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Delan Lonowski/DN i^^***^
Summer flicks promise
return of the blockbuster
By Samuel McKewon
Senior editor
Consider the 2000 summer
movie season not in terms of what
will be playing but what won’t:
namely, the second installment of
“Star Wars.”
The first of the trilogy sent waves
through all of last year - the finest
year of film since the 1970s. One big
reason: no summer junk, or at the
very least, not much of it.
Big studios, fully aware of the
“Star Wars” prowess at the box
office, thought smaller and miracle
of miracles, better. The second-high
est grossing movie of 1999 was
Disney’s “The Sixth Sense,” a certain
box-office dwarf in other years. “The
Blair Witch Project” topped $100
million on a peanut-sized budget.
Julia Roberts crafted her own time
zone with two summer flicks.
None of it is happening in 2000.
The big, big movies are back, at least
until 2001, when “Star Wars” arrives
with Episode H. Expect a lot of war, a
lot of outer space, even more crime
and a tiny premium on quality
drama. Even animated features want
to appeal to a broader audience.
Good news: It just might have.
The blockbusters actually might
have some - gasp! - polish to them.
So let us begin. We’re talking
Lincoln here, so dates are tentative.
The big, big movies:
m “Gladiator” (May 5) - The
advance buzz guarantees two things:
Ridley Scott’s epic of Narcissus
Meridas could run neck-and-neck
with “Ben Hur” in terms of scale,
and Russell Crowe, who plays
Narcissus, will cement his status as a
major movie icon.
ine trailers ana aavance screen
ings all get high marks, as does
Joaquin Phoenix, who plays rival
Commodus. It’s a gladiator story
with all the classic Roman Empire
trappings. Scott, director of “Alien”
and “Blade Runner” has been down
for a while.
“Mission: Impossible 2” (May
24) - Tom Cruise returns as whatev
er-the-hell-he-is Ethan Hunt, neither
hero nor foe. Anthony Hopkins is his
boss. The lady-in-waiting is Thandie
Newton.
But the wild card is director John
Woo, who will either make or break
the series, based on how he films it
Woo’s smart enough not to make
another “Face/Off,” right?
“Battlefield Earth” (May 26) -
I am in the dark concerning L. Ron
Hubbard’s novel about an alien mas
ter race on Earth and a boy named
Tyler, who fights back around the
year 3000. John Travolta is the alien
leader Terl, Barry Pepper, the marks
man in “Saving Private Ryan,” is the
hero. An advance online reading of
the script reveals a real clunker.
“The Patriot” (June 28) - The
film is very loosely based on
American Revolution hero Francis
Marion, Mel Gibson takes on the
British Army as Southerner
Benjamin Martin, an over-the-hill
soldier out for revenge against his
son’s killers. Make no mistake: This
is a Western-style construct set
amidst the trappings of the
Revolutionary War. Think
“Unfoigiven” with musket powder.
“The Perfect Storm” (June 30)
- We know this about the Andrea
Gail: It was a fishing boat from
Gloucester, Mass., that sailed into
the worst storm in recorded history
in the North Atlantic. The ship and
crew (headed by George Clooney in
the movie) were lost. The movie,
based on the 1991 book by Sebastian
Junger, is a fictional recreation of
what that storm might have looked
like.
Director Wolfgang Peterson
made one of the finest water vessel
films ever with “Das Boot,” and
“The Perfect Storm” promises to fol
low along those documentary lines.
“X-Men” (July 14) - “The
Usual Suspects” meets the comics.
“Suspects” director Bryan Singer
and writer Christopher McQuarrie
last teamed up for a critical success.
Now they move to a whole different
genre, with Patrick Stewart and Ian
McKellen up front, while Hugh
Jackman gets the coveted role of
Wolverine.
stylized crime:
“Gone in 60 Seconds” (June 7)
- The film is a remake of the 1973
film with Nicolas Cage as the retired
car thief extrordinaire, Angelina
Jolie as his jilted girlfriend and
Giovanni Ribisi as the kid brother in
too deep.
“Shaft Returns” (June 16) -
Samuel L. Jackson is a near-perfect
choice for Shaft Jr. (the original Shaft
has a role, too), a NYC cop, who has
a worthy foe in Walter Williams
(Christian Bale), a wealthy misogy
nist with a penchant for killing
women.
“Get Carter” (August 11)
Sylvester Stallone is back after a
massive layoff in a Michael Caine
gangster remake. Carter wants
vengeance for his brother’s death.
Alan Cumming is a villainous
Internet pom king. Caine’s the rival
hitman.
Please see MOVIES on 15
summer ..—
M Rock, pop and metal
I take summer stage ^
By Jason Hardy
Staff writer
In Bob Seger’s classic hit, “Turn
the Page,” he chronicles life on the
road as a rock ’n’ roll superstar play
ing to a sea of faces in towns such as
Chicago, New York City, Los
Angeles and Omaha.
“On a long and lonely
highway,east of Omaha/ you can lis
ten to the engine moanin’ out as one
long song. You can think about the
woman/or the girl you knew the
night before/and your thoughts will
soon be wandering the way they
always do/when you’re riding 16
hours, and there’s nothing much to
do/you don’t feel much like trav
elin’, you just wish the trip was
through.”
It’s a somber and introspective
mood, one Seger wore well. Luckily
for Nebraska residents, however, this
summer’s concert schedule should
be nothing as subdued as Seger’s
classic melodies. In fact, it should be
more like some of Seger’s other
work.
“I think I’m going to Katmandu!/
That’s really, really where I’m going
to/ If I ever get out of here/ that’s
what I’m gonna do/ K-K-K-K-K-K
KATMANDU!”
This summer’s concert schedule
for southeast Nebraska can only be
described in two-words - BIG TIME.
To say it holds a little something
for everybody would be cliche, but it
would also be true. Rarely has a
Nebraska concert season been so
jam packed with such a diverse line
up of stars: Kenny Rogers and Nine
Inch Nails, Christina Aguilera and
Cracker are all planning to make a
stop in Huskerland.
The season starts early with a
badass display of rock ’n’ roll
dementia as the legendary Danzig is
set to take the skanky stage of the
Royal Grove, one of Lincoln’s best
venues for hard-rock acts, with
Disturbed and Six Feet Under on
May 9. Danzig is still doing the
devil’s work and is touring in support
of its latest album, obviously titled
“Satan’s Child: 666.” Death by
1
metal.
Of course, if metal is
too metal for you, and i
you prefer the sounds of 1
a man who’s made
almost as much
money selling
chicken as he has
recording music,
than you better
know when to hold
’em and know when
to fold ’em because
Kenny Rogers is
playing the
Please see
CONCERTS on 14
Neal Obermeyer/DN
