The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, January 7, 2008 - 5A
Weezer frontman
returns to form
Are quiet young children ever not creepy?
By DAVID WATNICK
DailyArts Writer
In the 11 years since cult
favorite Pinkerton was released,
Weezer has done just about
everything possible to alienate
all but its most deranged and
shallow fans. Wrapping up a
downwardspiralthatbeganwith
2001's self-titled effort, 2005's
Make Believe seemed to be the
nail in the coffin. With sterile
production, embarrassing pop-
by-numbers ("Beverly Hills")
and lyrics worthy of that poem
you wrote
for 8th grade **,
health class
("We are all on Rivers
drugs yeah /
Give me some Cuomo
of that stuff"), Alone: The
Rivers Cuomo Home Record-
succeeded in ings of Rivers
guiding his Cuomo
band in their
graceful jump-
ing of the
shark.
Despite these debacles, Wee-
zer has remained commercially
viable, so a change of course
hasn't exactly been mandated.
Nonetheless, Cuomo -has taken
a sidestep with Alone, inviting
the old faithful to share once
more in his halcyon days with a
gift disc of (mostly) gems. Call it
submissive, defeatist or a telltale
sign of a washed-up artist, but
the decision to officially release
old demos was a good one. The
material is a hell of a lot better
than anything seen by Weezer in
the past decade.
Alone finds Cuomo playing
music with legitimate emotion,
a hallmark of the angst-ridden,
geek-rock that was subsequently
replaced in favor of pale imita-
tion (see: Green Album's "Hash
Pipe" and Maladroit's "Dope
Nose"). On the brooding, sui-
cidal dirge "The World We Love
So Much" - a Gregg Alexander
cover - Cuomo turns in a hair-
raising acoustic performance
that rivals "Tired of Sex" and
"Say It Ain't So" in sheer inten-
sity.
The same goes for the two
other covers found here. "Little
Diane" (Dion) is perhaps the
only Cuomo performance of
the 21st century with any sig-
nificant pulse, and certainly the
presence of Canadian alt-rock-
ers Sloan on this 2003 recording
helped coax it out of him. More
surprising is Cuomo's take on
Ice Cube's "The Bomb," which
alternates hyper-speed white-
boy rap with screaming atonal
guitar riffs.
The real appeal of the album
for most fans, however, will be
the inclusion of five songs from
unreleased space-rock opera
Songs From the Black Hole, a leg-
endary set of ambitious Cuomo
recordings scrapped in favor of
Pinkerton. The highlight ofthese
is unquestionably"BlastOff!," an
explosive rocker featuring loud-
quiet and stop-start dynamics,
and a perfectly placed vocoder
verse. It's catchy and crunchy,
on par with Weezer's all-time
best work. At only two minutes,
it's unfortunately too brief.
The churning "Superfriend"
and the reflective, piano-driven
"Longtime Sunshine" are also
decisive, albeit minor, pop-rock
triumphs of the lost album. And
though the Black Hole num-
Cuomo sings
with emotion
again on LP
hers are excellent - unless the
best still remain in the vault -
Pinkerton is the stronger album
and correct choice for release.
Of the rest of the set, the only
track with any staying power is
"Crazy One," a Green Album out-
take that, while better than any-
thing from the record, is little
more than a mid-tempo guilty
pleasure.
The only real failure is "This
Is The Way," an unthinkable
boyband-meets-R&B drum beat
disaster in the manner,.of The
Backstreet Boys' "The Call," but
lamer. Worse, it's supposedly an
outtake from Weezer's upcom-
ing album. So while Alone is an
enjoyable detour to the past, it
points to a bleak future - reaf-
firming that it's more rewarding
to look back than forward.
McEwan's epic novel
is beautifully adapted
on the big screen
By SARAH SCHWARTZ
Daily Arts Writer
It's difficult. to find the right
words to describe "Atonement."
Words have too much power
after this. They're frightening
things, able to
mutilate emo-
tions and ruin
lives. Not in Atonement
recent memory
has a film so At Quality16
successfully and Showcase
focused on the Working Title
devastating
force of words
as "Atonement" has.
