Tech Review
The Apple MacBook: High Powered
Laptop Perfect for High Schoolers
By: Emilio Ramos (July 28, 2006)
The new Apple laptops are here! Well, actually they have been out for a while and I’m just getting around to the review now

Film Review
‘Good Night, Good Luck’: Great Film
By Danny Hickle (June 14, 2006)
“ Good Night, and Good Luck,” the fairly recent film and very recently released DVD from George Clooney was nominated for six prestigious Oscars, and it’s not hard to tell why

Film Review
‘Da Vinci’ Can’t Quite Crack the Code
By: Daniel Watkins (June 13, 2006)
After being a worldwide bestselling book, Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code seemed destined for the big screen.

Film Review
‘B13’: Intense Action Film that
Also Makes a Social Statement
By Eamonn Rockwell (June 12, 2006)
When the average American thinks of France, he thinks of pastries, the Eiffel Tower and Germans marching in the tree-lined streets through the Champ Elysees.

Restaurant Review
Hoang’s Offers a Taste of True
Asian Cuisine in Falls Church
By Sarah Van Buren (June 1, 2006)
A trendy looking restaurant on a corner of Broad Street near Burger King, Hoang’s Grill and Sushi Bar at first gives the appearance of being another overpriced restaurant for uncooked fish. But in fact Hoang’s is one of the best restaurants in the area for authentic Pan-Asian cuisine.

Restaurant Review
Battle of the Burgers: Five Guys Goes
Up Against Elevation Burger
A Dual Review To Settle Which One Is Best
By Danny Hickle (May 26, 2006)
Over the past few months, a question has been brought up time and time again regarding two local and wonderful burger joints. T he question is, “Which one is better?”

Music Review
‘Stadium Arcadium’: The Red Hot
Chili Peppers at Their Funky,
Soulful, Totally Eclectic Best
By Margaret Lipman (May 15, 2006)
If you’re familiar with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, you’ll know that they’ve changed a lot in the last two and a half decades.

Theater Review
‘Fools’ Mixes Russian History,
American Culture
By Ashley Wellman of Washington-Lee High School (April 2, 2006)
(Ms. Wellman is a CAPPIES high school reviewer for The Washington Post. She attended Mason’s production of Fools to write this review.)
If a butcher were to ask “Do I have any mail?” how often would the responding postman say, “No, I'm the postman, I have all the mail.”

Play Review
Featherbrained Foolishness Made
For a Grand Time for ‘Fools’
By Chelsea Cook of Home School ITS (April 2, 2006)
(Ms. Cook is a CAPPIES reviewer for The Washington Post. She attended Mason’s production of Fools to write this review.)
If you think 14 is a dozen, you wish to speak Rabbit, your whitefish smells like flowers and yellow is your favorite color because it doesn’t stick to your fingers as much, you might just be enough of a “Fool” to belong in Kulyenchikov, Russia.

Film Review
‘Inside Man’: Spike Lee
Pitches Successful Changeup
By: Daniel Watkins (April 2, 2006)
“ The Inside Man” is a tough movie to read. It is about a bank heist that is masterfully planned by Dalton Russell (Clive Owen), and executed to a “T.” Detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) is a hostage negotiator, who is primarily responsible for the 50 hostages stuck inside the bank.

Film Review
‘Vendetta’: Action Letdown, but
Makes Daring Statements
By Olivia Farrow (March 23, 2006)
If Hugo Weaving was willing to wear a goofy clown mask and Natalie Portman was OK with people shaving her head for V for Vendetta, it must be pretty good, right?

Film Review
‘Constant Gardener’: Well Acted,
Well Intentioned, Inherently Flawed
By Alex Holachek (March 23, 2006)
The Constant Gardener, released on DVD about a month ago, strives to be an intelligent romance/thriller with a conscience. Perhaps it attempts too much.

Film Review
‘Night Watch’: Frenetic, Clever
Look at the ‘Big Question
By Alex Holachek (February 27, 2006)
I first saw Nochnoi Dozor (“Night Watch”) in a Moscow movie theater almost a year ago. My friends and I had decided to see the blockbuster film after being subjected to a city-wide publicity blitz characterized by ominous billboards portraying flocks of ravens and a serious looking guy in sunglasses and maybe a knight or two.

Film Review
‘Glory Road’: Sports Story
Captures History of Its Times
By Paul Mene (February 8, 2006)
It is described as the game that changed the history of college basketball. The country was focused on the 1966 NCAA basketball championship game.

Game Review
Situated in Ancient Athens, ‘God
Of War’ Is One of the Best
By: Kris McMahon (February 3, 2006)
The video game time period is ancient Athens. You are Kratos, a young and fierce Spartan warrior. Once he was the leader of a ruthless and powerful Spartan army, Kratos and his army ravaged and destroyed anyone they encountered.

