Arts ©Entertainment
Cliff A. Hicks
Wanted:
acoustical
comeback
You know what I want to hear?
“Hotel California” by The Eagles.
I can hear you scoffing, and I’m not
even finished yet. Sure, it’s an old
song. Sure, it’s not like stuff that’s
being made anymore. But that’s my
point.
Where has acoustic rock gone?
Oh, I can hear you all telling me
that I’m disregardingthe “Unplugged”
performances. Pfah. Those are songs
written and usually recorded on elec
tric guitars and then played acousti
cally.
What I want is an acoustic rock
band. That’s what I try to play. Acous
tic rock. When I got my first guitar,
guess what one of the first songs I
learned to play was/ Hotel Califor
nia.” At one point, I could even
fingerpick it. If I practiced fora while,
I could probably pick it again.
R.E.M. is about as close as we have
to an acoustic rock band, and that’s if
you disregard “Monster.” Songs like
.“Low” and “Me In Honey” aren’t all -
that common anymore. Neither, for
that matter, are lovely piano songs
like “Nightswimming,” though those
are a bit more common, especially
with Tori Amos out there now.
There’s also the Indigo Girls, who
are great too. They play acoustic rock
a lot of the time. Not always, but most
of the time. There’s a strong clement
of folk to their music, which is nice,
but not rock, you know?
1 want solid rock, written and played
acoustically. I want a sound that I
haven’t heard in a long time, back
when Bob Dylan and The Eagles were
not considered “classic rock” or “old
ies.” I want the sound of acoustic
guitars gliding across my ears. Still,
acoustic rock isn’t in bigdemand right
now.
Why isn’t acoustic rock big? Maybe
it’s because it was never designed for
a giant number of people, which is the
way the world seems to want to head.
Bigger, better, faster, more. We want
our music so loud it rips through our
skulls, slaps our brains silly and then
jumps up and down on our aching
heads, and we want it that way all the
lime.
Or do we?
There’ssomethingabout the beauty
of an acoustic guitar that I miss. People
like Paul Simon went on the acoustic
rock path for a while, but he left to
become more diverse, which is fine.
What I want is a basic four-person
band. One person singing and playing
rhythm guitar, one person playing lead
guitar, one person playing bass and a
fourth person drumming softly.
Is that really so much to ask?
Don’t get me wrong. Electric gui
tar is a marvelous thing and I love it as
much as anyone else. I listen to
Hendrix, Smashing Pumpkins and
other electric bands, but still ... an
acoustic guitar has such a nice ring to
it.
Sooner or later, everything comes
back to the basics, so musicians of the
world... unplugwhen you write songs
and when you record ... keep it that
way.
: 4 ■:
Hicks is a freskmaa aews-cdltertal aad
EagHsk Major aad a Dally Nekraskaa staff
reporter.
courtesy of Warner Bros.
Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas star in Warner Bros. “Assassins.”
Banderas dangerous in ‘Assassins’
By Gerry Bettz
Him Critic *
Antonio Banderas’ star is on the rise.
Sensational work in “The Mambo Kings,”
“Philadelphia,” and “Interview With The Vam
_pire” led to the lead role in
MOVie “Desperado,” and now
_ Banderas steals the show in
ReVieW “Assassins”
Granted, Sylvester
Stallone’s work in the film is
some of his best to date, but
Banderas just rips the rug out
from underneath Stallone,
upstaging him at every turn.
Curiously enough, the same
thing happens with the char
acters in the movie. Robert Rath (Stallone) is an
expert hitman who has begun to feel the morality
of what he is doing. He’s been killing for a living,
and he wants to quit.
On what is to be hi&last hit, he is beaten to the
punch by Miguel Bain (Banderas), an assassin
who loves his work for the thrill and rush of the
kill, and doesn’t burden himself with a con
New video torrent mixes bombs, blossoms
By Gerry Bettz and Jeff Randall
Rim Critics
WHOA!! The slow trickle of re
cent new video releases has broken
into a raging river of cinematic
bombs and blossoms. All movies
are available to
day, and the
pick-of-the
week is the pre
decessor to a
movie hitting the
big screens this
Friday.
“Casper” (G)
— The comic
book character
comes to life in
this tale for kids and adults alike.
Christina Ricci (“The Addams
Family”) plays a young girl who is
befriended by Casper, who gets
picked on by his ghostly cousins
Fatso, Stinkie and Stretch.
