Show The Herald Journal Logan Utah Thursday SHERMANS LAGOON Vin Diesel unbearably idiotic in ‘A Rian Apart’ WjMRuNtKmar NtimRuumin cttcxtrm ocr tana hop m 3 2003 — C5 April ofmmnuman CtOOStM tRHnnt HtWRUIP mtom By David Germain AP Movie Writer ft took Sylvester Stallone three “Rambos” and maybe fourof his “Rockys” over a ar 12-ye- period before he became painful to watch VmDiesd has managed the same with just a few movies in a couple Of years The decent sci-- fi thriller “Pitch Black” propped Diesel to emerge as an action figure for the new century The dumb but compare- tivdy harmless “The Fast and die Furious” propelled him to star status then last summer’s repugnant blockheaded “XXX" confirmed his appeal with die action crowd while raising portents of Stallone deja vu among the rest of us As a Drug Enforcement Administration agent fighting a new menace among Mexican drug CATHY XTWrTML XOafT NNE AHFUWTD MALMESfiEO aPUNElWS ohm DffWfl) AND NO RACE TDM ITS Hit DRESSED UP MO NO PUGS Boor Movie review cartels in “A Man Apart” Diesel turns not quite as ridiculous as Stallone at his worst but BEETLE BAILEY ' ne definitely cuts an unpleasant figure And Stalkme no matter how outlandish his characters or movies have become still retains trace dements of die lovable lunkhead he played in the first “Rocky” Diesel has no such amiability to fall back cut He was a brooding stone-face-d “Pitch Black” and “The Fast and the Riri-ou- s" a cartoonextreme-spoit- s yahoo in “XXX” All around no real depth required In ‘‘A Man Apart” Diesel tries to be a loving husband and honorable crusader for justice turned to the dark side by grief and rage No one’s expecting “Richard III” out of the guy but Diesel is awkward and affected pretty much anytime he’s not aiming punches or bullets Diesel plays agent Sean Vetter who along with partner Demetrius Hicks (Larenz Tate) and a team of undercover narcotics cops have just brought down a vicious Mexican drug ' kingpin (Geno Silva) The leadership void among the cartels leads to the rise of a shadowy new figure called “Diablo” who begins a bloody campaign to drug-runnicontrol “A Man Apart” is just like “Traffic” only moronic The cartel leadership inexplicably orders a hit on Vetter which makes about as much sense as a genual trying to win a war by targeting a single foot soldier The resulting tragedy at Vetter ’s home turns Hicks him nasty and upright best-budabsurdly tags along on his destructive unlawful quest for vengeance The senseless plot is meant only to connect the dots between the bloody action sequences anti-hero- HAGAR THE HORRIBLE US-Mexi- PEANUTS co in ng dy HE COMES ID HR SMALL FRENCH CAFE IaNATSTHI5 IS THE FAMOUS 60ING0N )( FLYING ACE OF HERE? VWORLD WAR I y EVERY NI6HTTD FOREETTHEUAR IT ouGVsowwr I ARE YOU OJBRP I A SPY7 ' REALLY marciE rWHAT WOULD 'HAPPEN IF WE PUTAUTTLEICE i CREAM IN THIS AP Photo Vin Diesel plays a drug enforcement officer who to avenge his wife's death Cinemas action drama te-o- in New Line A Man Apart” The idiocy of the story and Diesel’s bad acting would not necessarily sink “A Man Apart” if director F Gary Gray (“The Negotiator”) had applied some finesse to the fisticuffs and gunplay: The actum often is edited with such choppy it’s impossible to tell who’s doing quick-cu- ts what to whom Midway throughj Gray saves up one of the most ridiculous shootouts ever captured on camera 'where it doesn’t seem to matter what everyone’s aiming at so long as they all keep ' firing This mess is driven by Anne Dudley’s bombastic score and phony street lingo from screenwriters Christian Gudegast and Paul Scheming whose script also provides suitably s leaden for Diesel to mumble his voice-over- way through When captured early on Silva’s druglord warns Vetter “Things are only going to get worse for all of us” Ditto for us as Diesel expands on his filmography “A Man Apart” a New Line release is rated R for strong graphic violence language drug content and sexuality Running time: I ’0 minutes One and a half stars out of four ROOT SEER? Sons of Boor Lake A novel by Douglas D Alder “Uh huh I bet she learned it in church Monsters angels and Joe Smith’s