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Wayans' Celtic Pide' tosses up a bick «
BxPrashant Tamaskar After the game, Mike and Jimmy run into the
Daily Arts Writer arrogant superstar at a nightclub. By pretending to be
Although the genre has been fairly common through-
out the history of film, there has been a recent surge in
the production of sports movies. This has clearly been
a result of the increasing popularity of the sports
industry in the United States. Athletes like Michael
Jordan, Magic Johnson and
Deion Sanders are just as recog-
Oizable as movie stars like Tom
Cruise or Demi Moore. C
The flooding of the market,
however, has led to numerous
second-rate films, including D
"Blue Chips" and "The Pro- DeCerchi
gram." Following in the foot-
steps of these two flops is the Wayans an
terrible new movie "Celtic
Pnde," which, despite an intrigu-
ing concept, falls flat on its face.
-)Mike O'Hara (Daniel Stern) and Jimmy Flaherty
(Dan Aykroyd) are best friends and die-hard Boston
Celtics fans. However, their love for the team borders
more on obsession than anything else. In fact, Mike's
wife is going to leave him because she can't deal with
hi fanaticism any more. But none of this really
matters, as long as the Celtics beat the Utah Jazz and
wvi the NBA Championship. Unfortunately, the Jazz
features Lewis Scott (Damon Wayans), the league's
best player, who singlehandedly defeats the Celtics in
Gme 6 of the finals.
his biggest fans, the Bostonians start drinking with
Scott and manage to get him wasted. The problem is,
so are they, and the next morning they wake up with
the basketball player tied up in Jimmy's house. Before
they can get rid of him, Scott wakes up and tries to
REVIEW
eltic Pride
irected by Tom
o; with Damon
id Daniel Stern
At Showcase
escape.
Figuring that they are in too
deep already, Mike and Jimmy
decide to hold Scott captive until
Game 7 is played and Boston
wins the NBA Championship. Of
course, theplan backfires, and the
life-long Celtics' fans are forced
to root against their team in order
to avoid being indicted.
Onpaper,thisfilmdoesn't seem
like such a trrible idea. After all,
on how unfit the two men are for jail. The jokes aren't
funny the first time they are used, and they definitely
aren't funny the fourth time, either.
Moreover, none of the featured characters are particu-
larly likable. Lewis Scott is an overpaid, cocky, greedy
star. He doesn't care for his team orteammates. His only
concerns are making money and gaining more fame.
But in comparison to the other two, he isn't so bad.
Mike has a nice wife and son, but he's willing to sacrifice
it all for his sports obsession. Jimmy doesn't have any of
these things, which is no big surprise. In fact, ill he really
has are the Celtics and his buddy, Mike.
For an hour and a half, it is hard not to be disgusted
by these two losers. Both Mike's wife and Scott are
constantly telling them to grow up and get lives, but
they don't want to change. Although their actions are
meant to be funny, they are simply pathetic. And
rarely does being pathetic lead to being humorous.
However, Stern, Akroyd and Wayans are not at
fault here. They are all pretty convincing in their
roles, but they are limited by the screenplay. They
didn't write the jokes, they just have the unenviable
task of executing them.
"Celtic Pride" fails miserably in capturing the spirit
of sports and the people who love watching them.
Instead,. it takes a humorous premise involving the
billion-dollar industry of professional basketball and
runs it completely into the ground. Unfortunately, as
sports continue to grow in popularity, there is no
question that Hollywood will continue to exploit this
genre, making more terrible films of this magnitude.
there probably are fans crazy enough to kidnap the rival
team's best player. And the idea of Scott forcing the die-
hards to root for him or else face kidnapping charges is
rather humorous.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work out this way. The
overall idea is not the problem; instead, the film
suffers from a lack of humor. Every joke fails miser-
ably. A huge reason is that the writers constantly try
to recycle the same material over and over again. The
humor is based on Scott's disdain for the two fans
(whom he accurately describes as losers), the lack of
masculinity of the middle-aged bachelor, Jimmy, and
"Let me save my career - PLEASE don't take a picture of me with these dorks!"
