10 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, October 9, 1998
Strange film is
horrifically bad
the title of the series' first episode. Liaisons," this time exploring the By Laura Flyer
This past Monday, George Lucas sexual tricks young adults play on Daily Arts Writer
definitively released the title of the each other. Twisted Sister's Dee Snyder has appar-
film, due to bow May 21, 1999 in a Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, ently switched genres of artistic expres-
stateof-the-art theater near you, on Ryan Phillipe, Reese Witherspoon sion, but is still remaining loyal to his
the film's official Website. and "Dawson's Creek"'s Joshua style. He has transformed hard-core
"Star Wars: The Phantom Jackson, the film's title was official- music-making into hard-core movie-
Menace," as has been widely report- ly changed this week, according to making, in his gruesome horror/suspense
ed, stars Liam Neeson as a Jedi Entertainment Weekly, to "Cruel film "Strangeland."
master, Ewan McGregor as a young Intentions" from the oh-so-different Despite Snyder's horrifying, captivat-
Obi Wan Kenobi, Natalie Portman "Cruel Inventions." ing appearance as a schizophrenic sadist,
as a young queen who happens to be The reason for the change was faulty character development and the
Luke and Leia's mom, youngster not officially given but the film's mere idiocy of the protagonist himself
Jake Lloyd as Anakin Skywalker, director speculated to EW that the drives this move into the depths of
the artist soon to be known as Darth original title may have sounded like patheticism.
Vader and Samuel L. Jackson as an "science fiction with a gynecologi- Criminal investigator Mike Gage
undisclosed character named Mace cal toy" (Kevin Gage) has the weighty burden of
Windu. In other gynecological news, tele- finding his daughter and friend who have
It's still anyone's guess as to what vision it-girl Keri Russell gave birth been missing for two days. Finding the
these characters will be up to in a to a respectable hit show, with the dead friend is the
galaxy far, far away and to what the premiere of "Felicity" besting last easy part. Gage is
title means. Whatever it means, it's January's premiere of "Dawson's . . clueless, and he lit-
certainly causing controversy on the Creek" in the key 18-49 demo- erally has a lot of
Web as sites like Ain't It Cool news graphic, making it the WB's high- trouble putting
are abuzz with rumors that this is est-rated premiere ever, according Sfrangebi together the clues
not the official be-all, end-all title to Variety. of the case. What
The Lucas camp vehemently The WB is claiming a block- is he going to do
denies this, reinforcing in a state- buster with "Felicity"'s Tuesday At showcase with apieceofevi-
ment on the Website that "The night numbers, but back in the real dence such as a
Phantom Menace" is, indeed, the world, the show only received a 4.8 large, metal nose
name you'll be seeing on the mar- rating and 8 share, placing it near ring? When intelli-
quee come May. the 100 mark in the weekly Nielsen genre fails, luck
Those who just can't wait that ratings. . steps in: The tow-
long to feel the Force can check out - Compiledfrom the truck operator who
www.starwars.com for the latest Entertainment Weekly-and Vanity pulls an aban-
news and images from the film. Fair wires by DailyA rts Writer doned car out of a
Also coming to a theater near Bryan Lark. lake (with the dead girl in it) just happens
to be an expert in body-piercing and
sadisticrituals, andknows wherethe local
understand the value of a screen name as
an important clue.
With lots of help from his friends,
Gage finally reaches the home of the
killer, and, to his horror, discovers grue-
somely tortured victims; including
Genevieve.
Naturally, many horror/suspense films
depend upon a certain amount of
grotesqueness to induce fear and, well,
horror. On the other hand, when the grue-
someness is not used sparingly, nor does
it have a purpose (to achieve a particular
effectataparticulartime), it becomes dis-
turbing.
But Gage's idiocy and the overly dis-
turbing scenes are minor flaws compared
to one huge glitch in character develop-
ment. Not only is he the father of the
abducted Genevieve (Linda Cardellini),
but he is in charge of the search for her
torturer. His lack of emotion in this situa-
tion is a bit ludicrous. Secondly, one does
not see any affection between Gage and
his wife, Toni (Elizabeth Pena), so that
suspicion (perhaps unnessarily) arises
that there may be something unhealthy
about their relationship.
The audience doesn't, however, get an
idea of Genevieve because she remains a
completely uninteresting character
throughout the movie. The worst part
about "Strangeland" is that we aren't real-
ly introduced to anyone else who's excit-
ing enough forus to care aboutthem.And
then these poor guys are all tortured, and
we are left with a sort of too-bad-l-didn't-
get-to-know-such-and-such feeling.
At one point, there is a glimpse of
hope for the movie. But just one glimpse.
