The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, June 05, 1991, Page 3, Image 3
Suggestions
for summer fun
By AARON SHEININ
Carolina Life Editor
Man, it is going to be a long
summer.
What's even worse is that the
heat is making us think it's August
already. Ninety degrees with
90 percent humidity at ten in the
muming is not my iaea 01 prcsummer
weather. About the only
thing you can count on in this
state is death, taxes, corruption
and rain everyday at 4 p.m. Since
I've been here since graduation
ajid am not taking class this summer,
I've had plenty of time to
try and come up with things to
do. Here are a few ways I've
found are good for wasting time.
As always, drink. The favorite
pastime of Carolina students will
always be there to calm your
nerves after a hard day of those
tough summer school classes.
The bars in Five Points didn't go
anywhere while you were gone,
they just didn't make as much
money. I am sure that they will
all be glad to see you walk
through their doors again. In this
heat, a little inebriation is good
to kill the pain.
Movies. Everyone knows that
every summer, the blockbuster
movies come out. Well, this
summer might be a little slow,
according to movie companies
and "Entertainment Tonight," but
? there are still plenty of good
films out there to be seen. Besides,
what better way to beat the
heat then to sit in an airconditioned
room on someone
else's tab. Several theatres have
student discounts where you can
go see a movie for around four
bucks. And don't think the theatres
are doing you some kind of
favor by offering "bargain" matinees.
Wrong.
At the average theatre, the matinee
is $3.50. The prime time
showing after six p.m. , with a
student i.d., if they even ask for
it, is four dollars. That fifty cents
you're saving could make the
down payment on a box of popcorn
if you have a good loan
from the bank, and if you have
reasonable financing you could
maybe even get a coke. But
otherwise, don't rush yourself
trying to make that afternoon
show because it's just not worth
it.
B The idiot box. Basketball
coaches may come and go, but
really bad television programming
will be with us forever.
Man, talk about dregs. During
the day when most of you are at
class, the cable-readv viewer has
a plethora of choices. None too
exciting. There are always the
basic cable staples: MTV, one of
the movie channels, ESPN and
VH?1 are constantly offering
viewing enjoyment. There are
also the wide variety of soaps to
choose from. Whether your
world is turning our your light is
guiding, these are the best days
of our lives, so there has to be
one for you.
Sports. If you are brave
enough to exercise in the heat,
then there is even more for you
to do. The P.E. Center is open
and there seems to be a softball
league for everyone. Also there
are some pretty good student discounts
on golf around here. For
about $15, the club-swinging student
can ride 18 at Lindrick or
Hidden Valley.
Work. You know its getting
bad when you are so bored you
are even willing to work for a
living.
Well, take your pick or invent
something else to do, just don't
go crazy with cabin-fever. Play
cards, drink beer, go to a apart?
^ i * i j
meni complex s pool ana practice
sun-lust, bug your parents
for money, throw things at pets,
write your congressperson or just
laugh at the fact that it is only
June 5th. Man, it's going to be a
long summer.
aaaf**"GAMECOCK
ADVERTISING
777-4249
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Summ(
BackdrafVpac>
By AARON SHEININ
Carolina Life Editor
It is a dangerous nhenomenon that
all the oxygen in the room, leaving 01
gets the slightest breath of oxygen, it i
as a backdraft. The movie of the sam<
nomenon itself.
Ron Howard takes his first step on
Hollywood and delivers with one of tl
time. Listen to the cast: Robert DeNir
Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rebecca DeM
Sutherland. With a line-up like that, it
Russell and Baldwin play feuding
with DeNiro, uncover a murderer's pi
out Chicago's fire-fighters for money.
If you took away all the actors and
you still would have an incredible piec
yet, please do not wait to see it on
scream across the big screen, you won
angles, and sheer awe the fire can ere
the explosions that are possible in a fh
flame that gets put out with water or a
explosions in the movie lay claim to th
heroes. Don't miss this film.
The only part about the movie I dii
character. If you have seen Silence c
Sutherland's character, Ronald, port
Sutherland's role is not as important a
one, but the correlation is still there,
great. Grade: A.
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By BRIAN McCARTER
Staff Writer
Much has been said about Ridley
Scott's new movie, Thelma
and Louise, that is either misleading
or simply untrue. It is, I suppose,
a sign of the times that reviewers
are tempted to bestow
praise upon a film not only for its
style and structure, but also for its
agenda.
Although Thelma and Louise is
not a fatal film, it is an abysmally
stupid one, thanks to implausibilities
in the script, and director
Scott's tendency to have his main
characters lecture the audience
through dramatically unnecessary
discourses on rape and law. The
fact that the film has garnered applause
for the latter failing points
1
CHK
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ir movi
ks lots of fire
happens when fire flames suck up
nly natural gases. When the flame
triggers a violent explosion known
s name is as powerful as the phethe
powerful action-drama side of
le best movies I've seen in a long
o, Kurt Russell, William Baldwin,
Lornay, scott uienn ana JJonaia
would be hard to make a bad film,
fire-fighting brothers who, along
ot to kill corrupt people who sold
just showed the scenes of the fire,
:e of film. If you haven't seen this
video. Unless you see the flames
i't get the full effect of the camera
sate. Most people don't realize all
re. What most of us deal with us a
t worse a grease fire. The constant ?
ie tag given to firemen as domestic
dn't like was Donald Sutherland's
f the Lambs, then you have seen
rayed as Hannibal the Cannibal,
is Hannibal Lechter is in the other
Despite this flaw, the movie was
ind Louis
towards a general confusion of political
sympathies with aesthetic
judgement.
