14 - The Michigan Daily - Summer Orientation 1995
Summer '95 movies offer mixed bag of goods
oy Scott Plagenhoef new formula, which also features villains Jim "Crimson Tide" look to lead the summer action films.
Daily Arts Editor Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones, has the potential to The Sylvestar Stallone vehicle, "Judge Dredd, suspi-
From Memorial Day to Labor Day, the Holly- lead the latest "Batman" vehicle as the summer's ciously similarto his other futuristic ride, "Demolition
wood film industry unveils its summer product, highest-grossing film. Man" looks less than interesting. And "Waterworld,"
typically a myriad of big-budget action, light ro- The heaviest competition for "Batman Forever" the record $175 million Kevin Costner post-apocalyp-
mantic comedy and a few for the kids with endless will come from "Apollo 13" and a pair of extremely tic vehicle, is already beset by bad press, poor trailers
hype, occasional quality and as many fast-food or different kids films, "Pocahontas" and "Mighty and studio problems. In the end it could go down as a
soft-drink promotion tie-ins as possible. Popcorn Morphin Power Rangers." disaster of epic, "Heaven's Gate" proportion.
entertainment sunk to a new low last year with the "Apollo 13," the true story of the aborted space Atriumvirate of '30s and'40s style romantic cots-
32-person scripted "The Flintstones," a brilliant in- mission, stars reigning Oscar king Tom Hanks, edies, "French Kiss," "Forget Paris," and "While You
dication that it's often difficult for film executives Gary Sinise, and Bill Paxton. That's good. It is di- Were Sleeping,"leadoff a summer of surprisingly few
to see clearly with all those dollar signs in their eyes. rected by Ron Howard. That's bad. Howard's trade- date movies. The bloated "A Walk in the Clouds
The summer of 1994 represented a changing of mark sap could ooze into the project and sink it in Cindy Crawford's romantic thriller "Fair Game," and
the popcorn movie guard as the power of a name melodrama. the Chris Columbus-Hugh Grant comedy 'Nine
and a sequel, both former guaranteed cash cows in "Pocahontas," a decidely more adult animated Months" will compete for hearts and pocketbooks all
the '80s and first part of this decade, each took a film from Disney, will not nearly approach the summxner None, however, will likely match the surpris-
beating. Eddie Murphy and Macauley Caulkin saw windfall box-office resets of "The Lion King," de- ing success of "Bridges of Madison County." Clint
their films deservedly bomb. Keanu Reeves rein- spite the extended advertisements included on Eastwoods near alchemic adaptation of RobertJames
vented himself as an action hero. Julia Roberts and "Lion King" home videotapes. The new film fea- Waller's drivel and an outstanding comeback perfor-
Kevin Costner witnessed their titles as Hollywood's tares no clear-cut villain or moral center, and does mance by former art-house queen Meryl Streep make
All-American girl and boy stripped by Sandra Bul- not even have an entirely happy ending. Yet what it "Bridges" the summer's romance to beat.
lock and Tom Hanks respectively, does restore is a quality in storytelling and Other Hollywood films of note include Mel
In 1995 there are even less sequels; even the one songwriting level that tumbled between "Aladdin" Gibson's engaging epic "Braveheart," the retelling of
of note, "Batman Forever" is a complete face-lift on and "The Lion King." "Mighty Morphin Power the King Arthur fable, "First Knight," a pair of Jeykll
the crime-fighting series rather than a blatant carbon Rangers" does not have the cross-over appeal of and Hyde films, one starring Julia Roberts and John
copy. The new "Batman" installment features action "Pocahontas but nevertheless the popular Malkovich, and a bevy of cyber-flicks, including
srector Joel Schumaker replacing the pantheon of children's martial arts series will attract kids to mul- "Johnny Mnemonic," "Virtuosity" and "The Net."
the macabre, Tim Burton, the introduction of Robin, tiple viewins. More interesting looking films include "Kids,:
and even a new caped crusader, Val Kilmer. The "Die Hard; With a Vengeance" and the superior a honest look at post-teenage boredom written by 20
RECORDS
Continued from page 13
Teenage Fanclub
Grand Prix
Geffen Records
Mature, seamles and brilliant: Three words
that spring to mind upon listening to the fourth
long-player by Glasgow's Teenage Fanclub.
The band's recording of "Grand Prix" signaled
a 180-degree turnaround from the approach to
their last album, the underrated "Thirteen."
two years ago; instead of spending months
upon months sonically doodling without a pro-
ducer, the Fannies brought in David Bianco
(Tom Petty, the Pixies) and tackled the job in
minimal time last fall, resulting in one cracker-
jack of an album.