Captain Howdy (Snyder), having been
found not guilty, is released from a men-
tal hospital after being held there for four
years.
He is apparently a changed man -no
more body piercings covering every inch
of his skin, no more black eyemakeup, no
more wild hair. Potential for a turnaround
in the film could have happened. Key
words: could have.
Unfortunately, like the rest of the
multitude of complete flops in the
horror genre, "Strangeland" fails to
make any entertainment connection
with the viewing audience.
The University of Michigan
School of Music
Friday, October 9
Symphony Band
H. Robert Reynolds, conductor
music by J.S. Bach, Bassett, Copland, Smetana
Hill Auditorium, 8p.m.
Friday, October 9 - Sunday, October 11
Theatre and Drama
Samuel Beckett: Endgame
Philip Kerr, director
Trueblood Theatre, 8 p.m. (Fri. & Sat.); 2 p.m. (Sun.)
Admission $14; for more information phone 734-764-0450
Sunday, October 11
Stearns Collection Virginia Martin Howard Lecture
"Louis Elbel & The Victors: What Really Happened 100 Years
Ago?" by R. Michael Montgomery, Elbel historian
Britton Recital Hall, E.V. Moore Bldg., 2p.m.
Guest Recital and Master Class
William Ludwig, Prof. of Bassoon, Louisiana State University
Britton Recital Hall, E.V. Moore Bldg., 4 p.m.
Octubafest Recital
Mike Russo, student of Fritz Kaenzig, tubist
Britton Recital Hall, E.V. Moore Bldg., 8 p.m.
Monday, October 12
Octubafest Guest Master Class
John Griffiths, professor and tubist with Regina Symphony
Britton Recital Hall, E.V. Moore Bldg., 4:30 p.m.
38th Annual Conference on Organ Music
Carillon recital by Todd Fair, UM Acting Carillonist
Burton Memorial Tower Carillon, 7:30 p.m.
Organ recital by Professor James Kibbie
" music by Tournemire, Gigout, Purvis, Milford, Visser
" Sweet Sixteenths by William Albright in special tribute
Hill Auditorium, 8 p.m.
Tuesday, October 13
38th Annual Conference on Organ Music
Carillon recital by Dennis Curry, Kirk In The Hills Carillonist
Burton Memorial Tower Carillon, 7:30 p.m.
Organ recital by Thomas Trotter from Birmingham, England
" music by Bach, Howells, Parry, Schumann, Liszt, Prokofiev
Hill Auditorium, 8 p.m.
Octubafest Guest Recital
John Griffiths, professor and tubist with Regina Symphony
Britton Recital Hall, E.V. Moore Bldg., 8p.m.
University Chamber Orchestra
Kenneth Kiesler, conductor
" Schubert: Symphony No. 2
" Stravinsky: Dumbarton Oaks Concerto
Rackham Auditorium, 8 p.m.
Thursday, October 15
Octubafest Student Solo Recital
Britton Recital Hall, E.V. Moore Bldg., 8 p.m.
Thursday, October 15 - Sunday, October 18
Musical Theatre
Cole Porter: Anything Goes
Gary Bird, director; Linda Goodrich, choreographer
Mendelssohn Theatre, 8 p.m. (Thurs.- Sat.); 2 p.m. (Sun.)
Admission $18 & $14; for information phone 734-764-0450
Thursday,dOctober 15-Sunday, October 18
Theatre and Drama
Samuel Beckett: Endgame
Philip Kerr, director
Trueblood Theatre, 8 p.m. (Thurs.- Sat.); 2 p.m. (Sun.)
Admission $14; for more information phone 734-764-0450
Friday, October 16
University Chamber Choir
Theodore Morrison, conductor; Julia Olson, assistant conductor
Scott Hanoian, organ; Jack Chan and Rudolph Heinrich, bassoons
Andrew Anderson and David Stearns, contrabass
Ed Sarath, flugelhorn; Ellen Rowe, piano; Eric Roth, drums
" music by J.S. Bach and Brahms
" world premiere of Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva by Ed Sarath
on poems by Rabindranath Tagore
Hill Auditorium, 8 p.m.
Octubafest
UM Euphonium and Tuba Ensemble
E. Todd Fiegel, guest conductor
film music arranged by Dr. E. Todd Fiegel
Britton Recital Hall, E.V. Moore Bldg., 8 p.m.
Events are free and wheelchair accessible unless otherwise
specified. The E.V. Moore Bldg. is located at 1100 Baits
Drive, North Campus. For more information phone
(734) 764-0594 Monday - Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
goth-freaks hang out.
Again, Gage's intellect is nonexistent.
