ARTS
Wednesday, December 5, 1984
,The Michigan Daily
Page 5
New and improved Supergirl takes off
By Joshua Bilmes
W ITH SUPERGIRL,the Salking
clan, which also produced the
three Superman movies, has suc-
cessfully managed to arrest the steady
fideterioration of quality which took
"place in that trilogy, and even reversed
the trend a little. I left the movie
theatre with a smile on my face this
time, and I have a feeling that kids
would probably enjoy Supergirl even
:more than I did.
The movie starts off on the right foot.
Like Superman, this adventure of his
cousin starts off with a few scenes on
the home planet. In this case, the home
planet is a section of Krypton, Argo
City, which managed to survive the ex-
~plosion intact. The inhabitants of Argo
'City include Alura and Zor-El, who are
'Supergirl's parents. Supergirl's Kryp-
tonian name is Kara. She is friends
with a slightly neorotic sculptor named
Zalter (Peter O'Toolle).
Now, Zaltar is a well-meaning per-
son, but he borrows the omegahedron,
" which powers the city, to help with his
W work, and then gives it to Kara. She
- lets go, and it goes flying out of the
.dome and off to Earth. Zaltar volun-
"'teers to go to the Phantom Zone for his
crimes (the Phantom Zone is that
mirror-like thing which was in the first
two Superman movies.). Kara decides
to go to Earth, retrieve the crystal
before the city dies, and maybe drop in
and see her cousin, Superman.
The reason the above scene is so good
. omen is the subtle changes made from
the Krypton scenes in Superman.
People (not me) thought those were too
long, so this one is much shorter, and
moves at a much faster pace. No one
will be sleeping before the film even
begins. Argo City is very well designed
by Production Designer Richard Mac-
Donald and much of the movie has a
bright, airy originality to it in design if
not plot. Best of all, the title sequence
before the Argo City scene has the nice
flashy titles I loved in the earlier
movies, and has some very good new
music by Jerry Goldsmith, not a third
attempt by Ken Thorne to imitate the
John Williams music in Superman.
The problems with the movie come
when the film goes to Earth. The plot is
in too many ways strictly for kids. It is
enjoyable, but only to a limited ex-
tent. There is also a consistent attempt
at wit, and again, I think kids will find
things a lot more humorous than I did.
The enjoyment any adult will derive is
rather limited.
As soon as Supergirl (Helen Slater)
arrives on Earth, a car radio tells us
that Superman is off on a peace mission
in a distant galaxy. That leaves Kara
on her own, and she takes a secret iden-
tity as Linda Lee, a new student at an
all-girls' school. One of the teachers at
the school is Nigel (Peter Cook) who is
a witch. He knows Selena (Faye
Dunaway) who would like to become a
witch. Doing work on the grounds at
the school is Ethan (Hart Bochner).
Another student in the school is Lucy
Lane, who is Lois' sister, and who dates
Jimy Olsen (Marc McClure), a relation
straight from the comics.
Keeping things in the aforementioned
family, the omegahedron falls into the
clutches of Selena, who does an in-
credibly good job of figuring out how to
use it, considering that it does not come
with an instruction book. She also falls
in love with Ethan, who she thinks is
quite a looker, and concocts a love
potion so that he will reciprocate. Un-
fortunately, Ethan first sees Linda Lee
after ingesting the potion, and falls in
love with her.
This makes Selena mad, so she starts
using the omegahedrom to take over
the world, dumping Nigel in the
process. She manages to send
Supergirl into the Phantom Zone,
where Supergirl encounters Zaltar, who
eventually becomes an Obi-wan Kenobi
kind of a guy. With his help, Supergirl
escapes from the Phantom Zone, which
is seen on the inside for the first time,
and declares war on Selena to save poor
Ethan from a lifetime devotion to the
evil witch, to save the lives of Nigel,
Lucy, and Jimmy, to get the
omegahedron back, and, of course, to
save the world.
