The Michigan Daily- Thursday, January 9, 1992 - Page 9 We re. hooked! Hook. dir. Steven Spielberg by Marie Jacobson Remember how stressed out you were a month ago, with three exams and two research papers due the same day? Remember those late *night cram fests, that lovely No- Doz@-induced hyper-zombie state, and the sinking realization that you were probably doomed to sleep through Christmas and New Year? According to Steven Spielberg, it could be worse. After all, you sur- vived, didn't you? But what if you were still living the nightmare and couldn't remember how to regain your usual happy-go-lucky, effer- vescent personality? Welcome to the beginning of Hook, Spielberg's recreation of the Peter Pan fantasy. Billed as a film for adults and children alike, its plodding plot is buoyed only by the attention given to the inner work- ings of the character's minds, and their relationships with each other. Peter (Robin Williams) is mar- ried with children, and though we know he loves his family, he just can't seem to tear himself away from the magical realm of corporate mergers and acquisitions. Pete needs a vacation, and he needs it bad. So, it's off to London for Christmas, where the family is reunited with Wendy (Maggie Smith), the elderly woman who cared for countless or- phaned children - including Peter. 4 Enter Captain James Hook, bril- liantly played by Dustin Hoffman. Hook's a pirate with a plan: to re- play the battles he fought long ago with Peter and the Lost Boys. The best way to bring his arch-enemy back to Neverland, Hook decides, is to kidnap his children. But when Peter initially con- fronts Hook, they both realize that Pan is out of shape. Only Tinkerbell (Julia Roberts) has any hope for him, and she promises Hook that she and the Lost Boys can whip Peter into shape in three days. When Peter undergoes the Pan process, in true fairy-tale fashion, the whole mess is inevitably re- solved. Not exactly a surprise end- ing, of course, and there's a tempta- tion to dismiss Hook as just another 'overblown, over-budgeted, pre- dictable Hollywood warm-fuzzy. It isn't. Not that Hook doesn't have its flaws, mind you. The problem with hiring big-name stars is that you have to use them - a lot. Unfortu- nately, in doing so, the lesser-known actors who could add considerable color and depth to a film get passed over in the studio's compulsion to get its money's worth from its hired guns. And speaking of color - when you let your imagination run wild, are your fantasies painted in mousy browns and dismal greys? Spiel- berg's Never-never Land didn't look as bleak as Ann Arbor in February, but in a film that champions creativ- ity, a rich landscape of bright pri- mary colors would have been in- finitely more appropriate and defi- nitely welcomed. The real triumph of Hook is in its portrayal of the psychological side of its characters. Especially poignant is Spielberg's conception of the manic-depressive Hook. The aging captain acts not out of a deep- seated, burning need for revenge, but from fear and the desire to revisit his lost youth. Roberts, with her trademark horsey laugh and gawky fidgeting, is not the fragile fairy audiences grew accustomed to in Disney's Peter Pan. Nevertheless, the unrequited love between her Tinkerbell and William's Peter is one of the most delicate, touching aspects of the en- tire movie. By allowing us to view her pain, Spielberg gently reminds us that not everyone can live happily ever after, even in fairy tales. If you're looking for escapism and non-stop entertainment, pass up Hook. It is hopelessly plodding -in parts and rather ho-hum in the cine- matography department. But don't miss the challenges and rewards of examining Spielberg's insightful portrayal of these classic characters. OOK is playing at Showcase and A 2iriarwood. RECORDS Continued from page 8 Marky Mark's "Good Vibrations" when no one is around. As for my own cheese-soaked musical secrets, none compare to my closet adu- lation of those denizens of debau- chery, M6tley Crue. Decade Of Decadence is a com- prehensive anthology of the Crue's raunchy rock anthems from the last 10 years. "Dr. Feelgood," "Looks speaker wire. This song, along with "Piece Of Your Action" from their debut album, have been remixed to bring them up to '90s Bob Rock- produced standards. The Crne have also remixed "Home Sweet Home," the mother of all modern heavy metal ballads. The strings and pianos have been thickened to further pump up the song's already grandiose pomposity. Like all good little "greatest the bone-crushing "Dr. Feelgood." But the real winner here is the song "Angela." This soon-to-be- pop-metal-classic sounds like the Bay City Rollers tap-dancing on a chain-saw. The upbeat, sing-song chorus is reminiscent of Poison be- fore they lost their sense of humor. Ah, the good old days... So, go ahead, indulge yourself. Dare to be uncool. Crank up that new Color Me Badd song. Buy the latest disc by Martika. Cheese is in. Speaking of, I hear there's a new Warrant single out soon... -Scott Sterling HUDSON Continued from page 8 come an actor. Hudson says, "You hear all the stories of how you can never make a living, and how hard it is on Black actors. But to me, the bottom line is: I'll be poor. Hell, I was broke anyway, so I really don't have any- thing to lose. At least I'll have fun doing it. And since then, once the commitment was made, I've made a good living." Though his roles have not been first-rate, Hudson has managed to succeed at doing what he enjoys, un- like most of the working popula- tion. Many of his decisions have been practically motivated by the need to feed his family. But for now, he can pick and choose. "I've just been offered-the part of a child mur- derer," he says. "As long as I can af- ford not to do things that I don't want to do, that's what I'll do. If my mortgage gets behind, who knows what you'll see me doing ..." THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE opens tomorrow at Show- case. Decade Of Decadence is a comprehensive anthology of the Crue's raunchy rock anthems from the last 10 years ... It's an unashamed celebration of all forms of pleasures, from sex, drugs, booze, etc., to the sleazy, ear-splitting music itself. That Kill," "Kickstart My Heart" (live, no less!) - they're all here. It's an unashamed celebration of all forms of pleasures, from sex, drugs, booze, etc., to the sleazy, ear- splitting music itself. This killer collection of Crue classics burns from beginning to end. It opens with their first single, "Live Wire," a jack-hammer paced song that threatens to fry your hits" albums should, Decade does come with some new songs, to en- tice even the most ardent Crile fan to re-purchase songs that they prob- ably already own. "Primal Scream" is the best of these five extra tracks. This powerhouse track will defi- nitely leave a dent in speaker cones all over suburban America. Gui- tarist Mick "Grandpa" Mars comes up with the heaviest Crile riff since MURRAY Continued from page 5 strip," Murray explains. "The Observer's lawyers were sort of getting me on the line saying you know, 'Can we back this up?' I had fact checkers on the line saying, 'Can we hear the interview tape?'... "It's the most successful scam I ever perpetrated. It fooled my mother. She read it and rang me up, you know, 'I always thought Bat- man was a fictional character."' Though all of Murray's work in Shots from the Hip isn't deceiving or full of stinging barbs toward rock music's finest, he maintains that his "irreverent" tone hasn't changed. "Well, generally speaking, you can still be cutting, but the language has to be a little more sophisti- cated,"'he says. "Mind you, the last thing I wrote for the Daily Telegraph be- fore I left to come here, I was re,- viewing U2's new album and I said fortunately the band still sounds; great. Unfortunately Bono is still a prat. Which is pretty much the lan- guage I would have used fifteen years ago in the NME. "If I can still call the lead singer of one of the most popular groups in the world a prat in print, then I don't think I mellowed that much." WRITEFOR THEDAILY WRITEFOR THEDAILYWRITEFOR THEDAILY DAILY ARTS SEZ: C5FSupport Campus Cinema aUTH Texas an d co co co, PUT THE CLASS STRUGGLE BEHIND YOU AND SET YOUR COURSE FOR SOUTH PADRE ISLAND THIS SPRING BREAK. 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