0 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, December 6, 2006 - 5A Why we love to h .Snparpd At least six of the people in this picture are celebrities. We challenge you to find them all. Requiem for a dream ESTEVEZ'S TRIBUTE TO RFK OVERLY VAST, YET AFFECTING By SARAH SCHWARTZ DailyArts Writer Inequality, a nation at war, immigration prob- lems and an unpopular president - maybe the world hasn't changed so much since1968. Though these problems still plague S us today, they were also the * ** pet issues of presidential 5 candidate Bobby Kennedy Bobby in the late '60s. Would his At Showcase presidency have produced a W TC different world if he hadn't been assassinated on the campaign trail? Writer/ director Emilio Estevez's "Bobby" is an ode to that hopeful ideal. It's an ambitious project. "Bobby" sets up Ken- nedy as a demi-god, single-handedly able to bring together the races, stop the Vietnam War and right all wrongs. Estevez ("The Mighty Ducks") layers news shots of Vietnam, bombs falling, race riots, Dr. King's assassination and Kennedy's campaign between Bobby's speeches, making him out to be the hope of the nation, a man who could change the country for the better. "Bobby" convincingly sets up Kennedy's effect on the nation by following the lives of ordinary people visiting, living or working at L.A.'s Ambas- sador Hotel on the day of the California primary and his assassination. A too-vast array of A, B and C-List celebrities filter through the movie, including Demi Moore ("G. I. Jane") as a boozy lounge singer, Anthony Hopkins ("Silence of the Lambs") as the retired door manager and Lind- say Lohan ("Mean Girls") as a young girl about to marry a friend to save him from the draft (Elijah Wood, "Lord of the Rings"). Even teen stars Joshua Jackson (TV's "Dawson's Creek"), Nick Cannon ("The Underclassmen") and Shia LaBeouf ("Holes") appear as idealistic campaign workers. Despite an overwhelming stream of recogniz- able talent, each role demands sufficient screen time and a decent storyline - but the rich cast is stuck with disjointed subplots that hardly get resolved. The characters aren't given much to do and, since many don't get the screen time neces- sary, they demand little emotional investment. Despite these setbacks and dialogue limita- tions, some actors, including William H. Macy ("Edmond") and Helen Hunt ("Twister") bring substance to their roles, transforming parts of the movie from its inherent "pet-project" nature to a slice-of-life experience. Freddy Rodriguez (TV's "Six Feet Under") plays a busboy involved in two larger storylines. His racist employer (Christian Slater, "True Romance") won't let him off to see the Dodgers' game, so he gives his tickets to Edward (Laurence Fishbourne, "The Matrix"), who, in appreciation, draws a crown on the wall, writing "the once and future king" - quite a thank-you for free tickets. Though he and Jose have a strong bond, the words heavy- handedly allude to the King Arthur legend - appropriate given the Kennedys' Camelot leg- acy. One of the movie's most effective moments is that same wall and quote later splattered with Kennedy's blood. The only character uncast is Kennedy him- self, as Estevez rightly depicts him through stock footage alone. Though there is a body stand-in seen walking through doors, Kennedy's face is only seen from old recordings. Showing a look-a- like's face would only take away from Kennedy's unmatchable quality. So when Cannon is called in for a meeting with the big-name politician, it's behind a closed door. We don't ever get to see Bobby's face, but we certainly witness the won- der and joy on Cannon's as he walks back out. Even the assassination scene is shot through Bobby's eyes - the camera moves along the hands and smiles of his well-wishers, and then, suddenly, a gun. After all the optimism and expectation Estevez places on this man's shoul- ders, the moments that follow the gunshot are truly gut-wrenching. "Bobby's" audience, like its characters, feels his death acutely. A s of late, Britney S Brazilian-waxed, ried-two-children girl pudenda has been sme all over the online gossip s TMZ. What Would Tyler I Do. Perez Hilton. The Sup Multiple blogs. I have seen more photographs of this specific celebrity crotch than I have ever desired to. And, obvi- ously, now I have to talk about it. It seems like the Daily Arts