Tag: Kerry Torpey ’20
Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Teasers
by The Cowl Editor on March 16, 2017
Arts & Entertainment
By Kerry Torpey `20
A&E Staff
With a highly anticipated seventh season on the way, the hit HBO series Game of Thrones released its first official teaser for the second-to-last season. Despite the show’s strong tendency to keep information about upcoming seasons concealed, the public has been gifted with some details about what to expect in the next seven episodes.
Game of Thrones first took the world by storm with the 1996 release of George R.R. Martin’s first novel of the series, A Song of Ice and Fire. In April 2011, creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss premiered the HBO adaptation of the hit TV drama. Although the first six seasons have 10 episodes each, this upcoming season will only have seven.
Since 2011, the series has ruled the television world with its never-ending twists, gory deaths, and highly-produced battle scenes led by an all-star cast that includes Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, and more.
With a premiere date set at July 16, 2017, the seventh season of Game of Thrones has a lot to live up to, as season six ended with a bang that left fans wanting more.
In the first official teaser released last week, fans see the different sigils of House Lannister, House Targaryen, House Stark, and many more involved in the fight for the Iron Throne. While the voices of characters that coincide with their particular houses playing as each sigil appears, fans sense a feeling of darkness.
The voice of fan-favorite Jon Snow is heard at the end of the teaser as he says, “There’s only one war that matters, the Great War. And it is here.” With a flash to the eye of a White Walker, “the Great War” is presumably that between those south of The Wall and the White Walkers that reside north of The Wall.
It was also recently released that singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran will have a small cameo role in the upcoming season. Creator David Benioff said, “For years, we tried to get Ed Sheeran on the show to surprise Maisie and this year we finally did it.”
In terms of what cast members have revealed to the public about the upcoming season, the information is, unsurprisingly, vague.
Emilia Clarke, who plays the Mother of Dragons, Daenerys Targaryen, took to Instagram as she wrapped filming for season seven. She captioned a video of herself singing. “I believe this one is gonna be a mind blower.”
While at the Malta India Fan Convention, Alfie Allen, who stars as Theon Greyjoy, said, “There will be more dragons…lots more torture!”
Kit Harrington, who plays Jon Snow, told ABC News that the cast often finds themselves theorizing about how the show is going to end in the eighth season. He said, “That’s what’s magnificent about it. I can’t wait, I’m going to feel so privileged to be one of the few people who is going to get to read the ending before anyone else sees it, a year before. I really am counting down the days till I get those scripts.”
Although few concrete details have been provided, the excitement for season seven can be seen around the world and across the Seven Kingdoms.
‘Hidden Figures’ Finally at the Forefront
by The Cowl Editor on March 2, 2017
Arts & Entertainment
By Kerry Torpey `19
A&E Staff
In front of a room of Hollywood elites and over 32 million viewers worldwide, 98-year-old Katherine Johnson took center stage. Almost immediately, the crowd rose to give her a standing ovation. Called “an American hero,” the former NASA mathematician was being recognized for work she had done about 60 years ago. Why the delay? Because Johnson only recently has there been a concentrated effort to acknowledge black women in Hollywood.
Following last year’s heavily scrutinized Oscars, Hollywood has been working to diversify its productions and recognize those who have long been overlooked. In this effort, films like Hidden Figures have emerged, exposing the talent of historical figures and those that portray them. The film’s positive reception highlights the immense amount of success women of color can attain if given the chance, both in Hollywood and elsewhere.
Hidden Figures is based on the 2016 novel by Margot Lee Shetterly, telling the story of three black women in their vital roles as mathematicians in NASA during the Space Race. Co-written by Allison Schroeder and director Theodore Melfi, the film received three Oscar nominations and two Golden Globe nominations. At the Screen Actors Guild Awards the cast won the award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
The film has an all-star cast, led by Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe. Johnson, played by Henson, was the first black woman to aid the Space Task Groupe as she worked as “a human computer” for engineers at NASA. Alongside Vaughan (Spencer) and Jackson (Monáe), these women played integral rolls as mathematicians and engineers for NASA.
The monumental success of Hidden Figures highlights what many people of color in Hollywood frequently spotlight: opportunity.
In 2015, Viola Davis, black actress and 2017 Oscar winner, won an Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series for her role in How to Get Away With Murder. During her speech, Davis explained, “The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity…You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.”
A lack of roles for women that have depth and idiosyncrasy is what frustrates so many black actors.
Donald Bogle, a film professor at New York University, says, “Roles that show black women as maids, nannies, or sidekicks for the mainstream world continue to reduce black women to support systems and to only being there to service the needs of others. It’s a disturbing trend to see keep repeating itself year after year.”
Bogle recognizes that studios have a responsibility to diversify Hollywood as he asks, “Isn’t that what Hollywood is supposed to be about?’’
