The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Friday, September 19, 200$ -5 Sparkless'Lightbulbs' By SASHA RESENDE Daily Arts Writer The British electro-pop- pin' quartet Fujiya & Miyagi has recently made a name for itself with its atmospheric synth-beats and lighter pop ele- ments. The . band's 2006 Fujya & sophomore Mjyagij release, Transpar- Lightbulbs ent Things, 'Deaf Dumb& Blind was well- received and placed the band on the indie radar, allowing its members to license several of their catch- ier cuts for advertisements. After creating a reputation for being Aphex Twin's light- er, less abrasive cousin, the band successfully toured the United States and recorded their third full-length album. Adding a new drummer to the threesome's lineup, the band had every opportunity to progress and reach newer, more innovative styles of electropop. But rather than take a leap forward for the sake of the art, the band's newest release simply sounds like a lackluster rehashing of its previous record. Lightbulbs, Fujiya & Miya- gi's latest release, opens with "Knickerbocker," a drum- and-bass-guitar-directed track complete with a play- ful ly words "strav sound to th of the "Ankl playft Trans tunat the p album man I his st fers t tion o disc. Br ir n Bes minut aptly excla and over you." ing th bass a these tive the Best nause ing ar 'rical repetition of the footing around / With you." s "knickerbocker" and While this style worked well wberry." This reiteration on the previous album, it may Is vaguely comparable be time for Mr. Miyagi to find e redundant repetition a new lyrical style that doesn't band's name heard on detract from the band's awe- e Injuries," a similarly inspiringlushness. ul track from 2006's In spite of these short- parent .Things. Unfor- comings, Lightbulbs remains ely, this vapid song sets an album brimming with attern for the rest of the cutesy beats and plenty of n. Fujiya & Miyagi front- synth-driven experimenta- David Best - known by tion. It includes bass-heavy age name Miyagi - pre- songs about numb limbs o rely on blatant repeti- ("Sore Thumb"), quirky pro- f vocals throughout the grammed beats to the tune of snapping fingers ("Pick- pocket"), quicker-paced cuts loaded with illuminating gui- sitish group tar riffs ("Hundreds & Thou- sands") and sharper guitar fails to strings to the tune of jovial drumming ("Dishwasher"). inovate On In the end, it's the music at hand that matters and Light- ew album . bulbs is certainly chock-full of unique, though repetitive, tracks. Lightbulbs was the ideal opportunity for Fujiya & st spans the four- Miyagi to take a creative te-long course of the step forward. But because titled "Pussyfooting" its members decided not to iming - over and over take that initiative, the band's over again - how he's latest release is somewhat "pussyfooting with stale. Rather than build upon Rather than highlight- its previous achievements, he band's bubbly guitar, Lightbulbs simply sounds like snd synth arrangements, a regurgitation of a previ- boring and unimagina- ously used formula. Perhaps lyrics take away from this simply proves the band's music's quiet beauty. consistency, but it also sug- continues to lament ad gests an unwillingness to a "No more pussyfoot- delve further into new musi- round / No more pussy- cal horizons. "You lookin' at me?" "No, Bob, they're looking at me." "No, me ..."1 A nostalgic flop Despite the pairing of legends DeNiro and Pacino, new thriller fails to revive '70s cool By Andrew Lapin I Daily Arts Writer "Righteous Kill" is a movie that was made with a specific audience in mind. Specifically, the filmmakers are trying to reel in the (mostly male) fans of old- school Robert DeNiro or Al Pacino movies RWP-om like "The Godfather II" (1974) or "Scar- Kill face" (1983). These are At Quality 16 the people who are and Showcase going to be excited by the prospect of the two Overture screen legends finally sharing more than one scene together in a film about cops, guns and other dirty, manly things. The premise is attractive enough: DeNiro and Pacino play two partners working for the NYPD detective force. They have seen too many guilty people go free and, because of this, they've developed a self-righteous sense of vigilante justice. An inspired moment comes early on when the two of them . frame an acquitted child-murderer for a separate crime he didn't commit just to put him behind bars. This twisted sense of right and wrong is intriguing to explore, but is never fully developed like it should in Russell Gewirtz's ("Inside Man") script. Instead, what drives the plot is a serial killer within the force who's tak- ing down the bad guys that go free and leaving behind corny, egotistical poems as a calling card. Apparently, the One- Stop Movie Villain Shop was all out of Joker cards. While it's impossible to get into details without revealing a big switcheroo at the end, it must be said that this film's "twist" is particularly mediocre. In fact, it cheats the audi- ence by working against its own logic just so it can pull the wool over our eyes later. Good twist endings should never feel cheap because they're supposed to respect the rules laid out by the rest of the story. They should be surprising but still consistent with the logic of what's come before them. The twist here, once revealed, makes the character's actions and reactions to previous events seem nonsensical. Not helping matters are most of the film's supporting players. Carla Gugi- no ("American Gangster") is certainly pretty and suitably intimidating as a police officer, but when she's playing DeNiro's much younger lover the only accurate description is "icky." Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson ("Get Rich or Die Tryin"') is also here portraying a drug dealer, but his tenacity is undercut by the fact that he has difficulty pronounc- ing his lines. Odd, for someone whose day job involves precisely articulating massive quantities of words in a short amount of time. To a certain extent, "Righteous Kill" lives up to its promise. There are plenty ofguns andviolence,alongwith f-bombs, awkwardly staged sex scenes and enough growling by the leads to make the screen fog up with testosterone. Most importantly, DeNiro and Pacino share plenty of scenes together, and they have an incredibly commanding screen presence despite the fact that they're both pushing 70. The problem is that the actual movie they've wandered into isn't very cohesive or particularly effective as a thriller. Plus, there's not much going for it once the initial excitement of see- ing the two together wears off. This is certainly a step up for director Jon Avnet, whose previous film was the abominable "88 Minutes" (also starring Pacino). And for some, the star appeal and promise of a '70s-style hard-boiled "man movie" will be enough to sustain "Righteous Kill." However, there are those of us who know that these two actors, and this genre, are capable of so much more. Someday, perhaps, they will get the return to form they deserve. WRITE FOR DAILY ARTS E-mail us at: orts@michigondoily.com New'Women,' Old problems Dance that matters By JESSICA VOSGERCHIAN DailyArts Writer A curly-headed blond and her three friends juggle love, kids and careers in New York City. No, it's not "Sex and the City." It's "The Women," a remake of the 1939 George Cukor ("My Fair Lady") romantic comedy of the same name. But 1939 was a different time, and Cukor's portray- al of women is too overtly The Women sexist for modern audienc- es. The remake by Diane At Qualityl6 English (TV's "Murphy and Showcase Brown") is a self-conscious Picturehouse correction of the original - but, sadly, one devoid of all the wit and novelty that made Cukor's film worthwhile. Featuring an all-women cast as Cukor's did, "The Women" assembles an impressive list of has-beens and never-really-weres. Debra Messing (TV's "Will and Grace") is mother-of-five Edie Cohen. Jada Pinkett Smith . ("Madagascar") is lesbian author Alex Fisher. And Annette Bening ("Running with Scissors") is catty magazine editor Syl- "The Women" is a dull, pointless retread. vie Fowler. Leading this pack of cheesy archetypes is Meg Ryan ("You've Got Mail") as Mary Haines, the do-it-all wife of a Wall Street mogul. The film primarily centers on Mary, who gets fired as a fashion design- er and then discovers her hus- band is cheating on her with a perfume counter "spritzer girl" (Eva Mendes, "Ghost Rider"). The film keeps Cukor's COURTESY OF PICTUREHOUSE original plot but gives it a modern spin. Eng- lish was right to do away with some of the aspects of the original; she hints heavily about the overhaul, having characters ask things like "What is this, a 1930s movie?" and "What's the modern thing to do?" Ultimate- ly,Mary's decision to stay in her marriage is justified with "It's the 21st century; it's OK for people to fight for their relationships." But the problem with English's revision is the length it goes to apologize for its almost- forgotten predecessor. Inthe originalSylvie is deliciously conniv- ing. She stops at nothing for gossip and rev- els in the ruin of the Haines's marriage: The result is biting wit and a captivating villain. English's Sylvie is a somewhat brash career woman who really has a heart of gold. The only entertaining roles are periphery characters such as a gossip manicurist who spills to all of Manhattan that her friend "the spritzer girl" is diddling Mr. Haines. She exemplifies the mistake English made in reimagining a film driven by archetypes: By trying to humanize characters like the harpy Sylvie Fowler, English leaves the character dull and toothless. But the manicurist needs no point, and that's alright. The irony is that for all Eng- lish's corrections for sexism, audiences 70 years from now will (hopefully) find her portrayal of women just as questionable. One need only compare the films' opening credits. Cukor's version identifies each character as an animal, which is quite liter- ally dehuman- izing. English introduces the women by shots of just their legs and shoe choices, which is not only lackluster, but sexist in its own right. By BEN VANWAGONER Daily Arts Writer The Mark Morris Dance Group will perform in the Power Center this Friday and Saturday night, but, honestly, does anyone care? By most definitions, dance is aluxury. Mark Morris It's an art that's entertaining but Dance Group seemingly aim- Sept.19 and less. At a time 20 at 8 p.m. when America is At the Power Center in such conflict, dance might seem almost irrelevant, and you could certainly argue that it is. Then again, maybe it's not. Danceis oneofthe mostfundamen- tally collaborative arts. The focus is on movement and fluency in a lingua franca composed entirely of nonverbal communication. At a time like this - race-charged, gen- der-charged, with a whole nation in fear of insolvency - collabora- tion and understanding are more important than ever. The Mark Morris Dance Group, led by artistic director Mark Mor- ris, might serve as a model. The company, formed in 1980, seems to have done nothing but collect acco- lades. Once regarded as an "Ameri- can upstart," Morris rapidly moved * to the forefront of modern dance, earning a Guggenheim Fellowship and no less than eight honorary doctorates, including one from Jul- Hard. The Mark Morris Dance Group * is world renowned for seamless integration with the music that drives their performances. The company works only with live music for every dance. In the past, they've performed with orches- tras, opera companies, and even cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Morris seems to find the calm center of the music and charge itintomotion: even still photos of his dancers look electric. The Los Angeles Times called him "intensely musical, deceptively cerebral, (and) insinuatingly sex- ual." Morris, once pronounced "our Mozart of modern dance" by the, Washington Post, will be present- ing no Mozart this weekend. The program will include artists rang- ing from Brahms to Lou Harrison. Impressively, the two performanc- es are composed from entirely dif- ferent works, with one (fortupate) exception, a dance called "Grand Duo." It is one of his most famous. Other works include "Love Song Waltzes," set to Brahms, and "Can- dleflowerdance," to Stravinsky's "Serenade in A." In tumultuous times, look to the art of dance. Dance faces a serious challenge in the ambition-fueled American culture of the 21st century. What Mark Morris and others like him must do is not remain relevant, but help the public (college students included) to understand that dance has always been and continues to be relevant. The more the world seems to crumble around our ears, 'the more the grace and unity of dance matters - important not in spite of the tumult, but critical pre- cisely because of it.