The Michigan Daily - Monday, January 13, 1997 - 9A
Excitement overcomes minor bumps in 'Turbulence'
By Julia Shih Halloran must find a way to survive Weaver's deadly
Daily Arts Writer cat-and-mouse game, as the turbulent storm tosses the
Poor Lauren Holly. She's aboard a plane that's des- plane around haphazardly.
tined to crash, surrounded by dead bodies, and she The suspense in "Turbulence" is caused by both the
has a psychotic killer stalking her. I think it's safe to danger of the killer on board and the threat of the vio-
say-that she's having a pretty bad day. lent storm outside. If the people on board manage to
-lolly plays flight attendant Teri survive the killer, can they get on
H aoran, who is working a R E V I E W the ground with no one flying the
Cl istmas Eve flight from New plane?
Yo k to Los Angeles, in director Turbulence In reality, it would take a mira-
Robert Butler's "Turbulence." v cle. But in Hollywood, it just
Along with the handful of last- takes one woman with streak-
minte travelers on board are two At Briarwood and Showcase proof mascara and a pair of
convicted criminals, heavily durable high heels.
guarded by federal marshals. One is a serial killer / "Turbulence" is not the most realistic movie, but it
rapist, Ryan Weaver (Ray Liotta), whose charm and is definitely a lot of fun. The dim lighting and erratic
good looks hide a deeper psychosis. The other is manner in which it was shot and edited create a feel-
abs, a ruthless ing of chaos, not to
k robber, played mention claustro-
by Brendan Gleeson. phobia.
When Stubbs Chills run like
plls a daring escape :: t, electricity through
that leaves him, the the veins of audi-
pilots and all of the f ence members, as
marshals dead, k Halloran eludes
Weaver is left in Weaver while trying
charge - with noth- simultaneously to
in, but evil inten- fly the plane and
ns in mind. save the many pas-
aver, who was sengers.
on his way back to At times, the grip-
death row, plans to ping suspense of
go out in a blaze of "Turbulence" is
glory by crashing the Ray Liotta, a serial killer, enjoys terrorizing flight attendant interrupted by pure
plane. But first, he Lauren Holly in his spare time. silliness. In one
wants to have a little scene, Halloran dis-
fun- -by stalking the pretty flight attendant, Teri covers Weaver's madness, when she finds a morbid
Halloran. display for her in the first-class section. Scared out of
With the rest of the crew and passengers locked up, her wits, she frantically runs away, but not before hon-
oring her stewardess duties. She picks up a fallen blan-
ket from the aisle and places it in a storage compart-
ment.
The occasional ridiculousness, however, won't be
the only reason that people will laugh during this film.
The writer, Jonathan Brett, should get some credit, as
the movie's dialogue can be unintentionally funny at
times.
So much of the excitement and tension is due to
Ray Liotta's outstanding performance. Liotta's Weaver
is scary enough to cause even hardened criminals to
lose complete bladder control. He is charming and
eloquent at first, as he claims his innocence in the
crimes of which he is accused.
Without warning, though, he transforms into a rav-
ing, yet calculating lunatic, whose brilliant blue eyes
hide a haunting evil that is beyond description.Liotta
pulls off this complicated character perfectly, as if he
were born to play this role. He is so eerily convincing
that people will probably think twice about approach-
ing him if they ever saw him on the street.
Equally impressive are the special effects; they
allow the movie to look as if it were taking place
aboard a Boeing 747 in the middle of a level six (out
of six) storm. It took a talented team of specialists and
a great deal of time to create these effects, but the final
results are amazing.
Holly, who most people remember from "Dumb
and Dumber," is very good in her role as Teri Halloran.
It is unfortunate that Halloran is written up as another
helpless female movie character, but at least she is
prone to moments where she will have a flash of intel-
ligence'and strength.
"Turbulence" feels like just about every other sus-
pense thriller known to man (lots of action, a smidgen
of plot), but at least it is a decent one. It serves to
excite the audience without making it think too much.
By the time people leave the theater, much of it will be
forgotten.
i
RECORDS
Continued from Page 8A
Super Furry Animals
Fuzzy Logic
Epi
The current crop of Welsh rock bands
like Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Catatonia,
6 Ft. Dolls and Super Furry Animals
has sprung up as quickly as a bunch of
hallucinogenic mushrooms and with
results that are almost as trippy.The
F ries, in particular, purvey a psyche-
delic punkish pop that's so deliciously bands.
bizarre that it makes critics on both They are a group, however, that start-
sides of the Atlantic rave - an unusu- ed out as a techno outfit - and insist
al feat. they still are, though their
But the critical praise sweet harmonies and
for "Fuzzy Logic" is wah-wah guitars sound
certainly the least more like Oasis
unusual thing about played backwards
it.From the band's than house or jungle.
innovative sonic However, they
blend to their lyrical choose to classify
subject, matter (alien their music. Singles
abductions, video like "God! Show Me
games and drug runners), Magic,""Something For the
it's clear that Super Furry Weekend" and especially
Animals view things with a different "Hometown Unicorn" demand to be lis-
perspective than most other rock tened to; rarely is a band so creative and
catchy. a i
While most of "Fuzzy Logic" con-
sists of fast-paced rockers like the sin-
gles, hazy ballads like "Gathering
Moss" and "Long Gone" show off the
Furries' versatility. The bouncy pop of
"Bad Behaviour," "Frisbee" "For Now
and Ever" and the group's homage to ball/rmbracer thprr
drug runner, master of disguises and W linerRush In oi
album coverboy "Howard Marks" fill
out "Fuzzy Logic"'s 12-song assault on 'Xtelke d Room, 1VJai
conventional rock.F l r RoomM b
Like fuzzy logic itself, Super Furry 7 :00 PM
Animals might not be easily explained, More Information:
but they are well worth trying to under- 483.6037 dl p-in fo@un
stand. http://emunix.emich.edu/-
- Heather Phares Serving the
Michigan c om m
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