Film Review
‘Underworld Evolution’: Action 10
Times Matrix’s Fighting Scenes
By: Kris McMahon (February 2, 2006)
Underworld Evolution, draws the viewer into the war raging between vampires and lycons (werewolves). Director Len Wiseman does an excellent job of continuing the ongoing conflict between these two species, in his sequel of Underworld.

Film Review
‘Wedding Crashers’ Keeps
The Jokes Rolling
By Olivia Farrow (January 16, 2005)
There isn’t a shortage of these types of Zoolander/Dodge Ball movies, and at first I thought that this was another cookie cutter SNL riff movie.

Film Review
‘Grandmas’s Boy’: Simple, Stupid, Hilarious!
By:Daniel Watkins (January 14, 2006)
First off, if you don’t like movies that seem to be pointless and have no plot, don’t read on. On the other hand, if you just want to laugh and not worry about the story, this is definitely the movie for you.

Film Review
‘Aeon Flux’ Blends Action, Intelligent Science Fiction, Thrilling Twists
By Billy Gallagher (January 14, 2006)
“Aeon Flux” is a science fiction film based on a television show and comic series. I am not familiar with either but was informed by a friend that the TV show was put together by the same staff that worked on “River.”

Film Review
‘ De Battre Mon Coeur S'est Arête’:
Memorable and Artful Remake
By Alex Holachek (January 11, 2005)
Thomas Seyr (Romain Duris) is a conflicted man. By day, the low-level Parisian crook makes shady real estate deals.

Film Review
‘Brokeback Mountain’: Not Just a
‘Gay Cowboy Movie,’ But a Beautiful,
Heartbreaking Love Story
By Margaret Lipman (December 29, 2005)
If you’ve heard anything about “Brokeback Mountain,” you’ve probably heard that it’s “that gay cowboy movie.” Which, of course, it is. But beyond that, this film is also an incredibly gripping and dramatic love story that hopefully anyone, if they can set aside any assumptions, misconceptions, and stereotypes, can enjoy.

Film Review
Drop What You’re Doing, Call Your Friends, and Go See ‘King Kong’!
By Will Stewart (December 19, 2005)
Ladies and gentlemen, drop what you’re doing, call your friends, and go see the new “King Kong.”

Film Review
Surprise! ‘King Kong’ Will Leave
You Bored if You’re Looking for Action
By: Andrew Puzick (December 15, 2005)
Peter Jackson has finally fulfilled his dream of remaking his favorite childhood movie, “King Kong.”

Play Review
T.C. Williams Serves Up
An Appetizing ‘Dining Room’
By Alex Holachek (November 25, 2005)
Periodically Lasso Online will be publishing reviews written by Mason students who are participating in Cappies, a national program in which high school theater critics attend and critique plays and musicals at area high schools. The following review of T.C. Williams’s production of “The Dining Room” will be published in the Alexandria insert of The Washington Post.

Film Review
‘Pride and Prejudice’: Being a
Sassy Girl in a Ho-Hum World
By Olivia Farrow (November 25, 2005)
Oh, Jane Austen. The name brings ecstasy to some, and is the bane of others.

Video Game Review
Battlefront II: ‘Best of STARWARS Shooters’
By Emilio Ramos (November 25, 2005)
(reviewed for XBOX)
The prequel to the recently released BATTLEFRONT II, STAR-WARS BATTLE-FRONT is one of, if not the best STARWARS shooters

Film Review
‘Elizabethtown’: Average Town,
Average Chick Flick
By Emily Sanders (November 19, 2005)
With talented actors and funny previews, “Elizabethtown” seemed like a film to look forward to seeing. I was surprisingly disappointed.

Film Review
Harry Potter 4: Another
Way to Spell ‘Awesome’
By Eamonn Rockwell (November 17, 2005)
There’s a reason I woke up this morning, and it was to see this movie.

Keep Your Eye on the Storm
St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes’s
Appealing Take on ‘The Tempest’
By Alex Holachek (November 15, 2005)
Periodically Lasso Online will be publishing reviews written by Mason students who are participating in Cappies, a national program in which high school theater critics attend and critique plays and musicals at area high schools. The following review of St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School’s production of “The Tempest” was published in the Alexandria insert of The Washington Post.

Film Review
Not ‘Waiting’ Long For Laughs
By Daniel Watkins (October 25, 2005)
While the movie “Waiting” may seem like another mindless comedy staring Ryan Reynolds (Monty) that is geared towards 14-year-old boys, it is probably because it is.

Documentary Film Review
‘The Corporation’: Sobering Look
At Dream World of Advertising Hype
It’ll Get You and Your Little Dog Too
By Alex Holachek (September 21, 2005)
As a denizen of the high school hallway, you are no doubt aware of the omnipresent power of commercial marketing

Music Review
‘Get Behind Me Satan’:
Itching To Be Replayed
By Olivia Farrow September 16, 2005
2005 hasn’t been the best year for new records, at least for people with that thirst for rock music that’s the cream of the crop

Visit the Lasso Archive for older articles and 
Lasso Online - October 2001 - June 2005