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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 7, 2001)
Sensational sequels spice up summer ■ Here’s some help in separating the good summer sequel releases from the bad By Bevin Caffery Oregon Daily Emerald The concept of a “sequel” tends to bring about skeptical looks and rolling eyes. Every now and then, a good continuation of a hit movie can actually compare to the origi nal, but these are rare occurrences. “Indiana Jones,” “Star Wars,” “Lethal Weapon” and “The Godfa ther” are arguably some of the few movies to produce good sequels. Their reputations, however, are darkened by countless others, such as “Grease,” “Jaws,” “Rocky” and “Scream.” Well, we have a whole new batch out of the oven for you, and the rating scale shows how ex cited you should get. Try ’em out: ‘Dr. Dolittle 2’ Release date June 22 ★★★☆☆ Eddie Murphy has made it as the liaison between the animal kingdom and the human world. But he faces a new conflict: The animals are on strike. (Hmm. Did this happen in Eugene?) Murphy has to struggle through a show down between the animals and the people, and keep them from shoot ing — or eating — each other. ‘Scary Movie II* Release date July 4 ★★★☆☆ Rumors surrounding this kooky sequel are that it will be different from the original. Well, different in that it mocks different movies, but the same in its ridiculously exagger ated parodies of horror films. In cluding many of the original cast members (a few of whom were killed in the first film), “Scarier Movie” is looking to ex-or-CISE the demons. Various “satanic horror movies” will make appearances this time, such as “The Exorcist,” “Bless the Child” and “Stigmata.” After de meaning harmless serial killers in the first movie, the Wayans brothers are now aiming their laughter at su pernatural evil forces. It should prove to be a nice, mindless come dy ‘Jurassic Park III* Release date July 18 ★☆☆☆☆ Yet another way to film di nosaurs running amok and eating people. But this one will have a completely new and interesting plot: This time a greedy corpora tion brings a Tyrannosaurus Rex to California to open a theme park. (The private island just did n’t have enough people to eat.) It doesn’t take too much imagina tion to figure out what might hap pen, but who knows? Maybe the dinosaur will turn out to be a gentle-hearted.creature that saves a baby from a burning building or something. ‘Rush Hour 2’ Release date August 3 ★★★★★ It looks like the corny action of Jackie Chan and the hilarious com edy of Chris Tucker will team up again to give us some expert mar tial arts moves and more of Tuck er’s high-pitched squeals. Animation continued from page 7 for their efforts. Falbo aims to please with his piece, “Firewood,” where a computer-animated figure moves over a filmed set. For those who can’t visualize it, he explains, “It’s like the Disney movie ‘Di nosaur.’” Shelly Macdonald also produced a piece in the Motion Graphics class called “Adelaide.” The ani mation shows a girl in a snowy city who imagines a jazz poster coming to life and playing for her. Macdon ald says the idea is like a memory of her childhood in Chicago where her father played jazz trumpet. Her father played the score for her piece, adding to its autobiographi cal feel. The short was made by filming painted, cut-out pieces of canvas, giving it a classic, foreign feel. In addition to the animated stu dent works, two student-made doc umentaries will be shown. Profes sor Ken O’Connell joked that the title may be outdated. “Maybe next year we’ll call it the ‘Motion Media Meltdown,”’ he said. Memory in motion This joke points out a deception caused by titles. Though Animation Explosion is in its fourth year, the University has held showings of stu dent work since 1957. The tradition of motion media was started at the University by retired professor David Foster, one of O’Connell’s former teachers. To remember the legacy be hind the art department’s achieve ments, the Animation Explosion fea tures one historical work each year. This year, O’Connell takes the stage with his 1984 computer animation “Chips in Space.” This is in homage to O’Connell’s legacy. He is retiring this year after 23 years at the University. During his time as a student, he learned from Foster arid was shaped by that man’s artistic vision and dedication. When first trying to incorporate film and photography into the art department in 1951, the conflicting sentiment of the faculty was that they were commercial media. “I spent a lot of time convincing the faculty that this is not commer cial.” Foster said. “Communication is not commercial.” Because of the reluctance to change, Foster built up the program largely by himself. O’Connell remem bers a time in the ’70s when Foster took a secopd jnortgage on his house Adam Amato Emerald Senior Desi Ramsey builds a family of worms for her film, which is not yet titled, about the life of a worm. It can be viewed at the Animation Explosion on June 7 and 8. to buy equipment for the students. This dedication comes from Fos ter’s fundamental love of learning and communication. Foster gradu ated from a Bauhaus art school in Chicago, where he was taught that form follows function. In teaching University students new technolo gies and processes, the focus was always on using media as tools to express a message. The art of organizing the material and conveying the thought is more important than the physical presentation. David Foster retired professor “The art of organizing the mate rial and conveying the thought is more important than the physical presentation,” Foster said. But Foster knows that it is easy to shift the focus away from communi cation when the goal becomes to cre ate a product. This is why he comes back to see the Animation Explo sion. “I want to see what they’re do ing,” he said. “But I look at it not to be entertained — I look at it to see how my friend Ken is doing.” Maintaining the message As a returning student, Terry pro vides perspective on the two pro fessors, having received instruction from both of them. He studied un der Foster in 1978 for a year and re turned last fall under O’Connell. But despite the gap in time, he feels that the vision is intact. “There is no question that com munication is what it is all about,” he said. “At the U of O, the empha sis will always be on the message and the theory.” But though students may think they are communicating effective ly, unbiased outsiders may dis agree. O’Connell said that learning how audiences respond to the work is another primary function of the Animation Explosion. Falbo remembers the response to last year’s event. “We had more people than we should have,” he said. “It was standing room only. I couldn’t get back in after the inter mission.” Learning from the experience, Falbo spread the event over two nights. Each two-hour program will begin at 7 p.m. and feature different works. This not only allows more student work to be shown, but also allows more people to see it. And the more people who see the work, the more the students’ art will be appreciated. “Art is not a gift,” Falbo said. “You make it a gift by the energy and effort you put into it.” Judging by Terry’s example, the students learned this fact from the time they labored over their proj ects. And while the impressive pieces represent the best work from what O’Connell claims is the best animation program in the North west, the goal is still the communi cation of ideas. ‘American Pie 2’ Release date August 10 ★★★★☆ The original cast of the old gang is back, and the scene is the sum mer after their first year of college. They’re back to share stories of crazy sexual endeavors and to start some new ones, no doubt. If this summer was anything like their senior year, there will be quite a few new experiences in the never ending quest for sex. But since they all lost their virginity in the first movie, what will their next quest be? More sex? Bisexual expe riences? Banana cream pie? 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