Jazz jam... Check out the jazz scene at Leonardo's at Pierpont Commons tonight. 8 pm. Free. michigandaily.com/arts Wlefii~iwt 19 ARTS MONDAY NOVEMBER 26, 2001 Scott's 'Spy Game' proves too much explanation hinders intriguing plot By Jenny Jokes Daily Arts Writer "Spy Game," directed by Tony Scott ("Crimson Tide," "Enemy of the State"), has or Spy Game Grade: B- At Showcase and Quality 16 beaten and set to ne major flaw - the majority of the film feels like an explana- tion, not a story. The opening scene shows Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt) as a doctor working in the Su Chou Prison in China. But then we learn he is an Ameri- can spy when he is caught, be executed the op's current plight. His capture also occurs at the most inopportune time, because the Republican administration is ready to secure foreign negotiations with China after the Cold War, and an act of espionage would just not look good, to say the least. After realizing there is a crucial link between Muir and Bishop, Muir's knowledge of the event and his following decision to postpone his retirement, build virtu- ally all of the suspense for the entire film. When the supposedly suspenseful and action-packed scenes explain- ing Muir's past discovery and train- ing of Bishop pale in comparison to Muir's handling of the event back at headquarters, one finds that regard- less of the importance of their past, it is more exciting to watch Redford cleverly dodge accusations and scrutiny from his co-workers. Red- ford plays his part excellently, how- ever, and Muir's wit and cunning never fail to impress viewers. Pitt plays his part well too, but unlike Redford, his character is not explored in depth. Despite great acting and a good premise, the entire set-up of the plot seems a bit loose and disjointed. The series of flashbacks explaining Bishop's work as a spy and his past completion of the various opera- tions given by Muir - involving rescue attempts in Germany before the collapse of the Berlin Wall and Lebanese occupation in Beirut - eventually lead up to Bishop's encounter with Hadley (Catherine McCormack), a first aid worker at the Beirut camp. By this time, when you are trying to make sense of the events thus far, sometimes with little back- ground information (i.e. you might feel lost if you don't know about Lebanon), you realize these events will inevitably somehow lead up to Bishop's capture in China. With this in mind, along with a saturation of historical events, you may sim- ply lose interest - the only redeeming aspect being Muir's decisions and adeptness back at home. It's too bad the majority of the film befuddles viewers in all these past events when the heart of the story lies in Muir's decision to save Bishop. One may be left wanting to see- more of Bishop in his current state, not in all his past experiences. Also, Muir's motivation to post- pone retirement for one last opera- tion to save his old student is not as convincing as it could be, thus weakening the persuasiveness of their friendship. The ending pulls everything together, but perhaps not in the most effective way. "Hey Martin ... come explain this stupid ass movie to me." awrence offers one unfunny joke in dismal'Knight' following day. Meanwhile, at CIA headquarters in Washington D.C., Nathan Muir (Robert Redford), an extremely talented agent, is ready to call his career quits and retire to the warm and sunny beaches of the Bahamas. This little introduction is very engaging, but then ... up until the very end, the audience may find itself waiting through the numerous flashbacks that are used to explain the entire plot. Suddenly under CIA scrutiny, Muir realizes that his cohorts sus- pect his past involvement with Bishop and its connection to Bish- By Andy Taylor-Fabe Daily Arts Editor Imagine "Army of Darkness" without chainsaws, armies of the dead, a kick-ass soundtrack or any Courtesy of Universal Pictures Sexy old, sexy young, but all dead sexy. 'Getting Around Detroit' gives students successful humor Black Knight Grade: D At Showcase and Quality 16 than Bing Crosby. and you've got "Black Knight." Although a more common and "accurate" c o m p a r i s on may be to the 1949 film "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," most of the peo- ple going to see this movie will be much more familiar with Bruce Campbell glance at pasi By Elizabeth Manasse Daily Arts Writer If you've ever driven in Detroit, chances are you've been lost on a one-way road, missed an exit or gotten stuck in traffic. A new exhibit at the Bentley Historical L Getting Around Detroit Bentley Historical Library Through Dec. 21 Library, "Getting Around Detroit," takes yiou. back to Detroit's early years, when it had only pa few