10A
Entertainment
Monday March 9,1998
Sequel has hard time catching up
By Jeremy M. Doherty jidoherty@kansan.com Kansan movie critic
U. S. Marshals could be considered the cinematic equivalent of an Iggy Pop anthem: loud, intense and instantly forgettable.
At its best, this sequel to 1993's The Fugitive offers some of the most gripping shootouts and chase sequences to be found in contemporary action movies.
At its weakest, director Stuart Baird (Executive Decision) is too content with simple thrills, and he blatantly recycles elements from the earlier movie. Plus, Marshals lacks an emotional core to match Harrison Ford's ferociously determined performance as the wrongly convicted Richard Kimble.
What *Marshals* does provide is another spikes-high turn by Tommy Lee Jones in his Oscar-winning role of dogged lawman Sam Gerard. A frenzied compendium of sarcasm and no-nonsense attitude, Jones once again gives his famous alter ego an engagesly abrasive edge.
This time, Gerard is out to nab Mark Roberts (Wesley Snipes), a convict who killed two government agents and then escaped after the plane he was being transferred on crashed.
Gerard finds his investigation impeded by some shady federal officials, who deposit one of their own agents (Robert Downey, Jr.) onto his team.
It turns out Roberts is a secret government operative named Sheridan who was set up on the double-murder charge.
Baird keeps things moving at a crackerjack pace, tossing in allusions to classic action movies like Deliverance and, of course, The Fugitive. Gerard's first appearance in the movie finds him wearing a chicken suit while undercover, a sly reference to the opening scene of William Friedkin's The French Connection. It makes sense. Who else is Gerard but a 1990s version of Popeye Dove?
Sheridan isn't that interesting a character, and writer John Pogue keeps him at arm's length. However, Downey applies an appropriately slimy sheen to his role as a fed who knows more than he reveals.
The movie's two main set pieces, the aforementioned plane crash and a sequence in which Sheridan leaps off a building's roof bear too much of a resemblance to the first movie.
Another scene, where Gerard comes close to capturing his prey in a cemetery, is the closest this sequel comes to matching the flair of its predecessor.
Kill Creek mystery gig draws 120 to Jaybowl
By Marcelo Vilela
mvillea@kanson.com
Kansas staff writer
Bowling pins glowing in the dark, lots of teenagers and an undercover band — all these elements made for a unique night at the Jawbull Friday.
The Jaybowl housed the last event for SUA'a 60th anniversary, which included a concert and free birthday cake. The bands that played were the Believe It Or Notes and Kill Creek, under the name of Big Russian. About 120 people attended the event.
The bowling venue also debuted their new lighting system. Glow-in-the-dark lanes and pins shone under a set of disco lights.
The glow-in-the-dark phenomena started three years ago," said Howard Milton, SUA's graduate assistant. "It targets an age group between 18 and 24 years old, which fits KU students."
Maggie Drewiczak. Lawrence junior, is a regular bowler at the Jaybow and
"It's really different," Drewiczak said. "It's more fun to come in here, and it adds to the game."
she said she enjoyed the new lights.
The first band to play was Big Russian, also known as Kill Creek. Until the Jaybowl concert, the group hadn't played together for two years.
Because of the band's popularity, SUA asked Kill Creek to play under a different name so that the Jaybowl could accommodate the crowd, said Ron Hayes, the band's guitar player. After the show, the band reassumed its original name.
Kill Creek also had a different look. Three of the four band members were wearing fake moustaches.
Chris Uhlich, a Kansas State University student, drove all the way from Manhattan to watch the band.
Chris Hayes, brother of Kill Creek guitar player Ron Hayes, was surprised when he found out that his brother's band was playing
under a different name.
"I thought they were still broken up," Hayes said. "It's been a long time since they last played together."
Hayes said that once the word got around that Kill Creek was back, they would start playing in bigger venues, where more people would have the chance to see them.
The second band to play was the Believe It Or Nots. Like Kill Creek, they played an ensemble of old and new songs.
"We're setting a record being a band playing at the Jaybowl twice now," said Greg Franklin, the Believe It Or Not's vocalist.
The Believe It Or Nots played a version of The Monkees" "I'm a Believer" dedicated to the newlywed vocalist of Kill Creek, Scott Born. Franklin said that he had always been a fan of Kill Creek.
"A lot of people showed up to see and support Kill Creek. They're a great band," Franklin said.
Scott Born, Lawrence resident and lead singer for the band Kill Creek, sings at the Jaybowl. Kill Creek played a surprise concert Friday night under the name Big Russian. Photo by Augustus Anthony Piazza/KANSAN
Film makers serve a slice of Americana
By Jeremy M. Doherty jdoherty@kansan.com Kanson movie critic
Those who fell in love with
The Big Lebowski finds its creators, Joel and Ethan Coen, in their most raucous, who-the-helicares mood in at least a decade. In filling the screen with cheaply dressed fellows who bowl for pleasure, they have crafted a gem of an American film.
the eerie beauty and structured style of Fargo and Miller's Crossing are bound to be puzzled. However, diehard fans of the Coens' Raising Arizona will love this saga of a perpetually stoned bowler known as the Dude (Jeff Bridges).
Dude lives a happy but point less existence.
Unemployed and unmarried, the Dude lives for his next joint and a decent night at the bowling alley. Long-haired and usually sporting a bathrobe, the
The Dude is known as Jeffrey Lebowski, also the moniker of an obscenely rich philanthropist. As a result, a couple of musclemen break into his house and demand money.
Before this confusion can be cleared, one of the thugs relieves himself on the Dude's beloved Oriental rug.
There is no way to describe
the dozens of offshoots in which the Coens engage without spoiling the fun. Basically, the Dude tries to hit up the other Lebowski (David Huddleston) for a new rug and winds up in a kidnapping/ransom deal.
The most delicious cameo belongs to John Turturro, playing a purple-clad bowler who taunts the Dude and his buds with sexually tinged insults and gestures.
Dude's well-worn skin. Punctuating each slurred sentence with "man," Bridges creates a lovable character.
Bridges seems at home in the
He is upstaged by John Goodman, who has a beauty of a role as the Dude's bowling partner, Walter. Much controversy will be raised about Lebowski's high reliance upon the "f"word, but the Coens use it so carefully that each utterance becomes an all-out punch line.
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