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(03/21/06 6:00am)
Usually when a widely respected actor or actress makes a
directorial debut, their film owes a distinctive debt to the work
of another director. Robert De Niro's fantastic A Bronx Tale\ had
all the hallmarks of a sweeping Scorsese mobster epic, and before
he astonished everyone with ""Good Night, and Good Luck,"" George
Clooney helmed a decent but somewhat timid adaptation of Chuck
Barris' so-called autobiography, ""Confessions of a Dangerous
Mind,"" that had more than just a whiff of Soderbergh slickness.
Although Tommy Lee Jones' debut, a modern-day Western called ""The
Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada,"" has drawn numerous
references to legendary director Sam Peckinpah, it is a well-acted
but ultimately unremarkable morality tale. In fact, ""Three
Burials"" is technically not Jones' debut—he previously helmed a
TNT film called ""The Good Old Boys""—but it is his first film to
be theatrically released to widespread acclaim. Jones stars as Pete
Perkins, a taciturn cowboy whose beloved friend Melquiades (Julio
Cedillo) is killed in a moronic accident by newbie border patrolman
Mike Norton (Barry Pepper). After he discovers the authorities plan
on ignoring the incident, Perkins concocts a plan to honor
Melquiades that involves digging him up, kidnapping Norton and
heading south of the border to bury him in his hometown. Other
supporting characters hover around the proceedings, and through a
handful of flashbacks, we become privy to the intimate
relationships and hidden ironies created by them. We meet some of
the town's residents, including Norton's pretty young wife (January
Jones, Stifler's object of affection in ""American Wedding""), the
impotent sheriff (Dwight Yoakum) and an amorous diner waitress
(Melissa Leo) who's more bored than horny. With a complex script by
Guillermo Arriaga (who previously wrote two of the past decade's
best movies, ""21 Grams"" and ""Amores Perros""), the subtleties
and nuances of these criss-crossing lives enhance the central
events of the film. ""Three Burials"" is most involving when Jones
lingers on the tedium of the small Texas town everyone has to live
in, observing friendships and sexual relationships that blossom
almost solely out of necessity. These characters spend a lot of
time smoking cigarettes and watching people come and go in a town
which is, like a certain Yoakum song's refrain, one thousand miles
from nowhere. The long hike Perkins and Norton take is, on the
other hand, not as engaging. It has its inspired moments, most
notably a visit with a wizened old man (The Band's drummer Levon
Helm) who helps them out and then makes a startlingly poignant
request. But the journey, which is always visually stunning, has a
tendency to lag on its way to an obvious and predictable
conclusion. To Arriaga and Jones' credit, the ending is much more
restrained than it could have been, but it is still abrupt and
disappointingly anticlimactic. Also, the film often contradicts its
efforts to show complexity by portraying all of the Mexicans as
good-hearted saints and nearly all of the Caucasians as petty,
cruel, dismissive and sexually dysfunctional. This isn't to say
that Jones descends into ""Crash""-style hyperbole, but as an
allegorical piece of social commentary, ""Three Burials""
occasionally feels smug. When it clicks, ""Three Burials"" is
thoughtful and interesting, but despite a plethora of intriguing
moments and scenes, the film runs out of steam. It's a prestigious
film that won Best Actor and Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film
Festival and will appeal to some while boring others. However,
Jones coaxes uniformly proficient performances from his cast and
shows enough genuine promise behind the camera to make one hope he
directs another film.
(03/06/06 6:00am)
When the Wisconsin men's hockey team begins post season play
this weekend, the benefit of a top-five finish in the Western
Collegiate Hockey Association should immediately become loud and
clear.
(03/02/06 6:00am)
Part 2 of 3 in an introspective series on relationships
(02/17/06 6:00am)
As most of us neared the end of our high school careers, we had
become proficient bubble fillers on Scantrons. One of my memorable
white-and-green Scantron tests was supposed to aid in my
career-path selection process.
(02/16/06 6:00am)
After Beth Orton's less than successful collaboration with Ryan
Adams and The Chemical Brothers on 2002's Daybreaker, it's great to
see her on her feet again on the long-awaited follow-up, Comfort Of
Strangers. Producer Jim O'Rourke, who has worked with a vast array
of musicians from Wilco to Sonic Youth, gives the album a feeling
of grand intimacy and manages to deliver Orton back to the sparse,
dreamy sound of her masterpiece debut, 1996's Trailer Park.
(02/14/06 6:00am)
With a stunning name such as Giuseppe, the ladies will come
a-calling. A track-driven individual, Giuseppe is majoring in
Italian and marketing. He plans to use this combination of majors
to open a spectacular Italian restaurant in Madison. Though this
may be a pipe dream for many, Giuseppe plans to go to culinary
school after graduation to become his own master chef. His
restaurant will serve authentic Italian food, instead of a cookie
cutter restaurant like the Olive Garden. Buona fortuna,
Giuseppe!
