10 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, June 2, 2003
'Wrong Turn does right
By Zach Mabee
Daily AtsWste
MOVI E REVI EW * *
Director Rob Schmidt's "Wrong Turn"
may very well be a sensationalized, mod-
ern rendering of "Deliverance," devoid
of character development and theme and
replete with wanton gore and horror vio-
lence; nonetheless, it makes for an
unsettling yet satisfactory movie.
going experience.
Chris (Desmond Harrington, "Ghost
Ship") is an aspiring, young doctor driv-
ing his vintage Mustang through West
Virginia en route to a job interview in
Raleigh. Upon getting entangled in a
mess of traffic resulting from a jack-
knifed chemical truck, Chris opts to cir-
cumvent the traffic jam by taking an
unpaved mountain road. The road less
traveled proves not to be the wisest,
though, as he rear ends a broken down
SUV after glancing away from the road
for several seconds.
After regaining his bearings, Chris
introduces himself
to the group of Wrong Turn
young travelers led At Quality 16 and
by Jessie (Eliza Showcase
Dushku, "Jay and 20th Century Fox
Silent Bob Strike
Back"), only to find out that their tires
were puncturedby barbed wire apparent-
ly laid in the road by pranksters. The
group decides to separate, sending Chris,
Jessie and two others to finda telephone
while another two remain at the car.
The phone seekers eventually locate a
cabin that, judging by the smoking chim-
ney, is inhabited; however, upon entering,
the group finds itself to be in the lair of a
band of savage hunters that has indeed
taken human victims, including their
friends they left at the car. The film
Is Paul's hair on fire?
evolves into a brutal struggle for survival
against an enemy that redefines savagery.
"Wrong Turn" is an unapologetic
exercise in titillating thrills and horror
special effects. The makers paired spe-
cial effects genius Stan Winston (cre-
ator of creatures in "Aliens,"
"Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and
"Jurassic Park") with the producers of
"I Know What You Did Last Summer"
and "Resident Evil" to craft a film that
captures the eerie suspense and intrigue
of desolate wilderness while also show-
casing intense horror carnage.
Little praise can be given to the other
technical facets of "Wrong Turn," but
frankly, those involved with the project
didn't likely seek commendation for the
rest of the film. Its score wasn't remark-
able, the acting and cast were both
mediocre and the screenplay was formu-
laic; however, in comparison to many
others in its genre and for its achieve-
ments in its focal areas, "Wrong Turn"
deserves praise.
ARTS
PRINCE PAUL, POLITICS OF THE
BUSINESS; RAZOR &TIE RECORDS
Rap pioneer and producer 'Prince
Paul' Huston (De La Soul, Handsome
Boy Modeling School) has been laud-
ed by critics for his groundbreaking
sample-heavy style and beloved by
hardcore hip-hop-heads for his off-
kilter sense of humor. But apparently
being a luminary is bringing in nei-
ther the respect nor the cash from the
established music industry.
Paul's latest solo album Politics of Playa Hayta Numba
Business, his first since leaving
Tommy Boy, is a bile-filled concept nal producers in th
record that lashes out at the "hip-pop" off the Neptunes.
that has dominated airwaves and con- hack come-lately
sumer's wallets. With a cynical "can't Pharrell himself), i
beat 'em, join 'em," the legendary of mind-screw the
producer drops his trademark cut- for.
and-paste style and knowingly sub- Of course Paul
verts the ultra-jiggy beats of the trite true colors so mu
mainstream crap he's rallying against. efforts to sound li
The irony of one of the most origi- -- well he can't.V
MC HONKY, IAM THE MESSIAH;
SPIN ART RECORDS
Mark Everett better known E. of the Eels, probably would-
n't mind if you referred to him as an eccentric.
His band's unique wry, bittersweet intro-
spections often draw the catch-all label
of 'quirky' in reviews like this.
So E. has taken the title as a
badge of honor and runs with it
with his new side project, MC
Honky, a collection of playful
sonic collages which E. attrib-
utes alter-ego Honky, a retired
pottery tycoon putting out
.: "self-help
<rock" to aid
those in the
kind of
pain that
the Eels
usually fix-
ate onduring
their records.
a1.
e game just ripping
like every other
does (including
s precisely the kind
Prince is shooting
can only hide his
ch, and for all his
ke everybody else
While the mandito-
ry skits aren't quite as funny as on
past records and generally the per-
formances are a bit lackluster, the
power and unity of Paul's vision of a
hip-hop world where money doesn't
drive every decision and creativity
trumps thug posing carries the
album past it's shortcomings.
- Scott Serilla
Messiah transcends its own tongue-in-check premise and
smartly bucks tie usual creative and topic expectations of an
Eels record, as well as commercial ones by being released on
indie Spin Arts rather than DreamWorks, the Eels usual home.
The record's witty recycling experiments suggest a cleaned-
up Mellow Gold-era Beck (see "3 Turntables & 2 Microphone
for further prove), while the borrowed beats and hook-laden
organ line of single "Sonnet No. 3 (Like a Duck)" recalls the,
best parts of Medeski, Martin & Wood's collaborations with DJ
Logic. The eclectic mix of MC Honky trash picking ranges
from Las Vegas lounge horns to Tin Pan crooner to comically
whining answering machine message to angelic chorus, which
all more or less blend into a coherent whole, always skipping
one step ahead of annoying art project.
Maybe in a better world, MC Honky would get his implicit
desire to have a shot at scaling the Billboard Hot 100, playing
in the background as both old and young more cheerfully
shopped for fuel efficient SUVs and identical futuristic silver
suits made of space-age materials. Maybe world hunger, AIDs
and Vin Diesel would all come crashing down if we all listen
to this album and tapped our toes. Maybe...
4
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Continued from Page 9
which delineate from the expected
blue (well, it's water and water is
usually blue). They even moved
away from the typical Disney style
of dark equating bad and light repre-
senting good, as the fish tank and
dentist's office, both awful homes
for fish, are some of the most light-
ed areas, whereas even the cheery
coral reef is sometimes portrayed in
dark hues.
It would be wrong to expect a
sing-along style Disney film, yet
this movie raises the bar for all gen-
res of children's films.
Even those not particu-
larly interested in anima-
tion will notice just;
how realistically the '
characters are por-
trayed. The minutia
within this film real- '
ly sticks out; one
scene in particular,
when Dory and Marlin are stuck
within the mouth of a whale, treats
- Scott Serilla
the audience to realistic movement
as even the bristles in the whale's
mouth seem graceful and active.
Pixar's technical directors have
gradually moved toward more
realistic animation,
starting with the
plastic figures in
the "Toy Story"
series to the fine
hairs on the monsters
in "Monster's Inc." and now to
the constant fluidity of the coral
reefs and underwater world in
"Finding Nemo."
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