8A - Monday, September 29, 2008
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 4
MIRACLE
From Page 5A
defecting be the right choice
considering the Italian villagers
treat these four men as equals?
And can war ever be anything
but a series of black and white
circumstances? All this and a
great deal more is explored in
"Anna," as the film is intended to
do more than just show off blood
and battle.
As always, Spike Lee infuses
his signature stylistic decisions.
Montages set to gorgeous jazz
pieces - by Terence Blanchard
- gives a classical feel to the
proceedings. Narration is per-
fectly executed to explore the
real feelings of each character.
Like "The Thin Red Line," "Let-
ters from Iwo Jima" or even
"Mister Roberts," the fighting
is arbitrary in relation to the
bigger pictures.
6
cO55tY FOUCHSTONE
ness, it's an unusual watch. But
it's ambitious work brimming
with emotional intelligence and
racial politics we hardly get to
see in such genre pieces. And
that's definitely not a bad thing.
"Yes, but whereis Olmec?"
"Mil acle at St. Anna" is far
from Ierfect. Yeah, it's long,
over-w ritten and often over-
made, I but maybe that's a good
thing." Anna" 's been accused of
sloppy soliloquy, and in all fair-
Yeah, running in the street at night is only a good idea if you were inan "Indiana Jones" movie.
The 'Eye' has it
46
LeBeouf returns in
techy thriller
By ANDREW LAPIN
Daily Arts Writer
It's unfortunate (but unsurpris-
ing) that thrillers about govern-
ment invasions of privacy always
seem topical. Consider that it's
been almost 60years since the pub-
lication of George
Orwell's "1984,"
and movie stu-
dios are still able Eagle Eye
to make plausible a
"Big Brother" At Quality16
films. "Eagle and Showcase
Eye" is the lat- Dreamworks
est example, and
while much of
the film is certainly close to other
movies of its kind, it still maintains
a sleek presentation and an eerie,
this-could-happen-to-you vibe.
Early on, a newswoman helpfully
explains that the government has
now developed the ability to make
everyone's cell phones function as
microphones for listening in on peo-
ple's conversations. The new micro-
phone technology works even when
the phones are turned off, which
doesn't seem to provoke as much
outrage as one might think. None
of this makes a lick of sense, but in
a movie like this it's easy to just go
with the ridiculousness.
Enter Jerry Shaw, a college
dropout who comes home one day
to find he's been framed for a major
terrorist attack. Jerry is played by
Shia LaBeouf ("Transformers"),
who has reached an awkward
stage in his career where he looks
too old to play teenagers and too
young to play independent adults.
He's forced to go on the run from
federal agent Thomas Morgan,
played by a scary, intense Billy Bob
Thornton ("Mr. Woodcock").
The plotchook isthat Jerry keeps
receiving instructions from every
piece of technology around him,
including TV screens, strangers'
cell phones and GPS navigation
systems. He meets up with pretty
single mother Rachel Holloman
(Michelle Monaghan, "Made of
Honor"), who has also been con-
tacted anonymously through the
same method and must do as she is
told or her son will die. The nature
of their predicament makes the
pair resemble unwitting servants
rather than protagonists, since
they're rarely offered an oppor-
tunity to deviate from their given
instructions. Much of the fun
comes when they attempt to break
from the rules and their environ-
ment turns against them. At one
point, Jerry intentionally boards
the wrong subway car, which
immediately halts in its tracks and
reverses directon.
While the whole movie is
essentially one extended chase
sequence, the firsthalf does a much
better job of maintaining suspense
and freshness. The imaginative
mark of executive producer Steven
Spielberg can be seen in such tech-
no-trippy moments as the sight of
a news ticker commanding Jerry
to jump off a tall building. In many
ways this resembles the early
scenes from "The Matrix" - the
good parts - when Keanu Reeves
discovers that an unseen source
has the power to manipulate every
aspect of his environment.
Eventually the source of all the
commotion (spoiler alert) turns out
to be a rogue government supercom-
puter named Aria. Somehow, it has
managed to develop a power-hungry
personality and a finely honed sense
of sarcasm. It's easy to see how Aria
was "inspired" by HAL 9000 from
"2001," and it cribs from many other
films, too - in particular, the com-
puter itself resembles the spaceship
from Spielberg's "Close Encounters
of the Third Kind." Why does the
CIA need a machine this powerful?
The computer even controls their
own building, forcing the agents to
maneuver awkwardly behind closed
doors to avoid being overheard.
Seems like an obvious design flaw.
Or, as it's known in the movies, a
plot hole.
