EXPRESSIONS
- Best of UNF Matt Coleman & Ross Brooks
- Double-feature too long by half Matt Coleman
- Movies on the House showcases films outside of the mainstream Amanda Davis
- Grad program furthers student education Nicole Veal
- Oddball Antics Mike Pinree
More than a mascot: Campus home to wild ospreys
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Contact Matt Coleman & Ross Brooks at features@unfspinnaker.com -- PERMALINK -- TOP OF PAGE
Double-feature too long by half
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Good: "Planet Terror" is a gory and mindless throwback to cheesy 70's
and 80's horror that succeeds in
its simplicity. |
Hollywood is all about playing it safe. Movies typically aren't greenlit until studios are positive their films are aimed at mainstream audiences and guaranteed to make bank.
With "Grindhouse," directors Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino completely eschew the common denominator and present a double-feature aimed solely at die-hard genre fans. The movie is designed as an homage to the gritty and grainy flicks that played at dilapidated theaters in a bygone cinematic era.
Comprised of "Planet Terror," a sensationalistic zombie movie from "Sin City" mastermind Robert Rodriguez, and "Death Proof," a love letter to
muscle cars by "Pulp Fiction" auteur Quentin Tarantino, the dual presentation is combined
with trailers for fake movies by other prominent
filmmakers.
The filmic throwback begins with "Planet Terror," where the mysteriously deadly El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez) and aspiring stand-up comedian Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan) take on an army of slobbering undead.
The movie succeeds in its utter simplicity, as the dialogue and character interactions come second to the carnage. There are plot holes in the film large enough to drive an oversized wrecker through, but that makes it all the more endearing.
"Planet Terror" utilizes all the conventions of the standard zombie film and implements them to hilariously gory effect. Any student of the genre will immediately recognize nods to films like "Zombi," and "Dawn of the Dead."
While it might reference other works, the film stands on its own as a self-contained feature because of the complete visual absurdity. Rodriguez shoots the film with sequences of bloody panache, and exploding craniums and melting torsos abound.
The most ridiculous moment comes toward the end of the film, when newly legless Cherry Darling gets equipped with an upgrade in the form of a machine gun limb. Rational audience members might wonder how a gun attached to a leg could be fired without squeezing the trigger and Rodriguez rightfully leaves the question answered.
After the B-movie glory of "Planet Terror," the double-feature veers sharply off-course with Tarantino's "Death Proof." The film is an uneven
mix of high-octane chase scenes and painfully unnecessary dialogue.
Harkening back to carsploitation fare like "Vanishing Point" and "The Driver," the main draw of the segment is the automobiles. Tarantino creates some of the most memorable crashes in recent memory when he lets the rubber meet the road and metal meet metal.
Despite these positives, Tarantino's offering creeps along at a lethargic pace thanks to his emphasis on ancillary dialogue. After sitting through an entire feature length movie, audiences may grow restless waiting for "Death Proof"
to begin.
More than half of the film is made up of seemingly endless banter that serves no purpose other than alienating viewers. He may have a unique style of writing dialogue, but the film has an infuriatingly self-congratulatory stench about it.
As an homage to vintage cinema, "Grindhouse" succeeds more than it fails. The unfortunate thing about the double-feature is that audiences will likely leave with a bitter taste in their mouths due to Tarantino's self-deifying exercise in futility.
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Movies on the House showcases films outside of the mainstream
As if the lure of free popcorn wasn't enough, Movies on the House provides University of North Florida students with a chance to enjoy free films.
Held every other Thursday at the Regal Beach Boulevard 18, Movies on the House shows films which have not had a wide release in the area, according to Dr. Jason Mauro, head of the program. Mauro said the series consists of some art films and some more widely known pieces to mix things up.
Z.J. Khan, a junior history major at UNF, has attended many of the films. He said the series is beneficial because, "It allows people to see films that haven't had wide or any release at all."
Khan said seeing some of the foreign films could help broaden the audience's cultural horizons.
"Each film has its own merit, they're all worth viewing,"
he said.
According to Mauro, Movies on the House began six years ago when UNF's Interim President E.K. Fretwell wanted to form a community around film and set up a budget for the program.
Mauro said film should be seen as "an art form that needs a large format with all the accoutrements of a theatre."
He said the rapid availability of take home DVDs is taking away from the ideal of film.
Mauro also stated social function as an essential part of film. The series has a popular following, with more than 120 people attending each showing.
Because of the program's popularity, President John Delaney has expressed a need to house the program on campus, Mauro said. The Regal Entertainment Group has donated surround-sound equipment and a projector, which will be used in the newly updated Robinson Theatre.
Mauro said they expected to be showing films in the theater last fall, but because of obstacles they have not been able to move the series yet.
"Hopefully we'll be able
to show a couple by the end of this term," he said. "Then it won't be limited to UNF, we can open the series up to the Jacksonville community and realize Fretwell's vision of community film literacy."
This Thursday, Movies on the House will be showing the
critically acclaimed Children
of Men and the lesser-known Little Children. Both films begin at 7 p.m.
