r ,: of vim. 3 .Ni6...e Saigon Kicks out the jams What's Thanksgiving without a little cheese? Saigon Kick brightens up your turkey day with gloriously retro metal. Catch 'em at the I-Rock this Thursday; call (313) 881-ROCK for more information. Page 5 Wenesday, November 22, 1995 Sory' toys with technology Ted Waftt ly Arts Writer There's a Disney animated feature t, and it's different than any other imated feature by anyone to date causeitis the first computer anima- n feature. It is "Toy Story," and if u haven't heard about it, you must ve had your TV off for the last veral weeks. Created by Disney and Pixar, the mputer animation house that cre- d the Oscar winning short "Tin y" several years back, "Toy Story" twell-executed and well-conceived >ject. The fact that the hype sur- unding the film has downplayed m Hanks's presence as the voice of oody in favor of allowing it to stand itsownmerits shouldtell yousome- REMW TIy tory Directed by John Lasseter, with the voicesd of Tom Hanks andTim Alen At Showcase thing about its quality. It is the story of a community of toys who live in the room of a boy named Andy. Whennohumans are aroundthe toys come to life. Their leader by the fact that he is Andy's favorite toy is Woody, a cowboy action figure with a grainy pull-string voice. The other toys consist of various recognizable toys, from brand name products like Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles) and Slinky Dog (Jim "Ernest" Varney) to popular generic toys like the piggy bank named Hamm (John Ratzenberger). Conflict arises when Andy gets a new toy for his birthday: Buzz Lightyear, Space Ranger (Tim Allen). Because of his shiny gadgetry and mod look, Buzz supplants Woody in the place of honor on Andy's bed. Woody is heartbroken by this, and becomes adversarial with the new ar- rival. In an attempt to temporarily get rid of Buzz by dropping him down a crack behind a desk, Woody accidentally knocks him out of the window, peril- ously close to the home of neighbor- hood toy sadist Sid. Sid is a creepy kind nfm blnwinotnv dicmmbrn other. He is, not surprisingly, an object of great fear for the toys. Woody is vilifiedby the othertoys forhis actions, and goes after Buzz so that he can rectify the situation. From there on in, it becomes a buddy movie. Woody and Buzz are at odds, andultimately need to work together and gain a greater under- standing of each other in order to get back to the safety of Andy. "ToyStory"takesthestandardbuddy movie and uses it with the advanced technology of computer animation and makes you forget just how formulaic buddy films are. The look is more than enough to keep it entertaining, and to distract you from the hack storyline. And the look is really what this movie is about. Oneofthemoststartlingthingsabout the movie is the use of camera move- ment. In normal cel animation, it is difficulttohave aconvincing shot where the background changes perspective or size because the normally stationary background becomes animated. Even in stop-motion animation like "The Nightmare Before Christmas" itsis ex- tremely difficult to have interesting camera movement because of the vast amounts of time and intricate camera computations required to move frame by frame through a given shot. "Toy Story" has interesting camera move- ment up the Jack-in-the-Box. It avoids the problems in cel or stop motion ani- mation because the world created in computer animation is in three dimen- sions and has no real life movement consideration. It therefore looks like a Buzz ughtyear, the coo,, wane-spaniing-new aasrnaut mthatupsets the oraer ou rungin -io my moy. ogy lets it. More importantly, the characters are well animated. The plastic army men are both convincing as plastic army men and as plastic army men imbued with life and movement. Woody and Buzz, the two primary anthropomor- phic toys, both move in reasonably hu- man ways, but with suitable exaggera- tion for their roles as toys. Itsis impor- tant that Woody can walk realistically, but it's nearly as important that his eyes be able to spin around within his head. Fortunately, both requirements are met, andnotjust with Woody. The computer models of the characters have enough gestures and expressions to impartboth believabilityand humor. Andthat's iust what they needed. A point which is both an asset and a liability is the textures. The choice of toysasthemaincharactersforthis film was made deliberately, because the technology lends itself very well to creating them. Smooth plastic objects are very well rendered in this film. The characters' skin, Buzz'shelmet, Slinky Dog's Slinky are all shiny, uncompli- cated surfaces. Even limited textures, such as the grain in the plastic of Mr. Potato Head or polished wood sur- faces, are well executed. The texture of human skin and hair, however, has not yet been perfected. Or even really worked upon, from the look of the humansin"TovStorv."Theirhairlooks like Astroturf and theirskin is so smooth you'd think it was made of plastic. But that isn't what is trying to be imparted. Insteadofacleardifferencebetweenthe toys and the humans, you get the unset- tling perception that thehumans arejust big toys. This seems a little too odd when there is some beautifully textured distressed paint on the walls of the sets. Well, it is a technology in the works. "Toy Story" is a pretty good first effort for a computer animated film. It has a standard Hollywood story line, star voices, a new and interesting look done fairly well and lots of jokes about Mr. Potato Head's parts coming off. And if you go for it, maybe Disney will produce more non-sissy animation. Pdy and Buzz, the film's bddles. Carrington' labut efresh ftVEW Carrington Directed by Christopher Hampton; with Emma Thompson and Jonathan Pryce At the Michigan Theater Kristen Okosky - y Arts Writer Fromthewriterof"DangerousLiaisons" erypromisingsigninitself),"Carrington" estoryofEnglishpainterDoraCarrington d her long term relationship with oomsbury writer, Lytton Strachey. The film spans a time period from 1915 gh 1930. It is, as billed, about two ple who defy the conventionalmorality their time in order to live as honestly as sible.But thestrengthof"Carrington"is t it goes deeper than this. It deals with mplex issues of human identity. The film is about two individuals who plore the ambiguities of personal rela- nships,bothemotionally and sexually. arrington" avoids simplistic charac- 'zation and one-dimensional stereo- es. On the surface, the plot sounds almost e a bad soap opera. Carrington falls ly in love with Lytton, who is a mosexual twice her age. Unexpect- ly, the two develop an strong mutual ection and respect and end up living gether. They begin an affair with rrington'sfriend,Ralph Partridge,who o moves in. In this oddlovetriangle, Ralph falls for or guy, DOWng toys up, use eng ,...... ....J .w , v .. ..,J ..,..,,). .. ,.. 