Soily (Ear Ul
'lrene' Draws Groans, Few Laughs
Justin Winters
Staff Writer
Lacking the outright laughs of
“Dumb and Dumber” and underlying
sweetness of “There’s Something About
Mary,” directing duo Bobby and Peter
FarreUy’s newest comedy “Me, Myself &
Irene” manages to make yuckster Jim
H| Movie Review
"Me, Myself & Irene"
ff
Carrey (“Man
on the
Moon”) down
right boring.
Too bad.
“Irene,” with
its evident
complexion of successful film genes,
was being touted as the laugh-out loud
savior of the summer.
While the Farrellys have never relied
much on story in their earlier films
(“Dumb” and “Kingpin,” like “Irene,”
revolved around roadtrips), their newest
tale takes the old Jekyll and Hyde story
to anew plateau.
Carrey stars as Me and Myself in the
film as a Rhode Island state trooper with
split personalities.
Charlie is the single, good-natured
softie who, after his wife leaves him for
'Chicken Run' Great Film for All Ages
Ariadne Guthrie
Staff Writer
The phrases “fun for the whole fami
ly,” “G-rated” and “animated adven
ture” are often the kiss of death when
used to describe anew movie. They
automatically
indicate to the
movie-goers
that this film
will contain no
violence, sex
or explicit lan-
p. Movie Review
"Chicken Run"
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guage and is, therefore, to be avoided at
all costs.
Exceptions to the rule exist, however,
and there is no better example than
“Chicken Run,” the new full-length clay
mation feature from animator Nick
Park.
Phish Delivers Jamming Show Live
Karen Whichard
Staff Writer
Phish rolled through Raleigh Sunday
night, playing before a sold out audi
ence at Alltel Pavilion. The show ended
a four-night stint for the band, which
started in Tennessee and spent the
weekend in
Atlanta before
the concert
Sunday in
Raleigh.
Sunday night’s
show was a
solid perfor
mance for the
j||g Concert Review
Phish
Alltel Pavilion
Sunday, June 26
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jam band well known for its epic tours
and live performances.
The first set was stronger than the
second, but both were excitingly unpre
dictable.
The show had a definite bluegrass
twist to it, with “The Old Home Place”
and “Uncle Pen” leading the way.
The best jam came with the closing
song of the first set, “Split Open and
Melt.” Some of the songs during the first
set seemed shorter than usual, which
was probably due to the crowd’s pre
mature applause during the middle of
most of the jams. “Split Open and Melt”
gave the unorthodox audience a dose of
the live jamming capabilities that car
ried Phish from midnight to sunrise dur
ing their New Year’s Eve show.
Another highlight of the show was
“Scent of a Mule,” as song rarely played
in concert. All four band members con
tributed to the tight jam that was a great
follow-up to the slow ballad “Fast
poleci susan monaco bisou2
, reasonably priced
jane doe tessuto juicy icon
a midget limo driver, has raised three
African-American males (more on them
later) and Hank is the recendy emerged
Eastwood-eque persona who doesn’t
take crap from anyone. Both Carreys
end up falling in love with the same girl
Irene, played by Renee Zellweger
(“Jerry Maguire”), who is on the run
from the Environment Protection
Agency (don’t ask).
Carrey is the obvious star of this
show from the get-go. With a rubber
body that he can amusingly contort to
express his two personalities, the setup
for the movie starts innocently enough.
The back-and-forth antics between
Hank and Charlie wear thin quickly and
the directors pull from their bag of tricks
a handful of vulgar, unfunny gags,
involving cows and chickens, that seem
to come out of nowhere.
Supporting actors such as Chris
Cooper (“American Beauty”), Robert
Forster (“Jackie Brown”), and Zellweger,
who usually play serious roles, are seri
ously unfunny.
Charlie’s three sons, who probably
could carry a movie themselves, are left
with nothing to do but sit around and
utter a certain thirteen-letter dirty word
Park, whose short films “Creature
Comforts,” “A Close Shave” and “The
Wrong Trousers” earned three Oscars,
has gifted audiences with a movie that
will salvage the reputation of family
films.
“Chicken Run” is witty, charming,
and just plain fun.
“Chicken Run” is the story of Ginger,
voiced by Julia Sawalha of “Absolutely
Fabulous”, a hen determined to free her
coop-mates from egg-laying slavery.
After many failed attempts at escape,
Ginger’s situation becomes desperate:
farm owner Mrs. Tweedy has decided to
increase profits by abandoning the egg
business and investing in a chicken pot
pie maker.
With the help of her fellow rebels,
among them a cocky rooster named
Rocky (voiced by Mel Gibson,
Enough for You.”
Keyboardist Page McConnell’s deli
cate solo midway through “Mule’s” jam
stopped many concertgoers cold. The
rare piano only solo melted into guitarist
Trey Anastasio’s somewhat odd guitar
solo that left some laughing at the antics
of the band and some confused.
Anastasio seemed to be playing chil
dren’s songs and embellishing them
with his pedal during the jam. “Mule’s”
main theme came roaring back howev
er, and went into the wacky “Meat.”
“Fast Enough for You,” which was
wedged between the speedy “Gotta
Jiboo” and “Mule” was beautiful. The
warm summer night’s breeze combined
with McConnell’s keyboard provided
the best slow moment of the show.
The first set also included “Punch
You in the Eye,” “Water in the Sky” and
“Funky Bitch.” Anastasio’s guitar in
“Funky Bitch” didn’t compare to the
guest appearance of Derek Trucks at
Blockbuster Pavilion in Charlotte last
summer, but was still impressive.
Phish didn’t forget their new album,
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Arts & Entertainment
Jim Carrey raises three African-American sons on his own after he is
jilted in the Farrelly brothers' new comedy "Me, Myself & Irene."
to fill time.
