Medgar Evers College Gives Higher Learning a Brand-New Meaning
(Photo Credit: Jules Antonio)
By Michael Omoruan
It was on April 30 2021, that then-Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo signed legislation that legalized the use and possession of marijuana for adults 21 years and older. According to the Marijuana Moment, a news publication focused on stories on cannabis, from January to March 2021. 3,687 possession-related summons have been issued by the New York Police Department with the majority issued to black and hispanic people. When it comes to arrests, a total of 148 black and brown people were incarcerated, while only six white people were arrested. Fortunately as a result of Cuomo’s signing, those formerly incarcerated on possession or other charges are set to be freed and have their criminal records expunged.
It was under the leadership of Dr. Alicia Reid, chair of the Chemistry Environmental Sciences department at Medgar Evers and member of the Cannabis Education Taskforce, that Medgar Evers College became the first CUNY to offer a cannabis minor. What initially drew Dr. Alicia Reid to start this program was interest expressed from various students and the studies she would read in her spare time. In the days following Cuomo’s decision, Reid would begin to receive requests on teaching courses about the drug. It got to the point where she put out a survey to calculate interest and over 75 percent of students expressed their approval.
With the help of other students, Alicia Reid hosted a town hall meeting with a whopping 380 people in attendance. This meeting transformed the concept of having a class into a real minor offered at Medgar Evers College.
The audience consisted of students, faculty members, and community organizers who were invested in seeing the course come to fruition. Dr. Patricia Ramsey, president of Medgar Evers, stated “Education is a key step in raising awareness of the non-recreational benefits of plants such as cannabis. Oftentimes, communities of color are the last to benefit from emerging economic opportunities.”
The cannabis minor program marks the first minor dedicated to the studying and understanding of a drug in the history of the City University of New York. Dr. Ramsey isn’t too far off from the truth. In a study conducted by the Tax Policy Center, 74 percent of eligible white adults received stimulus checks, in contrast to 69 percent of African Americans and 64 percent of Latinx Americans. The lack of BIPOC representation and opportunities for individuals working in such a white, male-dominated industry was a key factor in this plan taking off.
Much of the cannabis industry is led by those that are white and male, and doesn’t reflect the diverse student body on campus. This program will allow students to maximize job and entrepreneurial opportunities after college.
A brief overview of the tracks available to enroll in as part of the minor program. Courtesy of MEC Cannabis Education Taskforce.
In an exclusive interview with the Meridian, Vikiana Clement stated “If we didn’t educate students and get them prepared, we’d be setting them up for failure.” Clement, a Medgar Evers alum and member of the MEC Cannabis Education Taskforce, goes on to state “If you gave 100 students licensing to sell cannabis, they wouldn’t know what to do with it. This program is meant to educate and put them into every sector of the industry to maximize their potential.”
Even though the minor degree program started at Medgar Evers, it is available to all CUNY students regardless of their campus or major.
Although many more are in the works, the four tracks available to concentrate on, for the time being, are the following: Formulating and Testing, Cultivation of Marijuana, Health, and Commercialization.
Rather than expressing concern about what their children would be learning, at least three parents expressed interest and had a variety of questions, including “Will FAFSA fund this?” and “Is this coming out of my pocket?”
Adults that are returning to school or are part of a continuing education program are eligible to enroll in the fourth track of the minor. There was an overwhelmingly positive response from different community members including married couples, and one grandparent even referred their grandchild to enroll in the program.
The program was spearheaded by the MEC Cannabis Education Taskforce and is housed in the Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science. The taskforce consists of four members, two faculty and two alumni. The faculty leads are Dr. Alicia Reid, chair of the Chemistry and Environmental Sciences department, and Dr. Micah Crump, professor of Business and Entrepreneurship. The two Alumni are Vikiana Clement, a corporate software engineer and entrepreneur, and Joel Strothers, a civil and environmental engineering Ph.D. student at Princeton University.
