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'Gossip' Doesn't Provide Much to Talk About
Bv Justin Winters
Staff Writer
With the newest teen flick “Gossip"
infecting theaters, parents might start to
believe several false things about their
college-age children.
First, they live in abundantly adorned
and spacious “pads.” Second, everyone
who attempts
to make it past
high school to
a higher edu
cation institute
is super-attrac
tive with a
Movie Review
"Gossip”
ff
keen sense of fashion.
And last of all, the young adults that
inhabit the so-called life of the pretty but
vacuous “Gossip” accurately portrav the
everyday life of a college student.
This “Gossip," in simplest terms, is
not worth writing home about
The story, which is interesting but
unbelievable, revolves around a trio of
college students with entirely too much
free time. They include the rich boy
(James Marsden of “Disturbing
Behavior”), the artistic loner (Norman
Reedus of “8MM”), and the pouty iiber
model (Lena Headev of TV’s “Merlin”).
Film Focuses Too Much on Love, Not Enough on Basketball
Bv Ferris Morrison
Staff Writer
If all’s fair in “Love & Basketball,”
then why do women fall for losers in
love and have such a tough time prov
ing themselves in the game?
Produced by Spike Lee, “Love &
Basketball” tells the story of two ball
players who dream of a future in the
NBA -and
with each
other. The film
is cleverly laid
out in four
quarters, by
dividing the
||| Movie Review
"Love & Basketball"
ff
character’s lives by their basketball
careers in childhood, high school, col
lege and professional ball.
Sanaa Lathan stars as Monica Wright,
a tough girl who wants to be the first
woman to play in the NBA. Despite her
mother’s wishes for a more demure
daughter, she pursues a basketball
career by earning a scholarship to the
University of Southern California
From the day she moves in next
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The trio, influenced by an assignment
by their oh-so-suave communications
professor, decide to start a rumor about
a tryst between two other students that
never really happened. And shazam!,
the pure gossip suddenly spawns a trail
of lies and murder that sends the origi
nal sources of the rumor in a tailspin.
In his first feature, director Davis
Guggenheim (who directed an episode
of “ER” back in 1996) does pull some
movie magic by employing some daz
zling camera work that hides a script
filled with hot air. His vision for the film,
a hybrid of last year’s “Cruel Intentions”
and “The Blair Witch Project,” keys into
the college age a longing for anything
MTV-ish (i.e. very fast).
Likewise, all the actors and actresses
do a good job of spouting off mindless
babble while blending in with the pret
ty surroundings. The flashy settings,
which include the trio’s lush million-dol
lar apartment and a funky nightclub that
could be the rich stepsister of Chapel
Hill's Players, employ vibrant colors
that will nab the film’s cinematographer
many job offers in the future.
Too bad the audience can never truly
be drawn into the turmoil of the plot,
because there is not a single character
door, Monica begins her love-hate rela
tionship with Quincy McCall, played by
Omar Epps. Epps does an excellent job
portraying the typical male basketball
player who lets the red carpet treatment
go to his head and his groin.
Screenwriter and director Gina
Prince-Bvthewood created a story about
two strong ball players, but by entan
gling them in romance, she weakened
Monica’s character and made Quincy
seem like a player. Despite Quincy’s
Casanova behavior, Monica can’t seem
to let him go.
Even though he is almost as passion
ate about basketball as she is, Quincy
expects Monica to be there for him
when he needs her, even if it interferes
with her career.
Putting the love story aside, the film’s
focus on basketball takes the audience
into a world of competition and inside
the mind of a player. Prince-
Bvthewood’s use of closeups and quick
pans brings the audience inside the
action of a basketball game from the
perspective of a player.
Bythewood’s emphasis on women’s
DIVERSIONS Movies
James Marsden stars in "Gossip,"a flashy but no-substance film about
a rumor that spirals out of control.
worthy of sympathy. Every main char
acter has major character flaws that
would make any conscientious college
student tell his or her mom, “College is,
like, not that way that at all, but can 1
borrow some money?”
