“Fifteen-hundred people went into the sea, when the Titanic sank from under us. There were 20 boats floating nearby… and only one came back. One. Six were saved from the water, myself included. Six… out of 1,500. Afterward, the 700 people in the boats had nothing to do but wait… wait to die… wait to live… wait for an absolution… that would never come.”

This quote is probably one of the most moving lines from the movie “Titanic.” This was a captivating yet realistic movie, based on a tragedy that occurred in 1912.

This movie goes above and beyond the expectations of a movie, especially in the time it was made. Even to today’s standards, it is said to be one of the greatest movies ever made.

Over the holiday season, it might be one you may want to be again or for the first time.

This movie was made by two major production companies, 20th Century and Paramount, it also cost $200 million to make. James Cameron, the producer of the film, was inspired by the discovery of the Titantic in 1985. He hired top of the line special effects for this movie, and was the most expensive Hollywood movie at the time of its release.

The actors who were hired for this movie were definitely looking for their big break. Leonardo DiCaprio had done a few television appearances and co-starred in the movie “Romeo and Juliet” before “Titanic.” Kate Winslet also had a few acting jobs before starring in the “Titanic.”

Despite the obvious romantic fairytale going on throughout the film, it was actually quite accurate to the appearance and sinking of the ship. James Cameron took pride in this movie and did great amounts of research to make sure things like the ship and how such a tragedy happened were accurately portrayed in the film.

In fact, real blueprints of the original ship were used in constructing the version Fox used for the movie. They also got titanium cased cameras to go into the 400-foot bow of the ship to see what the rooms looked like and what kind of chandeliers were used in the dining areas.

This movie won a record of 11 Oscars including for best picture, and today still remains second as box office king, right under Cameron’s “Avatar.”

The movie, as a whole, was a great film. It kept the audience on their toes and it was a great performance. Although some parts of the tragic love story were unrealistic, it made it all the more heartbreaking when the ending that everyone was expecting became a reality. This is a classic film and was even re-released recently in 3D to show that is still a movie that will be looked at with great pride. The “Titanic” is loved by millions including me and is a great film to see during the holiday season, either with family or that special someone.

“The Dark Knight Rises” was the most anticipated movie of this past summer. With a break between semesters coming up, now might be time to see it if you did not or see it again, just because it is that good.

The end of the breathtaking trilogy, “The Dark Knight Rises” could not have ended in a better fashion. The use of new elements within the movie really added depth to the movie in a variety of ways. The emotion that was captured between the main characters really came to life and become one of the most important elements of the film, which cannot be said about “Batman Begins” or “The Dark Knight,” the two previous movies in the trilogy.

That being said, that alone could not make “The Dark Knight Rises” better than its predecessor, “The Dark Knight” changed everything about how comic book movies could be created. “The Dark Knight” genuinely impressed critics and fans alike earning two Oscars in the process.

The question now is did the finale of this trilogy live up to the hype given to it by the success of the previous film?

Yes, it did.

The movie had its fair share of moments in which I laughed, jumped, or shed a few tears. The director and the actors did a wonderful job at bringing the emotions out of the people watching the film.

Christian Bale played Batman so well it made me think that he could actually be Batman. The acting itself was nothing less than spectacular. With the help of Lucious Fox (Morgan Freeman), Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), and new cop John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) the movie became better as a whole, incorporating A-list actors who played their specific roles to a level that is rarely seen in movies. OId characters mixed with the new provided a very impressive way to view a film. It kept the story fresh and interesting while also showing the characters we have to frown to love since 2005 when “Batman Begins” was released.

When it comes to the action scenes there is no comparison between “The Dark Knight Rises” and the previous movies. The action in this movie was fantastic and some parts of the movie left me breathless, wondering what would happen next. The fighting was on a  much larger scale than the previous movies. The scale of destruction that Bane (Batman’s enemy in the film) brought was tremendous, more so than The Joker of the second film in the trilogy.

While some may argue that The Joker was a better villain, I disagree. Bane is not only depicted as someone who could match the strength of Batman physically, but something more. Bane is the ultimate villain, someone who can make all of our worst nightmares come true. The damage he did was on a massive scale, one that The Joker could not even hope to achieve.

