Arts & Entertainment
‘Silence of Lambs’ plot roars like a lion
By James Finley
Staff Reporter_
“The Silence of the LambsOrion’s
latest psychological thriller starring
Jodie Foster, isn’t about cute little
barnyard animals.
Based on the Thomas Harris novel
of the same name, this is one of the
few movies that does justice to the
book, while still being an entertain
ing and suspenscful film in its own
right.
The film starts out at FBI training
grounds and headquarters in Quan
tico, Va., where Clarice Starling (Jodie
Foster) is in training. One day, she’s
pulled from her classes to help run an
“errand” for the FBI. All she has todo
is interview the sociopathic serial killer
and psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal “the
Cannibal” Lecter (Anthony Hopkins)
at an asylum for the criminally in
sane.
While Starling is interviewing
Lecter, the FBI is tracing a serial
killer, Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine). Bill’s
murder method is to kidnap a woman,
| hold her for three to five days, then
kill and skin her.
Starling’s job is to interview Lecter
I in hopes of getting some sort of psy
chological insight on this current
murderer. As it turns out, Lecter knows
more about the killer than the FBI
realizes.
Buffalo Bill’s latest victim is the
daughter of a U.S senator, so the
pressure is on to solve the crime
quickly. Lecter seizes this opportu
nity to piay mind games with the FBI
— specifically, Starling — to gain
some privileges and work toward his
escape.
Eventually, the FBI also figures
out who the killer probably is and get
ready to close in on Buffalo Bill.
“The Silence
of the Lambs”
Starring
Jodie Foster,
Hopkins
Rated R
Rating: 4
Throughout the film, Dr. Lecter
constantly plays mind games with
Starling. While he is obviously a sick
andevilman, Lee terstillisverycalm,
intelligent and logical. Lecter uses
these qualities to mentally disarm
Starling and work his way into her
mind, forcing Starling to deal with
her past and present fears and doubts.
This film is marked by several
excellent performances by the leads.
Anthony Hopkins portrays the socio
pathic Dr. Lecter with such intensity
that it is very easy to ignore some of
the other weaknesses of the film.
Jodie Foster also brings credibi 1 i ty
to her role as the tough, yet naive FBI
trainee. She lets Lecter get into her
mind and shows the self-doubt of her
character.
Unfortunately, Anthony Heald fails
as Dr. Frederick Chilton, the self
interested and ambitious director of
Lector's asylum. Heald brings too
much flamboyance and exaggeration
to the role, making the character almost
cartoon-like. If he had played the role
a little more subdued, it would have
helped immensely.
See LAMBS on 10
Courtesy of Orion
Clarice Starlina (Jodie Foster) with Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) in “The Silence
of the Lambs.
UNL’s art department exhibition
colorfully addresses problems
By Shannon Uehling
Staff Reporter
Artists address issues with boid,
striking art in the Department of
Art and Art History’s latest exhibi
tion, “Anxious Nature: Five Paint
i*
ers.
Not only does the show address
issues, but it uses textures and color
to depict the landscape in a way
many people have not looked at it,
said Joseph Ruffo, chairman of the
Department of Art and Art History.
Featured artists include Lynn
Hurst of Houston, Denis Keogh of
Utah State University, Sioux Lawton
of Gamer, Iowa, Michael Noland
of Chicago, and Susanne Slavick
of Pittsburgh.
A main visual theme through
out the show is landscape scenes. It
is through these scenes that the
issues are addressed. In some of
the paintings the point is obvious,
in others, it is hidden behind sym
bolism.
Landscape has been a common
theme throughout the history of
art. Traditionally, landscape scenes
are of open, unlittered and beauti
ful areas.
Most of the art in this show
consists of landscape art with a
different twist. For example, one
painting by Keogh titled “Song from
Exile-Dusk” shows a pipe spewing
out smoke from a hillside above a
city, and “Missionary Positions”
by Hurst shows a snake wrapped
around a tree in what appears to be
a graveyard.
Lawton incorporates humor in
her painting “Homage a O’ Kecffe:
Littered Legacy.” An airborne dis
posable diaper is an almost humor
ous symbol for a more serious is
sue.
Other issues addressed include
how man’s aggression relates to
the environment and the use of
oceans as dumping grounds.
Hurst has a series of paintings
that show comparisons between
the traps of nature and those of
man. One of these paintings is called
“Traps: Hydroid/Minc” and por
trays a Portuguese man-of-war and
See ART on 10
Despite potential, ‘Ralph
fails to achieve majesty
By James Finley
Staff Reporter
If you’ve seen the television com
mercials for “King Ralph,” the new
Universal release starring John
Goodman and Peter O’Toole, stay
home. You’ve already seen the good
parts.
The premise of the Film has poten
tial. England’s entire royal family is
killed in an accident and there is no
one to assume the throne. After
mounting a search, a single heir is
found. Ralph Jones (John Goodman)
is a bad Las Vegas lounge act, and
now he is the King of England.
After going through the necessary
“I don’t believe it” scenes, the Film
moves over to merry old England.
Ralph has to become “royal” and
assimilate into English culture, cus
\ “King Ralph”
>* Starring
^John Goodman
Peter O’Toole
Rated PG
Rating: 11/2
toms and traditions. Cedric Willing
ham (Peter O’Toole) is appointed to
teach Ralph the royal ropes. This could
have been lunny — predictable, but
funny. Instead, bad writing and bad
See RALPH on 10
‘Issue a waste of money
By James Finley
Staff Reporter_
Jim Ellison, songwriter/singer/
guitarist for Material Issue, must get
rejected more than anyone on the
planet. Every song but two on his
group’s PolyGram release, “Interna
tional Pop Overthrow,” is about re
jection or unrequited love.
It doesn’t help that musically and
lyrically this album could have been
written by a seventh grade student
with a decent ear. This REM clone
leaves everything to be desired,
g The first track, “Valerie Loves Me,”
8 characterizes the entire alburn with
j| its repetitive chords. At times, it sounds
£ like a broken record playing beneath
5 Ellison’s inane nasal babbling. Elli
>> son also tries to show some anger, but
g it comes across as more of a temper
I tantrum.
3 The next cut, “Diane,” is a little
Material Issue
“International Pop Overthrow”
Pol yG ram
Rating: 1
Ratings are 1 (bad) to 5 (excellent).
better musically, but still very repeti -
tive. This time the lyrics arc worse.
Why docs everything have to rhyme?
Lines like ‘ Diane lives in sanctuary,
she swears to Jesus she’ll never marry,”
followed by the chorus of “Diane,
Diane, Diane . . . Diane, Diane,”
make it difficult to lake this song
seriously.
The third number, “Renee Remains
the Same,” has better lyrics, but the
REM-like guitars and out-of-lunc vocal
harmonies doom this track. This time,
in addition to the rejection, the trio
seems to be making a statement about
the problems of never leaving home.
This is a good start for the group.
Unfortunately, the band follows
this up with a ballad, “This Letter,”
which sounds just like the previous
song. It goes back to the rejection
theme again.
Basically, that’s the story for the
rest of the album. There’s nothing
here that hasn’t been done before and
done better. At times the group sounds
a little like the Bee Gees, Tom Petty
and the Go-Gos all mixed together.
Combine that with poorly done REM
guitars, and it isn’t a compelling sound.
Lyrics like “I ain’t lookin’ for
See ISSUE on 10