Fall movie lineup makes up for lackluster summer
BY SAMUEL MCKEWON
It wasn’t a particularly pretty
summer for movies. How could it
have been?
“Gladiator,’’ a film with some
serious issues of brutality to deal
with, was the most critically well
received film.
“Mission: Impossible 2“ was
the only movie to gross more than
$200 million.
When starved audiences had
to get their fill with dirty trash like
“Scary Movie,” it’s scary, indeed.
And then there was “Battlefield:
Earth” and “The Adventures of
Rodcyand Bullwinkle."
The advent of the autumn
movie slate typically brings better
quality. It, along with the holiday
ms
Auditions for the
Big Red Express.
August 21-24,2000
Be a part of a high energy pep
band that performs at Husker
volleyball and basketball games.
Contact the band office
for an appointment.
472-2505
season, is when studios trot out
their Sunday bests in terms of
drama. And after a thoroughly
lackluster summer, the field is
wide open for best-movie-award
stuff.
There have been good 1999
movies - “American Psycho,”
“Love and Basketball,” “Time
Code,” “Erin Brockovich,” “The
Virgin Suicides” and “Hamlet”
head the list - but out of those only
“Brockovich” and its star, Julia
Roberts, will have any significant
staying power for award nomina
tions.
It’s possible “Gladiator” and
“The Patriot” have that sort of
clout, but it’ll be a reasonably poor
fall if that’s the case.
Well, guess what - it could be
worse than that, at least in
Lincoln, where the smaller films
don't make the rotation until they
hit the Mary Riepma Ross Theater
six months afterward.
Theiefc a sizable chunk of the
big-budget fare through the
Thanksgiving holiday, when the
winter season generally starts.
There'S a few small, controver
sial movies that hit big this sum
mer at Cannes Film Festival in
France.
But a strange twist of events in
the early 2001 scheduling allowed
a few quality fall films to nudge
themselves into the holiday sea
son for a better box office.
The surge could be because of
die decision to release “Hannibal,”
the sequel to "Silence of the
Lambs,” exactly 10 years after its
February release date in 1991.
“Bridget Jones’ Diary” followed
suit
Movies that were once slated
for near Christmas - Martin
Scorsese’s “The Gangs of New
York” and the sci-fi epic “Final
Fantasy Vm” have been moved to
far-off futures.
That may free some dramas
for better box office during school
breaks.
Apply Today!
Become
a PERKINS PROl^HllBF
f All Positions :
Servers • Host/Hostess • Line Cook
Trainers • Assistant Managers
Work with a diverse group of people
and build a great resume!
Apply in person at Perkina/Airport
2900 NW12th St.
or call at 474-6162
xAWELCOME jk
J\ toUNL fv
Don’t ENDANGER your smile by
letting your teeth become ExtinctL
University Health Center
DENTAL OFFICE
15th and U Streets
472-7495 for appointments
* Bring'in this coupon and...
i we'll give you the
1 SHIRT OFF
1 OUR BACKS!
(Free shrt with any purchase)
Over4000 tons put out per day!
THE THRIFT DEPARTMENT STORE Lin* one coupon par ■
"" ' " parson, par day
| 4960 Leighton Ave - 467-1991 uSSS-w!!* j
I * + *
Or maybe 1999 was
just an anomaly, with
gems like “The
Insider,” “Three
Kings” and “Being
John Malkovich”
lurking in the weeds,
not to mention
“American Beauty”
and “Fight Club,” a
movie I more or
less hate but
admire on some
level
Either way,
quality shouldn’t
affect what looks
like a bankable
slate.
Only “Beauty”
did exceedingly
well among the
aforementioned
films.
Last year, two
genuine fall
movies - “Beauty”
and “Double
Jeopardy”
grossed more than
$100 million. \
The James
Bond picture
opened five days
before
Thanksgiving.
But this fall d
shows a possibility ■
of six from the start
of September
until turkey day.
But where I
will the nomina- I
tions come
from? Time to I
wonder...
