Wednesday December 10, 2003 michigandaily.com artseditor@michigandaily.com ARTS 10 THE HOTTEST PICKS IN ENTERTAINMENT FROM A DAILY ARTS WRITER S "Futurama" - Despite the popularity of "The Family Guy," this Matt Groening creation is the funniest cartoon series since "The Simpsons." Buy the first two seasons on DVD, or just pay homage by watching the canceled series on the Cartoon Network. Courtesy of HBO You know what the dead do most of the time? They watch the living .. especially in the shower. film gives the feeling that any- thing can happen. When two utter- ly disparate characters meet in the stupor of their hallucinations, wake up and remember their meet- ing you realize anything is hap- pening. Its flights of fancy are frequent and funny but the film understands its gravity and is grounded by its deeply conflicted characters that pull in opposite directions. Using period references, Nichols accurately recreates the era. The '80s feel permeates throughout the movie and the brutal realism of the early outbreak of the AIDS epi- demic is as important as it is diffi- cult to watch. The film uses a wicked device in having several of the actors por- tray completely different charac- ters. Streep plays a prehistoric rabbi, the ghost of Ethel Rosen- berg, and the mother of a conflict- ed gay Mormon. After a while it becomes incredibly fun to discern exactly who is what, a nearly impossible task if it were not for the aid of the credits. The first three-hour half played last Sunday and the cliffhanger it ended on ensures my return next week for the concluding half as easily as it will take home numer- ous Emmy's come award-time. HBO continues to effortlessly turn out quality program after program while other networks flounder. The willingness to do the unconven- tional as well as the original makes "Angels in America" what it is. An impeccable marriage of writing, acting and directing is well worth the six hour investment. "Pirates of the Caribbean" - Now on DVD. Johnny Depp, Orlan- do Bloom and a parrot ... is there anything left to say? "Les Miserables" comes to Detroit - This award-winning musical may have closed on Broadway, but you can still enjoy the magic of the wretched right here in Detroit. It hits the Fisher Theatre just in time for the holiday break. "Wolves of the Calla" (Fifth in the "Dark Tower" series) - Stephen King continues the story of the Gunslinger's quest for the Dark Tower in one of the best book series ever. "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" - The historic final film in the tril- ogy hits theaters the 17th! It is so exciting but also so very sad at the same time ... Courtesy of New Line Did FOX really need; to cancel Ster show. By Scott Serila Daily Arts Editor Gather around and let me tell y'all the tale of Benjamin Stiller and his short-lived sketch comedy struggles. Seems I remembers way back in, oh musta been 1992, Benny and his rag- The Ben tag bunch of come- dy misfits tried to Stiller Show bring the folks at Warner FOX a Gen-X brand of funny. They were brilliant. They were hilarious. They were can- celled faster than "Veronica's Closet." The party line of comedy nerds has been that "The Ben Stiller Show" was a lost gem, a cutting-edge show exploding with fresh talent so power- ful that it spooked the network suits into canceling out of fear. With Andy Dick, Janeane Garofalo and Bob Odenkirk rounding out the cast, not to mention David Cross and Dino Stamatopoulos later of "Mr. Show" helping out with writing duties, how could the series have been anything short of classic? Oh man. Watching the new released "Complete First Season" is simply dis- appointing, seeing how badly some of the sketches have aged. Relying nearly completely on parodies, you can't help thinking more of "MAD TV" than Monty Python. The ideas are funny: an Amish dating show, U2 playing at a bar mitzvah or the cultish cannibalistic theme restaurant, T.J. O'Pootertoot. Obviously still developing, the link- 4j I ing segments with Stiller talking direct- ly to camera are painfully unnecessary and too many sketches either go on for too long or are stifling Stiller-centric. The "Zoolander" star overbearingly dominates over his incredible cast, indulging in vanity sketches to show off his narrow range of impressions. Imag- ine upstaging Andy Dick! It's a shame the show wasn't given more of a chance to find its legs, but the cancellation of "The Ben Stiller Show" wasn't the tragedy it's been made to out have been. Luckily Stiller has had his film career, Garofalo survived SNL and Odenkirk and Cross teamed up to make the great "Mr. Show." Oh, and Andy