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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 26, 1990)
P<fc Arts & Entertainment Film likened to bad preteen romance novel [ Andy Manhart/Daiiy Nebraskan By Lisa Stankus Staff Reporter__ “Courage Mountain,” the current movie release by Epic Productions, has an appropriate title. It indeed did take courage to sit through the entire 90 minutes. The movie intends to tell a heart warming tale of a young girl’s com ing of age in a war-torn Italy, about 1915. It begins with all the attributes that would make the film a pictur esque ballad of a heroic young girl and her struggle, which accounts for agoodcightto 10 minutes of filming. Then it turns into a bad version of a prctccn romance novel, with the strife of war and an obstacle of a mountain separating a young heroine from her homeland and her u uc love. Call it predictable. Call it esti mable. Call it Wall Disney on a heavy dose of PCP. The producers pul a group of young girls in an outrageously ridiculous situation, namely crossing the Swiss Alps ... on fool... in the middle of winter... with improper clothing, a meager food supply antf no direc tional aids. Yet they arc able to navi gate their way from Northern France to Switzerland. Right. What got this group of five young girls to the Alps in the first place was that they had escaped from an or phanage that would parallel the con ditions of “Oliver Twist.” The war had caused the closing of their exclu sive boarding school so the girls were placed in this institution for tempo rary shelter. The film stars Charlie Sheen as the life-saving hero of the story line. The first thing that came to mind at this casting is “why?” Why would Sheen accept such a schmaltzy role in this attempted remake of a ’70s “My Side of the Mountain.” Good skiing, perhaps? Sheen comcsoffasan inane moun tain boy, with little more ambition than what’s carried in his loins. On the other hand, actress extraor dinaire Leslie Caron plays the dedi cated school headmaster whose moti vation is to find the troupe of lost girls. Laron plays me ruic wiui a sensitive authenticity and is one of the most believable characters in the film. The cast is rounded out by a col lection of dirty-faced, courageous girls, again with Dickcnscsquc characteri zation. There arc a few moments of quiet sincerity amongst the girls, but for the most part, these girls were chosen for their ability to cry on cue and look pathetic in all the right scenes. One of the redeeming qualities of the film is the unspoiled beauty of Switzerland. Cinematography was given free rein to document the natu ral wonders of the mountains and hillsides of the country. Hollywood must have thought that the viewing public was due for a good, old-fashioned dose of good tri umphing over evil. It’s too bad that they relied on a discounted script to attempt their task. If viewers find themselves with a penchant for a hero-story, they can save their money on this one. Leave “Courage Mountain” in Switzerland. Rent ‘ * The Sound Of M usic ’ ’ instead. “Courage Mountain” is playing at the Douglas 3, 13th and P streets. 6 Glory’ a pleasant alternative to Vietnam hlms By Jim Hanna Staff Reporter The movie industry’s eternal love affair with war is currently caught in a Vietnam rut. The last five years have been teem ing with “Platoons,” “Full Metai Jackets” and “Bom on the Fourth of Julys.” Fortunately, an excellent movie about the Civil War is attempting to poke its head from this deluge of Vietnam films. “Glory,” a lengthy yet fascinat ing film, depicts the struggles of the Union’s first all black infantry, the Massachusetts 54th. Mauhcw Broderick stars as an ambitiouscolonel in the Union Army. He receives a direct invitation from the governor of Massachusscts to head up a “colored” regiment of soldiers. He accepts the invitation and is greeted with a huge turnout of eager men who want to fight. The Union, often depicted as the supporter and defender of the free black during theCivil War, refuses to offer any but the most minimal sup port for the new infantry. They are forced to train with poor equipment and without proper shoes or uniforms. Almost the entire first half of the movie is devoted to the struggle of the infantry to obtain needed supplies and, as one may imagine, it becomes rather tedious. After a few spirited scenes of re bellion, however, the soldiers per suade the powers that be to provide I... miT^VT. ... mini ■ iiJhi .. them with good shoes and sporty Union uniforms. From here, the movie is again bogged down fora whilcas the newly uniformed 54th has to convince its superiors that it is willing and capable of fighting. Initially, the entire regi ment is forced to do grunt work, like slave labor in the evil Confederacy they were hoping to topple. As in any movie about war, the battle scenes arc the most spectacular aspect of the film. Eventually, the Union docs gel around to letting the soldiers fight, and they prove them selves to be excellent fighters. The final battle, an assault on a Confederate fort led by the 54th, is a horrifying yet rousing conclusion to an overall excellent film. The acung in the movie ranged from outstanding to stilted and dull, with Broderick being the chief perpe trator of the latter. His character, Col. Robert Shaw, is bland, lifeless and a major distraction. A big annoyance was his pseudo-British dialect. Ap parently, it was a reflection of his wealthy New England upbringing, but it only made him sound ridiculous. Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington turn in the two best per formances from among many in the regiment. Freeman is brilliant as usual, and Washington proves he is worthy of his Oscar nomination for best sup porting actor. As a whole, the movie is an excel lent depiction of a hidden aspect of the U.S. Civil War. “Glory” is playing at the Cooper Lincoln Theatre, 54th and 0 streets. Kennedy Rose’s (Hai-ku features folksy love songs, lacks spontaneity By Matt Burton Senior Reporter Kennedy Rose “Hai-ku” Pangea/I. R.S. Whai kind of a name is Kennedy Rose? They arc two symbols of Ameri cana. The Kcnncdys and roses, there’s even a Rose Kennedy. Actually, the answer is more simple than this. Kennedy Rose is Mary Ann Ken nedy and Pam Rose. “Hai-ku” is the debut album for this duo. They prove that they can harmonize well together, but they share one fundamental problem -- Kennedy Rose takes the love song and docs it 12 different ways. There are so many songs focusing on the problems of love on “Hai ku,” that the listener begins to won der where these two get the lime to write songs. But Kennedy and Rose worked exclusively on the album. And they prove that they can play many differ ent kinds of instruments, from guitars to mandolins, and create a unique folksy sound. “Love Like This,” opens up the album with some New Age wind chimes, which goes into some sup posedly heavy guitar feedback. Then the song switches pace and starts to sound like some sort of high tech Irish noise. “Love may come and love may go/But here inside your arms I know/ The only love you will ever show me/ Love like this.” Spare me. Throughout the album, Kennedy Rose has layered so many dubs and over-dubs on the tracks that it sounds way too tinny and lacks spontaneity. Some of these songs actually may be meaningful to someone, such as “After Your Arms,” a tunc about needing your loved one. “Your love is like a star that will keep or. shining/Lighting my way to you/Therc never was a storm or a new horizon/That you couldn’t see me through.” The bottom line is, who cares? Kennedy Rose proves itself to be the alternative rock’s equivalent to Lionel Richie. The folkish, country feel it tries to get across to the listener is like Juice Newton without balls. Perhaps if Kennedy Rose could keep its sound more basic, and its song lyrics more original, it could make a decent record. CourtMty of LftS. Records KMMMdyRoM Sgffipient vailable for ballet at Lied Scaling is available for the Jeffrey Ballet performances March 9-11 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts. The ballet company ’s appear ance is sponsored by tlie Lied Center. The Jorfrey Ballet will perform “Italian Suite, Lacrymosa,” a ballet commissioned by the center for its opening season, and “Lc Sacrc du Printemps” at the 8 p.m. perform ances on March 9 and 10. They will perform “Billy the Kid,” “Monotones I and II” and “Suite Sainl-Saens” at the 2 p.m. mati nees on March 10 and 11. The Joffrey Ballet will be accompanied by the Lincoln Symphony Orches tra. Tickets for the ballet arc $24, $20 and $14 for evening perform ances and $22, $18 and $12 for matinees. Tickets for University of Nebraska-Lincdn students and youth 18 and under are half-price. Wesleyan comedy opens Friday night I The Nebraska Wesleyan Uni versity production of the classic Greek comedy “Lysistrata” will open Friday at Wesleyan’s McDonald Theatre, Elder Memo rial Speech and Theatre Center, 51st St. and Huntington Avenue. This classic farce is the story of how the women of ancient Greece, ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■Mi under the leadership of the deter mined Lysistrata, attempt to bring an end to war by denying their husbands all sexual favors until they promise to never Fight again. Performances will be at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and March 9 and 10, with matinees scheduled for 2 p.m. March 4 and 11. $2 50 per day for 10 words on individual student and student organization ads S3 00 per day for 10 words on commercial ads $ 15 each additional word. $ 75 billing charge Personal ads must be prepaid Found ads may be submined free of charge DEADLINE 2 p m day before publication (Monday through Friday). The Daily Nebraskan will not print any adver tisement which discriminates against any person on the basis of sex. sexual orientation, race, religion, age, disability, marital status or national origin The Daily Nebraskan reserves the right to edit or reject any advertisement at any time which does not comply with the policies arid judgments of the newspaper. T he advertisers agree to assume liability for all contents of all ads printed, as well as any claim arising therefrom made against the DaMy Nebras Kan. 10 Misc. 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