In the interview with The Meridian, Dr. Reid stated “We’re hoping that Medgar Evers becomes the go to place for workplace development. The training ground that people come to for mentoring, shadowing, and other opportunities within the cannabis degree program.”
The Cannabis Minor Program has been backed by highly regarded operations and organizations they’ve partnered with including industry-leading medical dispensary, Columbia Care, Gotham Gives, and the Webber Wild Impact Fund. This is a $100 million impact fund led by five time NBA all-star and hall of famer, Chris Webber, to assist cannabis businesses founded by minorities.
When the approval for the minor degree was granted, students were finally notified close to a year before registration for class was open. The task force initially created a survey regarding enrollment for the approximate 140 students that expressed interest in cannabis education.
“We’re hoping that Medgar Evers becomes the place for workplace development. The training ground that people come to for mentoring, shadowing, and other opportunities within the cannabis degree program.”- Dr. Reid
The main goal was to achieve, as Clement puts it, “entrepreneurial acumen” so that students who complete the program become a watchdog of sorts in the cannabis industry. This could increase the chance that many other marginalized communities can be protected.
As for what the future holds for the MEC Taskforce, Dr. Reid hopes that initiatives and other initiatives like this, serve as a blueprint for those in BIPOC and marginalized communities. Students can now have a competitive edge in the workplace and the ability to offer resources to their communities in their entrepreneurial activities.
Wandavision Spellbinds Audiences At Start, Sputters Towards End
(Photo Credit: Marvel Studios)
By Michael Omoruan
Opposites really do attract. After launching 2 years ago on November 12th and releasing a backlog of content from Disney films and series, Marvel films and series, National Geographic, and more, Disney Plus has now stepped into the original streaming series game when releasing “Wandavision”.
Starring Elizabeth Olsen as the Sokovian sorceress Wanda Maximoff and Paul Bettany as the sharp synthezoid Vision, the first piece of media to take place after the events of “Endgame” juggles a myriad of genres and Marvel Cinematic Universe characters for a unique take on the newly married couple tropes. While it starts off on the right notes, towards the end is where it tends to falter.
We are first reintroduced to the truly dynamic duo in Westview, New Jersey through a retro yet risky black and white lens. Both Vis and Wanda do their best Dick van Dyke and Lucille Ball routines respectively with great comedic timing and endearing chemistry. They enter their new home but have trouble recalling their lives before they entered the garden state. The first few episodes follow several sitcom cliches that will delight older viewers but could slightly put off those younger.
Almost as if being called to set, the two are soon introduced to Agnes played by the effervescent Kathryn Hahn with food already in tow to welcome the two to the neighborhood. Hahn takes what could’ve easily been a phoned-in performance and turns the ham to 11. Through the show, she plays the pesky, noisy neighbor in the ilk of Full House’s Kimmy Gibbler and Married with Children’s Marcy D’Arcy incredibly well.
One of the highlights is seeing Olsen and Bettany playing different versions of their characters through decades of show structures and costumes that genuinely fit. The theme songs and brief intermissions in the form of in-show commercials
As mentioned, the series brings back many old faces and names fans may have forgotten including the always charming Randall Park as FBI agent Jimmy Woo, who first appeared in Ant-Man and the Wasp, and a now adult Monica Rambeau played by Teyonah Parris who was last seen as a young girl in Captain Marvel.
The show begins to enter darker territory as Wanda and Vision’s home as well as the Westview neighborhood start to witness weird occurences around them. For fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, tune in if only to see more of the relationship developed between the 2 Avengers that started in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
It’s been confirmed by Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige that the Scarlet Witch will soon make an appearance in the Doctor Strange sequel entitled “Multiverse of Madness” directed by “Spider-Man” trilogy helmer Sam Raimi which means Wanda will definitely be making a mark on the MCU going forward.