Lenika Cruz of The Atlantic feels that, “Certainly, Hollywood will be a better industry when there are more films about the egos and personal demons and grand triumphs of black women who helped to change the world.”
When Allison Schroeder was asked about the impact of the film, she emphasized hope. She feels that it has “given a lot of inspiration to little girls and little boys.” She resonates with the struggle and feels that the film celebrates “people putting their heart and soul into something despite the odds against them.”
Especially considering the lack of diversity during the 2016 Oscars season, the acclaim received by Hidden Figures demonstrates the importance of telling diverse and powerful stories in Hollywood.
Flapper Gone Famous: Zelda Fitzgerald
by The Cowl Editor on February 16, 2017
Arts & Entertainment
By Kerry Torpey `20
A&E Staff
Ask any literature lovers about the relationship between Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald and you will hear about the tumultuous nights of drinking, partying, and adultery. Amazon’s new series, Z: The Beginning of Everything, attempts to capture the inception of the legendary couple with a specific spotlight on Scott’s muse, Zelda Sayre.
The recently released Amazon series, created by Dawn Prestwich and Nicole Yorkin, is based on the historical fiction novel, Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler.
Dubbed the “first American flapper” by her husband, Zelda Sayre was born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1900. In July 1918, she met future American novelist and writer of The Great Gatsby, Francis Scott Fitzgerald. The two became engaged in 1920, and the rest is history.
Zelda is played by Golden Globe and Emmy nominee, Christina Ricci and Fitzgerald is played by David Hoflin.
The pilot episode begins with a shot of a fluffy pink heel in the midst of what looks to be the remnants of a fire. With Zelda as the narrator, the viewer sees right from the start that Zelda’s story will not be a happy one, despite the juxtaposition of her colorful and jazzy lifestyle.
Whispers in the streets and calls from men all over Montgomery emphasize Zelda as not only a sought-after figure but a criticized one. Her stern father, Judge Anthony Sayre (David Strathairn), proves to be an antagonist for Zelda as his more traditional views and expectations clash with her unapologetic attitude, which makes her “[want] to go someplace shiny and new that’s not obsessed with the past.”
Amongst many critics, Ricci’s performance as Zelda seems to be one of the few redeeming factors about the series. Liz Shannon Miller of Indiewire.com says, “Ricci commits to the role like it’s the role of a lifetime, and honestly, that might be the case. It’s certainly not hard to imagine her scoring a few nominations for this performance.”
Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe states, “Zelda wanted to break away from society’s expectations, and so Ricci plays defiance with a capital D.” However, he does feel that Ricci “looks a little too old to play Zelda as a teen.”
Critics like Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times cited a lack of chemistry between Ricci and Hoflin as a major issue within the series. Genzlinger says the co-stars, “are entirely devoid of the thing that the real Fitzgeralds apparently had in abundance: chemistry. Without any sign of a romantic spark, it is not clear why they would endure one another and stay together.”
Liz Shannon Miller of Indiewire.com also commended the high production budget, saying that it made the “period elements,” as in the 1920s costume, makeup, and set design, impressive with “seemingly no detail” spared.
Despite some harsh criticism, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for Z. Jen Chaney of Vulture expects the show to go on and feels that Zelda “deserves to have her story fully told with the kind of detail that episodic television is uniquely equipped to provide.”
Leonardo Dicaprio, Master of Nonfiction
by The Cowl Editor on February 9, 2017
Arts & Entertainment
By Kerry Torpey `19
A&E Staff
Coming off of his 2015 Oscar win, Leonardo DiCaprio has signed on to star in a biopic about former NYPD detective and “Italian Sherlock Holmes,” Joseph Petrosino. Based on the New York Times Bestseller The Black Hand by Stephen Talty, DiCaprio continues down a path of taking roles based on real life people.
Petrosino was an Italian immigrant who moved to the United States and settled in New York City in 1874. In 1883, he joined the NYPD where he would work as a detective until his assassination in 1909.
One of Petrosino’s most infamous missions involved his manhunt for a group of Italian immigrants who kidnapped people in order to coerce their families into giving them money. Considered a precursor to the Mafia, their calling card was a black hand.
An Italian himself, Petrosino made it his mission to arrest as many of these gang members as possible in order to protect the image of Italian immigrants in the United States. While on a mission in Palermo, Sicily, Petrosino received a phone call from an “informant” who turned out to be his assassin.
Following his Oscar win for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role as Hugh Glass in The Revenant, DiCaprio starred in Before the Flood, a Fisher Stevens documentary about climate change. As of now, The Black Hand is one of the star’s first feature film roles since 2015.
