A&E
6
January 18, 2005
Showbiz, Hollywood survive season back-to-back weeks and both to lower than expected turnouts. Van Sports Editor Helsing, starring Hugh Jackman The year 2004 definitely went (X-Men) and Kate Beckinsale to the dogs. That is, the dogs of (Underworld), paid homage to kids, politics and controversy. As the classic monster movies of the Charles Dickens would say, “It 1930’s. Little did Universal know was the best of times, it was the they were classics because nobody worst of times,” and somehow is interested in them these days. Hollywood and show business And that disposition was made made it through. apparent with Van Helsing’s poor Since Charlton Heston retired box office record, making it the from religious filmmaking, Bible biggest bomb since Hulk. Grade: stories have faded out from C+ mainstream Hollywood. Strong Troy was Wolfgang Petersen’s Catholic Mel Gibson brought one big, glorious, blown up, overblown of the Bible’s most graphic stories and just plain bad depiction of to the big screen in arguably the the Trojan War. Brad Pitt even most disturbing and gruesome lost his wife, Jennifer Aniston, movie ever released in theaters. to this horrific movie. The only The Passion of the Christ hit many thing that saved it was high road blocks prior to release. caliber performances by Eric Bana After mainstream studios turned (Hulk) as Prince Hector and Peter it down, Gibson proposed the O’Toole (Lawrence of Arabia) distribution to relatively unknown as King Priam. Brad Pitt is fast Revolution Studios, who gladly becoming the box office bomb Tom accepted. The movie went on to Cruise became during the late gross over $350 million and set 90’s. He has become the walking records for DVD sales after its kiss of death for films. Pitt played release in August. Jim Caviezel the warrior Achilles who led a (Count of Monte Cristo) headlined thousand ships against Troy after the movie as the Christian savior. Helen ran away from her husband, The film was unique, not only the king of Sparta, with Prince for its brutal depiction of the Paris (Orlando Bloom). Some day, crucifixion, but also in that its filmmakers will realize Orlando entire dialogue was in Aramaic Bloom is no Cary Grant. Pirates of and Latin. Grade: Athe Caribbean was a success due to In May, two big blockbuster the Oscar nominated performance hopefuls were released to theaters from Johnny Depp. In Lord of the with surprisingly bad reviews. Van Rings, Bloom was no lover. Yet, in Helsing and Troy were released on his movies since LOTR, he is cast as a lover, and this leads to eggs at the box office. Grade: CThis last year was not the worst for movies. Shrek 2 became a box office masterpiece with its late May release. Michael Meyers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz all reprised their roles from the original CGI movie about KRT Campus an ogre who falls How do you do? Tom Hanks introduces himself in love with a to Catherine-Zeta Jones in The Terminal. beautiful princess.
By Josh Rouse
A&E Briefs Rehearsal Times Rehearsals for Ms. Black CU will be at 7 p.m. tomorrow in the Shepler Mezzanine. Lunch Bag Lecture Bill Pitts will present a lecture entitled “Hitlerʼs Spy from Oklahoma” at 12:15 p.m. Thursday at the Leslie Powell Gallery. For more information, call 357-9526. Portraits of Survival The OKC National Memorial and Museum will have this display up until Jan. 31. Call 405-2353313 for more information.
Do you need additional copies of The Collegian? Call 581.2261 or stop by NB 2060.
