The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Tuesday, January 8, 2008 - 5 The tragedy of life s ~ wilight Dark film's dreary yet realistic depiction of aging difficult to watch By Blake Goble Daily Arts Writer here's a speech by pro- Bosco, TV tagonist Jon Savage mid- Savage (the way through Tamara Seymour H Jenkins' "the Savages" that teaches c essentially sums up the entire performan film. Upon being confronted lazily work with the issue of putting his about Brec father in a nursing home, Jon be going no breaks down, and starts yelling age, (the al words like "shit" and "piss" and ney, "Kinse "smells" and "death"to describe unsuccessf the sad truths makingent of old age. In get the desi other words, respect ne it's a drag. playwright At least The Sava When L that's the wis- At the Michi- with demen dom "The Sav- the death ages" brings Fox Seat friend, Jon to living with Fee Searchlight focus the: old age. In a father's ca sardonic attempt at humor and to Buffalo, M humanity, "Savages" winds up come to ter being a poignant and painfully health and accurate depiction of elderly choices ab care. A bit too painful, actually. This is whe The story revolves around some inter two estranged children recon- issues. necting with their exiled-from- Will Lei Arizona father, Lenny (Philip buried? Ju Enough AVPR' Give me'Rocky' f there's one thing that has char- acterizedHollywoodlately-that is, besides the pathetic celebrity breakdowns, the eye-rollingly pass6 sex tape scandals and the writers' strike - it's the increasinglack of orig- inality and, more importantly, sinceri- ty in its films. More than ever before, Hollywood has become a genuine cinematic sausage ; factory. Films are churned out with- out a nod in the direction of actual quality. As long as BRANDON the public eats-up CONRADIS the films, the pro- ducers obviously think: Why waste time actually trying to make good movies? I say enough. Now, I know what you're thinking: 0 6 Hollywood has never bern known for its originality. It has always cashed in on the latest trend, always sworn its faith in commercial potential and nothing else. Through the years, Hol- lywood has dragged with it a chain of innumerable franchise films, each of which it milks until bone dry. But most of these films used to be at least pass- able, if not good. Take the 1980s, for example - the -FFoXSEARCHUGHT decade of greed and excess, a time when the "Me Generation" had finally hit it big. Franchises were the thing Hoffman in a ("Rocky," "Friday the 13th") and so Linney's affair were big, macho action movies like -aged professor the "Rambo" series and "Commando." d good, but the These films had no pretensions, no here is bleak. lofty ambitions: They knew what they may be some were. So did their filmmakers. But they of tea, though. were fun, painless and, at times, much ng an 80-year- cleverer than what you'd expect (the his pants and underrated "Commando" is surely a pers on an air- masterpiece of schlock '80s filmmak- rious. Or sad. ing). best reason to Now take the recently-released for the perfect "AVPR: Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem." n's and Linney's Besides the amusingly pretentious title as brilliantly (I still don't understand what requiem 'ays, and Bosco it'sreferringto-perhapstheinevitable d for acting his one for the beloved franchise the film so many others destroyed?) and some impressive spe- refuse to (Jack cial effects, there was nothing - and I one?). mean nothing - of note here. It wasn't a feeble, elderly so much a painful viewing experience eper and deeper as it was a simply dull and embarrass- hard to watch, ing one, which is just as bad. ght be too hon- James Cameron's "Aliens," released ck of dignity on in 1986 and a predecessor to the afore- at hits hard for mentioned clunker, is one of the best volved. Getting films made in the past 30 years. It's and "The Savag- flawless. Watching that film, or even harsh reminder David Fincher's uneven, but admi- rable, "Alien 3," released in 1992, one wonders how the makers of "AVPR" could have been so careless. It's a perfect example of the sheer lack of understanding on the part of modern- dayproducers,writers and directors as to what makes a good