Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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f? * " * ^" ll I I I III Kevin Costner and Elijah Woods sfc Costner, W LIGHTSCAMERAREACTION SCOTT LEVA Staff Writer THE WAR (out of four stars) When I heard Elijah Wood, the best juvenile actor in Hollywood today, was to be matched up with Kevin Costner, under the skillful direction of Jon Avnet ("Fried Green Tomatoes"), well I just got excited. Unfortunately, a mediocre screenplay, problems in continuity and throwaway roles for Kevin Costner and Mare Winningham brought me back to reality-fast. "The War" attempts to be too many things for too many people-politically correct, heart-warming, suspenseful, even evil at times~and it stretches itself too thin. Costner, in his most recent role, plays a Vietnam veteran returning home to 1 Mississippi in 1970 with emotional damage that causes his infrequently seen wife (Mare Winningham) to keep the household running. He remains a troubled, though honest, man as he tries to steer his son away from trivial conflict. By vivid contrast is the antagonistic family of filthy, degenerate children who attempt to take over the treehouse carefully built by Wood and his friends, hence the title of the movie. ^J\ V^UiU Bicyi Anti Fron . n lb i> ^pW^ JMjj| BHH ar In Jon Avnet's "The War." ood cant win The focus of the stoiy becomes a bat- c tie over worthwhile causes. For CostneFs t character, that means resolving the pain of his Vietnam experience. For Elijah \ Wood, that means protecting his tree- I house-no matter what. \ So Costner seeks to leave us with a e moral lesson based on his war experi- t ences. His command of Southern roles, \ as in "JFK" and "A Perfect World," is so c solid ifs unfortunate his role hem seems s merely to put the cut-and-dried resolution in place. Matching Costner up with s a child in "A Perfect World" was brilliant. i Matching him up with Wood made may i have helped the box omce, but there was 1 no other redeeming point. 1 Director Jon Avnet seemed to try and push countless lessons on the audience i using the same old, tired Vietnam flash- ] backs to draw parallels and create alle- < gory. In doing so, he achieves much less 1 audience reaction than expected. Emotional ties with an audience occur only ( in the case of believability or apathy for < characters. Except in a few instances, ' there was little of that. < The best part of the film is the cast ! of young actors-the reason I went to see ' "The War" in the first place. Elijah Wood ("Huckleberry Finn," ] "The Good Son" and "Radio Flyer") has ' played the roles Macauley Culkin could i never pull off, or I hope, would never be lity fyi cle -Theft Proi i The Mah The Gamecock Universal Pictures /mi IT T c l i ne war iffered. Wood has matured for this role, >oth emotionally and physically. Often more intriguing than Wood vas his sister, played by newcomer Lexi Randall. Her friendship with two young )lack girls went beyond all racial barri;rs. These sequences were the closest hing to perfection in this film. Their veil-choreographed lip-sync to Motown :lassics was hysterical and offbeat, considering the rural Southern setting. I was very surprised to fmd only one scene in this preachy film showing racism n any form. It seemed especially lackng among the contrast of the delinquent leighborhood children (resembling Hitler fouth) and the interracial trio. I had high expectations for this film vith a very workable premise. Writer Kathy McWorty could have used another iraft or two to narrow the focus and make the story flow. Interesting to note, the huge, ancient )ak tree housing the children's fort is lo ;ated in Beaufort, b.C., where much of The War'' was filmed. The town may be quickly becoming the Hollywood of the South, boasting locales for The Big Chill," The Prince of Tides" and "Forrest Gump." So, if you're from Beaufort and got a part as an extra, then go ahead and see The War." Otherwise, I recommend you stay home and build your own treehouse. [f 11 be much more entertaining. MTI-THEF I I *otKewiKjum^y/ tection :ers of AI Friday, November 18, 1994 "l Sounds from STEPHANIE SONNENFELD Staff Writer ^ Some folks seem to think the greatest things from Chapel Hill, N.C., are fluer| something called Tarheels, basket- d ball (like they have the copyright on jjen( it or something) and a band called a rm n n_ TTT.II ine v^onnens. wen, inenas, reuiinK. agecj the first two options and follow up on gn(j j the last one because if you do, youH jete find that Chapel Hill has a strong ^ n music scene and is producing some of the most talented bands today- gaj^ like Dillon Fence. an e) Yet, just because Dillon Fence is from Chapel Hill, don't think they ^ag ? are carbon copies of James Taylor or ? Superchunk. musi "Our music is different than a lot ^ad ( of those bands that generated atten- t^a^ tion. But, at the same time, everyone comj is sort of interconnected in a small can j town like that," lead singer Greg comr Humphreys said. t^at IvM^wf 1^91 JIJIXJI T DEVICE I Tl \ BIK m Jt AVi pa the Fence oi fith Humphreys, guitarist Kent P in, drumfher Scott Carle and relai st Andy Wear, rely upon the in- seen ices of Marvin Gaye, the Beach ly \s , Led Zepplin, Queen and Jimi Thej irix to develop their own style. :g result, Dillon Fence has man- ^ to create a sound that tends to ^ ts roots in a pure-pop form, comi with a heavy influence of guilixed with vocal harmonies that ? ice a sound that, as Humphreys The follow our own lines rather than njg^ cpected ChapefHill sound. pect Personally, my favorite music f ilways been very pop like Mar- . Jay, The Beatles. So I think that " c can become popular that has new quality to it, but I don't think wha excludes great music from be- thre ng popular. To me, pop music ie about simple emotions and nunfcating that, and if you do well, a lot of people might conwith it," Humphreys said. .ON FENCE: (from left to right) ott Carle, Chris Goode, Greg Humphreys, Kent Alphin HH Bgl ion ' :OR BICTY ME NEW ECL. MNIOl ONLY MLABLE A' ilHHBB ilM 5 I , | I I a the Hill: although they may sound like tive newcomers to the music e, Dillon Fence most definitenot new to the music world, r latest release, "Living Scene," eir third release. Along with self-titled 1990 release, "Dillon :e," they also have a CD enti Kosemary. )illon Fence will be playing at Music Farm this Saturday it in Charleston, but don't exthem to play too many tunes t their first two releases. It's so much more fun to play songs and songs that relate to t's going on now rather than ?e-or four-year-old songs," iphreys said. CLES! r UB R >5 r