He assumes that he would be able to sin-
gle out the killer in a popular club.
Soon, Gage learns that his daughter,
Genevieve (Linda Cardellini), accepted
an invitation to a party from a guy
through an online teen chat room. Experts
on the case could only discover the screen
name of the killer, and Gage considers
this worthless information.
For some reason, Snyder decides to
make the Gage character not only unin-
telligent, but completely ignorant. The
investigator has no idea whatsoever how
to work a computer, and hence, does not
1999-2000
Residence
.Staff
information Meetings
These meetings are an excellent opportunity to learn
about the residence staff positions and the application
process. Application materials wiii be available:
Coutesy vtFidiy ecords
Takn'the show on the road: The String Cheese Incident
Cheesy act to jam the
Michig an tomorrow
By Chris Kula these shows time and time again is
For the Daily the exhilarating performance that
Don't let the name fool you: SCI delivers. It's a daunting task to
String Cheese Incident is no simple describe the rich sound of the band,
dairy product. but Moseley broke it down to its
Tomorrow night, the Michigan respective elements.
Theater will play host to SCI, "Well, me and Billy (Nershi, gui-
arguably one of the most creative tar) used to play in bluegrass bands.
and exciting live acts to come Kyle (Hollingsworth, keyboards) has
through Ann Arbor in recent months. a big jazz background. Mike (Travis,
Affectionately dubbed "Incidents," drums and percussion) has a lot of
the Boulder, Colorado-based band's experience in Afro-Cuban rhythms,
concerts are night-long excursions and does a lot of hand drumming
into various musical styles including stuff. And Michael Kang (mandolin
- but certainly not limited to - and violin) is classically trained.
bluegrass, Latin jazz and rock. When we started playing together, all
Apparently, there's no elaborative of these different styles just rolled
explanation for the origin of such an together and that combination
eclectic sound. became our sound."
String Cheese bassist Keith The show's setlists are always
Moseley con- changing, new segues are always
said, "We didn't evolving and the jams are constantly
really go out of growing in diversity. "It really is like
our way to try to a new show every night," Moseley
String Cheese create this or said. "A lot of the times we don't
incident follow some even know where it's going, and
Michigan Theater master plan; it that's a big part of the excitement."
Saturday at s p.m. just kind of Fresh off the release of their third
came out that independently produced album,
way." The band "Round the Wheel," Moseley and
actually had SCI say they are excited for the
much simpler future. "Yeah, our new CD has only
beginnings. "We been in the stores for about two
came together weeks and it's already sold more
through our love than 2,000 copies. So we're really
of the outdoors. happy about that."
We were all living in this small ski New improvements to the touring
town in Colorado called Crested production are also cause for enthu-
Butte, basically just being ski bums. siasm. "We've got a brand new PA
We started jamming together just for this tour - really nice quality - so
she fun of it, and when we started we know that the sound is always
playing more and more shows in going to be how we want it, no mat-
these other resort towns, we began to ter where we're playing. Also, we're
think that maybe we could make a touring with a full lighting system
living out of this. So we hit the road this time around, and we have a new
and started souring." lighting director with us too, so the
SCI has yet to slow in its rigorous show's as much a thing to see as i is
touring schedule, playing more than to hear now."
200 dates per year. "The road has On SCI's reputation for stirring
been really good to us," said concerts filled with three to four
Moseley. "Every time we come hours of lively jams, Moseley con-
through a town, there are twice as cluded with a laugh.
many people as the last time we "Our philosophy is that we want
played there." everyone to leave with tired feet and
What draws the people back to a smile on their face," he said.
www.michigandaily.Com
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113 E. Liberty St * 741-2567
Thursday.
October 1, 1998
6:00p.m. - 8:00p.m.
Auditorium 3
Modern Language
Building
Sunday,
October 4, 1998
3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Blue Carpet Lounge
Stockwell
wednesday,
October 7, 1998
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
E Dining Room
Bursley
For more Information,
contact the following office:
Residence Education
University Housing
1500 Student
Activities Bldg.
515 E. Jefferson
(734) 763-1452
(734)763-2313 (fax)
Qualifications
Candidates for all positions must...
...have a2.50 GPAbor
departmental good standing
at the time of application,
have completed 48 undergraduate
credit hours by the end of the
1999 Winter term...
...have completed 4 terms
on a college or university
campus by the end of the
1999 Winter terrr.
...be a registered student at
the University of Michigan
Ann Arbor campus during
the period of employment,
.and be enrolled for at least
6 graduate or8 undergraduate
credit hours per semester
during the time of employment.
All applications are due
October 20th, 1500 SAO,
by 4:00 p.m.
.
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