Monday October 4, 2004 arts. michigandaily.com artspage@michigandaily.com RhemTSajtu 8A . .. .. ... .. .. .. .. .. ... .. .. .. . Molina offers up heaping of alt-country By Andrew Gaerig Daily Music Editor Jason Molina's reputation as a prickly, self-important artist is in jeopardy. To wit: Upon taking the stage at Detroit's Magic Stick this past Friday, he politely asked the house to turn the lights down, turned back to his five-piece band The Magno- 0 0 lia Electric Co. and said, "You know how to start it." Given his band's penchant for ringing country-rock, there's no reason Molina The Magnolia Electric Co. Friday, October 1 The Magic Stick Courtesy of Dreamworks Do I look fat In this? shouldn't be in a good mood. Molina re- configured Neil Young and Crazy Horse as an alt-country juggernaut, infusing his Midwestern poetry with a sense of urgency missing from his early, sub-folk records. The band stuck to mostly new mate- By Zach rial, trying out new songs like "Hammer Daily Ar Down" in front of a sparse but appre- ciative crowd. Songs from last year's Magnolia Electric Co. were rollicking crowd-pleasers. While Molina, for his part, was a changed D anima man. He thanked the crowd for their sup- depicting port and ignored the clanking glasses and notable c murmurs that persisted throughout his headedu set. His voice - a fire-and-brimstone frey Katz mix of Young and Van Morrison - grew sequel "S stronger as the show progressed. Any self- current d importance melted away during a rousing compute cover of country staple "Mamas Don't this time Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cow- "Shark boys." For the encore, the band re-imag- Oscar (V ined "Steve Albini's Blues" as a slow-leak trying to psychedelic jam, and closed up shop with pond. W Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere," at the W playfully singing the "Whoa-oooohs" of active d] the chorus to an exultant audience. famous. Molina's transformation from dark schemes1 troubadour to classic-rock mastermind tin Scors was well-documented on record, but it's mob bos his revelatory live show that truly proves foolishly how fa i~mtas an' rtee oilaM Ps full well the soulful, communal power of (Doug E a great band, Molina has assembled just slacker f that: agoup f rag-tag Midweste In a h paying homage toall of the"ey4t yF and rock greats, and doing so jubilantly. Burnout 3' delivers arcade- style thrills By Andy Putman For the Daily UNDER THE SEA DREAM WORKS' LATEST TOON LOADED WITH HUMOR h Borden ts Writer Disney ruled the roost when it came to 2- ation, it has faced some stiff competition in g three dimensions. The Mouse House's most competitor has been Dreamworks Animation, up by former Disney animation honcho Jef- zenberg. Hot off the heels of summer's smash Shrek 2," Dreamworks hopes to continue its dominance with another r-animated comedy, set under the sea. k Tale" tells the story of Will Smith), a small fish stand out in a very big Working his days down (hale Wash, the hyper- reamer fantasizes about Shark Tale At Showcase and Quality 16 Dreamworks becoming rich and awry when Frankie is hit by an anchor and is killed while chasing Oscar. Seeing Frankie's death as an opportunity to receive the notoriety he's always want- ed, Oscar takes credit for the shark's demise and is given the label "Sharkslayer." Lenny is too ashamed to go back to his father, who considers his vegetarian son a disappointment. The kind-hearted shark ends up striking a deal with Oscar: As long as the now- famous fish helps Lenny avoid the life and family he disapproves of, Lenny will help Oscar continue his charade. But Don Lino is out to avenge Frankie, and Oscar soon has to realize the consequences of his actions - and that perhaps it's sometimes better to be a beloved nobody to a disillusioned somebody. Like the best animated films, the beauty of "Shark Tale" is that it works on two different levels. Younger viewers will probably love the characters and enjoy the more broad strokes, but older viewers will cer- tainly pick up on a lot more. Dreamworks' hook in its computer-generated features seems to be the lam- pooning and constant referencing of popular culture, and their latest entry is no exception. While the under- water world is plastered in modified product place- ment (Kelpie Kreme and Coral-Cola, anyone?), film buffs will probably have the best time as there are some clever, if not always subtle, references to other movies: "Jaws" and "Titanic" are the most obvious, but popular gangster classics such as "The Godfather " and "Scarface" get their dues here as well. The film is genuinely funny, but not to the point of laugh-out- loud hiairity. Yet for all its references and slyness, the main problem with "Shark Tale" is that it lacks freshness and originality. Even though some of its concepts are interesting, the film's plotting is strictly by the num- bers - the story arc and how the characters change are completely predictable. While there is nothing terrible about this, it feels like the filmmakers didn't attempt to push the boundaries or take any chances. In comparison to other computer-animated movies, particularly the ones by Pixar, "Shark Tale" could have been a lot more creative and could have used some more development to really stand out. Other than the stupendous computer animation, one of the film's best assets is the talented voice cast, which adds a lot to the movie. Will Smith is engag- ing as the high-energy Oscar while Renee Zellwegger brings the right kind of expressive voice as Oscar's love interest and voice of reason. The standout here is Jack Black, who plays against type as the innocent and even cutesy Lenny. It's a strark contrast to Black's usual manic screen personas, but Black shows range by doing a more calm character in a much different voice. Even though "Shark Tale" is stuck in basic story- telling conventions and doesn't truly evolve the genre of computer-animated films, it has plenty of enjoy- able moments and great characters makingit-worth seeing. But in such an overcrowded genre that will only continue to grow more, "Shark Tale" will swim feverishly in the