ftif~ tdow~mi1atolg The final stretch of new "Seinfeld" episodes begins tonight. Announcing last week that this season, the show's ninth, would be its last, Jerry Seinfeld and his eccentric circle of friends have made the future of "Must-see TV"uncertain and perhaps a little less must- see. Catch the antics tonight at 9 p.m. on NBC, as if you didn't know. Thursday January 8, 1998 5 'Low down J'ackie Brown': Tarantino's latest disappoints By Bryan Lark Daily Arts Editor If it looks like a Tarantino film, talks like a Tarantino film and is more than 2 1/2 hours, like a Tarantino film, then it's safe to assume that it is a Tarantino film. And Quentin Tarantino's latest, R "Jackie Brown," an ultra-cool, jive- talking crime com- edy, is. indeed a Tarantino film - too bad it's just not a good one. Occupying your time much longer than it should, "Jackie Brown" clocks in at a life-threatening 154 minutes, one of many hallmarks that made Tarantino's previous two films successes; others include a great '70s soundtrack, a semi- intricate structure and engaging dia- logue that sometimes veers off into quirky pop culture tangents. But unlike "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction," "Jackie Brown" sets off on one too many tangents right from its sluggish opening, and then never quite ,_ sets a specific course for itself. a E lai Is "Jackie Brown" a crime thriller? With a straightforward plot, based on Elmore Leonard's "Rum Punch," the film concerns down-and-out flight attendant Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) and her life running money to Mexico ® ® _ for gun-smuggler ,V i E WOrdell (Samuel L. Jackson). Ckie Brown When Jackie is apprehended by a ** hyper ATF agent At Showcase & State (Michael Keaton) and $500,000 of Ordell's money comes into the picture, Jackie begins playing both sides of the law in order to snatch the money for herself. But this rickety shack of a plot cannot withstand the dull blows of Tarantino's pointless dialogue. Or is the film a touching romance for the older generation? Jackie Brown, in her attempt to get rich quick, seeks help from her goodhearted bail-bondsman Max Cherry (Robert Forster) and gets unexpectedly close to the big lug. Grier and Forster have great chem- istry and offer up Oscar-worthy perfor- mances as hesitant lovers, but they'd groundbreaking "Shaft" - films that defined a decade of action flicks. But "Jackie Brown" is more interac- tion than action, which would be wel- come if Tarantino would just stop mak- ing clever pop allusions and start mak- ing the worthwhile character study that Grier's performance promises. Or is the film a quirky ensemble comedy? Heavily populated with the usual crop of comic wackos, Jackie Brown's life is complicated by charac- ters ranging from Bridget Fonda's jaded beach bunny to Robert DeNiro's nearly wordless ex-con to a Supreme-loving lady called Simone. Her life also includes people waxing poetic on such subjects as marijuana, the Delfonics and AK-47s. But all this hilarity just isn't funny, ill-fated for a film marketed as a come- dy. No one can blame Tarantino for attempting to cross genre boundaries (his attempt at heartfelt sentiment is even promising), but someone should have stopped "Jackie Brown" and frisked her at the border, detaining her for possession of mediocre entertain- ment with intent to inflict boredom. Still, the well-cast and perfectly scored (featuring music from Johnny Cash to Foxy Brown) "Jackie Brown" isn't all bad, it just isn't at all good. Wading through the bad and the ugly, the good can be found in a spectacular scene involving a scared Grier, bran- dishing a gun and desperately trying to look tough. Scenes like this are all -oo sparse in the meandering journey towards the elusive "good part" of "Jackie Brown," which arrives in. the form of a three-perspective telling of the climactic money-exchange. But in that inventive and thrilling sequence, the big Q.T. seems to be des- perately remaking his best work, trying to recapture some of that cinematically creative violence- and humor-driven electricity that charged "Pulp Fiction." Quentin, you've already made "Pulp Fiction,' there's no need to make it again. As