CALL ME WEBHEAD, CALL ME AMAZING, JUST DON’T CALL ME LATE FOR DINNER: MY REVIEW OF THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2

By Alex Lavelle

Although Marvel jump-started the summer movie season in early April with the release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, to the entire entertainment industry, the summer blockbuster stretch starts the first weekend of May. Marvel has, again, been known to dominate this time slot, especially in the past few years. Now, with the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Marvel has established a formidable one-two punch atop the box office that should carry for the next few weeks.

Following off the events of 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man origin story, Andrew Garfield continues to deliver a solid performance as both Peter Parker and the web-slinger. Not only does he provide a comedic side to Spider-Man, something rarely seen during Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man series, but also covers up his identity acting as the blundering Parker, as shown during select scenes with his Aunt May (Sally Fields). Overall, this movie delivers in the acting department, as all of the stars, not just Garfield, give incredible performances. Jamie Foxx’s portrayal of Max Dillon, aka, Electro, is especially powerful, as we see, to quote The Dark Knight, how “All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man to lunacy.” The chemistry between Andrew Garfield’s Parker and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) shines through the movie, as the real-life couple is able to play off each other’s words with ease.

Similarly, the action scenes are amazing, starting just about five minutes in, as we see Spider-Man in a freefall toward the streets of New York, only to sling a web, and shoot up to the skies, all while Hans Zimmer’s incredible soundtrack plays. Foxx’s Electro gets in on the fun too, as we see him, having just discovered his newfound powers, lay waste to Times Square, in what is, in this author’s opinion, the second best action scene in a comic book movie this year, just behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The final battle between the two, though, takes that power, and magnifies it tenfold, leaving fans on the edge of their seats.

Unfortunately, while the movie does receive incredible marks for the cast’s acting, the action scenes, and Zimmer’s soundtrack, the plot suffers from an overload of storylines akin to Spider-Man 3. On top of the Electro villain story, we are also given the origins of Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), and his friendship with Peter. While DeHaan again delivers a stunning portrayal, like in 2012’s Chronicle, his transformation into the secondary villain of the film could have been left out until Amazing Spider-Man 3. On top of all of that, there is the continuing will-they-won’t-they between Peter and Gwen, Peter uncovering the further truth about his father, and a scene that would have been much better suited for a thriller movie. Throw in the shocking ending of the film, and fans could understand why Mary-Jane Watson, who was supposed to be played by Shailene Woodley, was cut from the film.

Despite this, Amazing Spider-Man 2 delivers an incredible film, both through its incredible cast, and stellar action scenes. Sony had taken a bit of a gamble for not returning the rights to the film to Marvel, and thus allowing Spider-Man take his place among the Avengers. Yet this film proves that Sony had done the smart thing in keeping the rights to Spider-Man, allowing them to continue to build the universe of the web-slinger for years to come, and be a part of the Marvel superhero summer.

One last thing: while there isn’t an end credits scene directly from the movie (there is a preview for the new X-Men movie, featuring Jennifer Lawrence), you will want to stick around to watch the credits themselves, as they directly tease the future of the Spidey-verse.

A Look to the Summer Movies of 2014

By Alex Lavelle

With April behind us, and finals on the horizon, Hollywood has officially entered into the season of the summer blockbuster. For the next four months, each of the major studios will release their tentpole franchise showstoppers, all to try to win out the box office of the average moviegoer. While 2014 may not be as big as either 2013 was (Iron Man 3, Fast and Furious 6, Man of Steel, Pacific Rim, Despicable Me 2, Monsters University), or the 2015 season analysts are calling the perfect movie season storm (Avengers: Age of Ultron, The Fantastic Four, Jurassic World, Ted 2, Terminator: Genesis, Antman, Minions), it is shaping up to have quite a few movies for fanbases.

And what better way to kick off the monster movie season than the king of monsters? Warner Bros. kicks off the season with the return of Godzilla on May 16, in a retelling of the Godzilla origin story, led by a cast consisting of Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Ken Wantanabe, and Sally Hawkins. Then, it’s the release of the third superhero movie this year: X-Men: Days of Future Past. When a new threat arises that threatens to wipe out both mutant and humankind, the X-Men from the original trilogy, and from 2011’s X-Men: First Class, must unite to stop this threat (and tie up continuity errors). Starring, Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Halle Berry, Jennifer Lawrence, Ellen Page, and Nicholas Hoult, X-Men: Days of Future Past opens May 23^rd. The first month of summer concludes on May 30^th, with Disney’s Maleficent, a retelling of the classic Disney villain from 1959’s Sleeping Beauty, starring Angelina Jolie as the titular character.