minds of moviegoers for now but over time it'll probably start to sink. Unfortunately for Oscar, his get-rich-quick have put him in debt to his boss Sykes (Mar- ese). In turn, Sykes needs to make good with s Don Lino (Robert De Niro). After Oscar doesn't make good on a payment, Sykes henchmen -"pair of Rastafarian jellyfish . Doug and Ziggy Marley) - take care of the ish once and for all. appenstance, Oscar and the jellyfish are spot- Yankie and Leiny (Ja:k Black). But thing§ go s r _4 Nathanson delivers acoustic rock to the Pig By Brandon Harig Daily Arts Writer Twenty minutes before he is to perform in front of a sold-out Blind Pig crowd, Matt Nathanson sits on a toilet, ruminating on world issues and about being the new guy on the label. Talking in the bathroom while the presidential debate plays in the other Traditional racing games get rear-ended by "Burnout 3: Takedown," the latest title in which crashes are key and superior driving is an after- thought. The "Burnout" series has always prided itself on the high-speed-arcade style racing and its spectacular crashes. Simplistic controls fit the room, is a surreal, yet appropriate set- ting for a man who brings sophomoric humor to acoustic rock. "Playing before a crowd and doing Matt Nathanson Thursday, Sept. 30 Blind Pig arcade style, but gamers find its lack of sophistication a let- down. Most of the time is spent in traditional racing with a destructive twist. Dangerous activities earn racers a bonus "boost," which allows cars to Burnout 3: Takedown PS2 and Xbox EA Courtesy of EA Further proving that Germans love David Hasselhoff. son surfacing. The latter, a tongue-in-cheek performance, raised eyebrows, even those of Nathanson's, who knew every word and performed enthusiastically. The substance of the show, though, came in those songs that allowed him to be his immature and angry self. Pieces like "Bare" and the throwback "Church Clothes" show the originality and complete emotional depth of Nathanson's music. Running through "Pretty the World" and the resentful "Oh Princess," the show did not hit its climax until the familiar chords of Jeff Buckley were strummed out on his acoustic guitar. Standing alone and slowly singing, in his trademark rasp, the familiar lyrics of "Last Goodbye" the audience was silent. Midway through the song, Nathan- son manipulated the instrumental set to slam into one of his strongest and oldest songs, "Wide-Eyed and Full." It was then that Nathanson was the nearest to perfect that anyone watching has seen. All this bitterness might make Nathan- son seem to be some disenfranchised and melancholy singer. These expectations are erased when you note Nathanson's non- drinking, married status. "You know, my wifeistheshit.Itourlloutofl2monthsso, yeah, she's the shit." Such happiness with his current life, fan base and place in the music world is perhaps the reason for such upbeat instrumentals. Maybe the sadder lyrics are just alook back at anunhappy past while he happily smiles and jokes onstage with his favorite people in the world. drive along at even more manic speeds. It's not too difficult to keep the bar filled and the best drivers will never take their fingers off the boost button as long as they have some to spare. Win- ning races and circuit tours will open up new locations and vehicles. The controls are respon- sive and since only a few buttons are used, no one should have trouble picking up "Burnout." Along with racing modes, progressing through the one-player game will open crash challenges, in which the object is to cause as much damage as possible. Each event is set in small section of a race track. A flyby of the area at the beginning of each challenge reveals traffic patterns and pow- erups along the path. As the car begins to crash, control it through the air or across the ground to grab point multipliers and smash into as many other vehicles as physically possible. Additional mayhem can be found in the mul- tiplayer modes. Challenge a friend to a race or see who can be first to rack up 10 takedowns in a demolition-derby-style setting. As is standard with most arcade racers, the game's physics are not altogether realistic. For example, a single car may be able to plow through a row of five semi-trucks, but if it hits a light post, it stops dead in its track and explodes. Mediocre pop-punk makes up the majority of the soundtrack, which will cause some gamers to rejoice even as others will cringe. But once the racing action kicks in the soundtrack becomes moot. Players will not be able to ignore the hor- ribly annoying narrator who gives his two cents before and even during races. Once he shuts up, screeching tires and crunching metal sounds take over the stereo and all is well in the world. "Burnout 3" has visually appealing graphics and detailed racecourses that look good even when racing at high speeds. The look really shines during giant pileups as each car is torn apart piece by piece, leaving only a trail of the carnage. Besides the image of a completely destroyed car (which basically looks like a lump of coal) and overly shiny effects on cars, this game has top notch visuals. "Burnout 3" is great fun, although it might just be worth a rental until the price drops below $50. some unmotivated show before a random crowd, it's like having sex with a prosti- tute. But playing in front of the best fans in the world that sing back every word of the song, that's like the best love-making ever," Nathanson said. Weaving bitter lyrics with an upbeat melody, Nathanson kept the attention of everyone in attendance even when the song was over. Relying heavily on his label-debut Beneath these Fireworks, Nathanson would actually "prefer to play a show of covers than my own because other people have written stuff so much better than my music." The show stood as a meld of cov- ers and originals, with a small bit of Ozzy Osborne, R.E.M. and even Ashlee Simp- *I I OUR RECENT AWARDS - Forbes list of Hot Shots/ Entrepreneurial Companies-#11 BusinessWeek's list of Hot Growth Companies-#13 THE CORPORATE EXECUTIVE BOARD Designed for Success. Built for Your Career. VISION SUCS TEAN~O~I