Lehman’s Own DishwithDina Raises Over $1k During Virtual Wellness Retreat
A photo promoting Dina’s MadeWithLove Virtual Retreat. Courtesy of DishwithDina.
By Michael Omoruan
As confirmed cases of Covid continue to rise and movie theaters have been shut down, it can feel pretty draining trying to keep spirits up and energy high. Lehman College nutrition professor Dina D'RAlessandro has taken it upon herself to make this daunting and depressing time to host a virtual event focused on proper logistical mindset, healthy eating, and all-around focused on positivity.
D’Alessandro, or more commonly known by her online moniker DishwithDina, not only works as a Lehman professor, but is also a registered dietitian. D’Alessandro frequently hosts Instagram lives for her nearly 2,000 followers, where she welcomes nutrition enthusiasts and experts. She also allows up to 30 minutes of free nutritional and all-around guidance on many online platforms, including Zoom and Zocdoc.
The MadewithLove Virtual Wellness Retreat was held all day on Dec. 5 via Zoom and featured a list of talks hosted by many of D’Alessandro’s friends and colleagues.
When asked what inspired her to make this event, Dina stated to the Meridian “This all started as a way for me to end the year with self-care. All too often, we think we have to wait for the "New Year, New You" promotions before we can take time for ourselves and get back on track with our goals.” She went on to explain that she also wanted to raise money for a good cause, which she more than accomplished as donations for Mental Health America reached over $1000!
Dina’s banner for her Dishwithdina website.
One of the first talks was hosted by Andrea Gonzalez, a Miami-based medical student, author, and creator of the Plan with Productivity brand, which focuses on teaching people how to chase their biggest goals and aspirations. Her talk focused on practical advice like limiting one’s time on social media, making alarms to get ready throughout the day, and gradually learning to stick with a routine.
A highlight of the event was the exercise intermission hosted by Amber Trejo, a certified personal trainer. It served as a way to liven things up and was much more active than other online events tend to be. And since most gyms and recreation centers have been closed, it helped in getting those in attendance up on their feet and shaping muscles that most likely haven’t been strengthened for quite some time.
Jaime Maldanado, a recent Lehman graduate, stated “I truly loved the variety of speakers. [Dina] had… just what I needed to hear! It was a great event to attend and I’m so glad I did."
All in all, Dina hosted a great number of events that helped everyone in attendance take a brief pause from their daily lives, whether they’re students currently in the last stretch of the fall semester or parents needing some time to focus on themselves.
One can only hope for more events to be hosted like these in the future to mitigate any wariness those in school and even those out of school might feel. To quote recent Lehman graduate Mitchelita Touzin, "Please make this a yearly event.”
Link to her Instagram.
Link to her Twitter.
Asian Business Owners Respond to Recent Surge in Hate Crimes
(Photo credit: ABC News)
By Michael Omoruan
Hate crimes in major cities in the United States such as Los Angeles, California, and New York City involving Asian people has increased by almost 150 percent from 3 reported crimes to 26 and 7 to more than double at 15 respectively, according to a study conducted by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University.
Many factors could be playing a role in this but Karthick Ramakrishnan, founder and director of demographic data and policy research nonprofit AAPI Data, believes that former President Donald Trump and his repeated comments on China being the country of origin for the ongoing coronavirus pandemic have increased the hate towards the Asian community.
“What Trump did is that he weaponized it in a way,” Ramakrishnan told NBC “Trump's rhetoric helps set a certain narrative in place — and presidents have an outsized role in terms of shaping narrative. They don't call it a bully pulpit for nothing, and especially Trump, the way he frequently used Twitter as well as press conferences and off-the-cuff remarks to campaign rallies to frame the narrative in a particular way, it likely played a role.”
Jennifer Tam, co-founder and marketing chair of Welcome to Chinatown, a grassroots initiative that supports local businesses and communities in the neighborhood, echoed Ramakrishnan’s comments.
