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The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star
The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star

Twang mixes with bit of thang

By Jessica Coello | September 7, 2004

Welcome back to Playback! This week’s CD comes from senior media studies major Laura Houston. Houston is from Belleville and likes to party in St. Louis. Houston interned at a radio station this summer, where she got to meet Jessica and Ashlee Simpson,...

Hot tub and volleyball make crib cool

By Matt Knutson | September 6, 2004

From MTV to NIU, Cribs is in the house... literally. Throughout the semester Sweeps will delve into the dopest domiciles that NIU students inhabit. This week we visited the home of NIU students Adam Stavros, Jason Wheeler, Dave Janczewski and James Grahovac...

Floor hits the party scene

By Casey Toner | September 1, 2004

Cara’s Big Game Big game for NIU Sept. 11. Bigger game for Cara Zamora, a freshman special education major. The fight between two Illinois slacker schools, NIU and Southern Illinois University, kicks off the Huskies’ home schedule. Three weeks or...

Variety key to a good mix

By Jessica Coello | August 31, 2004

It’s time again for playback. This week’s playback comes courtesy of Chris McBride, a junior music education major from Homewood. McBride, a musician himself, performs at various clubs in Homewood and downtown Chicago, including the Velvet Lounge....

Wink and nudge required?

By Greg Feltes | August 30, 2004

Last week’s photo poll on liberal bias in the media provoked quite a response from readers and polarized the entire campus. In case you missed it, I randomly polled five people to find out if they thought the media was liberally biased. None saw any...

Models assist with dating

By Matt Knutson | August 29, 2004

Editor’s Note: From time to time, Sweeps will be introducing you to the vibrant personalities that embody 60115. These people are truly DeKalb characters... Three NIU students blessed with an entrepreneurial spirit parlayed their summer experience into...

Sociological meaning of Sox vs. Cubs

By Mark Pietrowski | August 26, 2004

Chicago has its own version of the Civil War every baseball season as the south side “good guys in black” and the north side “losers deemed lovable” struggle to make the playoffs and satisfy their rabid fan bases. Editor’s Note: The White Sox...

Welcome to the floor of Grant 4A

By Casey Toner | August 25, 2004

Beat reporting depends on the relationships and knowledge derived from covering a single topic extensively. As an experiment in journalism, we decided to bring that concept to the residence halls. Instead of government, we will focus on ordinary people...

Guitar rock glides across space

By Jessica Coello | August 24, 2004

It’s time again for playback. This week’s installment comes from Kyle Hershberger. Hershberger is a freshman biochemistry major from Cary, but originally hails from Kentucky. He misses his friends and family back home, but enjoys DeKalb and all it...

Is there a liberal bias in the media?

By Greg Feltes | August 23, 2004

Editor’s note: Every Tuesday until the Nov. 2 elections, Sweeps will take on the local, state and national political scene with its own unique perspective. With most polls showing the race for the White House as a dead heat, the impact of media coverage...

Local artist graffiti’s it up

By Greg Feltes | August 22, 2004

A.J. Solorio is one of DeKalb’s most prominent artists, but his work is rarely featured on conventional canvases. Instead, the 31-year-old small-business owner favors electric guitars, T-shirts and even boats as his media of choice. Solorio, who bills...

Runaway Jury

By Joe Fletcher | October 22, 2003

The suspense thriller “Runaway Jury” exhibits a marvelous screenplay as well as an all-star cast.

The story, adapted from the John Grisham novel, takes place in New Orleans. The widow of a man killed in an office shooting files a lawsuit claiming a gun company is responsible for the death of her husband.

The odds are stacked against the plaintiff -- no court has ever found a gun company responsible for a death caused by a firearm.

After the jury pool is manipulated by two consultants, Lawrence Green (Jeremy Piven) and Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman), bribery, blackmail and deceit take precedence as the case spins out of control.

The performances turned in by the cast are phenomenal. John Cusack, as one of the jurors with a plan of his own, is great as usual.

Hackman shines in the best performance of his career, since he did Captain Frank Ramsey in 1995’s “Crimson Tide.”

Dustin Hoffman, who plays prosecuting attorney Wendell Rohr, maintains a subtle intensity throughout the film that can be described only as brilliant.

In one of the most intense scenes -- not only of this movie, but from any movie this year -- Fitch (Hackman) and Rohr (Hoffman) argue over the nobility of law and the moral conscience of a lawyer.

The character progression follows along perfectly with the story. The suspense builds and recedes without a hitch. This allows the climax to be much more exciting, yet the rest of the movie leading up to it can be appreciated for its own merits.

Finally, the movie is yet another successful adaptation of a Grisham novel. Despite prior success with such films as “A Time to Kill” and “The Pelican Brief,” “Runaway Jury” is the best.

However, the movie differs from the novel. The book depicts a trial against “Big Tobacco,” whereas the movie shows the trial against a gun manufacturer. This discrepancy has bothered some movie-goers and critics alike, but if you haven’t read the book, the movie is still a success.

Although it opened against “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “Runaway Jury” made its presence felt by grossing $12 million, and nearly knocking “Kill Bill” out of the No. 2 spot in the box office.

“Runaway Jury” is certainly a winner, and merits a trip to a theater near you.

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