ARTS 'The Michigan Daily Monday, January 27, 1992 Page 5 Congrats Hopwood Winners! Jason Baluyut, Hopwood fiction category, $300 Larry Bublick, Hopwood poetry category, $350 Jerry Czarnecki, Hopwood essay category, $300 Rudy Fischmann, Hopwood fiction category, $200 Susan Jane Gilman, Roy W. Cowden Memorial Fellowship, $750 Jeremy Green, Hopwood fiction category, $200 John Hanley, Michael R. Gutterman Award in Poetry, $150 Jonathan Harrison, Hopwood essay category, $300 Joshua Henkin, Roy W. Cowden Memorial Fellowship, $500 Anna Hoare, Bain-Swigget Poetry Prize, $150 Stephanie E. Ivanoff, Roy W. Cowden Memorial Fellowship, $500 Amy K. Jarvis, Hopwood essay category, $200 William Kanapaux, Roy W. Cowden Memorial Fellowship, $500 Michael Kania, Hopwood poetry category, $250 Mark McClelland, Hopwood poetry category, $200 Carol Munn, Academy of American Poets Prize, $100 John Parker, Roy W. Cowden Memorial Fellowship, $500 David Pava, Hopwood essay category, $300 Aliyah Ariana Silverstein, Hopwood fiction category, $350 Roy W. Cowden Memorial Fellowship, $500 Roger M. Valade III, Roy W. Cowden Memorial Fellowship, $500 Michael Warren, Michael R. Gutterman Award in Poetry, $100 Eric Williams, Hopwood poetry category, $250 A Better new m uSICal No satisfaction An engaging Mick Jagger gets wasted in techno-trashflick Freejack dir. Geoff Murphy by Marie Jacobson It is the year 2009, and the Earth has been reduced to a festering rat hole. The middle-class has been com- pletely obliterated. Mega-corpora- tions dominate the world economy and crime is an integral part of life. Technology, however, has taken great strides. It is now possible for minds to be electronically trans- planted from one body to another, granting those who can afford the process a chance at virtual immor- tality. But there are no bidders for the dirty, diseased bodies here. Healthy bodies must be snatched - "freejacked" - from the past. This is the landscape that greets Alex Furlong (Emilio Estevez). As his girlfriend, Julie (Rene Russo) watches, he crashes his Formula At- lantic racecar. At that instant, we are carried to a point 18 years in the future. Julie is now a top-flight execu- tive. Unbeknownst to her, her mori- bund boss (Anthony Hopkins) has commissioned a ruthless bounty hunter, Vacendak (Mick Jagger), to freejack Alex's body. When he es- capes, the chase is on. Welcome to the futuristic world of Freejack, an unsettling backdrop for a frantic game of cat and mouse. Directed by Geoff Murphy from a screenplay written by the creator of Alien and Total Recall, the film employs dramatic special effects, an imaginative plot and a motley cast to transport its audience into the quagmire of ultramodern society. Great pains were taken on the set to combine familiar aspects of con- temporary life with Freejack's vi- sion of 2009, and as a result, the au- dience is better able to make a will- ing suspension of disbelief. The spe- cial effects are particularly riveting at the beginning and end of the film, and while not as mesmerizing as those created in last summer's Ter- minator 2, they seem less contrived as a whole. As engrossing as they may be, however, the futuristic backdrop and laser battles can't support the lightweight drama that plagues Free-jack. Although the initial con- ception of a world where immortal- ity is just a switchboard away is clever and inventive, Freejack loses itself in the chase and becomes just another reckless action-adventure. There is no contemplation, for example, of spirituality. For mem- bers of the audience who hold to the tenets of religious faith, this omis- sion is immediately evident. In a world graced by nuns with guns, no sanctuary can be found under the As Alex Furlong, Emilio Estevez (Men at Work, Young Guns) takes an- other shot at his own career. If only they'd make Repo Man 2... Better All The Time, dir. David Kirshenbaum and Elizabeth Rossi Trueblood Theater January 24, 1992 One of the first things that writ- ers are instructed to do is to write what they know. Constructing a musical within the setting of a large Midwestern school is a good place for Better All The Time, considering that author/ composer David Kir- shenbaum is a student at the Uni- versity. The story follows first-year neophyte Amanda (Susan Owen) as she adjusts to her collegiate life; most of the audience could relate, picking out themselves in the song, "These Are My Friends" - from the theater major who "bitched and chattered" to the English students who "don't really matter." Upon meeting the slick woman- izer Dylan (Hunter Foster) and his posse of Party Animals, Amanda is more secure in her environment, 4 even befriending her smarmy roommate, Meg (Miriam Shor). Midway through the action, the cast members decide to escape from their daily lives and search for "Happy Horizons." It is on this emotional