ARTS Mediocre 'Grudge' provides meek frights The Michigan Daily - Monday, October 25, 2004 - 9A That's for "Gigli," that's for "Jersey Girl," that's for "Pearl Harbor." 'Christmas' implodes with dreadful plot HUM, d11 411 V 1d111111211Ul YI'V lCt in similar genre pictures: "When someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage, a curse is born." A curse that, in this case, manifests itself in the form of a little Japanese boy who makes meowing noises and a CGI woman who makes more silly sounds while floating, crawling and just generally acting freaky all across Tokyo. Enter Sarah Michelle Gellar (TV's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), a gifted actress who frequents horror flicks (see also: "Scream 2," "I Know What You Did Last Summer"). With ease, she finds herself at the center of the fright, as a social work student living in a haunted house. From there, she and other characters - most of which are essentially present to increase the body count - are haunted, chased, sucked into beds, de-jawed, driven to suicide and drowned. Despite its hackneyed setup, "The Grudge" does take some welcome steps away from the horror con- ventions it otherwise embraces. Most noticeably, its events are out of sequence, which works surprisingly well, as they never become incoherent and they allow for the creepy history of the curse to play out in full effect. Also, thanks to producer Sam Raimi (recently By Ian Dickinson Daily Arts Writer Mirror, mirror on the wall, "Is my career over after all?" known for directing the "Spider-Man" series but who got his start in horror with the cult favorite "Evil Dead"), the film retains Takashi Shimizu, the Japa- nese director of the original "Grudge" franchise. Shi- mizu is a skilled filmmaker who admirably attempts to bring his native flavor to the United States. He keeps the original's Tokyo setting, making liberal use of disturbing images and often leaving the violence to the viewer's imagination. His efforts see limited success because inevitably, domestic audiences crave blood and guts more than they do substance. "The Grudge" is appropriately creepy and, helped in part by Christopher Young's silly but effective score, achieves an adequately chilling atmosphere. Still, it doesn't come close to "The Ring" in these terms; the latter is a far better film both in craft and use of its cast, setting and villain to spook the audi- ence. Nonetheless, for what it's worth, the cheaply jolting delights of "The Grudge" will likely satisfy the October horror void audiences are always eager to fill. This time next year though, it will be a chal- lenge to find anyone who remembers this film as anything other than "the one where the Japanese girl goes psycho on Buffy." Alas, that works for general audiences and so year after year, safe bets like "The Grudge" will keep getting made. When a Christmas movie is released a full two months before the winter holi- days, there is good reason to worry. "Sav- ing Christmas," featuring Ben Affleck and "Sopranos" star James Gandolfini uses a messy script, an asinine plot and poor acting to communicate its super- ficial and cliched message. Affleck stars as a recently dumped and lonely yup- pie who pays off a suburban Chicago family to take him in for the holidays Surviving Christmas At Quality 16 and Showcase Dreamworks 'Hip' offers lackluster history of counterculture By Julia Suarez For the Daily BOOK REV.S.W What is hip? John Leland begs the question, but never exactly answers. He opens with the statement, "... everyone can name it when they see it." Obvi- ously not, because in 400 pages of sometimes-dry prose, Leland outlines cultural movements and personages he Hip: The History By John Leland Harper Collins mainstream. Hip is a lot of different things and people. Leland groups the evolution of hip in terms of six his- torical eras, discussing enslavement of blacks, the Lost Generation and the Harlem Renaissance, the Beat Genera- tion, punks, hip-hop and the Internet. Leland definitely knows his history - some chapters of the book are rich in information and pleasurable to read because of their insights into the ori- gins of American culture. Yet despite his extensive historical knowledge, Leland presents the read- er with a problem that he never fully resolves. If hip is an ephemeral concept that's based on self-renewal, then what is the point of this book? Leland states that he's trying to capture a "deeper aspect of hip," one that involves America using the vehicles of hip (writing, music, film) to talk about itself. Unfortunately, at times Leland loses sight of his aim, dropping many names with little or no explanation. Though he provides an in-depth discussion of the evolution of American music as a response to the differences between black and white, many of Leland's other references seem fleeting at best. Because of name drop- ping, the deeper aspect of hip becomes harder to grasp - and the concept of hip seems more like a laundry list of people who have left their mark on American culture, rather than any concise, unify- ing theme. Perhaps a nonfiction book isn't the best way to teach people about hip's