September
DEIAN LONOWSU/DN
XpiHIUKT
“Whipped” - A held over sex
comedy from last spring. Amanda
Peet, pert and perked up in “The
Whole Nine Yards,” does the whip
ping. (Sept 1)
“Highlander Endgame” -The
highlander meets the TV version,
and both realize there can only be
one What fun. (Sept 1)
“The Watcher”-James Spader
is an obsessed cop tracking down
serial killer Keanu Reeves, who’s
obsessed with Spader's shrink,
played by MarisalbmeL Keanu a
killer? Whoa. (Sept 8)
"Nurse Betty” - Here’s an
award contender - the third film
from talented director Neil LaBute
is a bit sunnier than his previous
efforts. Renee Zellweger is a wait
ress who, after her husband is
killed, sincerely believes she is the
long lost lover of a soap opera
character. She begins a road trip
from Kansas to Hollywood, with
hitmen Morgan Freeman and
Chris Rock in tow. Won best
screenplay prize at Cannes for
John Richards. (Sept 8)
“Wayofthe Gun”-The direc
torial debut of “The Usual
Suspects* writer Christopher
McQuarrie, who makes-surprise!
- a quirky crime film with his ini
tial effort Crooks Ryan Phillippe
Homemade Plemium Ice Cream
Comennlseeiiyieiiiiniw
areihebes, fates.and most
and Benido Ddlbro kidnap a sur
rogate mother (Juliette Lewis) for
a shot at a ransom reward. Guns -
and blood - ensue (Sept 8)
“Almost Famous" - A pretty
hammy title for wtyat could be an
amazing film. Cameron Crowe’s
self-described “love letter to the
1970s rock music scene" follows a
young Rolling Stone writer (uh,
he’s 15) on his first assignment
with a new stadium rock band
titled Stillwater. Crowe a pioneer
ing rock journalist, will undoubt
edly survey all - die music, the
women, the drugs and haze - in
hopes of creating an indelible por
trait. His track record - "Jerry
Maguire," “Say Anything" - sug
gests he might (Sept. 15) '
. “Birthday Girl" - Nicole
Kidman is a Russian mail-order
bride to Ben Chaplin. O.K. ...
(Sept 15)
“Bait” - Actor/comedian
Jamie Foxx attempts his best
Martin Lawrence imitation of
Eddie Murphy as a convict tossed
into a criminal heist plot by the
cops. (Sept 15)
“Beautiful” - Minnie Driver is
possessed - possessed I tell you -
to become a beauty queen from
the wrong side of the tracks. Sally
Field directs. (Sept. 15)
“Urban Legends: Final Cut” -
Thank God. (Sept 22)
“Girlfight” - Winner at the
Sundance Film Festival last year,
newcomer Michelle Rodriguez
has to choose between love and a
commitment to boxing. A plot not
entirely unlike “Love' and
Basketball” (Sept. 29)
“Remember the Titans" -
Denzel Washington is finally cast
as a football coach; it's in a story
about a “special” team in the
tumultuous racial era of the 1960s.
It’s a Jerry Bruckheimer movie, so,
well, cross your fingers, and hope
they don’t muck it up. (Sept 29)
“The Broken Hearts Club" -
Women and the lovers who leave
them-because they all turn out to
be gay. (Sept 29)
October
“Bedazzled”-Biendan Fraser
has found niche in the drippy
comedy category, and here’s some
more: He's a rube making a deal
with the devil (Elizabeth Hurley).
(Oct 6)
“Imposter” -The first of two
science fiction thrillers about
cloning, this movie, originally slat
ed for summer, has Gary Sinese
awakening to an alternate reality
where he’s the unlikely criminal
(Oct 6)
“Get Carter”-It’s been so long
for Sylvester Stallone, who
bemoaned last summer in the
New York Post that he’d become
the pariah of the movie picture
business after the so-so
“Copland." His return is a remake
of a Michael Caine gangster film
from the 1970s. Sly is Carter, a hit
man out to avenge the death of his
brother. Talented Alan Gumming
(“Eyes Wide Shut,” “Titus”) is the
villain. (Oct 6).
“Meet the Parents” -
Anybody’s worst nightmare -
Robert DeNiro is the father-in-law
from CIA helL Ben Stiller is the son
that must put up with the pain.
(Oct 6)
“Dancer in the Dark” -The
winner of Palmed’Or, best film, at
the 2000 Cannes Festival the lat
est film from maverick director
Lars Van Trier of Dogme 95 finds a
musical starring Bjoik, an immi
grant who is going blind, in 1964
California who works as a punch
button operator to deliver her
daughter to a better life.
Just one thing about Dogme
95 films - there can't be any
soundtrack music over the movie.
So expect scenes like the one
where Bjork sings to the cliddty
clack of steam train. (Oct 6)
“Bounce” - Friday the 13th
brings a romantic comedy of
weird chance when banker Ben
Affleck gives up his airplane seat to
a man who eventually dies when
that plane crashes leaving a wife
(Gwyneth Paltrow) behind to pick
up the pieces. A year later, Afflecks
character searches her out (Oct
Please see FALL on B7
