12 | Over The Edge October 2, 1996

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Movie Review: Last Man Standing

Starring: Bruce Willis and Christopher Walken
Written and Directed by Walter Hill

reviewed by Vince Yim

Rated Restricted for
mucho violence, some
swearing, and suggestive
scenes.

Based on the original story
by Akira Kurasawa about a
lone Samurai in feudal Japan,
Last Man Standing is a story
about mercenary for hire
John Smith in Prohibition
Era, in the small town of
Jerhico, (the same time
period as The Untouchables,
for all you trivia buffs out
there). The end result is a
violent John Woo-esque
visual assault that appears
combines the elements of

Hard Boiled, The
Untouchables, and Resevoir
Dogs.

If you like action films with
guns blaring and bodies

flying, this film is for you.

Although it does tend to slow
down at some points in the
film, the action sequences

SoundCheck by Lauren Bacon

_ The Mike Flowers Pops
A Groovy Place
London Records

Do you sing along with
Muzak in the grocery store?
Are you happy that polyester
is making a comeback?
Suffice it to say that if you
secretly like cheese, you'll
get a kick out of this. Hard-
core lounge fans (if you can
picture that) seem to classify
Flowers as a poser, but |
think his ironic wit is
MARVY!

This is mostly composed of
cover tunes, including Oasis’
. Wonderwall, The Doors’

were wonderfully
choreographed. The John
Woo (dir: Hard Boiled,
Broken Arrow) influence
seems very prominent, as
John Smith uses two semi-
automatic pistols to kill the
bad guys and doesn’t seem to
reload all that often (in the
opening sequence of Hard
Boiled, the main character,
Tequila, uses two automatic
pistols to blast away at
villains, never gets shot, and
never has to reload). On top
of that, it has a body count at
par with Hard Boiled (I lost
count with both of them) that
you would need a clicker to
keep track of.

If you like a weil done story
with an in-depth narrative
and fresh and original
characters...you might wish
to look elsewhere. I can say
that I don’t go to see a film
like this for the plot, because
attempts to put a plot into an

Light My Fire and Prince’s
1999 (the latter is particularly
entertaining - Flowers inserts
a tr_s witty spoken
interlude), but there are a
couple of original tracks as
well. I normally run far, far
away from cover tunes, but
in this case they’re so
unrecognizable that I liked
them. Bj+rk’s Venus As A
Boy never sounded so good.
I urge any of you with closet
lounge sensibilities to grab a
pitcher of martinis and pop
with the pops.

Me’Shell Ndeg_ocello
Peace Beyond Passion

Rating: 8/10.

action film tend to be
fruitless. As much as the plot
exists within the film, it tends
to be rather cliched (many
eléments* =are*~ ‘better
downplayed elsewhere) and
many of the characters are
two-dimensional. Bruce
Willis’ John Smith tends to
be more of a knock-off of a
Clint Eastwood/Charles
Bronson portrayed merciless
killer with a heart of gold (the
character reminded me of a
cross between Mr. Blonde
from The Good, The Bad,
and the Ugly and the main
character in the Death Wish
movies). As much as I like
Bruce Willis as an actor (I
was blown away by the Die
Hard trilogy and really liked
his loser like character in
Death Becomes Her), the
character could’ve been
filled by just about anybody

(although he does do a good -

job here).

Maverick/Reprise

Me’Shell’s second album has
the same fabulous groove as
her first. This woman has
lyrics to make you sit up and
take notice, but by far her
most appealing quality is the
“old soul record” music that
sets the tone. The girl plays
bass, and she plays it strong.
As before, Ndeg_ocello
gives listeners a fairly
mellow set of tunes; this
album is full of slow, sexy
nighttime songs. Her voice is
low and soft - she might just
be the female equivalent of
Barry White... But none of

Some of the supporting
cast members were well
executed, if a tad cliched and
stereotyped. They helped
provide a bit more of a
human element to the film,
as well as some comic relief
from all of the guns blaring
and faces being smashed in.
These would include John
Smith’s sidekick (the motel
owner), the Sheriff, the
prostitute, and the undertaker
(who likes John Smith for the
business that he is providing
to him).

On the whole, this is an
entertaining movie, although
it seems that not a lot of
people thought so (critics and
fans alike). I liked this film a
lot, mostly due to the
beautifully (I don’t know if
that word is appropriate,
though) choreographed
action sequences and the
comic effect. However, I can
see where some people
wouldn’t like the film.

this is anything one could
qualify as easy listening. She
sings about religion, racism,
and homophobia, as well as
the love songs she does so
well.

The refreshing thing is that
her politics don’t interfere
with her music. She could
teach the Bruce Cockburns of
this world a lesson: if you
want people to listen to what
you have to say, put a great
bass lick behind it.

underworld

second toughest in the
infants

Junior Boy’s Own/BMG

Aside from being the album
for which “Born Slippy”
was taken ffor_ the
Trainspotting soundtrack,
here are other things to
recommend second
toughest... In fact the whole
album is excellent.

nderworld used to be this
(by all accounts) really
crappy band in the ’80s; then
hey hired a DJ and started
doing techno. What has
resulted is an interesting
combination of an amazing
DJ and a singer who comes
up with entreating lyrics
like, “outside your window
bootleg babies call to you
and lie among the
mosquitoes.” (There’s
another guy in the band, but
I have no idea what he does.

Second toughest... is a great
techno album. Any one who
still things that electronic
music means 2 Unlimited
should buy Underworld and
expand their mind. This stuff
is multilayered, hypnotic,
rhythmically complex and
well, yeah...If you must, go
ahead and dance to it.

there are other things to