The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 09, 2002, Page 5, Image 5
THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, September 9, 2002 5
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Story ideas? Questions? Comments? I I I J 1 V I I J\ ^USSSS*
E-mailusatgamecockmixedUor@hotmail.com -_■ ■ ■—* -1^ ▼ _■—A*. _m_ and something to hope for.”
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Sam Rockwell has spent years playing the nameless
actor, but in George Clooney’s directorial debut this
fall, Rockwell might get a chance at stardom
*
BY ADAM MCALLISTER
THE GAMECOCK
Hollywood is best known for its
big-budget extravaganzas. Behind
each of fhem is a director known
worldwide; a box-office talent, who
usually pulls in million upon mil
lions of dollars;1 then all the sup
porting actors. Sometimes you
might recognize one or two of them,
and a good number of them eventu
ally break out of their non-leading
roles, but to most of the moviegoing
audience, each is just another
nameless actor.
But it’s these actors — the ones
who seem to effortlessly adapt to
any situation — who actually stand
to bring in some of the best perfor
mances. At the top of this list is a
name that most people have cer
tainly not heard of, but you’ve prob
ably seen at least one of his movies.
Pulling in great supporting roles
for directors such as Frank Darabont
and Woody Allen, Sam Rockwell be
gan to make a name for himself as an
acting chameleon in the late 1990s.
His story, however, starts much ear
lier in New York City. Rockwell’s
parents, both actors, offered him a
unique growing experience. He got
his first introduction to the stage at
an early age.
“Well, the first thing I did was a
play when I was 10 years old. I used
to visit my mom in New York in the
summer, and that’s how I got into
acting, through improvisational the
ater in New York and through the
East Village downtown scene,”
Rockwell said in a 1998 Esquire in
terview.
Rockwell later tried his hand on a
few destined-to-be-canceled televi
sion shows, but promptly realized he
needed more training. A few years
down the road, with two years of pri
vate study at the William Esper act
ing studio under his belt, he was
ready to make a mediocre return,
landing only the smallest of roles and
just trying to get by.
It was not until he landed a guest
starring role on “Law and Order,” in
an episode that won an Emmy, that
people began to take notice. Then, in
1996, Rockwell turned out leading
and supporting roles in five inde
pendent productions: “Basquiat,”
“The Search for One-Eye Jimmy,”
“Glory Daze," “Mercy” and “Box of
Moonlight.” These films went on to
gamer small critical praise and even
fewer box-office receipts. Rockwell
was still looking for his break
through.
Then, in 1997, “Lawn Dogs” came
out. The film follows Rockwell, the
movie’s lead, a societal outcast who
befriends a 10-year-old girl, much to
the dismay of her father.
Rockwell was so well received, he
went on to win the Best Actor award
at the Montreal Film Festival, as well
as at L’Altemativa, a film festival in
Barcelona, Spain. Now Rockwell had
paid his dues and gotten his break
through and, for the first time in his
career, had the offers coming to him.
After some small appearances in
Allen’s “Celebrity” as well as the 1999
adaptation of “A Midsummer Night’s
Dream,” Rockwell got the chance to
go up against one of Hollywood’s
modern legends, Tom Hanks.
After Rockwell was cast as Wild
Bill Wharton in Darabont’s “The
Green Mile,” the critics could not say
enough great things. He then traded
in his prison stripes for a uniform in
“Galaxy Quest,” alongside Sigourney
Weaver and Tim Allen, and wowed
audiences with the two extremely
different roles. Rockwell continued
to walk this line, taking roles in
“Charlie’s Angels,” “Made” and
David Mamet’s “Heist” alongside
Gene Hackman.
All that he has done, however, has
been leading up to his projects this
year. His first feature this fall will be
“Welcome to Collinwood,” coming
this October. The comedy, produced
by Steven Soderbergh, will find
Rockwell as the leader of a lower
class group of petty thieves looking
for the big score.
Then, a couple of months down the
road, Rockwell will have one of the
most anticipated films of the
Christmas season riding on his shoul
ders. George Clooney will be making
his. directorial debut in “Confessions
of a Dangerous Mind,” which will fea
ture Rockwell in the lead role. The
odd plot, based on a true story, de
picts Rockwell playing Chuck Barris,
the former host of television’s “The
Gong Show.” In Barris’ overlyexag
gerated autobiography, he tells sto
ries of how he was a hired "assassin
for the CIA.
With two projects coming out this
year, plus the backing of some of
Hollywood’s best producers and ac
tors, Rockwell is primed to make a
strong impression on moviegoing au
diences. Add to that the potential he
holds, and we might just be watch
ing a star in the making.
Comments on thus story?E-mail
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PHOTOS SPECIAL ■
TO THE ■
GAMECOCK I
CD REVIEW
Queens belong on rock throne
r i
“SONGS FOR THE DEAF”
Queens of the Stone Age
★★★★ out of
BY BEN ANGSTADT
THE (iAMECOCK
It’s undeniable: Most of modem
rock has descended into redun
dant guitar melodies and inces
sant screaming. Radio stations all
over the country play the same
overplayed songs all day long.
