Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 1996)
*y » january22,ifc rthd The Battalion Monday January 22, 1 996 Aggielife Page 3 ampir e iolc Excessive gore overshadows talent in From Dusk Till Dawn my Browning, Tut. Bath® n birthday cakewi n for 48 years and Is relationship be yan develop, cornerstone oftk A&M has ch latically," Skrivai > an asset to A&M ; an asset to us. iubik, also inter re video, said he ha j between Bryan stronger through thi ing Bryan to develoi it is now. ber when Bryan war 3,000 people," eryone came (to town) ms on Saturdays.’ highlight of the debration is a qi mbers of the Bra Quilt Guild thatde ■ Bryan buildings ■rns popular in tk Tl ONS ation: 111 or boys and ie Ouachita sas, is now positions. 7 • (501) 867-4131 from Dusk TiU Down leorge Clooney, Quentin ^ ’ “ ■ Harvey Keitc* mm at Hollywood *** (out of five) ;WS EDITOII versily in n 3; f ax: laid Building, T exaS By Amber Clark The Battalion Two men. Black suits. Loud music. Quentin Tarantino strikes again; only this time, more bodies explode than ever before. Tarantino’s latest screenplay, From Dusk Till Dawn, directed by up-and-coming Texan director Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi), is perhaps his most disturbing film yet. With a flood of weaponry, bizarre characters and dark comedy, the film ushers in a new generation of vampire movies. The misadventures begin with the explosive jail break of Seth and Ritchie Gecko, brothers who share a knack for crime. Leaving behind a trail of may hem and dead Texas Rangers, the considerate, yet violent thief Seth (Clooney) and sexually de praved Ritchie (Tarantino) head for Mexico with a hostage in tow. Upon reaching El Paso, the fugitives’ plans must change when Ritchie “accidentally” kills the hostage. Needing new cover, the brothers kidnap Jacob Fuller (Keitel) and his two children, a disillusioned minister who left Oklahoma. After forcing the Fullers to smuggle them across the bor der, the Geckos and their hostages stop at the Titty Twister, a strip bar advertised as “open from dusk till dawn.” The bar is a rendezvous point for the Geckos and their co-con spirator Carlos (Cheech Marin). While waiting for Carlos, Ritchie enjoys a table dance from the seductive Satantica Pande monium, who is one of the hun dred or so local vampires. When the dance ends, all hell breaks loose and the undead begin a feeding frenzy. Teaming up with a biker named Sex Machine, who wears a gun contraption strapped to his crotch, and an incredibly an gry Vietnam veteran, the Geckos and Fullers Fight to stay alive until sunrise. The remainder of the plot is somewhat predictable, but the comedic value of the dialogue of fers reprieve. Clooney’s charac ter is perhaps the best-developed of the cast. He is convincing as a profes sional thief with a sense of morality and compassion, but who also has the determination and arrogance of a murderer. Clooney’s wit and dry humor save the film from slipping into the cliched mass of typical vam pire flicks. And, oh yeah, he has a cool tattoo. Tarantino’s Ritchie is terri- George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino star in From Dusk Till Dawn. bly disturbing as a slow-witted rapist teetering on the brink of insanity. However, Tarantino plays the part a bit too neatly. As if his screenplay isn’t creepy enough, he has to play the character too well. Keitel again presents a solid performance, as he has done in past films such as The Piano and Reservoir Dogs. Keitel has perfected a character that has lost his down-home faith and must fight to rediscover his God in the face of evil. Although Juliette Lewis, star ring as one of the Fuller children, is not as annoying as in her past work (Cape Fear), her exaggerat ed Oklahoma drawl is enough to offend most Midwesterners. The film’s only major setback is the violence and gore, which in cludes heads and limbs flying across the bar room and a mari achi band using mutilated corpses as instruments. Though he’s no Bela Lugosi, Tarantino has undoubtedly opened a new can of vampires. This bunch is just a little more contemporary. A mediocre tribute to a country music legend By Wes Swift The Battalion If there has ever been a country star that towed the line between country mu sic and rock ’n’ roll, it is Willie Nelson. The red headed stranger was one of country music’s original outlaws, singing about fast women, strong liquor and smoking enough grass to be mistak en for an entire reggae band. It is not surprising, then, that the man with one foot in country and the other in rock ’n’ roll should be the sub ject of a genre-crossing album. Twisted Willie , a collection of 16 Nel son covers by such alternative main stays as The Breeders’ Kelley Deal and The Reverend Horton Heat, and country legends Way Ion Jennings and Johnny Cash, is like eating at a cafeteria: over all, everything’s pretty average, but here and there, there are some pretty tasty morsels. (from left) Eddie Spaghetti, of Supersuckers, and Willie Nelson. Most of the 16 songs are average, sounding like nothing more than alter native bands going through the motions of Willie Nelson songs. But amid these oysters, there are some pearls. Cash turns in an amazing perfor mance in “Time of the Preacher,” backed by former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic. Cash’s folksy voice and acoustic guitar are highlighted by Novoselic’s grinding bass and Kim Thayil’s guitar riffs. L7 turns in an eccentric performance of “Three Days.” Vocalist Donita Sparks’ howling turns the song on end and sounds like Patsy Cline on