'Devil Love' a wrenching look at life By Kristin Cleary For the Daily "Waming: This Show Contains Adult Themes That May BeOffensive."Thesign hangingontheentrancewaytothisweekend's production of "Devil Love" tipped me off that this play might be one of the more interestingshowsIhadseeninawhile.This assumptioncouldnothavebeentruer. From the second we entered the theater, the audi- ence was saturated with "adult themes" by the means of the twisted lives of two of the strangest characters in theater. Performed by the University Depart- ment of Theater and Drama's Basement Arts group, the cast was mainly com- posed of two main characters: SugaRee SugaRee (playedby Ingrid Eggertsen), a wanna-be go-go dancer and phone-sex girl;and Roy Eisenstadt(playedby Randy Kurstin), a nerdy, self-mutilating hermit. Therelationship betweenthetwochar- acters is abusive and detrimental to both individuals; unfortunately, however, this pattem is not recognized until nearly the end of the play. Before the finish, both characters have been so contorted by the influence of the other that they have lost completely their sense of identity. The play ends with an eerie role-reversal that definitely sends the audiencehomethink- ing. "Devil Love"was written by a former Department of Theater and Drama stu- VIEW Arena Theater November 17, 1995 dent who, according to director John Neville-Andrews "wished to remain somewhat anonymous."With allthesoul- searchingandself-probingthatmusthave gone into the creation of the show, I can definitely see why. "Devil Love" is a play thatclosely examinesthe difference between the public and private lives of individuals. In fact, the examination in this case is so close that it aids in the eventual destruction of both characters. It seems as if, through "Devil Love," Masters is questioning the reality of the facades that each individual presents to society as a whole. As Neville-Andrews said in an interview preceding the show, "I think the most important theme is, Who are we really? Are we the people we present to the outside world, to our friends, to our loved ones, to our fami- lies? Or are we someone else, and is that someone else deserving of being re- leased?" These are precisely the themes intensely examined in "Devil Love." The actual production ofthe play isan interesting story in itself. Theaudienceis firstintroducedto SugaRee as shesugges- tively dances and writes about the stage. Soonafterthispoint,shelosesherclothing and for the rest of the play wears skimpy underwear and knee-high fishnet stock- ings. The play is wrought with a sexual frustrationthat isnever consummated be- tween the two main characters, despite their constant groping of one another. Throughout the play, SugaRee's seduc- tive actions, dances and monologues heightened the sexual tension within the show. The two main actors did an excellent job with theunorthodoxsituationbetween them. Even in the most unrealistic scenes, the relationshipbetween the two was sur- prisingly realistic. The transformation of qualitiesbetweenthetwotookplacegrace- fully, making the end of the play a tribute to the acting abilities of the main charac- ters. "I want the audience to be affected by the play. I want them to recognize some- thing in themselves that they might want togohome andtake care of,"said Neville- Andrews. Itsis safe to say that everyone confronted with the graphic scenes and disturbing nature of "Devil Love" was definitely affectedby it. The authorofthis untraditional play shouldbe congratulated for a heartwrenching and fulfilling pro- duction that may in fact impact several members of the audience. Carrington, while Lytton falls for Ralph. Because she loves Lytton, Carrington marries Ralph to keep the three of them together. Throughout the course of the relationship, they each take on other out- side lovers as well. Buttheemotional depthofsincereaffec- tion, insecurity and quiet desperation the castbringstotheircharacterskeepsthestory relatively safe from melodrama. Although Emma Thompson does not physically look the part (which is mildly disturbing), weean't blame filmmakers for wantingtocasther.Herincredibletalentand range in portraying Carrington's strengths and vulnerabilities make up for most prob- lems. Jonathan Pryce's performance (for which he won the Best Actor award at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival) is also very strong. The film does a good job capturing the time period and its distinct mood. The cos- tumesandsetsarebeautifully detailed.Dora Carrington's paintings - which were not availablefor shooting-were recreated by artist Jane Gifford who copied the works directly, while incorporating locations and actors involved. Themajor problem with "Carrington"is its frostratingly fast pace. Short, choppy scenesdelaytheaudience'sabilitytoengage deeply with the characters and keep us at a distance throughout the film. Although filmmakers are admirably trying to cover a large portion of Carrington's life, their rush really de- tracts from the impact ofthe film. During themostmoving,heartbreakingmoments, we are barely allowed time to register a reaction. The next scene begins, before any kind ofemotionalreflection can take place. In the last scene, Carrington is finally left alone to think. Both she and our emotions are allowed play. This contrast withtherestofthe filmmakesit clearthat there should have been more of these touching moments spread throughout. Although itis a bleak and sad explora- tion of the world of love, "Carrington" is interesting and definitely worthwhile. It is refreshing to seea movie that can still makeyouthinkandfeelfiveminutesafter you leave the theater. BU. 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