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Grad program furthers student education
Ana Linares is not a typical college student. Secure in her job, Linares is a coordinator for the University of North Florida's Intercultural Center for Peace, a group that promotes cultural diversity and sponsors more than 25 educational events yearly. But she wants more from her life.
She chose to pursue a doctoral degree in educational leadership at UNF, knowing the management skills learned from the graduate program would help enhance her job confidence.
"I honestly think that knowledge is your best
ally to function adequately in today's world,"
Linares said.
Linares is not alone in her desire to further her education. More than 1,400 students are currently enrolled in the UNF graduate program for the Spring 2007 semester, according to data from the Board of Governors State University System
of Florida.
The UNF graduate school offers 28 master's programs from the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Education and Human Services, Coggin College of Business, Brooks College of Health and the College of Computing, Engineering and Construction. The graduate school offers one doctoral program in educational leadership from the Brooks College of Health.
Keith Martin, assistant director of the graduate school, recommends students choose a career path before applying to graduate school.
After selecting a program of study, students must then research the requirements for acceptance to a program.
One prerequisite of the UNF graduate school is the completion of a placement test. According
to Martin, acceptance for degrees
in the social sciences, humanities, engineering, education and health fields require students
complete the Graduate Records Examination (GRE).
Students applying to the Coggin College of Business are required to complete the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT).
"There is a whole alphabetical soup out there
of different tests," Martin said. "It all depends on
what kind of discipline and what kind of
program students pursue."
The selection process for attending graduate school is flexible, however. According to Martin, many colleges have a sliding scale, granting acceptance to students who have done well on their examinations but have a lower GPA.
Students applying to the UNF graduate school are also required to submit an application and an application fee. This application can be completed online with a fee of $20 or by mail with a fee of $30.
Students applying to the graduate school must also submit one official copy of their transcript, showing completion of a bachelor's degree.
Linares said her participation in the UNF graduate school has helped develop her passion for championing diversity.
She was recently named one of four UNF Graduate Scholars and received a cash award to help further her dissertation on factors affecting Hispanic college students. As a Hispanic woman, Linares is interested in encouraging students of all ethnicities to further their education.
"The knowledge acquired in graduate school has helped me significantly," Linares said. "It has enhanced my confidence in my potential to accomplish what I set out to do."
Contact Nicole Veal at uspinnak@unf.edu -- PERMALINK -- TOP OF PAGE
Oddball Antics
PANTIES JUST MAKE ME FEEL SO HAPPY
A man was arrested for stealing women's underwear from the laundry rooms of apartment complexes in Pullman, Wash. Police say they recovered more than 100 pounds of bras and panties from the man's home and car.
He told detectives that he "had an addiction that he could not break."
WHAT BETTER WAY TO SHOW HER YOU LOVE HER?
A woman broke her boyfriend's heart when she moved from Prijedor to Mostar in Bosnia and took a job as a waitress. In an effort to get her to come back home, he told her that Mostar was a dangerous place, and set off five bombs in less than a week near her restaurant to prove his point.
It worked. She has moved back home and has
said that she will marry him when he gets out
of jail next year.
HEY CHIEF, I THINK WE'VE GOT A PRETTY GOOD CLUE HERE
A group of young burglars broke into some condominiums in Orange County, Fla., then later videotaped themselves with the stolen property. But, a few days later, they stole a car and left the incriminating video in the vehicle when they abandoned it.
I'M AS SURPRISED AS YOU ARE, OFFICER
Police in Athens, Tenn., caught a woman dragging a small safe down the road. She told them that she stole it from her boyfriend who came down to the police station and foolishly opened it up.
The cops looked inside and found two pistols with the serial numbers filed off and eight grams of crack cocaine. They arrested him.
SHE'S DEAD? PERHAPS I WAS MISTAKEN
A judge in Australia was charged with speeding after his car was tracked by a radar camera. In court, he said he had loaned the vehicle to a woman friend from America.
The story fell apart when it was discovered that the woman had died three years earlier.
OK, NOW CLICK ON `ALIBIS'
After meeting a woman online, a man came to her Norwich, Conn., home and stayed for several days. He spent a great deal of time on her computer before asking to borrow her car. Then he went out and robbed a bank.
A few days after he left, the woman recognized him from a bank surveillance tape, Police examined her computer and found he had done a search for "how to rob a bank."
THEY SENSED A PATTERN WAS EMERGING
A man came into a restaurant in Bloomington, Ind., on a Wednesday ordered two gin and tonics and a rib-eye steak, then walked out without paying. The following Wednesday he came back and did it again. The following Wednesday, same thing. Finally, when he tried it a fifth time, the employees were prepared and were waiting for him outside when he tried to flee.
COME ON, I JUST WANT TO TALK ... KA-BLAM!
A man went to the daycare center in Orlando, Fla., where his ex-girlfriend works to air out some sort of grievance he had with her. When employees refused to buzz him in, he got a gun and fired four shots at the windows.
Fortunately, the center had the foresight to have installed bulletproof glass. Unfortunately for
the shooter, the whole thing was captured
on videotape.
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