8A - Monday, October 27, 2008

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

The Dark Knight rebuilt

-

Personality crisis

By JAMIE BLOCK
Daily Arts Writer
NBC's new so-called action
series "My Own Worst Enemy"
is one of the
worst things to
happen to tele-
vision in a long My Own
time. It's pos-
sibly the most Worst
emotionless, Enemy
unexciting and
over-baked Mondays at
action drama 10 p.m.
to ever hit the NBC
small screen.
This is the
story of a man with split per-
sonalities, played morosely by
Christian Slater ("Alone in the
Dark"). One of these personali-
ties is Edward Albright, a James
Bond-like super spy with a thing
for exotic women and making
trouble. The other, Henry Spivey,
is agenialoffice worker who loves
his wife and kids. Both personali-
ties have one important thing in
common: They're both complete
assholes. Because of this, when
Slater's character begins to switch
between personas at the wrong
times, it's nearly impossible for
the audience to distinguish the
two. In fact, the personalities are
so similarthatSpivey's wife gets a
little more than she bargained for
during a passionate night athome
with Albright, which leaves her

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ing until the next morn- even get one split-personality
joke right, so it's a mystery why
right's spy missions are they decided to go for several
ht out of a corny children's in a single episode. The funni-
full of unnecessary code est thing about the show is see-
and strange first names. ing Albright get his ass saved
uper spy's mission for by actor Mike O'Malley, the
lot episode is to acquire unfunny slob from "Yes, Dear."
fcase with "the marbles" O'Malley plays another char-
a man named Uzi (Mark acter with two personalities,
"Get Smart") while Tom and Raymond, who are -
ing to his boss, Mavis against all odds - actually dif-
Woodard, "The Family ferent from one another.
'reys"). Things get compli- Shockingly, there are one or
as Albright switches back two cool moments in the show.
meek office cog Spivey Albright leaves videos for Spiv-
holding a sniper rifle. For ey to find in his home, allowing
ver reason, Spivey contin- them to team up against the evil
point the sniper rifle out Uzi. While this did set up a pret-
'indow and accidentally ty bad-ass explosion in the pilot
n the targets. The show is episode, it basically counteracts
what little coolness there was to
the whole split personality deal.
for Also, these eight or nine minutes
usy, even of solid action are so drastically
ristian Slater. overwhelmed by all the other
crap that they might as well not
exist..
The show closes on an enter-
taining note, as Spivey tells his
d with completely unreal- debonair alter ego, "There is an
ecisions made by equally incredible difference between
evable characters. driving somebody's car and
show tries to be funny, driving somebody's wife." How-
fails. The writers rely far ever, the fewseconds of tolerable
ach on the premise of the television presented in "My Own
employing such witti- Worst Enemy" can do nothing to
as "Roses are red, violets compensate for the poorly writ-
ue, I'm a split personal- ten, derivative drivel that makes
I so am I." They couldn't up the vast majority of the show.

By JAMIE BLOCK
DailyArts Writer
The Dark Knight incorporates
some light humor, engaging puzzles
and shiny polygons
in "LEGO Batman,"
the latest LEGO **
depiction of a pop-
culture legend. LEGO
While the game Bmn
clearly targets a
young audience, it Xbox 360
appeals to all age Waner Bros.
groups with chal-
lenging surprises
and striking visuals.
In "LEGO Batman," players take
control of Batman, Robin and pretty
much anybody else from the Batman
universe. In story mode, players are
restricted to the main characters (Bat-
man and Robin in the hero storyline,
and a variety of criminals in the vil-
lain portion). However, once players
have beaten a level in story mode, that
level can then be played through with
any character that's been unlocked,
or in any of Batman or Robin's many
suits, each with its own setofcapabili-
ties. There are also two open slots for
players to customize their own LEGO
heroesforuseinfree playmode,which
can yield hysterical crime-fighting
results.
Gameplay mainly consists of solv-
ing puzzles while breakingeverything
you see into little LEGO bricks. The
emphasis on destruction entertains all
kinds of gamers and helps to break the
monotony of'combat and riddles. The
game makes an effort to introduce dif-
ferentkinds of puzzles as the plot pro-
gresses, but only succeeds to a point,
making the later levels feel like copies
of earlier ones.
"LEGO Batman" looks surprisingly
MUSICAL
From Page 5A
relatively weak compared to the glit-
ter and showiness that have come
to define the HSM series. Troy and
Gabriella spend a large amount of
the film fawning over. each other,
worried about their impending split
after graduation. While that depic-
tion of high school love may be true
to form, it isn't very interesting. The
real attention grabber of the film is

