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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 30, 2002)
Tuesday, July 30,2002 Courtesty photo Mike Meyers, starring as the mojo-driven Austin Powers—and many other characters—takes box office ‘gold’ this past weekend in Austin Powers in Goldmember.’ HE’S GIT THE GOLDEN’ TOUCH MOVIE REVIEW The third Austin Powers movie has to stand as some kind of monument to running gags. There are jokes in “Austin Powers in Goldmember” that the series has used, in some form or another, since the first film. The filmmakers seem to feel the need to use every variation on a joke possible, milking them for all they’re worth. The plot itself is absolutely irrelevant to anything and exists only to hang the jokes on. For example, the film opens with an overdone action sequence that takes a well-deserved rip at “Mission: Impossible 2,” goes through a slew of very funny celebrity cameos, and then moves onto a faux Hollywood dance number cumulating with Britney Spears’ head exploding (this alone is worth half the admission price). All of this has little to do with the rest of the film, and all of it happens during the open ing credit sequence. As it is hard to top the death of Britney Spears, the film moves downhill from there. It gets stuck in repeating itself, and many of the characters are tiresome retreads of what they were in the first two films. Fat Bastard and Dr. Evil have outworn their welcome. It’s strange that the series has become so much like the Bond series it so gleefully mocks, in that the hero remains consistently the same person from film to film and the real surprises come from new characters. The addition of Michael Caine and Beyonce Knowles, from Destiny’s Child, are the film’s saving grace. Caine is especially worth seeing as Austin’s father, and he steals al most any scene he’s in, which is quite a feat in a movie with this assortment of characters. Caine has some of the film’s best lines, and they work sim ply because of his comic timing: “There are two things I can’t Turn to Groovy, page 6 Ani DiFranco ventures into filmmaking Along with co-director Hilary Goldberg, the singer has created a film, titled ‘Render,’ which looks at her personal, professional life By Aaron Shakra for the Emerald Ani DiFranco. Since 1990, she’s re leased 15 albums (two of which are double records) while constantly tour ing throughout the world. Now, she makes a foray into documentary film making with the release of “Render,” appropriately subtitled “Spanning Time With Ani DiFranco.” Co-directed by Hilary Goldberg (she’s the one behind the camera), the two hour film alternates between footage of her most recent (2000-01) concert tour and a behind-the-scenes look at the singer, her band, her interests and her record label. Because the film was large ly shot on a digital camera, a “home made” aesthetic comes across. Yet this shouldn’t equate to unprofessional; the style adds rather endearingly to the sub ject matter. While Righteous Babe Records might be perceived as merely a vehicle for DiFranco’s own releases, the label hosts a whole slate of artists, many of whom make appearances throughout the Turn to DiFranco, page 6 Courtesy photo Music, comedy to look outfor “There will be other drugs. ” “Yeah, I know... but I really liked those ones. ” — Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke in “Tape ” I watched the movie “Tape” over the weekend, and it’s still ricocheting in my mind. Directed by Richard Lin klater, “Tape” is a clever, one-room drama about three people examining a dark secret from their senior year of high school, 10 years ago. Ethan Halwke is fantastic. Anyway, thanks to the “Tape” preoc cupation, all I have is a raw list of cool things to check out this week. Labor leaders, labor lovers and la bor-rights laborers can watch an enter taining piece of history come to life 8 p.m. Friday at the EMU Ballroom, as Ian Ruskin performs his one-man play, “From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks,” chronicling the life of West Coast labor luminary Harry Bridges. Bridges led San Francisco’s 1934 general strike, helped form the Inter national Longshore and Warehouse Union — arguably at the forefront of labor rights for almost 70 years — and was its president for 40 years. Bridges was known to be wickedly entertain ing, so expect a performance akin to Hal Holbrook por traying Mark Twain. And, it’s free. Doors open at 7:50 p.m., and the show starts at 8 p.m. On Friday, the WOW Hall (291 W. Eighth Ave.), KWVA Turn to Kleckner, page 6