Basically, I was a bit unconvinced by
the great lengths Selena decides to go to
to secure the love of Ethan. Little kids
should accept it with much less trouble
though, and I therefore think they will
enjoy the movie more than I. Much of
the failed humor is also related to the
love affair, and again, I think little kids
will find it more entertaining.
The acting is all decent enough, if a
bit overplayed, which, again, I think the
kids will go for. Helen Slater makes a
promising debut. Faye Dunaway is
suitably malicious. Peter Cook attem-
pts to be as funny as he is capable of
being, but doesn't succeed, largely
because of the fairly week material,
given by scripter David Odell.
The direction by Jeannot Szwarc
Jaws II does a good job of keeping the
human side intact in spite of the
megabucks effects which the film has
in great quantity. The flying scenes are
Faye Dunaway (right) and Brenda Vaccara star respectively as thr sorceress Selena and her
roommate-associate Bianca, Supergirl's arch rivals.
the best in any of the four
Super...movies. All in all, Supergirl en-
tertains, and should bring a smile to a
person's face. It is never much more
than entertaining, but the entertain-
ment is very solid throughout, and that
should be enough, and definitely
represents improvement over Super-
man III.
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Records
Ramones - Too Tough To
Die (Sure Records)
If anyone still questions whether
basic rock and roll is still the essence of
music, this album should answer that in
the affirmative. This quartet from
Long Island carries the basics -
guitar, bass, and drums - to the brinks
of musical possibilities, while doing
hardly anything at all.
With the release of Pleasant Dreams
back in 1981 many old fans wondered if
it was the beginning of the end for the
first Band of Punk.
Not so. With Dee Dee's award-
.winning songwriting, Joey's heart-
,melting crooning, and the band's
characteristic three-chord - or is it
four - chord now? - musical repetoire
the Ramones remain Too Tough To Die.
They have grown up since the early
tunes, moving from mind-boggling, or
was it mindless, ditties like "Beat on
the Brat (with a baseball bat)," and
"Lobotomy," to more social conscious
songs, like Dee Dee's "planet Earth,"
and newly inducted dummer Richie
Ramoneses "Humanking," both off the
new album.
The sound has veered toward metal,
ibut it's not satonic, it's a lot of fun. The
minimalistic drive of the early albums
comes through in the incessant droning
of the guitars, capturing the mood of
* today's teens, just as the first album did
eight years ago.
And with former drummer Tommy
at the helm as producer, how could
' anything do wrong? Except maybe the
single "Howling (at the moon)," which
Eurythimic's Dave Stewart syn-
thesized to death.
Dee Dee penned the most memorable
lines, reminding us post-election (pre-
-election when he wrote it), of today's
problems, ie.; joblessness, youth tur-
ning to crime and drugs,
discrimination, and war. And everyone
who is looking toward to 1988 to change
things for the better, forget it. In the
immortal words of Dee Dee, "It's too
late."
Most of the songs on this album are
consistant with the simplistic
supremacy of this group's earlier
music, making full use of the Ramone's
limited guitar-playing abilites.
Among the most memorable are the
hardcore paradies. Did Dee Dee brush
his teeth with razor blade to get this
voice? The thrash of "Endless" is in-
terspersed with a chorus that seems to
have been recorded at 16 rpms. Who
else would pull this off without sounding
like idiots?
Other personal faves include
"Chasing the Night," complete with
Joey's clasic crooning, and the title cut
"Too Tough,"..."I'm a tu tu tu tu tu tu
tu tu tu tough guy..."
A Rolling Stone record reviewer
recently pondered the Ramones. "Is
this America's greatest rock band?" he
asked. "Certainly it's the most
amusing." Well that's true. And that's
why they're the best.