Moving
film retels
tine story
*y Bryan Lark
Daily Arts Writer
Her name is synonymous with hero-
ism. Her story is too poignant to be
fiction. Her adolescent diary is now a
classic work of literature. Her life was
tragically short.
Of course, the .young girl is the in-
comparable Anne Frank. Since her di-
ary was published in the summer of
947, it has sold more than 25 million
copies and has made Anne a celebrity
and an inspiration to the entire world.
However, the diary alone does not
completely illustrate her life.
Telling the untold story of Adolf
Hitler's most famous victim is a task
eloquently performed by Jon Blair's
outstanding documentary, "Anne Frank
Remembered."
Using a simplistic yet unique style,
"Anne Frank Remembered" manages
retell the world-renowned story of
Anne and her family from its early
stages in Nazi-infested Germany to the
REVIEW
Anne Frank
Remembered
'Perversity' eases final exam stress
By Tyler Patterson
Daily Arts Writer
The appeal of David Mamet is not easily explained. There
are those who say he is misogynist. There are others who say
his language is filthy and his characters are offensive. Yet, no
other contemporary playwright has a larger cult following -
certainly none as critically acclaimed as Mamet.
This weekend, Basement Arts will present its third and
final Mamet production of the year, "Sexual Perversity in
Chicago." Adam Greenfield, a third-year theater and drama
trying to dehumanize it."
Mamet wrote the play at the end ofthe'70s, and Greenfield
asserts that this may have influenced Mamet.
"Greg Zola pointed out that it was written at the end of the
Sexual Revolution of the '70s," Greenfield explained. "I
think in a lot of ways it is about that time period, about this
so-called change in the way we look at what sex is in our
society."
"This is what David Mamet is saying people are talking
about," Greenfield said . "They're not talking about sex.
They're talking about distortions of sex."
"Sexual Perversity in Chicago" presents
j some unusual challenges because there are-
over thirty scene changes and about a dozen
different settings. To answer these challenges
Greenfield will be implementing a minimalist
student, will be handling the chal-
lenging directorial duties.
Unlike "Glengarry Glen Ross,"
David Mamet's most famous work
about the cut-throat world of office
politics, "Sexual Perversity in Chi-
cago" exposes the battle ofthe sexes.
"It's about men and women dealing
with each other," explained
Greenfield, "or not dealing with each
other."
The story centers on four people,
SEXUAL
PEVERSITY IN
CHICAGO
.,a+
Where: Arena Theater (
Frieze Building)
When: Thursday thru Sa
General;admission seat
two men and two women, who are trying to understand the
opposite sex. Danny (Mark Alhadeff) and Deborah (Heather
Guglielmetti) are a couple searching for a meaningful rela-
tionship amid the singles scene. Bernie (Greg Zola) and Joan
(Allison Fisher) are their friends who offer them cynical
advice about love.
"The title in many ways is perfect," said Greenfield. "It's
perversity like fear or strangeness or oddity in sex." Greenfield
observed that because of the title, people will expect some
sort of sex-fest.
"All these different characters are saying all these things
about sex," Greenfield went on. "But what it really comes
down to is this failure to be able to deal with it. They are
in the set.
Greenfield said Mamet is very concerned
turday. about the heart of theater being ignored by
ing is free. fancy production sets and lavish prop con-
struction, like "Miss Saigon.""I think 'Sexual
Perversity in Chicago' is a great play,"
Greenfield explained. "It stands on its own legs."
The talent of Mamet lies not in intricate plot designs or+
complicated sets, but the language- his ear for dialogue.,j
His characters are never innocent or pure and the men are
almost never likable. If one were to pin a single quality d'own
on Mamet's writing, it would be honesty.
In response to assertions of Mamet's chauvinism,,
Greenfield explained that even though the women in his.
plays are never portrayed in flattering ways, the men rarely;
get better treatment. He went on to cite examples too numer-,
ous to mention. So even though Mamet's picture of women,
See MAMET, Page 12A,
Otto Frank with his daughters Margot and Anne
Directed by Jon Blair,
narrated by
Kenneth Branagh
At Michigan Theater
horrific aftermath of the Holocaust -
without missing a beat or sparing a tear.