Director Christopher Nolan did an amazing job with the trilogy, but this movie in particular. He closed out the whole film perfectly, leaving his fans with what they needed to know and clearing up and loose ends. He ended the story line effectively, whole also leaving hints that a new hero will rise.

I firmly believe that this movie was the best in the trilogy and the best of the summer, maybe the year. The emotions that it drew out of me down right impressed me unlike any other movie I have seen in a while. I did not desire more in movie.

There was a perfect mix between emotion, action, and plot twists to keep me interested from the start all the way to the end, I even watched some of the credits because I did not want to leave the theatre when it was over.

I saw it three times in the opening week and each time left me more and more satisfied. I could not even begin to think about how the movie could be better. The conclusion to the trilogy that was loved by millions of people left nothing to be desired.

Academy Award winner, Denzel Washington stars as Whip Whitaker, a commercial airline pilot who somehow crash lands his plane after a mid-air catastrophe saving nearly ever soul on board while intoxicated with drugs and alcohol. The movie is called “Flight” but it never really takes off.

The first hour of the movie was filled with action and mystery while the other hour and 15 minutes went crashing down like the flight 225 (referring to the plane crash in 1987 in Detroit). Although other critics say that “Flight soars” (Richard Corliss – TIME), I have to say even if the plane soars, it doesn’t mean it didn’t have “severe turbulence as well.

The movie focuses on Whitaker’s substance abuse along with Nicole Maggen’s (played by Kelly Reilly) addiction to heroine. TO say the least, this movie left me yawning and I dreaded those 138 minutes. As a fan of Denzel Washington and director Robert Zemeckis, who directed Academy Award winning movies like “Forrest Gump” and “Cast Away,” I expected more action, more mystery, and more romance.

“Flight” started off with action then suddenly switched to mystery and then to romance in a very predictable way.

Parts of the movie were decent, but unless you watch the first hour then stop and come back for 15 minutes then leave again and watch the last 10 minutes the movie is not worth it.

The biggest let down of this film was the predictable aspects. Of course an alcoholic is going to give in when confronted with a mini fridge filled with booze. Of course the guy is going to get the girl. The most predictable of all is that Whitaker, who was high on narcotics when the plane he was flying went down, is going to jail.

Despite what has been said, the only thing based on a true story in “Flight” is the flight number and the relevance to the recent plane crash of flight number 1549 in the Hudson River in New York City on Jan. 15, 2009. Do not buy into the stories this film is very loosely based on those events.

“We lost all power! Brace for impact!”

This quote was said by Whitaker during the devastating yet somewhat thrilling dive. Unfortunately this was the only part of the film that kept me at the edge of my seat while other scenes left my head on the seat with absolute boredom.

“Flight” has a great concept and some thrilling moments but when it comes down to keeping the audience’s attention I give it a two out of five stars. What a letdown. Save yourself some money and see something else.

It is looking like it is going to be a white winter this year, and let’s be honest, when we are not outside breaking our backs shoveling the white, fluffy stuff we will be inside, playing our X Box or PlayStation until it overheats. One game that will certainly be stuck in my PlayStation 3 is Madden 13. As a 19-year old college sophomore, I have been an avid Madden fan since Christmas of 1999 when John Madden himself was gracing the cover.

Madden first hit the shelves in 1988 on Apple II computers with a gameplay that trudged along to say the least. EA Sports, the creator of the game and Madden series, knew they needed a legend to lend his expertise and knowledge of the sport of football if they wanted to be successful. With that in mind, they tracked down John Madden, legendary player, coach and broadcaster.

“If it isn’t 11 on 11, it isn’t real football,” Madden stated.

EA was hoping to keep the number of players to 5 or 6 a team to speed up gameplay but Madden would have none of it. His ultimatum was clear: “I’m not putting my name on it if it’s not real.”

