The Michigan Daily - Friday, February 21, 1997 -9
'Ground'
cold as
Ice Cube
*y Ogordy Gantsoudes
For the Daily
Ice Cube has become one of the top
African American actors since his
breakthrough performance in "Boyz N
The Hood.' "Dangerous Ground" is his
first attempt at making a name for him-
self in the action movie industry. Ice
Cube has top billing in "Ground": He is
an executive producer and he has a song
on ,the soundtrack. He may wish to
ink again before he plasters his name
I over such a sub-par film.
"Ground" takes place in South Africa
in the present day. As a 13-year-old rev-
olutionary, Vusi (Ice Cube), was smug-
gled.out of the country because his life
had been threatened by the police. He
returns 14 years later to bury his father
and finds South Africa to be a different
place.
While still in the village for the
*neral, Vusi notices that his younger
rother Steven (Eric Miyeni) is miss-
ing. His mother
begs Vusi to go and R
find him. When
Vusi sets off for
Johannesburg to
find his brother, he
is. mugged by
Africans whom he
views as brothers. Hurt and angry, Vusi
.oes not fight back.
This is a warning to all who want to
see an ass-kicking movie: "Ground" is
not one - until the last two minutes.
The ironic thing about the ending is that
New SophShow kicks off
4.'
By Stephanie Love
Daily Arts Writer
SophShow, as you know it, will never
be the same. Starting with the kickoff of
the State Street Poetry Project and the
performance of Edward Albee's two-man
play, "Zoo Story,"
the group is looking
to provide a new P F
forum for under-
graduate creativity.T
SophShow was Today
formerly a theater Mic
Street Poetry Project, said.
SophShow will also include the per-
formance of Albee's "Zoo Story" The
one-act play is set in Central Park, and. it
demonstrates the crucial need for com-
munication between two men. "Zoo
Story" was chosen
because it repre-
R E V I E W~' sents the transfor-
SophShow mation through
and tomorrow at 8 p.m. which SophShow is
tomorrow at 2 p.m. presently going.
higan Union U-Club, Free In an interview
with The Michigan
Daily, sophomore Chris Nitchie, an actor
in "Zoo" and a UAC producer/director,
talked about the change.
"There tends to be a void of non-musi-
cal things on campus. We are trying to
provide an opportunity for students to
perform and produce. It's a forum of
expression using textual works for the
entire University to present to the Ann
Arbor community, he said.
Friday night's featured reader in the
State Street Poetry project is senior
group aimed at
first- and second-year students interest-
ed in musicals. But that is changing.
The State Street Poetry Project was
created to provide an outlet for the
wealth of undergraduate writing on
campus. Writers perform their own
works, presenting a wide variety of gen-
res and ideas.
"Our goal is to create a regular event
on campus that a large percentage of stu-
dents can be interested in," LSA sopho-
more Greg Epstein, founder of the State
English and African American Studies
major Jon Kidd. He will read his signa-
ture poem "Musin' on Marley" written
while Kid studied in Jamaica. 4-
Saturday features poet Carmin
Bugan, a Winter '96 graduate of the
RC. Bugan has self-published two poet-
ry books, "between us" and "at the bor-
ders." Born in Rumania, Bugan's work
addresses Rumanian political and
social issues. She will read her pgem
"Friends Behind the Iron Curtain."
Other poets in the program are Greg
Epstein, a recipient of the Hopwood
Jeffrey L. Weisberg Award for first-year'
students' poetry, Faustow Gautaire ;
Kevin McGraugh.M'
SophShow is also getting a L,;
name. Aaron Sorkin's "A Few Gedd
Men" will be performed by the Rq*,
Mechanicals in March. The name was,
taken from Shakespeare's "A'
Midsummer Night's Dream.'
"Right now we're spreading our wing
artistically to bring something static to
the Ann Arbor community," Nitchie sai
Ice Cube looks tough In "Dangerous Ground."
rI
E
Vusi tells his brother Ernest, a former
soldier, that the way to win the war for
the new South Africa is not through vio-
lence, but through words. Oh well, I
guess that's out the window.
Well, Vusi magi-
V I E W cally finds Steven's
apartment and
Dangerous meets Steven's
Ground neighbor, girlfriend
I and fellow crack-
At Showcase head, Karen, annoy-
ingly played by
Elizabeth Hurley. Karen pleads with Vusi
to let her go with him to find Steven.
This formulaic movie crawls on
longer still until we meet Steven, who
looks like an Ike Turner rip-off.
Please do not misunderstand me: I
like Ice Cube. He was great in "Boyz N
The Hood" and hilarious in "Friday," but
not even he could save this tripe. He has
two funny lines in the whole movie, and
the serious ending is turned into a joke.
The movie did have a good message,
but it got lost somewhere between Vusi
contradicting himself about peaceful
protest and the unbearable Hurley.
The writer/director Darrel James
Roodt ("Cry, The Beloved Country")
wanted to show the struggle that
today's South Africa faces. But, he
should have stuck with a more emo-
tional script instead of trying to con-
form to Hollywood's crappy ideals.
Ice Cube is the only reason why
"Ground" gets any stars at all. Unless you
hate money, do not go see this movie.
Working with the Best
I
The pace is fast. We're gutsy, stable and growing. Opportunities abound. We
handsomely rewarded. That's Cypress.
don't let success go to our heads. And hard work is
U
.
Opportunities exist in locations including California, Texas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Colorado, and Washington.
If you cannot make our campus visit, send us your resume by fax to (408) 943-1859. On-line via http:l/www.careermosaic.com/cm/cypress.
Or mail to: Cypress, Human Resources Dept., 3901 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95134. EDE.
-' CYPRESS
I l"l Call 741-9669 for more information.
Announcing the
aj~e3wiElt n I
.;S
spring C
Student I
mmencemnent
1996-1997
Ca
1
Y
Speaker
Entries
..........
11
The Office of University Relations is making a
Call for Entries for a Student Speaker
at Spring Commencement
Saturday, May 3, 1997
9:30 a.m.
Michigan Stadium
The student speaker must be receiving a
bachelor's degree during Winter Term 1997 or
Summer Term 1997
Submit
" Curriculum Vitae (or resume) highlighting U-M
scholarship and campus leadership
" Typed draft of speech (no more than 5
minutes in length)
* Audio cassette tape of yourself reading the
speech
We do.
Check out the
Salary Supplement, available
Now I,'
I
'.