The Michigan Daily - Weekend etc. - Thursday. February 16, 1995 - 5 . Jump Cut Scott Plagenhoef As is the norm around Oscar time, amidst the traditionally poor crop of Spring films, studios re-exhibit films to coincide the critical groundswell of raise caused by the award seasons. lthough not nominated Best Picture as Fine Line studios were hoping it would be, "Hoop Dreams" is still at- tempting to capitalize on the public's investigation of some the previous year's top films. "Hoop Dreams' emergence, its exodus from the art house to the mul- tiplex, is an extraordinary accomplish- Popularity ment for a documentary, one that was not even matched by such profitable recent works as "Paris is Burning" or "Roger & Me." The magic of the film is that the characters are so tangible, so inclusive, so honest. Documentary filmmaking, although by definition the examina- tion of reality so often concerns itself primarily with the bizzarities of life, investigative work or the past. "Hoop Dreams" is a film about the future. A five-year project by filmmak- ers Peter Gilbert, Frederick Marx and Steve James, the picture traces the lives of two Chicago youth, William Gates and Arthur Agee, who dream of following former of 'Hoop Dreams' breaks documentary stigma Windy City stalwarts such as Isiah Thomas and Juwan Howard to fame and fortune. Yet despite the title, the film is not solely concerned with athletic aspirations. Instead it immerses the audience into the lives of the two boys and their families with rare complexity and passion. This cinema veriti explores the sometimes turbulent family life, sketchy study habits of the boys and disad- vantages of inner-city life as much as the gripping desire to succeed as an athlete. Unfortunately for Agee, Gates and too many others, dreaming of a career in professional sports is not sim- ply a fantasy but a full-time hobby. School is simply a necessary stepping stone. The institution is the means for competition and exposure on the court, but the studying and the homework is a distraction from the important tasks at hand of improving one's jump shot or low-post moves. "Hoop Dreams" is also remarkable in its rarity of who it chooses to exam- ine. The lowest economic classes in our society are a strata left virtually unexamined by American cinema. Oftentimes if the poor are featured in a film they are either the source of ridi- cule or the inspiration for a overly dramatic life lessons. When the poorer members of society are depicted they are also often completely impover- ished so that they appear as more clich6 than character. The Agee and Gates families are not homeless. They are honest, hard-working families who attempt to provide for themselves in the highest manner possible, yet they still have to look up the noses of too many. Happy endings, the triumph of the underdog and the resurrection of the once-thought dead have become over- used and expected film devices in re- cent American film. The conditioning we received as audiences from such films as "Rocky III," "The Karate Kid," "Friday the 13th" and even "In- terview with the Vampire" is that there is a certain way films are conceived. Certain characters do not die, adver- sity is otvercome, the good and the righteous are rewarded by success. The beauty of the shower scene in "Psycho," killing the main character, lead actress and top-billed star early in the film is a surprise that is now lost on modern audiences. Yet "Hoop Dreams" is not a Hol- lywood film with a Hollywood end- ing. "Hoop Dreams" is a reality. Arthur Agee and William Gates may survive life in the inner city, over- come their obstacles and play Divi- sion I college basketball. They may turn professional. Their teams may win the big game on a last-second shot. Perhaps even Agee or Gates will be the shooter. They may not. adimply Saucer By Matt Carlson Daily Arts writer Simply Saucer is not simple at all. Swirling through countless influences, including the Velvet Underground, 5 cnd Spns* Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd and the Stooges, Simply Saucer takes psychedelia and blues and punk rock, merges them in one glorious harmonic ecstasy and never makes it past the Toronto borders. Is there any point in telling you *bout the injustice of the music biz moving countless units of product of pointless babble while brilliant musi- cians rot in the back of some moron's brain who saw a local band once in '76 and thought they were the best thing since Jesus? I mean blah hum crud ramble on and all that blither. LISTEN: Rock 'n' roll has sunk to a depressing, disgusting low when this anadian band from the '70s doesn't even get an independent reissue in the United States until 1989. The fact that during a time of decadent heavy metal machismo of drooling stuttering lech- ers like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and the Guess Who, a band like Sim- ply Saucer existed is reason enough to place them on the gosh-darned rock 'n' roll throne and submit to their very whim (which would no doubt nclude booze, dope and women be- cause every just rock 'n' roll king would want these things). Today we're hearing all about Sonic Youth's influence and the John Spencer Blues Explosion's experi- mental merge of blues and freak-out jack-off, but if you time-warped Sim- ply Saucer to the '90s, those bands 'still flies best would belong in the toilet. It's as if by some accident, Simply Saucer's "Cy- borgs Revisited" (reissued