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 '.