“The atmosphere of the businesses is both a heightened sense of fear for safety, but true to Chinatown's spirit, everyone remains resilient,” Tam said. “I think this speaks to the spirit of the community -- driven largely by immigrants or multi-generational family operations, who work hard to make ends meet... I don't step out of my home anymore unless absolutely necessary, as a safety precaution. It's unfortunate given that like many New Yorkers, I am anxiously waiting for things to return to normal in the city following this pandemic, yet I think many Asian Americans are feeling that we should still remain home for our safety and the unknown of what could happen as anti-Asian violence has become more prevalent.”
On March 16, another racially motivated hate crime occurred as eight people were killed in massage parlors in the Atlanta, Georgia area with six of the victims being of Asian descent. Local authorities captured the suspect in Crisp County, a 21-year-old man identified as Robert Aaron Long who claimed he committed these atrocities due to a “sex addiction”. He is currently being held without bond in Cherokee County, where he faces four counts of murder and a charge of aggravated assault, according to the county sheriff's office.
Lizy Yee, the owner of Tonii's Fresh Rice Noodle in Downtown New York, describes the atmosphere at her shop as generally safe because of a network of businesses that look out for one another. But Yee is angered by the thought of people being afraid of racially motivated violence.
“The recent crime surge gets me angry because no way should ANY elders have to look over their shoulders when they go out. No way should they be scared to go out in public because of their skin color or because of how they look.”
Paulson Delivers a Mesmerizing Look with ‘Ratched’
(Photo Credit: Netflix)
By Michael Omoruan
The nurse is in. From the dark and twisted mind of “Glee” creator Ryan Murphy, starring Emmy-award winning actress Sarah Paulson of “American Crime Story” and “American Horror Story,” “Ratched” tells the story of Nurse Mildred Ratched’s beginnings, long before she encountered the rebellious McMurphy in “One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest.” Among a plethora of reboots and films, “Ratched” is led by acting juggernauts like Vincent D’Onofrio, Sharon Stone, and obviously Paulson. But despite these stars, overall the show felt a tad superfluous and even teetered into soap opera territory at points.
Right from the jump, we meet a Nurse Ratched with an already sardonic demeanor and a facade that she uses to hide her true wicked nature. We see her serve in the military before being dishonorably discharged, using that experience to find a position in a local psychiatric facility.
Based on Ken Kesey’s revolutionary novel and Milos Forman’s 1975 film, the show takes place in Lucia, California and plants Easter eggs over the course of nine episodes that call back to key moments in “Cuckoo’s Nest.” Most notable are a scene featuring a lobotomy and someone being smothered to death with a pillow. The first makes sense in the context of the show and displays Ratched’s twisted pleasure from the suffering of others, but the second felt too forced, as if Murphy wanted to remind the audience that this was based on the novel and film.
A side by side comparison of Sarah Paulson and Louise Fletcher as Mildred Ratched (Photo credit: Netflix/Shutterstock)
“Ratched” touches on many pressing matters such as how society views mental health, same-sex relationships, and female empowerment. Characters are described as mentally ill who today would just be considered normal- two older lesbian women and one child who was caught daydreaming, for instance. “Ratched” highlights how flawed perceptions were of what constituted a mental disability back then, when the slightest deviation from the norm could be considered a sickness or ailment.
In some instances, the staff seem more disturbed than the patients. When news of a serial killer who has murdered several priests makes front pages, Nurse Dolly (played astutely by Alice Englert), falls in love with him. The head of the mental ward, Dr. Hanover, is shown in several scenes injecting, inhaling, and filling up his body with a host of medication and barbiturates when he is alone.
Nurse Ratched herself is revealed to have grown up in foster care, subjected to abuse and made a spectacle of by her families. These early experiences leave her emotionally reserved and prone to rejecting the advances of both men and women. She forges documents and uses everyday slip-ups and mishaps at the psychiatric facility to advance her career. However, as the story progresses, the plot begins to feel a bit contrived, especially when the governor of the state, played by D’Onofrio, visits the ward where Ratched works.