"Grand Prix" has all the familiar charm of
TFC's last three alhims - the infectious
melodies, the three-part harmonies, the clever
yet unassuming lyrics, the soft shimmer of the
Beach Boys and the hard edge of Crazy Horse
- but varies significantly as well. Length-
wise, "Grand Prix" is shorter, by individual
song and overall. Rather than kicking it off
with an epic, as has been Fanciub tradition, the
album opens with the punchy two-and-a-half
minute "About You," saving the string section
featured in "The Concept" and "Hang On" for
the seventh track, "Tears." All of the subse-
quent songs are shorter in length than usual,
and the quartet reserves the obligatory instru-
mentsal for the album's final selection,
"Hardcore/Ballad," actually trimming it down
to occupy only half of the song.
Whether it be an attack on phoniness in "Veri-
Watch some movies during Orientation,
year-old Cannes sensation Hsarmony Korine,
Wayne Wang's "Smoke, Hal Hartley's
"Amatser," the Hughes' Brothers' "Dead Presi-
dents," Kevin Smith's "Mall Rats," starring Shan-
non Doherty, and the highly-acclaimed documen-
tary, "Crumb."
similitude" or in the bare-al of emotions it "Mel-
low Doubt," themes of honesty and allegiance to all
things genuine seem to recur throusghout the album.
Teenage Fanclubavoids pretension like the rock 'n'
roll plague: even more objective songs like "Neil
Jung"and the aforementioned "Tears"--more like
anecdotes than bitter attacks -contain sympathetic
sentiments and never condescend.
All in all, Blake, Love and McGinley, joined by
new drummer Paul Quinn, sound more confident
than ever on "Grand Prix,, both in their musician-
ship and in their lyrical approach, once again prov-
ing themselves as master pop-tunesmiths and ex-
ceptional singers capable of delivering their songs
in a unique, accessible style uncontested by their
contemporaries.
--Thomlas Crowlei
Experience the Tradition
Voted "Best Michigan Souvenirs" - 1995 Michigan Daily Readership Poll
BOOK
Quality.o Selection * Value
We proudly feature the best in Michigan apparel from
ML 1"4*"*O
Todd D. Brown
Entries from a Hot Pink Notebook
Washington Square Press
Remember when you were 14 and you had a
mad crush on your history teacher or a classmate?
Young Ben Smith is undergoing those same hor-
monal longings with one twist. Ben Smith is a gay
preteen living in the very poor and very
homophobic Tranten Township. He still remembers
the highly degrading assault of a gay schoolmate,
Dion Hatch, at the hands of his own brother, Jeff,
and some friends. Dion killed himself two months
later.
Ben won't let that happen to him. He does his
best to stay as far in The Closet as he possibly can,
only writing down his true feelings in his makeshift
diary, a highly symbolic hot pink notebook (the
store had no other colors available). These notebook
entries tell a heart-wrenching story of love, hate and
betrayal.
Being poor and gay, we would hope, would be
Ben's only concerns, but that's just scratching the
surface. Ben lives above a gas station with an alco-
holic father who betrayed the family in the most
painful way only to be given a second chance by his
spineless mother. His grandmother, who lives with
the family is a religious fanatic and a bully for a
brother who thinks everything will be handed to him
on a silver platter since he's his Chappaqua High
School's star athlete.
Ben does have some things going for him: Mag,
his best friend, Marsha, Jeffs newest girlfriend who
turns out to be one of Ben's strongest allies and a
rich boyfriend, Aaron. But, as Ben learns often,
sometimes the best things in one's life can turn ugly,
fast.
Reading the delicately woven subplots concern-
ing each of the books minor characters, it almos
passes belief that author Todd Brown could bring
theme together to a highly climatic and beautiful end-
ing with Ben coming to an understanding of self-
love and self-pride.
Everyone, gay and straight, would benefit
greatly from "Entries from a Hot Pink Notebook."
It's lessons will lean heavily upon your conscious
and cause to rethink old prejudices and beliefs -
not only about gays, but about everyone -by caus-
ing you to dwell on a central, unanswerable theme,
that flows throughout the novel but is best stated in
Ben Smith's June second diary entry.
"I keep trying to figure out what I did wrong. I
had a (gay) relationship ... We kissed. We talked.
We made each other happy. What was so wrong
about that? It's crazy the way people's minds work.
We got caught. Suddenly it became this horrible,
wrong thing. I don't understand. What's the crime?
Tell me, please."
- Eugene Bowen
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