The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
Monday, February 4, 2008 - 5A
Spending a summer with three hippies, two fat guys and some random girl: Priceless.
Ringo's.
solid de!
overpro
By MATT RONEY
Daily Music Editor
For an album so thematically
obsessed with
peace and *
love, Liver-
pool8 traveled Ringo Starr
something of
a rocky road Liverpool8
to release. Capital
Initially, the
record was set
to come out last June, but after
a bit of a falling out between
Ringo and his long-time produc-
er Mark Hudson, the release was
pushedbacktoJanuary.Accord-
ing to one story, the two rock
veterans disagreed on synthe-
sized sounds - Ringo is appar-
ently quite taken with thetn,
while Hudson prefers good old
bass, guitar and drums.
No offense to Ringo, but in
this case, he should've listened
to his producer. Though Liver-
pool8 is certainly a good album,
with the roots-rock feel you'd
expect from a man with Ringo's
background,itsuffersfromabad
case of overproduction. It's so
slick that it can feel too canned
for rock'n'roll. The most grating
issue here is an odd penchant
for way-too-filtered group back-
ing vocals. This makes the oth-
erwise fine and bluesy "Think
About You" sound disturbingly
like a Shania Twain single.
Sometimes you just want to
shake him, because, in this case,
less would have been more.
Fortunately, Liverpool 8's
sparkly finish is its only hon-
est-to-God flaw, and the songs
themselves are for the most part
verygood. The much-hyped sin-
gle "Liverpool 8" is a rousing bit
of Springsteen-esque arena roek
where Ringo sings about his
hometown and life experiences,
first as a sailor and then as a
Beatle, with disarming fondness
and honesty. So what if some of
his rhymes - "When I look back
/ it sure was cool / for those
four boys / from Liverpool," for
example - are a tad ill advised?
He sounds so damn sincere
that, having grown up on foot-
age of "The Ed Sullivan Show"
and the record-breaking Shea
latest is
spite
duction
Stadium concert, it's impossible
not to melt a bit. Wonderful pop
songs like "Give It a Try," old-
ies-sounding tracks like "If It's
Love That You Want" and the
slower, more meditative "Love
Is" combine to show that Ringo
Starr really is one of rock's few
true elder statesmen. They even
serve to smooth over some of
Liverpool 8's missteps, like the
faux-Spanish "Pasodobles."
In the right context, even
Ringo's obsession with effects
can work out for the best. "Gone
Are the Days" opens with an
electronic drone that roughly
approximates the sound of a
Like the
Beatles but
without John,
Paul or George
sitar (though it's hard to imag-
ine that an actual sitar wouldn't
have sufficed). You can almost
feel George Harrison's influence
comingthrough. Whenthesong,
almost half finished, leaves its
backtracked vocals behind and
opens up into surf-rock harmo-
nies and just-twangy-enough
guitars, you can see where he
was going with it all.
The album finishes with "R U
Ready?" abluegrassymeditation
on death with lyrics that bring
to mind the Beatles's fabled trip
to India. It's a genuinely uplift-
ing song with Ringo's trademark
endearing wit - see "Krishna
was a good man / Why was he
so blue?" Ironically, though the
song has the feel of an after-
thought, it's one of Liverpool 8's
strongest moments After the
final slide guitar solo ends and
the saloon piano plinks its last, a
stray bit of studio chatter sums
up why. "That's the real thing,
isn't it?" the voice asks. Liver-
pool 8 is at its best when it's at
its most real, when Ringo's kind
and loving demeanor manages
to shine through the flashy stu-
dio work.
A Strange' success
oui
that
and
"Str
good f
funny
Che
dashed
movie
was m
But th
matter
best
efficie
comed
a tru]
exerci:
absurd
edy th
lot bet
should
ke (St
second
dernes
An impressive dumbasses.
Gaulke inherited the show, a
tcome for a film low-rated program about wildlife,
from his father. Now it's being
was poorly made threatened with cancellation,
but for good reason. This is by far
poorly conceived the crappiest thing on television,
even for the three-in-the-morn-
By BLAKE GOBLE ing slot.
Daily Arts Writer Before Gaulke's piece on
"pygmy" people, he hops out of
ange Wilderness" is not a an SUV with loads of garbage to
ilm. It's just a surprisingly dispose of in the environment.
one. He can't afford to research top-
ap-looking and slap- less "Bush" women, so he just
, the overall feel of this throws some hay skirts on some
is that it Long Beach girls. Gaulke even airs
ade lazily. a man being eaten by a crocodile
ratdoesn't because "people might watch it."