"Eagle Eye" isn't a particularly
revolutionary thriller, and its mes-
sage of the dangers of government
surveillance has already been done
to death by other, better films like
"Minority Report" and even "The
Dark Knight." Still, for all its ludi-
crousness, director D.J. Caruso
("Disturbia") definitely knows his
way around an action scene. The
movie is stylish and mostly effec-
tive, and there's definitely an odd
pleasure to be gained from the
sight of Shia LaBeouf screaming
into his cell phone.
Pioneers of metal
find their-roots again
By JACKPORTER
For theDaily
If Metallica had released an
album between ...And Justice for
All and Metallica, itprobablywould
have sounded like Death Magnetic.
Who would have guessed that
after 15 years of
avoiding their
thrash-metal
roots - the
genre they pio- Metalka
neered - they Death
would someday Magnetic
return to themW
It's not an acci- WanerBron.
dent either -
the album mirrors the formulathe
band followed in their golden age:
ten or fewer tracks, a ballad in the
fourth slot and an instrumental as
the second to last number.
The production is integral to
this calculated stylistic move.
They've recreated their beloved
1980s sound; the guitars are razor-
sharp, the drums hit hard but don't
overwhelm the mix and the bass
(never the focus of a Metallica
album) is nearly nonexistent. In
addition to that, frontman James
Hetfield has ditched the grating
vocal histrionics of recent efforts
and reclaims his old '80s growl.
These details all combine to make
the album feel like a meticulously
constructed apology to old fans.
But while it boasts many strong
recordings, it can't quite make up
for the past decade and a half of
lukewarm missteps.
The album opener "That Was
Just Your Life" is predictably
one of the best cuts. It opens
with a clean guitar line nearly
plagiari
"For W
blasts a
muted
with si'
the son
ops the
triumph
the ban
'84s. A
the riff,
RI
ma
plex me
the orig
embelli
the ban
sages fr
Puppets
"Brol
hard-dr
one of
since "Harvester of Sorrow." The
verse riff is propelled by triplets
and blasting bottom-end chords,
set against Hetfield's passionate
vocal performance. He sounds
relevant for the first time in years.
Chugging ahead, the primal bridge
gives way to the amped-up con-
clusion; Hetfield's cries of "we die
hard!" are answered by power-
chord barks.
"Cyanide," a straight-forward
song about suicide, is another
COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. album highlight. While the lyrics
z ed from their old hit are trite in typical Metallica fash-
h om the Bell Tolls," then ion ("Cyanide, living dead.inside
h ead with staccato palm- / Break this empty shell forever-
]16th notes alternating more"), the song has some of most
on o'er melodic runs. Later immediately rewarding vocal and
ig 's bridge further devel- instrumental themes on Death
n lain riff with the kind of Magnetic. The chorus's riff weaves
ha nt guitar harmonizing around Hetfield's vocals master-
d popularized in the mid- fully,bringingtomind thrash-met-
fte :r reprising the chorus, al masterpieces like Megadeth's
ex plodes into a more com- "Symphony of Destruction."
The stand-out songs all have
something in common: They share
air-tight structures that cultivate
T1len they're themes which are continuously
n the met with satisfying and surprising
t ighing the pay-offs. While most of the songs
IkA they're are varied enough to maintain
interest throughout, many aren't
k ing records memorable. In particular, the
k ,ig re ords instrumental "Suicide & Redemp-
tion" falls flat, overstaying its wel-
come and meandering into aimless
oviment that builds upon wank.
gin al melody with further Death Magnetic's dedication -to
sh:snents, recalling some of resurrecting the "old Metallica" is
d's finer neo-classical pas- impressive. While the album fails .
on i albums like Master of to totally redeem the terrible old
. nu-metal pastiches of the band's
ken, Beat & Scarred" is a recent past, itsuggests future mas-
'ivi hg song that delivers terpieces may lie ahead - if the
M etallica's best grooves band ever gets around to them.
FOLDSr
From Page 5A
"Kylie from Connecticut" and
"Cologne" mark a return to ther
old Ben Folds ballads with strings,
soft piano and heartbreaking lyr-
ics. "Kylie" tells the sad story of a
lost love, and "Cologne" utilizes
the entire Ben Folds orchestra with
seven pianos and a classical choir.