gold plates They MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM gotogetha” T he boys looked at each other shook their shoulders squirmed and perked their ears again like listening to a radio station amid Feta was playing along with Jim acting like he enjoyed this spying But he was trying to cova up how mortified he felt to have Jim discova first hand the seamy side of Hank Jim’s dad would neva be involved with such sleazy friends Jim probably knew that boozing happened at several spots in their comity but it was not something to be proud of “Well I ain’t going to give up my Bern Lake monster either" said Hank “I like him Give us Bern Lake fans another century and we’ll oust the Loch Ness Monster from its peni of the-stati- FOXTROT ffiTilRieW THIS 1$ TOUR FIRM DMMMt MMWteN ' OUR MMftUC IS SWEETHEART XNEEDTME gg£&38&33 CHECKBOOK IMPERATIVE fJTTEfr NGTWiCnMHl BJ REAL LIFE ADVENTURES I DdDt J D&INKM& 700 SO JrVlF Ve- - CLOSE TO HOME fame ” “The what?" “The Loch Ness Monster” Hank said “That’s some story in Scotland Them Scots they swear by it There’s a monsta the size of a pirtte ship in the bottom of a lake there" “Well ain’t you gettin’ culture down there in Round Valley I suppose you’ll make the grand tour some year now Where’d you hear all this?" Razzle asked “OhJ got me an educated wife you know She reads books with die ladies” BGSN By n BR tueexoAYs MF4uy?Yxr in HOT aNtaohotasi PhHIip Alder wuTwir There are 93 laws of duplicate bridge almost all with subdivisions We have 32 cards which can be distributed in a numba of ways — that numba contains 29 digy its There are many combinations — but no one knows how many Howeva sometimes a small change in a deal can introduce some — not innumerable — variations Last Thursday we saw this deal except that North had the heart ace instead of the How does this change affect South’s plan in four spades afta he ruffs the second club? When the heart see is in die dummy South uses his dufhmy entries for two diamond finesses first of the nine then if necessary of the king-quee- r Posing In a popular chatrooMM1 “ IWuil Bn nnw anew Yv “Try it— they’re mild compared to our cigars I don’t even cough” See tomorrow’s Herald Journal for the next install- ment of this story queen card-pla- dm' stuff" Win of bridge MUCH VN UP ON Some believe ire bettor to gel on tlw wagon one tog ate c Laughter glasses clinked gurgles laughter again A whiskey bottle fell on the ground just outside the lattice slots where the beys could see it Peter stared at Jim not because of the laugh-t- a above but because Jim had just put a cigarette in his mouth “Whoe’d ya get them cigarettes Jim?” “They was just siltin’ right on the bench when I set down” Jim replied “A whole pack?” “Well there’s only three left But whoever left ’em had us in mind He stuck a book of " matches inside” didn’t somethin’?” Peter “Why you say asked “Wanted to wait 'til we were alone And ' we're sure alone Here have one” Jim passed the pack to Peter taking one for himself lighting it and taking a short puff “I ain’t a smoker” Peter said “Oh you ain’t eh What about cigars?” “Well that was homemade This is real ohatUng on oompnny 1 n- Here though South also has the chance to find West with the heart ace So declarer immediately plays a heart to dummy’s queen If East wins with the ace South will successfully play on diamonds But suppose East ducks smoothly — then what? r If West has die heart ace declarer can cross to hand with a trump and lead a second heart establishing his 10th tricL Here though East wins with the ace and exits with a club And when declar-- a plays a diamond from the dummy East splits his honors South loses rme heart two diamonds and one club However at trick four it cannot cost declarer to play a diamond to his nine If it loses to the 10 or jack Smith can hope West has the heart ace or if necessary play East for the diamond king 02003 NEA North A V A 2 Q4 K 3 6 5 2 7 6 43 West V East 63 54 9 7 5 K 7 4 3 V-A- 10 a 'J J 10 8 KQJ10A652‘ South A K Q J 10 9 8 7 V(2-- ' A AQ9 9 r Dealer South Vulnerable: South West A 3A Pass 1 East-Wes- t- East North 1 NT Pass 4 A All pass Opening lead: A K |