Category Archives: Peter Hyle

A&E, Peter Hyle

‘Oz’ attempts to reanimate beloved classic

Leave a comment

By Peter Hyle

Everyone knows the classic tale of Dorothy, traveling into the Land of Oz with her small dog named Toto. On her journey, Dorothy runs into multiple characters including Glinda the good witch, who tells her exactly what she needs to do. The 1939 film revolves around the characters trying to reach the Wizard of Oz, who turns out to be nothing more than a man behind a curtain. The Wizard of Oz starts where the newly released Oz the Great and Powerful ends.

The film starts much like The Wizard of Oz, in Kansas and more surprisingly, in black and white. It isn’t until Oscar Diggs (James Franco) gets sucked into a tornado that the stunning visuals and bright colors appear on screen.

On a journey of his own, Oscar meets three different witches and lies to them all. A conman at heart, he pretends to be the Wizard of Oz in hopes to gain the gold and the kingdom. After lying to Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz), and Glinda (Michelle Williams) Oz must figure out who is truly good and who is secretly evil before he is killed.

This movie is both comical and suspenseful, and can easily be enjoyed by people of any age. Despite the funny lines and unexpected twists, Oz lacks in other areas. Things that were crucial to the first movie are insignificant in this prequel. Ruby red slippers have no place in this film, and neither do characters like the Tin Man or the Scarecrow. Thankfully, the Cowardly Lion does have a small part in this movie that brought a smile to my face.

Even though I am not a big fan of the musical numbers in The Wizard of Oz, a part of me wishes that this movie was filmed more like the original. Just about everything I saw in Oz was digitally animated, which I, at first, thought would make the film better. But after watching the entire thing, I feel like it doesn’t do the original movie justice in some ways.

Looking past the few problems I experienced with this Disney film, I think that director Sam Raimi did a wonderful job focusing Oz on the balance between good and evil inside this strange world. That is essentially the entire plot of both films, and I’m glad that this was clear throughout the movie.

In all, this PG rated film is over two hours of fun and excitement. Through all of the magic and trickery, it shows how Oscar Diggs, a small-time magician transforms into the Wizard of Oz. A prequel to a beloved classic, it answers questions that I didn’t even know existed inside my head. There were several things that I think the creators could have done better, such as adding more of the original characters. But in the end I think that Oz the Great and Powerful is pleasantly amusing and an all around thrill.

Check out the March 22 issue for another review of Oz from A&E reporter Beth Brumeier.

News, Peter Hyle

Class registration perplexes students

1 Comment

By Peter Hyle

Registering for classes is a part of high school life. Each student is given a decisions packet that gives a short description of every class offered here at the school. After reviewing the packet, the students are given a username and password to a website where they can register for their own schedules.

For some students, the entire process of registration can seem confusing.

“It’s frustrating because I don’t know what classes I want to take or what diploma I’m going for,” said sophomore Megan Banet.

There are many required and elective classes that finding the right one may be a challenge. Luckily, most students know what they want to get out of their high school career.

“I know what I want to take because I have an idea of the diploma I want. That helps a lot,” said freshman Josh Poynter. “For others who don’t yet know what they want to do, it’s probably harder to find the right classes.”

Other students have ways of dealing with their uncertainty.

“It’s not really a challenge, but it can be very confusing. That’s why I have my mom register for me,” said junior Kate Peggs.

In the past, FC has given their students more time to figure out their courses for the next school year.

“Beforehand, everyone registered around spring break in March. The superintendent would like parents to have a copy of their book bill sooner rather than later. This way, parents will know how much everything costs months before its time to pay rather than weeks,” said Dean of Students Joe Voelker.

The students have mixed feelings about their registration dates being moved forward.

“I think they should return it to March, don’t rush anything. There’s a bad tendency for your diploma to get all up in your face, and that is easily remedied by slowing down and giving students more time to think things through,” said Poynter.

Some believe that it is a better idea to have the date in January.

“This is my first year registering in high school, so I don’t know any different,” said freshman Trevor Mason. “In March everyone is so excited about spring break and no one wants to worry about their classes. It’s easier to have us sign up now.”

Despite the strong feelings from some of the students, the new registration schedule has more positive than negative outcomes.

“I think a majority of students know what they’re interested in and what classes they want to take going into high school. It shouldn’t be too big of a change for them, and it will overall benefit their parents,” said Voelker.

Peter Hyle

Junior Collin Jackson discovers his talents

Leave a comment

By Peter Hyle

Coming to a school as large as FC may give some new students a reason to be shy and unsure of themselves. There are so many programs available that it can often be hard finding the right path, but for junior Collin Jackson, he knew exactly where he belonged. Joining the theater program at the start of this school year, Jackson has already found himself a lead role.

Knowing that he wanted to participate in theater, Jackson started the new school year with determination.

“He always comes in prepared, learns music quickly, and when he doesn’t know something very well, he practices extremely hard to get better at it,” said theater teacher Robbie Steiner.

Though he has previously acted in plays, such as The Music Man, Jackson is ecstatic about the role he has obtained in the upcoming show, Godspell.

“For each show, all the actors interested have to audition in front of the directors. In this particular case, the show is a classroom project, so only the students in the musical theater class were allowed to audition,” said Jackson.

For the new show, Jackson is playing the role of Jesus himself.

“The role I play has a fairly large amount of lines. He has to be a leader to the rest of the cast, which is different from how I usually am,” said Jackson.

Though the role has obvious challenges, Jackson recognizes this and concerns himself with doing the best job he can.

“The responsibility involved is finding how to display to the audience that my character is both authoritative and friendly. Basically, I just want to make sure I’m doing my job really well, otherwise the whole point of the show could be missed,” said Jackson.

In the past, Jackson has spent time with a program called iTheatrics, a summer workshop in New York. Giving him the motivation to continue forward with his passion, he looks back on his time there as a helpful reminder.

“It gave me some confidence in what I was doing and brought a lot of reality into theatre for me,” said Jackson.

Aside from the positive outlook added to his theatre career, Jackson credits the program for much more than that.

“The program I was involved with encouraged me to make choices, and to look beyond what lines are directly stating. As a whole, the trip was a boost. It helped me to decide that theatre is what I want to do,” said Jackson.

Looking past what lies in front of him, Jackson is optimistic about his future here at FC.

“Even though I’ve only been here for a short amount of time, I have grown to know so many people and I truly feel accepted,” said Jackson, “I appreciate each individual involved in theatre, and cannot wait to see how the rest of my experience here turns out.”