Student Publications
University of Houston
151C Communications Bldg
Houston, TX 77204-4015
713.743.5350

©1991-2007
Student Publications,
All rights reserved.

Last modified:

Contact:
ktruitt@uh.edu

Life & Arts

Industry gets back into swing of things

by JACOB BRISSEE
The Daily Cougar

The year is still young, but already the movie industry has begun to churn out its quota of new releases, albeit slowly and without much ado.

The Messengers follows the story of the Solomon family, who move to a sunflower farm in North Dakota. Everything goes well at first, but as time passes, the children start to notice strange, even downright disturbing goings-on at the old farm in the form of ghostly apparitions. Funny thing is, their parents can't see them at all. This presents a problem for the children, whose well-justified fears are brushed aside like bad dreams. 

The Messengers is also the first English-language release for the Pang Brothers, the horror flick duo famous for their technical and editing skills. 

Fulfilling the comedy requirement is Because I Said So, a story about motherly love in inordinate proportions. Diane Keaton plays Daphne Wilder, a mother who only wants what's best for her kids, even if that means sticking her nose where it doesn't belong. Despite this, two of her daughters, Maggie and Mae, both seem to have done just fine in life. Milly (Mandy Moore), on the other hand, is prone to attracting all the wrong kinds of psychopaths. Desperate to help her daughter in the realm of love, Daphne places an ad for Milly in the online personals without her knowledge. Hilarity, a test of wills, and a look at the boundaries of the mother-daughter relationship ensue.

Constellation, written and directed by Jordan Walker-Pearlman, finally sees a limited release in Houston this Friday. The film tells the heart-wrenching tale of a black family whose present brings it face-to-face with its past. After many years away following an unrequited interracial love affair, the Boxers return to their hometown in the Deep South to find that much has changed. However, in order to move on, the family must come to terms with the consequences of its turbulent past amidst a changing social and racial climate. 

Constellation has already received many best-of-festival awards, and if nothing else, promises to be a polarizing film.

Send comments to dcshobiz@mail.uh.edu