February Events

By Gabrielle Wiegand - Feature Writer

February is such a magical month, filled with presidential birthdays, Valentine's Day, my birthday (okay, so that last one only makes February magical for me), and fun things to do in Springfield. 
Looking for something new and different to try?  On Thursday and Friday evenings, Dinner Theatre with Magic and Mayhem is at Two Olives and a Pepper (107 W. Cook St.).  I know the idea is a little cheesy, I have gone to a dinner theatre and it is not so bad.  Call (217) 241-1027 first to RSVP. 
Feb. 12 is a day to celebrate because a.) It is Abraham Lincoln's Birthday; b.) It is MY birthday and c.) At 7:30 p.m. B.B. King will be performing at the Sangamon Auditorium.  Tickets are $47.50 and $42.50.  Call (217) 206-6160 for tickets or further information. 
UIS' second annual performance of “The Vagina Monologues” will be in the Studio Theatre Feb. 17 and 18 at 8 p.m.  Tickets are $25.  Proceeds from this play, based on Eve Ensler's book, will go to benefit organizations that are working to end violence against women and girls in the Springfield area.  Call (217) 206-6160 for tickets or further information.
Thinking that you want to do more then just watch a play?  Auditions for UIS Theatre Department's production of “Hedda Gabler” are being held Feb. 19, 20 and 21 from 7-10 p.m. in the Studio Theatre.  The dates of the production are April 13-15 and 21-23.
Some fantastic ongoing events include the UIS Visual Art Gallery's show from Alexandra Pregel entitled “A Search for Self.”  It will be on display through Feb. 23.  The gallery's hours are Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Room 201 of the Health and Sciences Building.  Call (217) 206-6506 for further information.
 There is a lot of art going on this month.  Until Feb. 25 the Prairie Art Alliance will be hosting “Times Past,” a collection of works featuring Donal Smith and Roger DeWitt, at the Hoogland Center for the Arts (420 S. Sixth St.).  The gallery is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.  Call (217) 544-ARTS for more information.
At the Blue Door Gallery (627 E. Adams St), 43 artists are exhibiting work that includes jewelry, paintings, photography and etched glass.  The 43 artists include Sheila Caldwell Smith, Martha Wilday, Geno Cicciarelli and Sandra Finney. The gallery is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Maybe nature is more your thing then art, well the Illinois State Museum (502 S. Spring St.) has you covered with their exhibit on the nearly-extinct ivory-billed woodpecker.  I know the art is looking better and better every minute.  The exhibit is open Monday through Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 12 to 5 p.m.

Adversity leads to triumph in 'Roads'

By Gabrielle Wiegand - Feature Writer

For a college basketball team in the 1960s, the road to NCAA glory is paved with adversity and one super-hot coach.  “Glory Road” is the poignant, real life story of the Texas Western Miners’ journey to the 1966 national championship. 
Josh Lucas (“Sweet Home Alabama,” “Stealth”) plays high school girls basketball coach Don Haskins, who is hired to coach Texas Western’s pitiful team.  In a place where football is king and the only thing the basketball team has going for them is “Taco Night,” Haskins is determined to turn out a winning team. 
He doesn’t have the money to recruit white players so he scours the country to find the best talent he can afford.  What he finds is seven exceptional basketball players who happen to be black.   Haskins wants to teach his team to play basketball his way with a strong reliance on the fundamentals.  His players are reluctant to give up their unique style and flair that was forged in the playgrounds and gymnasiums of Houston; Gary, Ind. and the Bronx. 
Eventually the team of seven black players and five white players bonds with their coach and with one another, and the Miners’ one-of-a-kind playing dynamic keeps them winning.  The black players, who are led by point guard Bobby Joe Hill (Derek Luke of “Friday Night Lights,” “Antwone Fisher”), face racism and discrimination at their own university in El Paso and on the road where ever they go. 
The team eventually gets to the NCAA national championship game where they challenge veteran Coach Adolph Rupp and his all white Kentucky team.  Rupp is played quite convincingly by Jon Voight, who looked shockingly like Ross Perot with the fake nose and ears that he donned for the part. 
While an excellent movie on its own, “Glory Road” felt a little like a poor man’s “Remember the Titans.”  Produced by the same man, movie genius Jerry Bruckheimer (“Pearl Harbor,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “National Treasure”), both deal with sports teams dealing with racism both from within and without. 
I could find no fault with the acting.  Lucas’ role was originally to be played by Ben Affleck, but thank goodness that fell through.  Lucas did an excellent job really becoming Coach Haskins.  He even gained 35 pounds to play the part.  Derek Luke was so charming in his role as team leader and man about town, he reminded me of a young black Frank Sinatra.  
The film was pleasantly entertaining with a heartwarming message of overcoming prejudice and adversity.  
“Glory Road” run 109 minutes and is rated PG for racial issues including violence and epithets, and momentary language.