The novel by Ian McEwan,
on which this film is based, is a
crowning achievement, and its
cinematic adaptation is excel-
lent as well. Director Joe Wright
("Pride & Prejudice") has made
a name for himself adapting lit-
erature to film, and he shows the
same care and ability to focus
in this work. Though second-
ary characters are introduced
in a rush, the movie never feels
as though it lost the essentials
that made the book so mesmeriz-
ing. The film is incredibly tight,
effortlessly shifting across years
and viewpoints. Wright shows
different perspectives of scenes,
cuttingback across time to replay
the pivotal moments between
Cecilia (Keira Knightley, "Pride
& Prejudice") and Robbie (James
McAvoy, "The Last King of Scot-
land") through their eyes and the
eyes of her sister Briony (new-
comer Saoirse Ronan).
It's Briony's unique interpre-
tation of events that sets every-
thing in motion. The movie
begins on the Tallis estate, where
precocious 13-year-old Briony
secretly witnesses the blooming
love between her sister Cecilia
and the housekeeper's son Rob-
bie. She considers herself a writ-
er, and the score is punctuatedby
the sounds of a typewriter. Her
sense for the dramatic prudish-
ness and use of imagination per-
haps makes what happens next
more understandable, but no less
ruinous. Unable to comprehend
what she sees, Briony's misun-
derstanding is directly respon-
sible for Robbie's involvement in
World War II.
"Atonement" then smoothly
shifts, focusing on the war and
the home front. Robbie began
as the quintessential good man,
filled with hope and life. The
Atonement'
finds turmoil
and pain in
silent moments
extraordinary transformation
in McAvoy's eyes by the end of
the movie portrays how much
was lost in him after Briony's
betrayal.
War can break men's bodies,
as seen in the horrors of the hos-
pitals where Briony worked, but
words can also kill a man's soul.
The scenes of broken men, physi-
cally and emotionally, force the
audience to wonder which pain
is worse.
The movie is about more than
the division between truth and
lies, fact and fiction. It's also the
juxtaposition of noise and quiet,
words and silence. Movies are
noisy things, but "Atonement"
makes the audience explore the
quiet moments, when words fail
or are not needed.
The idea of "coming back,"
either from anger and pain or
guilt, is weaved throughout
each storyline. Cecilia whispers
"come back to me" to Robbie as
he's taken away, but it's also a
part of Briony's story as well. She
has to come back from the con-
sequences of her actions to make
amends. And eventually, Briony
uses words to try to achieve her
redemption, but after a movie
filled with their destructive
power, it's hard to imagine them
being used to create hope.
ARTS IN BRIEF
Back to the
Futurama'
Film: k*
Extras: ***
"Futurama: Bender's Big Score"
20th Century Fox
When "Family Guy" returned
after a three-year cancellation, the
move drew cheers from scores of
devoted geeks who had memorized
the show's catch phrases. And
now, Matt Groening's "Futurama"
returns after a four-year cancel-
lation in the form of a straight-
to-DVD feature, "Bender's Big
Score."
Though the plot of "Bender's,"
in which a group of naked aliens
use spam e-mails to take over
the world, is somewhat erratic,
the strength of the show has
always been its characters, not
its plotlines. And though all the
members of the 30th Century com-
pany Planet Express - from lewd,
cigar-smoking robot Bender (John
DiMaggio) to crass but earnest
Fry (Billy West, "Doug") - tend
to occupy a similar moral
low ground, the sight
gags and quick dialogue
exchanges are enough
to keep fans of similar
character-based
shows (such as
Groening's most
notable project,
"The Simpsons")
entertained.
The disk's spe-
cial features
range from
an inscruta-
bly tedious
"Futurama
math les-
son" to a
so-bizarre-
it's-funny
. , "Hypnotoad"
show, featuring
nothing but a
swirly-eyed
toad that pur-
portedly keeps viewers entranced.
The highlight of these features is
an "Inconvenient Truth" promo
featuring an animated Al Gore, as
well as the real one chatting with
Groening. Never before have a
"cartoon boy" and a Nobel Peace
Prize winner kept such close com-
pany.
MARK SCHULTZ
Typical horror film
finds rare scares
"One Missed Call"
At Quality 16 and Showcase
Warner Bros
Have you seen "The Ring"?
Well, it seems those behind the
release of "One Missed Call" cer-
tainly have. In fact, the movie has
literally everything "The Ring"
does. Something terrible that hap-
pened to a child a long time ago,
a resulting curse, a foreboding
phone call and a fixed, period of
bizarre hallucinations before the
victim's demise. Seriously, they
could be twins.