Courtesy Photo
How can you resist this face? Antonio Banderas played Puss ‘n’ Boots in Shrek 2. Latin star Antonio Banderas (Mask of Zorro) lends his voice to the role of “Puss ‘n’ Boots,” a cat with a very bad disposition. The movie grossed over $400 million, not only making it the #1 movie of 2004 but also the #3 movie all time. It is now the highest grossing comedy ever and highest grossing animated movie ever. Grade: B+ Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan) hooked up with Tom Hanks (The Ladykillers) again to make another great movie. The Terminal delivered a box office dud but was one of the best Hanks performances in many years. The Terminal was a comedy-drama about an immigrant restricted to the airport after his passport was null after a political coup d’etat in his home country. There he meets a flight attendant (Catherine-Zeta Jones) with love problems. The Terminal is one of those movies everybody should see and is fun for anybody who watches it. Grade: A Halle Berry won an Oscar for her role in Monsters Ball but that must have been a stroke of luck. With below average performances in X-Men and Gothika, her career is going downhill faster than the sun sets at night. She delivered another atrocious performance in Catwoman. This was hardly the role Michelle Pfeiffer made famous
Band Profile: Against 72 Made up of Mike McBride, Ryan Joyce, Josh Cranston, Caleb Marlin and Kyle Joliff, Against 72 is a self-proclaimed “hybrid metal band.” Their music is influenced by death metal, hard-core, progressive metal and experimental rock. The band played at The Living Room in Oklahoma City last Friday, along with Bury the Remains, Edict of Nantes and Mercy’s Wake. Check out Against 72 at their upcoming shows: • Friday at The Railhead Saloon (909 S. Sheridan Rd.) along with “The Victory” • Friday, Feb. 4 at the Vineyard (next to Lowe’s) with “Bury the Remains,” “Harmful if Swallowed” and “The Closer” • Monday, Feb. 21 at The Railhead Saloon Information about the band can also be accessed through their web site, www.againstseventytwo.net.
in Batman Returns. Instead, we see Halle Berry flashing the screen in a tight skimpy leather outfit with a long whip. Single men probably fueled its very poor showing at the box office. Pick it up on DVD if anybody needs a good torture device. Grade: DThe web slinger himself made it back to the big screen in SpiderMan 2. To the dismay of many action lovers expecting the same dazzling effects as the original, SM2 was more of a love story between Peter Parker (Toby Maguire) and Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). Alfred Molina delivered a solid performance as the infamous Doc Ock, a man with four metal arms attached to his body. For the action lovers, Spider-Man 3 should deliver. Grade: B+ M. Night Shyamalan should be ashamed of himself. The famous director of thrillers The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs, The Village joined the likes of Bennifer and Battlefield Earth as one of the worst movies to hit movie screens. The Village was sold as a horror story about a group of villagers living in the Pennsylvania woods of 1896 where evil “creatures” stalked. To the dismay of anybody who watches it, The Village is far from scary, hardly thrilling and nothing more than a unbelievable bad love story. Shyamalan, who considers himself a modern Hitchcock, needs to reminisce on this movie and see what not to do. Grade: DOliver Stone is a man of many faces: the face of a good movie director, and the face of a bad movie director. His “dream project” Alexander was the equivalent to a dud at the box office. It opened to bad reviews and even worse results with only $20 million. Colin Farrell played the title role of Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia who led a long and brutal conquest to overpower the world by the age of 24. He hardly captured the hearts of Americans with the depiction of a bisexual Alexander. Grade: C
While 2004 saw the breakup of Hollywood’s worst couple (take a guess, it’s not that hard) it also endured the sad loss of some of its greatest stars. Marlon Brando, most famous for his character in The Godfather, died. Superman and super man Christopher Reeve also died from complications from his paralysis. Comedian, self proclaimed screwball and Hollywood legend 83-year-old Rodney Dangerfield died after a severe heart attack. Former President and Hollywood film star Ronald Reagan also died from complications with Alzheimer’s. Non-Hollywood notables Ray Charles (king of jazz) and Julia Child (French cooking celebrity) also died in 2004. Rest in peace all. And look to a better year as some new long awaited movies are set to air this year. Spielberg’s long awaited collaboration with Tom Cruise will finally come full circle in War of the Worlds (hailed as the most expensive movie ever made) out June 30. The Fantastic Four is due out July 2. The Dark Knight also returns in an even darker movie, Batman Begins, out in late June.
KRT Campus
Posing for a shot. Kirsten Dunst poses for the camera while waiting for the premiere of Spider-Man 2.