The Michigan Daily -- Friday, December 11, 1998 - 9

ENTERTAINMENT
NEWS
Kicking off the awards season,
the National Board of Review su -
prisd Hollywood by naming
"Gods and Monstars" aest picture
nd its star, Ian McKellan, best
ctor. Rounding out its top 10 list
was "Saving Private Ryan,"
"Elizabeth" (whose director
Shekhar Kapur took best direc-
tor), "Happiness" (which also won
best cast), "Shakespeare in Love"
"The Butcher Boy,""Lolita'"The
Thin Red Line,' "A Simple Plan"
and "Dancing at Lughnasa."
Christina Ricci and Ed Harris won
Best Supporting Actress and
ctor, respectively, for their bodies
f work. Fernando Montenegro
won Best Actress for the Brazilian
film "Central Station;' which also
won best foreign film.
In the best news to hit the Bond
franchise since Timothy Dalton
was fired, "Wild Things" nymphet
Denise Richards has been cast as
the next Bond girl in the as-yet-
untitled 19th James Bond adven-
ire.
According to Variety, Richards,
also known for her wholesomely
sexy turn in Paul Verhoeven's
Nazi-big bug-T&A feat "Starship
Troopers' will play a nuclear sci-
entist who, um, assists Pierce
Brosnan's Bond in whatever it is
he happens to be doing in the film.
In the tradition of great, improb-
able Bond girl names like Pussy
Galore and Honey Rider,
ichards' will heretofore come to
beknown as Dr. Christmas Jones
- she didn't spend four years in
sexed--up, pouty-lipped medical
school for nothing.
In other casting news, M.I.A.
"Clueless" beauty -Alicia
Silverstone will star in a '30s
musical-style retelling of
Shakespeare's "ove's Labour
ast,"'to be written and directed by
he the suddenly mainstream
Kenneth Branagh, as reported by
Mr. Showbiz.
Branagh, who will be the villain
in next summer's Will Smith
blockbuster "Wild, Wild West,"
will also star in the film, along
with Nathan Lane, "Scream"'s
killer Matthew Lillard, and
"Primary Colors" protagonist
Adrian Lester.
Also set to write, direct, and star
in a film is Edward Norton, who
will be featured opposite Ben
Stiller in Norton's directorial
debut, "Keeping the Faith," as fea-
tured on Mr Showbiz online.
The comedy follows two child-
hood friends, one a celibate priest
(Norton) and the other a Rabbi
(Stiller) both finding their reli-
gious lives compromised by their
ntual lust for a gentile babe, a
role that is presently uncast.
The much sought-after female
lead in the adaptation of Bret
Easton Ellis' "American Psycho;'
on the other hand, has gone to
"Last Days of Disco" ingenue
Chloe Sevigny, according to
Entertainment Weekly Online.
Once budgeted at $40 million
and slated to star the ubiquitous
Leo, the Mary Harron film now
eatures Christian Bale, last seen
in "Velvet Goldmine, as the ulti-
mate yuppie scum and will cost

about $10 million. Shooting is
scheduled to begin in the spring.
Another daring film on the way
is the Coen Brothers' "To The
White Sea," according to Ain't It
Cool News. Taken from the James
Dicky novel about a tailgunner on
a B-29 who gets downed over
apan, the filn is going to be dia-
logue free.
As the Coen Brothers create
nostalgia for the days of silent
films, Bruce Springsteen created
nostalgia for the '80s by announc-
ingTuesday that he was getting the
E Street Band back together. Even
though the band has not played
together since the '88-89 Amnesty
International "Human Rights
ow" concerts. It just makes you
eel good to be born in the U.S.A.,
doesn't it?
- Compiled lby Bryan Lark and
EdSholmnsl' fivm Enterrainment
Weekly and Mn Showbiz.
Daily Arts
will return
Jan. 6, provid-
ing you with
quality cover-
age of the
local artistic
scene. Enjoy
yourselves
over the
semester
break, but
remember to
be safe.

Animania vampires don't bite

By Adn Rosh
Daily Arts Writer
If there is one thing you can rely
on in Japanese animation films, its
that the plots are usually pretty
bizarre. Like an
episode of "The
Simpsons," the
plot may easily
Vampire dupe you into
WarS one direction
but completely
flip you over by
Now on video the end.
Illustrating this
point comes the
action/thriller
from Manga
films, "Vampire
Wars."
This delec-
tably bloody offering offers an off-
beat mix of characters for its

premise. The cast includes a French
secret service agent and an interna-
tional terrorist spy who also hap-
pens to be a master criminal. Then
comes the A-film superstar who
seems to be the center of a whole lot
of bizarre things and, of course, a
very famished crowd of vampires.
Imagine "The X-Files" crossing
over with "Buffy The Vampire
Slayer" and Lorenzo Lamas'
"Renegade" and you will begin to
see what "Vampire Wars" is all
about.
This tale of espionage, fame and
blood suckers starts out with a
NASA base in Arizona getting a ter-
rorist-style reception.
Then, not too long after, the
corpse of a CIA agent is found
floating in a river in Paris. With all
sorts of strange violent acts going
on in the world right now, these two

incidents could not possibly be
related, right? Well, our French
secret service guy, Monsieur Lassar,
in this story isn't so naive as he
believes that there is a connection.
In order to go about his task of solv-
ing this little mystery, Lassar hires
help in the form of the (take a deep
breath before attempting to say this
out loud) international terrorist spy
and master criminal, Kousaburo
Kuki.
Without giving away too much at
this point, lets just say that things
don't appear as they seemed and a
lot of blood, some brief nudity and
as well as some potty-mouthed lan-
guage then transpires in "Vampire
Wars."
Despite this intense-sounding
premise, the story sadly depends on
two-dimensional and stereotypical
characters. The macho he-man and

the subversive girl are all here. The
most interesting thing about this lit-
tle piece of work are the villains.
Well, there really is not too much to
say about Vampires, they just have
an irresistible charm in their men-
ace. No matter how they are depict-
ed, be it the sensitive "Interview
With The Vampire" type or the
crude and unpolished Quentin
Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez variety
from "From Dusk 'Till Dawn," you
can't help but adore these one track
minded blood junkies. Ah, but even
these adorable abominations cannot
help this rather weak tale from blos-
soming into an epic.
"Vampire Wars" is by no means
mandatory viewing for anime or
horror fans, but it does provide a
decent fix for those transfixed with
vampires and in need of a quick
bite.

Addition to'The List'
Local band The
Element was omitted ;
from yesterday's
Weekend, etc. listing.
The group will appear
tomorrow night at
Mitch's Place at 10
p.m.
I We hope nosleep S
I was lost over the error.
I- the Arts eds.
t 36 "'e