June features another four big name films, the first being The Fault in Our Stars. Based upon John Green’s New York Times bestseller, the film stars Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort (yes, the brother and sister from Divergent), and releases June 6. Then, everyone’s favorite undercover cop duo returns in 22 Jump Street. After the success of 2012’s 21 Jump Street, the film returns stars Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill and Ice Cube, with Schmidt and Jenko now heading off to college. 22 Jump Street releases June 13. Turning to something a bit more family friendly, Fox/Dreamworks’s How to Train Your Dragon 2 releases that same day, and returns the main cast of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Hill, and Kristen Wigg, while also adding Best Actress winner Cate Blanchett, as the humans and dragons of Berk, now allies, enter into a conflict that threatens to end their peace. Finally, June rolls out with the release of Transformers: Age of Extinction. The plot of the film, set a few years after the events of 2011’s Dark of the Moon, finds the Autobots on the run from the United States government, but must make themselves known when a new threat emerges. Starring Mark Whalberg, Nicola Peltz, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammar, and Peter Cullen, Age of Extinction opens in theaters on June 27.

Despite being the first full month of summer, July actually seems to be a bit of a calm in the blockbuster/franchise movie storm. The month only has one major sequel set for release, July 11^th’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. The film continues the events of 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Fox’s reboot of the Planet of the Apes series, and stars Andy Serkis, Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke and Keri Russell. Perhaps the other two big name movies for July are Jupiter Ascending and Hercules. The first one, directed by the Wachowskis, directors of the Matrix trilogy, stars Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum, in a sci-fi epic with Kunis having the fate of the Earth rest on her shoulders. Jupiter Ascending opens July 18^th. Finally, Hercules, which opens July 25^th, stars Dwyane Johnson as the Greek “Zero-to-Hero”, as he tries to stop a tyrannical warlord.

Finally, August wraps the season up with a few major hits. The first one, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, opens August 1^st. Starring Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Lee Pace, and Karen Gillan, the film centers around a ragtag group of outlaws turned heroes, including a talking alien raccoon with handguns, and a giant alien tree, as they try to outrun the galaxy with a powerful, yet mysterious object on their hands. One week later, both Lucy, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles open up; the first of these stars Scarlett Johansson, who, following exposure to a mysterious drug, develops superhuman abilities. The latter is based on the super franchise of four turtles also being exposed to mysterious chemicals, and developing human-like characteristics. Turtles stars Megan Fox, Will Arnett, William Fitchner, Whoopi Goldberg, and Alan Ritchson. Finally, for a bit of a trip down memory lane, The Giver releases August 15^th. The film is based off the 1993 novel by Lois Lowry, and stars Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, and Katie Holmes.

Meanwhile, for those who have chosen to focus the past few weeks on studying for final exams, there are several movies that have already come out that will still be in the theatres. Perhaps two of the more popular are Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, both of which you can find reviews for in this paper. Hopefully, this article will have helped you find at least one movie to look forward to this summer.

World War II Veteran Attends Adelphi

by Alexandra Wurglics

At first glance, students may just see an old man walking around on campus, but as everyone should know, there is much more to a person than meets the eye.  In Mr. Edmund Rosenblum’s case, he is a 94 year old World War II veteran with a voracious appetite for learning and living life in service to others. The History Department’s Professor Kirsten Ziomek invited Rosenblum to speak to her special topics class, The Asia Pacific War: Regarding the Pain of Others, who learned all about many of the events that Rosenblum had not only lived through, but experienced first-hand.  One of the students taking this class, Samantha Rescigno, commented that “hearing about his experiences was amazing especially because there aren't many World War II veterans left to personally share their stories.  As a history major, it was an awesome experience getting to hear from someone that was personally involved in the war.”