The special effects which bring
theghosts to li fe are absolutely won
derful, and the film is a nice diver
sion irom some or me otner releases
this week.
Speaking of crap...
“Village of the Damned” (R) —
And the crap just keeps on coming!
This remake of the 1960 horror clas
sic should have never been touched,
but it’s too late now.
A cavalcade of ex-stars (Christo
pher Reeve, Kirstie Alley, Mark
Hamill) leads the way in this John
Carpenter film about 10 children
bom with white hair, telekinetic
powers and an agenda that doesn’t
have a Mary Moppet feel to it.
Blech. Rent the original instead.
“Tommy Boy” (PG-13) —
AAUUGGHH! Is there no end to
the vile garbage strewn to us like
slop to wharf rats?
In another “Saturday Night Live”
concept gone awry, Tommy (Chris
Farley) and Richard (David Spade)
must defend Tommy’s father’s com
pany from the clutches of Tommy’s
evil stepmother.
Everything—acting, script, etc.
— about this movie sucks peach
pits. Skip it.
“Rob Roy” (R)—At last! Qual
itycinema has been achieved!! Liam
Neeson (“Schindler’s List,” “Nell”)
stars as this legendary Scottish fig
ure, a man who finds himself with no
allies after a loan payment to his lord
is intercepted by the lord’s vile
nephew (Tim Roth, “Pulp Fiction”).
Outstanding swordplay se
quences and a terrific performance
by Tim Roth, plus kilts, kilts, kilts
aplenty make “Rob Roy” a choice
rental.
“Friday” (R)—This one sold out
in Omaha on a regular basis, but
never played in Lincoln. (Probably
didn’t have “family-friendly” val
ues).
The story centers on the day in
the life of two South Central Los
Angeles residents, played by Ice
Cube and Chris Tucker (“Dead Presi
dents”).
The humor is somewhat simplis
tic, but it never fails to work. The
performances are above average,
with Ice Cube as the straight man to
Chris Tucker’s drug-dealing, wise
cracking performance.
It may be tough to find, but it’s
definitely worth it.
PICK-OF-THE-WEEK—With
“Strange Days” coming out this
week, centering on a man who sells
pieces of life which can be experi
enced through black-market soft
ware and headgear, this isn’t exactly
something new.
A similar idea was already ex
plored in the ’80s release “Brain
storm,” starring Christopher
Walken, ClifFRobertson and Natalie
Wood in her final role.
Walken discovers a way to record
experiences, right down to the in
voluntary reactions and specific
tastes. Unfortunately, the slimy gov
ernment gets its hands on the stuff,
and all heck begins to break loose.
The special effects — courtesy
of Douglas Trumbull (“2001: A
Space Odyssey”) — are top-notch
and worth seeing. Check it out.
science about who he kills.
Rath decides to quit the business, but agrees to
one last contract for a sizable amount of money.
His target: Electra (Julianne Moore, “Nine
Months”), a surveillance expert who steals valu
able information.
Unfortunately, Bain is on the same trail.
Rath and Electra eventually join forces, hop
ing for a chance to survive against the odds put
against them, namely Bain and his thirst to be the
best.
Both Stallone and Moore are good in their
roles, showing the isolation and paranoia that
these characters would feel. They don’t have
phones or receive mail, and must communicate
through portable computers with people they
never see or hear.
Interesting note: Sean Connery was first asked
to fill the role of Robert Rath, but it never came
to be.
It is Banderas who really takes the proverbial
cake in this film. His performance as Bain is
completely over the top and absolutely beautiful.
This film, along with his past work and the
upcoming “Never Talk To Strangers,” should
solidify him as a bankable star.
• - / ■■
Movie: “Assassins”
Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Antonio
Banderas, Julianne Moore
Director: Richard Donner
Rating: R (violence, language)
Grade: B+
Five Words: Taut action, suspense blend
wonderfully
Director Richard Donner keeps the action and
drama moving at various paces, but once in a
while lets things just sort of “exist” without
serving any real purpose.
For fans of Richard Donner films, Steve Kahan
plays Stallone/Bain’s first target. Kahan appeared
in all three of Donner’s “Lethal Weapon” films as
Captain Murphy, and also appeared in Donner’s
“Maverick” as a dealer at the poker champion
ship.
“Assassins” hits a bullseye.