T 0 M '
By Thomas LeClair
Staff Reporter
tjll9lgpsu.edu
The Life Aquatic With Steve
Zissou *****
Touchstone Pictures presents a
film directed by Wes Anderson.
Written by Wes Anderson and
Noah Baumbach. Starring Bill
Murray, Owen Wilson, Angelica
Huston, Cate Blanchett, Willem
Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, and
Michael Gambon. Running time
118 minutes. Rated R for vio
lence, language, drug use, and
partial nudity.
Wes Anderson, one of cinema's
many complex writers and direc
tors, has once again created a
masterpiece that needs to be
explored on multiple levels. This
is not just a comedy with Bill
Murray motivates the audience
to roar with laughter within five
minutes. Although the film does
has its fill of laughs, the emotion
al aspects and the plot's drama
create more than just mindless
Local venue rocks hard
cont'd from 9
great bands from around here. I
like to think of the scene as a lit
tle more all-encompassing and I
include York, Lancaster, and
Lebanon in with it. There are a
lot of bands from the area who
are touring and putting out
records. Bands like Running
From Dharma, Derringer, The
Commercials, August Burns
Red, and Sadaharu. All of them
for such a small area is impres
sive. A lot of big bands come
through the area, too."
Bavaria is also doing central
Pennsylvania a huge service by
booking prominent indie bands
from around the country. In
doing so, he brings a much
needed breath of fresh air and
culture to Harrisburg. Bavaria
talked about the utility of bring
ing in popular national bands. "I
think it's good, not only for our
venue but for the scene in gen
eral," he said, "It gives local
bands a chance to open up for
large nationals. It all gets these
national bands aware of our
scene, and our area."
If you are in a local band and
are worried about your ability to
get a gig at The Champion Ship,
rest assured. "Local artists and
big nationals can get in pretty
easily," said Bavaria, "All they
have to do is get in touch. It
becomes a littler harder for tour
ing bands that don't have a
S TO
entertainment. The story
involves Steve Zissou returning
from a voyage where his friend
was killed by a breed of shark
never before documented.
Instead of returning to the open
sea to research the shark and its
habits; Zissou vows to avenge
his friend and destroy the crea
ture. While making the prepara
tions for this upcoming voyage
Zissou forms a crew consisting
of a man claiming to be his son
and a reporter who intends to
write a story on Zissou and his
plan for the shark. Throughout
the voyage, each character sup
plies Zissou with multiple view
points concerning his life and the
mission. Murray plays Steve
Zissou, a marine biologist who
creates and produces documen
taries based on his discoveries.
Angelica Huston plays Zissou's
estranged wife, Eleanor who pro
vides the money for this voyage
mainly out of her sympathy for
him. Owen Wilson plays Ned
Plimpton; a pilot for Air Kentucky
who takes a leave of absence to
crew for the man he thinks is his
name for themselves yet. We
would love to help out all of
those bands but there are just
so many."
The Champion Ship is not lim
ited to putting on punk and
hardcore shows. "We have
some plays coming up, we've
had some hip hop, and we'd like
to get more into doing art
shows," Bavaria said, "We're a
club that's primarily focused on
indie music. We have a lot of
genres of music being played
here. We're open to whatever."
Bavaria and the crew plan to
open a recording studio at The
Champion Ship in the future. He
plans for the studio to cater to
local bands who want to get
their material recorded without
breaking their budget. Currently,
they do offer digital recording
for any band that plays a show
at the club. They digitally record
the performance and mix it in a
professional studio, all for a
great price.
" If we can give something
back, keep it going, and help
keep the scene alive then we're
happy to do it."
The Champion Ship also has
an indie record store inside that
is open Monday through
Saturday. The store sells music
at low prices and offers a wide
selection of punk, hardcore,
indie, and emo. Visit The
Champion Ship on the web to
check out upcoming shows at
www.championshippa.corn.
FOOL
father, and Jeff Goldblum plays
Hennessy, a wealthy and suc
cessful competitive marine biolo
gist.
The journey to find the mystical
shark is anything but calm.
Everything from pirates to
mutinies happen and through
watching Zissou handle these
scenarios, the audience finally
sees his true persona. He
believes that he is a failure
because he has an estranged a
wife, and a failing career. Yet in
the minds of his crew, his wife,
and his possible son, he is a
hero who saves their lives and
possesses courage beyond their
wildest dreams.
