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v *• This Week in USC History Feb. 28, 1990 — Fans anxiously waited outside the Carolina Coliseum before the start of a concert by teen sensations New Kids on the Block. Page 5 MHP .. ,x * 3000 Miles not so graceful by Brook Bristow The Gamecock | REVIEW ~ MOVIE: 3000 Miles to Graceiand STARRING: Kevin Costner, Kurt Russell GRADE: ☆☆ out of ☆☆☆☆ Let’s talk about misleading trailers. If you’ve seen the trailer for 3000 Miles to Gmceland you probably thought it would be a pretty clever movie — a band of Elvis impersonators robs a casino and escapes to the desert safely while having a few laughs and blowing stuff up. So far, as least for the guys, this movie sounds like grade-A material. But sadly, when you get to the theater, you get something else — a bloody, not-so-funny, not-so great movie in which a band of misfits try to out Tarantino each other and never find a good balance of comedy and bedlam. The plot, or what little there is of one, involves Murphy (Kevin Costner) and Michael (Kurt Russell). Murphy leads a band of Elvis impersonators into a Las Vegas casino during International Elvis Week. They blend in just fine with their guitar cases in hand — until they rob the casino. There’s no finesse in the robbery, just blood and guts. They barely escape and go back to a Last Chance motel to discuss further plans for the $3.2 million acquisition. Also in on the action are David Arquette and Christian Slater, but they’re out of the picture too quickly to say much about them. Cybil (Courteney Cox) is Michael’s “love” interest, but she also gets in on the fun by stealing the money and having both bad boys chasing her. While all this goes on, the boys in blue, played by Kevin Poliak and Thomas Haden Church (Wings), are chasing Michael and Murphy. They do a good job with their limited roles. Throw in Jon Lovitz and the ultimate bad guy, Ice-T, and you expect a pretty fair movie. But writer/director Demian Lichtenstein gives us something else, something he would have done when he produced music videos. His second cinematic effort isn’t an inspiring one. Costner has finally found his role as a bad guy, but this movie won’t get him any acting jobs. He does a good job despite a bad script and bad direction. Russell has Elvis down and also does a fair job. Cox moves away from her usual fare and plays her character well. It’s not the acting, it’s not the blood — it’s the direction and the script. They’re poor at best, and that’s what makes 3000 Miles to Graceland about 3000 miles from where it ought to be. The movie might be all right for action lovers, but do everyone a favor and don’t step on anyone’s blue suede shoes on the way out. There will be a rush to the exit. The spotlight desk can be reached at gamecockspotlight@hotmail.com Special to The Gamecock Kevin Costner and Kurt Russell lead a group of Elvis impersonators into Las Vegas to rob a casino during International Elvis Week. The Beaties: The Original Boy Band by Liz Doup College Press Exchange News flash — it’s 2001, and the Beatles rule. Yeah, yeah, yeah... No matter that Paul, the “Cute Beatle,” looks as wrinkled as crumpled fabric. Or that John, the “Married Beatle,” has been dead longer than his newest fans have been alive. The latest Beatles greatest hits album, l, spent 10 weeks as No. 1 on the Billboard chart before dropping the past week. Its 27 No. 1 singles, including “All You Need Is Love” and “Come Together,” debuted more than 30 years ago when Nehru jackets and love beads were must-haves, too. So what if the Beatles are an ancient chapter in rock history? That didn’t stop Jack McLeod of Fort Lauderdale from asking for 1 as a Christmas present. Jack, by the way, is 10. “I