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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 1992)
Lifestyl The Battalion Page 11 Movie Review 'Grand Canyon' well worth the view by Timm Doolen The Battalion CAREER Vl| i include P er sonality dicator 'e and Jals in the n - to 4p.m. for more -IATI0N: temational Bizzell tte at 3ooth with nts and nual Fight the MSC, or more IRAZOS snt of the men will mentions." 'try Club. !cHam at for more Evening niversity 1835 for L3DENT th US. s attire Film an b #1 of 7-0696 SWE): ting to set. A eive a se call in 204 59 for 1ENT: action, on the e test ;ter in ) p.m. taking ell as ,m. to er in sa at netry “Los ill be 847- rggie n. to urch 693- >W): p.m. 1224 TY: nal 1-12 >.m. ore Social Distortion "Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell" Epic There's something about a Social Distortion song that makes you want open a cold brew, hop into your vintage Chevy, and fake off for a cruise down the Pacific Coast Highway. For most of us it's not quite that easy, but with the punkabilly rock of "Some where Between Heaven and Hell," we've at least got a proper mood setter. For the past decade, Social Distortion has memorialized the decadance of adolescent southern California in their songs. After making a name for themselves as one of the essential L.A. punk bands along with Black Flag, X, and T.S.O.L., the band released "Mommy's Little Monster," still considered a hardcore classic. Soon after, however, singer Mike Ness began to live his own lyrics with a long chain of arrests and chronic heroin addiction. Most fans wrote the band off as washed up, just another example of how the same rock n' roll spirit that fires a band can cause their self destruction. Ness surprised everyone, though, by making a comeback with new band members, a drug free life, and songs that looked back on his former lifestyle with regret instead of glorification. The See Social/Page 12 Grand Canyon Starring: Kevin Kline, Danny Glover, Mary McDonnell Directed by Lawrence Kasdan Rated R "Grand Canyon" is one of those movies that aims high and almost makes it. Both the strongest and weakest points of this drama are its complexity. By trying to show us how equally good and bad life is, the movie mirrors life itself by being intricately complex and oc casionally losing cohesion. Writer-director Lawrence Kasdan shoots for big issues in this film - he questions why life is like it is, especially for a particular hand ful of Los Angeles residents. Why in the space of a day or just a few hours can life seem both completely unbearable and utterly incredible? The story of almost a dozen characters is complex, to say the least, and while the time covered in the film is only a few months, the diversity of issues covered vary from dealing with middle-age and letting your kids go, to experiencing what it is like to almost be killed. The main character of the film. Mack (Kevin Kline), gets stranded on some back streets in L.A. after a Lakers game. While he's hounded by five members of a street gang, the tow-truck arrives to pick up the disabled car, scaring the thugs off and saving Mack's life. Tire driver of the tow-truck, Simon (Danny Glover) and Mack slowly become friends. Meanwhile, Mack's friend Davis (Steve Mar tin) is shot in the leg by a robber, and Mack's wife Claire (Mary McDonnell) finds an aban doned baby while jogging. Also, Mack's secre tary is in love with him after a one-night mis-' take, and Mack's son falls in love while at sum mer camp, causing Claire to have to deal with letting her baby boy go. On the other side of town, Simon's sister's son is a member of a gang, while Simon him self is divorced with a deaf daughter who is at tending college in Washington, D.C. And that's just the main points of the plot! This is a variety of stories combined - it's "The Big Chill" (which was also directed by Kasdan) meets "Ordinary People" meets "Fried Green Tomatoes" meets "Boyz 'N' the Hood." The story is occasionally overburdened Mack (Kevin Kline) and best friend Davis (Steve Martin), a movie producer, discuss the virtues of directing cheap action films on the set of a Hollywood studio in writer-director Lawrence Kasdan’s new drama, “Grand Canyon.” by sub-plots and dream sequences which are sometimes meaningful, often not. Many times there's just the feeling that there's too many things going on - you never know what's going to happen next, what is rel evant or what is important to remember. For example, at one point in the movie, in the space of about two minutes. Mack cuts his fin ger while cooking, then there's an earthquake and then the next-door neighbor has a heart at tack. Each of these might be the basis for a sig nificant sequence of the movie, but strewn to gether, the individual events lose individual significance, and the plot becomes almost en tirely subordinate to the theme of the film. This makes the generally impressive movie wildly uneven. There are times when I thought I couldn't stand it, and other times when I felt it was almost achieving the realization of its grandiose themes - trying to figure out life. At several points in the film, individual characters try to understand life and why it is so great and so screwed up at the same time. People are poor while others are affluent, ba bies are bom and neighbors die, thugs rob in nocent bystanders but good men come to the rescue, lovers make promises but don't keep them - life is great and horrible at seemingly the same time. Several shoot-from-the-hip philosophies are expounded, though none in-depth. Simon relates an individual's existence to the Grand Canyon - man seems humbled and virtually non-existent compared with the majesty of one of Earth's greatest natural wonders. Mack re lates life to driving a car - you have to be fast or you'll get caught in the cross-stream. And Davis, a producer of cheap action movies, says Mack should watch more movies, because the mysteries of life are explained in them. While Kasdan's "Canyon" may not be able to explain all the mysteries of life, he definitely has the guts to say its more complex than can be resolved in a two-hour film. And although the writing and story are somewhat uneven, "Grand Canyon" is often worth the view. Peat Marwick The Partners & Professional Staff of KPMG Peat Marwick are pleased to announce that the following graduates of Texas A&M University, Class of 1991-1992 will be joining our Firm. Daix Anderson Sandra Byrne Julie Cruser Doug Dormer Jason Epps Eric Fournet Tracy Geisler Darron Gill Stacy Hansen Rusty Hruby Tracey Icken J.D. Jones Dana Kirchgessner Jim Kruse Kim Peterson Warren Prihoda Lisa Quick Mike Ramke Terry Scoggin Jennifer Smith Kathleen Smith Melissa Smith Holly Sparkman Scott Vacek Patty Waldrep Mark Watson Gary Webb Alisha White Stacie Wiatrek John Young Welcome to Peat Marwick! Spring Interview Dates: February 20,1992 (Internship Postions); February 21, 1992 (Permanent Positions) Equal Opportunity Employer - M/F/V/H