Wes Anderson, who also wrote
and directed Rushmore and the
equally dysfunctional family in
The Royal Tenenbaums, brilliant
ly directed this film. Using entire
ly hand-held cameras to create
the feeling of documentary, it
amazingly creates two unique
feelings; one of footage being
shown after the fact, and the
other makes the audience feel
that they are right there on board
Comic legend wins partial judgment
By Larry McShane
AP Writer
NEW YORK - Stan Lee, the leg
endary cartoon hero creator who
gave Spider-Man his powerful
"spidey-sense," is feeling a tin
gling of his own _ in his wallet.
A Manhattan federal judge has
Stan Lee, creator of the Spiderman comic, was recently awarded a
judgement entitling him to profits from the Spiderman movies.
Entertainment
ERY OF CINEMA
the Zissou vessel, Belafonte.
The film had the right ensemble
cast, with one of the most stand
out performances was by Seu
Jorge. Jorge plays crewman
Pele who entertains himself and
the crew when he is on duty by
singing David Bowie covers in
Portuguese. The songs he sings
also supplement the mood and
emotion of Zissou throughout the
voyage. From beginning to end
the film envelops and takes the
audience into a world no one
would probably want to experi
ence ever again. The film makes
the audience laugh and more
importantly makes them think,
which goes beyond mere enter
tainment. Murray once again
shows that he is not just a
comedic actor. Although this film
is being released past the dead
line for Academy Award consid
eration this year, this definitely
will not be forgotten next year.
Films like Life Aquatic are films
will be enjoyed and remembered
long after the latest action film or
teen comedy. It is films like this
that filmmaking is all about.
ruled that Lee is entitled to a
potential multi-million-dollar pay
day from Marvel Enterprises off
profits generated by the compa
ny's TV and movie productions _
particularly the box-office smash
"Spider-Man," which earned
more than $BOO million world
wide, and its hugely successful
Photo courtesy of www.countdowntowednesday.com
Bill Murray and Owen Wilson star in director Wes Anderson's lat
est film, "The Life Aquatic."
sequel
"It could be tens of millions of
dollars," Howard Graff, attorney
for Lee, said Wednesday. "That's
no exaggeration."
The Monday ruling from U.S.
District Court Judge Robert W.
Sweet found that Lee was enti
tled to a 10 percent share of the
profits generated since
November 1998 by Marvel pro
ductions involving the company's
characters, including those cre
ated by the prolific cartoonist.
Sweet's decision didn't mention
a dollar figure, although Graff
was anticipating a windfall since
the ruling also included DVD
sales and certain merchandise.
"The court essentially ruled in
our favor virtually across the
board," Graff said. "This is a
sweeping victory for Mr. Lee."
John Turitzin, general counsel
for Marvel, promised an appeal.
Turitzin noted that Sweet ruled
that Lee was not entitled to
money from certain movie-based
merchandise, and that the judge
withheld judgment on money
from joint-venture merchandise
sales linked to the Spider-Man
and Hulk movies.
"We intend to appeal those mat
ters on which we did not prevail,
and to continue to contest vigor
ously the claims on which the
court did not rule," Turitzin said in
a statement. The remaining
issues could go before a jury if
The Capital Times
Photo courtesy of Google Images
the two sides can't reach a set
tlement.
The lawsuit marks an acrimo
nious final chapter in the long
and productive relationship
between Marvel and Lee, who
spent the last six decades work
ing for the company. During a
storied career, Lee created
indelible Marvel fixtures such as
the X-Men, the Incredible Hulk,
Daredevil and The Fantastic
Four.
"Mr. Lee did not begin this law
suit without a lot of thought and
reservation," Graff said. "He was
not pleased to do it. He was sad
dened by the fact that things
came to the point where he had
to actually start a lawsuit against
Marvel."
The 82-year-old Lee filed suit in
November 2002, claiming an
agreement he had signed four
years earlier entitled him to 10
percent of Marvel's haul from its
television and movie produc
tions, as well as merchandising
deals.
He already earns a $1 million a
year salary from Marvel as part
of the agreement, but felt that he
was getting stiffed on additional
income due him under the deal.
The money involved was sub
stantial, particularly involving the
Spider-Man movie. Marvel even
tually collected more than $5O
million in profits from "Spider-
Man" earnings.