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7 'W CONTACT TIS THEA SAID II ^ x 1 ‘ FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT: “A doctor can Story ideas? Questions? Comments? . bury his mistakes, but an architect can E-mail us at gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com only advise his client to plant vines." - 1- - ■ .. ■ """ ■- - --." .. -■ —. 1 - 1 PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK The annual festival will show three feature films, including “Lucia, Lucia,” a blockbuster in Mexico directed by Antonio Serrano, as well as two documentaries. Latin American film festival explores ideas behind movies BY NAN ROMAN THE GAMECOCK The Nickelodeon Theatre will hold Columbia’s Second Annual Latin American Film Festival and will be screening festival films from Friday through Thursday, Sept. 25. Three major films will be shown this year along with two documentaries. There will be a Festival Opening Reception held at Immaculate Consumption Friday from 6 to 7 p.m. Anne Raman, executive di rector of the Columbia Film Society, said the festival will have a “strong lineup of films that appeal to a variety of inter ests.” She said all the films should prove engaging — they have “el ements of drama and humor and are-all contemporary.” The first film showing is “City of God (Cidade de Dues)” from Brazil, which Raman dubbed “very hip.” Fernando Meirelles stars in this real-life tale about a young photographer trying to make his way out of the slums. Raman described the film as a “strong story with a lot of action”; it has been compared to “Goodfellas,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Gangs of New York.” The 135 minute film is in Portuguese with English subtitles and is rat ed R. “City of God” has been shown all over the country and has received stellar reviews. The festival’s second feature, “Suddenly (Tan de Repente),” is a new film, yet it has already won three awards. Raman re lates it to a “camp story.” This film, from Argentina, begins as a thriller but maintains a comedic feel overall. Director Diego Lerman presents the story of two lesbian bikers who kidnap a store clerk and go on an ad venture. The film runs 94 min utes and is not rated. “Suddenly” plays in Spanish with English subtitles. “Lucia, Lucia (La Hija del Cabinal),” the festival’s final fea ture-length movie, set records in Mexican theaters, earning the third-highest box office opening ever. Antonio Serrano’s complex story involving a woman’s searching for her missing hus band evolves into a thrilling screenplay. Running 113 min utes, “Lucia, Lucia” shows in Spanish with English subtitles and is not rated. “Dissident,” a 20-minute doc umentary that Raman said is a spy drama, is the first of two doc umentaries being screened dur ing the festival. Filmmaker Heidi Ewing, who along with his crew members posed as an Italian honeymooner, filmed shots of Cuba and its people in stores and on the streets. Raman said some of the people “spoke candidly ... and openly” about their lives — and about their government. The crew also talked with Cuba’s most well-known dissi dent, Oswaldo Pay? Sardinas, who is kept under 24-hour watch. “Dissident” was filmed without government permission and was smuggled out of Cuba. This film offers “an insight in what is going on in Cuba today,” Raman said. The film is not rat ed and plays in Spanish with English subtitles. Following the film, a panel of three USC pro fessors will lead a discussion on “Dissident.” “Balseros (The Rafters),” the festival’s final film, has been newly released in the United States. The documentary pre sents the tales of actual Cubans and the struggles surrounding their immigration to the United States. Seven years after his subjects arrived in America, the director revisited them and documented on film the lives they had creat ed for themselves. “Balseros” plays in both English and Spanish and contains English subtitles. Even though “Balseros” is 120 minutes long, Raman said that viewers “will not be bored for a minute.” The film is not rated. Overall, the festival commit tee aims to emphasize that Latin America has not a single, uni form culture, but rather that it contains a colorful combination of different languages, religions, beliefs and governments. Despite its focus, the Latin American Film Festival features a wealth of diversity. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com LATIN-AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL SCHEDULE “City of God/Cidade de Deus” Friday, 7 and 9:35 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 3, 7 and 9:35 p.m. Nickelodeon Theatre “Suddenly/Tan de Repen te” Monday and Tuesday, 7 and 9 p.m. Nickelodeon Theatre “Lucia, Lucia/La Hija del Cabinal* Wednesday, 3, 7 and 9:20 p.m Thursday, 7 and 9:20 p.m. Nickelodeon Theatre “Dissident” (followed by panel discussion) Saturday, noon Columbia Museum of Art “Ba Iseros/ The Rafters ” Saturday, 1:30 p.m. Columbia Museum of Art Rims at the Nickelodeon are $6.50 general admission, $5.50 seniors and students. Rims at the Columbia Museum of Art'are free. For more information, Contact the Nickelodeon at (803) 254-8234. Five summer blockbusters stand out BY AARON MEHAFFEY THE GAMECOCK Summer has always been a big season for the general movie-goer. It is the time when at last the big blockbusters arrive. The greatest, grandest and the most over-the top action flicks parade them selves one after another before their audiences and become the topic of conversation for the viewing public for the rest of the season. Whereas, during this time, it can be argued that the really valu able and appreciable movies are few and far between, it can also be said that most of these movies, despite how short-lived their lega cies may be, are almost always simply and purely enjoyable. Thus, another summer has gone by and with it another stream of these fun flicks. Auer ait was said and done, these five films endured as the most entertain ing summer blockbusters