The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom

Monday, October 22, 2007 - 5A

Don't'Draw,' drop
the curtain on Hoge

"Franny and Zooey" in India, sort of.

Wes's genre
It's all in the (neurotic and dysfunctional) family

By NOAH DEAN STAHL
Daily Arts Writer
You might label "The Darjeel-
ing Limited" a comedy, a drama
or even a Satya-
jit Ray tribute,
* but in truth, ****
the film fits into
only one genre: The Dadeel-
Wes. ing Limited
In his fifth
feature, writer- At the
director Wes Michigan
Anderson takes Theater
us on a journey Fox Searchlight
across India
with three
estranged brothers, employing
all of his trademark compositions
and techniques. The siblings
travel in search of spirituality
and a familial closeness that can
only come from a vacation bound
to an itinerary.
A frenzied cab ride with a
cameo from Anderson trouper
Bill Murray ("Broken Flowers")
starts the show, leading the film
to a crowded train station. Enter-
ing at a full-on sprint is Peter
(Adrien Brody, "The Pianist"), a
member of the picture's primary

By CAITLIN COWAN
Daily Arts Writer
Will Hoge needs your sympa-
thy - he's a "burned out junkie
truck stop saint" with a "suitcase
full of empty
dreams" and
a "head full of
Hank Williams Will Hoge
songs."
Apparently, Drawthe
he also has a Curtains
raging case of Rykodisc
cliche bullshit
syndrome.
Every scrap of press surround-
ing the Nashville-born singer
promises things like straightfor-
ward rock'n'roll, blue-eyed soul
and working-class sensibilities,
none of which he commands.
And though his bland songs are
the Wonder Bread of the music
industry, his website proclaims
that he "eschews all gimmicks"
and brings "energy and passion
to an idiom that sometimes seems
devoid of inventiveness."
Exactly which idiom Hoge
is trying to reinvent, however,
remains a mystery. Hoge has
been compared to everyone from
Bruce Springsteen to American
Idol winner Taylor Hicks. But to
say that Hoge sounds like Bruce
Springsteen would be equivalent
to declaring that eating at Olive
Garden is no different from din-
ing at a waterside trattoria in
Venice.
Hoge sounds like everyone
else: a trait that doesn't bode
well for him or his latest album
Draw the Curtains. He casts his
net wide and sucks in everything
around him. He doesn't sound
like his influences (Otis Redding,
Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters),
he sounds like he's aping them.
Draw the Curtains sounds like
a first effort, a stab at the majors.
But Hoge has released two stu-
dio albums and almost a dozen
live and independent cuts prior
to this release. At this stage in a
musical career, it's time to grow
up, find your sound and polish
your craft. Instead, Hoge's latest
album sounds like the misguided
endeavor of a singer-songwriter
fresh from the college bar scene.
At his best, Hoge's smoky
voice is shaded with sincerity.
The plaintive acoustic "I'm Sorry
Now" and the title track thank-

trio, who appears alongside Mur-
ray, jumping onto a train called
The Darjeeling Limited. Brody's
introduction to the film is ush-
ered in by abeautiful slow-motion
shot accompanied by The Kinks's
"This Time Tomorrow," one of
three songs the band contributes
to the movie.
The fast-paced intro might be
Anderson's attempt at an action
sequence, but with Murray in the
back seat, it's hard not to crack a
smile.
Wading through packed train
cars, Peter reaches the first-class
compartment where brother Jack
(Jason Schwartzman, "Rush-
more") is situated, and soon they
are joined by Francis (Owen
Wilson, "Wedding Crashers").
Though the mood of the gather-
ing is somewhat somber - it's
been a year since the brothers last
saw each other at their father's
funeral - Wilson's ever-recog-
nizable grin peaking through a
mass of bandages brings an unde-
niable joviality to the scene.
Thus begins their odyssey,
coordinated by Francis, the most
audible and emphatic about
restoring a brotherly bond. His

almost youthful enthusiasm is
reminiscent of Wilson's first act-
ing role as Dignan in Anderson's
"Bottle Rocket."
Traveling through India by
train, the brothers set out to
appreciate and pray at all of the
religious hot spots in hopes of
finding themselves, yet their
greatest cultural finding comes
in the shady purchase of a poi-
sonous snake. The simple crux is
that these brothers are entirely
self-possessed despite partici-
pating in a trip revolving around
selflessness and familial togeth-
erness. Welcome to the Whitman
family.
Shortly after getting kicked off
the train, the brothers happen
upon three young Indian boys in
peril. Having essentially given up
on the notion of spirituality and
finding themselves, they inad-
vertently stumble upon a shot at
redemption.
The script, with writing con-
tributions from Roman Coppola
and Schwartzman, is rife with
candor, pathos and caustic com-
edy ("We'll stop feeling sorry for
ourselves. It's not very attrac-
tive," says their mother). Robert

