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Page 14 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, June 19, 1984
Find-the -Films -
in-the-Film Contest
ATTENTION film fanatics. If
you've seen Gremlins (and who-
hasn't?), you've undoubtedly
recognized many, many references to
other motion pictures laced
throughout the length of the film.:
Some say that the references are all
that there is to the movie. But that's'
not the question. The question is, how,
many cinematic allusions are there in,
the film? To answer this raging
inquiry, The Daily is sponsoring a'
Find-the-Films-in-the-Film contest.:
The rules are simple: The entrant
who can list the most references to
other movies in Gremlins wins. These
references can be as fleeting or in-
nocuous as you wish, but truly bizarre
or irrelevant ones will be thrown out
by the judges, whose decision will be
final. As an example, Robbie the
Robot, star of Forbidden Planet, has a
bit part in Gremlins. The cinemaniac-
who finds the most references will win Arbor, Michigan, 48109. The contest
his or her very own Mogwai and a will end on July 22, so you have plenty
Michigan Daily T-shirt. Turn in your o to wa , th yil aain and
lists to the Arts Editor, at The, time to watch the film again and
Michigan Daily, 420 Maynard, Ann again.
'Ko aanisqatsi.'
simple masterpiece
(Continued from Page11) with plastic tubing sticking out from it,
revolving doors. Then he cuts to both seem like cheap shock effects.
workers on production lines, furiously In his final shot, Reggio takes his
serving machines that stamp out TVs, metaphors to a literally mythic end. He
sausages, and twinkies. cuts in stock footage of a missile rising
The effect is humorous at first, but is up from its launch pad, and then ex-
repeated to the point of absurdity, and ploding into a plume of fire miles long,
when we cut to a close up of $100 bills like a contemporary Prometheus. As
being rolled off a printing machine the the sole smoldering fragment tumbles
overstatement is grossly heavyhanded. slowly to earth, Phillip Glass's funeral
Likewiseisa ridiculous sequence com- like organ dirge comes on loud, to
paring microphotography of computer, hammer in the point. Like the rest of
chips with satellite photographs of the film, it's a breathtaking scene, but
cities. It's interesting, but nothing to the pervading technophobic overtones,
pontificate over. and the sheer solemness of the film's
Ati times he manipulates the people tone negate much of the impact.
on screen with a heartless coldness. A Koyaanisqatsi is a brilliantly con-
pitiful vagrant, lost in the middle of the structed film, and one I strongly
metropolitan shuffle, or a frail, aged recommend without hesitation. Silly as
arm reaching up from a hospital bed it is, it's magnificently so.
Records
'More Songs From the
Original Soundtrack of the
Big Chill' (Motown Records)
The Big Chill left many, many movie-
goers with a warm feeling, but when
you look past glossy acting and a great
soundtrack, you feel the biggest chill of
all.
Lawrence ("Larry to his friends")
Kasdan and Motown are at fault: the
University alum cashed in on nostalgia
in a big way, but his reflections on the
'60s, as Dave Marsh pointed out in
Record a few months ago, are about
people who never were in the
Movement and don't know much about
rock 'n' roll either.
Wait a sec, you might say, don't you
think the movie was great? I think the
music was terrific, but, as Marsh poin-
ted out, even the clueless main charac-
ters can like great music.
Remember the scene when the
characters discuss the music over the
last 10 years? The same guy, played by
Kevin Kline, sneers at our generation's
music but listens to such greats as
Smokey Robinson and the Miracles,
Creedance Clearwater Revival, and
the Band. Marsh argued that Kline's
character liked the music, because it
was removed from him - it was the
safe and distant past. No Sex Pistols,
Clash, or Jam to ask him what in hell
he's doing in the modern world.
The same thing goes for the Tom
Selleck-like actor - do you think he
really could go from speaking on the
Diag to enraged students to Hollywood
glitz and glamor? That's like believing
the Regents really give a damn.
This all blends into an argument that
great rock music means a hell of a lot
and really extends beyond time to
challenge all of us to give a damn, not
bemoan how involved we were in college
and why snorting coke isn't the same as
getting the shit kicked out of you for
protesting against Vietnam years ago.
Which is all a perspective on More
Songs, its parts far greater than the
whole. In a thinly-veiled attempt to
flesh out another LP, Motown's
dreams of platinum required four ad-
ditional cuts, taken from Martha and
the Vandellas ("Dancing in the
Streets"), Marvin Gaye ("What's
Going On?"), the Four Tops ("It's the
Same Old Song"), and the Marvellettes
("Too Many Fish in the Sea").
Out of these four songs, the first two
deserve mention: the Vandellas'
Motown original rips Van Halen's
remake, showcasing Martha Reeves'
soulful singing that puts David Lee
Roth of Eddie and the Geeks to shame.
The Marvin Gaye addition is a true
insult - not due to his tragic death (in
fairness, Motown compiled the album
long ago), but to the song's meaning.
