- The Michigan Daily - Monday, June 19, 2000
New 'Shaft' either a tough, cool cat or a cop out
By Christopher Cousino machine" but a determined man role to put the fear of God into crimi-
tailsharts Writer bent on getting the job done. nals everywhere, in this case the streets
And that job is for the New of Harlem and the Bronx. And the
Who's the black private dick that's a York Police Department. ;character of Shaft seems a perfect
sex machine to all the chicks?" Yes, detective John Shaft role for the
Well, for one, (played by Jackson) is a pig actor who, in
not exactly Sam a member of the very a sense, plays a
Jackson it the system that the original Shaft-like char-
man of yShaft: Riard Roundtre
Shaft directed a ]- I'ho has a cmeo in number of his
niten by John tb's film) fortht and films. start-
Grade: B SiII " a (wo r' 'led agains. Alread ig with Jules
N the Hoed1onnnfpeldpIno
St t o s fim tn "Pulp Fiction"
' hi gi t b and ta or that matter.
upd o" a i' nw '"Sa 'Ird Fight:' "Jackie
md I a r'ckb and )aB ne )
put t nht 'e go into with a et the otte glaring
cmh c 'on o' popnit ldi 'F reice between
profleion and its knoi' 'e and ide.c fa'k " n and
life ii. (with r n'se s-en the Roindtiree comes
ii e film b tgins, s 'r iinal or not) about in their approach.
Liasbed out montage of b s. 'cx and whandnd nhat Shaft is. /s Shat,
ski while the classic Isaac I ;ais theme At times. Singleton's s- es'
plays. Yet, this is the otlv time, aside "Shaft" uses this factor to Samuel L Jackson
- from secral allusjons tbrough dialogue, its ad'antage. The mo ie is is one bad mutha
that the toie puts out somei stioin' sex very fun when Shaft plays in the remake of
uality. Singleton's "Shaft is not a "sex his tou It, street. bad ass 'Shaft.'
E3 2K showcases gaming's future
Roundtree embodied the ultimate stereo-
type of the "angry black man." And
rightly so, as the original film holds such
cultural importance to the blaxploitation
genre, African-American roles in film,
filmmaking and pop-culture, and draws
deeply on the issues of American racism
and fighting against the "man," or the
white systems that oppress (capitalism.
the police, the imob etc).
When Jacbson gets riled and angry.
tos sever. e secm to lose the harsh edge.
While its exciting in "Pulp Fiction," it
almost seems now that Samuel L.
,1,bsiI is pLhsing Samtel I Jacksoni
paing 0 te origitrI Simft there's als'
a shims grn iir gleam in his eve and an
ovL crfeeitig tht part of him honesky
enjos heitg a "bd motherfucker"
After Shalt arrests racist prep boy
Walter Wade, Jr. (Christian Bale) for the
murder of an African-American bar
patron, he slugs Bale's chiseled, smart-
mouthed snob, which leads the police
chief to fire him on the spot. Shaft's sitsm-
ple retort follows with "For what'?" and
another brutish punch to Wade's face.
And Jackson gives this doe eyed, inno-
3k
cent look as he asks, "That?" Kick in tI
Hayes funky theme and we, along wi
Jackson, smile as Shaft makes it his mi
sion to avenge the patron's murder.
To put the rich and above-the-la
Wade behind bars, Shaft must find ti
key witness to the crime, waitress Diat
Palmieri (Toni Colette) before Wade
to her. Assisting the cat that "won*
you down'" is detective friend Cartn
asquz (Vanessa Willianis) and sid<
kick Rasaan (Busta Rhymes). The
search leads them to encounter loc.