Yeoman's crisp photography is
nearly flawless, capturing both
the stunning Indian landscapes
and Darjeeling "Savoury Snacks"
with rich precision.
The film is an entertaining
depiction of dysfunction and the
struggles to reach out and mend
the often-ailing bonds of family,
but Anderson's famous ability to
convey sentimentality and emo-
tion in a melancholy and come-
dically offbeat way comes up
short. The plot feels incomplete,.
lacking the emotional depth that
made "The Royal Tenenbaums"
Anderson's masterpiece. Perhaps
it's the writing partnership with
Wilson (who co-wrote "Bottle
Rocket," "Rushmore" and "The
Royal Tenenbaums") that brings
out the best in Anderson.
"The Darjeeling Limited" is
sure to please Anderson's cult
fanbase, if only because the movie
will give it a fix. As a member of
the loyal group, I know the film's
shortcomings won't really mat-
ter to most Anderson devotees,
but the regular filmgoer in me
recognizes a smart, sad, funny
movie that doesn't quite bring it
together.

fully sound less likethe galumph-
ing blues rip-offs that clutter the
rest of the album, and are the
best tracks on the disc for that
reason. But at his worst, he slogs
through a morass of tired blues
riffs and awkward expressions.
He forces his voice to growl and
bend in places it shouldn't.
"Washed by the Water" is
almost insulting in its shame-
less derivation of everything
from blues to gospel and back
again. Hoge sings about the bro-
ken levees of New Orleans while
backed by a boisterous choir and
driving piano. This would be an
acceptable topic if Hoge hadn't
seen fit to sing the song in an
exaggerated vernacular that
isn't his own: "Damned old levy
/ Well they knew that it would
go / Been talking 'bout it / since
before my daddy's born / Ain't
nobody listen to what apoor man
has to say."
His countrified slang and sense
of solidarity with the city's dis-
placed inhabitants comes with-
out any warning, and it seems
A clear-cut
case of cliche
bullshit
syndrome.
disingenuous to toss in a song
about a politically and racially-
charged event in the middle of
an album that sounds more like a
long night of drinking than a call
to social consciousness. It's not
his story to tell.
It isn't the corny lyrics or
pedestrian tunes that kill this
album, it's the fact that Hoge
seems to have no idea who he is.
He grasps at the idiosyncracies
of other singers instead of taking
hold of his own, and the result is
abysmal.
On the album's last track, "The
Highway's Home," Hoge sings in
a somber tone, "Fill the tank /
I'm movin' on ... /I'm sorryhoney
/ But this highway's home."'But
after digesting an hour's worth
of his bogus blues, there's no
need for Hoge to apologize - he
just needs to leave.



ARTS IN BRIEF

TV

FILM

Nothing going for '30 Days' of gory
'Aliens' mediocrity

"Aliens in America"
Mondays at 8:30 p.m.
CW
When Lucille Bluth on
"Arrested Development" adopt-
ed a Korean boy, the writers of
"Aliens in America" must have
thought, "Hey, we could focus
a whole show on this. But let's
be even more contemporary and
make the kid a Muslim. Good
idea, right?" Wrong.
Franny(AmyPietz, "Rodney")
and Gary Tolchuk (Scott Patter-
son, "Gilmore Girls") adopt what
they expect to be a handsome
Brit to befriend their dorky son
Justin (Dan Byrd, "The Hills
Have Eyes"). Instead, they get a
Pakistani Muslim, Raja (Adhir
Kalyan), which is oh-so-shock-
ing because, you know, he's a
Middle Eastern Muslim.
It's supposedly a victory
that Franny and Gary eventu-
ally learn to accept Raja, if only
because they find out he has no
parents to go home to. They still
seem to have a problem with
daughter Claire's black boy-
friend, though.
Who is supposed to enjoy
this?
Focusing a whole show
around ne'er-do-well types and
the reasons they shouldn't adopt
children is exhausting, and
Franny and Gary's actions go
from whimsical to contemptu-
ous rather quickly.
As "Arrested Development"
taught us, it's an art to make a
series populated with unlikable
characters, and "Aliens" is no
"Mona Lisa."
MARK SCHULTZ

