WUUU
Check out "in Love," a film that explores the continuum between
love and physical violence. Presented by the School of Social Work,
"In Love" weaves four women's personal stories. Afterward, join film-
maker Rachel Zetland in a panel discussion. The free screening will
begin at noon in Room 3066 in the Frieze building.
Wednesday
April 9, 1997 5
w-D fun
lands on
A2's big
screen
Gordy Gantisoudes
Daily Arts Writer
In the 1950s, the introduction of tele-
vision in homes kept people out of the
movie theaters. Four billion tickets were
sold annually in the late '40s. By the
iddle of the '50s, that number was
wn to one billion tickets annually. As
more and more theaters closed, theater
owners struggled to find any gimmick
that would save their theaters. Nothing
really worked until 3-D was introduced
in 1953 with "House of Wax."
Other studios jumped on the band-
wagon and started making more and
more 3-D wonders. Even one of the
most renowned directors ever to look
through a lens, Alfred Hitchcock, took a
tab" at 3-D cinema. His 1954 classic,
ial 'M' for Murder," was originally
shot in 3-D. However, the studio felt
that it would not like to risk Hitchcock's
name on a fad, and the movie was orig-
inally released in 2-D.
Now, audiences can see 3-D films on
an Ann Arbor big screen. The Michigan
Theater is having its first 3-D festival in
three years from April 9 through April
20. The four feature films include
*-louse of Wax," "Dial 'M' for
Murder," "It Came from Outer Space"
and "The Creature From the Black
Lagoon.'
These movies brought people back
into theaters in mobs, and these mobs
consisted mainly of younger people.
Due to such a young target, audience
many of these movies involved horror
stories. And these stories, coupled with
3-D presentation, led to screams and
any oohs and ahhs of wonderment.
K ese "screamers" have become a big
'Prairie' offers slice
of American lifestyle
The 3-D film, "House of Wax," will play at the Michigan Theater from April 9 through April 20.
Prairie Reunion
Barbara J. Scot
Riverhead Books
Picture the idyllic lifestyle of rural
Iowa in the middle of the 20th century.
A close-knit family struggling to make
a living farming the land. A small town
where everyone knows everyone and no
one attempts to keep secrets. A beauti-
ful land of cornfields and covered
bridges. -
Is this a description of "Bridges of
Madison County?" Thankfully, no.
"Prairie Reunion" is by no means such
a simple story. Barbara J. Scot's mem-
oirs form, in contrast, a complex web as
she attempts to explore the mysteries of
her mother's marriage and devo-
tion to a man whom Scot
barely knew. As she
unravels this mys-
tery, she discov- :
ers many other-
secrets and
myths about her-
small-town child--
hood.
Her search for the
true story begins in 1983,
when she returns from her adult life in
Oregon to the town of Scotch Grove,
Iowa, to show her husband and sons the
house where she had lived as a child.
Going through her dead mother's trunk,
Scot discovers a single sheet of pink-
orange rainbow pad paper containing
three sentences-"What do you think?
You don't understand. You'll never
know how much" This note sparks a
quest for her to interpret her mother's
story, and it develops into an explo-
ration of herself, the relations of her
childhood and the land itself.
"Prairie Reunion" is a personal jour-
nal of that exploration. Scot records,
with precision and care, her research
and individual conversations as she
attempts to reconstruct her extended
family's history, interwoven with child-
hood anecdotes and critiques of
American small-town beliefs. She
investigates the value of her
Presbyterian upbringing and the occa-
sionally hypocritical morals of the
1950s Midwest.
The underlying theme of the book is
the search for the cause of her mother's
devotion to her irresponsible, ne'er-do-
well, constantly absent father. His suicide
during Scot's childhood only serves to
complicate the mystery, as she is forced
to turn to those who knew him best.
She finally unravels the personality
of a man whom she never knew.
Although she is unable to find a defin-
itive answer to her questions, she learns
from his mistakes and his able to under-
stand the reasoning behind his
decisions on a deeper
level.
As Scot
explores her
: wfamily history,
she discovers
~-- the history of
Scotch Grove and
the surrounding
Iowa landscape.
Through all of her frustrations
and personal conflicts, it is the land that
binds her to this place and this family. It.
is a place of beauty as well as a place of
hardship, and she appreciatively writes
of her observations while still maintain-
ing her skeptical eye and sharp mind.
Scot's writing is idealistic but never
naive. She constantly questions her past,
and is ultimately able to define the ambi-
guity of her old family stories.
"Prairie Reunion" is not simply a pri-
vate memoir. It is a portrayal of the typ-
ical American lifestyle, along with the
loyalties and lies that accompany it.
Through Scot's eyes, readers can see
their own personal family secrets and
can interpret their own family histories.
- Jessica Eaton
part of American cinematic history.
The gimmicks in the 3-D movies are
great to watch. First of all, it is fun to
see a chair fly toward the camera and
watch the audience duck and react. In
addition, audi-
ences become
caught up in their P RI
own astonish- 3-Q F
ment while view- 3-v
ing 3-D movies.
One almost feels
deprived when
viewing subse-
quent 2-D films.
In 1953, Andre de Toth directed the
first 3-D picture produced by a major
studio. "House of Wax" stars the late
horror-maestro Vincent Price as an
obsessed wax museum sculptor who
starts rebuilding his figures out of real
people when horribly disfigured in a
arson attempt. This movie was so popu-
lar, that its gross, when calculated with
inflation, is in the top 100 movies of all
time.
The first visual image audiences see
in the movie is the famous Warner
Brother's "WB" logo - only now it is
in 3-D. The titles,
EVIEW
ilm Festival
April 9-20
Michigan Theater
Call 66&8480
Vincent Price;
also in 3-D, will also
cause many "wows"
and smiles of amaze-
ment in the audi-
ence.