Dominican drug lord Peoples Hernande
(JrlTrey Wit lit) a man high on himse
and his P
Ilere the fiim tbkes a tum that doesn
comtpietely work We shit rnom Wde t
I iemandecz as the strvs main villain an
by the end. Singletonl I av'sus with a gu
toting, blood squirting shoot out a*
predictable resolutionthat feels rather a
That aside "Shaft" is one cool cat it
his black leather jackets and even darke
shades. And the film is a fun time -
though it may prove too fun as there's
sneaking suspicion this could turn into
something like the Rndfr'nhise-
By Ed Baraf
Daly Arts Writer
The Electronic Entertainment
Expo, more commonly known as E3.
is a 3-day video game conference
held for and by the industry. And as
it is not a public event the informa-
tion and games shown at it are much
sought after by the gatinig commu-
tity. This is where the media comes
in. I recently attended E3 on behalf
of The Michigan Daily. I saw all the
booths, played all the games, and
aggressively questioned the
exhibitors to get the most up-to-date
information for the rest of 2000 and
into 2001.
The atmosphere of this year's E3
really exemplified the overall feel of
the industry, which is one of undis-
putable success and prosperity. This
year's show was held in Los Angeles
at the L.A Convention Center and it
spanned 3 huge halls and 2 smaller
(yet still very large) halls. Everyone
seemed lively and there was a defi-
nite feeling of permanence in the air.
With Microsoft unwilling to
divulge any new information on the
X-Box since the Game Developers
Conference in March, citing the sys-
tem's far-in-the-future release date
and their focus on the current mar-
ket, as well as Nintendo's adatiancy
to make no announcements about
Dolphin and the Game Boy Advance
until their Space World Show in
August, the focus of the console
wars was on Nirtendo 64,
Dreamcast. and Playstation 2.
Nintendo's booth, which was the
most extravagant and flashy (beware
of Pokemon), could have easily not
been there.
While Nintendo showed off a lot
of their outstanding first party and
second party games most if not all of
them had been shown previously, so
there just wasn't anything special.
However in a jaw-dropping change
for Nintendo, "Conker'' Fur
Day," a 3d platformer from Ra - was
displayed in a side room with beers
on the house. Yes, Nintendo, the
makers of Mario and Kirby were giv-
ing away free beer to promote
Conker's BFD's mature themes.
By the time one had looked
through their entire selection it was
evident that this was the last year for
the N64 however there will be some
AAA releases in the next 5 months.
The top 3 games of their booth were:
"Perfect Dark" by Rare, set to
break all the high water marks that
their "Goldeneye" set years ago. The
game screams high production val-
ues and Rare has evidently play-test-
ed PD to perfection. After an hour of
both single and multi-player play it is
clear that PD has broken those marks
and set new ones.
The gameplay and graphics of EA's 'Madden 2k1' make it a revolutionary sports
Time's
Running
Out...
"Zelda: Majora's Mask" by
Nintendo, the follow up to the N64's
"Zelda: The Ocarina of Time." While
it uses the same engine as the origi-
nal, Nintendo has made sure to add
more than enough nuances and play
modes to make this game spectacu-
lar. Also with the game's impending
time limit (due to a moon crashing
into the planet) this new Zelda has a
much greater feel of urgency.
"Conker's Bad Fur Day" by Rare,
another 3D platformer in the ways of
"Donkey Kong 64." Because of sonme
twisted individuals it has become
one of the most humorous and down
right strange platformers of all time.
The easiest n'ay to describe it is to
imagine The Care Bears mixed with
the movie "American Pie." There is
just something gut wrenchingly
hilarious about watching cute little
animals get drunk, high, curse each
other off and chase after scantly
dressed animals. You have to see it to
believe it.
Sega's booth was huge and lots of
fun. Last year at E3 they kept rep*
ing that when the PS2 comes around
it will be more technologically
advanced but the Dreamcast is where
all the games will be. Despite many
naysavers that seems to be the case.
Sega's biggest push this year is
narrowband Internet connection
They say that broadband, what the
PS2 will offer, is still way too far ir
the future and until then narrowbane
on the Dreamcast is going to be the
way to go. Sega also made two
big sales announcements. The fitW
the offer of a free Dreatncast witha
2-yearnsubscription to their ISP an
the second is a $50 dollar price drop
making the Dreamcast now cost hali
of what the Playstation will cost:
S150. So wvhile Sega's objective
seemed to be pushing the Internet
connectivity, all their games were
more fun and more hip than anything
at Sony's booth. Sega also had ii*
genre-busting games.
"Shenmue" by Sega is the much-
hyped brainchild of the legendary
See GAMES, Page 12
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