The Rice Thresher, Vol. 93, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, December 2, 2005 Page: 12 of 20
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12
THE RICE THRESHER ARTS * ENTERTAINMENT FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2,2005
-»
THE THRESHER'S
RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR EVENTS AROUND
HOUSTON THROUGH
DECEMBER 16,
2005.
EDITORS
picks
this weekend
?
1
I ALWAYS
WANTED TO BE
ATENENBAUM
Wes Anderson's sprawl-
ing ensemble comedy
The Royal Tenenbaums
is this week's midnight
movie.
Tonight and tomorrow at.
midnight.
The River Oaks.
2009 West Gray.
Please call
(713) 866-8881 for
more information.
dec. 10
VIDEO 1, 2, 3
Student visual instal-
lation work will be on
display along with the
openings of exhibits
I Love You Baby Office
Party and artist Mlchele
Monseau's Meet and
Greet Welcome Pot Luck.
Dec. 10 at 7 p.m.
Commerce Street Artist
Warehouse.
2315 Commerce St.
dec. 11
OUT OF THE
SHADOW
Bay area indie rock group
Rogue Wave plays with
Mazarin and
The Red and White.
Dec. 11. The Proletariat.
903 Richmond. Please
call (713) 523-1199 for
more information.
I i.vm MM1.1 A
'Flux' transforms Theron into futuristic action hero
Jonathan Schumann
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
The last time an actress really
wowed audiences in a skin-tight
super-vixen costume, a Democrat
occupied the White House, Britney
Spears was in elementary school
and Madonna gave interviews
without the slightest hint of a Brit-
ish accent.
That was 1992, when Michelle
Pfeiffer achieved iconic status as
the cinematic incarnation of DC
Comics' femme fatale Catwoman
in Tim Burton's Batman Returns.
And although other actresses have
attempted to set the screen ablaze
while bringing two-dimensional
superheroes to life (think Halle
Berry in both X-Men fdms and
her own ill-faited Catwoman),
Charlize Theron's performance
in Aeon Flux has been the first to
rise to the standard Pfeiffer set.
The film, an on-screen adaptation
of Pete Chung's animated MTV
series from Girlfight director
Karyn Kusama, gives her good
groundwork, too.
Since playing Keanu Reeves'
terrified Southern bride in the
bloated Satanic thriller The Devil's
Advocate, Toby Maguire's girlfriend
in The Cider House Rules and Matt
Damon's love interest in the sopo-
rific The legend of Bagger Vance,
Theron has graduated from arm
candy to full-fledged Hollywood star.
She took home an Oscar for her
searing portrayal of real-life serial
killer Aileen Wournos in Monster
two years ago. This fall, she proved
that performance was no fluke with
her endearing portrait of a woman
battling sexual harassment in a Min-
nesota coal mine in North Country.
While Country is just the type of film
that wins actresses Oscars—pundits
expect Theron to nab a nomination
— she said awards-baiting is not a
factor when choosing a role.
BROADWAY bound
"Given an Oscar or no Oscar, for
me as an actor the most important
thing has just been to be true to
myself and to do work that really
means something to me—whether
it has a social message or whether
it is just an entertaining film,"
she said.
Aeon Flux, a slick, action-driven
spectacle, probably falls into the
latter category. Theron stars in
the title role of a mysterious rebel
assassin who sets out to overturn
a corrupt government. And even
though the film takes place 400
years in the future, Theron said
it still presents issues relevant to
today's audier es.
"I think she was very much a
woman conflicted in the same way I
think a lot of women are," she said.
"And yet you know the story takes
place 400 years in the future and her
circumstances are very different."
It may be easy to brush off the
film as just another in a series of
superhero adaptations. Last year
alone, audiences saw Robert Rodri-
guez bring Frank Miller's Sin City
to the screen, as well as a financially
successful but critically slammed
Fantastic Four f\\m adaptation. Next
year, X-Men director Bryan Singer
will bring the man of steel back to
the screen in Superman Returns.
While Theron sees Flux as a
thrilling action film with impressive
technical merits and CGI effects,
she also sees Aeon as a politically
compelling character.
"Aeon is that quintessential
character who stands up against the
government and does not give in and
does not live in a gilded cage and
[does not just stay] quiet," Theron
said. "She believes in the freedom of
speech and individual rights The
whole film is really about question-
ing your government and I think ...
the majority of America is doing that
right now."
SV RICE GALLERY
Charlize Theron stars a futuristic assassin in Karyn Kusama's Aeon Flux.
In addition to being seen in the-
aters in North Country and Aeon Flux,
which opens today, Theron has been
on the small screen in a recurring
role on the just-cancelled Arrested
Development. She said Monster di-
rector Patty Jenkins, who directed
a few episodes in the show's second
season, connected her with Arrested
creator Mitchell Hurwitz.
