Page 8
The Behrend Beacon
Washington
review by Daniel J. Stasiewski
Denzel Washington is a diamond in a garbage heap in
"Out of Time." The two-time Academy Award winner
treats this film with the same seriousness he does all his
roles, even though the film is about as serious as a clown
car. And the coincidences and lucky breaks are as unlim
ited as the escaping clowns.
Washington is surrounded by amateurs and hacks, al
lowing the veteran actor to overshadow every other cast
member. The lackluster performances also make
Washington's presence unnatural. The role is more suited
for DMX than Denzel. It's a real tragedy to say this, but
the film is probably worse off with Washington than with
out.
Matt Lee Whitlock (Washington) is the chief of police
for a small Florida community, so having an affair with a
married woman isn't the best way to hang on to the up
standing reputation he just achieved from a substantial drug
bust. Whitlock's wife, Miami Homicide Detective Alex
Diaz (Eva Mendes), left him after he admitted the affair,
but she doesn't say a word about it, nor does know the
woman's identity.
The mistress' name is Anne Merai (Sanaa Lathan), and
she's married to an ex-football player (Dean Cain) who
now works as a security guard. Whitlock and Anne are
hot-and-heavy every time Anne's husband is out-of-town,
but one of their wonderful weekends is interrupted when
Anne's doctor calls her into his office.
Anne apparently has an aggressive form of cancer at
tacking her most vital organs, and she doesn't have enough
money to combat the disease. Whitlock decides it's a good
idea to use the $480,000 in drug money as a down pay
ment on her life. He's almost ready to bail with Anne, when
her house burns to the ground and two bodies are found
inside. With his ex-wife as the lead investigator, Whitlock
has to maneuver his way through the investigation so as
not to put the spotlight on his own crime of stealing a half
million dollars in drug money.
During "Out of Time" the following events are used as
obstacles: the staff at an insurance office is out to lunch, a
turnstyle bridge allows a boat to pass by so cars can't, a
gun runs out of ammo, and a car stalls. The film wears out
Murphy's Law in its attempts to create suspense, but never
even establishes a level of tension equivalent to getting
back a bad test
Washington's character also makes mistakes that are so
simple and so unbelievable that the film just falls into place
without a hint of suspense. In fact, the whole film could
have been saved if the character would have just told his
ex-wife what happened from the beginning and rebuilt their
broken relationship, while fixing the mess together.
Unfortunately, Washington's character comes off as too
simple-minded to think of a less ridiculous way out and
becomes involved in a conspiracy that is so obvious it
doesn't really mean anything if he succeeds or fails.
Washington, himself, is surrounded by actors who have
the sex appeal of soap-opera stars and the screen presence
of Pauly Shore. Cain, whose last major role was Super
man in the ABC series "Lois and Clark," is better suited
Williams
by Erika Jarvis
features editor
I normally pride myself on having re
ally good taste in music. I like to listen to
singer songwriters no one has heard of.
So when the new Keller Williams CD
"Home" came to me, I was pretty excited
to check it out.
I figured I was in for a crazy ride with
song titles ranging from "Butt Ass Nipple"
to "Sorry from the Shower." I put in the
CD, sat back, listened and read up on Wil
liams.
Williams album "Home" is his very
first solo project, totally solo. He played
all of he instruments on his album in a
studio located 15 minutes away from his
house in Freidericksburg, Va.
With the folk/rock sound of the first
track, "Love Handles," I'm thinking the
rest of the CD will follow in suit. The
song proclaims "if you need to get your
love on, Baby you can grab on to my love
handles."
The lyrics are creative and cutesy in
the first few songs, and then the CD takes
an unexpected turn with the track "Vic
tory Song." Williams sings about being
surrounded by Martians, and I start to
think that maybe this CD isn't what I was
expecting.
With a two-minute interruption, "Butt
Ass Nipple" supplies the listener with
some insane beats that are a bit hard to take
for the full two minutes. I can only advance
to the next track to ease myself of the pain.
