The Battalion
Jednesday ’January 21, 1998
Aggielife
wake up...” Forget Burt Reynolds
in Boogie Nights at the Golden
Globes, British actor Rupert
Everett has dominated critics
awards in this category — and it is
well deserved. He stole the scene
from Roberts'm My Best Friend’s
Wedding. A classic performance
from an overnight success that
was ten years in the making.
• Best Director — James
Cameron crafted Titanic from
the ground up and deserves a lit
tle gold statue to memorialize it.
He poured his heart and soul,
and the hearts and souls of Uni
versal and 20th Century Fox into
a film that does deliver more
bang for the buck. And if they
don’t give it to him, he can al
ways make his own.
eck and Matt Damon co-wrote the Golden Globe Award-winning screenplay to the film, Good Will Hunting. The film also stars Minnie Driver and Robin Wiluams.
Aaron's Top Ten Movies of 1997
B Aaron
1 Meier
staff writer
1. LA. Confidential—
Moviemaking at its finest. A
screenplay worth killing for, a di
rector good enough to make Kim
Basinger look like a real actress
and an actual plot that makes the
audience think.
2. As Good As It Gets—An ac
tor’s masterpiece. There is not a
poor performance in this movie.
Helen Hunt is simultaneously
stunning beautiful and morosely
plain. Jack Nicholson is well on
his way to pulling a third Oscar as
obsessive-compulsive romance writer. Director and
o-Screenwriter James L. Brooks lets the words of the
reenplay come to life with feeling and emotion wor-
y o! the film’s name.
3| Titanic— Despite its record budget and near
v cold running time, this movie pleased both critics
id budiences this year. The only drawback was a
□open script written by James Cameron. After seeing
three times, I still get choked up at the end.
hChasingAmy— Director/screenwriter Kevin
nith grows out of the hilarious but somewhat juvenile
um< >r of Clerks and Mallrats to actually explore gen-
ine human emotions. As the lesbian who comes out of
ic closet as being straight, Joey Lauren Adams’ perfor-
lanbe extends beyond her sugary raspy voice giving
e to a one of the best characters of the year.
5. In The Company of Men — Finally, a black come-
r worth seeing. While this movie did not get much me-
a hype in general release, Men is a movie worth catch-
g on video. The vicious story of two men who are on a
ission to break the heart of a deaf woman, this movie
ocks, startles and amazes even the most jaded chau-
list.
6. Good Will Hunting—A flash of the talent young
Dlly wood is producing. Matt Damon and Ban Affleck
rite a rewarding and heart-quaking script of friend-
ip and fear. Traditionally alternative director, Gus Van
ntldelivers an easily digestible movie mainstream au-
enfces want to see.
7. Contact— Finally, a thinking person’s action
ovie. Simultaneously exciting and subtle, Contact
ks questions of faith and religion that a ’90s audience
ould ask itself. Jodie Foster proves once again that she
the premiere actress of American cinema.
8. The Full Monty— It isn’t too often that overweight
ale strippers can earn over $100 million, but this
ovie makes it possible. A original and hilarious script
that makes going to the movies fun.
9. My Best Friend’s Wedding—Julia Roberts dyed
her hair red again and became America’s Sweetheart...
again.
10. Ulee's Gold—A heart-felt picture that has given
Peter Fonda the respect of his Hollywood peers.
Five or So Worst Movies
1. Breakdown — Supposedly a Hitchcock-esque
film? Hitchcock was actually exciting.
2. Batman and Robin —While George Clooney
filled into the Batsuit nicely, director Joel Schumacher
turned this latest and unfortunately, not the last install
ment of the Dark Knight series into a really bad acid trip
at a disco.
3. Speed2: Cruise Control—While Titanic is still
cruising along at the box office, Sandra Bullock’s ship
was underwater even before it left the dock.
4. Boogie Nights—Bad, bad, bad. A pointless flick
whose premise wears thin soon after the opening cred
its. I waited, hoping this movie would develop a plot.
The only thing it should have developed was a case of
the clap.
5. Dante’s Peak / Volcano— Face it, they’re the same
movie and both could have used a good studio execu
tive to say, “No!”
Oscar Favorites
• Best Picture—The award will go to Titanic, but L.A.
Confidential deserves to take home the statue thanks to
its excellent direction and powerful performances.
