Seeing double l heck out Neshe Sarkozy's review of Saturday's Czech Philharmonic concert at Hill Auditorium and Jee Chang's review of Friday's Moscow Virtuosi at Rackham. Both are availiable online. michigandaily.com /arts ARTS MONDAY APRIL 3, 2000 A Pacey's performance saves unintriguing secret 'Skulls' By Erin Podolsky Daily Arts Writer Always quick to capitalize on news and human interest stories, Hollywood rushed "McNamara's Choice: The Michigamua Story" into production last month and this week releases it in theaters. Focusing on one man's induction - and subsequent attempt The Skulls Grade: C+ At Briarwood, Quality 16 & Showcase to expose and escape from - a secret society on a college campus, the film stars many past and present University stu- dents. Just kidding. "The Skulls," Joshua Jackson's first bona fide star turn since coming to fame first as a Mighty Duck and now as the heart and soul of TV teen soaper "Dawson's Creek," on the surface shares quite "The Skulls" counts murder and blackmail among its other desultory semi-delights.) Jackson's Luke McNamara, underprivi- leged-boy-makes-good extraordinaire, is sort of the Michael Corleone of the Skulls, a secret society at Yale. Just when he thought he was out, they pull him back in. Poor kid. Luke's roommate Will Beckford (Hill Harper), the only black kid on campus and therefore required to criticize everything around him as being against him, dumps his friend in rage after he's selected to the Skulls. "If it's secret and elite, it can't be good," Will spits. Luke isn't so sure; after all, the day after his initiation he discovers that his bank account mysteriously gained $20,000 overnight; when he gets a chickmo- bile shortly thereafter, who's he going to complain to? Of course good ol' Will is a prophet, so when he turns up dead Luke looks to blame his new blood brother in the Skulls, rich preppie daddy's boy Caleb Mandrake (Paul Walker). Oddly enough, the Skulls seem to be a rather accepting and tolerant bunch. To a point, anyway - no men of color or women of any hue count themselves among the group's ranks, but they have no problem making Luke, who is virtually penniless and an orphan (not to mention the worst thing to be at a college, as "Breaking Away" taught us so well: A townie), a Skull. The townie aspect of Luke is a bit over the top, given that it's only there in order for him to have some less-than-savory townie friends who will ultimately help him in his endeavor to expose the cold, cruel hearts of the Skulls. In fact, a lot of things about "The Skulls" are over the top, as the film adds layer upon layer of silly plot developments strictly for the purpose of making the society as devious as possible. Luke recruits the ne'er-do-wells and his best friend Chloe (Leslie Bibb) to help him topple the Skulls' regime, which of course is run by ambitious and evil politicians, as well as members high within the Yale administra- tive infrastructure. Several cover-ups later, guess who wins? While "The Skulls" isn't anything special, Joshua Jackson delivers an extremely watch- able, slightly Pacey-esque performance with an edge. He's pretty much the only reason to see the movie, unless you haven't had your fill of the action in the Union tower. Long on mystery and short on intrigue, the movie should at least keep your secret club needs satisfied for another couple of hours. a bit with the recent campus goings-on in regard to a certain not-so-secret society. That's where the similarities end, though. (Or I hope that's where they end, given that Courtesy of Universal Pictures Will Joshua "Pacey" Jackson escape the clutches of the always manalcal Skulls? We hope not. 'Mule' races through D-town I By Andrew Ladd Daily Arts Writer With my first Saturday night of usic in the Motor City finished, I Gov't Mul e St. Andrew's April 1, 2000 now sit with the task of summa- rizing the night's events but can only find the words to describe the lengthy car ride back to Ann Arbor (a ride that included an extended tour of d o w n t o w n Detroit and what I am told to be a "slice of Europe I tive metaphor can be extended to the performances of Gov't Mule and North Mississippi All Stars at St. Andrew's Music Hall. After all, nei- ther band is a stranger to life on the road. The All Stars opened the night in stellar fashion. Their brand of jam- happy Delta Blues effectively warmed up a crowd that was gra- cious enough to welcome two-thirds (and eventually all) of Gov't Mule onstage for the All Stars' last two songs. The collaborative juices were flowing and the Mule/All Stars combo treated Motown to a fine example of great driving. Building tension in each song, the All Stars reached critical speed yet did not lose control, bringing their car suc- cessfully around the corners of each jam eventually settling their pride- and-joy safely in the driveway. Effective combination of the All Stars' guitar/bass/drums line-up with Warren Haynes' smoking fretwork and Matt Abst's drumming built each song to climax, each subsequent jam was brought down with the same care with which it was built. In contrast to the All Stars' master driving, Mule came out after a lengthy break like drag racers, tear- ing through "Lay Your Burden Down" in a matter of minutes. Just like a drag race, the quick start left the crowd feeling unfulfilled and Mule played as if they were under a caution flag. 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