A Page 8-The Michigan Daily- Tuesday, March 10, 1992 who what where when Just added: Seattle's finest those awful "why are foreign films inspiring story of a Jewish doctor's (Not!) Soundgarden returns, with- so foreign?" beer commercials devotion to his orphanage during out Skid Row or Guns N' Roses, make fun of. The film plays tonight World War II. Like many of but headlining (!) at the State Thea- at 7 and Wednesday at 4:30 at the Wajda's other films, Agnieszka ter on May 3. Tickets go on sale Michigan. Call 668-8397. Holland, writer/director of Europa, soon. Reason enough to stick Europa, wrote the screenplay. around after graduation. In case you missed it at the Check it out at 8 p.m. both nights at Holocaust Conference last Satur- the Green Auditorium of Hillel. Or check out the art of film in day, Hill Street Cinema will be Admission is $3. its purest form: Federico Fellini's 8 presenting Andrzej Wajda's 1991 112. Starring Marcello Mastroianni film Korczak again on Thursday as a Felliniesque director, it's a and Sunday. The great Polish If you've got an early bed-time brilliant journey into the mind of an director (really), Wajda has created tonight, you could cram your enter- artist. Woody Allen ripped it off in masterpieces like Man of Marble, tainment into the lunch hour. Star- his own interesting way with Star- Danton and Ashes and Diamonds ting at 12:10 (just past noon) catch, dust Memories. A warning to you throughout his career despite Com- the tour of Comedy and the Artist's.' Jean-Claude van Seagal fans: this is munist censorship. Now, in the Eye at the Museum of Art's front exactly the kind of foreign film that '90s, he's fashioned a touching, desk. Admission is free. ;: . 'A Chevy Chase (or is it Brian Dennehy) calls it a wrap as the privileged viewer gets an inside look at his widely envied comic genius. Incidentally, that is the same towel used for the water buffalo in our favorite, Fletch. Fletch's feeble memoirs T]' Memoirs of an Invisible Man dir. John Carpenter ------------- ----- I by Michelle Phillip Had Memoirs of an Invisible Man been made 50 years ago, it would have been a film noir thriller. It would've had low-key lighting and a complicated plot that would involve afemme fatale, perhaps Alice Mar- lowe (Darryl Hannah), trying to se- duce Nick Halloway (Chevy Chase) into committing some evil plan on her behalf. In 1992, however, the age of commercialism, Memoirs gets re- duced to a light romantic comedy re- plete with obligatory Chase sight gags. The film has a lot of style, but, unfortunately, little substance. Halloway is a stock analyst who becomes invisible because of a freak accident at a high-tech industrial plant (someone spills coffee onto a computer hooked into a cyclotron - some accident!). Halloway's mole- cules are rearranged, so technically, he's transparent (rather than invisi- ble), which allows for some nice special effects. But being invisible is not what Halloway dreamed. Instead of being able to see movies or ballgames for free, or spy on unassuming women, he is the target of a manhunt orga- nized by a team of government agents headed by David Jenkins (Sam Neill), who seeks to exploit the potential an invisible spy could have. During his run from the secret operatives, Halloway discovers some interesting facts about himself; for example, he realizes that he didn't have many friends. One of them, George (Michael McKean - who is doomed to be remembered forever as Lenny from Laverne and Shirley), unwittingly turns him in by tipping off Jenkins. The only person Halloway can confide in is his girl- friend, Alice, who hides him during his run from Jenkins. Memoirs may garner an Oscar nomination next year for its impres- sive visual effects, which include a building that is half visible and half invisible. We get to see what hap- pens to Halloway's lungs when he smokes. When it rains, Halloway's body becomes visible, and it looks like the water tentacle from The Abyss. The visual effects enhance the sight gags and actually make them funny. But men should be forewarned: Memoirs plays with your castration and performance an- xieties, so you may not think some of the jokes are funny. The major problem with Me- moirs is its predictability. While the film is funny and entertaining, you and your friends can have contests guessing what comes next. Any fool can see all the plot devices and gags coming from a mile away. And that's too bad, because the film has plenty of potential that was left unexplored by director John Car- penter. At any rate, Memoirs is a lot a fun and will make a better choice than Kuffs when you pick it up at the video store. MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN is playing at Briarwood and Show- case. r. Co-writer/director Nora Ephron (the one who wrote the story of her own