like how they sound,” Jack said. Jack, who listens to all the Beatles’ hits, said “I really like that walrus song.” Jack’s brother, Will, 16, introduced him to the Beatles because Will’s a fan, too. So is their father, Thom McLeod, 51, a chaplain with Vitas Hospice. stepnanie zayas, 10, oi nonywooa, loves me oeaues, too, “even though I’m young.” She plays them in the car and while doing her homework. She likes to go to sleep to the soothing sounds of “In My Life.” So much for Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync. The original boy band is back. But don’t discount the powerful marketing machine that’s part of this new Beatlemania. Ever since 1 took off, you hear it plugged here, there and everywhere. But don’t sell the Fab Four’s staying power short. They were the most successful recording act of the 20th century, with more than 106 million albums sold, and that’s just in the United States, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Just as everyone suspected, any group that cranked out hits such as “Yesterday,” “Hey, Jude” and “Let It Be” must have done something right. “Their music transcends time,” said Marc Catone, author of the 1982 book As 1 Write This Letter: An American Generation Remembers the Beatles. “Kids from any generation can relate to it because it speaks to them.” Foiget, for a moment, that Paul, Ringo and Geoige could be “Cramps” to fans such as Jack. Their music is forever young because they were young when they wrote it. “They’re frozen in time,” said Catone, who first saw the Beatles in New York at age 14 and bought / at age 50. “They broke up before they were 30—they were young,” she said. “What they wrote then still relates to what’s going on in a kid’s life today.” Think of “I Wint to Hold Your Hand” as a salute to simple romance. “Eleanor Rigby,” an ode to loneliness and alienation. “1 Feel Fine,” a paean to love. “Paul’s lyrics — they’re poetry,” Will McLeod said. Music doesn't necessarily divide along generational lines anymore. At the Grammys, pop old-timer Paul Simon was up against Eminem, who’s about half his age, for album of the year. Meanwhile, everything from MTV and VH1 to Napster and MP3s delivers rock for all ages. No matter if you’re in the acne or wrinkle generation, you hear the same music. Consider, for instance, this episode of musical harmony. Laura de Rome, 10, is at home in Davie, Fla., listening to 1, which she loves. Mom is in another room, paying bills, and finds herself singing along to “Hey, Jude.” “They have talent. They have good rhythm. My parents listened to this when they were little,” Laura said. Her mom, Jean de Rome, 46, said, “You remember their music. It stays with you,” she says. Just this past year, de Rome sold her Beatles’ albums at a garage sale because she’d donated her turntable to charity and couldn’t play them anymore. Now, hearing her daughter listen to Beatles’ music takes her back. She was her daughter’s age, 10, when she first heard them sing. “That’s scary, isn’t it?” she says, laughing. “It makes me feel old.” At the time, she loved the music. She thought the guys were really cute, too. “I hear the music and still remember the words,” she says. Imagine... »• TOP TEN • Week of Feb. 23 □ Luna — Live Gotohells — Rock ‘N' Roll America Dropkick Murphys — Sing Loud, Sing Proud Half Japanese — Hello Tortoise — Standards Orange Peels — So Far Spoon — Girls Can Tell Honeyboy Edwards — Mississippi Delta Bluesman QMinusFive vs. The Young Fresh Fellows — Because We Hate You/Let the War Against Music Begin CTram — Frequently Asked Questions In The News ■ Cartoon Network announces four new animated shows ATLANTA (AP) — If old episodes of Scooby-Doo and The Flintstones seem too last millennium, some new