journey that each character becomes trans- formed through a self-analysis. Pe- ter (Eddie Sugarman) comes to terms with the institutionalization of his mother, Dylan is hiding be- hind his macho exterior and Amanda has been shielding herself from the death of her parents. Told almost entirely with song, Better All The Time runs the, musi- cal gamut. Meg's ragtimey blues song, "Not Much Room For You" showcased Shor's sexy contralto voice; in contrast, Owen's sweet so- prano defined her wistful solo, "Something Feels Right." The number "Feather In My Cap," a song about Dylan's sexual prowess, demonstrated the bouncy relationship that Dylan and Peter shared; both Foster and Sugarman acted expressively through the song. Musical theater like that of Stephen Sondheim, Cy Coleman and William Finn often tells a story against the backdrop of a simple pi- ano score. While linear, it contains a subtext and dips into the fantastic. Kirshenbaum falls back on this form of a narrative, and it works perfectly. Certain parts of the performance dragged, due to the stacking of sev- eral torchsong solos - "Someone Meant for Me," sung by Lacey (Mary Ann Lombardi), and the more captivating "One More Turn," performed by Crystal (Tracy Plester). That the resolution did not come about as a traditional, eighties, Andrew-Lloyd-Weberish ending was mature, felt natural, and satis- fied the audience without catering to a false need for a happily-ever-af- ter. -Diane Frieden auspices of personal faith. Instead, the audience is expected to embrace Freejack' s notion of the preeminent individual. Emilio Estevez hardly fits the bill. In fact, Estevez's Alex is too cocky and self-absorbed to become the people's champion Freejack needs to be successful. And model- turned-actress Russo does little to disentangle herself from the two- dimensional character her script dic- tates. Nor does Hopkins, who tanta- lized audiences as Dr. Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. Perhaps the only plausi- ble explanation for a performance so lackluster is that Hopkins needed Dickerson does the trite thin a little extra Christmas money. Jagger's contribution, however, is simply delightful. Although his lines seem snatched straight from a Schwarzenegger script, Jagger de- livers them with a panache belying years of drug-induced anesthesia. His engaging performance deserves a better film than Freejack.. If you're in the market for a mindless, above-mediocre, shoot- 'em-up adventure, see Freejack. Even though Mick Jagger can't im- mortalize a film this fatuous, he does a great job trying. FREEJACK is playing at Showcase and Briarwood. Johnny's still cool John Mellencamp Palace of Auburn Hills January 24, 1992 John Mellencamp's vision of Midwestern America translates easily into rock on disc, and per- fectly into live music. Mellen- camp finished a two-night stand in the often less-than-intimate Palace. His performance was the epitome of what a rock 'n' roll show (albeit an aging, old-fash- ioned one) can be. Mellencamp's staging of the concert drew the audience toward him in a number of ways. The car- nival-like atmosphere was created by a strings of lights strung throughout the arena. The stage was set up like a side show, putting Mellencamp's per- sona as a performer in place. Jugglers opened the show. Mellencamp's artistry as a painter was also on display in three large canvases. The paint- ings, reminiscent of Max Beck- man (check out his piece "Begin the Beguine" in the University Art Museum), served as the stage's backdrop. Beyond the ambience, Mellen- camp's true brilliance came from his great songwriting. The two- Concert r~e and-half hour set covered his en- tire career, and included hits like "Paper in Fire" and more obscure favorites like Uh-Huh's "Play Guitar." While Mellencamp took up his acoustic guitar for, a couple numbers, mostly he just per- formed. His enthusiastic back-up (including a fiddler and an accor- dion player) deserved his trust. Mellencamp's confident rebel- with-a-cause-and-a-clue stance added depth to the joyous music. He used the stage to parlay about Farm Aid V and the plight of the American farmer. During the magnificent "Pop Singer, he ripped into rock musicians who sell out to Madison Avenue. (Of course, the show's tickets and T- shirts were $25, but who cares?) Mellencamp hasn't really sold out, and unlike most rockers, had the music to back up his ide- als. There were so many highs in tha n. ta.itnil. h .ne Fogel and Delanghe bring Picasso to life Tupac Shakur stars in Ernest Dickerson's Gritty Urban Drama, Juice. Ground-breaking stuff, indeed. An Evening with Picasso and His Friends University Museum of Art January 25, 1992 The work of Pablo Picasso was brought to life Saturday night at the University Museum of Art in A n Evening with Pablo and his Friends. Dance, music, art and theater