.. I "Midnight Cowboy" screens tonight at the Michigan Theater. =eaturing the talented duo of Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman and he ever-classic line "I'm walkin' here!," this film gem explores nale prostitution in the big city and the search for identity. 7 p.m. $5.50 for students. urie Sdigan attu Tomorrow in Daily Arts: U One of the many a cappella groups on campus, Gimble is preparing for its spring concert. Come back to Daily Arts for a preview. Tuesday April 6, 1999 5 ranan 'Children' makes for perfect cinema By Erin Podoisky )aily Arts Writer "Children of Heaven," an Oscar-nomi- iated Iranian film that was unfortunately ost in the midst of the Benigni lovefest, >pens with a shot that seems like it will ie r end. We see a man's old, cracked ar fixing a little girl's pair of red shoes. He uses a long needle and an awl in his attempt to tame them. Children The shoes are as cracked and faded as of Heaven the old man's hands. **** They fight with each At the Michigan other, the hands and the Theater, Thursday shoes and the cobbler's at 7 p.m. tools. The old man wins, holds dominion over the unruly red shoes. He puts them in a bag and hands them to a lit- tle boy, Ali (Mir arrokh Hashemian), who has brought hem for repair. But the shoes have lanned their revenge; they are inadver- ently stolen right out from under Ali's ose by a blind man collecting plastic aO who is blissfully unaware of commit- ng the robbery. It's so rare to find an inciting incident so simple, so pure, and so moving when we finally meet Ali's little sister, Zahra (Bahare Seddiqi), to whom the shoes belong. The relationship that is painted and, indeed, evolves between the siblings forms the core of "Children of Heaven." Who knew that a pair of shoes could mean so much? Or that they could propel a movie into the sublime? Ali, 9-years-old and wise beyond his years in the poverty of Tehran, is devastat- ed by the loss of the shoes and convinces Zahra not to tell their parents, assuring her that somehow, in the mess of the inner city, he will find them. They are poor; they don't have enough money for new shoes. But Zahra cannot go to school without the shoes, so Ali offers her his sneakers. They spend their days trading off the lone pair of shoes, doing what essentially amounts to a tag relay of footwear as Zahra runs home from school and Ali races to school. The red shoes reappear at a key point in the film, surprisingly, as if to taunt Zahra - although by this time, she has come to love the feel of her brother's too-large sneakers. There isn't a single bad thing about "Children of Heaven," no wrong camera moves or acting choices or plot quibbles. It is pure, affecting cinema, a "Bicycle Thief" for the closing moments of this century. At times, it is even brilliant: a wonderfully conceived scene in which Ali and Zahra argue about the shoes by writ- ing notes back. and forth in their school- books as their parents argue aloud about their mother's bad back will take your breath away. There is a "Rocky"-like scene at the end where Ali tries harder than any- body we've ever seen to get Zahra a new pair of shoes, made all the more poignant by something his father is doing at the same time - and made perfect by direc- tor/writer Majid Majidi's decision not to end on the smarmy note that he could have if he had been blinded by cliche and story- book endings. The performances by the children are among the best you'll see this year - adults included. They're at once perfectly logical and irrational and impossibly prac- tical as only kids can be, and Majidi gets tears and teeth without a moment of implausibility. The adults in the film are excellent as well, especially in their inter- action with the children. "Children of Heaven" is subtitled and, probably, ostensibly a children's film, but don't let that deter you from seeing this cinematic gem. It is as much for adults as Courtesy of Miramax Bahare Seddiqi portrays one of Majid Majidi's endearing characters in "Children of Heaven." it is for kids. The dialogue is, like every- thing else, deceptively simple; there is poetry there. There is poetry in the images as well. That's what this film is (and all film should be): a poem, simple, quick and unparalleled in its lyric beauty. 'Hoops' dunks in to celebrate Madness Fox Sports College Hoops '99 COMPANY Nintendo 64 *r "Fox Sports College Hoops '99" has beaten the buzzer after numer- ous delays and now stands to soak up some March Madness hype. However, the game, originally titled "Z-Axis Basketball," can be summed up by one word- brick. The idea of assuming the identi- ty of Elton Brand of the Duke Blue Devils or Louis Bullock of the Michigan Wolverines brings a cer- tain novelty, but don't get too excit- ed yet. Although Fox Sports man- aged to fit almost all of your favorite teams, the names of the players can- not be used because the NCAA doesn't license their athletes. Thus, Bullock becomes Jones, Robby Reid is now Preston. All your favorites form into what's-his-face no-names. Not only does this severe- res ly decrease the fun of playing as your favorite team, it requires figur- ing out and memorizing each players strengths and weaknesses. If you can forgo this mess of a name game you are rewarded with a crappy basketball game. The game- play pales in comparison with EA Sport's "NBA Live '99" and there is little that can be said for the mechanics. "College Hoops '99" moves so slowly that it feels like its being played underwater. Apparently, the designers decided the best way to limit going to the hoop every time was to call charging each time two players touch each other. Another quirk, which apparently tried to compensate for the busy ref whistles, isw that every player can, at any moment, 0 assume the identity of M i c h a e l Jordan andl dunk from beyond the free-throw line 't or do an underhand lay-up over three or four defense men. Another hassle is that going out of bounds is way too easyunless the game is set on freshman (easy) mode which allows you to run out of bounds and come in for a lay-up at will. The inclusion of on-demand trash talk helps mock and humiliate your opponent after a particularly nasty dunk. But since the sound in this game also stinks to high hell, most of the time your player garbles out some unidentifiable taunt. Wfien you can make out the talk, you real- ize that* in fact, the taunts are really pretty lame with highlights such as, "One more year!", "All-American!" and "Jurassic!" The use of one button push