4B = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
ENTERTAINMENT
THURSDAY,MAY9,2002
HEARD ON THE HILL What are you planning on doing after you graduate?
"I'm sticking around, working at Naismith as the resident director. Then it's out to L.A.,trying to find film work."
Matt Miksch, Leawood
Aaron Berger, Kansas City, Mo.
"I'm graduating with a major in human biology going to optometry school in either Tallequah, Okla., or Memphis, Tenn."
"The job market sucks. I'm applying for a masters of economics program at KU and a few other places. Be cool, stay in school!"
Kole Meyer Highland
"Who knows? Probably looking for a job, moving in with my parents for a while."
Mimsy Winston, Overland Park
"I'm going to Cancun to work at a resort, try to improve my Spanish.I just want to get out of the United States — try something different."
Jimmy Hummert, St. Louis, Mo.
"I might be moving to Chicago or Portland. I have family in Portland, but Chicago is just the place to be."
Kate E. Burke, Lawrence
"I have no idea."
Hollie Bush, Overland Park
"I'm going to work for a semester, then I'll probably apply to grad school."
Julia Bridges, Lawrence
'Hollywood Ending' brings familiar flair to new generation
It is fitting with the school year ending and graduation becoming a reality that a film like Hollywood Ending be released. Sure, director and actor Woody Allen is getting old and his style hasn't changed much over the years, but his style continues to be appropriate for changing and growing generations.
Hollywood Ending is a combination of Woody Allen's '70s-style films, like Annie Hall, and his newer breed of films, like The Curse of the Jade Scorpion. He still plays the same character that he always does — a near mirror image of himself — as he takes us through the ridiculously neurotic and exaggerated world that he lives in.
In Hollywood Ending, Allen's new persona is Val Waxman, a washed-up, Oscar-toting director who has been exiled into the world of directing commercials.
That is, until the script of The City that Never Sleeps comes to Galaxy Studios and Ellie (Tea Leoni). Val's ex-wife, convinces her new fiancé and studio president (Treat Williams) that Val is the only person who can successfully make the movie and that he deserves a second chance.
Val prepares to shoot the new movie but begins to feel the pressure of his entire career riding on this one film combined with the stress of working under his ex-wife. As a result of all the stress, he wakes up from a nap one day to find that he is blind. Knowing this is his last chance at making a movie, he forges ahead and shoots the entire film
Peter Black
pblack@kansan.com
completely blind with the help of a Chinese translator and Ellie, who is covering up the situation from her soon-to-be husband.
Though Woody Allen is getting old, he is a genius comedian and filmmaker and he solidifies this by sticking to what he knows best. In fact, Hollywood Ending is a culmination of all of his films. It combines the same unswaying humor with his love for New York City and his playfully neurotic approach to sex.
His jokes about analysts and psychosomatic disorders have a '70s flavor and can seem out-of-date, but they are still prevalent issues in today's society.
Sure, compulsive disorders and shrinks may not be the hot topic of discussion, but addiction and looking for answers in odd places is still a visible part of our culture.
If there is one thing that Allen has taught us through the years, it is that the best way to be successful in life is to stick to what you know.
And why shouldn't he? Hollywood Ending proves that his style still works and offers a smarter brand of comedy and satire that continues to win over new generations.