Gaye's song comes from his great LP of
the same name, which deals with the
same issues that the characters in The
Big Chill turned their backs on.
The soundtrack veers from the great
(CCR, Percy Sledge) to the forgettable
(Steve Miller Band). Notable are
"Gimme Some Lovin' " by Spencer
Davis, which you can't find except in
dusty used record stores; "The
Weight" by the Band, which should serve
Kasdan
... 'Larry' to his friends
as a reminder of Robbie Robertson's
great talent; and the omission of "You
Can't Always Get What You Want" -
cum-funeral dirge, easily the funniest
scene in the movie.
The LP is rounded out by the Rascal's
version of "In the Midnight Hour"
(shoulda been Wilson Pickett) and the
Beach Boys' "Wouldn't It Be Nice
(reminds you of what a joke they've
become).
Enjoy this album but don't let the
film's "message" get to you - the
music still matters, rock 'n' roll isn't
really establishment stuff (punk
should've taught you that), and, when
I'm older, I'll be damned if I let
business execs and sorority-girls-
turned-doctors trivialize the Jam, U2,
or Big Country. They're too important.
- Steve Kaminski
*I
Econonists predict future of state's industry
(Continuedfrom Page 1)
Chairman of the Board of Public
Sector Consultants, Jerry Faberman
agreed with Rhodes, arguing that while
the state slowly changes to a high-tech
economic base, it must revitalize
existing industries and retrain the labor
force. "The state has to go back to the
basics-commerce, trade, and
tourism," he said.
"WE NEED TO do it and do it
quickly," Faberman said. "We need to
find jobs, and high-tech does-but not
quickly."
Others are more convinced of high-
tech's potential. "High-tech firms in
and of themselves cannot give an
enormous amount of jobs, but it can
have a significant impact," said Pete
Plastrik, a spokesman for the Michigan
Department of Commerce. "(High-tech
development) helps the industrial base
to be competitive." He said there has
beei a .visibleyrifpaet'already,:but
(co p redto tde, ien opa.pf th
state's economic problems, it is not
much."
Though Ann Arbor is not typical of
the rest of the state's economy, Mayor
i 4w
Louis Belcher said the city will move
toward high-tech. But he doesn't
recommend that path for the rest of
Michigan.
"IT JUST so happens that when the
state went down the tubes, Ann Arbor
didn't because it never was in the
automobile industry to begin with,"
Belcher said. "I think Ann Arbor will
move toward high-tech because of the
type of city it is. I think it would be a
mistake for the State of Michigan to
say, 'We are going to go completely
high-tech.' " He said the state should
instead work to rebuild its existing in-
dustry as an economic solution.
Yet no matter how hard lawmakers
push to move Michigan toward a high-
tech industrial base, the final decision
is still up to the individual businesses,
which often rely on personal prejudices
when locating. That, according to
Rhodes, could mean trouble for the
state.
SHE SAID Michiga'nsinagge aS a
state with a high wage base, a high
unemployment rate, and an abundance
of unskilled workers may dissuade a
firm from even considering Michigan
as a possible location.
Perhaps the biggest hurdle the state
must clear, though, has nothing to do
with Michigan's economic situation: it
is the very existence of other, already-
developed high-tech centers.
Barbara Kraus, a spokeswomen for
Apple Computer, said her company
probably would never locate a research
or manufacturing facility in Michigan.
Apple Computer is located just outside
San Francisco in the area known as
Silicon.Valley.
"THERE IS a certain kind of at-
mosphere in Silicon Valley," she said.
"We have a very experienced work for-
ce. Stanford, an excellent educational
facility, is nearby. And there is a good
cross-pollination of ideas between
people."
Kraus said it is a common occurence
for people from any of several Silicon
Valley high-tech companies to get
tegether8, ekeha geides',an; frm "a
new company in the same community.
She said Apple would not want to give
up the advantage of their current
location to move to the Midwest.
If Michigan does have the capacity to
attract high technology firms, it seems
the state's ability to keep them is
questionable as well-even in its self-
proclaimed high-tech capital. "A num-
ber of high-tech firms do get their start
here, but very few end up staying,"
University Economics Prof. Harvey
Brazer said. He said the state's
economic woes may be the reason
many firms leave Ann Arbor for
California or Texas.
Wayne State University Business
Prof. David Verway disagrees. He
thinks Michigan and technology go
hand-in-hand. "I think of Michigan as a
high-tech state," he said. "We lead the
nation in dollars spent on research and
development ... and I think it is wor-
thwhile to try to attract more high-tech
industry."
Bill Loukins, director of the Ann
Arbor-based Michigan High Technology
T sk yorcfagrees witt, (h.t
"We are not going to duplicate Silicon
Valley in Michigan but we have to try to
apply high-tech to industry in
Michigan," he said.
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