Phoebe Eng reads at Borders tonight. Eng, a social activist and the founder of A. Magazine, reads from "Warrior Lessons," her first book. 7 p.m. mXAWbymFlltft RTS tomorrow In Daily Arts: ® Breaking Records returns with a review of No Limit's latest release, "C- Murder." Monday March 15, 1999 A qw 'Lock' fies into theaters By Matthew Barrett Daily Arts Writer Cocked, locked and ready to rock- the British import "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" fires its way into theaters today. This comedy about a few friends who resort to rob- ry to pay off a gambling debt fea- ures some inspired sequences but ends up falling short as a story. The film pans the underbelly of London's East End and includes a cast of ragtag characters all looking for an easy way to make a buck. Looking to strike it rich, Lock, Stock and Eddie (Nick Moran) and three TWO Smoking his friends Barrels engage in a big- *1 money card At State game with Hatchet Harry (P.H. Moriarty). i The stakes are raised and Harry ends up lending Eddie some seri- ous money for heir last hand. Not surprisingly, ings don't come up aces for Eddie and, by the end of the night, he owes the crime boss 500,000 pounds. The incentive to pay him back promptly is high - Harry plans to remove a fin- ger from each of them for every day that, the. payment is late. Wanting to hang on to all of their digits, the friends hatch a scheme to get the fin- ger-saving funds. As the plan goes into action many the loose ends and characters from t e wide scope of the first part of the film begin to relate to each other, mainly because they're all after the money. To say that the friends are ini- tially successful in acquiring the needed funds gives little away, the real issue is whether they'll have the 'Carrie 2' fails to muster fire By Aaron Rich Weekend, etc. Editor The first and most important lesson to learn about "The Rage: Carrie 2" is that it did not have to be made at all. It is, for all intensive purposes, cinema sans soul. It is a film that goes through the actions of movie making - especially the actions of a slasher flick - but has nothing underneath to back up it's superficial scenarios. Most actions are unex- plained except that they need to exist to fit the mold of Brian De Palma's 1976 original "Carrie." Now, of course, blood-and-guts-laden horror movies rarely have depth, so how does this previous point have any rele- vance? Well, the answer lies in the fact that like its half-sister predecessor, "The Rage" is not simply a slasher flick - it is a serious and dramatic story of faith and fitting in that holds most of the blood and shock for the climactic final two scenes. But that is exactly what "Carrie" is as well. "The Rage" tackles the exact structure of "Carrie" nearly scene for scene, yet adds nothing substantive to the original story. Twenty years after Carrie White's prom night exercises, Bates High School is still full of manipulative and deceitful teens who like to pick on loner girls - this time it's Rachel Lang (Emily Bergl), an equally telekinetic femme-fatale who happens to be Carrie's half-sister, through their father. Courtesy of Gramercy Pictures Vinnie Jones takes charge in "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels." dough and stay alive long enough to make the payment. And no one seems capable of hanging onto this gym bag packed with pounds for more than a few minutes. Writer-director Guy Ritchie gives a very scattershot effort in his direct- ing debut - one moment he's dead on and the next he doesn't even hit the target. Ritchie's triumph in the film is two virtuoso sequences, one during a game of cards and the other at a celebration, where he uses slow motion, oblique camera angles and jilted editing to capture the mood of the moment. At different times, how- ever, Ritchie seems a little too in love with these techniques and his use of them bogs the action down considerably. Along with the occasional errors in editing, "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" is really hampered by its screenplay. At several points throughout the story, various attempts at the over-the-top humor are made with little success, and they detract from the film as a whole. Towards the end of the picture, there are a few shoot-out scenes which, due to the circumstances that lead up to them, end up being fairly predictable. There's also a subplot involving a thief and his son which never seems very interesting and is the basis for a forced scene at the film's end. Also, for a movie like this to work, we need to embrace the losers and this doesn't happen due to a lack of character development. The characters seem like entertaining goofballs that it would be fun to kill an afternoon with, but beyond that there is little reason to connect with them. Throughout "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels," Ritchie teases the audience - mixing moments of bril- liance with minutes of mediocrity. The two aforementioned sequences show that he is a talented filmmaker, but the movie itself shows that his writing needs work and that he must learn to pick his spots for over-the-top directing. Ritchie has loaded the gun, and hopefully on his next project, he'll pull the trigger. The Rag At Showc and Briarw . A small clique of jocks has a mis- sion to have sex with or rape all the women at the school, when Rachel and Jesse (Jason London), one of the @: posse, fall in love. Jesse's fiends can't 2 stand the fact that he is dating such a r* misfit and they craft a plan to make ase her pay for the affair. Surprisingly, ood the plan goes awry. For awhile, the film appears just fine. A nicely crafted pre-sex interchange shows some unexpected good acting from both Bergl and London. A few clever devices appear that allude