One of the series’ highlights is definitely the production design. The use of garish colors throughout, like pastel pinks and greens, works well to transport modern viewers in 2020 to how life looked back in the early 1940s and 50s. The show overwhelms viewers with entire scenes full of bright greens and reds when Ratched or her eventual boss Dr. Hanover are present. Cropping up often in moments when they are about to or have just committed a malicious act, the color symbolizes not just the field of medicine, but also wealth and corruption. The show is shot very cinematically with wide sweeping shots showcasing cars and the costume design with finesse that deserves just as much praise.
Season one of “Ratched” ends on a cliffhanger that’s just intriguing enough to have audiences hooked. However, there are so many unearned deaths just when we’ve begun to see backstories and development for several key secondary characters that audiences will have to gauge for themselves whether they’re interested in a second season.
Online Opportunities Ensure Students’ Success
By Michael Omoruan
Since the pandemic closed Lehman’s campus on March 12, many students have had to either work remotely or lose out on potential internship opportunities altogether. Despite the shock of COVID-19 closures, virtual career fairs and online resources like the Braven Accelerator course and the ALPFA Virtual Symposium have given students new opportunities that would not have otherwise been available to them.
A logo of the nonprofit ALPFA. (Photo via ALPFA)
Edil Abreu, an accounting major at Lehman, relied on both organizations to adapt to the new normal. “As someone who has never taken a fully online class before, this [closure] brought new challenges to light. Luckily for me, I had Braven and ALPFA by my side.” Abreu explained that Braven “helped me improve my networking skills, short term and long-term goals, [and] ALPFA helped me take that next step that I needed to elevate my professionalism.
Founded in 2013 by Aimee Eubanks Davis, Braven is a non-profit organization dedicated to equipping college students with career-ready skills and resources to ensure they can find work post-graduation. Once students enroll in the course, they are placed into cohorts where they work with peers and an assigned leadership coach to work on weekly online modules and meetings dubbed “learning labs.”
Students are taught job-ready skills and practices during these classes and frequently attend workshops led by members of the Braven team to learn how to network, handle common interview questions, and create their own brands over the course of approximately 6 months. Once students complete this course, they become Post-Accelerator Fellows (PAFs) who can stay in touch with Braven team members and regularly receive job-posting newsletters about national and local companies that are currently hiring.
The Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA) is another national NGO that focuses on building up its members to become leaders. Both organizations consist of individuals that are more often than not, part of marginalized communities including African Americans, Latinx, and more. Because these organizations were able to adapt rather quickly to the pandemic, they continue to serve their communities.
A logo of the nonprofit Braven. (Photo via of Braven)
Braven hosts webinars that continue teaching current fellows and PAFs ways to advance their college careers. ALPFA recently hosted a virtual symposium on Aug. 5, where recruiters and employees from Fortune 500 companies, like Microsoft and Bank of America dedicated time to interview and talk with a majority of STEM majors.
“The Braven Accelerator program has helped me tremendously with virtual opportunities,” said Afsana Akther, speech-language and audiology major at Lehman. “I secured an internship at New York Vocal Coaching with the help of my Braven leadership coach and working with other fellows. Braven made me job-ready by providing collaborative online modules, networking activities, mock-interviews, and virtual sessions.”
“From helping me build a professional resume, to boosting my interview skills and elevator pitch, ALPFA also connected me with an extensive network of young and current professionals through the ALPFA Convention and other events,” said Benjamin Arias, an accounting major and Lehman senior.
“I was fortunate enough to receive follow-up interviews from multiple companies and received a total of five internship offers for 2021.”
Arias felt grateful for the resources ALPFA offered him. “Both of these organizations gave me the necessary tools to land an internship at a Big Four accounting firm during the pandemic. I was fortunate enough to receive follow-up interviews from multiple companies and received a total of five internship offers for 2021.”