on Cargo Records in '89) were the missing link between Floyd's "Saucerful of Se- crets" and Sonic Youth's "Sister," transmogrifying the best elements of the Blues Explosion but adding so much more like loopy electronic ef- fects and theramin. Buzzing, hypnotic,. melodic noise don't come no finer any more. The Pixies were the last band who could safely commit such atrocities and not sound like overly self-conscious artistes who cared more about what their album cover looked like instead of the tunage con- tained therein. Psychedelic free-range jams meld into power chord rants (a la the Stooges). Migraine-feedback noise converges into standard blues pro- gressions. Delicate guitar intricacies weave into solid bass slides. The whole album ends on a live version of Simply Saucer's "Illegal Bodies" that is dubbed "heavy metalloid music" by singer Edgar Breau. Then - you know what happens? - the band breaks into the closest rip-off riff of "Born To Be Wild" ever set down on two-track! If that doesn't seal this tragic story up in a bloody paper-cut envelope, nothing else will. They rip off Steppenwolf, then havethe audacity to claim it's a song of the future. A pure, naive, rock 'n' roll shenanigan that should mean everything to record buy- ers - not Spike Jonez' latest music video. "If you don't have ametal body, they won't let you walk the streets- no kidding," says Breau. I'd like to see Jonez come up with something more brilliant. As the furious, hard-driving, pierce your booty rant all comes crash- ing to a close, Breau mumbles "Thank you, we'll be back in a few minutes." End of CD. End of Simply Saucer. End of story. I OSCARS Continued from page 12 On the otherhand, Tom Hanks, perhaps the whole reason for "Gump's" popu- larity, was nominated for best actor in the title role. But following his win last year as an AIDS victim in "Philadel- phia," Hanks should not win for the second consecutive year, despite his reception of the Golden Globe in Janu- ary. Academy voters usually prefer not to vote for an actor in two con- secutive years. Consequently, the race for best actor should be between Paul Newman (winner of the New York critics' award) for his uplifting role as a youth- ful old man in "Nobody's Fool" and John Travolta (winner of the Los Angeles critics' prize) for his perfor- mance in "Pulp." In this case the fa- vorite must be Newman, who played the more agreeable character, as op- posed to Travolta's comic killer part. Also cited were Morgan Freeman for "Shawshank" and veteran British actor Nigel Hawthorne for his criti- cally-acclaimed role in "George." The nomination of these two actors is undoubtedly a pleasant surprise, but it means the exclusion of other worthy actors such as Ralph Fiennes as the despicable Charles Van Doren in "Quiz Show," British sensation Hugh Grant from "Four Weddings" and Johnny Depp in the title role of "Ed Wood." This race contrasts strongly with that for best actress in which there are only two realistic contenders in yet another year lacking strong female roles and performances. JessicaLange and Jodie Foster are the clear front- runners with their performances in "Blue Sky" and "Nell," respectively. Both have received praise for their roles in these films (as well as other performances in their long careers), while Lange won both the Los Ange- les critics and Golden Globe awards this year. Nevertheless, Foster should win due to her film's popularity, coupled with the academy's tendency to elect actors who portray sick or otherwise abnormal characters. Most appalling is the absence of Linda Fiorentino, winner of the New York critics' award for her role in "The Last Seduction." Widely be- lieved to have given the best perfor- mance by an actress this year, Fiorentino was declared ineligible for an Oscar because her low-budget, in- dependent film originally aired on HBO, as opposed to in the movie theaters as Academy rules dictate. Hence, her absence is, unfortunately, not a surprise. This case is symbolic of the gen- eral theme of the Academy Award nominations of 1994. There were no exceptionally strong contenders from major motion picture studios, as inde- pendent films and the performances therein were where the strongest pre- sentations could be found. In fact, Miramax, the main independent stu- dio led by "Pulp," "Weddings" and "George," came away with more nominations -22-- than any major Hollywood production company. Furthermore, the nominations in- dicate that the 1994 Academy Awards will be unlike many in years past. It will be full of few surprises, the rec- ognition of generally good but not outstanding motion pictures and per- formances, and the reminder that there are plenty of fine independent and less popular presentations that were not selected among the best in the industry. And ifan average film like "Forrest Gump" does exit the award show with a large cache of Oscars (as one should expect), then that would be"the most appropriate period at the end of the sentence that was 1994 - a truly mediocre and disappointing year in movies. The 67th annualAcademy A wards telecast air March 27 at 9 p.m. on ABC and will be hosted by David Letterman. Read the Daily. We'll be back after Spring Break. Promise. Lunch" Special Groceries Gyros & Fries on a homemade pit $4.95 $1.00 off Black & T (Guiness & Bass) 9pm-Close a an 338 S. State 996-9191 Email: Ashleys@msen.com 662-1313 235 S. 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