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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 2007)
Clackamas Print Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2007 Art^Entertainment J Ghost Rider, Texas Ranger David Stark The Clackamas Print News briefs: Nintendo, BBC nndAmazon.com This week, in the inter- st of getting the D-Pad staff back to its roots, I thought I’d look at what’s going on in the jews surrounding the gaming world. First, in what’s probably lie funniest news bit I’ve read ha while, it turns out that the |®C World News has fig ured out an even easier way if getting their hands on the tssociated Press news wire, luser over at the Gameworld Network site sent them a photo of a BBC broadcast A the Nintendo Wii news .fennel open on a TV in the tackground. That’s right: the SBC. one of the largest news outlets on the planet, is gett ing their news from their Nintendo, I can’t wait until fey do a news piece on how you can use the Wii’s Web browser to Google pom in your living room. In other news (I’ve always ranted to say that), Sony con- taes to be a bigger laughing stock of the gaming com munity than Paul Anderson -that British director who ceps screwing up video same movies - and their lat- st sales numbers at Amazon ave proven that horsepower leans nothing. As it turns out, the Super iintendo — the very same .(¡-bit console from last fcade - is ranked number 18 on Amazon’s recent top IOO best-selling video game- elated items list, where the S3 is ringing in at number 3. Sony isn’t die only one siting slapped by consum ís, though, as the original ray Nintendo 64 controller ¡outselling Microsoft’s HD- )VD drive for the 360, but «barely. Finally, the folks over at Same Informer (GI) are insist- ig that they have a price and native date for the rumored lack, HDMI-capable X-box (0 with a bigger hard drive, s supposed price will be ght around $479, and it’s ipposed to be out by May but GI won’t reveal their tunees, which is making a w people - including me just a bit skeptical. May is uly a couple months away, >1 guess we’ll find out if I’m áng to be cancelling my GI Ascription soon enough. Now, a quick announce- ent: The D-Pad staff has egun to grow again, and ens are.in the works to get n still-bom site finally up k running. We should be tie to launch in a couple onths, but for now, I’m dung for content ideas, and Hove some feedback on hat kind of stuff we should !d to the site such as a forum, mies, podcasts, news blog, t.Any ideas from our three aders would be great Nicholas Cage sold his soul to the devil for an entertaining movie. That’s what happens in the movie adaptation of Marvel Comics’ Ghost Rider. When Texas stunt-rider Johnny Blaze (Cage) finds out that his father has come down with cancer, he’s willing to do anything to help him. That’s when Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda) finds him and makes a deal; Johnny’s dad will be cured, and Johnny will become the devil’s “rider” sometime in the future. Old Scratch calls in the favor when he needs to recover a contract worth a thousand sinners’ souls. The latter half of the movie sees a reunion with Blaze’s old girlfriend (Eva Mendes), a grave-keeping mentor (Sam Elliott) and a series of fights with Mephistopheles’ rebellious son, Blackheart (Wes Bentley), who is also after the contract. Cage does a good, and more than often over-the-top, job as the morally-confused Blaze, and Mendes does an adequate job as Roxanne Simpson — but Peter Fonda’s performance is wicked and won derful. But unfor tunately, Bentley’s performance is con fusing as hell; half the time I didn’t know whether he was supposed to be scary or funny. The script is, well, better than most superhero movies. The lines and actors never break character and are done well, excepting the afore mentioned Bentley Internet Photo problem. Johnny Blaze (Nicholas Cage) rides with his predecessor, dubbed the Western What sets the Ghost Rider (Sam Elliott), in the latest Marvel comic film Ghost Rider. film apart from other films featur But sadly, the film doesn’t quite Hero with a flaming skull, vil ing gothic heroes are the remarkable visual effects. measure up. It seemed confused lainous son of Satan; what part of The effects when Cage first trans about whether or not it was