Really, this shameless similarity
can't be blamed entirely on who-
ever is behind this version of the
film, because like "The Ring," it's
a remake of a Japanese film. How-
ever, unlike "The Ring," it's not a
good movie.
Unlike the much creepier video
tape featured in "The Ring," scenes
of demons being exorcised from
cell phones just don't pack much
punch. But since it shamelessly
rips off "The Ring," it does main-
tain some of its inspiration's better
elements, including a cohesive plot
and one or two actual scares - a
rarity in modern movies like this.
Despite being panned by crit-
ics across the country, all is not
as dark and bleak as some would
make it out to be. Although it
starts with a pretty preposterous
concept, it turns into something
almost watchable.
PAUL TASSI
Murder, as
only Depp
can
By BLAKE GOBLE
DailyArts Writer
Johnny Depp has created a pretty cozy
niche for his brand of acting.
He plays the quirkiest, kinkiest and most
phantasmagoric characters possible. And
Depp has managed to corner the market for
those roles. Now he's back with another mad
creation in Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd: the
Demon Barber of Fleet Street," a fast and furi-
ous macabre musical, where
blood flow is not only com-
mon, but also integral to the ***
story.
Benjamin Barker was Sweeny
once a well-respected hus- Todd: The
band and father, until he
was unjustly sent to prison Demon
only to return some years Barber of
later to his native London Feet Street
j bloodthirsty for revenge.
He wants to kill the men At Showcase
who sent him away, and and Quality16
will do whatever it takes Dreamworks
to get them in his deathly
barber's chair. With the
help of waif-like meat pie matron Mrs. Lovett
(Helena Bonham Carter, "Conversations
with Other Women") and his skilled blades,
Barker transforms into the depraved Swee-
ney Todd.
At the base level, "Todd" is a "revenge
musical." Blood is let. Songs are sung. The
audience has a general feeling of unease. But
it's an overall satisfying experience. "Todd" is
a great work of acting, singing and production.
It's about a man looking for "bleeders," only to
find too many. Ironically cheery music dis-
turbs the landscape. London, like Todd, has
a scuzzy, baroque and gothic presence. The
setting, a bleak backdrop to an even bleaker
story, makes the film look great. When Depp
Singing makes sense here.
first emerges, his demeanor and hair grab the
audience's attention right away. Every charac-
ter has an eerily carnivalesque presence that
demands attention, even when they upstage
each other.
Though Depp showcases yet another mem-
orable character, he's not the best character in
this film. The cast in "Todd" is a strong and
talented ensemble of British actors, such as
Alan Rickman ("Die Hard") as the wicked
and malicious Judge Turpin, who sent Barker
away in hopes of accosting Barber's wife and
daughter. Timothy Spall ("Enchanted") has
the best greasy sneer you'll ever see as Beadle
Bamford, Turpin's lackey and Todd's link to
the judge. Sacha Baron Cohen ('Borat") works
all 10 minutes of his screen time to perfection
as Signor Pirelli, a flamboyant Italian barber
and Todd's adversary. All of the cast mem-
bers work together to create a great group of
loons.
But the best performance in Todd belongs
to Helena Bonham Carter, who steals the film
as Mrs. Lovett. Boasting the "worst pies in
London" the second we meet her, she's a tiny
force to be reckoned with. Strangely attrac-
tive, doe-eyed beautiful and barking mad,
Carter is perfect in this film and grabs atten-
tion every second she's on screen. When she
dreams of romantic bliss with Todd, even her
picturesque dreams of sunshine are ruined
by her own filthy existence in London. She's
the heart of "Todd," both the film and the
man. She's crazy for Todd, and convinces him
to turn his practice murders into pies. Yes,
human pies.
The only real weakness comes from two
subplots involving Todd and two younger
boys. Pirelli's apprentice latches on to Lovett,
only to deliver some last minute surprises.
The other is the story of Anthony Hope (Jamie
Campbell Bower, "The Dinner Party") who
first arrives in London with Todd only to fall
in love with Todd's daughter. Please.
"Todd" is a strong piece of Gothic film as
well as a return to form for Burton ("Pee-wee's
Big Adventure"). Boasting many memorable
performances and a haunting atmosphere,
"Todd" doesn't get bogged down in the usual
triteness of other musicals, like singing out of
place to express one's emotions. "Todd" is far
more chilling than that.