Throughout the years, Madden has progressively gotten better and more realistic, however, last year I feel they dropped the ball, BIG TIME. Madden 12 was the worst Madden I have ever played and for the first time was a game that I did not want to keep playing. I know numerous Madden fans who were livid with the Madden 12 production, many of who were ready to quit on the Madden series altogether. It was flawed in so many ways from the gameplay to the graphics, to the intro to each game. It was a step back from the few previous Maddens and made me nervous that the series would continue down the same path that one did.

As horrible as Madden 12 was, Madden 13 came along and saved the day for Madden fans all over. The “13” game has improved the on-field gameplay light years ahead of 2012 and even introduced a new physics engine or infinity engine. This new technology makes every tackle look and feel completely different from the last, making sure the gameplay does get old.

The obvious attention to detail truly shows through in the game play of Madden 13, with a few additions that immediately caught my eye. For starters, fumbles actually look like fumbles this year. In previous Maddens, the ball would mysteriously float out of the ball carries hands, with no real evidence as to why he fumbled the football. In 13, a bone crushing hit or a defensive player purposely strafing the ball pries it loose out of the ball carries hands. A second addition that can be somewhat frustrating at times but amazingly realistic is ball carrying. When the running back is tripped up by one of their own fallen offensive linemen at the line of scrimmage, just catching their toe on the leg of a lineman, it ruins what could have been a big play. This is something Madden fans are not familiar with. They were used to the ball carrier just running through their own lineman as if they do not exist. This advancement is another step Madden 13 made in making it way more realistic and closer to the football were used to watching on Sundays.

Graphics have made a huge upgrade in Madden 13 as well with uniforms, players’ faces and stadiums coming to life more than ever. Along with advanced graphics came improved player animations. Before the game kicks off you can see one player embracing his teammates with pats on the back, and pre-game pep talks. Coaches and player interaction has also been improved as well. Game introductions have probably taken the largest step forward. They have chosen the announcers we see in the booth every Sunday afternoon, with real life screen shots of them before kickoff, and realistic commentary on certain players or aspect of each respective match-up.

Overall, I rate Madden 13 a 4.5 out of 5. Madden 13 is going to set you back $60, however it is well worth it. Madden 13 is a realistic reenactment of what takes place on the field every Sunday, and I simply cannot put the controller down. It looks and feels like the real thing and for my money is the greatest Madden ever released, and a huge step forward for EA Sports and the Madden Series.

“It was a beautiful place. I told myself I could rest here, sleep here and forget about my work.”

Alan Wake is proof that the Xbox 360 is more than just a three franchise console. With the release of Halo 4 earlier this month, many critics came out of the woodworks claiming that Halo, along with Gears of War and Forza, is the only thing the system has going for it. However, gems like Remedy Entertainment’s 2010 psychological action thriller shows that the 360 has plenty to offer if you’re willing to look deep enough into its catalog.

After a brief tutorial section, Alan Wake begins with the title character taking a trip to the lovely town of Bright Falls hoping that a vacation will help with his two-year bout with writer’s block. When he arrives at his cabin, Alan discovers that the trip was merely a ploy by his wife, Alice, who hoped that the small town would give the bestselling thriller writer the inspiration he needed to get started on his new novel. Angered, Alan storms out of the cabin, but when night comes Alice is dragged into a lack by an entity and though Alan dives in after her he wakes up a week later inside of a crashed car.

A key theme of Alan Wake is the difference between light and dark and the game is able to provide an excellent contrast between the two. When the sun is up, Bright Falls feels serene, calm – safe; however, once the sun sets the town becomes a totally different beast.

The nighttime gameplay is when Alan Wake truly shines. The graphics of the game aren’t anything to write home about, but it’s ample to send chills down your spine and draw you in enough so that you jump as you play these night sections. Armed with a flashlight and a gun, the player is forced to trek through places like forests thickened with fog as Alan searches for answers and his wife.

The flashlight is necessary to fight the Taken—humans possessed by the darkness—as they are impervious to damage until you burn away their darkness leaving them vulnerable so you can pump them full of bullets.

Through the gameplay may seem simple at first, the fame does a great job of filling you with a sense of dread as you trudge through these darkened places because you never know when the Taken will show up or how many of them will be thrown out at you at once.