Fortunately enough, "Butt Ass Nipple"
is followed by "Dogs." While the lyrics
are quite weird--" Earl is the dog, Sheeba
is his girl, she is the queen of the tundra,
he is the golden boy"--and I find the
melody soothing, easing my headache.
This is basically how Williams' CD con
tinues for the 15 tracks. Most of the songs
a&e editor
can go back 'Home'
Acoustic guitarist Keller Williams performs at Forward Hall next week
are tolerable while others are just a little
too much
"Home" is still a great showing of Will
iams' musical talent. You have to give him
credit for doing absolutely everything on
the album.
With each song Williams takes his lis
tener on a crazy ride with each lyric, in
strument, and beat. Each track has its own
uniqueness and style that mix together to
make one eclectic CD. In all honesty, the
mix of songs, the order of them and every
thing else could give the listener quite the
headache. This is one CD that you can't
sing along to.
4' •
killiiiivAty
anis r fo rrAfili „,
„,,,„,„
min k
is out of luck
Denzel Washington tracks down drug money in "Out
of Time."
for the red cape and blue tights because all he has to do is
smile. In "Out of Time," he wears a goatee, which makes
him look like the evil Dean Cain, but he lacks the ability to
create bad guy worth hating.
Mendes, however, is impressive in this film, much the
same way she was impressive in "2 Fast 2 Furious." She
has a talent for delivering had lines in a way that almost
makes the muddled dialogue sensible. Too had she wasn't
playing the role of the mistress, because Lataan has some
of the worst moments in the film and Mendes may have
made them bearable.
Washington is 20 years older than the two actresses por
traying the women in his life, and he's l 2 years older than
the other man. The handsome, serious actor still manages
to out-perform the rest of the cast, hut he's out of his ele
ment in this soap-opera thriller. Director Carl Franklin
knows it, undercutting Washington's acting with incessant
zooming and an overall lack of confidence in the star. "Out
of Time" is just a forgettable stain on Washington's great
career, but it may take another film like "Malcolm X" to
completely disregard this one.
"Out of Time," directed by Carl
Franklin, starring Denzel Washing
ton, Eta Mendes and Saraa Lathan,
is now playing at Tinsehown and the
West Erie Plaza Cinema.
A•t l r
A
Friday, October 10, 2003
jf you have some extra strength Tylenol,
are 21 and have a taste for eclectic folk
rock, then I suggest you check out Keller
Williams. He will be playing at Forward
Hall on Tuesday at 9 p.m. You can also get
an idea of what Keller Williams' music is
like if you check him out at
KellerWilliams.net.
Tickets for Keller Will
iams' performance at
Forward Hall are
$13.50 in advance and
$15.00 at the door. For more information
call 455-8231.
out of
4 stars
out of
4 :_ii.
Source Awards
overcome rocky
commentary by Olivia Page
staff writer
Drama has been at the center of pre
vious Source Magazine Music Awards
and in a press conference, co-founder
Ray Benzino, who is also a rapper, has
declared that this year's awards may be
the last, if problems persist.
Often called "The Super Bowl of Hip-
Hop Generation" for being the oldest
and most prestigious awards for urban
music, the event is a way to get the ur
ban music scene more honors. The
Source Magazine will celebrate its 15
year anniversary with the 2003 awards
televised Nov. 11 on BET at 8 p.m. The
awards will be given out on Thursday.
Fearing conflict, the awards were not
held last year.
In 2000, the show was unfortunately
top of the media scene, as police
abruptly ended the awards mid-show
and UPN aired the edited version, due
to a onstage altercation that ended with
three men being treated for stabbed
wounds.
The show's television home of UPN
saw their ratings soared dramatically
when it aired the awards.
The history of the Awards is full of
"beef' among rappers. A flare up be
tween Tupac Shakur and A Tribe called
Quest overshadowed the first awards.