pop- culture column series can't go a calendar year with- out at least one Britney Spears-dedicated installm multiple, superficial news inches - see Amanda And brilliant column on Ms. Sp rapid degeneration (In def Britney, 9/19/05). I'll admi her "Greatest Hits" music collection is one of the few I've contributed to my apa ment's entertainmentco - alongside "Reservoir Do "Quills," appropriately - b not so much a staff-collect of Ms. Spears that brings h Daily page time and again. Is it possible not to talk pop star when she marries talented dancer-cum-rapp father of two other childre pops out two kids of her o year? Even when she effec stops touring and making Of course, that last bit bein she was once best known f Well, that and the impossil best immortalized - along her optimistic, some woul ignorant, naiveta - in a Ch Klosterman interview fort magazine. Don't forget the panying by James White p graphs. But the answer to the qu tion is yes. Sure, Spears is the best-selling female pop ists of all time. She has apt line (featuring the Curious Fantasy scents) and had, at point, a promising restaura cept (NyLa). But she hasn't actively working on any on these career or business ve of late, and those breasts, t - well, things happen who: have kids. Why is she still f Why do we reward her wit ther attention? Maybe a re letter to the editor, in resp to Punit Mattoo's gossip co last week, (Intoxication, se divorce, 11/29/06) is right i ing that Spears fulfills her; public figure by climbing b after unceremoniously tun down (though it remains to whether it's to any respect level). But if anything, her: behavior should have dimi her dwarf-star-scale celebr Instead Spears's face and n body parts are more visible than ever in the media. And it's because we love gossip - but the online gos just love it more. We go tra for this stuff, they put it on devour it, they update som - it's a vicious, celebrity-fu pears's cycle. I've-car- Previously, to get your daily or , white- weekly gossip dose, it was neces- ared saryto prowl the supermarket ites. checkout aisle. Buying tabloids, Durden my mom always told me, is kind erficial. of a shameful thing - this as she slipped a copy of National Enquirer under USA Today at Meijer. There's also the more recent rash of cheap celebrity weeklies (the y American version of OK!, the glorious, 2-cents-a- copy wonder of InTouch Weekly), but even these KIMBERLY are relegated to bathroom CHOU reading, or maybe avery quick minute at Borders ent of while you pretend tobe unable to paper find some obscure culture maga- rade's zine (same aisle, opposite shelves). 'ears What's so great about these gossip ense of sites is that you can peruse them t that in the sanctity of your own home. video You can divulge in every sordid 'DVDs detail about famous people you rt- might have never even heard of etion Lionel ichie's daughter is dating gs" and some guy named Brody? Find out ut it's about it. A cast member of"Entou- lve love ter to the about a Getting all r(an crotchety - online n) and wn in a and elsewhere. tively records? g what rage" might have a coke habit? or. Look it up. Some of these sites are ble body updated more frequently than with newsblogs; it's gossip 24/7. You can d say look at pictures of Britney Spears's tuck crotch anytime you want - and no Esquire one, except maybe your roommate, accom- will be around to judge you. hoto- Gossip sites are the new online pornography. As accessibility tes- has increased, the subject matter one of hasn't become less shameful, it's art- just easier to hide how much you erfume enjoy it. and The aforementioned TMZ, one WWTDD, Perez Hilton, The tnt con- Superficial. Pink is the New Blog. 'been Hollywood Tuna. IShad to reset i of my Internet browser homeage * ntures to a newspaper site when I real- hose abs ized I spent more time on Gawker n you (which is one of the lesser offend- famous? ers, although it also bills itself ass h fur- media gossip site) than anywhere cent else. At one point, I couldn't onse tell you exactly what happened lumn with Hezbollah this summer, x and but Brangelina's baby? All about n say- it. And I can tell you the pros role as a and cons of the new CondeNast ack up building's cafeteria. And how over- bling rated the Meatpacking District be seen has become. And Lindsay Lohan's able weekend activities. I felt like I was recent dying