Jeanine Noce, A & E Editor
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`Memento'
by Paige Miles
assistant managing editor
A picture is said to be worth a
thousand words, but can it be the
only savior to a man's life? "Me
mento," directed by Christopher
Nolan, leaves the viewer to walk out
of the theater in a disturbed mind
state--similiar to that of Leonard
Shelby's.
Leonard Shelby has a short-term
memory disorder in which he can
only remember what he learned be
fore his "accident." After the "acci
dent," Shelby (Guy Pearce) cannot
remember anything that occurs over
a mere few seconds. He learns to
live with his disorder by writing
notes and snapping a ridiculous
amount of Polaroids.
Kiss of the Dragon,
Action and suspense come alive
by Dawn Russell
contributing writer
An action-packed movie
that came to theaters this
summer was "Kiss of the
Dragon," starring Jet Li
and Bridget Fonda. The
movie is about a Chinese
government agent (Li) who
is sent to Paris to help out
a police officer, Richard,
and the rest of his force.
When Li gets to Paris,
the mission goes bad and
he realizes that it was all a
setup. Now that he has
found out about Richard's opera
tion, the entire force is after him.
They set Li up and accuse him
of many crimes that he did not
commit. Li is on the run for the
rest of the movie.
As Li is in hiding and working
to clear his name, he runs across
Jessica (Bridget Fonda). He
learns that Jessica is one of the
many women that Richard has
Movies
-Rock'
-The Musketeer'
*Release Date: 9/7
Original, with a twist
Shelby is determined to find the
man who murdered his wife, which
he hazily remembers as the night he
was knocked unconcious, causing his
"condition."
"John G murdered your wife," is
tattooed backwards on his chest to re
mind him of his mission, along with
several other clues tattooed all over
his body leading to whom he believes
ruined his life.
"Memento" throws the viewer for
a loop by starting with the last scene
in which Shelby is waiting for a
Polaroid to dry of the man he just
shot—the man he believes killed his
wife. From the last scene, the movie
progresses—or regresses—scene by
scene until the very beginning. Es
sentially, it is as if the viewer devel
ops Shelby's short-term memory
Jet Li stars in 'Kiss of the Dragon.'
forced into prostitution. He took
her daughter away from her, and
uses her to keep her working on
the streets. Jessica and Li end
up helping each other out so that
they both can get what they want
and return to their normal lives.
"Kiss of the Dragon" is a very
exciting movie with outstanding
fighting and martial arts.
The movie is very good; how-
- `Memento'
- `Waltz Across
Texas'
-Me You Them'
- `Shadow Magic'
-The Legend of
Hell House'
"Farescape: Vol 6"
5625 adults (friday - Saturday) I
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Video*
Special thanks to Media PI
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Summer Movie Review II
"condition."
"Memento" is a very intelligent
and original film that keeps the
viewer on the edge of his seat, at
tempting to make sense of it all
and discover who really murdered
the late Mrs. Shelby. The acting
is excellent, provided only three
characters truly make up the full
story. All the rest of the scenes are
just details...details Shelby doesn't
care to remember.
"Memento" was released on DVD
and video on Sept. 4.
**** out of 4
ever, it does have one down
fall. The one disappointing
aspect is that it really did
not have much of a plot.
Also, the movie was some
times hard to follow, but
the constant action and the
intriguing love story
seemed to keep everyone's
interest
The ending is filled with
suspense and will keep you
on the edge of your seat
The title of the movie is not
brought into play or understood
until the end of the movie. If
you are someone that is into ac
tion movies, this definitely is
one to watch
*** out of 4
TINSELTOWN
Phone. 814-866-3444
•Stereo sound
In all auditoriums
53.50 first matinee
(Monday -Friday)
$4.50 seniors and children
$430 shows
before s:oopm
56.50 adults (Sunday -Thursday)
-System of a Down
-Mariah Carey
-Backstreet Boys
(Around the World)
y for providing information
Friday, September 7, 2001
•Handicap
accessible
Music*
-Nickelback
`Pearl Harbor'- the movie is a bomb
by Jeanine Noce
arts & entertainment editor
Everyone knows that summer is
the time when most college stu
dents go see concerts or movies.
This summer I did my share of
both. One of the movies on my list
was to see "Pearl Har
bor;" unfortunately, the
movie was a bomb
Although people
might confess to a lack
of knowledge of the ac
tual event, the only
relavent piece of infor-
mation pertaining to
this war was that the
United States was
bombed on the morn
ing of December 7,
1941. "Pearl Harbor"
did a poor job opening
audience's eyes to the
events leading up to the attack
The movie began with two
young boys - Rafe McCawley
(Ben Affleck,) and Danny Walker
(Josh Hartnett.) playing outside of
their house. The two are intrigued
by planes and even begin to learn
to fly in a small fighter plane.