going that equation doesn’t equal horror film? forms into Ghost Rider are partic to be an action or a horror film. However, my biggest question In the end, it decided to be ularly impressive; the flesh burn ing off of his skull is perhaps the an action flick, but not a very about the movie is: Why would a best done of the movie - although good one. And honestly, using the would-have-been excellent sum the motorcycle deserves no small source material, Ghost Rider covid mer action flick come out two have been an excellent horror film. days after Valentine’s Day? mention, either. ‘The Italian’ captures audience, opens eyes Ott Tammik The Clackamas Print ‘Italian ’raises eye brows at the Portland International Film Fest Past the glorious streets of Tsarist St Petersburg, and past still the crum bling, gray cinderblock of Sovietproj ects, is a place unknown to outsiders. This land seems to lose itself from the world’s eye into the swallowing countryside fog. “This is real Russia,” said the Italian. In a place of broken lives and bleak futures, Director Andrei Kravchuk’s The Italian explores how bedtime stories and candy still find a place in the harsh reality of a post- Soviet orphanage. Kravchuk touches the viewer without ever selling out the film’s integrity, but unfortunately, tiie plot is not nearly as intriguing as the initial setting. The movie’s strengths lie in the portrayal of northern Russia’s austere climate, and a fascinating hierarchy of rich personalities. Set in a run down building, headed by an inept alcoholic, the impoverished orphan age collaborates with the control ling Madam (Maria Kuznetsova), who traffics the children to Western European families. Vanya (Kolya Spiridonov) is a cute, but often deceptive, six-year- old who finds himself the envy of the orphanage when he is chosen to be adopted by an Italian couple. However, when Vanya meets the devastated mother of another recent adoptee, he becomes obsessed with his lost mother and runs away to find her. The children grow up around the uncensored realities of alcohol, theft and prostitution. Their fetes are reflected by the older orphans, who live a defeatist lifestyle in the mysteri ous boiler room. Kravchuk casts a darker tone on the everyday life of the orphanage. As an older girl reads Winnie the Pooh to the children before bedtime, one orphan whispers to another, “There are good foreigners and bad foreigners. The bad ones take kids for parts.” Although The Italian is themati cally intense, the whole movie has a subtle quality to it, and the director gives us a sense of hope between the contrasting nature of childhood inno cence and the premature exposure to the dark realities of life. In a struggle for survival, the relationships and motives blur the lines between good and evil in a vaguely romanticized but otherwise realist view. The Italian is never spoiled for cheap audience approval, but the plot gets carried away. Vanya’s quest to find his mother becomes a surfeited chase, which adds little to the story. The director takes the easy way out, seeing too much necessity in creating a grandiose plot There is an excess of Home Alone-$y\e tricks, and by the end of the movie, the viewer wonders if The Kid’s Bruce Willis is going to pop up from around the next comer. Nevertheless, The Italian is an eye-opening movie, and I would not be surprised if it joins the classics of Russian film. THE REASONS WHY... ■ BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ANTHROPOLOGY ■ BACHELOR OF ARTS IN HUMAN STUDIES ■ BACHELOR OF ARTS IN PSYCHOLOGY ■ BACHELOR OF ARTS IN SOCIOLOGY ■ Professional Certificate in GERONTOLOGY YEAR-ROUND ADMISSION ■ SCHOLARSHIPS FOR TRANSFER STUDENTS ■ FLEXIBLE SCHEDULING ■ SEMINAR-STYLE CLASSES To meet with an advisor, e-mail studentinfo@marylhurst.edu or call 503.699.6268. ★ US News & World Report BEST COLLEGES 2007 "Number one in the Northwest for small classes" MARYLHURST UNIVERSITY JUST 10 MINUTES SOUTH OF PORTLAND Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities accredited hdpad@gmail.com Internet Photo A scene from Andrei Kravchuk’s The Italian, which was shown at the Portland International Film Festival earlier this month. 17600 PACIFIC HIGHWAY (HWY. 43) MARYLHURST, OREGON Serving students since 1893. www.marylhurst.edu 800.634.9982
