Friday, March 6, 1998
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 7
Twilight fades into sunset
Paul Newman's effort lackluster
By Jeremy M. Doherty
jdoherty@kansan.com
Kansas movie critic
At the age of 73, Paul Newman still gets to dodge bullets and woo the ladies in the movies.
Unfortunately, his latest,
Twilight, actually uses us to take such silliness at face value.
The plot has enough twists to make The Usual Suspects envious, and the women here sneer as if this were a R-movie from the 1940s.
Newman is Harry Ross, a private eye sent to Mexico to locate the wayward daughter of washed-up movie star Jack Ames (Gene Hackman). And find her he does. She shows her gratitude by shooting him in the thigh with his gun.
Commentary
Two years later, Harry is back in Los Angeles and has been unable to restructure his life. Retired from the detective business, he now lives with Ames and his loose wife, Catherine (Susan Sardanon). For some reason, they feel responsible for the mishap south of the border.
Jap Ames asks Harry to deliver a bundle of cash to a woman downtown. Is it blackmail money? A drug payment? Cash to a secret lover? But Harry ignores the obvious questions and agrees to do the job.
Twilight sets itself some high standards, throwing red herrings and quirky characters around like confetti. But director Robert Benton, who co-wrote the script with Richard Russo, never allows any of the scenes to develop a rhythm.
Instead, we get a series of character confrontations that don't go anywhere. Benton should have made a movie that played around with thriller clichés instead of embracing them outright.
TWILIGHT
Kansan rating: ** out of ******
Running time: 1 hour 35 minutes.
Rated R for profanity, sexuality and
violence.
The only saving grace is delivered by James Garner, who appears in a few choice scenes as Harry's old drinking buddy. Sadly, he's just another puppet in Benton's scheme and never has time to connect with the audience.
Which brings us to Newman. At long last, time appears to have caught up with the sex symbol. His blue eyes still sparkle, but his voice wheezes and has lost its pristine timre. With all the running and jumping he has to do here, I'm surprised he didn't break a hip.
Events offer alternatives, prizes
By Carl Kaminski
ckaminski@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
For those who are tired of the same old thing every weekend, the Association of University Residence Halls might have an alternative.
Almost every weekend, a residence hall sponsors an event as part of the Alternative Weekend program.
Past events have included a hay ride sponsored by Lewis Hall, the suitcase dance at Templin Hall, and an "I Hate Valentine's Day" dance at Hashinger Hall.
"It's a combination of dances, speakers, massage therapy and karaoke tournaments," said Laura Bennett, AURH president and Shawnee senior.
Tomorrow, Templin Hall is sponsoring its annual Casino Night, said Jessica Perkins, AURH vice-president for programming and Burnsville, Minn., junior.
This year, for the first time, the event will be open to all students, said Andrea Barefield, Minneapolis. Kan., sophomore in charge of Templin's public relations.
The event will feature mock casino gambling and prizes, she said. Prizes include two tickets to any city Vanguard Airlines flies to in the United States, a television, a microwave, a stereo, an entertainment center, a Sony PlayStation and a capuccino maker.
But Casino Night is also a philanthropic event, Barefield said. Students who attend must bring either a $1 donation or two canned food items.
The alternative weekend program is the brainchild of Perkins, who said she had been working on the idea for almost eight months.
"I started laying the groundwork for it this past summer when I was a housing intern," she said.
Perkins said even though many students saw the program as an alternative to alcohol, it was more than that. She wanted to offer people more choices for the weekend than going to a movie, a party or just out to eat.
"It's usually not publicized as an alcohol alternative," she said. "We just want to shake things up. We want to show people there are more
things to do in Lawrence."
Bennett said the program started off slowly.
"We didn't have as much support as we had honed." she said.
Originally AURH was to support several events each week, but it evolved into each hall sponsoring one event per month — a move that revitalized the program.
"It really started to take shape with the suitcase dance," Perkins said. About 300 people showed up for Templin's suitcase dance, which awarded two tickets to New York City immediately following the event.
Educational events are also part of the program, but Bennett said getting people to show up had not been easy.
Rarely more than 50 people show up,"she said."People are so into the social mind set here."
Money for the program comes from AURH and the individual halls.
"Instead of all the ownership being out of AURH, we spread it out to the hall governments," Bennett said. "Our efforts were better spent that way."
PRESENTS STAGED READINGS OF FOUR NEW ONE-ACT PLAYS BY K.U. STUDENTS
AND YOU GET TO PICK THE WINNING BABIES IN THIS FINAL FOUR!
8 PM Sunday March 8: Vote for "The Road to Java" by Ed White, or "Charlotte's Special Day" by Darren Weimer.
8 PM Saturday March 7: Vote for "Execution Day" by Bob Determan, or "Up Comes Society" by Nick Woods
8 PM Monday March 9: The two winning babies get paired in one final performance.
Directed by PAUL STEPHEN LIM ALL PERFORMANCES AT 100 SMITH HALL —ADMISSION FREE
Resources for Writers:
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