on the inside. Dying. nished Anyway, maybe it wouldn't be ity. as awkward for your roommate to ether walk in on you while you're on the now D-listed webpage instead of, say, Googling "DVDA ALLSTARS." trashy Then again, exactly why you're sip sites looking at Britney Spears's crotch wling shots might be harder to explain. line, we e more - Chou, too, wants to go Brazilian. teled E-mail her at kimberch@umich.edu. *Stone's overlooked tribute new to DVD By IMRAN SYED Cage, "National Treasure") and Will Daily Arts Writer Jimeno (Michael Pena, "Crash"). As officers of the Port Authority Police Considering the indelibility of Department, they were among the the material it dealt with and its cel- first responders to the scene and ebrated direc- - rushed in to rescue those trapped in tor, "World FILM: the flaming towers. But before they Trade Center" even make it to the elevator, one might right- SPECIAL tower - then the other - collapses, fully be called FEATURES: pinning them under tons of wreck- one of the most age with almost no hope of rescue. overlooked McLoughlin and Jimeno spend films of 2006. World Trade the whole day trapped under the At its release Center rubble, bones broken, throats last August, Paramount parched. This suffocating, dark the film posted berth gives the majority of the film only modest its setting. As the nation prepares box-office scores, despite a general- for war, the film still involves itself ly favorable critical response. Con- in only the struggle of the two police sidering the sorrow and despair we officers and their families, one very have come to associate with Ameri- small part of the world that day, but ca's most tragic day, it isn't a surprise the most important for us to consid- that many audiences stayed away. er now. In its ironically low-key nar- But Oliver Stone's ("JFK," "Pla- rative (this from the madman who toon," "Born on the Fourth of July") gave us the brazen nihilism of "Nat- film isn't about the unimaginable ural Born Killers"), "World Trade horror our nation was introduced Center" succeeds in doing what Wo that day; instead, it's the harrow- perhaps no film about this subject ing, yet uplifting story of two of just ever will again - creating a lasting, 20 people to be rescued from the heartfelt portrayal of the innocent wreckage at the World Trade Cen- victims of an act of unqualifiable ter site - John McLoughlin (Nicolas villainy. It's qu and sent Trade C never exi the poli tor has b the easy, avoiding shadows, these cla ed in the A na thr of( edition, a iet and beautiful, touching production process. The process of imental. In short, "World recreating the largest pile of rubble enter" is everything we the world has ever seen is discussed pected from Stone. Indeed, step by step, as are the origins of tically outspoken direc- the story. The most noteworthy fea- teen criticized for "taking turette, "Oliver Stone's New York," way out" with this film by isn't about the film's development, all but the most waning but that of its director. Stone was of politics. Stone addresses born and raised in New York, and ims in an interview includ- this featurette provides uncanny two-disc commemorative insight into the role the city played in making him depressed and politi- cally ambivalent early on, and ulti- tional tragedy, mately, a brash Vietnam vet who went to film school to become a true Hugh the eyes cinematic visionary. Stone also discusses the difficul- Oliver Stone. ties he endured in working "World Trade Center" through the restric- tive studio system, saying that dmitting that he did mean "United 93" paved the way for his for the film to be completely apo- litical. While the director doesn't shy away from criticizing the Bush Administration and the Iraq War (calling it "the wrong war"), he says those blunders shouldn't dominate our memory of Sept.11. Other than Stone's interview, the commemorative DVD also con- tains several making-of featurettes, each detailing different sides of the film and his film will pave the way for many others. And the others will be different from this quiet, unopin- ionated effort. As we move further from that still surreal tragedy and deeper into the disasters engaged in response, enduring, introspec- tive films about the aftermath of the event will soon emerge. And listening to Stone, it seems he hasn't yet said his last word, either.