January 2022
Entertainment
The Voyager 13
“Spiderman: No Way Home” is more than an action movie
Spider-Man so he goes to Doctor Strange to help wipe the minds of the public. Obviously, this doesn’t work and in trying to use the Runes of Kauf-Kaul, the spell fter seeing Spider-Man: No Way was corrupted and Strange had to contain Home twice in theaters, and beit using the ancient relic Machina de Kaing an avid Marvel watcher davus. With this spell, a rift in the mulsince birth, I feel somewhat tiverse had unleashed several enemies of qualified to give my take on the biggest Spider-Man in alternate realities such as dominance of the cinemas in the entirety Doc Ock and Electro. of 2021. Making its way into the 10th That sounded complicated yet, we’re highest-grossing movie ever at the dosomehow just getting started. For startmestic box office in only its third week, ers: String theory. Multidimensional rethe beautiful callbacks to its counterparts ality. And matter displacement. All real? Spider-Man and The Amazing SpiderKnew it! An alternate timeline has been Man have been proven successful. comparatively explored in other marvel The movie started off with an almost movies as laid out by the Ancient One in direct continuation of Tom Holland’s Doctor Strange and confirmed by He Who last movie Spider-Man: Far From Home Remains in Loki, the MCU exists in a where Mysterio had just outed Spiderworld “without end.” In short, the MCU’s Man’s identity as Peter Parker to the multiverse is infinite. However, we have public. With heroes like Captain America yet to truly explore that like they did in and Black Widow, the public knew their Spider-Man: No Way Home. identity as Steve Rogers and Natasha RoNot to mention, it’s unusual not to manoff but Peter was the only hero with a know significant secret identity and cast members unin the MCU, heString theory. til after the movie roes don’t hide beMultidimensional realis released and hind pseudonyms. However, it’s an ity. And matter displace- of course, with Marvel movies, essential part of his ment. All real? Knew it! trying to get the character. cast members to Mysterio respoil something is vealing this turns one of interviewhis world upside ers’ and fans’ favorite pastimes. Which is down; Peter now has to deal with the definitely entertaining considering Tom court of public opinion. He had dreams Holland’s history of spoiling just about of living a normal life in Boston, but that everything with endless amounts of comcan’t happen now due to today’s modern plications on YouTube of him doing just world obsession with celebrity culture that. which brings a modern take to the film not This time around, however, the cast and explored in past Spider-Man’s. crew must’ve seriously trained Tom beAfter the group’s rejection from MIT cause if I’m not mistaken, he didn’t spoil due to the “controversy” surrounding anything this time around. Okay, well Peter’s true identity, all Peter wants is to actually, he spoiled kind of a lot but you take back the information that he was ever By LAURA SILENZIO ‘23 Opinion Editor
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Spider-Man: No Way Home released on December 16th, 2021, and it deserves to be recognized as more than your average superhero film.
Photo supplied by Laura Silenzio ‘23
know what? He tried. Unluckily though, the internet is the place for leaked information since people can FBI investigate anything these days. Photos and videos leaked all over social media, some real and some not. This Spider-Man in particular had such big hype and expectations that everybody was trying to gather any information possible. Everyone knew but nobody knew. Watching Peter Parker cubed (this is what I’m choosing to call the trio of Toby Maguire, Andrew Gartfield, and Tom Holland from now on) interact was hectic yet simultaneously cathartic. The writers definitely capitalized on their opportunity to make this as hilarious as possible. I mean, come on, “Cool Youth Pastor?” When Andrew’s Spider-Man cracked Tobey’s Spider-Man’s back like two casual friends before the movie’s final battle? Absolute gold. Not only did they use comedy to their ad-
vantage, they also explored Spider-Man’s past hardships commonly experienced between the 3 friendly neighborhood Spider-Man’s. Moments of the film drew you back to the previous movies, with the perfect parallel of MJ’s fall seemingly mirroring Gwen’s in The Amazing SpiderMan 2, however Andrew’s Spider-Man gets the redemption he was longing for in an emotional display of grief that made watchers quite literally cry their eyes out. Bringing these three together along with the villainous opposition of Doc Ock, Electro, Sandman, Lizard, and Green Goblin brought such a thrilling energy to the theater with fans screaming for joy as soon as Andrew’s Spider-Man jumps through Ned’s portal. The movie itself brought back so much nostalgia from 2002 (I was nonexistent then but I can still appreciate it!) and it’s possibly the start of a new era of multidimensional reality that I can’t wait to watch!