(02/10/06 6:00am)
The world of fiction has been a much darker place over the last
decade without the presence of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Author of
the epic 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' and winner of the Nobel
Prize for literature, Garcia Marquez was absent from his most
famous medium in his recent career and focused instead on
journalism and his autobiography.
(02/10/06 6:00am)
About two-thirds of the way through 'Bubble,' something actually
happens. According to the film's synopsis, toy factory employees in
a small town are about to be met with a strange, cold-hearted case.
One of their co-workers is going to be murdered. Of course, the
question is: Who will it be? And who is going to kill them? These
are things the viewer must watch for and try to solve.
(02/08/06 6:00am)
With games like 'Far Cry,' 'F.E.A.R.' and of course 'Half-Life
2' doing so much for the first-person shooter genre, it is easy to
forget the true pioneers. The following games earn recognition not
only because they are really great games, but because each one
contributed something to the industry, either via software or
hardware. Come back with me and let's revisit the top five most
important FPSs of all time.
(02/07/06 6:00am)
We all know about the danger of having too much of a good thing.
Many students realize the truth of this after going on
binge-drinking tangents resulting in long make-out sessions with
the toilet. Directors often face the same dangers of binging, only
in their case it is on CGI, or computer generated images, as
director Ang Lee learned from his floundering CGI-engulfed film
'The Hulk.'
(02/06/06 6:00am)
In the Badgers' 70-62 loss at Mackey Arena Saturday evening,
junior forward Alando Tucker played his usual starring role.
Shooting 8-for-17, Tucker paced Wisconsin with 22 points and
collected four offensive rebounds, while shooting a stunning
6-for-7 from the free throw line. Junior guard Kammron Taylor was
not his typical self, but managed to collect 11 points, playing the
entire game.
(02/01/06 6:00am)
Who knew that iron could be so versatile and beautiful? 'The
Color of Iron,' a new exhibition at the Chazen Museum of Art,
showcases the aesthetic quality of iron through the interrelated
disciplines of art and science.
(02/01/06 6:00am)
Creativity plays a crucial role in making an ad famous. 'Crazy
Legs' harkens back to the famous high-budget, cinematic-driven
'1984' Apple commercial in its appeal to the audience.
(01/23/06 6:00am)
Despite the absences of freshman forward Marcus Landry and
sophomore center Greg Stiemsma, the Wisconsin men's basketball team
(4-1 Big Ten, 14-4 overall) had a lot going for them heading into a
match-up against North Dakota State (11-9 overall) Saturday at the
Kohl Center. The Badgers came into the game riding a 27-game
home-winning streak against non-conference opponents, had not lost
two consecutive games in nearly two years, clearly possessed more
talent at every position than the Bison and had their usual 17,142
cardinal and white clad fans cheering them on.
(01/19/06 6:00am)
'Prince of Persia' has always appealed to gamers with its
combination of Middle Eastern scenery and 'Matrix'-style
acrobatics, and the series' third installment only adds to that
reputation. 'Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones' once again places
the player in the sandals of the tormented Arabian hero, but adds
some new rules to make it worth coming back.
(12/15/05 6:00am)
Joe Lynch, arts editor-elect
(12/15/05 6:00am)
While 2005 may not be remembered for a new exciting trend or a
handful of absolutely classic releases, it was still a good year to
be a music fan. There was a glut of very solid albums, making the
difference between No. 6 and No. 26 as slim as any year in recent
memory. Any Top 15 list will have regrettable omissions. The fact
that perennial favorites like The White Stripes and Paul McCartney
and follow-up albums from Antony and the Johnsons and Franz
Ferdinand fell by the wayside is a testament to how many releases
were worth your time this year.
(12/12/05 6:00am)
C.S. Lewis, author of 'The Chronicles of Narnia' series, once
wrote, 'A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be
too careful of his reading. God is, if I may say it, very
unscrupulous.' This quote is quite ironic, as many have
characterized 'Narnia' as a Christian parable, with the lion Aslan
as the Christ figure.
(12/09/05 6:00am)
With a Brit-pop sensibility that hearkens back to the late '90s
and channels Blur with a dash of Oasis, local Madison band 8889's
first full length album My Music Plan shows a healthy disregard for
all trends indie and moves decidedly into the genre of smooth
guitar pop. 8889 clearly demonstrates potential and the possession
of songcraft building blocks necessary to become lasting musicians.
(12/08/05 6:00am)
When it comes to Wisconsin-Marquette, there really is no reason
to try to break down any statistics, matchups or coaching
philosophies to see who will have an edge in Saturday's contest.
All one needs to know is this'Wisconsin will ride junior forward
Alando Tucker and the home crowd to a statement victory over the
Golden Eagles.
