Jeanine Noce, A & E Editor behrco!ls @ aol.com Pop princesses hit the big screeni rltney ‘Spears' starilni role Poji star Britney Spears’ “Crossroads” big-screen debut waa the hot spot for giggling young girls this weekend at Tinseltown. A few guys also seemed to enjoy it because Spears definitely got the chance to show off her assets. The film is rpted PG-13, but it does push toward R at times. The movie starts out with three eighth grade girls burying a box filled with items that symbolizes their dreams for the future. Pour years later, the girls, who grew apart over the years, get together to dig up the box on graduation night. The next day the girls, who are barely on speaking terms, fitKTtiwmselves going on a road trip with a guy that one of the girls saw singing at a local bar. Lucy (Spears) hopes to find her mother in Arizona. Kit (ZoB Salfona) wants to surprise her fiance out in California where he is attending school. Mimi (Taryn Manning) is preg nant, but wants to get a record deal in LA, and Ben (Anson Mcaint) drives the three girls, even though he is alleged to have'Wlted*mtm? ' {S atthe age of 18, has pkptyyt to change on graduation night with her lab part- beer would most likely be die best choice out of the two. ner, Saldana’s character is the self-centered one of the group. Top 25 date movies will keep you in the mood after popcorn is gone The No. 10 spot belongs to, “Good Will Hunting,” a movie about friend ship, math, and “seeing about a girl.” A good date movie is one that re- The No. 9 movie, “Forrest Gump,” ally puts you and your honey in the is a great movie for your first or SO" 1 mood for love. It appeals to both date and No. 8, “Dirty Dancing” will sexes,' sparks an interesting conver- make even the shyest of guys want sation, and might even lead to a little to get their groove on. hand holding. E network’s “Rank,” Coming in at No. 7 is, “Pretty hosted by Brooke Burke, put in or- Woman,” a story of a hooker who der the best 25 date movies of the last turns a trick that lands her in the lap 25 years. of her very own prince charming. Coming in at No. 25 is “Top Gun” No. 6 will test your date’s ability to with Tom Cruise. No. 24 is the clas- laugh at a twisted love story and a sic, old-fashioned love story, “The new kind of hair gel in, ‘There’s Princess Bride” and No. 23 is “The Something About Mary.” ‘Titanic” Bodyguard.” No. 22 is “Say Any- is No. son the list while the No. 4 thing,” with John Cusack and rank- position goes to, “Shakespeare In ing at No. 21 is “Legends of the Fall.” Love.” No. 20, “The Sixth Sense,” is the “If you can’t get lucky after this movie you don’t want to miss if movie, you can’t get lucky in a j jj| Chris nix’s Video Picks A weekly entertainment guide ■ to current movie rentals by Megan McNamara staff writer I Once again, Behrend movie I watchers, Chris Flix returns on the | scene to give you the high and low 1 of this week’s movie rentals. ■ For all you psychology majors ■out there, I am sure you guys are ■ going to love my pick this week, if 2 you haven’t already seen it. “Don t JSay A Word,” starring Michael ■Douglas and Brittany Murphy, is a fl superb psychological thriller about |a girl (Murphy) with important in | formation locked up somewhere in | her mind. It is up to a child psy ■chiatrist (Douglas) to get the infor ■ raation out of her, before the bad ■ guys do hurtful things to his fun l>iy. by Niki Clouse staff writer you’re looking for a good excuse to reach out and touch your date. It’s the perfect combination of a scary thriller and touching love story. “My Best Friend’s Wedding” ranks at No. 19 while Eddie Murphy and Halle Berry co-star in, “Boomerang”, the pick for No. 18. Who can resist a sexy English accent in No. 17, “Four Weddings and a Funeral”? No. 16 is a hilariously funny movie about an affair with some of mom’s home made apple pie. “American Pie” is guaranteed to make you laugh. No. 15 is “While You Were Sleep ing,” No. 14 is “Bridget Jones Diary,” and No. 13 takes us to the “Moulin Rouge.” Coming in at No. 12 is, “Out of Sight,” and Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks rank at No. 11 in “Sleepless in Seattle.” This is a great, fast-paced movie and it does really keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. The director could have cut out an irrel evant scene or two here or there, but that is my only complaint because I sincerely liked this movie. Douglas does an awesome job as the shrink, and Murphy was remarkable, as well. Want to know my grade for this movie? “I’ll never te11...” Just kid ding, I couldn’t resist. Chris Flix Grade: B+ While channel surfing on a boring summer day, did you ever happen to land on MTV in the middle of an eight hour “Daria” marathon, and wonder who watches this stuff? Well, PHO > COURTESY OF i Kit’s attitude really clashes with Mimi’s because Kit always tries