1997_11 The Daily Collegian November 1997

              THE DAILY
COLLEGIAN
Friday, November 14,1997
WEEK
Bits &
Pieces
with David Childers
The rumor mill:   Consider
this a public service announce¬
ment: be weary of any informa¬
tion you receive about the iden-
tit> of rock stars. 1 only bring it
up because the following three
ABSOLUTELY. POSITIVELY.
UNTRUE rumors are gaining
s popularity again.
Freak,   yes.   Actor,   no:
Marilyn Manson is NOT the guy
from Mr. Belvedere. That rumor
was started by a disc jockey in
Seattle, and it spread like wild¬
fire. More on Marilyn in a minute.
Ice, Ice Baby: The lead singer
from Sugar Ray is NOT Vanilla
Ice. But at least he has had some
public fun with the rumor. Now.
Sugar Ray often plays "Ice, Ice
Baby" as part of their regular live
No Wonder: And. lastly. Billy
Corgan from the Smashing
Pumpkins is not the kid from
"Small Wonder," that lame show
that we all used to watch on Chan¬
nel 26.
Ozzy: One ofthe original bad
boys of rock and roll, Ozzy
Osbourne, recently did an inter¬
view on the KRZR morning show'
with Chris Daniel. The best thing
about the interview, other than the
approximately 55 utterances of
. "s—," was* when Ozzy said that
Marilyn Manson was "a girl try¬
ing way too hard" to be a rock
star. ■
Coming Monday: I almost
forgot - for those of you who care,
Primus is playing in Fresno dn
Monday. Sorry,T forgot that there
weren't any of you out there who
did. Trust me. you would be bet¬
ter off at the basketball game.
Super Saturday: Imagine
this - not only do you get to catch
an afternoon football game on
Saturday (and you WILL be
there), but as an added bonus the
university has thrown in a free
. race riot with the KKK afterward
free of charge.
On assignment: Spotted at
the KMPH screening of "The
Little Mermaid" - Venus
Strbmberg and Bill Bird of the
Channel 26 news department (if
you want to call it that).
Best reason to believe in the
future of rock: Matchbox 20. As
if "Push" was* not the bomb by
itself, their latest radio release "3
A.M." might be even better. That
is a heckuva one-two combo.
David Childers is a liberal
arts major arid The Daily
Collegian 's entertainment guru.
You    can    e-mail    him    at
dchild@psnw. com
Stand' cast fails to make the grade
By David Childers
The Daily Collegian
If "One Night Stand" doesnoth-
ing else, it shows us once again that
you can take Wesley Snipes out of
'Passenger-57". but you can't take
the "Passcnger-57" out of Wesley
Snipes.
It's nothing against Snipes per¬
sonally, there is^iot an actor or con¬
glomerate of actors on the planet
that could save this dreadful show¬
ing, it is simply a matter of annoy¬
ing type casting.
Even when playing a supposedly
serious, cerebral and sensitive role
in "One Night Stand," Snipes still
finds time to ward off two armed,
would-be muggers in the streets of
New York.
Sound corny? Sound stereotypi¬
cal? Sound annoying?
Well, it sounds like "One Night
Stand." And there is plenty of an¬
noyance where that came from.
After recently mesmerizing crit¬
ics with "Leaving Las Vegas,"
writer and director Mike Figgis
manages to disgust, frustrate and
confuse the audience with his fol¬
low up effort.
There is so much wrong witfi the
film that one wonders what was
right and what persuaded anybody
to put it in viewable form. There arc
holes in the story, an abundance of
unbelievable coincidences, distract¬
ing and misplaced music and a cast
of middle-level Hollywood suc¬
cesses that do nothing to improve
their reputations whatsoever.
With so many issues going on
all at once, Figgis effectively tries
to make a novel of Melville propor-
One I ^-
Night j §
Stand
Rated R
Starring: Wesley
Snipes, Nastassja
Kinski, Kyle Maclachlan
Directed by: Mike
Figgis
Screenplay by: Mike
Figgis
tions fit into one Sunday morning
newspaper comic strip.
What attempts to be a prolonged
look into the mental struggles of
Max Carlylc (Snipes)ends up more
like a cheap four-frame snapshot of
his life. The promises of a real in¬
tellectual journey arc never brought
to fruition.
The main culprit in the matter is
the screenplay. Carlyle has to come
to grips with the impending death
of a former lover, face his wife and
children after having an affair.sort
through his wife having an affair,
try to kick his smoking habit, and
basically try to figure out where he
stands in life in general and what
he wants out of it.
Granted, one episode of Melrose
Place could probably do the trick,
but in the constraints of cinema this
is far too much to accomplish. And
the final product reaffirms as much.
Courtesy Photo
Wesley Snipes stars as Max in the drama, "One Night Stand."
with none ofthe story lines getting
its proper attention.
Adding further to the complica¬
tions, the former lover of Carlyle's
who is dying is not a woman but a
homosexual named Charlie (Rob¬
ert Downey, Jr.) who Carlylc appar¬
ently had a heated one night stand
with years earlier.
On a trip to New York to visit
Charlie, Carlylc has another one
night stand with a mysterious
woman named Karen (Nastassja
Kinski). This provides the worst of
many bad moments in the film
when Carlyle and Karen play
sexual innuendo- fpt wh"at seems-
like an eternity before what every¬
body knows is going to happen fi¬
nally does.
