Thor: The Dark World movie review

By: Sean Breen

Thor: The Dark World, sequel to the first movie Thor has been a box office hit thus far.  The Dark World made over $85 million in the opening weekend of its release and grossed over $150 million since then.   The opening weekend numbers defeated the first Thor by over $20 million and is on pace to defeat the lifetime gross of $181 million. 

A problem with making a sequel in the movie industry is that it has to be better than the first or it will be considered a failure.  Thor: The Dark World did not have those expectations to live up to as the first movie was not what everyone had hoped it would be.  The first movie lacked action for a movie about a superhero that has god-like powers.  Do not worry folks, Thor: The Dark World was an exhilarating action packed eye popping success. 

Chris Hemsworth returned in his role as Thor and was asked to do more in this movie than previously.  Besides the action sequences, which he was brilliant in and resembles Brad Pitt from the movie Troy, Hemsworth shined in the scenes that brought, sadness, love and sincerity to the big screen. 

Thor is back in Asgard where he has become the protector of all the realms.  Wherever there is turmoil, Thor and his men show up to put an end to it and lay peace to the land.  These scenes took place early in the film and one of the most memorable was when Thor took on a monster made of stone that was twice his size and defeating him with a twirl of his hammer.  Being protector of the realm Thor and Jane Foster who is played by Natalie Portman have not seen each other for quite some time.  The two are only reunited when Jane makes the discovery of a weapon known as the Aether which is absorbed into her body.  Concerned for her health Thor brings her to Asgard.  Bringing Jane to Asgard has put the whole universe in danger as the main antagonists; the Dark Elves led by Malekith pursue to obtain the Aether weapon from Jane.  This led to scenes that looked like something out of Star Wars movies, only better as the Dark Elves took to an aerial assault of Asgard.  Upon landing on Asgard epic hand to hand combat scenes between Asgardians and the Dark Elves broke out as a mini war started within the castle walls.  Without giving away too much detail, that is the main plot, Thor must defeat the Dark Elves, something his ancestors did thousands of years ago to protect the realm.

The main characters Thor and Jane were perfectly depicted throughout the movie.  Thor is clearly as powerful as a god, but also as loving and caring as a normal human being. Dr. Jane Foster an intelligent woman who uses her knowledge for science but also shows the courage of a goddess.  One of the characters that did not play as big of a role was the brother of Thor, Loki played by Tom Hiddleston.  This was disappointing because of the role that Loki played in the first Thor and in The Avengers.  He was involved in somewhat of an important scene but that is only one scene of a movie that was almost two hours long. 

If you are into superhero movies or even action movies Thor: The Dark World is an enjoyable film.  The action is almost nonstop, and the computer-generated imagery (CGI) is top notch for this generation which will keep your eyes glued to the big screen.  Overall the movie gets 4 out of 5 stars.   

Shawn Leo, West Chester University football team's placekicker

By: Sean Breen

West Chester University football place kicker Shawn Leo is currently in his final season as a Golden Ram, the senior graduating in December has left his mark on and off the field during his career. 

As a red shirt freshman, Leo who attended Souderton High School was given the opportunity to earn the starting place kicking job, and he has not disappointed.   In just his first year, he set the single season record for his accuracy making 9 out of 10 field goals (90%).   During the same season he tied a school record with three field goals made in a game against Shippensburg, a double overtime nationally televised game that the Rams ended up winning 44-43.  “The 48 yarder was early in the game and that was my career long, and then I came in with about 25 seconds left and kicked a 42 yard field goal to send it to overtime” Leo recalled humbly. 

