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The Best Drink Ever?

For many of you, New Year’s Resolutions are constructed during the beginning of January. You’re wrapping up the calendar year, unwrapping the last of your holiday presents and thinking about ways to improve your life. New year, new you… right?

For some of us, however, the concept of a year is much different. When we leave high school, or college, our live change dramatically. Growing up, before we ever come near the strenuous weight of adulthood, the year is based on school. Most schools run from August/September until May/June. The summer is that vacation which we all yearn for throughout the nonstop hustle and bustle of the year. As a former physical education teacher at Los Angeles Unified School District, I know that feeling all too well. 

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Pacific Rim Uprising Movie Review

There was a lot of excitement leading up to Pacific Rim. The 2013 release of the first Pacific Rim directed by Guillermo del Toro allowed the creative mastermind a huge budget which would be needed to create such a large-scale blockbuster. With a star-studded cast and a composer as the top of their game, what could possibly go wrong? Any nerd that loved transformers, Gundam, Godzilla or nearly anything in the realm of science fantasy fiction would surely love this, right?

Well, that was the problem. Expectations were far too high and nearly everyone that it aimed to please was, to some degree, disappointed. The result was a relatively poor domestic box office performance, although the overseas audience (especially in China) agreed with the fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, enjoying the sheer entertainment value the film brought. 

Fast forward to 2018 to the sequel, Pacific Rim Uprising, and expectations were far lower. Without legendary creator Guillermo del Toro, composer Ramin Djawadi and the first movie’s lead actor, we felt the film took a much different approach. Using a much smaller budget, they decided to use John Boyega’s skills to create a much more charming experience. The result was a film that made its budget back on opening weekend, dethroning Black Panther, despite its much lower score (~25%) on Rotten Tomatoes.

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