Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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MOVIE REVIEW Despite lack of plot, meaning, ‘Jackass’should make millions “JACKASS: THE MOVIE” Starring Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Bam Margera, Chris Pontius and Preston Lacy ★ ★★★ out of i BY WILL MISCHNER THE UAMBCOOK Where can you find yellow snowballs, tropical pole-vaulting, and alligator nipple-biting in one place? The Towers you say: Wrong, it’s MTV’s latest motion picture release, “Jackass: The Movie.” From the must-have-been dropped-too-many-times-when-he was-a-baby mind of Johnny Knoxville and his stunt-perform ing gang comes one of this year’s most uniquely hilarious films, based on the shortlived outra geous MTV television show bear ing the same name. The cast members need no for mal introduction, and their names bear no weight on the film’s ap peal. Bam Margera, Steve-O, Chris Pontius and Preston Lacy, just to name a few, share the screen. Cameo appearances from coun terculture icons Tony Hawk, Matt Hoffman and Henry Rollins spice up several scenes and add some celebrity flair to a no-name cast. Adding essential sound bytes, Andrew W.K. rages in the back ground with tunes that almost perfectly personify the onscreen hijinks. As for plot, “Jackass” has none. As with the television show, the movie consists of peculiar vi gnettes of real sketches intro duced fittingly by one of the cast’s performing characters. For ex ample, one title is “I’m Johnny Knoxville, and this is ‘Sweaty Fat Dudes.’” Does this lack of structure work? Hell, yeah, it does. The film’s format of the film, simply reemphasizes the rebellious nature of the programming and reassures the viewer that this movie breaks alhthe rules. “Jackass” scores points in cat ' —i ' * egories that subtler films steer away from. The beauty of this movie lies in its I-can’t-believe they-are-really-doing-this factor. It repeatedly banks on a Howard Stem-like shock value. And, sure, occasionally it comes across as a cheap shot, but, hey, it works. “Jackass” provides the full gamut of performances. Sketches vary from self-inflicted, pain-in ducing jaunts to harebrained stunts to fearless pranks. One minute you could be laugh ing your lungs out watching the gang of crazies unexpectedly blow airhoms into golfers’ backswings, and the next cringing, peeking through your covered eyes, while Steve-0 unabashedly gives him self paper cuts. Frankly, this movie is going to make millions. Its clips, which re flect a ridiculously low budget, don’t require special effects, edit ing or extreme camera angles. They reflect the sadistic genius be hind moronically creative ideas. And if the audience reaction is any gauge of this movie’s sure-fire success, they were practically choking on their chuckles while clapping for approval faster than the changed bully in a 1980’s Brat Pack finale scene. Critics of “Jackass” will un doubtedly say this movie is raunchy, crude, tasteless, a re flection of how far corporate America will go to please out-of control, disrespectful youth and so on. And, in some ways they are right, so, with that in mind, I am officially embarrassed to say that I absolutely loved this movie. “Jackass” doesn’t try to apolo gize for its offensiveness. In fact, it shamelessly basks in the glory of it. And in a stuffy, often-too-po litically-correct world, it is quite dam refreshing to laugh at people being stupid at their own expense. And one final warning: This movie isn’t for everybody. But if it were, how much fun would that be? Comments on this story ? E-mail gamecxKkmixeditor@hotmail.com PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK The cast of “Jackass” performs one of Its outrageous stunts. DVD REVIEW Classicfilm joins list ofdigital casualties “E.T.: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL” Directed bySteven Spielberg ★★ out of BY BEN ANGSTADT THE OAMBCOCK Steven Spielberg: Just because you can digitize a movie, it doesn’t mean you should. “E.T.” is now another casualty on the list of films reworked for rerelease by their di rectors. “E.T.” was a classic, ar guably one of the best films of all time, and the less-than-stellar box office performance of its theatri cal rerelease showed the public’s disapproval of this decision. Fortunately, Spielberg dodged a bullet with the DVD release of “E.T.” After his initial plans to re lease the original 1982 version of “E.T.” only in a $70 DVD collec tor’s set, Universal Studios an nounced Oct. 17 that the $20 DVD would include both the 2002 rere lease and the 1982 original. It was dubbed Spielberg’s “Christmas gift” to his fans after Universal re ceived numerous responses from fans who wanted the original film without the exorbitant cost. It’s a good thing the original film was included, because with out it, the two-disc DVD set has few redeeming qualities. Spielberg’s decision to digitize the E.T. puppet in the new version completely changes the character of the film. “E.T.” is now more mo bile and physically expressive, which detracts from the innocence and frailty of the character that was originally conveyed by the puppet. In the opening scene of the movie, in which government agents chase E.T., he hops through the air rather than pitifully wad dles as he did in the original. As E.T. is jumping forward in five-foot intervals, the audience is left wondering how in the world he didn’t make it back to his ship in the first place. The digitized deleted scenes add nothing to the film, and have E.T. acting like a clown rather than like a childlike explorer. And while the visuals are notably sharper and more defined on the rerelease, the DVD-quality picture of the 1982 version is improved enough to be noticeable. The one noteworthy improve ment in the 2002 version, howev er, is the remastered score. John Williams’ emotional music defi nitely supplements the mood of the film, but not enough to redeem the awkward visuals of a digital E.T. And the special features are nothing spectacular. The video of the cast reunion is tired and not captivating enough to justify spending a half-hour to watch it. One of the special features is strange and outright frightening. For some reason, Universal in cluded an information section on the solar system, with a voiceover by what sounds like an E.T. with a severe head cold. • So, if you don’t own any version of “E.T.” or just have to have the latest and greatest visuals from your movies, buy this new ver sion. For everyone else, just grab a bag of Reese’s Pieces and that old VHS tape, and experience a heart warming classic the way it was meant to be. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Foo Fighters CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 Grohl’s vocals and lyrics get neurotic on “Disenchanted Lullaby,” in which he loudly asserts, “No one has a fit like I do/I’m the only one that fits you.” But the album is not com pletely devoid of subdued songs. The weary-sounding “Tired of You” features ex-Queen gui tarist Brian May. And “Lonely As You” begins softly, but soon launches into a series of stacca to guitar riffs and a chorus with dissonant harmonies that leaves the listener’s head slightly spin ning. But fan/can’t expect anoth er “Walking After You”-type ballad. Last Tuesday at a show in Hollywood, Foo Fighters played a set of which nearly half was new material. “And then we’ll play ‘Everlong’ for the ladies,” Grohl ' said. It’s obvious that Grohl hasn’t lost his sense of humor, despite the serious video for “All My Life,” which breaks a long-run ning Foo Fighters trend of com ical videos. At the Tuesday show in Hollywood, Grohl even thanked Shakira, “who wrote half of our album.” The bonus DVD also shows the funny side of the band, with clips of drummer Taylor Hawkins trying on “Def Leppard shorts” with a Union Jack design on the front. And it also contains videos for “All My Life” and “Walking a Line,” which is not on the album. Overall, the Foo Fighters have created a new album that is strong from head to toe, and combines the Foo Fighters’ dy namics with the best of their in fluences. And even though there’s no “Everlong,” every song is fresh and interesting. Listeners will be enthralled from the album’s beginning through the seventh and final minute of the dramatic album closer, “Come Back.” r Comments on this story?Email gamecockmixeditor@hotmaU.com BECOME ONE OF AMERICA’S HEALTH CARE HEROES > t <, Consider a scholarship that helps you bring health care to a community in need. 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