Also during the same season, Leo was nominated and was a finalist for the Fred Mitchell Award.  This award recognizes the nation’s top place kickers from more than 750 football teams for their excellence on the gridiron and in the community.  Although he did not win, Leo was among 42 finalists and was 1 of 5 freshmen to be chosen.  As Leo succeeded on the field, he did not shy away from jumping at the opportunities to give back to the community.   He actively participated in The Relay for Life, Autism Walk and the Bone Marrow Donor program on campus.  Taking it upon himself he also volunteered at home.  “I also volunteered back home, I do some baseball and football camps at Souderton.  I help umpire and I work with the kickers at Lauren’s First and Goal camp which is up at Lafayette College”.  Leo said with a sense of candid satisfaction. 

The modest kicker did not stop there.  He continued to rewrite the record books in the 2011 campaign.  Leo was 15 of his 20 field goal attempts, breaking the record for most field goals in a single season.  That is not the only record he broke that season.  In the season opener against nationally ranked New Haven he set the school record by making four field goals in a single game.  Another season highlight was his astounding 80 total points which led the team in scoring.

The Souderton High School product continued to do what he did best in 2012, kick field goals and break school records.  Once again, Leo broke another record, of his 15 field goal attempts he converted 13 setting a new record for career field goals made of 37 breaking John Marotta’s record of 30 set in 1990. “I remember distinctly it was against Cheyney, Coach Zwaan actually pulled me from the game at halftime because we were up so much, and I wasn’t really planning on going in again but when he called field goal he told me to go back in, I think Coach knew I was close to the record” Leo said with a vibrant smile.  By the end of the 2012 season, he was also able to nab the record for highest career field goal percentage (82.2 percent). 

Thus far this season, with one regular season game remaining Leo has added 9 field goals to his record.  Leo has been a consistent player for the football team.  Some would say field goal kicking goes unnoticed.  The program has made sure that his effort has been recognized.  For three years in a row they have awarded him with the Bill Vansant Memorial Special Team Award for most outstanding special teams player. 

Learning to master the profession of kicking has taken many years of practice.  Leo did not start his football career until he was in 10^th grade.  He started to learn how to kick when he was in 7^th grade by his mentor and brother Jason Leo.  Shawn was a soccer player until 9^th grade which may be some sort of explanation for his strong leg.  His brother, Jason, would take time after his practice to teach his younger brother the fundamentals of kicking. “My brother taught me how to do everything, he would spend like 20 minutes with me and he basically taught me everything I know” Leo explained.   His brother Jason went on to have a solid kicking career at Lehigh University going 36 for 55 on field goal attempts.

Not every person would want the job of being a place kicker on a football team.  The job can be nerve racking at times, especially when the game is on the line.  Leo explained that consistency with form and approaching a kick the same each time is a key part to being a kicker.  “It’s all you gotta do, consistency, when you mess something up that’s when you miss, when you do something out of sync”. 

Leo graduates in December with an accounting degree and plans on pursuing a job as an accountant.  He is unsure as to whether or not he will attempt to try out for a professional football team, but did not exclude that as an option.

Week 12 NFL picks

Thu Nov 21	8:25 pm	New Orleans Saints	Atlanta Falcons
Sun Nov 24	1:00 pm	Carolina Panthers	Miami Dolphins
	1:00 pm	Chicago Bears	St. Louis Rams
	1:00 pm	Jacksonville Jaguars	Houston Texans
	1:00 pm	Minnesota Vikings	Green Bay Packers
	1:00 pm	New York Jets	Baltimore Ravens
	1:00 pm	Pittsburgh Steelers	Cleveland Browns
	1:00 pm	San Diego Chargers	Kansas City Chiefs
	1:00 pm	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Detroit Lions
	4:05 pm	Indianapolis Colts	Arizona Cardinals
	4:05 pm	Tennessee Titans	Oakland Raiders
	4:25 pm	Dallas Cowboys	New York Giants
	8:30 pm	Denver Broncos	New England Patriots *
Mon Nov 25	8:40 pm	San Francisco 49ers	Washington Redskins

My picks to win are highlighted in green.  