More difficult than "Sophie's
Choice," more riveting and emotion-
ally exhausting than "Schindler's List,"
"Anne Frank Remembered" presents
ie story of Anne Frank not just as a girl
in hiding, but as a free-spirited youth
who stuffed her bra and dislocated her
shoulder for fun, and the girl that be-
came a legacy.
" Presenting first-person testimonies
from those who knew Anne, never-
before-seen photographs and the only
moving footage of Anne, this docu-
mentary cuts deeper than any other pre-
eious account of the Franks' ordeal.
Beginning with anecdotes from
neighbors and co-workers, the film de-
picts a tale familiar to most ofthe falsely
secure life of Otto, Edith, Margot and
Anne Frank as the operators of a bank in
REC ODS
Continued from Page SA
The Spinanes
trand
Sub Pop
Beautiful things are sometimes in-
timaidating. Supermodels, great works
of art and Niagara Falls all inspire awe
and maybe a little bit of fear at their
perfection. The Spinanes new album
"Strand" is not quite as awesome as
Wme other beautiful things, but it's
also a lot more inviting than most.
"fStrand" overflows with a gentle but
edgy kind of loveliness that draws the
listener in a sleepy but nonetheless pow-
erful way.
The group's second album for Sub
Germany and, after Hitler's rise to
power, the proprietors of a small busi-
ness in Amsterdam.
The Franks lived well in Amsterdam
from their initial migration in 1933 un-
til the conquering and subsequent re-
strictive rule of Holland by the Nazis in
1940. Knowing where Hitler's restric-
tions would lead, Otto began fashion-
ing a hiding place for his family.
As Hitler's grip tightened, the Franks,
along with the van Pels family and
dentist Fritz Pfeffer, saw it necessary to
disappear into the hiding place in an
annex above Otto's business in the sum-
mer of 1942.
While the others attempted to create
an atmosphere of normalcy in the an-
nex, Anne, formerly a precocious child,
became increasingly dependent on the
imaginary correspondences, fantasies
about Hollywood and interpretations of
the war in her diary, alienating herself
from her seven roommates.
Hearing on a radio broadcast that
following the war, all diaries concern-
ing the war would be collected and
published, Anne rewrote and expanded
upon all of her entries, keeping her
imminent future fame in mind.
On another broadcast, news of D-
Day sent waves of hope through the
annex, but that hope was soon suffo-
cated on August 4, 1944, two years into
theirhiding, when an anonymous caller
turned in the Jewish exiles.
The eight now-prisoners were taken
to Gestapo headquarters, Westerbork
transit camp and eventually to the infa-
mous death camp Auschwitz, where
the four women were separated from
the male loved ones.
By the time the concentration camps
were liberated in 1945, most of the
hiders had been sent to various labor
camps and all but Otto Frank were
killed by either Nazis, illness or starva-
tion.
In contrast to the inescapable horrors
of the Holocaust, Anne's story empha-
sizes the ideals to which everyone
should strive-tolerance and complete
individuality. The celluloid depiction
of her life deserves every bit as much
credit as Anne does for conveying those
concepts.
Narrated by Kenneth Branagh wit]"
excerpts from the diary read by Glenn
Close, "Anne Frank Remembered" not
only stands as a fascinating companion
to Anne's diary, but as a testament to
the valiancy of which humans are ca-
pable. The Academy Award for Best
Documentary feature that now sits on
director Jon Blair's mantle is a testa-
ment to this amazing and moving film.
"Lines and Lines" and "Madding" take
a while to unfold their charms, it's nev-
ertheless moving when they do. The
minimalist bend of the Spinanes' music
(just drums and guitar) makes a perfect
foil for Rebecca Gates sensuous but
innocent voice. "Meridian" and
"Valency" are played with a punkish
intensity, but the result is something
more layered and mysterious.
"Strand" is enveloping but subtle.
The currents of punk, folk and dream-
pop that run through the Spinanes' work
have never melded together as nicely as
they have on this album, especially on
the aptly titled "Luminous" and
"Oceanwide." Yes, "Strand" is beauti-
ful. But almost as important, it's sym-
pathetic, graceful and endlessly listen-
able, which is pretty awe-inspiring in
itself.
- Heather Phares
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