ARTS
Page 6
Saturday, June 15, 1985
The Michigan Daily
Technically fine 'Goonies' is kid stu
By Richard Campbell charm to kill a moose; an older
brother to worry, and kid #1, our hero,
who suffers from asthma and is con-
HE BEST THING about Goonies stantly breathing out of an aspirator.
is that it's a pretty decent movie It is this last child who tries to make
for kids. The worst thing about the movie something above the or-
Goonies is that's all it is. dinary. During the entire adventure,
This summer offering from Richard; as the more normal kids are begging
Donner and Steven Spielberg concer- to get out of the dangerous tunnels and
ns a group of pre-pubescent rejects as crevices, our hero makes emotional
they valiantly attempt to save their pleas to the group's moral values.
parents' homes from foreclosure by We've got to go on because this is the
seeking out the dead pirate One-eyed last adventure that we'll have
Willie's long lost treasure. together, he claims.
OK, so it sounds like a Scooby-Doo Of course, he convinces the others
cartoon retread. Admittedly it is and to continue, otherwise the movie
there's nothing in it to recommend to would end. The scene is slightly in-
a college-age audience. But if there teresting, but not when it is repeated
are any kids out there, have your twice more, in ever more whining
mommy or daddy read you the rest of tones.
this review. Watching the concise editing of
Let's be fair though. Goonies was Michael Kahn can teach you a lot
written almost exclusively for an un- about the magic of cinema. Donner's
der 15-year-old audience and in that it camera swoops and dollies with glee
succeeds. Characters are broadly (with perhaps more than a smidgen of
drawn, the bad guys are particularly help from producer Spielburg), but
exaggerated (the more to make fun of when you notice the number of things
them), and the whole adventure that you aren't explicitly shown and
makes less and less sense as the are only subliminally referred to by
movie progresses. snappy editing;you can begin to ap-
What then is there in the film that preciate why Kahn has won an
might be of interest to post- Academy Award.
teenagers? Well, the film as a whole is Donner's direction of the children is No children's adventure story is complete without a cave scene. "Goonies' is technically brilliant, but bring
fairly amiable; although it puts no also worthy of some consideration. your kids not your intellect.
demands upon the intellect, it doesn't While there is little character
insult you. The kids who undertake development, each child nevertheless
the adventure are all pretty much possesses some individual charac- suggest the innocence and guileless difference between the size of their however, the movie roars merrily
stereotypes - there's Chunk, the kid teristics. Collectively they are a pret- nature of the youngest adventurers. strides and the size of the feared along, ignoring all logic and any sense
that eats too much; Data, the one with ty sorry cast, but one by one the ac- When two of the kids step off the pirate's. It has nothing to the action of of delicacy. This of course is its main
the silly inventions that just happen to tors manage-to suggest that they are traditional 100 paces to the treasure, the film, but it's a small moment of appeal to children.
come in handy; Mouth, a kid with a performing a unique role. they do so with arms across each other's truth that sticks with you.
mouth that doesn't stop and enough Beside this, Donner is able to shoulders, skipping to make up the Besides these few moments, If it only had a bit more substance.
Records
Marvin Gaye - Dream of a know Steve Garvey's divorce and
Lifetime (Columbia) Alan Wiggins' drug problems almost
as well as the players themselves do.
The claim has often been advanced Hundreds of channels and
that modern-day America can no publications scream for more and
longer have heroes. Celebrities are so more information about the talented
relentlessly thrust into the spotlight and rich, and it is delivered. The
that weaknesses that might have been American public has, in the infor-
concealed in the era before Enter- mation age, developed the concept of
tainient Tonight and People a "right to know" what's going on in}
magazine often come to the surface. the lives of whoever catches thet
While Babe Ruth's outrageous collective eye. While Ithere are1
behavior off the baseball field went benefits from public scrutiny of
unnoticed in his heyday, today's fans celebrities (chief among them is the1
undeniable proof that nobody is per- p
fect), in some cases this mentality parently overt sexism and its S&M
foists material on the public that content, but anyone who appreciates
really wasn't meant for mass con- this song without recognizing it as a
sumption. x private in-joke, which they shouldn't
be listening to anyway, will miss the
i Gpoint.
. Marv Gaye's Dream of a Lifetime In private we all say and do things
is a collection of a few borderline-to- which we would never even consider
worthy cuts that didn't make it onto doing publicly. Privately our ideals
his studio albums, fleshed out with a and beliefs are subjected to bending,
trio of songs that would never have often for humorous effect. Bearing
been released if Marvin wan in a that in mind, "Masochistic Beauty" is
nosition to nay anything about it. They ,'funny. Marvin adopts a mock-British
are obviously the products of a accent and spouts ludicrous dominant
creative mind feeling bored and rude. dialogue like It's my duty / to
hsuegnG spank your booty. It's genuinely en-
"Sanctified Lady" has undergone tertaining, if you can put yourself in
considerable reworking from its would never have released these songs the right frame of mind.
original incarnation (as "Sanctified Gaye is just fooling around, but his The rest of the album is an in-
Pussy"). Background singers and singing is excellent, and the subtle dication of Gaye's talent as a soul
new vocals have been added. Even so, self-parody demonstratesnknowledge singer. While the heavy or-
this and two other X-rated songs on and canniness that Gaye had lacked chestrations weight the material
Dream prove that Marvin Gaye is one on his recent records. down somewhat, Gaye's voice soars
of the most underrated performers of above the instrumentation. While it
our time. The lyrical content, with the "Savage in the Sack" is a less isn't prime Gaye material, it is an
sinner-saint conflict that constantly creative, more graphic and senseless impressive collection of out-takes,
roubled Gaye subjected to an overt, example of Gaye fooling around in the much more so than Lennon-Ono's
f sarcastic reading, is more in- studio. "Masochistic Beauty" is Milk and Honey.
riguing than offensive. likely to generate'Drotest for-is an--John Logie
LESBIAN-GAY PRIDE WEEK '85 ANN ARBOR
June 16 - 22, 1985
"Unity Strength and love"
Sunday, June 16, 7:00 p.m.
Ecumenical Service of Celebration & AIDS Vigil
ST. MARY'S STUDENT CHAPEL, 331 THOMPSON
PRIDE NTEEK SPONSORS INCLUDE: GLF, MGU, MSA
Information, incl. future events: 763-4186
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