The University's Visiting Writer's Series hosts Robert Boswell.
Although he's not from Roswell, Boswell will fully disclose some
of his fiction, a collection of books that includes "American
Owned Love." Rackham Amphitheater. Thursday at 5 p.m. Free.
Tuesday
February 16, 1999
AJRTStigau&ug
Tomorrow in Daily Arts:
U Daily Arts returns with a review of tomorrow night's
"Dawson's Creek," the second episode of the Enlightening.
*I
'Message' best if thrown to sharks
By Bryan Lak
Daily Arts Writer
The titular bottle of "Message in a Bottle" is a beauti-
ful aqua glass number, stuffed with a small but powerful-
ly gushy letter that breaks the hearts of all the romantics
who hear its heartfelt words.
"Message in a Bottle" itself is much like that bottle: It's
gorgeously crafted, largely empty and completely trans-
parent but is sure to make the less-discerning romantic fall
Courtesy o frPrmount
Nicolas Cage briefs Gary Sinise In "Snake Eyes."
Cage rolls worst
for 'SnakeEys
Message
in a Bottle
At Briarwood
and Showcase
head over heels.
Directed by Luis Mandoki,
who created the equally sappy
"When A Man Loves a Woman,"
this "Bottle" unfurls like a two-
and-a-quarter hour postcard from
the idyllic North Carolina coast
with some extra remnants of a
plot thrown in for extra oomph.
For lack of a better term,
"Bottle" is oomphless - it would
have been better off as a wordless
postcard.
In between the impossibly
sumptuous vistas of schooners
and campfires and sunsets and
author in record time and finds a lonely, single man in
tight pants who happens to look like Costner and who has
a cool dad who happens to look like Newman, urging him
to get over his dead wife and pursue this spunky big city
girl.
With a character that can be broken down to "spunky
big city girl; the talented Penn, who rarely works in big
Hollywood films, seems to be settling for Meg Ryan 's
leftovers here and she does well with what she's given to
do, which is reading letters and looking radiant.
Newman also makes Dodge his own, in spite of the
one-dimensionality that plagues the production. Newman
injects more vitality and depth into the frame with one
quick glance than can be retrieved from all the longing
close-ups of the shallow pools of Costner's eyes.
Costner isn't all bad, though. He appears to be in shape
and finds the spark in his character when sharing the
screen with Newman but, sadly, has no chemistry with hi-
leading lady and makes the formerly glamorous sport of
sailing look about as appealing as postapocalyptic mail
delivery.
But "The Postman" this "Message" is not - it's mild-
ly entertaining in a slick, formulaic kind of way but damns
itself when it adheres too closely to melodramatic con-
ventions, meaning, of course, that someone important has
to die.
Neither the dead nor the living of "Message in a Bottle"
are the focus of the soft-focus two hours.
No, that honor belongs, again, to the amazing cine-
matography, courtesy of Caleb Deschanel. 5
But even the most beautiful of shots of schooners and
Kevin Costner's ass cannot make the hap-hazardly bottled
"Message" worth fishing out of the proverbial ocean of
mid-winter Hollywood sludge.
By Matthew Barrett
and Kristin Long
Daily Arts Writers
Big money, big money ...
"Snake Eyes!" Practicing the
policy of quantity over quality,
Nicolas Cage stars in this lame
thriller about a murder at a box-
ing match. This movie is about
as painful as
3 a
Muhammad
Ali knock-
New On out punch or
Video This a Mike
Week Tyson ear
nip.
Minnie
Driver hunts, for good will in
the period piece "The
Governess." Since lighting up
the sky in "Good Will Hunting,"
Driver has pouted, complained,
been nominated for an Oscar,
attended a few premieres and
starred in this movie that did
little to make us forget her per-
formance in "Hard Rain."
Sandra Bullock and Nicole
Kidman deal from the bottom
of the deck as two bewitching
sisters struggling to find some
hot lovin' in "Practical Magic."
Ever since slamming onto the
screen in "Speed," Bullock has
done her best to convince the
American movie going public
that she cannot act, and this is
another fine example. Rumor
has it sleight-of-hand maestro
Ricky Jay makes a cameo as a
bottom-deck dealing warlock.
While this cannot be confirmed,
even the possibility of Jay
appearing with his trusty deck
of cards should be enough to
convince people to rent this
love story for Valentine's, a few
days removed.
Sports fans disgusted by the
NBA lockout, the halo on
Michigan Stadium (take it
down), the New York Yankees,
and the idea of a new Tiger
Stadium should sprint to video
stores today for "Without
Limits," the story of distance
runner Steve Prefontaine.