The ALPFA Lehman chapter typically meets every Tuesday at 4 p.m. via Zoom. The Braven Accelerator is a 3-credit course offered every fall and spring semester and is open to all majors.
On Instagram @alpfalc and @bebraven, alpfa.org, and/or bebraven.org.
Soderbergh's Timely Thriller Forecasts Life in Pandemic
The DVD release cover of “Contagion.” (Image courtesy of IMDB.)
By Michael Omoruan
As the Coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on a worldwide scale, many are looking to the 2011 movie “Contagion” for terrifying deja vu. It is a film that feels less like a Hollywood blockbuster and more like a nail-biting documentary of the present.
The plot feels familiar to anyone surviving the current pandemic: a new virus slowly spreads among people worldwide, starting in Minnesota and London, then all the way to Tokyo.
Directed exceptionally well by Steven Soderbergh and set in the midst of the holiday season, “Contagion” shows how family gatherings multiply the public’s exposure to the virus, a side effect of seasonal travel, allowing it to reach across all corners of the world.
Strong performances from its main and supporting cast bring the film to life.
The standouts are definitely Jude Law’s portrayal of a popular online journalist named Alan Krumwiede, who is looking for answers to how the virus spread so fast, while Ellis Cheever (Lawrence Fishburne), lead member of the CDC, tries his best to contain the situation.
At a crucial moment in the film, when test trials begin to seek a vaccine to combat the virus, the two butt heads and their superb delivery during this climactic encounter will have viewers forgetting that they're watching a film, and not real life.
The film shares many commonalities with the current state of the world, the biggest being the spread of COVID-19.
On a Chinese farm, a bat flies in eating a piece of banana that soon falls in front of a pig. The pig eats it not long before being slaughtered and taken to be prepared by a chef who shakes hands with the main character Beth at the casino she was in, eventually infecting her. According to several reports from the CDC, bats may have been the cause of the coronavirus spreading all over the world.
The film also talks in length about the power of digital media and how online sources are quickly overshadowing print media outlets for spreading information.
Alan Krumwiede runs an online blog called “Truth Serum Now,” which he boasts has over 12 million readers. He taunts a San Francisco Chronicle writer that his blog gets more hits than his paper and will soon put them out of business.
Krumwiede live streams on his site, feigning illness from the virus and uses a holistic oil to “cure” himself, which also felt like a premonition by Soderbergh and Burns. Similarly, radio show host Alex Jones recently promoted his own so-called cure for the coronavirus during a livestream, according to an article by the New Yorker.
Damon’s portrayal of a father slowly watching his world crumble is extremely powerful. Viewers will relate to the escalation of his paranoia as riots ensue when shortages for a newly discovered treatment arises. He panics throughout the film whenever he’s with his daughter Jory as he tries to make sure she doesn't get infected.
Kate Winslet, who plays an epidemiologist researching the spread of the virus, cleverly conveys how dangerous the work of health officials can be, when her character also eventually succumbs to the symptoms of the illness. Marion Cotillard plays Dr. Leonara Orantes, another epidemiologist, who gets abducted by a group of Chinese government officials and used as bait to obtain first access to a cure for their village.
“Contagion” showcases how different facets of society react to a modern pandemic with impressive accuracy. The riot scenes and laboratory scenes with scientists suggest how stressful and overwhelmed many of these essential workers must feel.
It is one of a whole sub-genre of films that deal with novel viruses, among which are “The Flu” in 2013, a South Korean film about an airborne strain of the H5N1 virus in Seoul; “Carriers” in 2009 starring Chris Pine of “Star Trek” fame, about two brothers and friends escaping a virus spread; and “Outbreak” in 1995, a story that stars Dustin Hoffman and Morgan Freeman about a smuggled monkey virus air-spread from into the United States.
