The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, October 13, 2008 -5A
A step backward
By JOSHUA BAYER
For the Daily
Dig Out Your Soul, indeed. Oasis's
seventh studio album marks the lat-
est edition of the band's floundering
efforts to exorcise,
at long last, their
Oedipal-Beatles
complex. Howev- Oasis
er, Noel Gallagh-
er and Co. have Dig Out
never sounded Your Soul
this desperate. Big Brother
Oasis, at its
best, has attempt-
ed to follow in the footsteps of its
Liverpudlian forefathers, master-
fully constructing Britpop pastiches
and borrowing only from the elite
(namely, The Fab Four). While far
from ever having been the prime
innovators of the Britpop scene,
they galvanized their hand-me-
down bag of tricks with a patent
blend of cocksure gusto and emo-
tional heft - or at least they used to.
Ever since the explosive success of
their first two albums, the band has
been cryogenically frozen in a rut of
feeble attempts to reinvent, focus-
ing less on crafting saccharine-rich
melodic hooks and more on groping
in the dark to castrate their roots.
OnDigOut YourSoul,thisidentity
crisisreachesludicrous proportions.
Nearly the entire album is mired
by the band's attempts to liberate
itself from the mold. This would be
just peachy if their liberation didn't
translate to limp vocals, noncom-
mittal guitar drones, stagnant song
structures and an overall sense of
unleavened mojo. It's as if Noel and
Liam are tired of running from their
shadows after having done so (more
or less) for four consecutive albums
and no longer know where else to
go; the dominant mood here is one
of utter exhaustion.
See OASIS, Page 8A
Holy objects
By MOLLY MCGUIRE
Daily Arts Writer
From the yellowed bones of
saints to the Shroud of Turin and
the tears of the Virgin Mary, the
supposed relics and reliquaries
of medieval art
have long been Jannic
surrounded by
great commotion. Durand
The veneration Wednesday,
and purchas- oct.15,4
ing of objects
associated with Amphthealer
holy figures is Free
not something
limited to "The
Canterbury Tales"; the prospect
of finding -connections .between
the world of faith and the physical,
tangible world is something that
has always captivated people.
In his lecture "After the Fourth
Crusade: Byzantine Relics and
Reliquaries in France," Jannic
Durand, Curator of Objets d'Art at
the Louvre in Paris, will discuss
these earthly remnants of saints
and the ornate vessels that contain
them.
Durand's research focuses on
Byzantine art, specifically reli-
quaries, the captivating objects
that housed the remains of holy
icons. His lecture will trace the
remarkable journeys of these
sacred relics and caskets, using
the notorious Fourth Crusade as
his point of departure. As spoils
from the sacking of Constanti-
nople, these relics and reliquaries
were sent west to Europe, notably
to France. He will also examine
how these objects are viewed and
understood as remnants of a dis-
tant history.
"Precious metals and precious
gems go into the creation of these
fabulous reliquaries because they
celebrate the memory of saints,"
art history Prof. Elizabeth Sears
said. "They are very beautiful
objects. Durand will put them into
a historical context and I think
that should be very interesting for
anybody ... undergraduates, gradu-
ate students, anyone interested in
medieval art is welcome."
This talk is part of the new For-
syth Lecture series, a program
sponsored by the International
Center of Medieval Art in New
Ancient, artistic
relics revisited
at the 'U.'
York. Devoted to promoting the
study and appreciation of medieval
art, the Center makes a point of
supporting lectures like this one.
This new series has been cre-
ated in honor of the late cousins
George and William Forsyth, for
their significant contributions
to the field of medieval art. Wil-
liam Forsyth, who was curator of
the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
presided over an enormous and
important medieval collection.
An architectural historian and
See LECTURE, Page 8A
"Yes, but you need to wear a condom."
A poitical bore
Loaded cast can't save
thriller loaded with
terrorism stereotypes
By IMRAN SYED
Daily Arts Writer
Somehow, from the director of "Gladia-
tor," the writer of "The Departed" and leads
Russell Crowe and Leon-
ardo DiCaprio, we have a
complete and utter disas-
ter, "Body of Lies." An
uptight, insipid spy thriller
set among America's con-
temporary wars and obses-
sions, the film proves nearly
impossible to understand.
It's an erratic mish-mash
Bodof Les
At Quality 16
and Showcase
Warner Bros.
higher-up at the agency who never reveals his
true intentions and seems indifferent to the
problems and dangers Ferris faces. He shuttles
Ferris from Iraq to Jordan to Dubai (among
others), and gives him one impossible mission
after another, endangering not only the life of
his field operative, but also regional stability.
There are terrorists with foreign names,
they bomb things, Hoffman and Ferris devise
a ridiculous plan to stop them, the Jordanian
secret service is both a friend and foe - and
.before you know it, Ferris is ina dungeon get-
ting tortured. I'd like to clarify or be more
specific, bt that's really all the frantic pace
and veering direction of thefilm will allow
you to comprehend.
The most glaring problem in "Body of Lies"
is the Hoffman character. He's supposed to be
the heartless bureaucrat that we should hate,
but it's troubling that the film makes no effort
to describe beyond that. We know nothing
of his motivations or of his worldview, as
imperfect as they probably are. Instead, he's
an empty villain who is apparently supposed
to impress audiences with his sheer maniacal
vagueness. But it doesn't work.
Director Ridley Scott, once so good at
humanizing the superhuman character
anchoring his films ("Gladiator," "Kingdom
of Heaven"), seems to have turned to depict-
ing impressive, larger-than-life villains
whose lack of discernible motivation makes
them cartoonish and dull. For all the gravitas
Denzel Washington brought to the main role
in Scott's last film "American Gangster," his
character was just a two-dimensional hood-
lum - hardly worthy of that actor or direc-
tor.
Similarly, in "Body of Lies," Crowe expends
much creative energy to fill out a charac-
ter that's a dud from his very conception.
DiCaprio, apparently vying to take the title
of "most freakishly intense on-screen pres-
ence" from Tom Cruise, does a lot of running
and grandstanding, but none of it adds up to
anything. Instead of showcasing his consid-
erable talent at owning difficult roles ("Blood
Diamond"), this film gives us the whiny Leo
("The Aviator") who no one could possibly
care for.
It used to be that we'd decry a film like this
for being a (liberal) Hollywood fantasy that
indicts without taking into account the harsh-
ness of reality. But "Body of Lies" is a failure
on a much lower level. It can never be accused
ofbeingpreachybecause ithas nothingto say.
As a thriller it's predictable and lame, and as a
political film it's hapless and confusing.
of senseless action; lazily conceived, embar-
rassingly melodramatic plot turns; and vapid
political undertones.
DiCaprio plays Roger Ferris, a dedicated
CIA operative in the Middle East trying to
appropriately appease, avenge and frustrate
the many diverse players in the region. He
takes orders from Ed Hoffman (Crowe), a
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