Since the inception of his acting career, DiCaprio has starred in several movies in which he takes on the character of a real life figure. Some of his roles include: Jim Carroll in The Basketball Diaries (1995), Frank Abagnale Jr. in Catch Me If You Can (2002), Howard Hughes in The Aviator (2004), J. Edgar in J. Edgar Hoover (2011), and Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).
Of the almost 10 films in which DiCaprio takes on the persona of nonfictional characters, he has received three Oscar nominations with one win, five Golden Globe nominations with three wins, three Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations with one win, and many more.
With the vast amount of nominations for these particular roles, DiCaprio could very well go on to receive more if he continues selecting roles that organizations such as the Academy of Arts and Sciences, Hollywood Foreign Press, and Screen Actors Guild tend to gravitate towards.
Director Agnieszka Holland, who worked with DiCaprio in the 1995 film Total Eclipse, once said, “Talking to Leonardo I realized he has an incredibly deep emotional imagination. In performance he becomes a kind of medium—the soul of the character he’s playing is entering his body.” Then, the challenge becomes capturing the soul of a real human being, not a fictional character.
In an interview with Short List, DiCaprio said, “I don’t think an audience always wants you to do the same thing or try aggressively to prove anything.”
With a diversity of roles on his long list of acting credits, DiCaprio continues to succeed as one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Audiences can see if his momentum keeps going when The Black Hand is released in 2018.
The Legacy of Butch Trucks
by The Cowl Editor on February 2, 2017
Arts & Entertainment
by Kerry Torpey `20
A&E Staff
On Jan. 24, Butch Trucks, the drummer and co-founder of The Allman Brothers Band, died following a self-inflicted gunshot at the age of 69. Trucks leaves behind a long legacy as a member of one of the most successful rock bands in history.
Born in Jacksonville, Florida on May 11, 1947, Claude Hudson “Butch” Trucks began his career as a drummer in the eighth grade. When he entered high school at Englewood High School, Trucks made first chair in the band as a freshman.
Truck’s parents were devout Baptists and refused to buy him his own drum set until his junior year of high school in which they made him promise to not play at any establishment that supplied alcohol.
Prior to graduating high school, Trucks was a member of two bands, The Vikings and The Echoes, and played in both the Jacksonville Symphonette and the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra.
Following graduation, he attended Florida State University for one year where he said he “majored in staying out of Vietnam.”
While at a gig in Daytona Beach with his new band, Bitter Ind., Trucks met Duane and Gregg Allman, who at the time called themselves The Allman Joys. In just a few short years after their meeting, Trucks, Duane, and Gregg would be three of the founding members of The Allman Brothers Band.
Duane and Gregg Allman alongside Jai “Jaimoe” Johanson, Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley, and Trucks founded The Allman Brothers Band in Jacksonville in 1969. Duane and Betts served as guitarists, Gregg as a vocalist, Oakley the bassist, and Johanson as a drummer alongside Trucks. Duane and Oakley tragically died in motorcycle accidents in 1971 and 1972, respectively.
Their first self-titled album was released in 1969 with a small amount of success despite the presence one of their most popular songs, “Whipping Post,” on the album. A mass amount of achievement, however, would come with their 1971 album, At Fillmore East, which went platinum.
The Allman Brothers Band would go on to release several successful albums, such as Eat a Peach (1972) and Brothers and Sisters (1973), which included hits “Ramblin’ Man” and “Jessica.” Between 1969 and 2014, the band split up multiple times, but Trucks, unlike other members, returned for every reunion.
Following their final appearence in 2014 at the Beacon Theater in New York City, Trucks continued making music with his band Butch Trucks & The Freight Train Band.
In 2016, Trucks did an exclusive interview with Rolling Stone about his time in The Allman Brother’s Band. Trucks said, “We were in another universe. We were out spreading the gospel of this music we had discovered. We never thought that we would be more than an opening act.”
Upon his death, Gregg Allman issued a statement about his late friend and former bandmate. “I’m heartbroken,” said Allman, “I’ve lost another brother and it hurts beyond words.”
Guitarist for the band following the first reunion in 1989 was Warren Haynes, who said “[Butch] put 110 percent of his self into every song he played. He was the Lou Gehrig of rock drummers.”
Trucks is survived by his wife, children, and grandchildren, as well as his eternal legacy as athe drummer for one of the biggest bands in history.
DeGeneres Wins Big at the People’s Choice Awards
by The Cowl Editor on January 26, 2017
Arts & Entertainment
by Kerry Torpey `20
A&E Staff
Some of Hollywood’s biggest stars gathered at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Jan. 18 to attend the People’s Choice Awards. Big names in attendance included Tom Hanks, Robert Downey Jr., Sarah Jessica Parker, Justin Timberlake, and more.
The People’s Choice Awards is one of the only national major award shows in which the winners are chosen by the public. This year, approximately 265 million votes were cast online.