So, let the truth be told, the word on
basketball highlights talents in an indus
try where women are not as recognized
as they should be.
While Monica plays the champi
onship game in high school, Bythewood
takes the audience inside her mind and
they are able to see what Monica sees as
the camera darts back and forth toward
the basket. Voice-over during this scene
allows the audience to hear Monica’s
thoughts as she plays the game.
Bythewood also shows how women’s
emotions are restricted in basketball as
they are forced to be “ladylike.” But for
a girl like Monica who is uncomfortable
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“Gossip” is neither very good nor very
bad. Ironically, it’s not even worth talk
ing about.
But you didn’t hear it from me.
The Arts & Entertainment Editor can
be reached atartsdesk@unc.edu.
with her own femininity, it’s difficult to
lower her intensity and bad attitude dur
ing games.
While all does turn out well in the
love story between Monica and Quincy,
Bythewood would have made a better
film if she had left that aspect of “Love
& Basketball” as a subplot.
Instead, she should have focused on
the struggle of women in basketball and
the red carpet treatment men receive in
the same industry.
The Arts & Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
Underwater War Thriller
Fills Screen With Suspense
Bv Dave Povill
Staff Writer
All right. Let’s get the stupid subma
rine puns over and done with first. “U
--571” never “dives deep” into a storyline,
but still manages to “torpedo” enough
claustrophobic, nail-biting action to
“surface” as a top-notch war flick.
Director Jonathan Mastow
(“Breakdown”)
takes a litde bit
from every
submarine film
ever made,
adds some
new twists and
j Movie Review
"U-571"
ffff
cranks up the action to turn out a movie
so suspenseful you’ll hardly even realize
that you’ve seen it 10 times before.
It’s the classic “good Americans vs.
evil Nazis” war story, but the mission is
slightly more devious than usual.
They doctor up an American sub, the
S-33, to look like a Nazi supply sub, and
head out to rendezvous with U-571, a
German U-boat awaiting aid. Once on
board, they will take an encryption
device called “The Enigma,” sink the
ship and beat the Nazis! Hooray!
Of course, the plan goes awry, and
Lt. Tyler (Matthew McConaughey) finds
himself commanding his crew aboard
the battered U-boat. What a perfect
chance for him to prove to himself and
others that he really is ready to com
mand his own ship, a wish that he was
earlier denied by Lt. Commander
Dahlgren (Bill Paxton) because he was
n’t ready to lead without hesitation.
The only problem with this part of
the plot is that we never get a chance to
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see Lt. Tyler’s flaws, nor do we see how
he overcomes them. Similarly, details
are mentioned but never developed,
and minor characters are your garden
variety war-movie caricatures, complete
with the weathered veteran, the loose
cannon and the scared rookie.
Once on the U-boat, the American
crew faces every problem imaginable
but still manages to come out on top, of
course, because they’re the good guys.
Never mind the fact that they don’t have
enough power to creep along at any
thing faster than a snail’s pace, have less
ammunition than the typical high
schooler and are “getting crapped on”
constandy by depth charges that all but
rip the boat into shreds.
All of this might make you stop and
think about the implausibility of the
movie, if Mastow ever gave you a
chance to stop and think. Masterfully
orchestrating disaster upon disaster,
Mastow keeps you so busy gripping
your armrest in absolute silence that you
never have time to question any of it
And to be sure, silence is greatly
appreciated when watching this movie,
as the sound puts you direcdy alongside
the characters in their rickety Nazi craft.
Each groan of bending steel, each blast
of a depth charge and even each sonar
ping resonates with absolute clarity to
scare the crap out of you.
In summary, although the characters
are a tad shallow and the story a bit pre
dictable, “U-571” is so jam-packed with
edge-of-vour-seat suspense that it will
surely blow you out of the water (sorry).
The Arts & Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
7