ARTS
The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 7, 2000- 15A
ag-tag misfits a weak 'Replacement'
By Matthew Barrett
Daily Film Editor
"The Replacements" never wanders far from
*he beaten path of most sports movies. Take a
cast of lovable losers, throw them into a situation
way over their heads and see if they can handle
it. Here the "losers" are replacement football
players, called into action for the fictitious
Washington Sentinels when the professional
players go on strike (the film is loosely based on
the 1987 NFL players strike).
new concept to sports fans. And the replace-
ments are little more than a bunch of rag-tag
wannabes making the most of their one chance in
the show.
"The Replacements" has a much more relaxed
attitude towards professional football and its
players than the recent "Any Given Sunday,"
which made the game out to be just a notch
below all out war. And although "Any Given
Sunday" was little more than a scattered mess, at
least it attempted to tell us new things about
football, its players and the way the gamrn is
played. Here the football scenes and the game in
general are handled in a much more easy-going
manner and all seem to be set to one pop tune or
another.
There are scattered highlights though, which
include Jumbo throwing up his pre-game meal of
raw eggs in the huddle and a replacements versus
strikers barroom fight. But now that both profes-
sional and college football have kicked off their
seasons, watching "The Replacements" feels like
.acheap'imiitation of the real stuff.
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Rather than go
The
Replacements
Grade: C-
At Showcase
and Quality 16
with proven talent, Coach
Jimmy McGinty (Gene
Hackman in a lesser rehash
of his "Hoosiers" role)
pieces together a team of
hand-picked misfits to finish
off the final four games of
the regular season. Those
making up the squad include
suno wrestler Jumbo
Fumiko (Ace Yonamine),
former Michigan State play-
ei and current cop Daniel
Bateman (Jon Favreau) and
Europear import Nigel "The
Leg" Gruff (Rhys Ifans).
Taking the snaps for the
team is Shane Falco (Keanu Reeves), a former
Ohio State quarterback who never recovered
from a disastrous performance in the Sugar Bowl
and now cleans algae off of boats for a living.
You can tell right away that those behind the film
have some serious issues to deal with when they
make the underdog hero a Buckeye. On second
thought, I wouldn't really want Keanu Reeves
representing my school and audiences would
never believe that he could get in anywhere
esides Ohio State.
School pride issues aside, "he Replacements"
has little to offer save the occasional funny wise-
crack. The striking players are portrayed as
spoiled and pampered babies - - not exactly a
Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.
I learned surfing from Patrick Swayze: Keanu Reeves plays scab quarterback Shane Falco in "The Replacements."
Keller, audience cozy up at the Ark
By Joshua Gross
Daily Arts Writer
The Ark is the
Keller
Williams
The Ark
Wednesday,
perfect place to see
Keller Williams,
as the small
venue allows the
privacy and inti-
macy needed to
appreciate his
prodigious talent.
Acting like a
microscope, the
atmosphere and
size of The Ark
allows every
facial gesture,
guitar fingering
and bead of sweat
to be observed.
Leading the show
tured, and imprisoned the audience's
attention with the swift assault of a
SWAT team. Keller played maniacally,
entranced, head down, eyes wide and
red in concentration, bare feet stomping
like a circus bear plodding around a
drunken hoe-down. A guitar virtuoso,
his style is wholly unique, plunking,
plinking, slapping, slashing, stroking,
fingers bent in every conceivable way,
thumbs smacking a beat along its base.
Every millimeter of the guitar is
explored, draining every possible sound
like a musical parasite.
As if this were not enough, Keller
began using a foot petal to sample him-
self, looping his own playing and then
playing over it, creating the illusion of
an army of guitar players.
"Good evening Ann Arbor, I can't
see you but I can feel you," he intoned.
After welcoming the audience, his
jams became more elaborate and
innovative, adding some booty-shak-
ing bass, bongo drums and numerous
vocal jams, each sound layered like a
thick quilt over the others. Keller's
songs are quirky, refreshing, anec-
dotes that tell real stories instead of
rehashing common pop themes. He is
a zany writer with an eye for small
things that sparkle through the mun-
dane flood of normal life, a singing
Richard Brautigan. "Oh to be a one hit
wonder, oh that would be superb," he
snickers with devilish zeal in an Ani
Difranco-esque satire "In 15 years
VH 1's Where Are They Now." He
juggled and danced into songs about
boob jobs, limited Spanish Vocabu-
lary, dreams of winning The Price is
Right, and a phenomenal cover of the
Grateful Dead's "Cold Rain and
Snow," each yielding bounties of glee
from the audience, some of whom
clapped, some of whom cackled, some
of whom just sat in silent amazement.
They wouldn't let him leave, calling
him out for two encores and hoping
for a third. Keller simply bowed,
smiled and walked offstage.
::_w,
university musical society 2 00 0/2 001
like a camp counselor, Keller opened
with a guitar medley that hunted, cap-
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Half-Price Student Ticket Sale
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Photo courtesy of Madison House Management
Acoustic guitar wizard Keller Williams got frisky with about six strings on Tuesday.
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Vermeer Quartet
Mingus Big Band: Blues and Politics
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Dresden Staatskapelle
Giuseppe Sinopoli conductor
Brentano String Quartet
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Dubravka Tomsic piano
Dairakudakan: Kaiin No Uma (Sea-Dappled Horse)
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir
Manfred Honeck conductor
Sweaish Radio Choir and Eric Ericson Chamber Choir
EriC Ericson conductor
M00U41 HCrUSeco guitar
gullet Prejocoj: Paysage apris /a Bataille
due Cheatber Orchestra with the Beaux Arts Trio
Dvid Doriscountertenor
Academy of St. MArtin-in-the-Fields
Murray PeOhia conductor and piano
Ckmber Music Society of Lincoln Center and
Heidi Grant Murphy soprano
Brass Bnd of Battle Creek
Ronald K. Brown/Evidence
Orion String Quartet and Peter Serkin piano
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam
These Prices are Just'Too
Good to Pass Up
The Process:
It's easy! Just make your way to Hill
Auditorium Saturday morning and wait in
line to receive a sequentially numbered
Ticket Order Form (the number on eadh
order form indicates the order in which
it is going to be processed by the U4S Box
Office). Once you receive your order form
you have until 12 noon to fill it out with
the exact amount of tickets that you
and your friends would like to purchase
to each event. Turn it in and then go to
the UMS Box Office in the Power Center
beginning Wed, Sept 20 to pick up and pay
for your tickets. It's as simple as that!
The Rules:
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