acid. A wail ing guitar solo enhances the effect. Jerry Cantrell takes a break from his Alice In Chains work to sing “I’ve Seen All of This World I Care To See.” The soft, gentle song provides a nice change of pace from Alice In Chains’ overwhelming gloom, even if the lyrics still come from the same vein. Horton Heat and The Presidents of the United States of America also lend their talents to the album, but all of the bands play it pretty close to the vest, taking few chances with the legendary Nelson’s music. The bands seem to take an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” attitude. But that changes with The Breeders’ Kelly Deal, who teams with Kris Kristofferson on “Angel Flying Too Close To the Ground.” Deal’s warbling, almost grating voice blankets a throbbing rhythm that sounds nothing like a Willie Nelson song. The track has a gloomy, eerie pulse like a ban shee’s song. And performances like Deal’s, while unconventional, are what this album Jessie Dayton performs "Sad Songs and Waltzes"on Twisted Willie. needs. Too many of the bands just picked a song and played it. They should have picked a song and made it theirs. That’s what made Nelson a legend in music, his willingness to take chances and thwart the traditional boundaries of music. Perhaps if these artists had done the same, this album might have been a fit ting honor to him. entertainment GLANCE Thompson Gibson, Thompson win at Golden Globe BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Mel Gibson won best director honors for his Scottish indepen dence epic Braveheart and John Travolta and Nicole Kidman won the best-acting prizes at Sunday night's Golden Globe awards. "At the risk of sounding cliched, 'Look at me.' I'm the one telling you that I won the Golden Globe," Tra volta said, reprising his buzz phrase from Get Shorty, the comedy about gangsters in Hollywood. T ravolta, who ended a long career drought last year with Pulp Fiction, commented, "I don't know what I've done to deserve this," and he acknowledged L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. Kidman won best actress honors in comedy or musical for her role in the dark farce To Die For about being famous and murderous. Kidman said she wanted to thank "everyone who has ever been nice to me" and paid tribute to her husband Tom Cruise "for such tenderness, love and happiness, and this would be nothing without him." Emma Thompson won a screenwriting Golden Globe for her adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. She framed her speech as it might have been written by Austen herself, and the results were hilarious. She noted the 19th-century au thor would have understood that she was owed a lot of money. Mira Sorvino, the ditzy hooker in Mighty Aphrodite, and Brad Pitt, the insane asylum inmate of 12 Monkeys, won the best sup porting per former awards. "Wow, I didn't expect this!" Sorvino said as her tear ful father, actor Paul Sorvino, proudly looked on from the black-tie audience. "First and foremost, I want to thank the amazing Woody Allen for giving me this role." Pitt was also a surprise — and surprised — winner, too. "Oh no!" he exclaimed. In the stress of what he called "this moment of absolute terror," he added: "I'd like to thank the members of— actu ally, the makers of Kaopectate. They've done a great service for their fellow man." In his acceptance speech, Gibson said: "I didn't expect to get this." Many in the audience were also surprised because of an expected swell of support for Ron Howard of Apollo 13 and Ang Lee of Sense and Sensibility, who were consid ered favorites. The Hollywood Foreign Press As sociation began its award spree, nam ing Cybill Shepherd of Cybill and Kelsey Crammer of Frasier as the best actress and actor, respectively, in a musical or television comedy series. Shepherd's CBS sitcom Cybill was also selected as best musical or comedy TV series at the 53rd annu al presentation. Shepherd, the faded actress of Cy bill commended her writers, while Crammer, who plays the radio call- in shrink who moved his practice to his own show after years on Cheers, called his Frasier experience "the most extraordinary couple of years of my life." Shepherd The Texas A&M Business Student Council presents the 17th Annual Spring BUSINESS CAREER FAIR January 29, 30, 31, February 1,1996 “STAND OUT AMONG THE CROWD” Prepare for the Career Fair by attending the Life Work presentation of “How to Use a Career Fair.” Fred and Serena Edwards will speak about Resume writing, Interviewing techniques, and How to talk one on one with recruiters. Don’t miss this informative meeting on January 24th in Room 159 of the Wehner building at 7:30 p.m., brought to you by the BSC and Business Administration Society. SCHEDULED EVENTS: January 29 - 7:00 p.m. January 30 - 9:00 a.m. -4:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. January 31 - 9:00 a.m. -4:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. February 1 - 9:00 a.m. -4:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. Reception at Hilton Recruiting Booths in Wehner building Banquet at Hilton Recruiting Booths in Wehner building Banquet at Hilton Recruiting Booths in Wehner building “Take a Student to Dinner” free Breakfast]!! In fxchange for pm opinions on University services!!! free Breakfast!!! WHEN: Wednesday, January 24 Beginning at 7:30 a.m. til 9:30 is,' Texas A&M University \ WHERE: Kyle Field Commuter Parking Lot or in case of bad weather, the Front Foyer of the MSC. Hosted by TAMU Athletic Department Sponsored by the Department of Student Life !! In ur opinions
