Page 6 - LIONS EYE - March, 1999 Entertainments Postman, Return to Sender By Jenna Montgomery Assistant Editor 1 star (out of 4) “Message In a Bottle” (PG- 13), despite its top billing as a great Valentine’s Day/date movie, is a slow and depressing romance film. The enchanting Robin Wright Penn stars opposite the unappealing action/dra- matic actor Kevin Costner. He doesn’t have the charm to pull off a leading role in a romance film. While vacationing, Theresa Osborne discovers a glass bottle on the beach. She is deeply touched by the moving letter filled with roman- tic longing and poetic passion. By using her resources as a researcher for the Chicago Tribune, she finds who wrote the letter, one Garret Blake, a sailboat builder who lives in the Outer Banks. Theresa and he are both dealing with the pain of lost loves and involved with hectic ca- reers, which, of course, complicate matters. Ultimately they fall for one another. However, their love 1s uncon- vincing. The director uses far too many shots of churning surf and lov- ers nestled in beach blankets to try to convey their affection for one an- other. The movie sharply contrasts the novel of the same title, beauti- fully written by Nicholas Sparks. The formulated script disastrously alters the sweeping romance story. They should have left well enough alone. This bottle contains the note “Return to Sender.” Better follow the message’s instructions explicitly. Friends catchin’ up on quality time by the SGA Office. | Payback: Root for the Bad Guy who gives an excellent performance as Carter, a high-ranking member of By Jenna Montgomery Assistant Editor 3 stars (out of 4) Mel Gibson. A bad guy. It’s hard to believe the lovable actor por- trays Porter, a gruff-voiced, chain- smoking protagonist. Porter is plugged full of holes, betrayed and ripped off by his wife, Lynn, and best friend, Val Resnick (Gregg Henry) and left for dead. Val makes off with the stolen cash, using it to pay off his mob debts. Porter plots revenge; a ven- detta to recover his cut of the $140,000 they cleanly heisted from a Chinese gang. He is determined to get what is owed him no matter what, and he’ll kill as many people as it takes. This thug has his principles. “Payback” has remarkable twists in a creative and well-formu- lated plot. It also includes a remark- able cast inciuding William Devane, the crime syndicate. Despite his reputation, he still gently applies Blistex and wipes his fingers clean. And Kris Kristofferson has a cool acting presence as “Head Honcho” in this dark crime thriller. “Payback” is suspenseful and excessively violent. There are count- less bloody scenes, glorifying torture and agonizing beatings. However, some of the most brutal scenes are played partially for laughs. Asis the case with Pearl (Lucy Liu), the Asian dominatrix who viciously plays out S&M to perfection. With a bit of “This Little Piggy” worked into the mix, the tone is kept light-hearted and fun. And Gibson, with his share of great one-liners, has impeccable comic delivery. Gibson offers a compelling performance as the murderous anti- hero in this brilliant. action-thriller. Concert Review ... Black Sabbath Reunited By Brian Harris Special to the Lion's Eye Black Sabbath Feb. 18, 1999 FU. Spectrum, Philadelphia I first saw Black Sabbath in 1978, the last tour with Ozzy. I don’t remember too much about it, but it was pretty plodding. I do remember the excellent guitar work by Tony Iommi. Ozzy was probably on one of his low rungs, and was about to be kicked out of the band. Twenty years later, Ozzy is as sober as he’ll get, and the original band was back together for a hard rocking sold-out night at the Spectrum. I’m not a major metal head or Sabbath fan, but I’ve always admired their lyrics, Ozzy’s vocals, and the subtlety they bring to heavy metal. They are one of the originals and in concert last month, they showed why. While Pantera, the opening act, was happy providing a machine gun drum attack over three-cord hair-swinging, guitar churning, Sabbath did the same, but provided extra riffs, runs, and a change of pace. The show was a basic great- est hits package, but for casual fans like myself, that was fine. Ozzy was more animated now than he was 20 years ago, jumping around, clapping his hands, exhorting everyone to “go kak x-Ing crazy.” Some of the highlights were “Snowblind” featuring Tony [ommi’s guitar work, and the epic “Black Sabbath,” with flames rising out the stage and 20,000 lighters lighting up around the Spectrum. The place was sold out, even behind the stage. Everyone stood all night, and the place rocked. “Iron Man” and “Children of the Grave” ended the 1 hour, 30 minute show, and a final encore of “Paranoid” brought the house down. After telling everyone to “go kxk%-ing crazy’ Ozzy did remind everyone to drive home safely. (This show was postponed from Jan. 18 due to Ozzy’s throat problems. Subsequent shows have also been canceled or postponed. This may have been a once in a life- time opportunity). Set List: I may have missed one here or there. War Pigs Basically/NIB Fairies Wear Boots After Forever Electric Funeral Sweet Leaf Into the Void Snowblind Dirty Women Black Sabbath Iron Man Children of the Grave Paranoid Rushmore: Comedy in Stone By Amy M.M.P.Hurley Lion's Eye Staff Writer Rushmore starring Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray is the most original, hilarious and well- made comedy I have seen in a very long while. The film brought to mind at times a Beastie Boys music video and, at others, a hand-held video re- cording. The varied camera tech- niques made finishing touches on a comedy that already had cast, script and timing covered. Bill Murray, in a large sup- porting role, shows his breadth of comic ability in the role of a multi- millionaire with self-esteem issues. His character, however, is merely the pathetic sidekick to the real star of the show: Jason Schwartzman in the role of Max Fischer is simply amaz- ing. The whole film follows the ex- ploits of his teenage character over the course of a couple of months. Some of the hilarious hap- penings include: a schoolboy crush that leads to the construction of a multi-million dollar marine observa- tory, Murray’s character seducing Max’s love interest and a school play complete with live explosives. This movie should not be missed. It brings together Woody Allen wit with MTV-esque camera techniques and Three Stooges physi- cal humor. If that’s not a near-per- fect comedy, I don’t know what is. Celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans Style By Dave Robbins Lion's Eye Staff Writer Where were you on February 16%? In the library, at home sleep- ing, or possibly entertaining the fam- ily dog? You should have been cel- ebrating one of the world’s greatest holidays, Mardi Gras or “Fat Tues- day.” All over the world, people celebrate the carnival. This is atime to be crazy and let all worries go. During the beginning first couple centuries and on through the Middle Ages, people would give themselves up to what would be con- ™ sidered unconstrained madness. I know that this theme must sound eu- phoric to almost all college students. However, few know the true details behind the holiday, and therefore, do not attend this awesome celebration. The Carnival was created in Rome and began on the 12" day of Christmas. This day began with people dressing in costumes and masks, and allowing all pleasures to be experienced. In other words, this time began as a period of absolute chaos. Many strange things oc- curred, often involving various sexual activities. Today, the events of Fat Tuesday remain the same in New Orleans. Many things can be accom- plished by using the correct form of currency, long strings of beads that can be very expensive to buy. The colors of Mardi Gras, which can be found in many of these beads, are purple, green, and gold. Purple stands for justice, green for faith, and gold for power. Some of these col- ors are also seen in the powdered sugars used on King Cakes, the offi- cial food of Mardi Gras. With all the excitement of Mardi Gras, college students every- where should be participating in Fat Tuesday. The greatest party to ever take place is citywide and occurs ev- ery year in New Orleans and various cities worldwide. Even Philadelphia had its own Mardi Gras celebration this year. People who enjoy drinking and pure insanity should consider going to Fat Tuesday next year. Since the date of Mardi Gras Day is always 47 days before Easter, it will occur on March 7 in the year 2000. For those people who can’t afford to go down to New Orleans, Philadelphia has the next best thing.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers