Entertainment Editor:
Jeremy king
jIang@gladstone.uoregon.edu
Oregon Daily Emerald
Promo Photo of the Week
Robin Hood evades the Sheriff of
Nottingham’s henchmen in this week’s
prize photo. Page 8
CHEAP THRILLS
Whether the time comes
around to nurse a sunburn
or simply be antisocial, the
local video store is a prime
option for whisking away the sum
mertime blues. But not every movie
seems as grand during the summer
months. “Fargo” just doesn’t have
the same punch when you’re
sweating in your house downing
lemonade to try to beat the heat. On
the other hand, some movies just
have more flavor during this time of
the year, so the Emerald staff mem
bers have picked their favorite sum
mer flicks.
‘Goodfellas’
Jeremy Lang, associate editor
The American Movie Classics
channel has been showing “The
Godfather” trilogy all day to com
memorate the Fourth of July, but a
true summertime classic came 18
years later with Martin Scorsese’s
"Goodfellas.”
Summer, especially in Eugene,
can be pretty slow. Usually, the sum
mer days and nights are slow in a
nice, relaxed, good sort of way. But
right from the opening scenes,
“Goodfellas” takes people into the
fast-paced, hot New York City bor
ough neighborhood life in the 1950s.
Maybe I’m just a sucker for some
good nostalgia, but the games of
baseball in the streets and the sound
- -
track with great summer times from
the 1940s and 1950s add up to a
great summer experience.
“Goodfellas” is also one of the
best screenplays ever committed to
film, so it's a great movie for any
time of the year. But there’s some
thing about coming home after a
long day outside that makes it just
feel good to sit down with a drink
and watch Ray Liotta, Robert De
Niro and Joe Pesci truly at the top of
their games.
‘Army of Darkness’
Darren Freeman, reporter
Every summer I get dumb. I leave
school, work for pennies and take a
lot of naps.
When I wander into a video
store, what I’m looking for is a
movie with loads of gore, swearing
and catchy one-liners — a movie
that allows me to shout out the
lines in a dumb frenzy I haven’t ex
perienced since those great kinder
garten “The Wheels on the Bus”
sing-a-longs.
Typically, that movie is “Army of
Darkness.”
The main character, named Ash,
is a crass and arrogant man who is
whisked, by some sort of time
warp, from his humdrum life as a
housewares salesman to a horrible
medieval Europe.
Armed with only his shotgun, a
chainsaw and a brutish temper,
1 ----- -’1
Ash must fight belching
skeletons, biting books, jj
trash-taking witches 1
and even Lilliputian E
Ashes. His only goals: I
to find a way home and
to blow up a lot of stuff.
After watching this
cult classic half a dozen
times, you’ll befriend
and impress important
and cultured people
when you use some of
Ash’s most colorful
phrases, such as: “Yo,
she-bitch! Let’s go!” or “You ain't
leading but two things right now:
Jack and Shit. And Jack just left
town.”
‘Jaws’
Carol Rink, online editor
Nothing says summer like a few
good shark attacks, a resort town
uprooted in terror and an epic at
tempt by three men stop the great
white monster.
I’m talking about the 1975 action
packed thriller “Jaws” — one of
those movies that makes your heart
beat with fear as you watch helpless
victims fall prey to a giant shark and
even freaks you out at the thought of
swimming in the ocean again.
Sure, it has its “campy” mo
ments, but the most impressive
element of the movie is the way
director Steven Spielberg devel
ops all the characters into human
beings we get to know and carp
about. You feel for police chief
Martin Brody (Roy Scheider),
who comes to the resort town of
Amity to escape the dangers of
being a New York City cop, but
gets more than he bargained for.
You cheer on Quint (Robert
Shaw), the weathered mariner, as
he sets out to sea in his old, leaky
boat to kill the shark. And you
pray for Hooper (Richard Drey
fuss), the shark expert and
oceanographer who knows the
immediate danger of the great
white, but offers his help and
jumps in the water anyway.
If you want to enjoy an instant ar
tifact of commercial folklore,
“Jaws” is the movie for you this
summer. Plus, who can say no to
that menacing music every time the
terrorizing shark is near?
‘Armageddon’
Kara Cogswell, reporter
Nothing says summer like the
end of the world.
Or at least that’s what Holly
wood movie producers seem to
think, judging from the release of
summer doomsday flicks such as
“Deep Impact”
or this sum
mer’s “AI:
Artificial In
telligence.”