roads. The exhibit is a collection of maps, pictures and documents that display the evolution of Detroit's transportation system from the early 1800s to the modern freeway era. It coin- cides with the 300th anniver- sary of the founding of the city of Detroit. The majority of the materials in the exhibit are donations from people, organizations and societies that were active in the tirough trafi less than 12 feet wide. During this time, all free adult male inhabitants were required to work on repair of roads in their district. The first mile of concrete road- way in the United States was laid on Woodward Avenue between Six and Seven Mile Roads in 1909. In the 1910s and '20s, Detroit became one of the largest cities in the country, and along with the popu- lation rise came traffic congestion. By 1925 city offi- -cials.-became.concerned- that Detroit was become, saturated with automobiles, with 1,000 cars added to the traffic each week. A plan to build a network of suburban "superhighways," was devised in 1925, which would bring traffic to and from the city. These "superhighways" were 204-foot wide divided high- ways with rapid transit tracks in the medians. Better roads led to suburban development and expanded Detroit's boundaries. The exhibit also features the historical changes leading to the bridge and tunnel to Canada. Plans for both were successfully developed in the 1920s. Con- struction on the Ambassador Bridge, then the longest suspension bridge in the world, began in 1927. It opened for traffic in 1929. Construction on the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel began in 1929. Most of the underwater section of the tunnel was built onshore as a series of steel and concrete tubes, which were towed to position, sunk in the river and joined together with cement. Two different groups of investors were inter- ested in the two links to Canada and therefore, the tunnel and bridge have competed for traffic since they were built. By 1941, it was clear that the superhighway project was not doing enough to relieve traffic congestion in Detroit. This period marked the era of modern urban freeway building. The Davison Expressway, the first I . ic congestion urban freeway in the country, was built during World War II. The Davison and the many other urban motor- ways in the freeway network required massive neigh- borhood demolition. This was the first time wide roads had been proposed for built-up areas of Detroit. Drivers were given flyers to prepare them for the new freeway driving experience. Most of the freeways, such as the Lodge and Ford Expressways were not opened until the 1950s. "Getting Around Detroit" is a great way to learn about life on the road in Detroit during the last two centuries. The 300th anniversary year is almost over, so visit the Bentley Library before the end of the semester. Come prepared to spend some time looking. Lawrence has demonstrated that, while he has a habit of choosing ter- rible movies, he does have comedic talent, and he can make a joke work. When the King commands Jamal to dance for him since his people are fine dancers (don't worry, he means the Normans, not the Moors), he initially attempts to mimic the nobles' courtly style of dancing. Getting strange looks from everyone, he begins to struggle with the band a Ia Marty McFly, setting a baseline and eventually crafting a version of Sly and the Family Stone's "Dance to the Music" using only mandolins, drums and those long, skinny trumpet dealies. Although this makes the rest of the film look pretty realistic by coi- parison (somehow the trumpet guys pick up their part automatically), Lawrence's reactions during this scene are surprisingly funny. As he approaches the bewildered musi- cians, he confides in them, "Now, this is a pretty white crowd, so noth- ing too crazy." The big problem with this film is that it seems to be afraid to give us anything but the lowest common denominator of comedy. It seems to rest all of its hopes on the "Get it? ie's a black guy in medieval Eng- land, and he talks using slang and makes modern pop culture refer- ences!" type gags, and it never goes beyond that level. The attempt to insert a message and a life lesson at the end of the film is laughable, considering the asinine nature of the rest of the film. Remember the classics - I don't recall Ash learning a strong work ethic at the end of "Army of Darkness." development of the city. The materials collected over the years have made Bentley a central research resource for people interested in the evolution of Michigan's largest city. Maps provide valuable evi- dence for capturing what everyday life was like in the community of Detroit. They depict the state of the physical environmeni