- Marla Gold
Pop-O-Pies-Joe's Second
Record (Subterranean Records)
Pop-O-Pies is probably the most ob-
scurely devestating in-joke in the whole
rock/wave/'core arena right now. The
'band' sprung up as a result of the sur-
prise 1981 success of a uniquely slam-
speeded, lyrically inventive cover of
the Grateful Dead's "Truckin',"
probably still at least #2 or #3 on the list
of great rock parodies. Pop-O-Pies won
further notoriety by posing for pictures
with the real Jerry Garcia, doing sets in
San Francisco consisting of absolutely
nothing but an hour of "Trucking," and
recording songs of near-equal satiric
impact like "Fascists Eat Donuts,"
"The Catholics Are Attacking," "Anna
Ripped Me Off" aND "Timothy Leary
Lives," all of which can be found of the
invaluable Daivd Kahne-produced '83
The White EP on 415/CBS.
Well, time has passed, and now the
joke has funnelled down from bigwig
distribution to the more limited
perhaps more suitable Subterranean
Records. Joe's Second Record-you
see, 'they' were never more than a shif-
ting group of sessionment supporting
Joe Pop-O-Pie, your somewhat typical
San Francisco Mission District art-
jokester-is not going to make a whole
lot of sense to those who didn't hear The
White EP. But s in-jokes go it's awfully
funny and ingenious.
"The Slow Version" (Joe obviously
feels he doesn't even have to call it
"Truckin"' anymore) is probably a fir-
st-a joke band making a farce of its
own previous joke. "Pop-ORap" is
wonderfully shameless self-publicizing
that neatly explains the whole Pop-O-
gameplan with a big beat and
staggering cynicism. Further expan-
ding on the white rap themes, "In-
dustrial Rap" is a rather sour but
bracing slap at the record companies,
Duran Duran, suburban hardcore kids,
and just about everything and everyone
else you could think of.
"I Love NY" is, as you'd expect, a
statment note very true to the actual
lyric content, while "The Winds of
Jamal" lays waste to spiritual enlight-
ment, Lou Reed and (again) NYC is
five minutes of dirge. The gem of the
EP is another drive-you-crazy-with-
repitition offspring of Flipper's
pioneering "Brainwash" called "A
Policial Song", which gives you (over
and over and over again) the apathist
youth's definitive statement on 1984:
"Anti-Reagan and stuff man, yah."
There's so much snide hate toward so
many sources going on here that
prolonged exposure can be depressive.
But if you want a few supremely funny
of-the-moment musical jokes and
tomorrow's big underground-cult
nostalgia thing today, get Joe's Second
Album.
-Dennis Harvey
$ 3 00 THIS ENTIRE AD GOOD FOR
0* TWO TICKETS AT $3.00 EACH.
* "Almost Sizzles with From the Director of "Local Hero"
Erotic Tension"-N Y Doll News and "Gregory s Girl
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OPPORTUNI'TIES
FOR HEALTH
PROFESSIONALS
Learn the Advantage of the Air Force
Great Way of Life! We have openings for:
" Bio Med Lab Technicians
* HPSP (Health Professions Scholarship
Program)
" Hospital Administration
For details call:
ssgt. Larry Howen at
(313) 994-0522.
A great way of life.
BIOLOGICALIPHYSICAL SCIENCES ...
You're Needed All Over
the World.
Ask Peace Corps volunteers why they are using their Science major,
minor, or aptitude in health clinics and classrooms in Malaysia. Why do
they use them in fish pond culture projects and experimental forms in
Western Samoa? They'll tell you their ingenuity and flexibility are as
important as their degrees. Ask them why Peace Corps is the toughest
job you'll ever love.
PEACE CORPS
1st Prize $500
A Campus Wide Talent Search
Applications
Deadline Dec. 14
Applications available at UAC offices
Michigan Union
4:'
DEC. 6,7,8
8 p.m.
MENDELSSOHN
THEATER
PAT METHENY
GROUPLyle Mays
i '
T a . 11\ a.
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