to the first film: Carrie doused in pig's blood in the first becomes Rachel wearing her dog's blood in the second; an English class discussion of a jock's poetry becomes an English class discussion of Shakespeare; an unapproved-of trip to the senior prom becomes an forbidden visit to the homecoming football game. But we should not be misled by this writing and start think- ing that "The Rage" is well done. For it is deeply flawed and fatally misled. It is as if director Katt Shea ("Poison Ivy") and screenwriter Rafael Moreu ("Hackers") misunderstood "Carrie" and crafted the sequel to go along with her miscon- ceptions. The greatest example of this is the inclusion of the charac- ter Sue Snell (Amy Irving) who was one of the only survivors of the prom night fire from the first film. Sue is the guidance counselor of the contemporary Bates High who is still haunt- ed by the images of Carrie that have been burned on her brain. Shea goes to great lengths to get us inside Sue's head by cutting footage from the first film into sequences in "The Rage." We see the infamous menstruation shower scene and bits from the prom - although Shea forgets that the prom is seen from Carrie's point of view, not Sue's. F ?.,- MRCourtesy of United Artists Emily Bergl redefines telekinesis In "The Rage: Carrie 2." All this intercutting does, though, is remind us of the beau- tiful and saturated yellow and red palate of De Palma's effort - colors that are entirely non-existent in Shea's bland work, disregarding the movie's poster. Sue's character has not changed much since we last saw her in bed the morning after the fateful dance. She still sees Carrie as a monster who should be blamed for the deaths of her classmates. She still makes efforts to reform the socially- challenged, with a holier-than-thou, self-righteous tone to her actions. This is all fine, except it appears as if Shea and Moreu do not understand that Sue is dead wrong. Carrie White cannot be blamed for her actions. Her high school colleagues got what they deserved - in De Palma's world at least. Yet Sue explains to Rachel that she must "get help" for herself and tame her telekinesis -- as if the power itself is corruptive. Sue explains that she once tried to help a girl in need, but her efforts "backfired." And Shea lets these untruths fly unchecked - furthering the falsehood that Carrie, or Rachel for that matter, is a horrific monster whom we should fear. Taken by itself, "The Rage," could work as a touching story of a outsider who wants to be inside. But Shea does not let us take this by itself. Nearly every scene alludes to or reflects either the story or some technical aspect of "Carrie." The moment we want to look at Rachel Lang as an individual, she is once again inextricably bound to Carrie White. "The Rage: Carrie 2" is rather a paradox of film making. It cannot be fully appreciated without having seen De Palma's "Carrie," yet it cannot be entirely enjoyed in relation to the depth and mastery of that first installment. 'Payne' reproduces Brit humr By Jonah Victor Daily Arts Writer With the mass of mediocrity that currently pervades prime time televi- sion, the producers at CBS decided to S , Payne CBs Tonight at 9:30 look to history for new direc- tion. The new show "Payne," starring four- time Emmy win- ner John Larroquette of "Night Court," is a remake of the acclaimed British sitcom "Fawlty Towers." "Fawlty Towers" was a slapstick comedy set in a by John Cleese of Larroquette plays Royal Payne, the hotel's greedy and tactless owner. JoBeth Williams ("Poltergeist") plays his co-conspiring wife, Constance. Together they hold a continuous bat- tle of wits between themselves and their guests. Comedian Rick Batalla gives a fantastic performance as the immi- grant bellboy, Mohammed. Mohammed, or "Mo," is often at the mercy of Payne and Constance's lunacy. "Payne" also includes a delightful collection of minor characters includ- ing a disgruntled Chinese delivery man and a couple of stoned old ladies who receive their shipments of mari- juana in the hotel lobby. The first episode provides a some- what rough start to the series. To make up for forgetting his anniver- sary, Payne gives Constance a valu- able pin left behind by a guest. He then panics when the guest returns looking for it. The second episode, airing Wednesday, improves over the first when Payne buys an intercom system which he and his wife use to eaves- drop on their guests in their rooms. In this way, they try to meet the needs of the guests before they are called for, and humorous results are inevitable. "Payne" gives obvious recognition of its Monty Python roots with its fast, nonstop sarcasm and slapstick. Most of the jokes are frivolous and fall flat, but those that hit the mark give quite a few laughs. Larroquette seems more suited to play a more real life comic character, than the zaniness that is Royal Payne. Batalla is the one actor that is con- stantly successful, making him a must see. "Payne" is a mere shadow of the incomparable "Fawlty Towers," and yet its quality exceeds much of what viewers are subjected to on television today. If you need a few laughs, this is not a bad place to turn. "My secret spot is the Park & Ride lot!" hotel and created Monty Python fame. "Payne" draws upon "Fawlty Towers" both in situa- tion and spirit. Set in an upscale country hotel, Write for Daily Arts. Call 763-0379 for more information. (Hong KongStylu) C8feteri 510 E. Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 delivery with this ad! Mon. - Sat. 11a.m. - 2p.m., 5p.m. - 9:30p.m. Sunday 11a.m. - 2p.m., 5p.m. -8:30p.m. Offer expIres April 20, 1999 BUSINESS HOURS Mon. - Sat. 11a.m. - 10p.m. Sunday 12 Noon - 9p.m. Tel: 747-6662 Fax: 747-6620 r THE PRINCETON REVIEW LS Park it here. .