The second award show showcased a
segment of the "East Coast vs. West
Coast" confrontation that divided the
two groups, an ongoing argument to this
day. Suge Knight, Snoop Doggy
Dogg(now called Snoop Dogg), and
Death Row verbally attacked Sean
"Puffy" Combs and the East Coast rap
pets on stage.
Basically the Awards are a cloud of
controversy and BET takes a tremen
dous risk by airing the awards. Benzino,
CEO of Source magazine has a rivalry
with Eminem and depicts him on the
song "Pull your skirt up." Eminem has
come out with "The Sauce" and "Nail
in the Coffin" as a rebuttal to the "Beef."
This feud is costly to the credibility of
the magazine because Eminem's
"Eminem Show," the best selling album
of 2002, is not up for any honors when
the eligibility of the awards are June 2
of last year to May 31 of this year.
50 Cent chances are both big and slim
at winning an award. Topping Billboard
charts with "Get Rich or Die Trying"
fans will patiently wait to see if he wins
over the war of the beef with CEO
Benzino or will he clash with a loss.
Benzino has beef with Eminem, D-12
and 50 Cent.
50 Cent's hits include "In Da Club"
and "21 Questions."
50 Cent is likely to take awards for
Daniel J. Stasiewski, A&E Editor
the Album of the Year, Breakthrough art
ist of the Year and Single of the Year with
"In Da Club." 50 Cent has recently raked
in three awards at the recent 2003 Mobo
Awards as Best Album, Best Single and
Best Hip-Hop Act.
Jay-Z's collaborations with Beyonce,
"Crazy in Love," and Pharrell's
"Frontin"' have topped Billboard charts,
and "Blue Print 2" has proven record
sales. Jay-Z may get Artist of the Year,
knowing that the candidates are Nelly;
Baby, a.k.a. "The Birdman;" LL Cool J:
and Ja Rule, who hasn't had many hits
this year or last except for collaborations.
Since XXL magazine has labeled him as
"The Number One Biter," tensions may
rise as the announcement of Lyricist of
the Year will definitely be a feud between
the two most dominant in the category,
Jay-Z and Nas.
Nas looks like a good contender for
Lyricist of the Year. This is a touchy sub
ject between the two rival songs between
Nas and Jay-Z that is being brought up
again, regardless the whole controversy
is old. Nas' "Stillmatic" hits include "Got
yourself a Gun," and "One Mic," while
"The Lost Tapes" has "Made You Look,"
and"Go4l's Son" has "I Can."
R. Kelly looks like a good contender
for R&B artist of the Year-Male, despite
the statutory rape allegations against him.
The hits he is recognized for this period
are for, "Ignition," "Thoia Thong," and
the "Step in the name of Love mix."
Sean Paul leads the prediction in the
newly introduced Dance Hall/Reggae
Album of the Year. "Gimme the Light"
has succeeded in the charts with "Get
Busy" and "Like Glue." He also has col
laborated with Beyonce in "Baby Boy."
Sean Paul is hot on the mainstream air
waves unlike his opponents, Beenie Man,
Buju Banton and Elephant Man.
Album of the Year-Female and Single
of the Year-Female are up for grabs with
Eve, Lil' Kim, and Missy Elliot compet
ing, while Floetry and/or Aaliyah look
like recipients of the Best K&B Artist of
the Year- Female. United Kingdom's
Floetry album "Floetic" is in good stand
ing on the charts, and Aaliyah's "I Care
for You" has been on the charts.
Refrain from checking out who won,
because the televised version will include
a pioneer tribute, distinguishing 30 pio
neers of hip hop, confirmed perfor
mances by Ja Rule, Fabulous, Nelly and
Murphey Lee along with appearances by
the Rev. Al Sharpton, Roy Jones Jr., Mike
Tyson, Ricky Williams and Afini Shakur.
A sense of shakiness may erupt since Ja
Rule is performing and 50 Cent may be
present. The two rappers are rivals. If
anything, do not miss the televised
awards. There just might bea fight be
tween Ja Rule and 50 Cent.
behrcolls@aol.com
must
past