Then, by some incredible stroke
of coincidence - commonly known
as "bad movie syndrome" - Karen
ends up being the wife of Charlie's
brother Vernon (Kyle MacLachlan I
The conclusion makes an at
tempt at being shocking, albeit un
successful Carlylc never seems to
figure out if he is gay or straight,
happy or unhappy, faithful or un¬
faithful, or just easily aroused.
As a viewer, you never seem to
figure out where the film went nr
where it went wrong. And. by this
time, you probably don't care. You
are so tired of the gratuitous sc\
scenes, crowded story line, and
pointless waste of your time and
money that all you want is for the
n>ova<6^Hd. ~ ~     -•«*.'
That, and - just once - to see
Snipes actually get mugged or hi
jacked like a normal person. Or. in
the context of this movie, for him
to just take a cold shower and get
some therapy.
Ex-sitcom star gets ready for 'major'success
By Ian Spelling
College Press Service
NEW YORK-Marisa Ryan races
into a Manhattan bakery huffing,
puffing and apologizing profusely.
She's a half-hour late for this inter¬
view and, doffing her coat, whip¬
ping her long blonde hair off her
face and settling in, Ryan explains
away her tardiness so convincingly
- something about a pesky banking
card and a 16-block walk - that it's
easy to forgive her.
Now, you're probably thinking
one of two things: "Marisa Ryan.
The name rings a bell," or "Who
the hell is Marisa Ryan?"
vEither way, Ryan's well worth
remembering. She's a 22-year-old
actress, born and bred in New York
City. Thpugh best known for her
five-yearstint as Gerald McRaney's
daughter on "Major Dad," Ryan has
been working at a breakneck pace
on indie features. "Love Always,"
with Moon Zappa, enjoyed a brief
theatrical run earlier this fall and
now there's "Slaves to the Under¬
ground," the main reason for this
chat with the energetic Ryan.
"Slaves" casts Ryan as Suzy,
lead singer of an all-girl Seattle
punk rock band on the verge of
major label discovery. Problems
arise, however, when Shelly (Molly
Gross), Suzy's girlfriend and fellow
band member, renews her relation¬
ship with her ex-boyfriend (Jason
Bortz). The film's an imperfect af¬
fair: a mix of solid acting ai.J ama¬
teur-hour emoting: hcavy-handed-
ness and genuine thought provoca¬
tion. But what else can one expect
from an ambitious production shot
in 17 days on a minuscule budget
of $120,000?
"The film definitely depicts an
anger that's in ———————
young people
today," Ryan
says as she
sips a cup of
coffee.    "It
taps       into
these    kids
who    don't
quite   know
what their op-
portunities
are, who are
kind of
backlashing .       >
against   the  ———^———-
culture their parents are from. Suzy
has this sense of rebellion, but she
doesn't know how to channel it
well."        #
"Slaves" presented Ryan with
several challenges. Not only did
director Kristine Peterson want her
to take it all off for several nude
love_scenes with Gross, but she de¬
cided .to use Ryan's real voice in
scenes depicting the band perform¬
ing. Which proved to be the more
difficult task?
"The nude scenes were
pretty uncomfortable, but
that was more in the
immediate sense. I'd have
to say the music was
harder. I'd sung before, but
mostly in musicals. I'd
never done punk rock
before."
A smile crosses Ryan's face.
"The nude scenes were pretty un¬
comfortable,*' she says. "But that
was more in the immediate sense.
,I'd have to say the music was
harder. I'd sung before, but mostly
in musicals. I'd never done punk
rock before. But what made it re¬
ally hard was thafwe had no time.
———-—■—— We shot the
movie with¬
out a day of
rehearsal.
They called
me on
Thanksgiving
day and
wanted me in
Seattle the
next day. It
was all very
rushed and
insane, but
Marisa Ryan kind of fun.
 f- too."
Ryan is appearing in several
other films ready for release.
There's "Don's Plum" with
Leonardo DiCaprio; "Delicatessen
Story," "Lunchtime Special;"
'Taylor's Return;" "Nobody's Chil¬
dren" and "With or Without You."
The actress smiles again. Some of
the films will sec the light of day,
she explains, and some won't.
"Don's Plum" is tied up in litiga¬
tion. "Delicatessen Story" will air
on HBO. And then there's "With or
Without You."
"That's the main one of those
films." Ryan says. "It's the best
iking I've been in. Wc did it at the
Sundance writer's and director's
lab. Kathy Bates co-produced it and
it may get released. I play this hard¬
ened, trashy Minneapolis girl. She's
in an abusive relationship and
abuses this other guy because of
that. She ends up getting pregnant,
has the baby and gives it up for
adoption. She goes through the
most amazing changes I've ever
seen in a character."
With films coming one after the
other, the last thing Ryan planned
was return to TV, especially a se¬
ries. Yet, in a few moments a Team¬
ster in a minivan will arrive to
whisk her to the set of FOX's "New
York Undercover." And guess.
what? Ryan's a regular on the se¬
ries.
"My doing 'New York Under¬
cover' is so random," Ryan says,
laughing. "They called and it just
worked out. I play Nell Delaney,
who's based on Jodie Foster's 'Si¬
lence ofthe Lambs' character. She's
an Irish cop from Queens who lied
to get on the force. So I'm playing
my age and getting to film all over
New York. It scares me to be on a
series. I already miss films, but
we'll have breaks and I'll squeeze
in whatever I can during those
breaks."
'
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