These battles with the Taken provide a certain level of tactical gameplay as you need to decide on the fly who to go after first—as our flashlight can hot only one at a time and boosting the intensity of the beam drains battery, not to mention that some of the Taken can teleport—or if you’re in a dire enough situation to use your flare gun. The option to run away is there, but issues arise with Alan not being very athletic. He can’t jump very high or sprint too fast or for too long, and while he can dodge, the mechanics aren’t perfect and it’s possible to dodge a blow and then fall off a cliff your doom, so unless there’s a light source nearby you’ll be forced to stand and fight.

Light sources in the form of lamp posts or cabins provide temporary safe havens that allow your health bar to fill up and your heart rate to slow down as you take a moment to catch your breath and assess the situation. For a moment you feel safe until that feeling of dead creeps down on you when you realize that you’ll soon have to step out of your sanctuary and back into the danger zone.

Finnish developer Remedy Entertainment—known for their work on the first two Max Payne games—does a solid job of putting together a narrative that makes your care enough to step out of the light. And just like Max Payne, which innovated use of bullet time in a game, Alan Wake’s gameplay is unique in its own way which is a plus and both games feature the title characters thinking out loud throughout the game although it can seem unnecessary at times when Alan would state the obvious.

Alan Wake is able to separate itself from anything Remedy Entertainment has ever done by being presented as a game that plays out as a mystery television program complete with excellent end credit music and ‘Last time on Alan Wake’ segments. The game is split into six episodes with each unraveling a piece of the puzzle, and each taking you through a different part of Bright Falls—at one point Alan finds himself in a committed to a mental ward—and the game does a great job mixing things up so that you’re not always on foot. The game does such a great job of making you feel so isolated and alone that there’s a sense of relief when someone tags along with you, though it’s always temporary. While the pacing and execution of these episodes are great, it won’t take too long to get through each and the overall game is hurt by its shortness in length.

As with most single player adventures, there truly isn’t much reason to go back and play through the game again unless you feel compelled to play through your favorite episode again. There are hidden extras in the game such as radios that play different segments of a nighttime talk show and television sets that play different segments of a fictional Night Spring show that uses real actors and while missing these things won’t hurt your experience, they definitely enhance it. These shows are worth a watch as they’re genuinely interesting and entertaining with one episode showcasing a man trying to prove his immortality by shooting himself in the head.

The ending of the game itself also felt a bit weak as the story doesn’t come to a satisfying conclusion and instead sets up the tale to be expanded through the DLC packs that were later released: The Writer and The Signal (560 MSP each), and then Alan Wake’s American Nightmare released in 2012 on Xbox Live (1200 MSP) which serves as another story expansion before full-fledged sequel is released.

Overall, Alan Wake is an excellent game.

It’s no surprise “Here Comes the Boom” feels oddly reminiscent of a gathering of old friends given the movie was born out of the Happy Gilmore production line, which is noted for its hiring of the same group of friends. This company has produced many other films, including Grown Ups in 2010 and 2007s “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.”

The company’s latest production also has the family affair vibe many of these other films boast. Both Kevin James and Selma Hayak step in front of the camera again to portray the principal characters in this feel good film.

Scott Voss (James) is a lackluster biology teacher with a good guy hidden under the shell of disinterest who is stuck in the rut of investing all his energies into trying to get the school nurse, Bella Flores (Hayak) to date him.

A wrench is thrown into his predictable lifestyle when the school cuts the music program, leaving Voss to come up with a plan to win the affections of Flores and save the music program.

Much like “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry,” “Here Comes the Boom” attempts to weave a social message within the film, one of education and giving to others.

This movie is such a feel good film that it leaves you wanting to save a school, or at the very least, hold the door for the person leaving the theatre behind you. Though the movie’s premise is totally unreliable and the viewers are totally aware of the improbability of the plot, you become invested in the outcome.

