ARTS
The Michigan Daily - Monday, April 10, 2000 - 9A
S'Virtua' marks
strike for Sega
Arcadle soccer games; who could conceive of such a
thing? The arcade mode of Virtua Striker comes from
people who somehow or other got the brainstorm. Kind
of a dreary day, really.
The main virtue of the game is that it can be played
quickly; there aren't that many sports games that let
you get it over with in a couple minutes if you want to
Grade: B-
Virtua Striker
2
For Dreamcast
Sega
Reviewed by
Daily Arts Writer
Ted Watts
just play for a short time. Usually
the only exceptions to dragging
periods or halves or innings were
homerun derby's or their equiva-
lents. Here you can play some real-
ly quick soccer for some super low
scoring, ending up with a kickout
when you tie.
Unfortunately, of course, the
game is soccer. Maybe it's fun to
play soccer, but it is not the most
interesting game to watch. at least
Courtesy of the Los Angeles Til
Jack Black, lead singer of Tenacious D, Is making a splash in the latest John Cusack film, "High Fidelity."
Jack Black ampoonshis way
ir m
into thee ar'ts ofmoviegoe~s
ond rate soccer obsessed team you want, like Tunisia.
Here the game drags on for a longer time. And no mat-
ter how energetic the announcer is when he screams
"Gooooooooooooooooooal!", it's just not interesting.
Well, the game has well. designed characters,
although they lag behind the other Dreamcast sports
games. When you score some interesting things go on,
like getting a rainbow goal, whatever that 'means. And.
you can injure players to the extent you can get thrown
out of the game. But in the end, the overall stink of soc-
cer covers the game. If you like that, then feel free to
enjoy the disc.
from an American point of view. And playing the
videogame version of soccer is more akin to the view-
ing of and not the playing of the sport. And if you win,
the game will drag on even more.
The other drag is the non-arcade mode. When you
play tournament mode, you get to play as whatever sec-
The Los Angeles Times
Jack Black, wild-man lead singer of off-the-wall cult band
Tenacious D, is performing with the group at a Hollywood
nightspot in an orange T-shirt featuring a picture of a gorilla
'head. Black's unruly hair flops in his eyes, his sweaty round
face reddens with every oddball raunchy lyric, and faithful
fans are cheeing him on. It's force-of-nature craziness remi-
niscent of John Belushi.
Familiar primarily to regular Hollywood clubgoers, Black
and mild-mannered partner Kyle Gass are each playing
acdustic guitar and singing original - often X-rated --
songs about Sasquatch, Dianetics, sex backstage, Jesus and
Satan, any number of bodily functions and Fat Albert. They
call themselves "the greatest band in the world," and while
that's meant as a comic exaggeration they do have one high-
profile fan so taken with Black that he's given Tenacious D's
loose cannon another role to play that could make him a star.
The fan is actor and writer John Cusack, and in the new
film "High Fidelity" Black is stealing scenes as a belligerent
record store clerk named Barry. The film, which opened to
mostly rave reviews, provides Black the kind of breakout role
that has audiences howling and wondering just who that crazy
heavy-set guy is -- a reaction not unlike the filmmakers.
"I've never met anyone like Jack Black," says the director
of "High Fidelity," Stephen Frears. "It's as if he's come from
the moon. I had no idea what was coming next."
' Black, who's been acting for years in smaller parts in films
such as "Enemy of the State" (1998), "The Cable Guy"
'(1996) and "Waterworld" (1995), said the role of Barry is
"definitely the best part I've had. It's the biggest, juiciest, fun-
niest, best opportunity to get wild. I was intimidated by the
part at first. They had to talk to me because I was afraid of
failing ... I'm really glad they did because if this movie was
coming out with someone else in it I'd be freaking out."
i "High Fidelity" is based on Nick Homby's popular 1995
novel about a struggling record store owner, Rob (Cusack),
with a pathetic love life and two employees - Barry and
Dick (Todd Louiso), whom he calls the "musical moron
twins" There aren't many customers (they only sell vinyl), so
the three pass the time compiling meaningless lists, like the
Top 5 musical crimes perpetrated by Stevie Wonder in the
80s,or the Top 5 songs about death.
- These guys, they're like idiot-savant Filofaxes of musical
trivia information," Black said. "They're kind of lonely dudes
that are friends, but they're also kind of mean to each other
the way friends can be.
"Barry wants to be making music, and since he doesn't
have that going on he takes it out on the world and he turns
insulting people into an art form."
Cusack, who co-produced the movie, thinks it's the perfect
part for Black. "It might be the first time his talent and a great
role have come together with the right director," Cusack said.
"It's rare to see someone get as broad and as explosively
bizarre as you could possibly want and also break it down
and do subtle, discreet naturalism with the best of them. That
kind of range is dramatic and great."
After watching Tenacious D - a mix of the Smothers
Brothers, Cheech and Chong, Beavis and Butt-head and
Spinal Tap - it's easy to see how Cusack thought that cast-
ing Black was a no-brainer.
"It jumped off the page in the book and it was the easiest
role to write because he's this acid-tongued freak misan-
thrope. He's just so insane. We all said, 'We gotta get Jack."'
Black is an actor first, but just barely - he loves Tenacious
D. Sometimes he's managed to combine the two: "The D"
appeared on HBO in 1997 in 10-minute segments following
episodes of "Mr. Show With Bob and David." And a 1999
"Tenacious D" comedy series on the cable network, though
short-lived, included more wackiness - Jack and Kyle com-
peting for the affections of Flama, a punk record-store clerk
who worships Satan, and the two stumbling onto a cult that
claimed to have the world's largest potato.
More HBO shows are possible, and Black and Gass
are writing a Tenacious D movie script. Black also
wants his own TV series, the latest project being "Nos-
tradamus 2000"
"I play a wild-card crazy guy who sees flashes of the
future. Jason Schwartzman ("Rushmore") plays the
youngest Secret Service agent in history. We hook up in
the pilot and rescue the president from robots."
So is there anything he won't try?
"I don't do stand-up, I don't have the (nerve) for it,"
he said, in a rare reflective moment. "With Tenacious D
I have the guitar between me and the audience, and
there's the music and Kyle to blame it on if it goes
badly. But getting up there and talking for even five
minutes, you're naked."
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