By Chinyere Godfrey

Assistant Editor-in-Chief

Hairspray live is a musical that takes place in Baltimore, in the year 1962. It is about a plus-sized girl, the perfect boy, an ambitious mean girl and an African American boy who struggle together to discover themselves.

Source: TheaterMania

Tracy decides to fulfill her long lasting dream: to dance on “The Corny Collins Show,” a local TV program. Though all odds are against her, she qualifies for the role in the show and becomes a celebrity overnight. She meets a colorful array of new characters which includes: perfect boy, Link, ambitious Amber, African American boy, Smooth Seaweed, and last but not least, Motormouth Maybelle, who change her life forever. The conflict is centered around Tracy’s idea to integrate the all-white Corny Collins Show.

Continue reading →

By Chris Parris

Staff Writer

Image Source: Warner Brothers Pictures

In the early 1930s, RKO Pictures was hit hard by the Great Depression and was struggling financially. At the same time, filmmaker and adventurer Merian C. Cooper was shopping around his idea for a movie about a gigantic ape fighting a komodo dragon. Cooper soon found himself getting employed at RKO. While working on a live-action adaptation of The Most Dangerous Game, Cooper came across test footage of a movie about dinosaurs titled Creation, a project headed by stop-motion animator Willis O’Brien. Recognizing stop motion as the best possible way to bring his gorilla epic to life, Cooper convinced RKO to greenlight his movie. During production, the movie was known by many names. Examples include The Beast and The Eighth Wonder. By the end of production, the movie was called King Kong. This movie would go on to change the art of cinema.

Continue reading →

By Leah Russell

Social Media Coordinator

Photo Credit: Cosmopolitan

“Our mission this summer is to have a good time, all the time.” By the title of the series, you may have already guessed where they live, but if you haven’t I’ll give you a hint, reread the title! One of the newest shows to come out on Netflix, the cast features many relatively new faces in television including Chase Stokes as John B. Routledge and Madelyn Cline as Sarah Cameron. Outer Banks follows a young teen and his friends through a dangerous all-summer treasure hunt inspired by his missing father. With lots of action and drama, it’s almost impossible to turn this show off! This show has something for everyone, plenty of relationships, and funny moments.

Off-screen, the cast gets along extremely well, and it is reflected on-screen with their authentic friendship. It is obvious that the cast had fun creating such an intriguing and action-packed storyline for viewers to follow. The show opens up with a storm brewing on the coast of the town. Knocking out all electricity and destroying buildings, the storm also uncovered secrets. From the first episode, I was drawn in by the mystery of John B.’s dad’s disappearance, and the mysterious boat the friends find. The problem with the friends finding things they should not have found is the danger that it causes them. It seems like no matter where they go, the police are suspicious of them, and even people they have never met are looking for them. We later find out that John B.’s father went missing in his search for $400 million in gold, from the shipwreck of The Royal Merchant. Do they find the gold? And what kind of danger do they get themselves in in the hunt for it? With mysterious plot twists around every corner, this show will keep you up all night trying to figure it out.

Continue reading →

By Marissa Yelenik

Co-News Editor

Photo Credit: Netflix

Dangerous Lies was released on Netflix on April 20, 2020, as a Netflix Original Film. It was directed by Michael Scott, and is tagged as an ominous and suspenseful thriller movie on the site, with a running time of an hour and thirty seven minutes.

The movie follows the likeable and intelligent Katie Franklin, played by Camila Mendes, as she navigates her way through a life filled with mystery and struggle. The movie begins with Katie and her husband Adam Kettner, played by Jessie Usher, in a financially unstable position. Katie works as a caretaker to the rich and old Leonard Wellsley, played by Elliot Gould, while her husband remains unemployed. Katie and Leonard’s relationship is quickly defined as something more than caretaker and employer, the two care deeply for each other. Katie loves the man for his sweet and loving personality, and to Leonard, Katie begins to feel like the family he was never able to have. 

