REVIEW
✓
MOVIE REVIEW // PIRANHA 3D
> Hollywood hits, indie flicks and everything in between.
In 2010, it's not uncommon to have an unnecessary 3D remake of an homage/parody of a film made three decades ago. However, it is uncommon for the writers and directors of a remake to take its source material and make something fresh and interesting. Piranha 3D has a great cast, but that's the only thing great about it.
Piranha 3D employs the talented Adam Scott (Stebnbrothers) whose only character trait is that he's a seismologist (with a shotgun!) and the sheriff of the lake town which is overrun by, apparently, every single slutty girl and sleazy guy in the continental United States during spring break. Sherriff Forester's (Elisabeth Shue) teenage son Jake (Steven R. McQueen) is enlisted to watch his plucky blond younger siblings, but instead takes a job showing Wild, Wild Girls' (a parody of Girls Gone Wild) creator Derrick Jones (Jerry O'Connell) all the hotspots of the lake. But all the hotspots of the lake happen to be inhabited by a long-ago extinct million-year-old breed of piranha which was comfortably living in an underground lake as cannibals until an earthquake set them free to
feast.
A film snob should never expect a good plot, dialogue, or acting from a film like Piranha 3D, but director Alexandre Aja (High Tension) doesn't even make the film fun to laugh at. Save a few humorous scenes, the film falls flat and spends too much of its 90-minute running time showing the gory genocide (you know
... for being stupid) that the college students meet after not getting out of the lake. The 3D is fun, but it's only utilized a few times. Adam Scott resorts to reciting lines like he doesn't really want in scenes, but who can blame him? The audience doesn't even want to be there.
CHANCE CARMICHAEL
Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables was supposed to be a nostalgic throwback to the days of red-meat action movies, where a hero's worth was measured in the bulge of his bicep and the barbed wit of his one-liner.
> Hollywood hits, indie flicks and everything in between
MOVIE REVIEW // THE EXPENDABLES
The plot, such as it is, revolves around veteran soldiers of fortune Barney Ross (Stallone) and Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), whose team of roughneck mercenaries is given the thankless task of toppling an
Well, bring on Michael Cera and his Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, because the road to movie hell is often paved with the noblest intentions. Despite boasting one of the most formidable casts ever assembled, The Expendables is an uninspired blooper reel of a movie, full to bursting with incoherent shoot-outs, spurts of CGI blood and utterly unintelligible dialogue from Stallone and Mickey Rourke. More than once I honestly questioned whether or not I was watching the film's outtakes by mistake. Was this mess really directed by the same Sly Stallone who recently ended both his Rambo and Rocky sagas on such dignified high notes?
unspecified South American dictator (David Zayas) and the rogue C.I.A. agent holding his leash (the perpetually sneering Eric Roberts). Along the way, Barney falls for the dictator's sexy daughter and decides that this one last job might be one worth dying for. Or at least that's what the poster should have said.
Bruce Willis and Governor Ah-nold Schwarzenegger appear in the briefest of cameos. Rourke, playing a tattoo artist and mechanic known only as Tool, plays his every scene like he's slipping in and out of a coma. The only performer who manages to make a real impression is Statham, whose Crank and Transporter franchises have cemented his status as the heir of old school badassery. Maybe that's why his character is the only one on the team to have even the semblance of a back-story. The rest are just well-loved action figures that have seen far better days. I came to The Expendables expecting a happy reunion, not the half-assed eulogy of American machismo.
LANDON MCDONALD |
MOVIE REVIEW // EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP
Exit Through the Gift Shop is a clever documentary that weaves two fascinating stories into a single narrative that begs the question: what is art, and what is an artist?
Assembled and directed by enigmatic graffiti artist Banksy, the actual footage itself was shot by French-born Thierry Guetta, who follows a variety of street artists, including the film's director.
most colorful characters, rather than it's better artists.
When Banksy takes Thierry's unedited footage with the purpose of making the documentary. Thierry sets out to become a street artist himself — with bizarre results.
About half of the film revolves around the burgeoning art movement, and regardless of one's opinion of graffiti, it is a fascinating practice when done right. Watching Banksy in particular tag everything from the rooftops of LA to the West Bank with talent and speed is impressive, if not admirable.
Although intended as an historical account of modern art, Exit Through the Gift Shop has become an accidental satire, and it's the best of its kind. While the film revels in the purity and integrity of the art itself, it also shakes its head as the masses flock to the movement's
B. S. HADLAND
Beer Tower Wednesdays
$7.00 2L Towers
$9.50 3L Towers
530 Wisconsin 785.856.8188
Ben Pirotte/KANSAN
Cassidy Kirch, a senior from Olathe, plays Hecabe in Euripides's classic Greek tragedy, "The Trojan Women." The actors learned some modern Greek when members of the cast traveled to Greece this summer to prepare for their roles.