In his presentation, Rosenblum addressed everything from education, his Jewish heritage, Hitler’s reign, Pearl Harbor, D-Day, the atomic bombs, and so much more.  He even brought in pictures of his Austrian passport , his United States uniform, and the flag that he made while in Manila.  It was incredible to hear his stories.  Beginning with his birth, Rosenblum took the class through his struggles during his younger years living in Vienna, Austria.  As a person of Jewish heritage, his entire family was forced to hide when Hilter’s army took control.  He loved school, but because of the war and his background, he did not have the chance to begin his higher education.  Once the United States began issuing affidavits, Rosenblum entered the country in 1939 and became a tailor after his father.  After being drafted for World War II, Rosenblum’s trade came in handy.  He was assigned to a regiment of craftsmen who went to the areas of fighting and helped mend soldiers’ uniforms, shoes, eyeglasses, etc.  This is definitely one aspect of the war that is not addressed often in regular classroom discussions, but was brought to life because of Rosenblum’s discussion.

Throughout his explanation of the events, Rosenblum included specific details and quotes from his time in battle.  One quote that really resonated with the class was when Rosenblum’s captain told his men right before they were about to storm the beaches of France on D-Day that “two things could happen: You could be wounded and you would be sent to the hospital and then home and your war will be over or you will be killed and the war will also be over.  Think positive!”  This just brought what Rosenblum lived through into reality.  He even discussed rations eaten during the war and the girls that he met in France.  His experiences were one of a kind and it was amazing to hear them first hand.

One of the most shocking events that Rosenblum spoke about was his encounter with freed prisoners from a concentration camp.  He recounted that it was a Sunday afternoon in Belgium and he saw people that were skin and bones speaking German, his native tongue.  After questioning them, he learned that they were freed prisoners from a nearby concentration camp.  He told the class that a few of the men from his troop put together a small amount of peanut butter, powdered eggs, and bread to give them, for which they were extremely thankful.  The images of concentration camps are horrifying enough, never mind seeing these people in real life.  It was brave of him to even speak about it with the class.  Professor Ziomek was riveted with his detailed presentation saying, “Mr. Rosenblum's talk was a rare opportunity for students to hear the perspective of a World War II veteran. More and more World War II veterans are passing away and soon there will be a time when no one will be able to talk with a World War II veteran. From hearing about what the rations for soldiers consisted of - salami and cigarettes- to describing his feelings seeing survivors of the concentration camps, and about segregation in the army- these are the details that only living witnesses to history can tell. His life story is not just about fighting for his country, but also a remarkable story of survival.”

After the war was over, Rosenblum returned home in 1946.  From this point on, he began a regular, fulfilling life.  He spoke about his wife, who he was married to for 66 years before her passing four months ago.  After personally speaking with him, Rosenblum said that “it is better to have loved and lost.”  Just the way he spoke about his wife showed his faithfulness and admiration for her.  He portrayed her in such a pure and loving light.

Mr. Rosenblum went on to become a small business owner as a tailor, making and repairing many pieces of clothing for people in Garden City and West Hempstead, where he still resides today.  In 1990, Mr. Rosenblum began taking classes at Adelphi to not only quench his thirst for knowledge, but to finally get the degree that was denied to him countless years before.  He graduated with his honorary degree and still continues to take classes to this day.  He refers to students as the future generation and has extreme respect for all of the younger people taking college classes today.

Even after all of the hardship that Rosenblum has faced and has witnessed throughout his life, he is still an extremely optimistic person.  He took the time to educate the class about his philosophy of life, which is “the joy of living is the joy of giving.”  Living this out daily, Rosenblum volunteers at a homeless shelter and is always seeking to do good deeds in his community.  He is always looking toward the future, not dwelling in the past.  Through his presentation, it was evident that Rosenblum appreciated everything in his life as it had an impact on the man he is now.  The events that he lived through and the trials that he dealt with have helped him view his own life in different ways.  As he stated, “I didn’t want to be the smartest, or richest, I wanted to be a somebody.”  Well, to his community and to everyone that has heard about his experiences, Mr. Edmund Rosenblum is definitely a somebody.  He has not only shown all of us a new and valuable side of history, but also exhibits how to share history with others.  That same history has even impacted himself in more ways than one.  Mr. Rosenblum is someone to live up to and is the epitome of selfless optimism.  It was a complete honor to have him speak in Professor Ziomek’s Asia Pacific War class and hopefully he will visit many other’ classes in the future.