It must be admitted, however,
that it is almost a fun movie. It is
beautifully directed (the landscapes
are awe?inspiring), and, with a
few glaring exceptions, very well
acted. Geena Davis (Thelma) and
Susan Sarandon (Louise) are wonderfully
convincing when the
script has not stooped to irrationalism,
or worse, teaching moral lessons,
to keep the plot moving or to
make a point.
But stoop it does, leaving one
breathlessly confused if he does
not share the film's blithe indifference
to logic. Why, for example,
would the more responsible Louise
leave her life's savings in the care
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fighters Cedric Young (second fro
roles in "Backdraft."
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Bruce Willis acts cocky as c
usual as a master thief in his
new film Hudson Hawk. Willis u
1 co-wrote the inane story as 0
| well. Potential movie-goers f,
I would do well to keep read- ^
ing newspapers than watch
dumb movies like Hudson y
Hawk, but it's their money. (i
b
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ti
h,
o
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ti
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ie' entertai
of the obviously childish, silly s
Thelma? So it could be stolen, of >
course. And why would a taunt- j
ingly sexist truck?driver believe >
that the same two women he has i
harassed on the highway time and 3
time again actually want to have <
sex with him? (A true desire to 1
score is never really the motive 1
force behind such nastiness as his,
is it?) Well, so that his truck might I
be blown up. I
This sort of thing happens often 1
enough to make insufferable stu- 1
pidity (not women*s liberation) the 1
primary theme of the movie. The 1
men are stupid, the women are stupid.
Thelma is stupid, Louise is 1
stupid. The local cops are stupid, i
the FBI is stupid. Indeed, the ca- 1
talyzing premise of the movie is 1
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is printed, in part, o
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est recycling drop-off loci
point is the white dumpi
near the corner of Blosson
consist
(center) and Scott Glenn (right) a
im left) and Kevin Casey (second
Hawk: Big moi
ly DAVID BOWDEN
ditor-in-chief
For those readers with short attentio
ig column in a sentence: Hudson He
as an ego the size of Montana to ere
f celluloid.
The story, which Willis co-wrote, is
guess. Willis plays Eddie Hawkins, j
mose nickname is wuason hawk, ba
imself wrapped up in a ridiculous sto
an, an evil billionaire and a machine I
The alleged plot is confusing, intel
nentertaining. The movie is so overd
f the movie, the viewer wants to sma
ice. He plays the exact same annoy
loonlighting, except less funny.
The rest of the cast is totally waste
/illis' sidekick. Andie MacDowell i;
t's not nearly as funny as it sounds),
y that point, who cares? James Cob
ins a team of agents named after canc
Richard E. Grant and Sandra Bernh;
vely as the evil billionaire couple be!
ave made a good Joker in Batman as
us at the same time, but alas, his stn
ard, on the other hand, is too bizarre 1
lovie as a whole.
In retrospect, it amazes me that thi;
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fy that waste. One would think that w
ictures could have afforded a real mo
Trust me, the only really funny seen
reviews. The rest of the movie will 1
lsed. . .and angry at Bruce Willis am
ick. Grade: DIning
but
itupid, because it's implausible.
iVhy should Thelma bring along a
jistol on the pair's fishing trip,
vhen at home she would not touch
t, she "just left it in a drawer for
fears"? She says she is afraid of
^countering an "escaped psychodller,"
but why no such fear at
iome?
All of this is compounded by
be apparent absence of morals of
Jie two main characters. En route
:o Mexico, they commit crime
jpon crime as if they are running
for their lives, when in fact a mere
lie to the police in the first place
would have surely have gotten
them off the hook for murder. One
is hard pressed not to think these
two are better off under some kind
of supervision, even that of the
volved...
Student On
udent Newspaper
n recycled paper. A
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ition. USC's
iter on Sumter
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re joined by real-life Chicago fire
from right) who have supporting
ney, little use
n spans, let me sum up the following
stinks. Bruce Willis obviously
ate this incredibly expensive waste
i a parody of James Bond pictures,
i perpetually smirking master thief
die gets out of prison only to find
ryline involving the CIA, the Vatihat
can turn lead into gold,
ligence-insulting and worst of all,
one and overacted that by the end
ck that cute little smiik off Willis*
ingly coy character he played on
>d. Danny Aiello has a bit part as
s an undercover nun secret agent
Willis de?nuns her at the end, but
urn plays a weird CIA chief who
ly bars (hilarious),
ird are funny and irritating respeclind
the movie's plot. Grant would
he acts both psychotic and humormge
performance is wasted. BernEbr
words, which also describes the
s film cost $50 billion (not pesos,
outstanding special effects to jusith
that amount of money, Tri-Star
vie star for the lead role,
les in the movie can be seen in the
eave the audience dazed and con1
company for making this crappy
ftt.ri.nid
male gender they are leaving
behind.
The film, whatever social commentary
it seeks to advance, succeeds
only in advancing a kind of
loopy feminist rejection of society's
attitudes towards women,
which serves virtually no artistic
end. The movie's final scene
nicely encapsulates the qualities of
the film itself: it is commercially
brave, but artistically meaningless;
it seeks the approval of the viewer,
but its moral is a sham. "Death before
dishonor" does not apply here.
This movie has its moments ?
it is at times lovely, at times amusing.
But the ending plays on all its
worst aspects. The end of the movie's
plot echoes the demise of the
movie.
i
ganization!!