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 Come to the Daily's . mass meeting this fall Varsity and Club Sport Tees CL Performance Mesh Shorts Heavyweight Tees- Now in Long Sleeves Also « Lighter Mid-weight Tees M Tank Tops Classic Reverse-Weave Sweatshirts Stitched Tackle Twills, Appliques, Embroideries, and Screen Prints Lighter Classic-Weight Sweatshirts C Windsuits I Athletic Socks Two Great Locations in the Heart of Central Campus 711 N. University 902 S. State 668-6915 668-7296 Mon-Sat 9-6 Sun 11-5 Mon-Sat 10-5 CatalogAvailablee1 9-' 2