The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Monday, September 22, 2008 -5A In 'Submarine,' Pollard forges on By DAVE WATNICK Daily Music Editor It's hard not to write off Brown Submarine as another installment in Robert Pollard's seemingly infinite string of vanity proj- ects. As prolific as he's always been, Pollard's Boston output has never Spaceships approached the type of eclectic Brown stylistic diver- Submarne sity that would Guided By Voices require him to assemble a new "band" to record with multiple times a year. But that's exactly what he's done since the waning days, and eventual retirement, of Guided By Voices. Luckily, he's such a genius of creating band names, song titles and album cov- ers that his function as (essential- ly) a half-dozen bands at once has yet to grow stale. So now we welcome Boston Spaceships to Pollard's nonexclu- sive roster. Their existence isn't completely superfluous, but it's far from important. Don't be fooled. Boston Space- ships - in both their approach and music - break no new ground. The recording process, in which Pollard sent his demos to his "band," who then sent full treat- ment recordings back to Pollard to receive vocals, is notnovel. Pollard and Guided By Voices's short ten- uredbassistChris Slusarenkohave used this method twice before as The Takeovers. Now, Slusarenko is joined by Decemberists drum- mer John Moen to form the new "band." So Brown Submarine isn't special. It's just a collection of 14 new songs. Fortunately, however, Pollard's typically energetic spark wasn't lost in translation in the mail-or- der make-an-album scheme this time around. As if anyone's sur- prised, Brown Submarine squeez- es disparate characteristics of power pop, British invasion, prog and psychedelia into not-so-hi-fi vignettes that try their damnd- est to squeeze under the two- minute barrier. If the record has any defining attributes, they're its nearly unchecked affinity for speedy tempos and guitar-centric mixes that call to memory the "Guided By Verde" incarnations of Guided By Voices. But Sub- marine is really just more of the same old Bob. "Winston's Atomic Bird" jump- starts the record just like any classic Pollard opener, teasing straightforward guitar pop before veering sideways with predict- ably unpredictable prog melodies that give legitimate '70s deca- dence exercises serious competi- tion. Dirgy darkness and acoustic guitars get a quick cameo on title track "Brown Submarine," but in less than 90 seconds, they give way to a serious contender for Pol- lard's best song this year. "You Satisfy Me" won't win any awards for most original love song (the title sums up its subject matter succinctly), but it's a bliss- fully peppy and inviting serenade presumably directed at Pollard's new wife. If the fact that he dedi- cated three whole minutes to the song isn't a convincing enough statement that he actually loves his new catch, use Gogle to find Pollard's outrageously harrowing account of the vasectomy reversal he underwent before the nuptials. That's love. Meanwhile,thehypersingalong "Ready to Pop" ("She's so my size / She's so my size /She's so my size" ad nauseum) and riff'n'mantra "Psych Threat" (more or less a speed-spiked "Hot Freaks") are vintage Pollard scoring with his Robert Pollard will just not go away - but it's not a bad thing. old tricks again. Reviewing Pollard has become a redundant task. Reiterating four to five times a year that Bob will be Bob and the resulting album will be worthwhile is unneces- sary. And while Boston Space- ships's debut Brown Submarine isn't immediately distinguishable from any other body in the Bob- o-sphere, apparently the project piqued something in Pollard; after afew-year hiatus, Bob has decided to hit the road again with his new band. Brown Submarine's legacy will be that it resurrected Pol- lard's Miller-Lite-saturated Roger Daltry touring persona, and that's cause to celebrate. with the lovable white robot in this year's "Wall-E." Eva is the most interesting character in the film, as she has one flaw that threatens Malaria: She is the ultimate anti-Grinch. Her evil bone isn't activated, so she can only do good things - despite a "Clockwork Orange"- like brainwash - such as playing with blind orphans instead of torturingthem like the rest of the Malarians do. Ultimately, "Igor" will be enter- taining for kids, and the movie does have some impressively animated gothic characters. It even has some good messages that shine through along the way: Malaria used to be governed by the motto "Step on someone to get ahead," but viewers eventually learn that everyone has evil bones that we