The Rice Thresher, Vol. 94, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, February 2, 2007 Page: 17 of 24
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THE RICE THRESHER ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2
, 2007
SCENE!
i
Thresher editors' 5
recommendations for |
arts and entertainment |
around Houston through ™
February 8, 2007 |
n
FILM i
8
Who Killed the |
Electric Car? S
Electric cars are an
environment- and wallet-
friendly alternative to gas
guzzlers. So why is it that
they have been pushed out
of the limelight by Hummers?
Find out in this documentary
by Sony Pictures. There will
be a free screeing hosted
by the Environmental Club
Wednesday at the
Rice Media Center.
Rice Media Center
Corner of University and
Stockton by Entrance #8
MUSIC
The Hudsons
Support local bands! This
folksy, acoustic four-piece band
from Austin writes songs that
tell stories complete with violin,
upright bass and harmonies.
Hear them play Saturday at
9 p.m. at JP Hops House.
There is no cover charge.
JP Hops House
2317 South Highway 6
ART
Helio Oiticica:
The Body of Color
Experience color. The work
of Oiticica, a Brazilian artist,
presents color as its own
form. See live dancers at the
Caroline Wiess Law Building
today from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The Museum of
Fine Arts, Houston
1001 Bissonnet St.
www .mfah.org
Don't drop it f
•s makes
gamers scream Wii
by Amanda Phillips
FOR THE THRESHER
Recently, Nintendo added the
much-needed WarioWare: Smooth
Moves title to its young Wii lineup.
Smooth Moves follows in the tra-
dition of the multiplatform Wari-
oWare series, pitting the gamer
against lightning-fast games that
emphasize speed and dexter-
ity with the controller over story
depth. This is not the game for an
afternoon of leisurely play — War-
ioWarc's hyperactive hijinks will
keep gamers on their toes, some-
times literally, for hours of addic-
tive fun.
warioware:
smooth moves'
★★★★ 1/2 of five
for the Nintendo Wii
The entire series revolves
around "microgames," aptly-named
tasks that are often less than three
seconds in length, requiring the
gamer to figure out wliat to do
before the timer runs out. Smooth
Moves, in particular, uses the
Wii's unique Wiimote controller —
called the "Form Baton" in Smooth
Moves — to great effect, finding
innovative ways to take advantage
of its motion-sensing capabilities.
These microgames are surpris-
ingly intuitive, with tasks ranging
from balancing a virtual broom
on your hand or driving a car to
guiding a trash-collecting robot or
plucking someone's nose hairs.
There are over 200 different mi-
crogames in all.
Basic play pits the gamer
against a train wreck of microgame
after microgame, with only a few-
seconds in between to regain com-
posure while high-tension music
whizzes along in the background.
Among the more entertaining
aspects of the game are the vari-
ous controller positions that the
microgames require. At certain
points in the game, all action stops
while a narrator, evoking both
Barry White and a yoga instruc-
tor, guides the gamer toward a
deeper understanding of the Form
Baton. These meditative moments
come complete with a smooth jazz
soundtrack and serene illustra-
tions, providing a hilariously slow
break from the action while the
gamer learns of such positions
such as "The Umbrella" (hold-
ing the remote vertically), which
helps "channel the quiet dignity
of a circus clown in the midst of
a thunderstorm."
A narrator,
evoking both
Barry White and
a yoga instructor,
guides the gamer
toward a
DEEPER
understanding of
the form baton.
The positions progress in
absurdity until, at the whim of the
game, the gamer will hold a con-
troller up to her nose to pick apples
from a tree in one moment and in
the next simulate the hula hoop by
clutching it to her hip.
During single-player mode, the
gamer must complete different stag-
es of microgames in order to unlock
new levels. These stages, as in previ-
ous titles, are organized around sto-
ries starring characters that inhabit
Wario's town of Diamond City.
See WARIO, page 10
0'Toole throws down
hammer in Venus
by Matthew McKee
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
American society is opposed
to lustful old men, but who
cares when its story is so po-
etically told and the old man is
Peter OToole? The new him Ve-
nus mitigates our reservations
through well-drawn characters,
artistic storytelling and one of
the best new screenplays writ-
ten for a light romance.
Venus'
★ ★ ★ ★ of five
now playing at the
Film Center
Venus has human charac-
ters with human faults in the
archetypal story of what hap-
pens to people when they en-
counter something new.