to act as though she is better than Mimi, which results in numerous fights. Yes, there are punches thrown during those catfights. Spears does not embarrass herself in front of the camera. She actually makes it look as though she has done acting for the big screen before. Although she’s more promising than Mariah Carey in “Glitter” and Mandy Moore in “A Walk to Remember," this is probably not going to be the break through for her in an acting career. The movie does touch upon real teen problems such as pregnancy, heartbreaks and rape, but it pushes away from these issues once it begins to get into them. This may be because the actress/singer needs to protect he - image. The movie is decent for the younger generation, but for a col lege student who may be deciding on whether to spend the $7 on a cheap case of biser or to go and see it has come to my attention that the freaks and geeks of society do have a voice, and the world is interested in dull, weird, mad-at-the-world charac ters similar to Daria. My example is “Ghost World,” star ring Steve Buscemi and Thora Birch. It is about a pair of high school friends who have big plans after graduation, but one of them (Birch) falls short as she gets tangled in her life of self miseiy and gloominess. So, she meets a nerdy jazz fanatic (Buscemi) and plays with his emotions to keep her self entertained. Now, I myself have never been into the whole Daria-like “life sucks” thing, so I thought this movie was Friday, February 22,2002 ley tars /sin ross- *ads,’ the try of fee lildhood tends, .10 after eight years apart, rediscover their friendship on a cross jntry tHp. ★ ★ m II outof4\ MTS & Handy adds ‘Moore’ to her rosnme m pop If you find the catchy pop lyrics of Mandy Moore growing on you more and more, then so will her acting in the movie “A Walk to Remember,” based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks. Though her character was irritating at first, Moore’s acting was impressive as she toned down her sexy pop star image to play the role of Jamie Sullivan, a conservative and unpopu lar girl who is more interested in the world and helping others than being part of the “in-crowd” in high school. However, her world gets turned upside down when she encoun ters Landon Carter (Shane West), a popular, yet troubled boy. When Landon gets in trouble with the school, he is required to do com munity service, and he isn’t too happy about it. Landon feels that par ticipating in activities such as the school play would hurt his image. At first, he does not put forth much effort, and doesn’t take what he is doing seriously. Since Jamie also participates in community service, the two become friends, but strictly “secret” friends As they spend more time together, they become closer and closer. Jamie opens Landon’s mind and makes him realize that there is more to life than .just.beipg.coql. I-andon starts seeing Jamie as a wonderful and intriguing person, not the geek that all his friends see her as. women’s prison,” said Danny Bonaduce about “Ghost” which came in at third. Earning the silver medal is a movie with a great mix of sports, loyalty and of course, love. “Jerry Maguire” had fans everywhere quoting “Rank’s” most memorable pick-up line, “you had me at hello.” Finally, drum roll please.. .the No. 1 date movie of all time is, “When Harry Met Sally,” with Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan asking the question, “Can men and women just be friends?” This movie is the touch ing story of how opposites attract, how a couple learns to love and re spect one another and, oh yeah, how to fake an orgasm. ■■■■■■■■■■■ pretty bad, saved only by the weird S comer-store junkie with the mullet. 5 But, for all you Daria fans, and ■ those who are interested in the B comic books the movie is based on, I I’m sure you will love it. | Chris Flix Grade: D | Now get to your video store, movie watchers, and take my word for it. lam Chris Flix, your No. 1 movie man, and I will see you next week. Chris used to be a manager at a movie theatre in Virginia and is cur rently an employee at Giant Eagle Video. by Emily Linendoll staff writer Set in the „nds of North Carolina in , mid 19905, “A Walk to ..neni*. follows the rite of passage of a jaded, aimless high school senior as he falls in love with a guileless young womanwhom he and his friends once scorned. The two end up falling in love, and despite what friends say, Landon puts aside his popular image and chooses Jamie over his supposed “real” friends. Unfortunately, their love is caught short, as it must overcome the greatest obstacle ever known to man. I will forewarn you, this movie is a total tearjerker and chick flick, but defi nitely touches the heart. Dramatic and inspirational, this story is about the power of true love and enjoying life to the fullest. It will take you on an emo tional ride you’ll never