can choose to use or not to use. Or, as the movie's bizarre conclusion shows, we can have blind orphans sing Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now" to show us the good in our hearts. JONATHAN HURWITZ "Two tickets to the one with blind orphans, please BBC "Office" star fails to raise lifeless comedy By Annie Levene I Daily Arts Writer ot unlike a long-term relationship that is going nowhere, the romantic comedy genre has slipped into a rut. ** There's no real reason to stop seeing these films, but then, Ghost Town is there any good reason to At Quality16 continue making them? It's and Showcase almost as if some bigwig in Hollywood has passed out Paramount a "How To" manual regard- ing the steps to a successful "rom-com." It has Kate Hudson (or really any sort of bubbly blonde will do), a goofy, but still attractive, leading man, a wacky misunderstanding and, finally, a climatic make-out scene, preferably while "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)" plays in the background. Every once in a while a gem slips through - yeah, people are still hating on "Juno," but no one can deny the end product was one cute love story - and faith is somewhat restored in the whole genre. It's too bad that "Ghost Town" isn't one of those for- tunate few. With Ricky Gervais (TV's."Extras") play- ing the romantic male lead, it's not too outra- geous to assume the filmmakers intend to tell an atypical love story. Gervais has a knack for comedy, and British humor is apparently quite amusing for us Yankees, but he's not George Clooney. A little portly, a little short and, for a dentist, equipped with surprisingly bad teeth, Gervais' Bertram Pincus is not only unre- markable in looks, but completely intolerable in personality. Pincus has a brief brush with death that results in his gaining ability to see the ghosts that wander New York City, specifi- cally the recently deceased Frank (Greg Kin- near, "Baby Mama"), who enlists Pincus to save his widow from her fiance. It has promising actors and a somewhat interesting concept ("Sixth Sense," now with 100 percent more romance!) but still, the film fails to impress. "Ghost Town" tries to pro- mote the use of Gervais as a creative choice for a romantic lead, but Judd Apatow has already cornered that niche with his own schlub-falls- in-love movies. It's no longer that surprising to find someone other than Dr. McDreamy winning the girl in the end - we get it Hol- lywood, ugly people deserve love too. It's not that Gervais makes an unappealing love inter- est. He does a fine job depicting Pincus's move from extreme misanthrope to a somewhat endearing underdog character. But it's been done before, and it's been done better. The film doesn't shy away from borrowing other trite plot devices and characters. Aasif Mandvi (TV's "The Daily Show") is the vic- tim of the always unnecessary "If you're not white, you're a terrorist" joke and otherwise is completely underutilized. Billy Campbell (TV's "The 4400") is another flat character, existing simply as a tall, good-looking foil to Pincus. A cameo that fares far better is Kristin Wiig (TV's Saturday Night Live) as a surgeon. Her ten or so minutes on screen actually con- tain as many laughs, if riot more, than the rest of the film. Overall, "Ghost Town" isn't a bad film; it's simply not as good as the film it aspired to be. Putting aside the "I see dead people" concept, the film is actually a p 1etty straightforward depiction of how two people might happen to fall in love. Perhaps that's what doesn't work. WANT TO COMPLAIN ABOUT THE EMMYS? Write for our television staff. E-mail passman@michigandaily.com About Rudolph Steiner's Insights in Human Life: What Happens When You Sleep by EsnKatz, emeriusUo M Physics professor Tuesday, September 23,7:30 1923 Geddes Ave. Free lecture Information 734-485-3764 ARTS IN BRIEF Film Igor' rides animated bandwagon "Igor" The Weinstein Company/MGM At Quality 16 & Showcase Somewhatseparatingitself from the pack, "Igor" is an unorthodox story. It's the story of Igor, or the name given to a race of hunch- backed assistants. "Igor" takes place in the Kingdom of Malaria where an evil scientist community lurks under the constantly dark sky. That is, until Igor (voiced by John Cusack, "Martian Child") builds a female Frankenstein-like monster named Eva to enter in the annual Evil Science Fair. "Igor" will inevitably be com- pared to its animated contempo- raries like "Shrek." The female main character, voiced by Molly Shannon ("SNL"), is named Eva, and coincidentally shares the name Want to own your career? 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