forgot something and was heading back home before leaving for the vacation. When he called her to see if she made it he heard her phone in the house followed by Harrison crying from another room. He rushed to the room to find Rita dead in a bathtub full of her own blood with Harrison sitting there crying with blood on him. This image mirrors Dexter’s experience when his mother was killed in front of him and his brother.

It was a tough way to end an incredible season of Dexter. It sets up for an exciting fifth season, with a lot of potential. The biggest question is whether Dexter will be discovered as the man he really is, or can he clean up his mess before anything goes wrong? Also, how will Rita’s children react to their mother’s death and how will Dexter be able to care for them while trying to take care of himself? Expect all these questions and more to be answered in what could possibly be the best season of Dexter yet. The season premiere is Sunday, September 26^th at 9 o clock central time on Showtime.

Soon after the novel opens, Zits is found in jail again, where he meets another teenager who goes by the name of “Justice.” Justice takes Zits to his home in an abandoned warehouse, where the two spend their hours pretending to shoot newspaper and real life targets with unloaded guns. As they spend more and more time together, Justice convinces Zits to take their practice into real life situation, with loaded guns.

After gunning down a bank, and consequently taking a bullet to his head, Zits wakes up in a body that is not his own. Throughout the rest of the book, Zits keeps waking up in different bodies and taking “flights” to different historical events and being put in the bodies of numerous characters. The novel progresses as Zits learns and changes his perspective on things during these “flights.”

Flight is unlike any other book I’ve read in the fact that it blends so many genres into one novel. Historical facts, humor, and even a little time travel are combined to create Flight. As a whole, Alexie hits the spot in blending these elements together and weaving a cohesive story all at the same time, however Flight is missing a few key ingredients for it to be fully satisfying.

Flight succeeds at most levels, especially as an attention keeper. I read through the novel twice, and could hardly put it down both times. The story telling is good, although not brilliant, and Zits comes alive as a main character. The novel also is interesting from a historical perspective, as Alexie gives his representation of some famous historical events. Despite serious themes, a raw and often dark sense of humor runs throughout the entire novel.

Despite all of the positive aspects, Flight left me itching for more depth. Many of the side characters felt underdeveloped and the plot, especially the ending, lacked the punch that I was hoping for. Alexie set the framework for an incredibly deep novel, but failed to deliver.

While I enjoyed Flight and would probably recommend it, much of Alexie’s other work is stronger, and would be recommended far before Flight.  It was an interesting read, but the lack of depth kept Flight from being as good as Alexie’s other novels.

The basic plot of the book was the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It followed the voyage the Puritans made and then how they tried starting a new life. John Winthrop was the new governor and it showed his struggles in trying to start new. He was a very influential member of the society and he was there to help the other Puritans realize this “was what God wanted them to do”

What a mistake on my part! The book wasn’t actually bad, but it was very confusing. Author Sarah Vowell tried making the book more fun by relating herself to the stories, but in reality, it just made it more complicated. One minute Vowell would be talking about how John Winthrop wanted to build “a city upon a hill,” and the next she would be talking about visiting a museum with her nephew.

This book was very interesting if you like history, but if you don’t, I recommend reading The Mayflower. From this experience, I learned that it doesn’t matter about how many pages a book has because even if it is shorter, it might take just as long to read if it doesn’t capture your attention.

Popular girls and friends Aria (Lucy Hale), Spencer (Troian Bellisario), Emily (Shay Mitchell), and Hanna (Ashley Benson) are brought back together a year after their best friend Alison (Sasha Pieterse) mysteriously disappeared, when her body has been found. They start getting texts from “A,” an unknown person that knows all of their secrets – secrets only Alison knew. “A” threatens to reveal everything, including Aria’s relationship with her English teacher, Hanna’s shoplifting problem, Spencer’s stealing of her sister’s boyfriends, and Emily’s crush on the new girl, Maya (Bianca Lawson).

Their biggest secret, however, happened while Alison was still around. They blinded a girl, Jenna (Tammin Sursok), while burning down her garage and blamed it all on her creepy step-brother Toby (Keegan Allen). They thought this was all behind them, until Jenna and Toby come back to school… with the police investigating everything.

The acting is not great and the characters are slightly unbelievable, but the drama and storyline makes up for that. It sucks you in and always leaves you waiting for the next episode. It’s addicting and impossible to stop watching after one episode. As soon as it seems like “A”’s identity will be revealed, another character with a motive pops up.

This show is 100% drama-filled, with the final episode of the first season ending with a possibility that one of the four girls is dead. The second season airs in January 2011, and once you watch it once, you just have to watch it again.

The Simpsons- I find this show to be a lot better than the last few seasons, however the biggest problem is the lack of ideas after 20 years; maybe The Simpsons has just lost it. They just need a break. I say take the down time in between seasons and really concoct a great season. Do not focus on old characters and have less random episodes. I think ‘The Simpsons” movie was a good change. It showed that they are in fact still funny but they just need the time to concentrate and really get back to business.

South Park- I do not know how these guys work. They take current issues and turn them into a hilarious show the next week. I personally have laughed at every episode in recent memory, but that does not mean the writers do not have their flaws. “South Park” does not always need to be topical like Tiger Woods’ sex scandal or the legalization of marijuana in certain areas. I personally find that episodes based around characters like the hatred between Nathan and Jimmy or Towlies drug addiction can be funny now and it will be funny in a year. To stay funny, they need to be themselves and not news analysts.

The Boondocks- Aaron Macgruder’s comic strip turned into a cartoon on Adult Swim. The show deals with a lot of race and political issues, but handles it from several different angles. The young political activist, the ghetto kid, and the old grandfather show several sides on the issues. I really like this show but it has one big problem: its constant use of the N-word. It may be around in music and television, but there is absolutely no need for it to be the only word these characters udder. If they simply removed those words or replaced them, this show would be so much more enjoyable to a wider audience.

American Dad- Another one of Seth McFarlane’s many hits. I like this show, but I find my biggest problem with it lies in its characters, specifically Roger. He is a space alien who smokes, drinks and gets into some crazy adventures. This is funny, but when every single episode features a main plot about him seducing Francine, pooping out gold and diamonds or becoming a crooked cop. It becomes overdone. Take a break with Roger and go back to Stan and Steve’s relationship or even Klaus’ history. That is where the humor is and not in a stupid, crazy alien plot.

The Cleveland Show- This is one of the only shows that I have trouble finding any flaws in. There are occasional cut aways, but they work and the plot’s, albeit wild, almost always has a good story. I still say the show needs improvement with its background characters. I still don’t see the connections between them and the Browns. I also think the characters need much more development; show us a hint of the characters’ back story.