Add experimental sounds to the
mix, dramatic dialogue and a duet
with Regina Spektor - appropriately
titled "You Don't Know Me" - and
Folds's approach is even more of a
departure from the norm. Way to
Normal provides a not-so-normal
Ben Folds album, bringing in new
elements but successfully holding
onto his artistic point of view. A val-
iant attempt at fakingus out, Ben, but
we still hear the old Folds we know '.
and love. coURTEsY or tic
Co N 'R.C'TESLAToOEPS
TO OUR 31E SCHOLARS ON THE
26" AMVYVERSAR4/
OF OUR CLASS of 1931 ENGINEERING SCHOLARSHIPS
The class of '31E and its Scholarship Selection Committee congratulate ' C
and welcomes their EIGHT new scholarship winners for the 2008-2009Q
academic year: SHAYAAN KHANNA
SHANE LARKIN
KAITLYN PEALE
NEAL RAKESH
MICHAEL REINKER
IAN STUART-HOFF
ANTHONY TRICOZZI
VERONICA WARD
They will be joining the '31E HONOR SOCIETY and our THIRTEEN current scholars:
STEVEN ALLEN ROSS BARNOWSKI
ADAM BARNETT JONATHAN CARENDER
GRIFFIN DIXON CHIAO-YANG HSIAO
MEGAN HAUBERT MICHAEL KRUG
COLIN HAYWARD DANIEL PATRICK
BRIAN RUMAO ASHLEY POLLOCK
JULIA SAMOREZOV
All of these scholars will be honored this month at the 77h Annual Reunion Dinner of the Class of '31E, which
will be held at the Four Points Sheraton Inn, Ann Arbor on Friday, October 3, 2008 at 5:30 PM.
Since the establishment of the '31E Scholarship Program in 1982, more than 130 aspiring engineering students
have been helped to experience a University of Michigan education and have gone on to rewarding careers.
George E. Anderson
Director of Media Relations
A hidden culture
from a troubled time
By MOLLY MCGUIRE
For the Daily
Today, Ellen DeGeneres is
the new cover girl. Gay and les-
bian wedding
announce- Michael
ments are dis-
played right Sherry: ay
next to hetero- Artjsts1in
sexual wedding Cold War
announce-
ments. There's America
an LGBT tele-
vision channel. Tomorrow,
And there's new Sept.30,
speculation 3:00 p.m.
surfacing that At2239 Lane Hall
claims Ameri- Free
can cultural
icons, such as Abraham Lincoln
and Rock Hudson, were gay.
Inthe Cold War, gay artists were
exploited as examples ofAmerica's
cultural triumphs. At the same
time they were ignored, feared and
hated. Many people imagined a
vast gay conspiracy while employ-
ing them as ammunition in the
Cold War's culturalbattles.
This is the topic of the lecture
"Gay Artists in Cold War Arner-
ica," given by Michael Sherry,
a history professor at North-
western University. The author
of several books including "Gay
Artists in Modern American Cul-
ture: An Imagined Conspiracy,"
Sherry focuses on the Cold War
because it's a period in which an
abundance of American artists
were gay.
Accordir ig to Sherry, it was
a very hon iophobic time, but it
deserves a more complex label
than merel y "homophobic." The
simple fact that gay people were
so promine nt in the arts almost
seems to cc intradict the way the'
'40s, '50s a nd '60s are thought
of as being ; particularly hostile
times for ht mosexuals. Gay men
like Tenne ssee Williams and
Aaron Coplt;snd ruled the worlds
of theater at id music.
"We don't; see the kinds of pro-
grams in th e '40s, '50s and '60s
that send S amuel Barber off to
Moscow and lTennessee Williams
off to West 1 erlin and have these
people playi ng such a prominent
international role as American
cultural an ibassadors," Sherry
said.
In the p resent, politics and
high culture' are rarely so inter-
twined.
"While 'those artists have
long been recognized one by
one as bein; g important gay art-
ists, there's ibeen very little work
done that rias looked at them
collectively and looked at the
reaction th:at they generated in
the wider American culture,"
Sherry said..
The recognition and evolving
understandi ng of these issues is
central to iherry's lecture, and
it appears ,e haven't necessarily
come that far from this era. Dur-
ing the Cold War, artists were
condemned for being gay while
celebrated for being American.
According to Sherry, this dis-
tinction remains today; people
are not often referred to as both
"gay" and "American."
"That is a combination you
don't very often see in public
discourse about the arts and the
world of intellectuals," Sherry
said. "Those two categories are
treated as somewhat separate, if
not mutually exclusive."
Paing tribute
to those who
were exploited.
Sherry's lecture will provide
a fresh perspective on a period
of history full of important gay
artists, and will also pay tribute
to a degree of homophobia that
has not completely subsided.
Although our current global con-
flict does not spotlight gay cul-
ture in the same way as the Cold
War, it is clear that homosexual
rights is a crucial issue in the
world today. Lectures like these
acknowledge this fact and recog-
nize the role of gay icons in creat-
ing cultural history.
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