of 2003: “FREDDY VS. JASON" ★ ★out of The mere idea of this film gen erates a certain sense of nostal gia. The concept alone was more than reminiscent of the monster match-up movie craze that Universal Pro ductions made popular in the ’40s and early ’50s (e.g. “Dracula vs. the Wolf-Man"). And that’s ex actly what the film was, albeit in a different cinematic style—name ly, a bloodier style. The movie was very sopho moric, very simple and relied more heavily on nudity, profanity and anatomy for entertainment than plot or characterization. On the plus side, thougH, Robert Englund’s portrayal of his infa mous character (Freddy Kreuger) was admirable. Despite the sim plicity of the premise, Freddy is purely evil, thanks to Englund’s sinister portrayal and famous laugh. Similarly, the character of Jason Vorhees (Ken Kirzinger) was true to form, acting in total silence, which amplified his nat ural aura of sheer strength. By far the simpler character in person ality, Jason is also somewhat more charismatic in his straight forward approach to what it is they do. Furthermore, the amal gamation of the two-movie series, fortunately, has no effect on the characters’ individual mythos, as is so often the case in crossover films. Naturally, however, in a movie like this, ,the action is so straightforward that there is al most no sense of suspense, so if you intend o see it with hopes of being frightened, don’t bother. It is a movie about a good fight, and as such, it delivers excellently. Simply put, “Freddy vs. Jason" was by no means a classic, but it was such a perfect display of graphics and senselessness that you can’t help but enjoy it. “X2: X-MEN UNITED” **★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆ This movie was cursed with the same problem as most sequels — that curse being that it was, in fact, a sequel, and as such, was in escapably locked into comparison with the original. The movie held onto the original “X-Men” cast, and none of the characters had changed. Primarily, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) are more than ob viously the main characters once again. Also, like the first film, there is a healthy dose df cameos from and references to the comics (Daniel Cudmore’s brief appear ance as Colossus being the most noticeable). And there were, as was expected, the introduction of new mutant heroes and villains: Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming), Deathstrike (Kelly Hu), Pyro (Aaron Stanford) and Jason 143 (Michael Reid MacKay). Unfortunately, the majority of new mutants are basically there for the special effects. Whereas Nightcrawler and Pyro provide the movie-series with new angles via involving subplots, Kelly Hu’s role has almost no purpose out side of her big fight with Wolverine. They have the same powers, so it was a good fight, to ♦ MOVIES, SEE PAGE 8 ^_:_ i ii ■ , PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK “Freddy Vs. Jason" pits the two horror-film vlllians against onefanother on the big .creen. w m nr, : -m PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK “X2: X-Men United” chronicles the crime-fighting adventures of Jean Grey, Storm and their fellow superheroes. * * Sundance to host musical showdown BY CARRIE GIVENS THE GAMECOCK The Soul Mites, Voices of Dissent, Madison Fair, Mean Weiner, Simple as That, the Foxy Brothers, Starlight Rhythm Section and others will go at it in the first of a series of onstage showdowns at the Sundance Bar and Grill start ing at 9 p.m. tonight. Located at 902 Gervais St., Sundance is an ideal place to meet friends, listen to local bands and relax after a long day of classes. Now, in addition to their menu of chicken quesadillas, hand tossed pizza and wings, Sundance has an other entree to offer in the Showdown. Described by Sundance {looking Manager Kevin Burke “as a broad scope of bands,” the Showdown will feature everything from acoustic music to pop/rock, alternative, instrumental, coun try, blues and more. The bands may be varied, but as Burke said, “the larger genre, the more people reached.” Rick Hill and the Radio Stars create instru mental tunes, Mean Weiner is sim ilar in sound to Weezer and the Soul Mites are billed as a blend of rock, funk and alternative. Voices of Dissent, Starlight Rhythm Section and Madison Fair each of fer their own varieties of rock, while Jeff Liberty and Electric Mudd play blues. Other bands scheduled to play include Skelton, Ernie, The Foxy Brothers, J. Edwards Band, Thomas Reed, the Sub Disciples and Simple as That. The Showdown itself is a bona fide competition judged by its spon sors, which include Southern Wine and Spirits, Budweiser and the Free Times. The criteria evaluated will include stage presence, originality, musical ability, professionalism and crowd response. In the past, Sundance held the 93.5 FM Locals Live show. After losing the show to another venue, however, Sundance decided to re- . vise the contest, and the resulting product was the Showdown. Burke said, “Sundance’s main objective is to simply give local bands exposure and allow them a chance to play at Sundance.” In addition, the Showdown ■“will hopefully discover bands that may have had trouble getting gigs and develop those bands,” he said. Each week, four bands will play for 30-45 minutes each for the chance to advance to the final round. There, is no cover charge for the event, which will take place each Wednesday at 9 p.m. until midnight and run for six weeks. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com TOP 10 These were the most requested songs on USC’s student radio station from Sept 7-14. 1. “YOU GOTTA GO THERE TO COME BACK” Stereophonies 2. “THE NEW ROMANCE” Pretty Girls Make Graves 3. “ELECTRIFY” Radio4 4. “ANCHORS AWEIGH” Bouncing Souls 5. “UNCLASSIFIED” Robert Randolph and the Family Band 6. “OBRIGADO BRAZIL” _ _Yo-Yo Ma 7. “THE SEA AND THE RHYTHM” __ _Ron and Wine 8. “PASSIONOIA” Black Box Recorder 9. “FROM THE ASHES” Pennywise 10. “CHAIN GANG OF LOVE” Raveonettes