CARELESS USE OF THE
COFFEE MACHINE

 

 

 

Hoop Dreams

Epic in scope and intimate in detail, Hoop Dreams
more than just another basketball fantasy

by Ken Spittel
Hoop Dreams is a documentary
that follows two inner-city black teens
for five years of their lives as they both
pursue their dreams of NBA stardom.
Like anything good in life, the
producers of this film tripped upon this
idea while pursuing another idea. Their
original idea was to make a short film
on street basketball. But then they ran
into talent scout Earl Smith: 5 years
and 250 hours of film later, they had
the raw product for “Hoop Dreams”.
The beauty is not just in the film-
ing of a real life event, but being able
to choose only 3 hours out of the 250
hours to truly represent 5 years of
emotional turmoil. The length of the
film will not affect you, in fact, you ‘Il
wish you could see the final outcome:

 

Whether they both make it to the NBA
or not.

What emerges from this movie is
far more than a sympathetic portrait of
two black teenagers reaching for the
stars.

While remaining epic in scope,
Hoop Dreams manages to be intimate
in detail, chronicling the universal proc-
ess of growing up, coming of age, and
the love and conflict between friends
and family.

But the most amazing thing about
this movie is it gives an intimate look
at the pursuit of the basketball dream
while it is actually happening.

If you are one who believes in pur-
suing dreams, you can not spend your
eight dollars better then going to see this
movie.

 

who could gk f

  

&
&
&

 

 

March 9: Superman I CA

 

The Other Press

 

February 25,

 

New thriller anything but dead

Jason Kurylo digs Shallow Grave

Go see Shallow Grave!!

I cannot stress enough how quickly
you should run to the theatre to check
this film out. Now, before I get every-
one’s hopes up too too high, I’d like to
qualify two things:

1) No, this is not the best movie
ever, so don’t walk in expecting your
socks, underwear, or any other garment
of choice to be blown off;

2) I do not know why Ewan
McGregor looks so damn much like an
Scottish David Cassidy...

Okay, now that that’s over with, I
can get down to business.

Grave is, quite simply a great lit-
tle film. A Scottish thriller set in Glas-
gow, this picture does all the things
good cinema should: It shocks, it sur-
prises, it begins and ends well. It shakes,
it rattles, it rolls. The cinematography
is impressive, and relies on ingenuity
rather than formula. It makes you for-
get you’re in a movie theatre with a
bunch of strangers, and it makes you
forget that you paid eight bucks to get
in.

Yes, that’s right... It’s actually
worth the admission. I very seldom walk
out of a theatre pleasantly surprised.
Lately, I’ ve been doing it less and less.
Seeing flicks like this is what makes it
all worthwhile... They restore my faith
in cinema; they make up for all the

Sex: The
Seduction fails to

What is it with presumptuous
movie titles these days? Legends of the
Fall was not all that legendary. And
now we have The Last Seduction, which
is neither seductive nor particularly fi-
nal.

This new movie from Film Noir
director John Dahl more like Film Noir
wannabe. There are elements of Film
Noir present in this movie, but not
enough to qualify this as true Noir style.
The movie revolves around Bridget
Gregory (Linda Fiorentino), an up-
wardly mobile, hard nosed
telemarketing supervisor, who con-
vinces her medical student husband
(Bill Pullman, in a tasty, if ultimately
two-dimensional role) to pull a drug

 
   

Ewan McGregor gets lots of laughs (come on,

get happy, y'all...) and plenty scared in Shallow Grave.

Flintstoneses and the Dumb &
Dumbers out there.

In this bubble gum chewin’ chan-
nel surfin’ Nintendo playin’ MTV
watchin’ I-ain’t-got-an-attention-span-
why-do-you-hey-look-over-there-
that’s-neato society, movies like this are
a breath of fresh air.

The characters here are well per-
formed; the aforementioned McGregor
is a blast, while costars Kerry Fox and
Christopher Eccleston make the trio
of roommates unanimously, undeniably
real. (That is, they aren’t impossibly
beautiful or perfect, and they could eas-
ily live next door, or down the street, or

anywhere else... You’ Il never loc
Lodgings Board quite the same

Thank the stars, Vishnu, 0
ever you want to thank, but w
you do, thank them for the fi
Hollywood did not get a hold
script. The best thing about §
Grave is the writing. Plot twist
this much, much more than a ru
mill best-friends- ‘til-money-
piece o’ dreck Hollywood wou
come up with. I’d tell you mor
Shallow Grave, but I couldn’t
giving stuff away. ;

So, quit gawkin’, and go s

final chapter???

get a rise out of OP's Trent Ernst

deal to pay off his debts, with enough
left over to keep the two of them com-
fortable for the next, oh, hundred years
or so.

You see it coming already, don’t
you? Not content to share the loot,
Bridget ditches her husband and bails.
She winds up in Hicksville, (completely
offending her big city sensibilities)
where she takes a lover (Peter Berg,
the aforementioned seducee), and a job,
changing her name to Wendy Kroy (a
reflection of her lust for New York.
Think about it) to keep her husband
from finding her.

Of course, he finds her anyway,
and the rest of the movie falls into a
watchable, if predictable pattern. Mov-

ies like this ask to be scrutini
it‘s not hard to catch most mi
twists. There are even a few mi
tinuity errors (like, why did the
taxi have New York license plat
draw attention to themselves an
from the movie.

Still, there is some we
dialog and that’s what holds th
together when the plot starts t
little thin. The movie also fun
an interesting study of sexual
and equality at the lowest com
nominator.

The last seduction is ent
enough to keep interest, but is ii
a nail bitter. One hopes that |
the last word form Film Noir.

Billy Madison makes the
grade...barely

Scattershot offering from scatterbrained Sandler

by Trent Ernst

Any Adam Sandler fans out there?
Well, this is the movie for you.

Anybody loathe the ground that
Sandler walks on? Avoid this one like
the plague.

Sorry to break it down such sim-
ple lines, but that’s the way this movie
goes. Sandler’s shtick can wear awfully
thin awfully quickly and unless you’re
a devoted fan, much of this movie will
grate heavily on your nerves.

And if you don’t break down into
either of these categories? Guess what?
It’s funnier than you think. Only true,
diehard fans will flip over this movie,

but there are some honest-to-gosh funny
scenes.

Sandler plays a spoiled rich kid
who, in order to inherit daddy’s com-
pany, must complete grades 1-12 in the
course of 6 months (two weeks per
grade), or else the business goes to the
dickhead in the suit. A basic rehash of
every other “loser makes good” movie,
the first half hour is perhaps the worst
movie I have seen this year.

Fortunately (for the movie and the
audience) it gets better. There are a cou-
ple of jokes that hit like sledgehammers.
The Steve Buschemi (Mr Pink, of Res-
ervoir Dog fame) cameo is particularly

hilarious - nigh worth the pri:
mission alone (though only o1
day).

The incongruity with this
this: Sandler is its biggest liat
is also one of its biggest st
Sandler’s style of humor is
plined. Hilarious at times, there
stretches where one can only
jawed and ponder what the pc

At best a Tuesday night m
is not for the weak stomache
are enough nuggets to make tt
joyable movie, but you gc
through a lot of dross to find