came together in a well-prepared program which celebrated the arrival of the Picasso and Gris paintings now on Performance review exhibit in the 20th Century Gallery. Dramaturgist Leslie Stainton compiled a well-chosen selection of text from the writings of Gertrude Stein, Jean Cocteau, Igor Stravinsky and Guillame Apollinaire. The text was read with smart eloquence by Leigh Woods of the Theatre and Drama department. Woods took something as banal as personal letters, and, with almost comic timing, turned the exchange into a lively dialogue. Projected photos, sketches and paintings ac- companied the readings, giving fur- ther insight into Picasso's relation- ships with these artists as well as with his family. Three interludes of colorful dance broujzht excitinz dimension to using it as body parts. Apples became eyes; grapefruits became breasts. In her final pose, Delanghe literally reclined onto a scrap of canvas, taking the angular shape of Picasso's figure. Jessica Fogel, also a Dance pro- fessor, began her dramatic portrayal of Francoise Gilot (1949) draped in black chiffon. She emerged from this haunting image, creating a strong gestural journey as Gilot, Pi- casso's mistress. With painted face and bright yel- low dress, Fogel presented Gilot as mother, painter and lover. At one point, Fogel desperately grasped at a tree branch, signifying the effort of holding on to a brittle relationship. She then rushed forward, breaking the branch which was symbolic of the fractured love between Gilot and Picasso. The final piece was a lighter, more humorous duet based on Two Girls Reading (1934) and danced by Delanghe and Fogel. Use of colorful masks and costumes transformed the two into abstract figures with blue-green skin and red and yellow torsos. Stephen Rush accompanied the dances on piano. He also provided a solo interlude with an enchanting Juice dir. Ernest Dickerson by Gabriel Feldberg Politically correct movie critics' current trend is to call movies like Juice "gritty portrayals of violence In that the film has a job for seemingly everybody who wouldn't be acting otherwise, Juice is the hip-hop Love Boat. This movie has a ton of cameos by current rap personalities, and some by people almost old enough to have worn Lottos on their last album cover. in the inner city." Don't believe them. For those of you who missed the morals of such "gritty" stories as Straight Out of Brooklyn and New Jack City, crime still doesn't pay. Surprisingly, first-time director Ernest Dickerson (cinematographer for all five of Spike Lee's films) has very well and wants to be a DJ. But Bishop (if only because someone in these pictures always does) wants to take the short cut to respect and wealth. Q reluctantly walks out of a big- time DJ contest to help his friends hold up the corner store. The plan is flawless, only something goes wrong. Very wrong. Overcome with paranoia and fear, The Crew is left to repair - or break - its old friendships. Despite pretensions of being an emotional and edifying drama, Juice is no more affecting than any of the other morality plays it clones. Dickerson, to his credit, is not preachy, and he avoids the declama- tive monologues his erstwhile boss seems to love. It is hard, however, to believe that Dickerson could so egregiously do the trite thing. The friendships in this film are generic enough that, if you trimmed their flattops and took off their Reebok Pumps, The Crew could be army buddies. The film never deals with the pain the members of the dissolving Crew feel as friends, and so it's difficult to care when things start to fall apart. The movie does pick up (before it fizzles again) around the time of the hold-up. Dickerson very elegantly captures Raheem's and Bishops' con- spiratorial glances while Q cuts at the contest. He also constructs ter- know enough to separate allegedly serious art from Beat Street-style talent showcases. Unfortunately, the contest isn't the film's only vehicle for includ- ing extraneous musical personali- ties. In that the film has a job for seemingly everybody who wouldn't be acting otherwise, Juice is the hip- hop Love Boat. This movie has a ton of cameos by current rap personali- ties, and some by people almost old enough to have worn Lottos on their last album cover. It is not surprising that Dicker- son would reach back to the days to cast his movie; building a stage for conspicuously irrelevant perfor- mances, he has regressed nearly to the Wild Style years. If the point of movies like this is to Stop the Violence, then you have to wonder why Juice ends up all guns and chase scenes. Dickerson is certainly entitled to make action movies if he wants, but if that is the case, he should drop his auspices of concern. If the point of movies like this is to Stop the Violence, then you have to wonder why Juice ends up all guns and chase scenes.