8A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, February 21, 2005 ARTS PETER SCHOTTENFELS/Daily Moe played at the Michigan Theater on Feb. 18. moe. jams out at the Michigan Theater By Jared Newman Daily Arts Writer "Forgive me Father, for I have totally agreed to 'Bill and Ted 3: The Radical Rendevouz.' " STRAIGHT OUTTA HELL KEANU REEEVES STARS IN COMIC BOOK CROSSOVER By Amanda Andrade Daily Arts Writer Keanu Reeves, the chiseled and enigmatic star who achieved over- whelming success in the face of underwhelming tal- Constantine ent, returns to theaters with a movie that seems uncan- At the Showcase nily suited for his public arner persona. Deeply spiritual WamerBors. and austere though it may seem, the film has a tre- mendous central dumbness that all its excellent features can't quite cover up. "Constantine" misses greatness by a huge margin, but it's still a hell of a thrill ride. The brooding film centers on title character John Constantine (Reeves), a man marked for hell with the ability to see "half-breed" angels and demons walking the Earth. He uses his power to vanquish the minions of hell in a vain attempt to buy his way into heaven. A police officer, Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz, "The Mummy"), trying to understand the suicide of her mentally iIrtwin sister (MsdWeisz), solic- its the help of Constantine. He soon discov- ers, conveniently, that Angela is the key to the apocalypse. Fans of the source material, a comic book called "Hellblazer," were outraged over the casting of Reeves as the cancer-afflicted anti-hero, among other reasons, because the Constantine of the graphic novels is so quint- essentially British. The iconic American actor, who by all reports is far more intelligent than lingering "Bill and Ted" impressions would suggest, goes some way toward proving the skeptics wrong with a very credible transfor- mation on his own terms. Though his inability to emote through facial expression has been excessively well documented, that trait is an asset here, lending Constantine a beaten, world-weary toughness. Reeves also has an effortless command of the screen, and though his dialogue delivery could be better, he gets so deep into Constantine's skin that every ges- ture sells the character completely. Given the apt lead performance and the intriguing premise of a man's selfish saintli- ness, the film certainly has promise. Director Francis Lawrence (himself a recent escapee from music-video directing hell), however, seems unsure of how to realize that poten- tial. "Constantine" moves awkwardly when Lawrence tries to grapple with broad spiritual themes, andthe director cops out with empty horror clich6s far too often. Fortunately, Law- rence abandons meaning around the halfway point and-opts, for a standard save-the-world, shoot-em-up actioner that he has a much bet- ter grip of. It might seem unfortunate, but when the climax is a mindless cross between "Dogma" and "Disney's Hercules," holding integrity over entertainment seems a little silly. Sharing top billing with Reeves are the movie's visual effects. Hell is impressively realized as a ravaged, fiery wasteland that looks convincing, if not particularly origi- nal. The same holds for the demons; whether crawling in hell or wearing partially muti- lated human guise, they're not cute. In the film's most transparently fun action scene, worth the price of admission alone, Constan- tine plows through a whole room of decaying "half-breeds" thanks to a deluge of holy water and a giant weapon that wouldn't be out of place in last summer's "Van Helsing." Hyper stylized cinematography and moody lighting augment the dark, supernatural mood of the film. While "Constantine" isn't likely to win any Oscars come 2006, it's certainly a solid February entertainment. The film revels in its subtle, well-placed humor and fantastic visual style. If "Constantine" isn't exactly the mean- ingful, spiritual film Keanu Reeves thinks he's been plugging the past few weeks, at least it's better than sitting through, say "The Matrix: Resuscitated." Despite moe.'s understated name, it appears that they wouldn't mind being the next big jamband - just examine the evidence on "Warts and All IV," their upcoming live release. They're neither afraid to cover jamband icons The Grate- ful Dead's "I Know You Rider," nor are they afraid to moe- make like Phish and AttheMichiganTheater cover a traditional Jewish standard like "Havah Negilah." Their liner notes liken the fivesome - bassist/singer Rob Derhak, guitarist/singer Chuck Garvey, guitarist/keyboardist/singer Al Schnier, drummer Vinnie Amico and percussion- ist Jim Loughlin - to a fine microbrew. It's just cute and Vermont enough to make any hippie feel warm and fuzzy inside. One more thing, the band claims on their website that they have "topped such peers as ... Phish" by winning three Jammy awards. While their confidence is admirable, there is no fucking way that moe. is superior to Phish. Still, the "jam- band community" needs an act to follow now that Phish is gone. Judging by the scent of patchouli that could be detected nearly a block away from the Michigan Theatre on Friday night, it seems that moe. is doing a decent job of gathering some of the stragglers. The cozy atmosphere of the venue was perfect for the kind of fans that love to be buddy-buddy with the band, and as moe. took the stage, one dude yelled "Rob is weird!" while another prodded, "Why'd you grow a beard, Al?" The opening song "Bullet," for exam- pie, featured a steady, thumping bass line and a catchy chorus but was plagued by two long-winded jams. Even though moe. was using the second as a segue into a fast and funky tune called "Brent Black," it sounded like they knew where they were going, but weren't quite sure how to get there. In fact, the first three songs of the night served as a model for the rest of the show. "Brent Black" was perfect from start to finish and featured an impres- sive percussion solo - Rob Derhak at one point climbed up to the percussion kit and allowed Loughlin to hammer out a rhythm on his bass. Sadly, the band couldn't illicit the same wows with their next song, "Opium," a slower tune that served as more of a smoke break than anything else. The same fluctuation from perfection to mediocrity occurred in the second set. The band tore through a sporadic and psy- chedelic instrumental called "McBain" and slid right into "Down Boy,"a song full of synth bleeps and clicks courtesy of key- boardist Al Schnier. Killing the momen- tum, though, was a slow, crowd-thinning number called "Hi and Lo." At that point .the time was nearing 10:30 p.m., and though many fans remained to see the rest of the show, there were quite a few who didn't have the patience to see if the band would kick out some more funk. Therein lies the problem in a jamband like moe. - it took them almost three hours to play 13 songs. While a more consistent band like Phish could pull off that kind of extensive improvisation, moe. simply isn't tight enough yet. If the band could only realize that they excel at funky, beat-driven jams but falter with slower, more basic tunes, maybe someday they can take the jamband throne - but it isn't happening anytime soon. 0 ~~ARTS.WELL IBLAZE YOUR HEL FOic~lsNedd"1 ri.%i5::'.Y3 if 0 o occer1 All clinics are held at the Intramural Sports Building. m I