film. There are many bad movies released every year, but to take two beloved franchises and sully their names with a film that feels like a direct-to-TV, SCI-FI Channel movie is just sad. But it's typical of what we've been seeing recently. Countless excellent films have had their legacies tainted by pitiful rehashes, both well-known ("Halloween") and forgotten ("The Hitcher," "The Wicker Man"). There were remakes in the '80s as well - not as many, mind you - but they were good remakessuch as David Cronen- berg's masterful "The Fly" (1986) and the awesome but little-seen "The Blob" (198e). And if you think I'm getting a bit too nostalgic for my own good, Hol- lywood producers have taken note of the bygone years of good filmmaking as well. Classic franchises like "Rocky" and"DieHard"havebeenbroughtback, and while both "Rocky Balboa" (2006) Judd Apatow's humor is a fresh look in a stagnant Hollywood and "Live Free or Die Hard" (2007) were perfectly respectable, that's all they were. Ultimately they were need- less rehashes that existed solelyto give their aging stars one last shot at glory (though Stallone isn't done yet - a new "Rambo" film is on its way). So between the chintzy franchise films and the horrid remakes, is there any commercial Hollywood fare left to enjoy? Sure there is: producer Judd Apatow's recent comedies like "knocked Up" and "Superbad" were hilarious, and summer hits like "Dis- turbia" and "Transformers" were, if not great, at least fun and well-made. But the good movies are too few and far between. I'm getting tired of going into films I've been looking forward to for months and walking out bitterly disappointed. It's been happening too often, and I can't be the only one who thinks so. Brandon can be reached at brconrad@umich.edu. TOP: "Let's noeer speak at this ain." BOTTOM: "temember that one time on the coach." 's "Damages"). Jon e outstanding Philip Hoffman, "Capote") lasses on theater ce to get by while king on his "novel" ht, which seems to owhere. Wendy Sav- so great Laura Lin- ey") is the standard, ul New York temp ds meet until she can ired fellowships and eded to be a noted t. enny is diagnosed ntia not long before of his longtime girl- and Wendy must ir lives on their re. After returning N.Y., Jon and Wendy irms with his failing I must make hard out his well-being. ere "Savages" raises resting but morbid nny be cremated or st how bad is his mental state? Can Jon and of humor like Wendy pull the plug when the head sling or time comes? Is this really all with a middle that funny? "Savages" pres- are all well an' ents some pressing, but all too overall feeling 1 heartbreaking considerations. "Savages" I The whole film holds a lazy viewers' cupc tone and style - handheld Maybe watchi: camera work and naturaliza- old man lose tion included - hoping to bank expose his dia plane is hilai Either way, the Acting in see this film is acting. Hoffma Savages is the characters are realized as alw brightest spot in should be laude own age when: this bleak film in his age group Nicholson, any. The sight of; on its reality to engage viewers man sinking de( with such a serious set of mat- into hysteria is ters. But the ultimate effect is and the film mi downright depressing. est. There's a la By focusing an entire film display here th on youth coping with death in all parties inv hyper-accurate fashion, "Sav- older is rough,o ages" will surely alienate most es" is a telling, young viewers. Little moments of that fact. ARTS IN BRIEF Kids show doesn't translate to big screen "Alvin and the Chipmunks" 20th Century Fox At Showcase and Quality 16 This has to be making someone at Fox really happy. A release before Christmas, and a gross of almost $200 million, means mil- lions of kids and their dragged-along parents have been seeing "Alvin and the Chipmunks" and loving it. So what about the rest of us? "Alvin and the Chipmunks" is just terrible. Time may tell, but this is a disaster of poor taste, not dissimilar to "The Flintstones," "Casper," "Valley of the Dolls" or any other studio hit that has had a rough run after its success. We allknow the cartoon. Unsuccess- ful dweeb musician Dave Seville (Jason Lee, "Almost Famous") finds himself living with three singing