Newspaper Page Text
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Wednesday
April 27,
2005
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Top Level. UCC
Top 10
In Theaters
1. The Interpreter
(PG-13) Nicole Kidman,
Sean Penn
2. The Amityville Horror
(R) Ryan Reynolds
3. Sahara (PG-13)
Matthew McConaughey
4. A Lot Like Love
(PG-13) Ashton Kutcher
5. Rung Fu Hustle
(R) Stephen Chow
6. Fever Pitch (PG-13)
Drew Barrymore,
Jimmy Fallon
7. Sin City (R) Mickey
Rourke, Bruce Willis
8. Guess Who (PG-13)
Bemie Mac
9. Robots (PG) Halle
Berry, Robin Williams
10. King’s Ransom (PG
-13) Anthony Anderson
Top 10 Video
;
Rentals
1. Sideways (R)
Paul Giamatti
2. Klektra (PG-13)
Jennifer Gamer
3. Spanglish (PG-13)
Adam Sandler
4. After the Sunset
(PG-13) Pierce Brosnan,
Salma Hayak
5. Finding Neverland
(PG) Johnny Depp
6. Closer (R)
Julia Roberts
7 Ladder 49 (PG-13)
Joaquin Phoenix
8. The Incredibles (PG)
animated, (Walt Disney)
9. Fat Albert (PG)
Kenan Thompson
10. Might of the Phoenix
(R) Dennis Quaid
Top 10 DVD
Sales
1. Sideways (R)
2. Spanglish (PG-13)
3. Elektra (PG-13) --
Widescreen
4. The Incredibles
(PG) - Widescreen
5. Sideways (R) -
Pan & Scan
6. Elektra (PG-13) --
Pan & Scan
7. The Incredibles
(PG) - Pan & Scan
8. Closer (R)
9. Finding Neverland
(PG) - Widescreen
10. Jay-Z: Fade to Black
(R)
© 2005 King Features
Syiulicate, Inc.
Arfr&bmwm
..REEL
DEAL
WITH GEORGE HAWKINS
“The Amityville Horror"
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 89 minutes
Starring: Ryan Reynolds,
Melissa George,
Jesse James, Jimmy Ben
net, and Chloe Moretz
“Everything old is
new again!” seems to be
the edict that Hollywood
is living by these days. A
case in point is director
Andrew Douglas’ remake
of the 1979 classic “The
Amityville Horror.”
Supposedly based on
a “true” story, the remake
follows the frightening tale
of newly-wed George and
Kathy Lutz (Ryan Reynolds
and Melissa George).
With Kathy’s three
precocious children, the
couple finds their dream
home in an upper-class
area of Long Island.
Nearly a month later, the
family flees in terror after
they experience intense
supernatural experiences...
experiences are so
terrifying that the family
didn’t even take their
belongings with them.
As they move in the
house, the couple thinks
that the deal must be too
good to be true. Then they
learn of the house’s sordid
past; a family’s mass
murder by a psychotic son
occurring most recently.
Apparently, “voices in the
house convinced him that
they were demons.”
But, as all of these
'"sltlPST
By Will Winchester
KilgoreTrout2o@aol.com
Well, kids, it’s that
time of year again. The
time of year for chewing
whole coffee beans and
biting your own tongue in
a desperate effort to stay
awake for the required
number of days it takes
you to write those last few
research papers, you say?
No, silly. Summer!
That wonderful season in
which college students are
completely free...to work
forty-hour work weeks in
order to pay off that car
loan or be able to afford to
come back here and do it
all again next fall.
A good many albums
are coming out over the
summer, so I thought I
would compile a required
summer listening list for
anyone who’s interested.
Don’t all jump up at once.
Seriously, quit it, I’m trying
to write here.
For starters, there
is the new album from
Athens’s own Of Montreal,
which came out earlier this
month (to my surprise),
but is no less relevant. If
you still haven’t heard
this wonderfully inventive
band, now’s the perfect
chance to jump on the
types of characters tend to
do, the couple ignores all
of the warning signs and
invests all of their savings
into the seventeenth
century home.
At first, all is
wonderful. George, a
contractor, does repairs
and general maintenance,
including a strange amount
of wood chopping. The kids
play together and Kathy
works hard at making their
dream house a home.
But then their youngest
daughter starts playing with
an invisible girl who says
the man in the house is
“bad” and George moves
to the basement because
“it’s the only place in the
damn house that’s warm.’’
Suddenly their dream house
doesn’t seem so friendly.
Events in the house
quickly deteriorate.
George becomes distant,
belligerent and angry. The
kids start acting strange
and Kathy consults a priest
about the family’s woes.
But, surprise, surprise, the
priest knows the history of
the house, and after being
chased out by a swarm of
flies, tells the fear-stricken
wife, “There’s something
about that house that
frightens me.”
Anyway, Kathy
does some Nancy Drew
detective work on her own
to try to find out why her
house has a severe case of
the meanies. In the process
she discovers that the
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solo album
~ and
and The Eels
Photo courtesy of hinhroadtourinK.com 8 new album yesterday.
wagon (or fall off of it, as
the case may be).
“Sunlandic Twins”
is a spectacular album,
better even than the lush
soundscapes of 2004’s
“Satanic Panic in the
Attic.” If “Satanic Panic”
can be called a revival of
the nineties revival of the
seventies revival of sixties
Brit-pop (give me a minute
to catch my breath), then
“Sunlandic Twins” might
be considered all that
and a bag of chips - that
is, if by bag of chips you
mean a special shout-out
to eighties new wave,
including influences like
the Talking Heads.
, Hgir .
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Photo courtesy of ryanreynoldsweh.com
Ryan Reybolds stars in this remake of the horror classic.
foundation (i.e., basement)
of the house is actually
older than the structure
itself and is where an evil
missionary tortured and
killed Native Americans
hundreds of years before.
This spirit is what has
spoken to the previous
tenants of the house (and
is what is communicating
with George now),
admonishing them to
"Katch Em and Kill Em,"
which is actually a clever
play on words using the last
name of the missionary .
The remake of “The
Amityville Horror,” is
definitely just that, a
remake Although, quite
frankly, it is not anywhere
as good as the original, this
version has some genuinely
well done parts.
For example, a lot
of the cinematography
is great. The shots of the
interior of the house and
lakefront scenery are
But that’s old stuff.
Looking ahead, Ben Folds
is set to release anew
solo album, “Songs for
Silverman,” which has
been getting a lot of praise
from internet pirates and
bootleggers for, thankfully,
“not being like Rocking
the Suburbs.” The album
includes a bonus DVD
of behind-the-scenes
footage from the studio,
live performances, home
movies and interviews
with Ben and the band.
In the last couple of
years, in case you didn’t
know. Folds has been
releasing a veritable slew
(that’s right, slew) of
wonderful. The house, as
always, looks better than
any other haunted house
in any other film, and
absolutely oozes evil.
The acting,
surprisingly, isn’t that bad
in the film. Although Ryan
Reynolds is certainly no
James Brolin, he (ills the
role quite well. There are
even a few scenes where
audience members just
might be able to forget
his “Two Guys, A Girl
and a Pizza Place” roots.
Reynolds also doesn't
carry over his Van Wilder
like immaturity (this is
definitely a more adult
role), although at times
his character is definitely
mischievous.
The one real
difference, besides
a few plot and story
changes, between this
“The Amityville Horror”
and the original is the
visibility of evil. I don’t
EPs, none of which have
anything to do with the
new album, but just go to
show that North Carolina’s
premier prodigious piano
man hasn’t forgotten about
you, faithful listeners.
And if this album ends up
sucking like the last one,
you can always check out
the EPs.
Yesterday one of my
personal favorite bands, the
Eels, released their much
anticipated double-disc
album “Blinking Lights
and Other Revelations,”
which singer/songwriter E
himself has described as
being nothing less than his
life’s work, literally years
know why. but Hollywood
seems to believe that just
because they have the
ability to show gruesome
scenes (via computers
and incredible make-up/
special effects) they are
duty bound to do so.
This is simply not true,
and 1 w ish that filmmakers
would allow the audience to
use their ow n imaginations
to envision what we will.
Although this remake
is worth a look, I’m afraid
that the haunted house genre
has become cliched, jading
moviegoers and making it
really hard to get involved
in this type of film.
The original “The
Amityville Horror” was
to haunted house movies
what “The Exorcist” was
to possession films in the
seventies, and it is hard
to duplicate that kind of
success.
GRADE: B+
in the making.
If you haven’t been
following the Eels lately,
shame on you. I can’t think
of many bands that are more
deserving of your parents’
disposable income.
Sure, you probably
remember “Novacaine for
the Soul.” Congratulations,
you had a pulse in the
nineties. Since then,
however, the band has
earned a loyal underground
following and released a
number of albums which far
surpassed in style that iffy
debut “Beautiful Freak,”
including the absolute
must-have classic “Electro-
Shock Blues” from 1998, on
which E molded the band’s
sound into the eclectic and
infectious party-in-your
ears that it is now.
They had never
sounded so good, and
haven’t sounded as good
since, but "Blinking Lights”
marks a return to the style
that made “Electro-Shock
Blues” an instant classic,
and one of the best albums
to come out of the nineties,
bar none.
It is far better than what
misguided music television
countdown shows will often
cite as being the best - that
is. Nirvana and that trifle
of an album “Nevermind.”
I’m sure 1 just lost half my
readership, but oh well.
Hasta la vista, all you
See STREAM, page 7