and cultural features at a partic- ular time, identify place names, modes of transporta- tion, locations of population centers and land use. The 18th century photographs of Detroit in the exhibit reveal that the streets were narrow lanes, some Jamal Walker (Martin Lawrence) is a disgruntled and lazy employee of Medieval World, a dilapidated theme park that is about to be shut down due to the opening of a new competing park called Castle World. While cleaning the moat outside Medieval World, Jamal sees a medallion shimmering in the murky water, but as he attempts to reach for it, he falls into the moat and ends up in 14th century Eng- land. Don't hold your breath wait- ing for the film to give you a logical explanation (or even a stupid one), because you won't get it. After being mistaken for a French messenger while explaining his South Central address, Florence and Normandy, he is taken into the cas- tle as a guest of the tyrannical King Leo (Kevin Conway). The running gag, which becomes tiresome, to say the least, is that Jamal thinks he's just down the block at the theme park/hotel Castle World, surrounded by overzealous actors and poorly maintained toi- lets. It is not until he sees someone beheaded that he realizes what has really happened, at which point he gets caught up in a plot to over- throw the king and restore the deposed queen to the throne. Jamal (or as he is called in the court, Sir Skywalker) is immediately smitten with Victoria (Marsha Thomason), one of the chamber maids, which also gets him on the bad side of Per- cival (Vincent Regan), the head of security for the king, who disdain- fully calls Jamal "moor" at every opportunity. The movie is full of Lawrence's supposedly clever remarks and slap- stick comedy, but very little of it is even the least bit entertaining. Most of this can be blamed on the atro- cious script (we can thank the writer of "Big Momma's House"), because Detroit's transit strike of 1941. Lowe's 'Tunnel Vision' a long, strange trip By Neal Pais Daily Arts Writer Whatever might be said of Keith Lowe's "Tunnel Vision," let it not be called uno- riginal. Boldly set within the Tunnel depths of Lon- Vision don's Under- Keith Lowe ground and Grade: B+ spanning less MTV/Pocket Books than 24 hours, this highly con- ceptual novel takes a fresh look at romance, urban society and the everyday chaos that seems to creep into allof our lives. It is a stunning debut for Lowe and falls solidly within the ranks of today's finest Gen-X fic- tion. Beginning at just before five o'clock one gloomy summer morn- ing, we are introduced to Andy - a tube-obsessed trainspotter with a penchant for making drunken bets; his wait for the first train.into the city is a product of one such bet. Hung over and weary from a night of excessive drinking with a simi- larly obsessed tube pal, Andy pro- logues for the audience the seemingly impossible task he is about to embark upon. It seems that in an effort to show his supremacy over all other London transport freaks, he has not only bet his wallet, keys and passport (that would be just too pass6) but also his wedding. You see, Andy is about to be married to his true love the next day. And the task at hand: To travel the entire length of the London Underground -- each and all of its 265 stations before one o'clock the befriends early on in his journey. In a race in which every second counts, Andy must fight his way through train delays and huffy Londoners if he is to be united with the woman he loves in time for their wedding. . Lowe smartly builds each chap- ter around a different section of the tube while regularly providing pre- cise time frames for the reader. The book flows with the fluidity of a metropolitan subway train - without the delays. While keeping the adrenaline pumping, "Tunnel Vision" also manages to reflect with considerable depth, on the hurriedness of modern society and the natural displacement of priority that we often suffer. Interspersed with a predictable amount of tube trivia are witty looks at city living and the often ignored idiosyncrasies of urban transport. Lowe maintains a tone utterly devoid of pretension and transforms a normally esoteric subject (the London Underground) into something that can be univer- sally appreciated. After a humor- ous and harrowing series of twists, "Tunnel Vision" finally emerges as a story about persistence, priority and the essence of time. Lowe's brilliant "Vision" is truly worthy of every gram of acclaim it receives. Courtesy oT fwentietn Century iox Do you know what a chambermaid is? a . jI You've excelled at Michigan... What's Next? Spend a year in Jerusalem among _ ,l So, what're you doing for the rest of your life? Still looking for a concentration?