. Like the They need something consequen-
and most Strange tial, or else.
nt sketch Wilderness This is where the journey to find
y, this is Bigfoot is born. Not that it ulti-
ly bizarre AtShowcase mately matters because the quest
se in and Quality16 merely acts as a loose outline for
ist com- Leveli/Happy the "Strange" guys to do strange
at works a Madison shit. Mixing road, stoner and just
ter than it plain weird comedy, the movie
. This is about Peter Gaul- lives up to its title, and that's a
eve Zahn, "Sahara"), the good thing.
lary host of "Strange Wil- Penis gags are met with fowl-
s," and his crew of likeable mouthed ranting and raving.
Hospital visits are the norm, for
both creature and human relat-
ed injury. Bong hits and animal
abuse interrupt filming - not that
it makes a difference since these
fools have no idea what they're
talking about anyway. Relent-
lessly violent, trippy or just plain
perverse, "Strange" is an odd look
at nature.
First and foremost, this film is
helped by its diverse comic pedi-
gree. The well-respected Ernest
Borgnine (Best Picture win-
ner "Marty") cameos, in what's
probably his first utterance of
pot talk. Justin Long ("Live Free
of Die Hard") is the perpetually
dazed . new cameraman whope
drug-induced non-sequiturs add
obscure texture. When looking at
a floating pink fish, he asks "Why
is that thong floating away?" Just
ignore the hammy Jonah Hill - in
cocky post-"Superbad" mode -
and everyone gets a laugh in "Wil-
derness."
Steve Zahn works his ass off,
and it should be noted that, for the
most, part he succeeds. The guy
deserves more credit than he gets.
Playing second fiddle for most of
his career, Zahn's an underrated
workhorse. Giving credible charm
and laughs in crap like "Daddy
Day Care" or "Riding in Cars with
Boys," Zahn's a funny guy, and you
might finally realize that after see-
ing this.
But the funniest parts of this
movie, even after they were given
away in the trailer - a death
wish for comedies - are the ani-
mal footage commentaries. Steve
Zahn, with a sincere and boyish
naivet6, gives napkin-note-worthy
takes on what kinds of creatures
we see. He explains that term
bears is derived from a Chicago
football team. Mating lions get the
funky guitar noises and porno-
style shouts of "oh yeah." And he
explains that puffer fish grow big
-by sucking their testicles in. Wait,
what?
This is strange, but funny.
It should be noted that this film
wasn't screened for critics, and
that's probably for good reason.
This is a shoddily made film, with
a sense of humor that reeks of late
bong hits. "Strange Wilderness"
is a difficult sell: a dumb comedy,
made unique by its lazy energy.
ARTS IN BRIEF
FILM FILM
Comedy tries to Another bland film
redefine 'til death in a string of That joke
do us part' horror remakes . 'fu n
isntt funny
Over Her Dead Body
At Quality 16 and Showcase
New Line Cinema
Kate (Eva Longoria Parker,
"TheHeartbreakKid") isthegirl-
friend from hell - crazy, control-
ling and extremely shrill. So it's
almost a relief when she's killed
within the first few minutes by
a falling ice angel. Unluckily for
us, and the rest of the characters,
Kate comes back. This time it's
to stop Ashley (newcomer Lake
Bell) - a fake psychic who can
actually see Kate - from dating
her husband-to-be, Henry (Paul
Rudd, "Knocked Up").
"Over Her Dead Body" is a
slightly warmed-over comedy
with scenes and characters we've
seen many times before. There's
the psychic who can actually see
the ghost from "Ghost," there's
the exorcism scene from "Just
Like Heaven" and the inevitable
gay sidekick from... from, well,
just about anything. The film
just forgets to add anything new,
funny or even remotely interest-
ing.
You can't blame the actors
here. The entire cast strains so
hard to make this movie some-
thing more than just a throw-
away romantic comedy you
almost feel sorry for them. Bell
and Rudd make an attractive pair
but there's no chemistry between
them. Likewise for the rest of the
film, as all the elements are there
but none of it comes together.
This film's too harmless to be
truly bad. At worst, it'll provide
moderate entertainment for an
hour and a half. After that, it'll
never cross your mind again.