• Best Actress — No real favorite in this category this
year, but Helen Hunt bowled me over with her portrayal
of a strong single mother in As Good As It Gets. The only
thing holding her back is she is still on TV and Academy
voters think the small screen is beneath them, so she is
out. They might honor Judi Dench for her riveting por
trayal of Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown.
• Best Actor — Jack Nicholson. Hands down the
most moving, funny performance of the year in As
Good It Gets.
• Best Supporting Actress—There is nothing to offer
in this category. There is no Mira Sorvino to dominate
the pack. In fact there isn’t even a Lauren Bacall to fawn
over. The only woman who seems to have the prerequi
site quality role and acting pedigree is Joan Cusack in In
and Out. After delivering several great performances in
movies such as Gross Pointe Blank and Nine Months,
Cusack is the only actress this year who actually de
serves an Oscar.
• Best Supporting Actor — “From the moment I
Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt share a tender dinner moment in the film, As Good As It Gets, where Nicholson portrays a man suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder.
r
Quote for the Day
a
New Year’s resolutions represent the scapegoat for society’s problems when, in
actuality, people should sit down, make a plan and act on it, not just talk about it.”
— Jon Tallert
Sophomore microbiology major
it# 1 '
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tof
Wdg the Dog
Starring Robert DeNiro*
Dustin Hoffman
and Anne Heehe
Directed by Barry Levinsoi
Flaying at Hollywood 16
Travis
Irby
staff writer
Wag the Dog bites the
Hollywood hand that feeds
it with a barbed look at the
thin line between enter
tainment and politics.
The movie uses sharp
writing, a solid cast and
good direction to create
one of the more caustical
ly funny movies in recent
memory.
Be warned: this movie
not for people who
is
have any faith in the
electoral process.
The movie begins with the president facing
scandal 11 days before the election, when a
young Firefly Girl accuses the president of using
his “pocket veto” inappropriately.
Enter Conrad Breen (Robert DeNiro), a Wash
ington spinmaster without equal. He and White
House aide Winifred Ames (Anne Heche) must
find a way to make the public forget about the
unfortunate case of presidential flesh-pressing.
Breen decides the best way to accomplish the
task is with a war, or as he says, “the appearance
of a war.”
He and Ames go to Hollywood to recruit the
help of Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman), a hel
met-haired producer with an ego the size of
Los Angeles.
This triumvirate of trickery decides to
make Albania the next great international
threat and attempt to make the public believe
the same thing.
Such a task includes playing the public like a
fiddle and setting up merchandise tie-ins, such
as songs and alarm clocks to foment the coun
try’s thirst for war.
The performances in Wag the Dog are superb.
De Niro, breaking away from his usual psycho-
killer-criminal roles, is great as the charmingly
manipulative Breen.
Hoffman is a hoot as the neurotic Motss. With
his pompadour, bottled tan and tinted glasses,
Motss is a Hollywood stereotype made flesh. His
role is the best in the movie. He treats the idea of
a war like pitch meeting, with a handsome help
ing of a “let’s do lunch” attitude.
As presidential advisor Ames, Heche embod
ies a sort of wide-eyed wonder as she watches
the two masters work. Ames is the perfect
“straight” (no pun intended) woman to Breen
and Motss’ antics.
Small roles by Dennis Leary, Willie Nelson and
Woody Harrelson add even more zing to the film.
Director Barry Levinson handles the action
and dialogue with kinetic energy. Every scene is
crisp and the pace never lags. He shows a sharp
eye for satire in scenes involving news footage of
“the war.”
The real star of Wag the Dog is the biting script
by David Mamet and Hilary Henkin. It skewers
not only Hollywood and Washington, but also
the electorate who swallows up the whole thing.
The writers’ cynical view on things such as
yellow ribbons and war-inspired music will leave
audiences questioning the media’s intentions for
the next decade.
The suggestion of a incestuous relationship
between show business, politics and the media,
is not new, but not until now has it been handled
with such unadulterated glee.
Wag the Dog’s bite is much bigger than its
bark, and moviegoers will be glad to feel the
brunt of its attack.
An invitation to all students:
The Board of Regents
of The Texas A&M University System
invites you to an
Open House
m at the Regent’s Annex
(Ibcated on the West side of the MSC, across from Cain Hall)
6 - 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, January 21, 1998
Refreshments will be served.
/
LET US HELP YOU PUT A LITTLE
BOUNCE BACK IN YOUR STEP.
50% OFF
BUY 8 CLASSES GET
8 CLASSES FREE
New students only.
Offer expires 1/30/98
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