This segues into the present-day,
where they are grown men who
want to train to he fighter pilots.
Both are drafted and stationed in
Hawaii, an assignment that's more
about tropical pleasures than war.
After arriving in Hawaii, Danny is
assigned as an aviator in the U.S.
Army Corps and Rafe was assigned
to the British Royal Air Force, as
Rafe is selected by the British be
fore the United States entered
World War H.
`Jackpot': audience
by Rita Kempley
The Washington Post
A karaoke singer embarks on a
quest for success in his pink
Chrysler New Yorker in "Jackpot,"
but he might as well have set out
in a walker, given the movie's fu
nereal pace. Part character study,
part road trip, the monotonous,
pretentiously directed film follows
the crooner from one bleak West
ern town to the next, but like the
self-deluded hero, it never gets
anywhere.
Then again, the odds are always
against Sunny Holiday (Jon Gries),
a mediocre performer whose
clueless manager, Les (Garrett
Morris), encourages his misguided
pursuit of fame and fortune.
One day soon, Les promises,
Sunny's albums will be featured at
Wal-Marts and he will be besieged
by autograph seekers. That's not
to say he doesn't have groupies al-
DVD*
-`Memento'
- `Backstreet Boys
Around the World)'
No one is seriously thinking
about what could possibly happen
if the United States and Japan go
to war in Hawaii. Then, Evelyn
Stewart (Kate Beckinsale) is as
signed to be a nurse along with her
other friends. These five girls are
Pearl Harbor' stars Josh Hartnett and Ben Affleck
extremely excited to travel and are
looking forward to meeting the
newly drafted men.
The story also has a romantic
twist. Rafe and Evelyn fall in love
before he is sent to the British Air
force. But after he is assigned to
the British, Evelyn receives a no
tice that he was killed. This allows
Danny to win Evelyn's heart and
they fall in love. So, Evelyn has
fallen in love with two best friends,
which (of course) is a cause for di
saster.
And none of this really has any
thing to do with the actual events
in Pearl Harbor. The movie needed
to have something that would at
tract both women and men, but it
seemed more interesting to women.
It deals with love and heartache
ready naive and needy women, whom
he uses for sex and throws away. In
one case, he tries to seduce a child.
And it's on to the next karaoke con
test in Sunny's 43-city tour. If he
winds up with prize money on a given
night, he and Les can afford a room
and a burger. If there's anything left
over, Sunny buys a lottery ticket and
sends it to his wife (Daryl Hannah) in
lieu of child support. Mostly, how
ever, the partners wind up sleeping in
the Chrysler, counting their pennies
for gas and running out on diner
checks
Les, zealously played by Moms, is
as wrongheaded as his client, though
he prides himself in his professional
ism. After all, he's had plenty of ex
perience as a manager _ he once ran
an apartment building with 34 units.
He also sets a great store in prayer.
Les never sends Sunny onstage with
out calling upon the Lord, who re
mains indifferent to Les' petitions.
Though Gries readily brings Sunny
The Behrend Beacon
and did not have much action or
suspense. Approximately 45 min
utes into the movie and the main
focus was still only the love tri
angle. This could have been cut
down to five or 10 minutes and the
movie would not have dragged on.
However, there is
a break in this mushy
soap opera love story
when Pearl Harbor 1 , ,
bombed. This movie
reportedly
granted the largest
motion picture budget
in history with a price
tag of $145 million for
the three hour and
minute film. The 40
minutes of bombing
was the only part that
made spending $7.50
worthwhile. It
seemed as though the audience had
entered a video game and was right
there inside of it.
The Japanese attack is explained
away as a regrettable course of ac
tion done by a nation in the face of
economic ruin. However, there is
not enough time spent explaining
this angle in the movie.
"Pearl Harbor" is the "Titanic'
of war movies. The entire plot is
based on a soap opera love story
and does not depict the true hard
ships or despair that the Americans
faced during the bombing of Pearl
Harbor.
* out of 4
loses big
to life, the sulky, self-centered char
acter is so reprehensible we wish he
hadn't. Had the story focused on
Les, there would he some reason to
care. But it doesn't and there isn't.
Even Hannah's abandoned wife is
annoyingly shrill.
Nobody hits the jackpot here, cer
tainly not filmmakers Michael and
Mark Polish, whose audacious, em
pathic first film, "Twin Falls Idaho,"
showed such promise.
Unhappily the brothers seem to
share Sunny's overinflated sense of
importance.
_ 'Jackpot' (100 minutes) is rated R
for profanity and sexual situations.
* out of 4
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