Ordinari
ly, I’m not a
big fan of
these types of
movies, but
there is one
exception —
“Armaged
don."
Bruce Willis
and hunky Ben
Affleck star as
members of a
roughneck oil
drill crew
charged with
saving the world
from the in
JAWS
evitable destruction of an ap
proaching meteor.
Along the way to saving the
world, Affleck’s character also falls
in love with the crew leader’s
daughter, played by Liv Tyler.
While it may not be the most re
alistic — or original — story line,
between the eye candy provided
by Ben Affleck in an orange jump
suit and the tear-jerker ending
when Willis gives up his life for
the good of the human race, it does
manage to be entertaining.
And after all, mindless entertain
ment is what summer movie viewing
is all about.
ARMY OF DARKNESS
■ Mike Doughty rolls into town
Sunday, while Ani DiFranco
swings through Monday
By Chris Ryan
for the Emerald
Two top-name independent solo
artists will arrive in Eugene for
shows this weekend.
Ex-Soul Coughing leader Mike
Doughty will appear at Taylor’s Bar
and Grille Sunday, and singer/song
writer Ani DiFranco will come to the
Cuthbert Amphitheater Monday.
Since she first began performing
as a solo artist 10 years ago, DiFran
co has built a rabid fan base through
extensive touring.
Her show in Eugene on Sunday is
part of a two-week tour of the west
ern United States. She will also ap
pear at the Arlene SchnitzerConcert
Hall in Portland on July 14.
DiFranco, 30, is touring to pro
mote her new double album, “Rev
elling/Reckoning.” Released in
Apri 1 and more than two hours long,
the album’s two discs feature both
upbeat songs and acoustic guitar bal
lads.
At recent shows, DiFranco has per
formed many songs from “Revel
ling/Reckoning,” as well as a selec
tion of her older material. She has
been playing the piano for some songs
at her concerts, but her main instru
ment is still the guitar, on which she
has a unique percussive style.
“She puts on a good show,” said
Sarah Fleming, a senior majoring in
sociology and women’s studies.
“She’s a great performer."
In 1989, DiFranco started her own
record label, Righteous Babe. She has
released 16 of her own albums on
Righteous Babe, including two with
spoken-word artist Utah Phi 1 lips. Her
solo albums include 1995’s “Not a
Pretty Girl” and 1997’s live double al
bum “Living in Clip.”
DiFranco’s Eugene appearance is
one in a series of concerts at the
Cuthbert this summer. The series
started earlier in the week with a
sold-out performance by Phil Lesh
and Friends. Darrel Kau, the pro
gramming manager for the Hult
Center, said there should be about
2,200 people at DiFranco’s concert,
which seats about 4,500.
“Shecomesinwith what she wants
to do, and her fans love it,” said Kau.
Doughty is still relatively new to
the title of solo artist. He began per
forming solo acoustic material after
his popular band, Soul Coughing,
broke up in March 2000 because of
creative differences.
Soul Coughing released three al
bums on Warner Bros. Records in
the mid-1990s. While 1994’s “Ruby
Vroom” earned the band critical ac
claim, 1996’s “Irresistible Bliss,”
featuring the single “Super Bon
Bon,” brought the band its first
commercial success.
Doughty began puttingtogetherhis
solo album, “Skittish,” while Soul
Coughing was still together. After the
band broke up, Doughty finished the
album, which is available at his Web
site, superspecialquestions.com.
The 31-year-old performer has al
ready achieved some success away
from Soul Coughing by lending his
vocals to electronicartist BT’shit sin
gle “Never Gonna Come Back
Down."He is appearing at clubs, bars
and colleges around the country,
playing songs from both Soul Cough
ing and his solo album. Doughty is
Mike Doughty appears at 10 p.m.
Sunday at Taylor’s.
Ani DiFranco appears at 8 p.m.
Monday at the Cuthbert
Amphitheater.
Tickets for both shows are available
at the EMU.
partial to improvisation in a live set
ting, often adding lines from other
artists’ songs to his own songs.
Bjorn Estlund, the talent bar pro
moter! Taylor’s, said he is excited to
bring a big-name artist to the bar,
which has a 200-person capacity.
“For a Sunday night in the sum
mertime, it's already selling really
well,’’ said Estlund, who estimated
the show would sell out.
Tickets for both shows are avail
able at the EMU Ticket Office.