for you "Pulp" fans, don't be fooled. "Jackie Brown" may look and sound like vintage Tarantino, but at this disappointing spectacle you won't find shots in the heart and brains in the hair -just cramps in the butt. Foxy Pam Grier is a brilliant Jackie Brown in the not-so-brilliant "Jackie Brown." have been better served as the main attraction in a 90-minute movie without the pesky "Pulp Fiction"-redux distrac- tions - but no, Tarantino had to get medieval on our collective ass. Or is the film a throwback to '70s blaxploitation films? Reviving Grier and Forster from the dead, the film has a distinctly Gordon Parks atmosphere; taking more than a few stylistic cues, the clever title sequence for example, from Grier's own "Foxy Brown" and the Soft 'Scream' sequel still thrilling Hot 'Minigolf' game combats cold By Ryan Posly Daily Arts Writer I scream, you scream. We all scream for scary movies. And let's face it - when the first "Scream" came out late in 1996, there had been a dearth of those classic teen slasher flicks for many years. But with that single film, the R horror industry was seemingly revitalized, and now we're faced with a string of At B you'll ever see assembled in one place. The lights dim, and I'm immediately, surprisingly, impressed. The film begins with the premiere of "Stab"'the movie-within-a-movie based on Gale Weathers' (Courteney Cox) best-selling book about the Woodsboro murders of the previous film. Right from the start, V I E W "Scream 2" begins Scream 2 parodying its prede- C cessor. El Briarwood & Showcase Once we move to the primary setting, the campus of fic- tional Windsor copycat teeny- bopper thrillers such as "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and now "Scream 2," the highly anticipated sequel to that visionary film. The problem with this trend is that nobody is screaming. The original "Scream" was clever, fun and howling- ly funny; it was a unique gem, a subver- sive, tongue-in-cheek homage to the slasher movies of the '70s and '80s. But scary it was not (unless you con- sider jumping in your seat a couple of times scary). Now Hollywood thinks that they can ride on that film's coattails by attempting to replicate it countless times until every last penny is squeezed out of the concept, never mind that in the process they'll squeeze every last bit of freshness and creativity out of it as well. Although "Scream" was one-of-a- kind, here we are feeling very old sit- ting in a theater packed with rowdy ,teens (and, unfortunately for their ten- der psyches, pre-teens) waiting for the inevitable sequel, cleverly titled "Scream 2." 1 must admit that if anyone is going to attempt a follow-up to "Scream," at least it's the same brilliant team as the original: director Wes Craven, writer Kevin Williamson and a slew of the most attractive young actors College, we are presented with a sparkling in-class debate about the inevitable failure of movie sequels. Perhaps "Scream 2" can muster as much self-mocking wit and pop-culture com- mentary as the first, after all, or die try- ing. Indeed, Craven and Williamson have managed to eke out a film that is almost as funny, almost as tricky and (no pun intended) almost as sharp as the original. The plot is identical, except that it now takes place in the supposedly more mature setting of a col- lege campus. Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), now a freshman at lovely Windsor, is finally getting over the trauma of the Woodsboro murders when, as the trailer puts it, somebody takes their love of sequels a little too far. Bodies start pil- ing up in the usual fash- ion, and it is up to Sidney, reunited with doofus-cop Dewey (David Arquette) and Courteney Cox Weathers, to escape Weathers in 'Si the stalkings of the sad-ghost-masked killer once again. Some other familiar faces return, including cheeky Randy (Jamie Kennedy), now a student at Windsor as well, and Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber), a free man since Weathers' book proved his innocence. There are some new faces as well, but don't worry, they're just as pretty as the rest of the gang. The mystery lies in the identity of the killer, and, once again, the filmmakers do a