'Wild Strawberries' See the Ingmar Bergman film at the Michigan Theater. Tonight at 7 p.m. AWUYM Oak ARTS MONDAY JANUARY 28, 2002 michigandaily.com /arts Creepy 'Mothman Prophecies' allows Gere to show off his acting chops By Todd Weiser Daily Arts Writer Slowly and surely, the fading stars of the past are re-emerging and making it a little bit harder to make jokes about their last performances. Last The Mothman Prophecies Grade: B At Showcase and Quality 16 year, Kevin Costner lifted himself a little out of the joke-world with a good per- formance in the underrated "Thirteen Days." Recently, Robert Redford proved that he still has the skills that made him a superstar even in a mediocre action film like "Spy Game," And on televi- sion a former lesser star, Kiefer Sutherland, is giving the greatest performance of his career in "24" after everyone else thought that they had seen the last of him. Now, it is Richard Gere's turn. Of late, Gere has turned Soon, Klein learns of some bizarre sightings that have been occurring in the not so peaceful town, and they bear resemblance to the drawings of Klein's wife. The figure people report appears to be a combination of moth and man, with two glowing red eyes. Soon, this presence is talking to residents as well, starting with Gordon. He is even predicting world disasters. Klein, with the help of Connie, is doing his best investigative work to discover what his really hap- pening to the town's residents, hoping that some- how it will help him figure out what happened to his wife. "The Mothman Prophecies" is based on a non- fiction book by John Keel, and the film declares at the beginning that it is based on real events. How much of the story actually is real and what is just theory and superstition is hard to estimate. But either way, this film works mostly because of the over- ly creepy mood cre- ated by director Mark Pellington, director of "Arling- ton Road" but justx as famous for. directing Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" video. Canted close- little bit of its freshness and comes close to losing the attention of the Viewer. But after this sluggish fraction, the film leaps into its incredibly well exe- cuted climax. It is one of the best action sequences of recent memory, terrifying and exhilarating at once. Gere is once again at his best working with material that makes use of his ability to overreact and erupt, while the camera loves staring into his remarkably black eyes. Laura Linney is equally first-rate, but she is such a fine actress that you wish she was in it even more. Films dealing with the unexplained have a hard time leaving viewers satisfied at their conclusions, but the joy of a film like "The Mothman Prophe- cies" is not in finding answers to the supernatural questions that surround us, it is in those strange, mystifying events that initiate the investigations. "American Flag in Brick Wall" is among the featured photos at. the exhibit. 'People and Paces' h1 evoke nostalgic images By Janet Yang Daily Arts Writer to inferior films due to one of two desires - money ("Runaway Bride") or political beliefs ("Red Cor- ner") - but it seems that finally, Mr. Gere has found a film he actually cares about, turning in a perfor- mance he can be proud of. And the role of John Klein is perfect for him. Klein, a Washington Post reporter, is happily married to Mary (Debra Messing, "Will and Grace"), until they excitedly drive after a new home purchase and get into an accident that criti- cally injures Mary. John is perplexed as to what Mary refers when she says, "You didn't see it, did you?" Two years later, Klein, driving down to Virginia for an interview, inexplicably gets lost and breaks down in the West Virginian town of Point Pleasant. Klein immediately experiences weird events when he knocks on the door of Gordon (Will Patton, "Remember the Titans") and is surprisingly told he has knocked there the previous two nights as well. Local cop Connie Parker (Laura Linney, "You Can Count on Me") shows up and then helps Klein get situated in his new surroundings. Talented photographers can take something ordinary, that you've ups, dark music and interesting transi- tion graphics set the tone for the film, and while most of the action cannot be categorized as scary, there is still an overhanging ten- sion and foreboding over almost every scene. As the film moves along into its two hour plus run- ning time, it loses a People and Places Michigan Museum of Art Thru Feb. 10 seen many times in your life and still manage to cap- ture it on paper in such a way that astounds you. For exam- ple, artist B e r n a r d Descamps only works with z An officer AND a gentleman. Get it, because Gere was in that movie! 'Count' a return to classic, brainless fun By 4ndy Taylor-Fabe Daily Film Editor One of the most common acco- lades that a movie can get is that "it makes you think." The Count of Monte Cristo Grade: B- At Showcase and Quality 16 "The Count of Monte Cristo" is good precise- ly because it doesn't make you think. This is a film over- flowing with swashbuckling, betrayal, revenge, piracy, hidden trea- sure, knife fights, prison escapes and a touch of Napoleon, and it works not in spite of but because of its simple, unpretentious tone and its lack of .... Besides hav- ing one of the most unintentionally funny (or terrible) taglines in years -- "Count on revenge ... " - the film succeeds because of its sim- plicity and entertainment value. The story is your basic "man wrongfully imprisoned, man escapes from prison, man gets rich and takes his revenge on afl his ene- mies" adventure. "The Count of Monte Cristo," based on the book by Alexandre Dumas, begins with a French sailor, Edmund Dantes (James Caviezel, "Frequency"), and his friend and son of a Count, Fer- nand Mondego (Guy Pearce), who, while attempting to save Dantes' captain, find themselves on the island of Elba, where Napoleon has been made a permanent guest. Upon their return, Dantes is given command of a ship for his bravery and is reunited with his fiancee Mercedes (Dagmara Dominczyk). Things are looking up, that is, until