Continue reading →

By Uma Ribeiro

Co-News Editor

Photo Credit: Variety.com

If you haven’t already heard of this classic and imaginative show filled with horror, sci-fi,  drama, and even bits of comedy, now is the time to give it a watch. The name, The Twilight Zone, refers to situations that simply cannot be explained, often ones defying logic and filled with strange and surreal happenings. The iconic monologue read by the show’s creator and famous host, Rod Serling, serves as a fitting introduction to each season one episode. He describes the Twilight Zone as “… the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge.” The original series, which aired from 1959 to 1964, is available on Netflix, with an absence of season four due to its inconsistent episode lengths and differing style compared to the other seasons. 

Continue reading →

By Chinaza Ezeh

Co-Online Editor

“Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” And that is exactly what The Shawshank Redemption is all about. An adaptation of Stephen King’s classic 1982 novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, the 1994 prison drama written and directed by Frank Darabont stars Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, William Sadler and James Whitmore, to name a few.

L to R: Andy and Red, played by Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, respectively. Source: Hollywood Reporter

In the year 1947, banker Andy Dufresne (Robbins) is found guilty (although he denies it) of the murders of his wife and her lover, and is henceforth sentenced to two life sentences at Shawshank State Penitentiary. Upon arrival, he meets fellow inmate Red (Freeman) who is serving a life sentence of his own. The two take a liking to each other, and Andy is soon assimilated into Red’s friend group. Over the next nineteen years, Andy faces a multitude of trials and tribulations within those walls, including rape, corruption, and exploitation. The corruption and exploitation starts right at the top, from prison warden Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton), a man who swears by the Bible, yet ironically has no issue in the guards, particularly Captain Hadley (Clancy Brown), employing exceedingly brutal and violent force among the prisoners, nor in using Andy’s banking experience as a way to launder money and handle financials for the prison staff, guards from other prisons, and himself. Despite the bleakness of prison life, Andy is able to find joys in his new normal, particularly when he gains the privilege of working in the prison library, and takes it upon himself to completely revamp it and bring it to life. But perhaps more importantly than that, he makes true connections with Red and his friends, and from each other they experience the meaning of true friendship.

Continue reading →

By Sarah Meklir 

Co-In-Depth Editor

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, released December 20, 2019, marked the end of a Star Wars saga spanning roughly 40 years. To celebrate May 4 and Star Wars Day, the film was released early on Disney+. With that addition, the entire saga is now available on Disney’s streaming platform, giving viewers their first opportunity to experience all of these adventures in one place. With turbulence and uncertainty ruling the airwaves around the world today, Star Wars offers a welcome escape to a universe full of nostalgia and heroes for all generations to enjoy. The Rise of Skywalker follows Finn and Poe in their quest to lead the Resistance under General Organa, as Rey trains and prepares for her final faceoff with Kylo Ren. In the midst of this chaos, a familiar adversary reemerges. J.J. Abrams returned as director, which granted a certain closure to the trilogy, as he also directed Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015. 

As the culmination of the series, the most recent movie had a lot to live up to, and fans had strong opinions about contingencies in plotlines and tying up loose ends. Hammond students and teachers alike had bittersweet feelings about the ending to the Star Wars saga. WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW!

Continue reading →

By Isabel Berry

Co-A&E Editor

SPOILERS AHEAD

            Pixar’s most recent flick, Onward, starring Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Octavia Spencer will make you laugh and cry at the same time. 

Photo Courtesy of Disney Movies

            Onward was dropped on to Disney+ after theaters were shut down due to COVID-19. This was controversial because this would mean that Disney was going to make much less money than they anticipated from this movie. 

When questioned on how he felt about movies being dropped directly onto Disney+, Freshman Gabe Porter stated, “People who have streaming services have a wide variety of movies and tv shows. While streaming services have been proven to be a success, I like how theaters were able to give everyone the chance to experience movie magic.”

The story follows two teenage brothers, Ian and Barley Lightfoot, as they go on a quest to get one day with their late father. Now, this may seem like just another Disney movie where the characters go on a daring adventure, but I promise that it is so much more than that. Onward is similar to Zootopia in the respect that it showcases fantasy creatures that live in modern times. But unlike Zootopia, the characters in Onward struggle with the pull towards technology over magic. Ian, Barley, and their mom, Laurel, are elves, but this movie also has sprites, trolls, centaurs, a manticore, and unicorns (which turn out to be the fantasy creature equivalent to a raccoon). 

Continue reading →