'Broken Flowers' in line with Murray's best work

By Ron Felten - Columnist

As part of Student Affairs’ ongoing Independent and Foreign Film Series, 2005’s “Broken Flowers,” which was written and directed by Jim Jarmusch (“Coffee and Cigarettes,” “Dead Man”) and stars Bill Murray in a role written specifically for him, will run Friday evening at 7 p.m. in the Brookens Auditorium. Admission to this event is free and open to the public.
Murray, in this, his latest installment of what has become a streak of quirky, mature comedies (“Rushmore,” “Lost in Translation,” “The Life Aquatic”), plays Don Johnston (“No, ‘Johnston’ with a ‘T’”), a newly-single millionaire who made his fortune in computers and is now, appropriately enough, completely detached from the world.
One day, as his latest girlfriend is leaving him, Johnston receives a mysterious letter in the mail. According to its anonymous author, the letter says that Johnston’s adult son, which Murray’s character never knew he had, is on his way to meet him. Johnston enlists the help of his neighbor Winston (Jeffrey Wright), a man with three jobs and five kids who somehow has enough free time to be an amateur detective, to help him reveal the identity of the note’s writer.
He and Winston narrow down the possible mothers to a list of four (plus one who has since died and, for obvious reasons, doesn’t really count), and Johnston, though not very enthusiastically, goes on a somewhat cliché, but undeniably entertaining, journey of self-discovery in an effort to find which of his former flames is the mother of his son, who may or may not even exist. I’ll give you a “hint” of sorts, though: one of the characters in the film – don’t blink or you’ll miss him – is played by Murray’s real-life son.
Anyway, Jarmusch was wise to write the role of Johnston for Murray, as the SNL and Second City alum is perfect as an “over-the-hill Don Juan” who doesn’t care about much of anything, even changing the television channel – some of the programming he watches is downright bizarre. This low-key, but psychologically-complex character would have been undoubtedly lost in the hands of anyone else.
Jarmusch reportedly wrote the script for “Broken Flowers” in just over two weeks, which is not entirely surprising once you see the film; the dialogue, while witty, is sometimes painfully forced and the movie’s “depth” seems a bit insincere, as though it was developed as an afterthought.
Overall, though, the film certainly works. Jarmusch has cleverly recycled some aspects of Murray’s latest and best films – he gives Johnston a Chas Tenenbaum-style track suit (from Wes Anderson’s “The Royal Tenenbaums”) and incorporates the down-but-not-quite-out attitude of Bob Harris (from Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation”) to give the film an emotionally rich and comfortable feel.
The movie’s magnificent supporting cast is rounded out by Christopher McDonald (“Happy Gilmore,” “Dirty Work”), Chloë Sevigny (“Kids,” “Melinda and Melinda”), Jessica Lange and Sharon Stone.
An important bit of advice before you watch, though: you should be careful to not let the film’s lazy façade fool you – it is, above all, a tale of discovery and, as we all know, that can sometimes be a slow and arduous process. As Murray’s character says to his second prospective son in the film, “The past is gone – I know that – and the future isn’t here yet, whatever it’s going to be. So all there is is this, the present. That’s it.” If you can identify with that line, you will certainly appreciate “Broken Flowers.”
Other films slated to run this semester as part of the Independent and Foreign Film Series are “The Real Dirt on Farmer John,” “City of God” and “The Assassination of Richard Nixon.”

February events

Adversity leads to triumph in 'Road'

'Broken Flowers' in line with Murray's best work