Toward the end of
the first scene, a
fight occurs between
and the man who has
gets thrown, it is directed toward the
camera.
The devices used by de Toth make
this movie a fantastic film; the plot,
though less than stellar, really doesn't
matter. One is too caught up in the fact
the movie appears to be playing inches
from one's face. After seeing this
movie, people will understand why
Price was a horror staple; he is quite
simply one of the creepiest guys ever to
appear on the silver screen.
Though initially a tremendous suc-
cess, 3-D films faded from theaters
within a few years of their introduction.
They had accomplished their job:
People were back in the theaters.
Though other gimmicks tried to re-cre-
ate what was 3-D, nothing ever captured
its majesty.
Do yourself a favor and check these
films out. It may be your only chance
to see a real 3-D movie, because
Captain Eo doesn't count.
funded his museum. The man wants to
burn the place down and collect the
insurance on the money pit. Price tries
to stop him and a fight breaks out. As
the museum burns around them, they
fight, and of course, throw things
toward the camera. Throughout the
fight, the director has choreographed
the scenes so that whenever anything
Rodman does big things with little 'Team'
By John Ghose
Daily Arts Writer
"Never before has a man done so
*uch with so little." Although this
phrase is a reference to the petite penis
of Howard Stern and the anthem of his
movie "Private Parts," I think it could
apply even more correctly to the men of
"Double Team": Dennis Rodman and
Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Dennis Rodman went from a grave-
yard shift janitor at an Oklahoma air-
port to a multi-media pop-cul-
ture icon with his ability to
cover a basketball on
e . rebound. Jean-
Claude Van Damme
went from a scrawny,
Scandinavian pizza
boy to a multi-billion
dollar action-film star
with his marginal
martial arts abili-
ty, free
weights and
tty face.
S . t .i 1 l , n
despite their
questionable
talents, the
self-made
success of
these men is
admirable.
But the heart-
warming rags-
to-riches sto-
s of Don't mess with Rodma
Rodman and Van Damme does not nec-
essarily translate into good acting or a
good movie. Simply put, "Double
Team" is nowhere near inspirational
Oscar material.
But within the formulaic, tiresome style
of the saturated action-flick genus, can
Rodman and Van Damme "do so much"
with the "little" that is given to them?
The movie opens with CIA special
agent Jack Quinn (Van Damme) snatching
a truckload of plutonium from the clutch-
es of arch-enemy Stavros (Mickey
Rourke), a notoriously cagey ter-
rorist. Three years later, we find
Quinn relaxing at home with
his pregnant wife Katherine
(Natacha Lindinger) in
provincial France.
Supposedly retired from
the profession, Quinn is
I lured back in for one last
assignment: Capture Stavros
alive.
With a bad-ass Delta
Force behind him,
Quinn sets up
Stavros but hesi-
tates to fire his
dart gun and
: >< /< blows the
operation,
and in the
e n s u i n g
crossfire,
Stavros' child
dies.
n In "Double Team." The uncon-
scious Quinn is then shipped to "the
Colony," a luxurious tropical island prison
for failed spies who are "too dangerous to
let live but too valuable to kill."
After a Rocky-esque training sequence,
Quinn ingeniously
escapes the island R
and spends the O
remainder of the 1
movie hunting down
Stavros to settle a
personal score. At B
Of course, Quinn
triumphs in the end, but not without the
help of Yaz (Rodman), a sympathetic
underground weapons dealer. "I can shoot
off a hummingbird's dick with this baby,"
boasts Yaz, while showing off one of his
many high-tech firearms. With the excep-
tion of his hummingbird analogy, most of
Rodman's dialogues are either cheesy
basketball allusions or brainless cliches.
What amazes, though, is how much
Rodman does with what "little" the writ-
ers give him.
True, Rodman's presence is awkward,
silly, and cornier than an Iowa farm, but
it is nonetheless strangely appealing. It's
obvious that Rodman was having fun
during the shooting, and his enjoyment is
indeed refreshing. He keeps "Double
Team" from taking itself too seriously.
The talented Rourke, however, has no
fun whatsoever in this film-and it
shows. His character is duller than Van
Damme's perma-expressiori, with no
development or complexity at all.
"Double Team" is a movie that is so
Di
Bna
unoriginal, even the explosions look cliche.
Fortunately, Dennis Rodman brings in
enough flavor to salvage this film from no-
star status - but even castle-builders like
Rodman and Van Damme can't make a
good film out of so
E V I E W "little"
Ultimately, the
ouble Team problem does not lie
** with this specific
film, but the action
arwood and Showcase genre itself Action
flicks of the Steven
Seagal/Van Damme mode are sure to slip
into extinction soon because everything
has been done already - muscles and
fire only go so far. Explosions just aren't
as awe-inspiring as they used to be and
prototypical action heroes like Van
Damme need to evolve, or they may find
themselves delivering pizza again.
SUMMER CAMP JOBS
Co-ed childrens ovemight camp in Ontario's renowned ALGONQUIN PARK.
Known for spirit, tradition, canoe tripping and all-round program of outdoor rec., sports & arts.
JOBS STILL AVAILABLE:
CANOE TRIPPERS, MALE COUNSELORS, & SPECIALISTS IN:
Kayaking, Trail Biking, Pottery, Arts & Crafts, Outdoor Ed.
FOR A BRIEF ORIENTATION AND INTERVIEW...
COME MEET CAMP DIRECTOR JEFF WILSON
DATE:
TiME:
PLACE:
Thursday, April 10,1997
12:00 noon
Michigan League, Conference Rm 4
Or contact: Camp Tamakwa, 6 Crescent Rd., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4W 1 T I
416-924-7433
I