Starring Billy Crudup as the
title character and Donald
Sutherland as his coach, the
film follows Pre in his quest to
be the best. This heart pumping
story should make you strive
for greatness in both life and
the all important mad dash to
the video counter. Happy jog-
ging.
lighthouses and the gracefully breaking Atlantic, the film
tells a tedious tale already familiar to many as Nicholas
Sparks' bestseller and familiar to all others as something
they've surely seen before.
"Message" hands the audience the stock romance-film
characters of harried single mom Theresa (Robin Wright
Penn), the sensitive, wordless widower Garret Blake
(Kevin Costner) and Garret's wise, wisecracking, recover-
ing-alcoholic dad Dodge (Paul Newman).
Courtesy of Warner Brothers
Robin Wright Penn snuggles up to Kevin Costner.
What the film chooses to do with these characters is
similarly predictable.
Jogging on a Cape Cod beach during some much need-
ed R&R from The Chicago Tribune, researcher Theresa
finds said message in said bottle, is touched by its mus-
ings and mixed metaphors about love, death, home and
"true north" and trudges the letter back to the Tribune,
where it becomes a sensation with her coworkers and the
entire city.
And because she's in "research" and because this is a
Kevin Costner movie, she tracks down the message's
Black Sabbath wins over hearts4
By Adlin Rol
Daily ArtsWriter
Black Sabbath. The mere mention of
that name brings awe and respect to
Black
Sabbath
Palace of
Auburn Hilils
Feb. 14, 1999
musicians every-
where. The group
has had numerous
line-ups courtesy
of guitar player
Tony lommi, who
has kept the band
going. The line-up
that has had the
most influence
and has striked
immense awe in
the mnusic world,
however, was the
original: Ozzy
Osbourne's vocals,
'60s amid the hey day of flower power
and such to sing about dark sorcery, sci-
fi horror imagery and all that was anti-
hippie.
The Metal world was born and, up to
now, children of this world still continue
to invade our own. Metallica, Korn,
Marilyn Manson, Slayer and countless
other bands have all been touched by the
influence of these "Metal Gods."
On this past Valentines day, the origi-
nal legendary line-up graced The Palace
with their immense presence. Having the
honor of opening for Black Sabbath were
the Deftones and Pantera, two bands who
are quickly ascending into legendary sta-
tus today. A triple bill of such degree is
nothing short of a heavy music fan's
greatest dream coming to life!
Unfortunately, Deftones were not able
to play, as their equipment had been
stolen earlier on in the day.
The show must go on, or so they say,
so Pantera, with a huge skull and axes
banner erected behind them, ended up
onstage a full half hour earlier than.
scheduled, and ripped into "Domination."
All four of the long-haired members of
the group looked as though they had just
got done with a night's worth of drinking
and partying. Pantera looked rough and
its performance was brutal. The group's
set list completely ignored any material
from its "Great Southern Trendkill"
release and was made up of material
from its previous three albums. Singer
Philip Anselmo thanked the crowd gra-
ciously for showing up and talked about
how much of an honor it was to open for
Black Sabbath.
Not too long after, the lights in the
Palace went out again and the crowd
erupted into a loud roar. The stage set
resembled a neo-gothic prayer altar with
a big screen on the back framed in an
elaborately decorated border. Black
Geezer Butler on Bass, Bill Ward on
drums and Tony lommi on guitar. The
group came into prominence in the late
on V-Day
Sabbath elevated on-stage amid a smoke
covered stage floor through trap doors'
and then went into "War Pigs."
The show was a plethora of sights and
sounds treating the senses. Although the
band members were all showing the
obvious signs of aging, the music still
sounded vital and invigorating. The
sights and sound came into its best incar-
nation when the group played "Black
Sabbath" (the song of their namesake)
where the towering staffs became flam-
ing torches and red-tinted lights covere*
everything.
Ozzy and bass player Geezer Butler
were the two most animate members on-
stage. Ozzy was consistently jumping
around and riling the crowd, "Come on, I
know this town, I know you can get cra-
zier than that! Do whatever you want, I
want to see you all going crazy now!"
Geezer was just constantly thrashing
where he stood and flailing his hair.
Drummer Bill Ward and guitarist Ton
Iommi were a little more reserved and
chose instead to concentrate on just play-
ing their parts.
All the Sabbath classics were per-
formed. "Sweet Leaf," "Children of The
Grave" and "Electric Funeral" were all
present and accounted for. Finally, the
band performed an encore with
"Paranoid" and ended its set. Ozzy ended
the set by telling the audience, "We want
you all to get home safely so we can
come back and kick your asses again!"
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