instant replay speeds up the game while allowing the best plays to get played back in cinematic camera style. The only drawback is that some the FME IA camera angles make. the replay use- less because it lags behind the action. The graph- ics fair a little better but not a whole lot. The play- ers look blocky and generic. Nothing distinguishes one from another and even the tall guys blend into the crowd. Speaking of which, all the arenas are exactly the same and even Crisler has fans which jump up and down after every basket... go figure. Controlling players and the gameplay is too simple for its own good. The gameplay gets repetitive too quickly. Run down court, juke and dunk. Try to mix up the formula and you will discover that making a basket occurs on a random basis, whether or not you are guarded. Therefore setting up a play does lit- tle good and the computer controlled players don't make much of an effdrt to block shots anyway. Sometimes even the worst game can salvage some redemption from multiplayer options that increase the excitement by pitting friend against friend. But "College Hoops '99" manages to screw this one up also. Along with the absence of four play- er action, the game doesn't allow two players on the same team. Therefore, the only option is to play against a friend and then let the dunking and charging begin. Whoever dunks more and charges less wins. Yee-haw! If you crave fun in your basket- ball games, break out "Double Dribble" for Nintendo or "NBA Live '99" for Nintendo 64. If col- lege hoops is an absolute necessity, go rent "College Hoops '99" and take Michigan to the finals. Reliving the glory of the championship sea- son has never been this little fun before. - William Nash Courtesy of Touchstone Pictur limberly Elise and Thandle Newton portray sisters in "Beloved." Black'eloved,' [uarch into video store. y Matthew Barrett knd Aaron Rich )aily Arts Writers Disappointed by the shortened 4BA season? Then play some b- all yourself, or watch some in American History X." The film's ighlight is a reverse slam by rd Norton on a hoop that tands no more than eight feet high. 3oth Jesus and Jake Shuttlesworth re ashamed. ddie if you an't get up for ten foot hoop, on't get up all New On )espite the low Video This oop, Norton Week ,alks high in he sky in the :a4role as an x-racist Nazi skinhead. Also look or Beverly D'Angelo, better nown as Ellen Griswold from the meless "Vacation" movies. Blessed with a long title "A oldier's Daughter Never Cries," is he weepy eyed, semi-autobio- raphical tale of the daughter of uthor James Jones. This Merchant- vq collaboration is true in nature . predecessors long and low. Tears will flow, and not just because it took Malick 20years to direct his adaptation of Jones' "The Thin Red Line," although that's sad too. Think about it sophomores, this auteur has only directed one movie in your lifetime. And Michael Bay has directed three. Sad. Boasting Brad Pitt and a mighty running time "Meet Joe Black" finds its way to video stores today. Pitt plays the grim reaper who comes to befriend Anthony Hopkins and pound some peanut butter. The movie is long and this preview is short. Early this fall, "Beloved" was considered a major Oscar con- tender. Well, the statues have been passed out and Oprah and crew went home empty handed. But all is not lost for the powerful talker, the movie did score a nomination for Best Costumes. This adaptation of the Toni Morrison novel shows that Oprah can do more than host a tele- vision program. Despite the presence of screen- power Brandy and striking talent Mekhi Phifer, "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" will bore you to tears. Even if you're a sol- dier's daughter. FIFA's soccer gives players a good kick FIFA '99 EA SPORTS PlavStation Fans disappointed by the pathetic showing of the United States in the past World Cup can take their feelings out on the rest of the world in "FIFA 99," a fast-paced soccer game from EA SPORTS. "FIFA 99" has everything that a player could want in a soccer video game - 240 teams, including the all-important national squads, 12 leagues, play-by-play announcing, a variety of stadiums and a playing setup that is very easy to learn. Gainers can choose from a variety of angles to determine how the contest is viewed, including a very cool tower cam. Other factors left to choice include the time of the game, location and the all-important weather (rain and sleet are both nice choices). The players in the game are realis- tic looking and for the most part, include the actual players who would be on the teams. The appearance of the players is another strong point, rather than going for the "life-like" three- dimensional blobs seen in some video games, the makers chose a simple design. Controlling your soldiers is pretty simple, as things like passing and lobs, which have the potential to be diffi- cult, can be picked up after a few min- utes of playing the game. In fact the only difficult thing is the corner kicks which end up being little more than a shot in the dark. One down point of the game is the referees. In an apparent effort to keep things clean on the playing field, most of the referees have a very low toler- ance for dirty play and are more than willing to issue multiple yellow and red cards to a team in a single game. Which brings us to the best aspect of "FIFA 99" - slide tackles. Simply put, they are the best thing about this game and the great equalizer in the classic tussles with your opponent. While your adversary may be more tal- ented, if you are a slide tackling demon, you can keep any game respectable. One curious thing about the game is the teams in its U. S. league. With the popularity of Major League Soccer, it would seem natural to include the teams from that league. But this isn't the case, and teams from such non-soccer cities as Montreal, Vancouver and even Detroit are included. But in the big picture this is irrele- vant, because the prime-time games take place on the international level. "FIFA 99" has so many possibilities that a player would be hard pressed to ever experience all of the game's fea- tures. Like a well-placed penalty shot, "FIFA 99" scores. - Matthew Barrett The Office ofNew Student Programs is now recruiting Fall and International Orientation Leaders Leader duties will include running check-in and registration, facilitating an informational meeting, leading a walking tour, participating in social activities, and assisting in class registration. Pav- 65/dav. ..