10
thursday.april 10,2008
Reeves is far from a ‘king’
BY RACHAEL OEHRING
STAFF WRITER
Dear Keanu Reeves,
Look, we know you gained some
actor cred after starring in “The
Matrix" and whatnot, but that was
mostly because you didn’t talk a
lot
You should really go back to
starring in movies where you're not
called upon to utter too many lines.
It seems to work well.
Luckily, your new movie “Street
Kings" doesn’t ask much of you (or
anyone else in it, for that matter),
except that you look sufficiently
angry and chug mini bottles of
vodka while driving.
It’s pretty standard corrupt-cop
fare (apparently every cop ever is
in cahoots with heroin dealers) that
unfolds pretty handily, and. thank
God. it ends up being pretty good
despite your wooden delivery.
It’s a good thing that you totally
phoned your performance in. It’s as
ifyou knewyou w ould be complete
lv crushed bv the talent of actual
Nawal El Saadawi
Author of Women at Point Zero
“Muslim Women
in the Market”
April 11 • 12:00pm
French Family Science
Center, Rm. 2231
Congratulations! to the Men’s and
Women’s Track and Field/Cross
Country senior class of 2008
Men: Reggie Berry; Brehman Dehaan, Alex Ray; lan Reynolds
Women: Porscha Dobson, Colleen Farley, Erika Foushee, Tyra
Johnson, Emily Hoffman, Megan Kaltenback, Alison McGinnis,
Jocelyn White
■Mk you for four years of success including:
0 women
9th place team Men's NCAA Championships^^^^^^J
c olace team finishes at the Women's
Medley Relay^^^^^^^
MOVIE KFV/fW
STREET KINGS
trained, responsive-faced actors
such as Forest Whitaker, Chris
Evans, Cedric the Entertainer and,
uh, The Game, and so you didn’t
even try'.
You can’t fail if you don’t try,
Keanu, and everyone understands
that.
Good for you, though. At least
you recognize your limitations
and realize you’re pretty much
only worth looking at when you’re
firing a gun, which you do plenty
of in this movie —with great
aplomb.
It’s also merciful that the direc
tor didn’t let you ruin some true
gems of dialogue such as, "Do the
department a favor and wash your
mouth out with buckshot!"
The trite movie-cop speak made
the movie pretty awesome, and
even more awesome because Forest
Duke-UNC International Conference
Marketing Muslim Women
Whitaker and Hugh Laurie got the
chance to bellow most of it at each
other.
At least you’re transitioning into
your older years smoothly by taking
on more age-appropriate roles such
as chunky, alcoholic rogue cops with
trashy shirts and pinkie rings.
And we all can take solace in the
fact that you didn’t try to sport the
apparently standard-issue skeezy
Super Trooper mustache to try
to make your performance more
real.
So. Keanu, just remember: lots
of shooting, no talking.
There won’t be any Oscar with
vour name on it, but hey. at least
you're getting steady Hollywood
sized paychecks, and that's all that
truly matters. In fact, maybe we
should come to you for our ticket
refunds.
Much love,
The movie-going public
Contact the Diversions Editor
at dive (a unc.edu
FREEAND OPEN TO THEPUBUC
I
I '-t*
Diversions
MOVIE SHORTS
THE BAND'S VISIT
The blue-suited members of
the Alexandria Police Orchestra
might appear without fanfare, but
“The Band’s Visit" will not leave
the screen without touching a few
hearts.
Lt. Col. Tawfiq Zacharya (Sasson
Gabai) and his small Egyptian
band arrive in Israel unnoticed,
having been invited to play the
opening of a local culture center.
A traveling mishap leaves them
stranded in a small desert town,
depending on the hospitality of
restaurant owner Dina (Ronit
Elkabetz) and her two awkward
friends.
The musicians are the quiet
and serious sort, except for the
inexperienced heartthrob Haled
(Saleh Bakri), who has a way with
women and a love for jazz trum
peter Chet Baker.
Each of the characters is facing
a personal obstacle, which emerg
es as the band spends the night
on donated couches and floors in
the middle of nowhere.
Many of the award-winning
Israeli film's moments are silently
poignant, but that doesn't keep
them from being funny as well.
None of the characters has any
thing to say to any of the others,
whether it be on a roller-rink date
gone bad, between two peoples
with a violent history or just among
comrades who cannot understand
one another.
The honest roles are performed
flawlessly, a task made all the more
challenging by the intentionally
stilted dialogue.
The film’s revelations are
equally quiet, but the talent of
writer/director Eran Kolirin cre
ates a dynamic energy that is
visible throughout the film and
present even after the credits
start rolling.
-Catherine Williams
LEATHERHEADS
“Leatherheads" is as good as a
screwball retro comedy could pos
sibly be.
Director and leading man
George Clooney uses not only a
Egyptian feminist writer, activist and physician, Saadawi has written
many hooks about Arab women, sexuality and Islam. Long viewed as
dangerous by both Islamists and the Egyptian government, Saadawi was
imprisoned in 1981. In 1993, her life threatened by Islamists, taught at
Duke University for 4 years. Winner of the 2004 North-South Prize by
the Council of Europe, El Saadawi is currently at Spelman College.
Duke University Cosponsors: Duke Islamic Studies Center; Women’s
Studies; Asian & African Languages & Literature; Center for European
Studies; Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies;
Cultural Anthropology; Kenan Institute for Ethics; Department of
English; International Comparative Studies; African & African
American Studies; Department of History; Human Rights Center;
Department ot Religion; Program in Literature; Duke University Center
for International Studies
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Cosponsors; Carolina
Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations; The
Center for Global Initiatives; Department of Geography; African
Studies Center, College of Arts and Sciences
Additional Cosponsors: Robertson Scholars Program; Trent Foundation
(Ehr UaiUi (Ear Rrrl
1920s backdrop for the film, but
the decade’s sense of humor.
Welcome to 2008, where a joke
with the punch line, “he cooked
his goose, all right," is never really
that funny.
Clooney plays an aging captain
of a rag-tag group of professional
football players at a time when the
professional version of the sport is
about as popular as the XFL was
in 2001.
The ensemble in "Leatherheads"
is superb, from the extras to the
leads, and all of the film’s comedic
success comes from these charac
ters’ antics.
You really wish something more
could come from this interesting
film, but unfortunately, everything
other than the football action feels
cumbersome.
It's witty, but ultimately
empty.
Just like most other Clooney
affairs, "Leatherheads" is full of
style and smarts.
But genuine appreciation of its
effort and mild amusement at its
slapstick antics are no substitute
for genuine hilarity.
-David Bemgartt