life in play herself) gives Julie Kavner a pep talk between takes. RECORDS Continued from page 5 "In this system, everybody's a slave / Racist is how they want us to be- have." He explains that white sup- remacy attempts to justify the bru- tality of the system. KRS asserts that even the capitalist pimps are trapped, screaming at them, "Pick up that money, ho!" For someone who doesn't believe in dance music, KRS comes correct- most with his beats and grooves with help from producers Prince Paul, Pal Joey, Willie D and Kenny Parker. The best beats include "Sex and Violence," "Like a Throttle," the old-school flavored jam "13 and Good" and "Say Gal," which shows KRS' mastery of dub production and reggae riddims on the boards. KRS' liner notes answer the question of the sucker MCs from PM Dawn, "Yes, KRS-One is the teacher because KRS-One is the stu- dent. Being first a student gives you the right to be called teacher." Fair enough. KRS, a formidable propo- nent of human rights and Africentric education with projects like HEAL (Human Education Against Lies) and the book Civilization vs. Technology, has proven himself as receptive to knowledge benefiting all humanity. And he should be lis- tened to. - Forrest Green III LIFE Continued from page 5 the LA comedy scene, she leaves Erica and Opal in the care of a suc- cession of aspiring comedians. Anybody who's spent time with too many people who consider them- selves funny will recognize the Thanksgiving scene comprised of six people who want to be on a stage. The babysitter comics vary from oblivious to sensitive, but they allow Opal and Erica to go through their identity crises with comic re- lief. "All girls," says Mia the lesbian comedian babysitter who stir-fries everything, "are either Betty or Veronica. Veronica always gets the guy or whatever she wants, and Betty always wants what Veronica has." Opal, who's well on her way to being a Veronica at about eight years of age, asks whether people are born one way or the other. "No," replies Mia. "Sometimes Betties grow up to be Veronicas and some- times Veronicas turn out to be Betties. You decide what you want to be." This Is My Life teaches Erica and Dottie to find their Veronicas, show- ing the Veronica-ness of women who eschew catty beauty for in- tegrity and humor. Because of its episodic structure, one comes away from This Is My Life with memories of specific scenes, perhaps the most touchingly funny of which is Erica's first sexual experience. I always wondered how people in movies got their clothes off with no difficulty, even the socks. Erica and her boyfriend act out the awkward embarrassment of first sex with difficulty and clumsi- ness, down to an ill-fated attempt to don a rubber. This scene is the hall- mark of a movie that finds the hu- mor in the relational, never upstag- CYBER Continue from page 5 The Lawnmower Man is not just your average bad movie - it can induce severe depression. For a movie which relies completely on visual fireworks, the sometimes cheap-looking special effects aren't very interesting or original, espe- cially after Terminator II. Elements such as the puppet they use for a chimp and the perpetual five o'clock ing matters of import. Carrie Fisher and Dan Aykroyd, put in the least satisfying perfor- mances of the cast as overdrawn agents who lead Dottie on her road to success. Aykroyd's role is memo- rable only for his original nervous tic: he eats paper. Carly Simon pro-' vides songs to accompany theA soundtrack, songs that I loved but that some might find redundant in; their tendency to encapsulate the ac- tion in musical parables. Many will call This Is My Life a "woman's film" because it focuses on females and concerns itself with family issues of dependency and in- terrelation. I find typical masculine films (no term for that, because it means everything that isn't specifi- cally female) short-sighted in deal- ing realistically with human issues, few of us are detectives, supem, heroes or Arnold Schwarzeneggers- If This Is My Life is a woman'r film, it's because it enacts the evr eryday love of family with hum6Kr and resilience. It's too bad that hu4 man realism can only be identified with the female. THIS IS MY LIFE is playing a - Showcase. shadow on Brosnan's face enforce an awareness of the film's bare-min- imum goal -just trick a few people into coming without really doin': anything. "I was born dumb," says the re- tarded Jobe with a vacant stare, after Angelo says he plans to make hii smarter. I just really liked that park. I'll say it again. "I was born dumb." THE LAWNMOWER MAN is pla-' ying at Briarwood and Showcase. HOT NEW CDs HOT T ER PRICES - CONCRETE BLONDE 10.99 "WALKING IN LONDON" " QUEEN "CLASSIC QUEEN" - GARY MOORE "AFTER HOURS" 10.99 9.99 - LED ZEPPELIN 29.99 "REMASTERS" I - .-:sib :UENEEBE;