I

8 -The Michigan Daily - Friday, February 28, 1997
N Spring is in the air... £
Disasters, re-releases, tear-jerkers, 'Friends' vie for box-office dollars

Gordy Gantsoudes
For the Daily
When the Michigan tundra begins to
thaw and a walk to class becomes
almost bearable again, you know that
can only mean one thing. That's right,
it's time for spring, and that means
spring movies - films that generally
are not good enough for post-Memorial
Day release, or simply could not match
up against the Christmas crop.
A la "Star Wars," major studios
have decided to give other movies a
second chance. Can you smell the
lasagna? Paramount is re-releasing
"The Godfather" this March with a
touched up print and remixed sound.
What's that you say Mrs. Robinson?

"The Graduate" also will be intro-
duced to a new generation on the big
screen.
So, what are the movies on which the
major studios are banking? Let's start
off with the never-ending barrage of
natural disaster films. "Volcano" has
been given a May release date, which
may turn out to be too late for Tommy
Lee Jones' latest. "Volcano" will be the
third movie dealing with the explosive
topic. "Dante's Peak" and ABC's
"Volcano: Fire on the Mountain" will
most definitely have soaked up all
desire to watch lava flow for two hours
by May.
"The Flood" brings the terrifying
world of water to the big screen with

Christian Slater and Morgan Freeman.
What happens to the people of a small
town when the torrential rains
strike? They get wet. And
the biggest natural disas-
ter of all, Howard
Stern and his
"Private Parts," will
be on display
March 7.
The comedy
continues with
Jim Carrey in
"Liar Liar." Fans
need not worry
about this being
another dark comedy
like "Cable Guy."
Carrey is back, work- Ewan McGregor
ing on his old schtick.
This time, he is a fibbing lawyer who
is forced - by the magic of his son's
birthday wish - to not lie for one
day. Wackiness ensues.
Tim Allen, who proved to be a huge
movie draw with "The Santa Clause," is
in "Jungle2Jungle." Tim imports a teen-
age son, who was raised in Venezuela,
to the Big Apple (See "Crocodile
Dundee"). Wackiness ensues again.
All of the "Friends" have had their
own movie, so you may ask, "Where
is Phoebe?" Lisa Kudrow and Oscar-
winner Mira Sorvino appear in
"Romy and Michelle's High School
Reunion." The two gals are slackers
who glam up for an impending
reunion, only to be proven frauds by a

r i

scheming Janeane Garofalo. Yet
again, wackiness ensues.
The latest salaries for
Sylvester Stallone, Bruce
. Willis and Arnold
Schwarzenegger
show that the real
money to be made
is in the action-
adventure genre.
Val Kilmer and
Elizabeth Shue
star in a very
f3 cool spy movie,
"The Saint."
Harrison Ford and
Brad Pitt will star in the
problematic "Devil's
n "Nightwatch." Own." Though this
---- movie, about a cop
(Ford) trying to save his IRA soldier-
friend (Pitt), is basically guaranteed to
be a smash, it has run into numerous
problems. From Pitt bad-mouthing the
movie in an interview (he called it "an
irresponsible bit of filmmaking"), to
fights between Pitt and Ford, this film
seems to have been a production night-
mare.
Possibly the most expensive movie to
be released in between Christmas and
Memorial Day, "The Fifth Element" is
action-adventure staple Bruce Willis'
newest. Co-starring alongside the ever-
spooky Gary Oldman, Willis plays a
cab driver in search of the elusive, and
all-important fifth element in a futuris-
tic world.

And in case all of this is not good
enough for you, you can see the
human billboard Dennis 'Please, call
me Denise' Rodman as a weapons
expert in Jean-Claude's newest,
"Double Team."
From the "Didn't I Already See
This?" file comes Wesley Snipes'
"Murder At 1600." In the latest anti-
president movie (see the recent
"Absolute Power"), a White House
employee is killed, and everyone from
the chief to the butler is suspected.
However, it really would not be very
interesting if the
butler did it,
would it?
A suspenseful
"N i g h twa t c h"
that is sure to be
popular with the
collegiate audi-
ence stars
"Trainspotting"'s
Ewan McGregork
as a morgue Liv Tyler and Joaqui
night-watchman their love in "Invent
who gets in trou-
ble when bodies
begin piling up.
The emotional movies are plentiful
this spring, ranging from the tear-
jerking ("Inventing The Abbotts") to
the jerkingly psychotic ("Crash").
"Abbotts" stars Liv Tyler and Joaquin
Phoenix in a romantic drama that
shows love can break class barriers.
And then there is "Paradise Road,"

whose creators are apparently trying to
find the narrowest target audience ever.
The movie is about women prisoners in
a Japanese camp during WWII who
fight back by - singing Glenn Cl
Oscar nominee Frances McDorma
and "ER"'s Julianne Margulies head
this all-star, all-female cast.
The controversial modie .Crash"
will finally be hitting screens in the
United States this spring. The movie,
about a few folks who get their ya-yas
out by re-enacting famous auto
wrecks (i.e. James Dean and Jayne
Mansfield), has
been showing a
over the woW
but Ted Turner
has been trying to
censor the movie
due to its violent
and disturbing
material.
Other notable
movies hitting
Phoenix explore theaters this
ig the Abbotts." spring incl
"That
Feeling." starring
Bette Midler, and a documentary
about the rap and hip-hop industry,
titled "Rhyme and Reason."
Remember, see these movies while
you can. Come Memorial Day, none
of these Davids will be able to slay
Goliath: Spielberg's "The Lost
World" devours all competition on
May 25.

n
tins

Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow star in "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion."


The Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis Community Research Clinic
is seeking healthy males, ages 18-55,
for participation in medication research studies.
Length of study time is approximately two - four weeks.
Research subjects will be paid approximately
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Announcing the
21i £d1d4iauial

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1


"The Fifth Element," starring Bruce Willis, is possibly the most expensive movie to be released between December and May.

1996-1997

you know

0
SprinCommencement
StudentSpeaker
Call For Entries
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

0

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makes?

We do.

Check out the
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