ARTS Page 8 The Michigan Daily 'Forever' sappy Carpe diem and skip Gibson's latest Friday, December 11, 1992 A Dickens of a time with good ol' Bert by Sarah Weidman "Carpe diem" has been a theme in many movies. The idea of seizing the day is getting a little tiresome. "Forever Young" is another flick where once again not acting on the moment leads to a disappointment. In "Forever Young," Mel Gibson plays Daniel McCormick, a life- lovin', risk-takin' Air Corps test pi- lot in 1939. Daniel's best friend Forever Young Directed by Steve Miner; written by Jeffrey Abrams; with Mel Gibson, Jamie Lee Curtis and Isabel Glasser Harry (George Wendt) and his true love Helen (Isabel Glasser) are his trusty companions. While Daniel has no fear in pulling stunts 20,000 feet in the air, he is terrified of opening his heart to Helen and proposing in marriage. He almost pops the ques- tion, but the words won't cooperate. Then it's too late. Helen gets hit by a car, she goes into a coma, and Daniel freaks out. Luckily, Harry is conducting a top-secret experiment in cryogenics, and gives Daniel the option of be- coming a frozen subject for a year, or at least until Helen pulls out of her coma. But oops, Daniel's cap- sule is lost and he is woken up by Nat (Elijah Wood) and Felix (Robert Hy Gorman), two 10-year-old boys, in 1992. The capsule has been sitting in the middle of an old Air Force base warehouse for 53 years. How could no one notice it sitting there illuminated from above? The excuse, which is thrown in later in the movie, is a disappointing one and only adds weakness to the plot. Next, and this still baffles me, for such an elaborately knobbed and metered concoction, the capsule was fairly easy for the two kids to oper- ate. The movie lost whatever credi- bility that remained when the ama- teur boys opened a completely unre- stricted ex-top-secret experiment. The most important question to ask was why was Daniel lost? It's impossible to believe Daniel and Harry's friends would give up the search that easily. Especially when there is an unidentified jukebox hanging out in the warehouse where they work. Once Daniel is woken up, he grabs the jacket of one of the boys as they escape his frozen grasp. A handy address label on the jacket leads Daniel to the home of Nat (Elijah Wood). Daniel is allowed to stay there with Nat and his single mother Claire (Jamie Lee Curtis) af- ter he conveniently saves Claire's life. The movie then falls into its prescribed recipe of man trying to find his past relationships, man rushing against time, and, for antag- onistic purposes, man being chased by the FBI (it was a top-secret ex- periment, remember?). But all incredulity aside, the movie does have some good points. Daniel's confusion with the present day and its mechanisms is humor- ous. His first run in with an answer- ing machine causes him to exclaim, "This fella just asked me to leave a message and then squeaked in my ear!" He gets stuck in a seatbelt try- ing to get out of a car, and he is in Mel Gibson in "Forever Young." No word yet whether his butt has a cameo. awe of not just the television, but the Thighmaster commercial on it. The relationship between Nat and Daniel is endearing. Nat's dad left when he was a baby, and Daniel comes to represent the father Nat never had. It's a little corny, but sweet. Daniel shows Nat how to fly a B-25 bomber using some old boxes and knobs for gears and a Lite Brite control panel in Nat's tree house. Daniel, having learned from his mistake, also gives Nat advice on girls - telling him to say what's on his mind before it's too late. If you can block the implausible and flimsy plot line from your mind, and stretch your imagination, this movie is simply the story of a man out of his element searching for a happiness he lost fifty years ago. Gibson may come off as vulnerable as he's ever been, but his puppy-dog expressions can't save the show. In fact, he might want to go back to a time when he hadn't done this film. FOREVER YOUNG starts December 16th at area theaters. by Darcy Lockman When English Professor Bert Hornback left the University last semester, it was hardly on the best of terms. Hornback resigned from the English department stating publicly that the school's commitment to undergraduate education was severely lacking. Those who remember last spring's Hornback scandal would not have predicted his return to Ann Arbor any time in the next millen- nium, let alone a short seven months later. But to and behold, guess who's coming to dinner? "I'm glad I'm coming back to visit," Hornback said, slowly, stress- ing the last two words of his sentence. On the subject of his departure, he added, "I simply disagreed with the direction the University was heading. I fought against it for as long as I could. I was spending too much time working against something I thought was wrong. So I de- cided to leave." When Hornback makes his way up to Michigan today, however, it will not be in the familiar role of pedagogue, but rather as a performer. He will stop in six Michigan locations, including Ann Arbor, to per- form his annual reading of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." Considering that Hornback has been doing readings of this Dickens classic every winter since 1972, it is not really surprising that he chose to stick with tradition and come back to Ann Arbor for a few days. He actually started out doing readings for his English classes here, and moved on to perform for less captive audiences. "I did a reading for my Dickens class at the University to try it out. I did it very badly and decided to learn to do it well," he explained. His efforts did not go unnoticed, and Hornback was asked to make a series of educational TV programs for the University television sta- tion. According to Hornback, those old tapes of "The Dickens World" are still broadcast on educational stations every so often. In addition to these occasional TV appearances, Hornback usually does about 20 readings of this holiday classic every Christmas season around the country. This year, however, he will do only 11 performances between his old home of Michigan and his new home of Kentucky, where he now teaches at Bellermine College. "I really like it there," he said, "The college is serious about teach- ing undergrads. The students are a lot like Michigan students. But (because it's smaller) I think there's more opportunity to convince stu- dents to take their education seriously." "Seriously" is how Hornback wants his students to take their col- lege years, and "seriously" is how he takes his Dickens readings. Ac- cording to Dickens Fellowship member Shirley Smith, Hornback does the reading dressed as Charles Dickens and even uses a reading stand that is a replica of the one used by Dickens himself. Said Smith, "It's a dramatic reading. He does all the voices of all the characters. Like Dickens, Bert is a wonderful actor." Fans of Hornback and Dickens alike should not miss this Tiny Tim-fest. It lasts about 40 minutes and complimentary punch and cookies will be served following the performance. Best of all, in an un-Scrooge like tradition, the reading is free. BERT HORNBACK will read from Charles Dickens' "A CHRIST MAS CAROL" tonight at 8 p.m. in the Museum of Art. For more informa- tion on Hornback 's appearances call Shirley Smith at 761-8855. ( p 0 Fabber than : the Fab 5! Badder than " the Bad Boys!. 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