cartoons are on their way. The Cartoon Network announced four new original shows this week, which will appear over the next year. Time Squad, a half-hour comedy that debuts in June, is about events front the past unraveling and changing the future in the year 100 million. Samurai Jack, a half-hour action adventure series that begins in August, follows a warrior sent to the bleak, dis tant future by an evil, shape-shifting wizard. Grim & Evil, a half-hour comedy, starts in October. It consists of two shows: The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, about two kids who be come friends with the Grim Reaper; and Evil Con Came, which is about — and this is a quote from the news re lease — “a criminally insane brain, the bear he is attached to and his disem bodied stomach.” And in November, look for episodes of Justice League, a one-hour action-adventure show based on the DC Comics series. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and others fight vil lains and supernatural creatures. The show marks the first time these char acters have come together in a televi sion series since Super Friends, which ran on ABC from 1973-85. movie' DIRECTORY Carmike Wynnsong 10 5320 Forest Drive Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (PG-13) 1:00 -4:30 - 7:00 - 9:30 Down to Earth (PG-13) 1:45 -4:15- 7:00- 9:20 Hannibal (R) 1:15 - 1:45 - 4:00 - 4:45 - 7:00 - 7:45 - 9:45 Left Behind: The Movie (PG-13) 2:00 - 4:30 - 7:15 - 9:30 kjonkeybone (PG-13) 1.30 - 4:00 - 7:00 - 9:45 Recess: School’s Out (G) 1:15-4:15-7:00-9:00 Saving Silverman (PG-13) 1:30-4:30 -7:30- 9:45 Sweet November (PG-13) 1:45-4:30- 7:15-9:45 Thirteen Days (PG-13) 1:00-4:15-7:30 Regal Cinema 7 Columbia Richland Mall 3000 Miles to Graceland (R) 1:30-4:15-7:15-10:15 Cast Away (PG-13) 1:10-4:10-7:00-10:00 Chocolat (PG-13) 1:25-4:20 - 7:10- 9:45 Save the Last Dance (PG-13) 1:20-4:30- 7:20-9:55 Shadow of the Vampire (R) 1:0F- 3:05- 5:10- 7:40- 10:10 Traffic (R) 1:00-4:00 - 7:05- 10:05 The Wedding Planner (PG-13) 1:40-4:40 -7:30- 9:50 Dutch Square 14 Bush River Road 3000 Miles to Graceland (R) 1:10-4:00 -7:00- 9:40 Cast Away (PG-13) 1:10-4:30-8:00 Double Take (PG-13) 1:50-4:50 -7:30-9:30 Down to Earth (PG-13) 1:20-4:30- 7:30-9:40 Hannibal (R) 1:00- 4:00 - 7:00 - 10:00 Monkeybone (PG-13) 1:10-3:10-5:10-7:10-9:20 Recess: School’s Out (G) 1:00 - 3:00 - 5:00 - 7:10 - 9:10 Save the Last Dance (PG-13) 1:20-4:40-7:20-9:50 Saving Silverman (PG-13) 1:40-4:10 - 7:40- 9:45 Sweet November (PG-13) 1:30 -4:40- 7:20- 9:50 Traffic (R) 1:00-4:10-7:50 Valentine (R) 1:30-4:20- 7:40 - 10:00 The Wedding Planner (PG-13) 2:00 - 4:50 - 7:15 - 9:30 What Women Want (PG-13) 1:40-4:20 -7:30- 10:10 St. Andrews Road Mum Cinemas 527 Sr. Andrews Road 102 Dalmatians (G) 2:00 - 3:50 - 5:40 - 7:30 Bounce (PG-1^| 2:20-6:15 Charlie’s Angels (PG-13) 2:25-4:15-6:10-8:00 Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas (PG) 2:10-6:05 Meet the Parents (PG-13) 4:05 - 8:05 Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (G) 2:35-4:10-5:45 Unbreakable (PG-13) 4:20-8:10 Vertical Limit (PG-13) 7:25 Columbiana Grande Stadium Cinemas 1250 Bower Parkway Cast Away (PG-13) 12:55- 3:55- 6:55- 10:05 Crouching Tiger; Hidden Dragon (PG 13) 12:45 - 1:15 - 3:35 - 4:15 - 6:40 - 7:15 - 9:10-10:05 Down to Earth (PG-13) 1:30 - 2:00 - 3:30 - 4:30 - 5:30 - 7:30 - 8:15-9:30-10:15 Hannibal (R) 1:00 - 1:45 - 4:00 - 4:45 - 7:00 - 7:45 - 9:50-10:30 Monkeybone (PG-13) 2:30-5:15- 7:20- 9:40 0 Brother, Where Art Thou? (PG-13) 1:20- 3:45- 6:45- 9:15 Quills (R) 1:35-4:35- 7:25- 10:00 Recess: School’s Out (G) 12:30 - 2:30 - 4:30 - 7:00 - 9:00 Saving Silverman (PG-13) 1:55-4:25- 7:05- 9:20 Sweet November (PG-13) 2:15-5:05- 7:55- 10:20 What Women Want (PG-13) 1:10-4:10-7:10- 10:10