history, though. With only a handful of black and white pictures, "Hip" is prac- tically all prose. Some of the music and literature mentioned would be better lis- tened to or read than briefly discussed. It would be more helpful if "Hip" came with recordings of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Lou Reed and copies of "On the Road" and "The Confidence-Man" to make up for the spots where Leland's powers of description fail. After all, it's more interesting to read "On the Road" than to read about it. Realistically, more photographs would aid Leland in get- ting some of his points across. It seems likely that a person who actually is hip would have problems picking up, let alone finishing this book. Even bookworms would be hardpressed to read every chapter. Though the discourse on the origins of the trucker hat and Leland's discussion of why hip is as cyclical as a woman's menstrual cycle or a man's ejacula- tion - and yes, he actually wrote that - are mildly entertaining, they don't make up for the dryness that is "Hip: The History." and relive his memories of youth. Gan- dolfini, the gruff working-class patri- arch, and his wife (Catherine O'Hara, "A Mighty Wind") reluctantly pretend that Affleck is their son for the duration of the Christmas season. The situation is further complicated by the arrival of the couple's daughter (Christina Applegate), who refuses to play along while Affleck attempts to reconcile with his ex. The film's low quality is frustrating because, if nothing else, it's well-casted. While Affleck's inability to act is well- known, Gandolfini is perfectly suited for his role and O'Hara ranks as one of the great comedic actresses of the last sev- eral decades. Unfortunately, Gandolfini and O'Hara are merely complements for the distinctly unfunny Affleck's slap- stick gags. Credited with four writers and direct- ed by Mike Mitchell, the maker of "Deuce Bigelow: Male Gigolo," "Sur- viving Christmas" is understandably a poorly made film. None of the filmmak- ers are able to shed light on the charac- ters' redeeming qualities, as if none exist, which is especially bizarre for a Christ- mas film. Affleck exploits a working family in turmoil, which is apparently funny because he pays them $250,000 for the privilege. That the film pretends to claim some moral imperative is especially insulting to the audience. While last year's "Bad Santa" was, in truth, a great Christmas movie because of an expressed and consistent nihilism, "Surviving Christ- mas" director Mitchell tries to have it both ways. The film's message changes from the depression of the holidays to the importance of family and back again. It's confusing, incoherent and not at all funny. The jokes are in especially bad taste as well, which is normally fine, except in this case, where the filmmakers seek some sort of heartwarming legitima- cy and a "family film" classification. Everything is recycled. Gandolfini is the stereotypical working-class brute with the heart of gold. The characters are all foi-mulaic, from O'Hara's house- wife, to her son's (Josh Zuckerman, "Austin Powers: Goldmember) porn- addicted teenager. All characteristics are beat into the ground. This becomes especially trying for the viewer with the arrival of "Doo-Da" (Bill Macy, "Ana- lyze This"), an actor hired by Affleck to play the grandfather, who introduces a plethora of unfunny incest jokes into the mix. Essentially, "Surviving Christmas" tries to have it both ways. Under the guise of a Christmas film, Mitchell attempts to create a dark comedy and a heart-warm- ing family film. He fails, miserably, fall- ing somewhere safe in between the two. It's not quite offensive, but the comedy tests the limits of a PG-13 rating. Mitch- ell fails, Affleck fails and the film fails in every aspect except in making it difficult for the viewer to sit through the 90-min- ute wreck of a film. sees as pivotal to the American ideal of hip. To Leland, hip is romantic: Hip is about the dif- ferences between races, the intelligent, the ironic, the gays, the drug abusers, the misogynists. and the fringes of 8 r- _ - Michigan Union's Centennial Silent Auction How much would you pay? Chris Perry Signed Football.......$25 UM Alumni Lifetime Membership....$150 20 GB iPOD .............$100 Tom Brady Signed Football.........$35 Come to the Fifth Annual Housing Fair, where hundreds of U-M students will be searching for off- and on-campus housing options among displays from private landlords and University Housing. The City of Ann Arbor will have an informative exhibit and numerous commercial vendors will be promoting their housing-related goods and services. We encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to share experience and information about housing in the Ann Arbor area. Monday, October 25, 2004 1:00-5:30pm Michigan Union Ballroom There will be refreshments and give-aways, so come enjoy! We look forward to seeing you at the largest gathering of Ann Arbor's housing market. University Housing Staff Suite Seating for 2 for UM Hockey game??? Lunch with VPSA Royster Harper ???? Supporting the Michigan Union's Building and Scholarship fund.... Priceless! --?mow