good, co
budgetI
perfectl
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is color
(partial
Imm
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be desi
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which o
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it's pure
titularE
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charact
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. Thei
While "
creative
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active o
expect:
back an
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someth
Ba
Thei
are a re
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before i
against,
stronge
ally the

onsidering it's a relatively low- but then run away. This forces you to
kids game. The shadows are "solve" the puzzle again before you
y rendered and each LEGO can land a few more hits. Boss battles
immers in the light. The game feel like wasted time instead of excit-
ful and vibrant as the toy it's ingclimaxesto the levels. Inthe villain
ly) based on. campaign, many levels don'teven have
ortal combat: Admittedly, a boss battle at the end, which comes
e combat leaves something to as a great relief to someone who's just
red. Fighting consists of two played through the entire hero story.
but it doesn't actually matter Extra, extra, read all about it:
)ne you hit. There's no sense of There are way too many bonuses to
with the fights, which means unlockinthisgame.Eachlevelcontains
luck whether you die in a par- tons of hidden extras, most of which
exchange. Fortunately, death can only be found by going throughthe
at a very low price, as your level again in free play mode, where
er will respawn and lose noth- you can change suits or characters at
e than its "studs," the currency will. There is something frustrating
EGO world. about playing through the entire plot
Riddler would be ashamed: of the game and still only completing
LEGO Batman" contains some less than 50 percent of it. This won't be
puzzles, there are several that a problem for meticulous gamers with
ke gamers want to throw their too much time on their hands, but the
er at a wall. The puzzles aren't average student doesn't - or at least
rily difficult, they're just sur- shouldn't-- have the time for it all.
y hard to find. Especially early It takes two to tango: In every
he game, it's unclear whether level there are two characters fighting
bjects in the game are inter- on the side of good or evil, depending
r not. In most levels, you can on the storyline. When playing alone,
to spend a few minutes pacing the player switches back and forth
d forth looking for a clue, only between the two characters in order
ze that you justneedto jump on to solve cooperative puzzles. The
ing. game is at its best when playing with
a friend, though. Solving puzzles is
much smoother when each player can
itm an for the complete his or her task at the same
time. You also don't have to worry
youth set. about the other character wandering
off from the objective, unless your
friend kinda sucks.
Happy days: "LEGO Batman,"
finalcountdown: Boss battles despite its flaws, really is quite fun.
eal letdown. They begin with It can keep a gamer entertained for
e no more difficult than those hours. It's bright, shiny and will put a
t, followed by senseless battles smile on anyone's face. If you're a fan *
villains who turn out to be no of the caped crusader and could use a
r than their own lackeys. Usu- good pick-me-up, definitely consider
villain will come fight you "LEGO Batman."

Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale, TV's "The
Suite Life of Zack and Cody"). Tis-
dale, who seems extremely aware of
the films' cheesiness, plays Sharpay
as a pseudo-Paris Hilton drama
queen, complete with over-the-top
pink outfits and a tiny dog. Efron and
Hudgens may get the most screen
time, but Tisdale steals the show.
"Senior Year" isn't a film of subtle-
ty - a fight between son and father
is soundtracked with rolling thun-
derstorms, and rain always precedes

tough decisions throughout the film 6
- but it doesn't need to be. After all,
in high school, first loves are forever,
promisthe mostmagicaleventofone's
life and college picks are life-changing
decisions. Basically,. no one is more
dramatic than a teen going through
his or her lastyear of high school. The
film is fluffy entertainment chock-full
of positive messages. Inthe end, some-
times it's nice to have a happy ending,
and "High School Musical 3: Senior
Year" gives us just that.

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Representation.
Location: Washington, DC
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