The star-studded night kicked off with an opening monologue from actor and former host of the E! series The Soup, Joel McHale. McHale gave audiences everywhere something to look forward to in the show as he teased that daytime talk show host and comedian Ellen DeGeneres could become the most decorated People’s Choice Awards winner in history.
McHale joked about DeGeneres’ number of awards, saying that Hollywood should “just rename the whole show ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Awards for Achievement in Ellen DeGeneres-ing.’”
In the movie category, Finding Dory took home the award for Favorite Movie. Favorite Movie Actor went to Ryan Reynolds while Jennifer Lawrence received the award for Favorite Movie Actress.
Me Before You, starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin, won the award for Favorite Dramatic Movie. Five-time nominee and two time Oscar winner Tom Hanks accepted the award for Favorite Dramatic actor for his role in Sully. In the female section of the same category, Blake Lively won for her role in The Shallows.
Johnny Depp received the Favorite Movie Icon award and attended the show despite still going through his highly publicized divorce and abuse allegations with model and actress, Amber Heard.
The hit TV show The Big Bang Theory accepted the award for Favorite Network TV Comedy for the fifth year in a row with Jim Parsons winning Favorite Comedic TV Actor. Other television winners included: Priyanka Chopra for Favorite Dramatic TV Actress for her role in Quantico, the hit series This Is Us for Favorite New TV Drama, and The Walking Dead for Favorite Cable Sci-fi/Fantasy TV Show.
In the music category, Justin Timberlake took home two awards for Favorite Male Artist and Favorite Song for “Can’t Stop the Feeling.”
There were two musical guests featured for the night: country singer Blake Shelton and the all-girl Pop group Fifth Harmony. Fifth Harmony’s performance was their first following the exit of former band member, Camila Cabello. The group’s performance went well and they left the show with the award for Favorite Group.
Writer and filmmaker Tyler Perry received the award for Favorite Humanitarian. The company Enterprise, who sponsored the show, gave Perry $100,000 to donate to a charity of his choice, after which he selected the Global Medical Relief Fund.
DeGeneres accepted three awards over the course of the night: Favorite Daytime TV Host, Favorite Comedic Collaboration alongside singer Britney Spears, and Favorite Animated Movie Voice for her role as Dory in Finding Dory.
Ellen accepted her 20th award and thanked the public for all their love and support saying, “You are the people who are responsible for me being up here, so I say thank you, people.”
Review: Manchester by the Sea
by The Cowl Editor on January 19, 2017
Arts & Entertainment
by Kerry Torpey `20
A&E Staff
Described as one of the top ten films of 2016 by the National Board of Review and American Film Institute, Manchester by the Sea stars Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, and Lucas Hedges. Written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan, critics and audiences alike have expressed acclaim for the recently released drama.
Set in the town of Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, Affleck plays Lee Chandler, a janitor who lives and works nearby in Quincy. Chandler, a placid man, seems to be living a routine life; he goes to work, watches TV, and finds himself traveling to local bars where he drunkenly feuds with other customers.
The audience quickly realizes that Chandler is troubled, as if something in his past haunts him. When he receives a tragic phone call from a friend back in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Chandler finds himself the legal guardian of his brother’s son, Patrick.
Chandler has no idea what to do. His internal conflict of whether or not to move to Manchester-by-the-Sea so Patrick can stay where he grew up or to ship Patrick up to Quincy becomes a major point of conversation throughout the film. Patrick, like any teenager, wants to stay with his friends in the place he grew up, which further complicates the situation, as Chandler wants Patrick to be happy.
The other option is for Chandler to find someone else to be Patrick’s guardian. This notion, although upsetting for Patrick as he feels his uncle does not care about him enough to be his guardian, is one that Chandler feels would benefit both him and his nephew. Finding someone who would be willing to do so, however, proves to be difficult for Chandler.
Local townspeople all know Lee Chandler, because he previously lived in Manchester-by-the-Sea. When characters see him and say things like, “So, that is the Lee Chandler,” The audience finds themselves questioning why others refer to him with such emphasis. Chandler has such a deep, emotional wall put up and once the reason is revealed, it is truly heartbreaking.
Affleck and Hedges, who plays Patrick, have great chemistry as the slightly estranged nephew and uncle. The dialogue between the two is both emotional but incredibly witty, thanks to the work of Kenneth Lonergan.
Williams plays Chandler’s ex-wife, Randi. Her performance is admirable as she captures the emotions of a character who, like Lee, is suffering due to past events.
A standout performance is that of Hedges. Hedges accurately captures what it is like to be a teenager, all while his character deals with a great amount of pain and loss.
Manchester by the Sea is an emotional and gripping film that flourishes with an experienced cast and director/writer alongside commendable cinematography by Jody Lee Lipes.