"We were having dinner and I was
like 'Oh,' because I really loved the
show," Theron said. "It is one of the
few things on television that I think
is just written so well. I said to her.
'Oh my God, will you please tell them
I am a huge fan and I would love to
do anything with them?'"
This fall, Theron played a five-
episode arc as Rita, the British love
interest of Michael Bluth (Jason
Bateman).
'Rent' proves some stories should stick to stage
Evan Mintz
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
With Thanksgiving gone, movie
theaters now enter the inescapable
season of holiday flicks. Enter Rent,
a New-Year's-centric film adaptation
of the popular Broadway play by
Jonathan Larson, which is based
on the Puccini opera Im Boheme.
For those who have not seen the
Pulitzer- and Tony-winning musical
during its past decade on stage. Rent
portrays the lives of friends living
in New York City during the early
1990s — kind of like Friends, but
everyone has AIDS instead of a job,
is a smack addict and cannot ever
afford the oppressively overdue rent.
The musical was revolutionary in its
raw treatment of such controversial
issues, as well as its presentation as
a rock operetta.
Unfortunately, director Chris
Columbus should have left it on the
stage, given his 525,600 missteps
in making this Frankenstein of a
cinematic adaptation.
.Anthony Rapp plays Mark, the
filmmaker struggling to make that
perfect movie even at the expense
of a job. His roommate Roger (the
Broadway Rent's Adam Pascal) is
a former rock star recovering from
recreational drugs, coping with HIV
and trying to write
one perfect song
to leave a mark on
the world before
AIDS kills him. But
darn it. that seduc-
tively sensual coke
fiend, HIV-posi-
tive stripper Mimi
(Sin City's Rosario
Dawson) who lives
downstairs, keeps
interrupting with
tempting offers.
Meanwhile. Mark's ex-girlfriend
Maureen (the Broadway Rent's Idina
Menzel) tries to protect homeless
people from Mark and Roger'syuppie
ex-roommate Benny (Fquilibrium's
Taye Diggs) by protesting neighbor-
hood development with performance
art. Maureen dates Joanne (Trade
Thorns), a civil rights lawyer and
the only employed bohemian in the
cast — besides Tom Collins (Jesse
L. Martin from "I>aw and Order"), a
computer science teaching assistant
who has recently quit his day job
and who makes money by hacking
into ATMs.
This whiny crop of characters
who refuse to grow up and get jobs
reaps a mediocre response at best
from moviegoers, in contrast with the
intense affection they sowed in many
theater patrons. The change most
likely results from the difference
in the story's venue: people accept
over-the-top, absurd and unrealistic
situations in Broadway musicals
much more readily than they do in
film. And besides, singing actors look
preposterous when telephoto lenses
show their faces up close. Columbus'
unnecessary scene cuts and skewed
camera angles only detract further
from the film's musical appeal.
To top it off, the highly specialized,
technical sound-mixing spin doctors
added their own blunders to the heap.
At times, Larson's exquisite lyrics are
barely audible over the supposedly
background electric guitar, and even
the cast's lip sync seems to be off.
This fault seems rather odd given
that most of the actors are from the
original stage production and should
at least be singing their own parts
in line with their mouth movements
on screen.
Despite balance and syncing
difficulties, the songs from Rent are
COURTESY COLUMBIA PICTURES
Rosario Dawson stars as Mimi in director Chris Columbus' film adaptation of the
Broadway musical Rent.
golden, as any theater buff can attest.
Unfortunately, Columbus and the
film's producers simply do not have
the necessary scenery to make the
showy musical numbers really shine.
The opening "Rent" and "Tango
Maureen" are the only songs that
are appropriately over the top, but
jumping camera angles keep them
from developing completely and fully
ruin "La Vie Boheme," which could
have used a few more rehearsals
and a lot more inspiration. One song
was entirely unsalvageable: "Over
the Moon," with the insufferable
Maureen, should be launched into
low earth orbit.
Some individual scenes are well
done, but these are merely rented
from an evasive landlord of genius
for whom Columbus has been a
poor tenant. Sure, individual char-
acters' romances are well-played
and entertaining — they almost
have to be, since most of the actors
were cast directly from the same
Broadway roles - but a musical
is supposed to be about style and
panache in addition to the necessary
love, friendship and eventual death
or wedding. True Rent fans should
enjoy this film adaptation, but only
if they do not throw up at some of
the harsher butchering.
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Obermeyer, Amber. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 93, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, December 2, 2005, newspaper, December 2, 2005; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443095/m1/12/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.