"30 Days of Night"
At Quality 16 and Showcase
Columbia
Horror films don'twantto mess
withourheads anymore. Instead,
they focus on gory images that
shock slightly more than their
accompanying sound effects. "30
Days of Night" - the debut of the
pre-Halloween scary-movie sea-
son - is indicative of this trend.
Adapted from a graphic novel,
it's to be expected that "30 Days"
will be visually geared toward
provocative, austere images. The
movie doesn't fail there, but it
relies too heavily on visuals and
not enough on the story or its
potential to terrify.
As the last sun for a month sets
over the northern-most Alaskan
city, the citizens become victim
to unexplainable incidences: a
helicopter is destroyed, all cell
phones go missing and the elec-
tricity goes out. Hell, even the
sled dogs are maimed. Sheriff
Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett,
"Resurrecting the Champ") and
his estranged wife Stella (Melissa
George, "Turistas") struggle to
maintain order and calm. This
becomes slightly more difficult
when vampires cut all electricity
in the town and begin ravaging
the citizens.
After an hour, the awkwardly
and barely inhuman vampires'
faces become ineffectual, their
ear-piercing shrieks obnoxious.
It's not scary if it's repetitive,
and it's not scary if it's irritating.
Instead of two hours of vicarious
horror, we are left with fleeting,
half-hearted scares.
ELIE ZWIEBEL

ABC recovers
hit sitcom
formula?
By DAVE REAP
For the Daily
After a nine-month stint on Broadway,
Christina Applegate ("Married with Chil-
dren") makes her return
to primetime in ABC's
new comedy "Samantha **
Who?" As Samantha Newly,
Applegate takes on the role Samaltha
of a 30-something retro- Wliho?
grade amnesiac who, while
attempting to piece together Mondays at
her former life, realizes she 9:30 p.m.
used tobe a total bitch. ABC
While the premise seems
simple - woman loses mem-
ory, woman tries to get old life back - it takes
some unexpected turns.After sufferingahead
injury from a hit-and-run, Samantha awakens
from an eight-day comma unable to remember
anything or anybody from her past.
Instead of divulging the details of her past
life, the people around Samantha decide not
to tell her that she was so disliked. But almost
immediately after Samantha is released from
the hospital, she realizes something is a little
off.
Samantha quickly discovers she was cheat-
ing on her boyfriend, is a recovering alcoholic,
has only one friend and hasn't spoken to her
parents in two years. It doesn't take long for
her to figure out that she may not want her
old life back, and that her recent accident
has given her an opportunity to turn her life
around.
If "Samantha Who" is short on wit, the
absurdity of Samantha's situation gives it
its legs. The idea that Samantha's associates
would use her condition for their own ben-
efit is contrived but makes for good televi-
sion. Her parents use her amnesia to dig their
way back into her life while her only friend,

Applegate bounces back from "Married with Children."
Andrea (Jennifer Esposito, "Spin City"),
belittles her accident so she can regain her
sidekick. The one friend who seems like she
might do Samantha some good, Dena (Melissa
McCarthy, "Gilmore Girls"), uses Samantha's
situation to slip back into her life after years
of separation.
If for nothing else, it's worth watching a
Stick the amnesia bit.
Leave seriousness
at the door.
half hour of the show for the few minutes it
flashes back to Samantha's life before the acci-
dent. Applegate is let loose, no longer confined
to the cute innocent girl, and she draws laughs
by transforming into a batshit caricature of
Samantha. Judging from the pilot, it seems
Applegate can easily take on the lead role of a
TV series, and she interacts well with her sup-
porting cast that many television regulars.
"Samantha" also provides an alternative to
the chiefly action-driven shows of this times-
lot like NBC's "Heroes" and Fox's "K-Ville."
Its cool lightness makes for easy viewing and
cheap laughs, a welcome respite from trans-
parently testosterone-fueled shows.

It's all about
the grind
By MICHAEL PASSMAN
Daily TV/New MediaEditor
It's been six years since "Tony
Hawk's Pro Skater 3" was released,
and it's been six years since the
non-skateboarding public noticed
a skateboarding
video game. The $ @
"Hawk" franchise
has put out seven Xbox 360
games since "3," EA
but the novelty
of the franchise
wore off long ago. The more recent
games have marginalized the series
to appeal onlyto Thrasher subscrib-
ers.
So it seems as though the market-
place is ripe for a new, more main-
stream and friendly skateboarding
game. EA's "Skate" is not that game.
In fact, "Skate" is about as far as a
skateboarding game can conceiv-
ably get from any semblance of mass
appeal. EA's new sim, is the poor
man's "Madden" to early "Tony
Hawk"'s "Blitz."
As a sim, the game succeeds for
the most part. "Skate" rewards play-
ers for embracing the technical side
of skateboarding. Manipulating the
right analog stick lets players ollie,
perform flip-tricks, grind and man-
ual. The more complicated the ges-
ture and the faster it's execution, the
more points a player racks up.
Adjusting to the right analog con-
trol-scheme is difficult at first, but
proficiency comes with time. Unfor-
tunately, a consistently enjoyable
experience does not: This can be a
tedious, unforgiving game. Playing
"Skate" often felt like work, which
it technically was, even though it's a
video game. Even the career mode is
See SKATE, Page 8A