OToole (iMwrence of Ara-
bia) plays Maurice, an actor
who jokes with his friend Ian
(Out of Africa's Leslie Phillips)
about pill-swapping and old age
over diner blue-plates. Ian an-
nounces one day that he has
hired a nurse to take care of
him, but when Jessie, played
by Jodie Whittaker ("Doctor"),
comes into work, she turns
out to be a lazy slob. Her idea
of cooking, according to Ian,
is to "put green sick in the mi-
crowave." She soon makes Ian
want to "scream for euthanasia,"
but Maurice takes to the girl.
The two go out on dates, and
Maurice buys her jewelry and
clothes, satisfying his desires
by satisfying hers.
As the situations
change and
characters
become
CATALYSTS
for one another,
the actors alter
their roles to
prevent the
plague of flat
characters.
Both Jessie and Maurice use
each other in their own ways.
They overcome their inner
problems as the story progress-
es, and the story makes subtle
and poignant commentary on
the yearning for youth and ma-
terial desires.
In the past few years, veteran
actor OToole has taken minor
roles perfect for regal men with
a rich British lilt, as in Troy and
the remake Lassie, but in Venus,
See VENUS, page 10
Peter O'Toole (Lawrence of Arabia) finds companionship in Venus.
COURTESY NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO
Catch and Release garners yawns, not laughs
by Risa Gordon
THRESHER STAFF
Jennifer Garner's newest chick
flick has only two redeeming quali-
ties: beautiful Colorado scenery
and occasionally amusing comedy,
mostly from Kevin Smith (Jay and
Silent Bob) as Sam, in an uncharac-
teristically non-Silent Bob role.
Director/screenwriter Susannah
Grant, who has a solid repertoire of
screenwriting to her credit (Erin
Brockovich, Charlotte's Web), disap-
points with a story that attempts to
balance too many
plots, succeeding
only in present-
ing each of them
superficially. The
movie brings up
thought-provoking
issues — infidel-
ity, paternity and
grief — but glosses
over them in a man-
ner unusual even
for light romantic
comedy. Hie actors seem to real-
ize the one-dimensional nature of
the script and thus fail to put in ef-
fort, particularly in their portrayals
of grief.
'catch and release'
1/2 of five
playing at AMC
and Edwards theaters
The movie's first sour note sets
the tone for the remainder of the
film: Fritz (The Girl Next Door's
Timothy Olyphant), a friend of
Gray's (13 Going on 30's Jennifer
Garner) dead fiance, noisily hooks
up with a caterer in the bathroom.
Gray happens to be in the same
bathroom, hiding from the mourn-
ers on what should have been
her wedding day. Although the
storyline attempts to redeem his
character, this early behavior tem-
pers his appeal for the remainder
of the movie.
The script soon degenerates
when Gray discovers her fiance fa-
thered a son with the kooky new-age
massage therapist Maureen (Starsky
& Hutch 's Juliette Ixnvis). Maureen
shows up at Gray's Colorado home
with one of the brattiest on-screen
tots ever (newcomer Joshua Fri-
esen). When Gray's housemates,
who are also her former fiance's
friends, welcome Maureen and
her son into their lives, hilarity is
supposed to ensue.
Instead, the script suffers from in-
explicable inconsistencies. Given the
long-running theme of the betrayal
of Gray by her fiance, it is incompre-
hensible that, late in the movie, she
would gleefully joke that her friend
Dennis' (Lucky Nu m berSlevin's Sam
Jaeger) secret is that he is having an
affair with a married woman. And the
blossoming romance between Sam
and Maureen seems to be solely
for the convenience of pairing two
comedic actors.
Ostensibly, the movie attempts
to follow the grief-coping and ro-
mantic escapades of Gray and her
dead fiance's friends, but instead
fails miserably. When Gray hops
into bed with Fritz, one is tempted
to look for signs of inadequate
grief coping. But in this movie,
everything is as it seems on the
surface. Similarly, Sam's suicide
attempt and subsequent explana-
tion of guilt take up less than five
minutes of screen time before
becoming comic relief fodder — a
missed opportunity for the script
to delve meaningfully into a dif-
ficult topic.
Hie one-dimensional characters
inhibit the audience's ability to sym-
pathize even when caring, boring
Dennis painfully confesses his love
to Cray. The audience likely has
more pressing questions in mind
than whether Gray or Dennis will
find love. For example: If I leave
the theater now, can 1 somehow
recover from the hour of my life I
have already wasted here?
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Brown, David. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 94, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, February 2, 2007, newspaper, February 2, 2007; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443111/m1/17/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.