Call of Duty: Ghosts Review

Earlier this month Infinity Ward released the newest edition to the Call of Duty series, Call of Duty: Ghosts.  For those of you who may get confused there are two different companies that continue to make Call of Duty games, Infinity Ward is the maker of the modern warfare games, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.  The counterpart companies are Activision and Treyarch which created the Black ops games and World at War.

The new Call of Duty: Ghosts is part of the Modern Warfare series from Infinity Ward, but what is most interesting about this game is the fresh start they have made.  The campaign no longer interacts with the characters known as Cpt. Soap and Cpt. Price, characters that the followers of Call of Duty have become familiar with through the years.  Infinity Ward has created a brand new story, following new characters.  It follows a family of three including their German shepherd.  Army Cpt. Elias Walker, the father of his two sons Logan and David “Hesh” Walker and their dog, Riley go to war after the Federation starts a war with the United States. Most of the game you play as the younger brother Logan who teams up with his brother Hesh for most of the missions.   The end of the game has also left it open to continue this same story of this family.

Although it is a story that is new to the series, it is exciting and entertaining for any Call of Duty player.  Two scenes in particular come to mind, there is a mission that has you and your brother underwater scuba diving and the graphics were amazing.  The coral reefs and the sea creatures were incredibly detailed that made it look realistic which was quite shocking.  The other mission had you as the player, controlling the dog Riley and completing certain tasks which were fun and amusing.  These are just two examples of how Infinity Ward has implemented new ideas to their game to allow the player to partake in something that has never been done before within Call of Duty.  Although the downfall of the campaign has and still is the length of the gameplay, it only takes about 5-6 hours to complete, and that is if you watch all the cut scenes.  Also they do not allow the player to make decisions that would alter certain situations; you have to do everything the game tells you to do, with no alternate scenarios.  Regardless of the length of the campaign, it was still awesome for any gamer who enjoys first person shooters. The campaign gets 4 out of 5 stars. 

As for the multiplayer, much of the same has returned.  Most of the favorite game modes have returned, Team Deathmatch, Domination, Kill Confirmed, Search & Destroy and Free-for-all.  It was disappointing to see that Capture the Flag did not return, after being included in many of the most recent Call of Duty games.  However they did add new game modes.  The new modes included are Cranked, Blitz, Search and Rescue, Infected and Hunted.  Two of the most interesting ones are Cranked and Search and Rescue.  In Cranked upon getting a kill of an enemy player a timer pops up on your screen giving you thirty seconds to get another kill or you will yourself explode.  Also upon getting a kill or multiple kills, your soldier becomes faster and can move swiftly around the map, hence the name of the game, Cranked.  This game mode is most intriguing because many Call of Duty players complain about “campers” and in a sense this particular game has almost eliminated the ability for a player to camp, but instead encourage players to run around and partake in fast paced action.

The other game mode that stood out was Search and Rescue.  For years Search and Destroy has been a highly played game type.  Infinity Ward has created Search and Rescue by combining Search and Destroy and Kill Confirmed.  Upon dying in Search and Rescue your tags are dropped and you teammates have the opportunity of reviving you if they recover your tags, the enemy has the opportunity to remove you from the round by recovering your tags.  This was a creative way to eliminate the spawn deaths that haunted the Search and Destroy game mode. 

The other new game modes Blitz, Hunted and Infected were not all that impressive or thought out.  Blitz will remind any Call of Duty player of the old Headquarters game type which seems to be filled with explosives and too much confusion.  Infected and Hunted are too slow paced and do not consist of enough action as the other game types. 

Multiplayer allows you to customize the look of the soldier you play as in game kind of like how Halo did back in the day.  Unlocking these custom outfits is a hassle which requires the player to put way too much time into the game.  Some of the maps seem to be oversized, as though you are playing a game like Battlefield.  Some of the maps could legit be cut in half and they would be more enjoyable to play.  Also the killstreaks are not as fun as they have been with Modern Warfare 2 and 3.  Overall the multiplayer has taken steps backwards.  The multiplayer gets 2.5 stars out of 5.