The one bright spot is the quirky turn
by first-time actor Michael Bowman, an
Albino who Hank jokingly refers to as
Whitey or Milky.
“Irene” ends up prompting more
groans than laughs as the Farrellys stu
pidly use a good idea but don’t follow
through. The credits do not even use the
“Braveheart”), Ginger plans an inge
nious escape and flies the coop (literal
ly), taking all the hens with her.
It is rare to find the sort of quality in
scripting and casting that “Chicken
Run” has in any movie, rarer still in a
family film. In blatant parody of adven
ture movies such as “The Great Escape”
and “Shawshank Redemption” the
chickens hatch half-baked escape plans
and the result is not freedom, but a
never-ending stream of sight gags. It is
the perfect combination of clever dia
logue and slapstick comedy.
The film owes its success to the mar
velous pairing of animated character
and voice. Park has a remarkable gift for
luring the audience to believe that,
although it is chickens talking - chickens
with crayon-colored feathers and giant
white teeth - this story is real. It is amaz-
Farmhouse , during their Raleigh perfor
mance. Two songs off the new album,
“Heavy Things” and “Dirt” were includ
ed in the first set, although “Dirt” should
have been left in the studio.
“Maze” made a rare live appearance
at the show as well. The long psyche
delic jam gave the show an exciting
bonus and left many fans a frenzy.
“Uncle Pen” was the first song in the
encore, and livened up a show that was
mellow at some points.
The loud crowd usually distorts the
Raleigh performances by Phish, and this
show was not and exception. Many of
the jams in the first set seemed to be cut
short, and it was difficult to hear some of
the quieter moments of the show.
Clapping along, considered rude by the
Phish community because it distorts the
jams, was in abundance as well.
Phish delivered nonetheless, and pro
vided their fans with an energetic show
that closed a phenomenal weekend.
The Art & Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artdesk@unc.edu.
Farrelly trademark of a song-and-dance
number to end on a high note.
To save money, maybe the directors
knew that the audience would already
be on their way out of the theater won
dering what happened.
The Art & Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artdesk@unc.edu.
ing the number of emotions those round
eyes and beaks can express.
The actors providing the vocals for
the heroic hens could not have been bet
ter chosen. Truly great actors, it seems,
can even make chickens seem capable
of emotions. The love which develops
between Rocky and Ginger was every
bit as convincing as any of Gibson’s on
screen romances.
“Chicken Run” could rival the
“Indiana Jones” movies in a competition
for the perfect compromise movie; by
combining equal parts comedy,
romance, adventure, action and intelli
gence, no one will leave the theater
without a smile and a sense of six dollars
well-spent.
The Art & Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artdesk@unc.edu.
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Hawke Convincing as
Modern-Day 'Hamlet'
Ariadne Guthrie
Staff Writer
After the tragic remake of “Romeo
and Juliet” in 1996, it was all
Shakespeare lovers could do not to cry
when it was announced that the covet
ed role of the haunted prince of
Denmark would be played by grunge
boy Ethan Hawke. That the play was to
be transported from the barren
medieval cas
tles of Europe
to the streets of
New York was
nearly too
much to bear.
For these
|j| Movie Review
"Hamlet"
ffff
reasons, it comes as a great shock to dis
cover that Michael Almereyda’s
“Hamlet” is the best film version of the
play to date.
Hawke is the youngest actor yet to
play Hamlet, and it may be his youth
that lends itself so well to the brooding
nature of the tragic hero.
The believable madness and suffer
ing of the modem day Hamlet make
past portrayals of the tormented prince
by acclaimed actors, such as Kenneth
Branaugh and Mel Gibson, seem almost
tame and stable.
As Hamlet, Hawke is so utterly con
sumed by his melancholy that every
aspect of his being reflects it, from his
greasy hair and sleep-deprived, sunken
eyes to his rumpled clothing and slug
gish manner. Hawke’s melancholy is so
passionate it is draining to watch..
Hamlet’s strange behavior is magni
fied by his interactions with a brilliandy
cast set of friends and family. Kyle
McLachlan (“Twin Peaks”) truly cap
tures the cold-hearted essence of the
treacherous Claudius as the head of an
international multimedia corporation.
In a break from his traditionally
comedic roles, Bill Murray is a preten
tious, over-the-top Polonious. Julia Stiles
(“Ten Things I Hate About You”) is dis
appointing as Ophelia, Hamlet’s love
interest; her pouting falls short of the
confused sadness needed for the role.
The film plays with the settings of
“Hamlet.” Instead of a cold medieval
Rome Venice Florence Vienna Budapest Prague Bangkok Moscow Lisbon Madrid Barcelona Tel Aviv Johannesburg Delhi Hong Kong
Thursday, June 29, 2000
casde, Elsinore is a bleak New York
hotel where the president and CEO of
the Denmark Corporation, murderous
Claudius, resides.
Hamlet’s famous “To be or not to be”
soliloquy is delivered as Hawke peruses
the aislrt of a Blockbuster video store.
Even ‘The Mousetrap’, Hamlet’s play
to “catch the conscience of the King”,
gets a makeover. Hawke’s Hamlet is a
film student, and his ‘play’ is a short film
of bits from sitcoms and cartoons.
The film does not completely avoid
the jarring contrast of Shakespearean
language and life with modem times.
The deaths of Ophelia and Hamlet, in
particular, lose some of their intensity
because they do not easily translate into
believable scenarios in the present.
Unlike previous versions of the play,
Almereyda’s “Hamlet” does not weigh
itself down with the pomp of elaborate
costumes and scenery. It’s stark, bare
and realistic, and a welcome change
from the stuffy Shakespeare of the past.
The Art & Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
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