he is arrested for treason and thrown in the dreaded Chateau d'If prison. It turns out that his friend Mondego has betrayed Dantes to the French authorities for accepting a letter from Napoleon, and to add insult to injury, Mondego is aggres- sively pursuing Mercedes. In prison, Dantes has nothing to look forward to but a bowl full of gruel and an annual beating from the sadistic warden, Dorleac (the raspy voiced Michael Wincott, who, surprise, surprise, plays a bad guy). As he loses faith, a man named Faria (Richard Harris) breaks through Dantes' floor. Faria, who has been digging a tunnel for years, has apparently miscalculated. . As they become friends, Faria teaches Dantes everything he knows, including swordplay and fighting. Think of him as a Napoleonic-era Obi-Wan Kenobi ... OK, maybe more like Mr. Miyagi. After Dantes makes a daring escape from the prison, he and his loyal servant Jacobo (Luis Guzman, "Boogie Nights," "Traffic") find the treasure of Sparta, and Dantes begins a campaign of revenge, mas- querading as the Count of Monte Cristo. (If any of this sounds famil- iar and you haven't read the book, it is probably because "The Mask of Zorro" (1998) borrowed liberally trees and pools of water in his work featured in the Michi- gan Museum of Art. But although his photographs are nostalgic and familiar, they are at the same time new. When was the last time you looked up toward the sky in a for- est and admired the way the sun shown through the tangled bare branches? Or looked into a murky pond to see what was on the other side? Paul J. Woof, Joe Deal and Ernst Haas have created the same magic with their photos of the Rockefeller Center, California landscapes and color photographs, respectively. Their works, as well as those of Descamps and several others, are featured in the museum for the next couple weeks in the exhibit, "Peo- ple and Places: The Baker Gift of 20th Century Photography." All of the photographs featured in the Works on Paper gallery, located in the basement of the museum, are in black and white, except for Ernst Haas' works, an artist who uses a vivid green to depict birds in front of a Kenyan backdrop. Haas's "Lake Hunting- ton, Kenya," captures one instant of time when a flock of birds have Courtesy o Buena Vista Pictures Jaobo and Dantes keep look out for Deacon from Reynolds' crapfest "Waterworld." from the story.) Most of the characters in the film are excellent, with the eternal com- petence of Dantes and the unending treachery of Mondego providing a deliciously easy moral choice for the audience. Pearce redefines the word "sneer" with his over the top performance as the snotty, deceitful Mondego. He overuses the snaggletooth grin that he uses to express disgust, anger, fear, etc., but his intensity is unending, and he plays a perfect despicable character. Caviezel gives one of his best performances, changing from, a brave but naive sailor to a calm and vengeful man with a powerfully cold stare. He gives a convincing performance, but his dialogue is sometimes less than brilliant, and his character seems surprisingly two dimensional considering the transi- tion that he goes through. Guzman, a knife-fighting smug- gler turned loyal servant, is the main source of comic relief in the movie. When swearing his alle- giance to Dantes, he spouts lines like "I swear on all my dead rela- tives and even the ones who aren't feeling well, I am your man forev- er." Despite a bad wig and some cheesy dialogue, Guzman is thor- oughly likable and manages to fit the role fairly well. This film, directed by Kevin Reynolds ("Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," "Waterworld") feels clos- er to an old. Douglas Fairbanks movie than to other recent action movies of this type that try to be too modern. It is not a film that you see to explore the human spirit or the deep psychological processes of the characters. You watch it to see sword-fighting, treasure chests in hidden grottos and sweet, sweet revenge. just taken flight. His one other photograph also uses dye transfer print to show the contrast of pearly tones that can be found in nature among the black and the brown. Most of the portraits in the exhibit are from a donation by Arnold Newman, from his series of photographs that he had taken of famous artists. The five portraits each depict an artist with his works in the background. The five por- traits within this gallery were of Piet Mondrian, Max Ernst, Milton Avery, Georges Roualt and I.M. Pei. They are not the most flashy or exciting photographs, but they give insight into the person within it and how their lives are affected by their work, or vice versa. The photo, "American Flag in Brick Wall," by Robert Frank, also raises up emotions of familiarity with its image of men walking by a wall with an American flag painted on it, with cars driving next to them. Particularly in these times, the image of the American flag reminds us of another time when patriotic Americans rallied for their country, more than half a century ago. Frank also has a few other photographs within this gallery that also raise clearly American images. This exhibit was given to the Michigan Museum of Art as a gift from The Morris and Beverly Baker Foundation in memory of Morris D. Baker, who was a gradu- ate of the University of Michigan School of Architecture. Morris and Beverly Baker graduated from the University in 1952 and 1955 and collected many paintings and pho- tographs, a portion of which they donated to the Museum. Besides the works of the photographers mentioned earlier, there are also photographs by Alfred Stieglitz, Aaron Siskind and Edward Ste- ichen. This exhibit is at the Univer- sity until Feb. 10. University Studies Abroad Consortium Your Gateway to the World " Many programs offer Intensive Language Courses in Africa .Spanish, French, German, Basque, Thai, Danish, Hebrew, 3 l j e Czech, Italian and Chinese .d :"University credit ht Scholarships available +v.. n Semester, yearlong and summer programs available >x. " Wide range of academic courses in small class sizes One of Guy's three non teeth-bearing shots. ..