15
Directed by Dennis Christilles
Today and Aug. 28 at 7:30 p.m.
August 29 at 2:30 p.m.
Inge Theatre, Murphy Hall
Brian Bondari produced the score for "The Trojan Women" in
"It's overwhelming to rehearse and practice in a place that witnessed the birth of Western music, theater and civilization as a
many may put on a production of Euripides' classic tragedy "The Trojan Women."
They also travel to historic cities like Delphi, Corinth and Mycenae. Christilles said the cornerstone of their work, the production itself, was done in fourth century B.C. theater in Iniades.
collaboration with Christilles. He now teaches at the University of Texas at Tyler, but went to Iniades twice with Christilles.
bus.
whole," Bondari said in an e-mail.
whole, Bondari said in an e-mail. One challenge the students faced was learning and performing one-third of the dialogue in Maggie Parker, a junior from Bentonville, Ark., said that
SEE PLAY ON PAGE 3A
The group lives in an elementary school in the village of Katohi, which is part of the larger city of Iniades, for six weeks. During this time, they take classes in ancient Greek drama and architecture.
This weekend, the same group of students will transfer the Greek tragedy from the ancient theater of Greece to the Inge Theatre in Murphy Hall. The performances this weekend are in celebration of the one-year anniversary of Lawrence's sister city agreement with Iiades.
"The students get an opportunity to learn about another culture first hand by living in it," Christilles said.
Director Dennis Christilles has been taking students to Greece since 1997. He said this experience is unique for his students because they don't just see Greece through the windows of a tour
.LEDOWSKI
@kansan.com
dowoorks
e part of the art KU's foot-thurst, generalia Collection, Dread and The
IN
will allow taildrinks outside its first football Lawrence City ed The Oread's tous taligating self and on the
og
S|6A
has been from the very off Weinberg, ellor. the University school on pub- the closing of revised and ave all streets
the proposal, ng off parts of undiana Street, e of concerns university.
cern for the ag the streets
ways a lot of and the hotel's ye even make y even to and
Details of the final proposal include placing additional security and trash cans around the hotel's property. The hotel also received a permit to sell alcohol outside the bar areas on its property, Longhurst said.
Firefighters wait outside of Haworth Hall Thursday morning. The building was evacuated following a hazardous materials report shortly after 7 a.m.
Lance Johnson, Lawrence City Commissioner, said one of the commission's concerns was making sure that no alcohol was sold to minors.
The Oread will check IDs and give customers wristbands that indicate that they are allowed to drink, Longhurst said.
Dalton Gomez/KANSAN
Customers are allowed to carry
SEE OREAD ON PAGE 3A
CAMPUS
Haworth evacuated after chemical spill
KU Police Chief Ralph Oliver said that a beaker had been accidentally knocked over, and the chemicals had an odor. The police had to figure out what had been knocked over and if the chemicals were in the air system.
Haworth reopened for classes at 8:30 a.m.
The University's emergency notification text message and e-mail alert system notified students and staff this morning that Haworth Hall had been evacuated as a precaution after a hazardous materials report.
Allyson Shaw
Police cars blocked Sunnyside Avenue from Illinois Street to Naismith Drive.
Study shows students to be less empathetic
BY GARTH SEARS
gsears@kansan.com
An understanding friend may be harder to come by as technology grows and changes the way society interacts. According to a recent University of Michigan study, college students today, also called 'Generation Me', are about 40 percent less empathetic than those from the '80s or' 90s.
index
The study measured nearly 14,000 students over 30 years, from 1979 to 2009. A Michigan graduate student Edward O'Brien, who worked on
the study, said in the news release that the largest drop in numbers happened after 2000.
"I feel like Facebook changes how we talk to each other," said Erin Tomkins, a senior from Lawrence.
That class of college students seems to correspond with the beginning of a new generation, one still at large, that is totally immersed in the Internet.
With Facebook chat, e-mail, text messaging and instant messaging, college-aged people communicate
Classifieds. ...8A Opinion...5A Crossword. ...4A Sports...10A Horoscopes. ...4A Sudoku...4A
SEE EMPATHY ON PAGE 3A
SCIENCE
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2010 The University Daily Kansan
Hard landing leads to tire fire for JetBlue flight
weather
Fifteen passengers had minor injuries and five went to the hospital after four tires blew out on a Thursday flight NATIONAL | 3A
TODAY
88 57
SATURDAY
Sunny
SUNDAY
51
91 63
Sunny
95 70
Sunny
weather.com