forget and is well worth the splurge to Tinseltown I was a little hesitant to see this movie at first because I didn’t know much about it or what to expect, and that turned out to be the best part. The John Q’ will do anything by Daniel J. Stasiewski staff writer In 1942, Warner Bros, released a propaganda film in which love is sac rificed for the greater good of stop ping the Nazis. You may have heard of it; it's called “Casablanca.” While "Casablanca” had a superb story wrapped around its very subtle message, director Nick Cassavetes doesn’t hide the fact that his new film "John Q" is propaganda. The film’s often-blatant drive for national health insurance may provide some food for thought, but the inability to mesh any opinion with its story makes “John Q” as monotonous as its title. John Q. Archibald (Denzel Wash ington) and his wife Denise (Kimberly Elise) have hit hard times during the slow economic period. John had been cut back to part-time at the plant, and Denise just took a job as a grocery store clerk to make ends meet. The couple still can’t seem to keep up with all the bills. When their son Mike (Daniel E. Smith) collapses at his Little League game, John and Denise find out Mike’s heart is gradually, undoubtedly failing. Dr. Turner (James Woods), Mike’s cardiologist, tells the Archibalds their son is in desperate need of a transplant, but a hospital fi nancial officer, Rebecca Payne (Anne Heche), informs them that their insur ance won’t pay for the procedure. John searches everywhere for fini cal aid, but even the government can’t help him. His frantic attempts to raise the $75,000 down payment for the $250,000 operation also fails. With out any other clear choice, John Q. takes Dr. Turner and the entire emer gency room hostage. His only de mand is to have his son’s name put on the donor list. I have no problem with a politically biased film. Even some of the heavi est message movies, like 2000’s "The Contender,” manage to let their real agenda take a backseat to the story. “John Q,” however, sees its political motives take the forefront and the film suffers because of it. The not-so-hidden agenda of “John Q” tends to splits the film in two. The plot of John struggling to save his son has its screen time, but it’s too often interrupted with dialogue that is noth ing more than a public service an- The Behrend Beacon only thing that bothered me in the movie was Moore’s character. At times she just seemed a bit too innocent, but as the movie progressed she started to grow on me. Not only was Moore a stunning actress, but an extremely tal ented singer while performing songs in the movie. And if you still can’t get enough of her, she has four songs in cluded in the soundtrack for “A Walk to Remember.” So grab your girlfriends and a box of Kleenex or two, because I promise you, you’re going to need them. ★ ★ ~k out of 4 nouncement. Loud and almost obnox ious outbursts regarding HMOs and health coverage turn what could have been a serious debate into laughable one-sided arguments. The soapbox speeches wouldn’t be half as distracting if they would stick to the topic of national health insur ance. Writer Jeffrey Kearns throws in additional comments about gun control, satirizes the media, and takes shots at political campaign public re lations. The inept comments only add to the distraction of the excessively preachy dialogue. One of the biggest mistakes a film maker could make is showing a lack of confidence in an obviously substan dard story. Cassavetes makes this mistake when he relies on clips of talk shows and politicians to hammer the issue at hand at home. It’s quite sad that the strongest line in the film comes not from any of the characters, but from “Politically Incorrect’s” Bill Maher. Telling us the lack of a national health insurance program is our own fault, the short Bill Maher clip makes the political statement the film wants to but doesn’t. Washington is naturally amazing as the distraught father who makes a bad decision for a good reason. With Washington, a tremendous perfor mance is expected, regardless of the caliber of film. His emotional per formance remains sturdy in the oth erwise feeble film. The other cast members see their performances fall prey to the film’s political agenda. Only one actor other than Washington gives a heartfelt per formance. The son’s male nurse, whose credit is impossible to find, is the strong supporting role this film needs. His sincere and personal fouch to the minor role stands out in a big way. Will “John Q” have people writing their congressmen like the film sug gests on two separate occasions? Who knows? Even if it succeeds in raising awareness about the state of America’s health care system, “John Q” will never amount to anything more than a shoddy propaganda film. . _ . out of 4 Page
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