Despite the heavy and dark subject matter of “Contagion,” it still ends on a rather optimistic note: the government has begun administering vaccines based on birthdays and begins to call out dates through a lottery-based system, due to the limited supply. Since the film so closely resembles our current reality, I would only suggest watching this if you really enjoy medical dramas/thrillers.
Exceeding Expectations, “IT” Sequel Floats to Top of Box Office
The official theatrical poster for “IT Chapter Two” (Photo Credit: Collider)
By Michael Omoruan
After facing a notoriously fearsome clown, the Losers Club has come back 27 years later, following their oath to put an end to him someday. In “It Chapter Two,” released on Sept. 6, 2019, two years after the first film, Pennywise the Dancing Clown once again returns to Derry, Maine to feed on the inhabitants’ fear. Much of the film is really well made, blending humor and horror as skillfully as in the first film.
Almost too well, since according to Entertainment Weekly, playing Pennywise left Swedish actor, Bill Skarsgard with very strange Pennywise-filled dreams. “Every night, he came and visited,” said Skarsgard. Pennywise’s scares in the film are executed with an intensity that even shames the 1990 television movie. All the film’s special effects show advancement in technology and make you really empathize with the characters fighting the clown.
Now adults, the “Losers” Bill Denbrough, Ritchie Tozier, Ben Hanscom, Stanley Uris, Eddie Kapsbrak, Beverly Marsh, and Mike Hanlon reunite to face off against Pennywise once and for all.
Most of them seem to have moved on from their childhood days in Derry. Ritchie is now a headlining stand-up comedian, while Ben Hanscom leads an architectural firm. Only Mike played as a kid by Chosen Jacobs and as an adult by Isaiah Mustafa, has stayed behind.
The IMAX poster for “IT Chapter Two” (Photo Credit: Collider)
In the first film, Mike worked on his grandfather’s farm. As part of one of the only minorities living in Derry, he fell victim to racism and bullying by Henry Bowers and his cronies. Shortly after, he joined up with the Losers. In the sequel he now lives a reclusive life, listening to police scanners for reports of potential Pennywise attacks. When he overhears an incident involving the murder of two gay men, he calls each Loser to convince them to come back home.
Though most show apprehension or even forgetfulness of the pact they made almost three decades ago, eventually all but one agree to find time to head back to Maine. The scene of their reunion offers great levity, mainly through Ritchie’s sense of humor. Played as a kid by Finn Wolfhard and as an adult by Bill Hader, he begins cracking jokes at the Losers’ expense and gets the audience laughing along with him.
Many of the characters from the first film return, even if just for brief appearances. Beverly’s dad returns in a flashback scene where he continues to torment her for looking so much like her mother. Eddie’s mom makes a hilarious yet almost sad appearance as Eddie’s wife, implying she was the only woman he could ever get close to.
The skillful casting is another highlight, especially James Ransone, who plays older Eddie, and Jay Ryan as older Ben. They resemble their young counterparts so accurately they look as if they were relatives. Another old face to return as Henry Bowers. Since he killed his father on Pennywise’s orders in “Chapter One,” he has become the clown’s henchman, breaking out of an asylum to try to kill each Loser one by one.
Pennywise, for the most part, plays mind games on the losers that are downright cruel, including when he taunts Bill with the memory of losing Georgie. While Curry’s interpretation of Pennywise in the first version is more like an ailing father figure, in this second film, Skarsgard has a youthful demeanor that makes his luring and terrorizing of the kids a lot more believable and scarier. He also isn’t as hammy as the 90s Pennywise when delivering lines of dialogue.
The phenomenal acting, special effects and makeup were always of high quality, and the film’s music, composed by Benjamin Wallfisch, keeps you in a constant state of unease. Make sure to keep an eye out for cameos from director Andy Muschetti and “IT” writer, Stephen King. This film was made to be watched in theaters, so enjoy!