SHERI JANKELOVITZ
The Eye
At Quality 16 and Showcase
Lions Gate
Anotheryear,anotherremake
of an Asian language horror
film. "The Ring" (2002), "The
Grudge" (2004), "Dark Water"
(2005) and "One Missed Call"
(2008) were all remakes, and
"The Eye," directed by French
filmmakers David Moreau and
Xavier Palud, follows suit.
It's a passable rehash of a film
that didn't need to be remade.
Still, like all Hollywood films
spawned from artistic laziness
and the sheer refusal on the
part of studio execs to attempt
anything remotely risky, it's
ultimately forgettable.
Sydney (Jessica Alba, "Sin
City") is a blind violinist who,
after receiving an eye trans-
plant that restores her vision
- the donor, a woman who had
recently died - begins experi-
encingstrange hallucinations of
shadowy figures and a bizarre
tragedy involving fire that may
or may not have occurred in the
past.
The problem is, we've seen all
of this before. Besides the fact
that it's aremakevirtually every
aspect of "The Eye" is borrowed
liberally from somewhere else.
"The Ring" (2002), "The Sixth
Sense" (1999) and "Ghost"(1990)
all fall under the chopping block
here, but the pieces are never
formed into anything cohesive
or even remotely unique. "The
Eye" strains to achieve, but can't
overcome one simple hurdle: It's
a remake of an already contrived
film.
BRANDON CONRADIS
anymore
By CHRIS GAERIG
ManagingArts Editor
There's a moment at the end of "Antenna," an
episode from the fifth season
of "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," Aqua Teen
when the near-Dadaist, Adult
Swim montage comes to a Hunger
strange yet wholly appropri- Force
ate realization: After Master
Shake is tricked into climb- Season 5 DVD
ing an interplanetary tower, Warner Bros.
he's confronted by a group of
aliens who tell him, "you are
the (television) show" before broadcasting him
on every network in the world. Strange though
it may be, the ensuing scene - Frylock, Meat-
wad and their despicable neighbor Carl are
mesmerized by Shake's broadcast, wading in
filth from prolonged viewing stasis - plays as
the punchline to this moment's meta-joke, pos-
iting Master Shake as mindless entertainment
even in his own show.
After five seasons and a full-length film,
"Aqua Teen" has found itself with a near-dry
well of spastic humor and offensive sight gags.
Born of senseless violence and incoherent drug
trips, "Aqua Teen" has proven itself the most
beloved and often incomprehensible of the
Adult Swim animated shows. But where the
show was once impossibly innovative and full
of I-never-would've-thought-of-that moments,
it now feels run-down and mundane, using
not only recurring characters but, essentially,
recurring plotlines.
This is not to say it's all gloom and doom
in the animated wonderland that comprises
"Aqua Teen" - though the episode "Grim
Reaper Gutters" from this season might argue
otherwise. The show still carries some of the
originality and ingenuity it saw in its first few
seasons. The episode "Boost Mobile" critiques
increasing consumerism and blatant whoring
shat happened to all of the leftover Super Sized food.
of public ad space as Master Shake virtually
sells his soul for Boost Mobile phones, chains
and sunglasses. Meanwhile, "Bart Oates" jokes
An absurdist fast food
comedy that's not as
fresh as it used to be
that former New York Giants center Bart Oates
is actually a robot from the future, looking to
stop the creation of "Terminator" and hence-
forth limiting human's awareness of the ani-
matronic takeover.
But for every great episode, there are ones
like "Dickesode." Downright offensive in its
conception and animation, the plot revolves
around a Chinese restaurant that, in their
fortune cookies, threatens to cut the patron's
dick off - all in an effort to allow an oversized
humanoid penis the ability to travel back to his
home planet ("Dickplanet") in a ship made of
dicks ("Dickship"). Um, sure.
Where exactly does a show like "Aqua Teen"
go from here? This show has covered such a
wide range of topics and grilled so many public
affairs that it seems almost out of material. But
it also seems like a show that should have an
unlimited amount of ideas given the flexibility
of its platform.
It will then come down to whether or not the
writers are able to sift through their half-baked
ideas and harvest the ones that are truly hilari-
ous. In any case, season five seems to be the
crossroad: From here, "Aqua Teen" can either
catapult to greater work or stagnate and settle
for lackluster episodes and flat, dry jokes. But
if this season's extras are any indication - a
mass of completely inane and worthless short
clips - the show is tending towards the lat-
ter. Unfortunate for a show that once made 2D,
multi-colored pixels seem the most devious and
hilariously terrifyingcreatures to visit earth.
SHOW: ***
EXTRAS:*