Fortunately, every once in a
while, a band like Queens of the
Stone Age comes along and breaks
up the monotony with something
truly worth hearing. On “Songs
for the Deaf,” the band’s third re
lease, the Queens show that all
hope is not lost.
This time around, the band’s
regular members, Josh Homme
on vocals and guitar and Nick
Oliveri on bass, are joined by for
mer Screaming Trees vocalist
Mark Lanegan and ex-Nirvana
drummer and Foo Fighters front
man Dave Grohl on drums.
Grohl’s return to drums is indeed
one of the brightest aspects of the
album.
After a brief introduction that
satirizes the modern trend of
repetitive radio stations, the
Queens hit hard on the first track,
“You Think I Ain’t Worth a Dollar
But I Feel Like a Millionaire” and
drive unrelentingly through the
rest of the album. On “First it
Giveth,” “Six Shooter” and “Go
With the Flow,” they keep the
high-energy, hard-rock style of the
first track, but also show the sheer
variety that is the greatest testa
ment to the Queens’ talent.
From the head-bobbing beat of
“Do it Again,” to the psychedelic,
Hendrix-reminiscent guitar solos
of “Song For the Dead,” to the
frightening, surreal vocals and
hard-hitting guitars of “Song For
the Deaf,” the Queens give their
listeners enough originality to
keep things interesting while still
retaining consistency in style and
execution.
The album, however, is not
without its flaws, though they are
minor ones. While most of the al
bum is fast-paced, the few tracks,
namely “The Sky is Failin’ ” and
“Hangin’ Tree,” in which the gui
tar-driven melodies are aban
doned Tor a slower, more sedated
style feel tired and out of place.
Fortunately, Homme’s haunting
vocals and Grohl’s precise drum
ming keep the pace moving until
the next high-energy track gets
the tempo up again. All in all,
these falters are negligible when
considered with the overall
strength of the album.
Providing another spot of
unique flair are the brief inter
ludes between tracks, which cre
ate a motif of flipping through ra
dio stations. Through the static,
announcements for “KLON: Clone
Radio” and “KRDL: Curdle 109”
mock the repetitiveness of con
temporary corporate radio, and
Grohl can be heard singing brief
renditions of commercial jingles.
This minor addition adds that
much more entertainment to an
already stellar effort.
The Queens of the Stone Age
give listeners a renewed hope for
the future of hard rock. They suc
ceed in bringing a new, off-kilter
sound to a genre that’s flooded
with copycats and repeated styles.
Sure, they’ve got the angry vocals,
dark lyrics and heavy guitars, but
they’ve also got the songwriting
talent to back them up. “Songs For
the Deaf’ might not be for every
one, but for fans of hard rock and
modem alternative, and for any
one who wants something fresh
and original, it’s a must-have.
Comments on this story?E-mail
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movie review
Here’s a movie to talk about
“THIRTEEN CONVERSATIONS
ABOUT ONE THING”
Starring Matthew
McConaughey
★★★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆
BY TUG BAKER
THE GAMECOCK
The title itself is intriguing
enough to make you want to see
this film. “Thirteen Conversations
About...” what? Simply put, hap
piness is the topic of conversation
in director Jill Sprecher’s “Thirteen
Conversations About One Thing.”
After all, isn’t everything we do as
humans related to our own happi
ness? Wouldn’t it make sense that
we talk about it all the time?
Written by Sprecher and her
sister Karen, the duo that gave us
“Clockwatchers,” “Thirteen
Conversations” is split into four
seemingly separate stories. By the
time the film is over, though, the
stories have intertwined so many
times that it’s hard to distinguish
among them.
First off, there is Troy, played
by Matthew McConaughey, a
lawyer who is out celebrating yet
another conviction — one more
bad guy put away. At a bar, he
speaks with a man who offers
him this saying: “Show me a hap
py man, and I’ll show you a dis
aster waiting to happen.” Troy
makes light of the man’s doom
and-gloom outlook and continues
to celebrate with his friends. His
happiness, however, comes to an
abrupt end when he accidentally
hits a pedestrian on the way
home. Because he works in the
District Attorney’s Office, he
knows how it will look to the po
lice; so he runs, and begins a long
cycle of guilt-ridden depression
that follows him through
out the whole movie.
The other characters’ ex
periences mirror Troy’s in
that their happiness is com
pletely subject to fate. Clea
DuVall plays Beatrice, who
lives a happy life until she
is involved in an accident
that changes everything.
Most elusive of all the char
acters is Walker, played by
John Turturro. Being the
victim of a mugging con
vinces Walker he needs to
find happiness soon. But he
goes about it in all the
wrong ways.
Then there’s Gene, the
doom-and-gloom man at the
bar played by Alan Arkin. He
is perhaps the worst off of all
the characters. While we see
the rest of them happy at
some point, Gene is never
happy. The reasons for his
unhappiness unfold as the
movie goes along, but the act
of fate that created those rea
sons isn’t revealed until the
end of the film.
If the people behind the
Academy Awards decide this year
would be a good time to offer an
Oscar for best ensemble, “Thirteen
Conversations” would be the first
winner. Turturro is consistently
♦THIRTEEN, SEE PAGE6
Matthew
McConaughey
stars In
“Thirteen
Conver
sations
About
One
Thing.”
PHOTO
COURTESY
KRTCAMPUS