This investment is totally based upon the cast. While I felt no chemistry between Voss and Flores, I loved Eric and Lauren, Voss’s brother and sister-in-law. They were portrayed by James’ real life brother (Gary Valentine) and Melissa Peterman of Reba fame. Their antics, which centered around marital spats and a growing family, stole the film and set a bar that Voss and Flores’ chemistry failed to meet. Perhaps this is because I am used to the female lead opposite James to be as memorable as he was, as was the case with Leah Remini in “The King of Queens.”

Indeed, the entire supporting cast, from the lovable if out of touch music teacher who thinks Neil Diamond is good fight music (Henry Winkler) to Voss’ citizenship student turned MMA coach (Bas Rutten) form the basis for a really great film.

Perhaps it is because many of the actors have worked together before, but the way they played of each other was just wonderful. It is these characters, especially that of Winkler, that I connected with.

We see, through them, the changes that Voss undergoes to save his school and it through their perceptions and actions that I grew to understand Voss and why he would undertake such an improbable mission.

For me, this film was so uplifting and refreshing. In a world wherein most films contain some elements of sex, death and violence, it was wonderful to see a film that emphasizes giving to others and growing as a person. I felt it had an entertaining, if improbable plot, with a wonderful message.

The main benefit of the film, however, was being able to see actors that I have grown to love all together on one film. The fact there was a message is icing on the cake, as most fans of any of these wonderful actors would have gone to see the film if they did nothing but sit and talk for 105 minutes.

The only drawback to this recommended film was the seeming incompatibility of James and Hayek’s characters.

This wasn’t a movie.

This was so much more than just a movie. What Steve Spielberg along with his all-star cast has accomplished is the first ever visual textbook. No more have I ever been so enthralled in a history lesson. In the movie “Lincoln,” they fill Abraham Lincoln and one of his most memorable moments as president with breath and life.

Daniel Day-Lewis, two time winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor, ceases to exist on screen, but instead is replaced by none other than Abraham Lincoln in the flesh. On several occasions I have to look off screen to remind myself I was sitting in a theater, not exchanging in clever parley with “Honest Abe.”

Another star who acted exceptionally well on screen is Tommy Lee Jones, a one-time Academy Award Winner for Best Supporting Actor. He takes on the role of Thaddeus Stevens masterfully. Soon enough, Jones may be polishing off his second Best Supporting Actor trophy when all is said and done.

This movie is not outstanding based on acting merit alone.

Costume and set design are top notch and every aspect on screen meets in sync with the times and place of American in 1865.

Most importantly, the plot in the movie is factual and true to events. The real events of history shine in this movie unmarred by the influences Hollywood may have on some films claimed as “true events.”

Local expert Justin Nordstrom an Associate Professor of History at Penn State Hazleton, attests to this.

“The film focuses on 1865 – the last year of the Civil War and the passage of the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution that end slavery. Ironically, Lincoln is usually given credit as the ‘Great Emancipator’ for allegedly freeing the slaves years earlier in his Emancipation Proclamation. This film shows the inaccuracy of that view and correctly points out that the actual ending of slavery required a hotly-debated amendment and involved the fiery personalities of many members of Congress,” Nordstrom said.

Nordstrom believes this film accurately provides a glimpse into a side of Lincoln that many textbooks fail to show.

“I would recommend this movie to my students, especially given Lewis’ portrayal. He researched 19th-century newspaper reports of Lincoln’s high-pitched, screechy voice, which came as a surprise. It also shows Lincoln’s personal and family life. Although the movie only covers the last year of the Civil War (1865) and ends with Lincoln’s assassination, it does a great job of capturing the dynamic tensions involved in this pivotal year.”

“Lincoln” is a first-rate drama for anyone to watch, not just crazy civil war re-enactors or history buffs. It has a little something for everyone.

Nordstrom added, “Even someone that has no interest in history (sadly, there are such people) would love Lincoln. Daniel Day-Lewis’ portrayal is excellent and Tommy Lee Jones is, too. Just from a cinematic and theatrical perspective, this is a great movie.”

Nordstrom concluded, “My money is on Lewis winning the Oscar for Best Actor next spring.”

I tend to agree with him.

Immerse yourself in the past and watch “Lincoln;” a movie Nordstrom and I give five stars.