West Side Story returns after 60 years ated: from love to hate and everything in between; if it wasn’t the singing, it was the skillful dancing that painted the tense racial divide against the budding romance classic story retold. Romeo of Maria and Tony. and Juliet in the streets of New However, it did have its own flaws, one York, reimagined again. of them being, ironically, the lack of auSix decades ago, Natalie thenticity when it came to framing the Wood’s “Maria” and Richard Beymer’s immigrant experience. More specifically, “Tony” fateful love first graced the the Puerto Rican immigrant experience in screen. The audience fell in love with the New York in the late 50s. Natalie Wood story as fast as the renditions of Romeo was Russian American and George Chariand Juliet fell in love with each other. kis (Bernardo) was Greek American. Now Spielberg aims to retell West Side Furthermore, much of the singing was Story on the big screen with a new cast dubbed and the “Hispanics” were told to but the same story, along with some other wear dark makeup despite the fact that changes. Puetro Ricans can be any color, as argued How do the two films differ? Or are their by the iconic “Anita,” actress Rita Morerespective eras the only thing that sets no, one of the few actual Puerto Rican acthem apart? This review aims to answer tors cast in the original film. this question spoiler free. Ghost singing and casting regardless of The original movie adaption of the muethnic relation to the role were common sical West Side Story was an instant hit. practices in the film industry at the time. It was deemed revolutionary for its time That’s where Spielberg comes in. The because of its stunning realism: the very new version of West Side Story emphastreets of New York featured in the first sizes the Latino immigrant experience few minutes of the film as a long panthrough smooth integration of Spanish oramic shot of various iconic locations. dialect woven regularly into dialogue and “‘The realness of a travel log,’[and] ‘a the Hispanics casted both in prominent starkly realistic crime film’ [aren‘t] phrasand minor roles. es a critic would have associated with In addition, multiple characters, espemovie musicals at that point in American cially Tony and Riff contain more dimencinema,” according to Be Kind Rewind. sion compared to their counterparts. This was a stark contrast to the fantasThe placement and lyrics of some songs tical sets typical of movie musicals durhave also changed. Particularly, “Cool” ing the time. “These films were meant has a refreshed meaning as it foreshadto enchant and to glamorize.” West Side ows conflict and similarly Story captured raw emoshowcases the temptation tions while seamlessly porA classic violence while “I Feel traying the essence of New story retold. for Pretty” has new bittersweet York throughout the film. undertones. Most (if not all) songs felt Although 2021’s version was officially captivating and sent chills to the audience a box office bomb, most likely due to the as the emotions of every character radiBy ARIANNA MORALES ‘22 Co-Editor-in-Chief
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The remake of “West Side Story” is the classic story, but retold sixty years later on the big screen with a brand-new cast.
Photo by 20th Century Studios and Leonard Bernstein Office
number of anticpated films like SpiderMan: No Way Home and others taking precedence, it nonetheless enhanced 1961’s authenticity to the lives of rival gangs in the streets of New York. Both films tell the tale of the persistence of passion: vengeful hate and the sweetest love constantly at ends with each other. It describes humanity’s selfish insistence to tradition and reluctance to change.
As the credits roll and the music flows through reprisals of chilling songs like “Maria” and “Tonight,” it makes one wonder: can love break through a whirlwind of hate if it were strong enough? Both movies give ambiguous messages that ultimately leave the viewer with the final decision. A choice to love or hate others and be willing to accept its consequences.
