By: Troy Kelly

Staff Writer

John Wick: Chapter 2, starring Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane and Riccardo Scamarcio, is an action film set in present day Rome.

The movie’s main conflict begins when John Wick is betrayed by a man, Santino D’Antonio, who cashes in a favor after John tries to abandon his life as an assassin. Because of D’Antonio, John’s his time away from the business is cut short, and after he is betrayed, John realizes he needs to kill D’Antonio. John declines D’Antonio the favor he is blood-bounded to repay at first, but begrudgingly accepts after D’Antonio bombs his house, and he is encouraged by his good friend and the owner of the NY Continental hotel, Winston, to repay his dues.

Photo Credit: Google Images

D’Antonio asks John to kill his sister, Gianna, who has the seat at the high table that D’Antonio desires. After she decided to slit her wrists rather than being assassinated as John holds her hand, he shoots her in the head in order to kill her before she is condemned to hell because of her suicide. Her bodyguard, Cassius, however, sees John exiting Gianna’s room, and draws his weapons in pursuit.

Along with being preoccupied by Cassius, John is also attacked by D’Antonio’s own men, and realizes he is being betrayed. John and Cassius are only slightly injured by the time they crash into the Contential, where no blood is allowed to be spilled, an important recurring plot point in the movie. However, while John is resting there, D’Antonio opens an account worth 7 million for killing John, which he sends out to all assassins in the area.

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By: Chris Parris

Staff Writer

Released in February of 1915, D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation is one of the most important films in cinema history. This movie was responsible for some major advances in film technology, including the first scene shot at night. On a cultural level, however, the movie bears a dark legacy. This is due to the film’s storyline and historical inaccuracies.

With a runtime of over three hours, The Birth of a Nation is split into two halves and separated by an intermission. The first half is set at the outbreak of the American Civil War.  It follows two families, the northern Stonemans and the southern Camerons. During the war, the lives of these two families intertwine.

The first half of the movie is filled with superb battle scenes and ends with the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and a defeated South being subjected to harsh treatment by the victorious North. The second half revolves around the Reconstruction of the South directly after the war and the origin of the movie’s supposed heroes, the Ku Klux Klan.

In the movie, an unnamed town in South Carolina, where the Camerons live, is occupied by African American soldiers during Reconstruction. The African American soldiers, some played by white actors donning blackface, shove people off of sidewalks and are abusive towards white women. In one particular scene, a young white woman jumps off of a cliff to avoid being pursued by a black man. Black supremacists rig an election by stuffing ballot boxes and preventing white people from voting. The newly-elected black legislators are shown to be barefoot, drinking whisky, and eating fried chicken during a meeting at the state house.

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By: Uma Ribeiro

Co-News Editor

Based on the 2002 broadway musical and Starring Nikki Blonsky, John Travolta, Christopher Walken, Queen Latifah, and Zac Efron, Hairspray is a must-watch movie for all musical fans or for simply anyone who wants to see a fun and memorable film with a message.

Taking place in 1960s Baltimore city in the midst of the Civil Rights movement, Hairspray follows bubbly, plus-sized teen Tracy Turnblad (Blonsky) who has a strong passion for dancing. She dreams of having a place on the “Corny Collins Show”, the local teen dancing program she watches on TV everyday with her best friend, Penny Pingleton (Amanda Bynes). She finds out there are auditions being held to perform on the program, and hurries to show the producers what she could offer. Tracy faces bullying from the antagonists of the movie, network producer Velma Von Tussle (Michelle Pfeiffer) and her equally vicious daughter, Amber (Brittany Snow).

Back at school, Tracy lands herself in detention where she meets a young kid with great dancing skills named Seaweed (Elijah Kelley), one of the many black teens who only get one day, called “Negro Day,” to show off their dance moves on the Corny Collins show. Tracy eventually earns herself a spot on the show after her crush, Link Larkin (Efron), sees her dancing, and she uses it to express her disdain of the fact that dancing is still segregated. She tells host Corny Collins (James Marsden) that if she won Miss Baltimore she would make dancing on the show integrated once and for all.

Tracy gains popularity on the show, much to the dislikings of Amber and her mother, who attempt to stop her from winning Miss Baltimore and oppose her ideas of integration. She must figure out how to beat Amber while also helping her friends earn permanent spots on a new and integrated Corny Collins show.

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Carlos O’Ryan

Online Editor

It has been 36 years since “The Thing” was released in theatres in June of 1982. Director John Carpenter’s science-fiction/horror movie, which revolves arounds the bloody events that unfold when a shape-shifting alien finds itself at a research base in Antarctica, was heavily criticized at release for being an absolute gore-fest, where characters only existed to be grotesquely dismembered in a splash of blood and guts.

However, in the years following its release, it was eventually accepted for what it was, which was never an uninspired mess of body horror, but as a genuine classic full of thrills and absolutely wonderful practical effects, but at its initial release, it was heavily criticized for having characters that only existed to be chopped up, burned, and torn apart in gross ways.

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By Uma Ribiero

News Editor

William Shakespeare’s many plays have been taking the stage everywhere for centuries, becoming more famous with each performance. Hammond’s theatre department, alongside their director, Mrs. Lauren Tobiason, have continued to honor the great playwright with their performance of the famous comedy and timeless love story, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

The story has three main plot lines to it, one which follows four lovers, Helena who loves Demetrius, her ex-lover. Demetrius, who wants to marry Hermia, and has her father’s blessing to marry her, and Hermia who wants to be with Lysander. The play then enters the world of the fairies, led by Puck, an anti-cupid of sorts who creates as much mischief between the four lovers as possible, and the fairy king, Oberon, along with his queen, Titania, both of whom are feuding over custody of an Indian child. Finally, it follows the story of the Rude Mechanicals who are putting on a play in order to impress and entertain Theseus, the Duke of Athens, on the evening of his wedding with Hippolyta, the Amazonian queen. These three storylines intertwine as the play progresses, creating much hilarity as the fairy world and human world come together when they obviously should not. While the original play takes place in the woods outside of Athens, the Hammond High Production decided to twist the concept of the play by setting it in Athens, Ohio, in the year 1957, inside of a high school.

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By: Troy Kelly
Staff Writer

There has been a lot of talk about the health of Fortnite, a game created by Epic Games for mobile, PC, and game console play. A lot of gamers say Fortnite will later fade out because of peoples’ loss of interest.  There have been many indications of Fortnite dying. A lot of gamers are getting tired of the same thing in Battle Royale. Gamers are getting tired of the repeated glitches in the game, which in turn makes a lot of people get frustrated and quit.

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