wonderful job of making everyone a suspect, never leav- ing more than a hint as to whodunit. In essence, this is the same movie as "Scream," except that the novelty is gone. It is injected with a similar wit and wisdom as the first, but it is dilut- ed. Nonetheless, Craven has not lost his touch to excite us, and there are some truly marvelous, chilling and, above all, heart-stopping scenes here (even more so than the original). He also plays with aural motifs for great effect, like a hilariously out-of-place gui- tar riff whenever Dewey appears. Though the end is a surprise, it is also a disappointment. The film resorts to trickery: instead of keeping the killer's identity a mystery to us through clever cover- up writing, his/her identi- ty is a surprise because the character is kept hid- den from us entirely for most of the film - it is just thrown at us like a bone that we're expected to chew on but never won- der where it came from. Still, whether it's in laugh- ter, fright or sheer awe of Neve Campbell's beauty, I eturns as Gale guarantee you'll 3-D Ultra Minigolf Sierra Win 95/31 CD-ROM Is there anything more fun than a few rounds of putt- putt? (Okay, maybe there is, but go along with me on this one.) But with the cold weather settling in, we may not be able to enjoy this great pastime. But wait - thanks to those great programmers at Sierra, we can putt-putt all winter long and never leave the room. "3-D Ultra Minigolf" is certainly hot enough to combat the cold weather. This game is by far one of the best golf simulators to hit the market. The premise is simple: put the ball in the hole in as few strokes as possible. The 18 holes contained on this CD-ROM are extreme- ly creative and range from the standard windmill green to holes underwater and in outer space. There are multiple paths to each hole and you never know when you may stumble across a new one. The graphics are pretty well done, but due to some of the camera angles, lining up a shot may prove to be difficult. The music for each green is also very appropriate. For example, the band breaks out the banjos for a hole set in the Wild West. The mechanics behind the game are solid and close attention was paid to the physics of ball motion. There are two methods of control for the putter: True Putt and Easy Putt. True Putt depends on mouse movement and is more difficult to master, whereas Easy Putt is based on holding down the mouse button and letting go. Other putting options include a choice of ball color and an all-too-help- ful aiming line (this makes putting way too easy). Minigolf offers three modes of competitive play. Naturally, there is the regular old game of putt-puttand skins-style mode of play is also offered. The third option - race mode - pits the golfers against the clock as the lowest total time wins. The game is great when playing with a group, as unpre- dictability and laughter reign. Some of the holes are just too hilarious to watch. An octopus may throw a ball back at you, a pelican might fly off with your ball, or even worse, a dinosaur just may feel like a little lunch. The game will offer many hours of playing time before afl the secrets and quirks expose themselves, so the investment will be well worth it. Check it out if you want to have'a lit- tle fun. - Deveron Q. Sandes ____ ._ . ,,,,, . « .. I $ e eBoys Choir of &taTh fo 1T Paco (10 Lucia E Bis flamenco Septet for $10 Idndjdffn^r,^ x r, Scream 2.' scream. Qtxin q atet 'roko cattet rlYcyl ~the gonternP. aS Beehoe a oraYcclereue 1xsuia O pesPontemporr Ytick~ets Beethoven the Vat Cr D~ale V*ai'sd gexs staany stepaiX Oa xche yo lppian0 rdick angel Axel p Em lE aS es"L De Na rs v ,jhe anadin lawC~xchstxa e obxano n&tgb ca~i1,t0 x~hLS ~l ling t Cofsthe 'eWltnh alitV csiJaan za GL~Ugllt outo Chck --e ia 'J iur~g ced lijfat 2 is peT event ,hoose as iy evns as ;ketSelts tnied qatt vet p,1 paymts ticke8t ickup~ Student Saturday, Januaryj 10 Half-' lO P.M.tol1P.. price Burton memnorial Tower Sate! Open 7pm - 2am 7 days -19 & up except Thurs., Fri. & Sat. 21 & up Roundtree Plaza next to Wal-Mart - 1-94 to Exit 181 - 434-0800 I 9 The Princeton Review's national average m&m A9 68% of al mrci w w L: LU U -Ar I I I EI