Dick, well at least he had his drugs. See, something for everybody. _ _ _._ ___ _ _ __ __ _ 'Saul and Patsy' make ill-fated return S aul and Patsy By Matthew Grinshpun Daily Arts Writer BOOK REVI EW ** Saul Bernstein died in 1985. At the end of "Saul and Patsy Are Getting Comfortable in Michigan," the short story's author, Charles Baxter (who until recently taught cre- ative writing at the University), killed Saul and his wife in a car accident. But in an interview conducted by his Saul and Patsy By Charles Baxter Pantheon whether the protagonist would have been better left for dead. The book follows Saul and his wife, Patsy, through several years spent in the community of Five Oaks, Mich., where Saul has taken up teaching in an idealis- tic "project of undoing the dumbness that's been done." Just as Saul is becom- ing comfortable with his identity as a lone Jew educating in the land of the goyim, a former student from his reme- dial class begins haunting his home. Soon enough, tragedy strikes, and as the plot develops, a treacherous gothic cult begins to threaten the couple and their new family. The book's overarching plot struc- ture, however, matters less than its smaller subplots. While the passages describing the tension that childbirth has brought to Saul and Patsy's mar- riage show off a delicacy with words reminiscent of Baxter's previous work, most of the book fails to meet that standard. The character of Saul's brother, for example, stands out as one of the book's more promising elements. Unfortunately, he goes underdeveloped, and the mysterious subplot involving his deteriorating sanity languishes. Saul himself is a cliche exhausted long ago by Woody Allen. Placing Alvie Singer ("Annie Hall") in rural Michigan, renaming him Saul and granting him a stable marriage with children could, per- haps, have led to some dynamic scenar- ios. In Baxter's book, it hasn't. Instead, we are offered the same paranoiac inse- curity and fear of anti-Semitism that has defined the character class for decades. In the few situations in which Saul tran- scends his frailty and takes firm action, it seems almost as though Baxter has slipped in an entirely different character. Several of Baxter's tangents would qualify as excellent short stories, and the fact that the book is based on examples of that format is evident throughout. At several points, Baxter's widely acclaimed brilliance shines through the novel's hodgepodge narrative, but it only leaves the reader more confused as to why he hadn't abandoned ship and Show: *** Picture/Sound: *** Features: ** 1: FAR1,El'S B AX "'E X 0' Tk, e ',.,,. of d.: u publisher, Pantheon Books, Baxter explained that "a very large woman approached me at a literary gathering around 1986 and grabbed my lapel and started to shake me, saying, 'You have the nerve to kill off that nice couple!' I was frightened and said, 'They aren't dead.' " The product of that intimidating encounter includes two short stories and Baxter's latest novel, "Saul and Patsy," a book that will leave many wondering saved the more interesting plot webs for separate tales. "Saul and Patsy" is a book that entices but never truly fulfills. Its angu- lar, segmented plot sits uncomfortably with it sensitive, understated prose, while its main character is dull and stereotypical. Hopefully, Baxter's next effort won't take its cues from assailants at literary conventions. HORT TAKE S letGrades" which unlock new 0 S maps and skuls. The monoto~ny of the fun but branless platlorming is bro- I-NINJA ken by mini-scenarios that resemble PS2 classis like "Marble Madness" and NAMCO . "Punh-Qut," Homages like this are w.I elme additions but aren't enough Namo' s action/platfarmer "I- to match the addictive gameplay "tt mp t rekindle the spiit found in Mario's 3-D adventures. "I of Mario, Sonic and Crash Bandicoot Ninja" is cleary ribute o te by combining elements of all three imorta gaming gods in a next-geu while adding some interesting twists. environment. It's a fun little number, As the cute but fierce "Ninj a," but it doesn't dig deep enough to gamers hack, slash, run and jump reach videogame nirvana. *** trghmsly lina leesad col- -J ared Newma. 4 Spring Break in-Panama City Beach, Florida! 800 feet of Gulf Beach Frontage " 2 Large Outdoor Swimming Pools Sailboat, Jet Ski & Parasail Rentals " Lazy River Ride & Water Slide Huge Beachfront Hot Tub " Volleyball " Suites up to 12 people World's Longest Keg Party " Live Band & DJ Wet T-Shirt, Hard Body & Venus Swimwear Contests BOOK EARLY tt s.. SAVE$ $ NAME YOUR OWN RENT JOBS!!! Winter Term Apply now at the Law Library- Enrolled students only