chipmunks who soon become a huge success with the public. You know, like Miley Cyrus. This beinga "family" film, many scato- logical and slapstick jokes ensue. The only saving grace of the film is David Cross's ("I'm Not There") per- formance as the Chipmunks' manager Ian. The acerbic, sardonic comedian recently shot back at critics who had attackedhim foractingin similarkiddy fare. But fear not. He's the same love- able asshole he's always been. Smug, condescending and surprisingly funny, Cross takes some crappy lemons and makes the best lemonade he can. Or, in this case, chipmunk shit. BLAKE GOBLE Birdman far from stellar on Stars' By CHRIS GAERIG Daily Music Editor Birdman is a philanthropist of sorts. Adopting the young Dwayne Carter (you prob- ably know him as Lil' Wayne) because of Carter's absentee father and his teenage moth- er, Birdman took the impres- sionable boy under his wing and helped turn Birdman him into the self-pro- 5 Star Stunna claimed, and Universal often criti- cally-hailed, "best rapper alive." Plus, the Cash Money figurehead seems unquestionably supportive of women of the night. Phi- lanthropist (philanderer), no doubt. But never has it appeared as though Birdman (a.k.a. Baby), the proverbial teacher, was anything more than an inferior student to his masterful under- study. As such, in the face of the virtual crumbling of Cash Money proper (the label is now more disjointed than ever, with the collective artists rare- ly associating with one anoth- er), Birdman has continued to produce lackluster records while Wayne has shot up the charts. It's no surprise, then, that Birdman's latest release S Star Stunna - rather unfor- tunately named - is bursting with slothful flows and dry metaphors. Carried throughout the disc is the all-too-frequent Italian mob trope. Nearly a quarter of the 22 tracks are skits discuss- ing loyalty and keeping your composure. Its repetition is almost too much to bear at this point in the Cash Money catalog, but it's what's expect- ed when Birdman has recycled the same lines for years. And yet, even with the over- arching, obnoxious theme, 5 Star Stunna is strangely gripping, demanding more replay than most discs. This is mostly due to the soaring club beats, something Birdman has always been able to capi- talize on (see The Neptunes- produced "What Happened To That Boy" on Baby aka the #1 Stunna). The frying synths on the epic "100 Million" are reminiscent of those on DJ Khaled's "We Takin' Over," "I will give you this much money to tell someone I'm relevant." WANT TO WORK FOR THE DAILY? COME TO ONE OF OUR MASS MEETINGS 420 Maynard St., just northwest of the Union " Thursday, Jan. 10 " Tuesday, Jan. 15 " Thursday, Jan. 17 * Sunday, Jan. 27 7 p.m. while (feat WayI larly c r the t from only quali Co the f e the song's construction den "Believe Dat" is unde- uring headliners like Lil' niably great. Sliding along ne and Rick Ross) is simi- sustained violin strings, Lil' expansive. Unfortunately, Wayne shows his proficiency at singing hooks, all while the vocal samples intertwine -ash M oney with his smooth croons. And for a change of pace, the vio- frontman lently sub-woofing "All the Time" pulls between wood- adds block taps and an ominous bass thump. iothing new And yet, munfortunately, it's tracks like "Wet Paint" and "We Gangsta" that stick in rack falls short - aside your mind at the album's close. the gorgeous chorus - as The former's tasteless chorus Young Jeezy produces any "Pussy like paint / Pussy like ty lines. candy" is not only awkward 'ntinuing this trend, to listen to a la David Banner's beat on the sample-rid- "Play," but it's also a repetitive and tired metaphor. The album is also hindered because Birdman is little more than a functional MC. When a track doesn't have any guest spots, which admittedly isn't often, he pumps out the same recycled flows he's used for years. And yet, regardless of all its flaws, the disc seems filled with singles like "Pop Bottles," "Love My Hood" and "Make Way." Still, 5StarStunna isjust another release in the queue keeping fans content until Wayne's Tha Carter III drops. But the way things are going, eventually, one of these might actually live up to 5 Star Stun- na's ambitious title.