The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, November 17, 2008 -5A
A traditional
'Mars' Xmas
By JACK PORTER synth majesty. Cultivating an
Daily Arts Writer alien tundra of sound, the band
delivers on the title's promise,
The Flaming Lips's latest though it leans more toward the
release is a bit bewildering. It Mars side.
doesn't con- Christmas on Mars tells the
form to the story of a crumbling human civi-
band's , usual lization on the newly colonized
brand of psy- Mars and' one man's quest to
chedelic pop, or The Flaming bring joy to its citizens on Christ-
even to its older Lips mas day. While the premise might
mold of acid- sound corny, the musical expres-
tinged indie Christmas sion of the idea rings true. Amid a
rock. Christ- on Mars harsh and barren landscape, hope
mas on'Mars is Warner Bros. springs forth in the most unex-
the soundtrack pected places.
to the band's In the first few minutes,
own, newly-released independent sheaths of wistful tremolo pulses
film of the same name. The band on "Once Beyond Hopelessness"
impressively brings the sound of detail the desolation of Mars;
a blockbuster Hollywood score to and "The Horrors Of Isolation:
this small-screen picture. The Celestial Dissolve, Trium-
Avoidingtraditionalsongstruc- phant Hallucination, Light Being
tures and blunt melodic themes, Absorbed" brings the Christmas
The Flaming Lips focus on weav- vibe to the fore with its flurries
ing narrative threads rather than of scale-descending twinkles and
crafting singular cuts. Almost booming choral section.
forgoing percussion and guitars "Your Spaceship Comes from
entirely, the sparse compositions Within" marks a troubled mid-
build slowly and erupt into con- point with the sounds of an EKG
centrated moments of orchestral See LIPS, Page 8A
COURTESY OF COLUMBIA
"Holy shit, not those fucking balloons again."
Bond, atypica Bond
As 007, Daniel Crai u tter "We meet again, Mr. Bond."
In other words, every successive
churns out formidable James Bond film must be exactly
the same as the one that preceded
role, but not in
standard Bond form
By ANDREW LAPIN
Daily Arts Writer
"007" fans tend to have an idea
of what the perfect Bond film is
supposed to look
like. Every new ***
edition requires
the same broadly Quantum
defined charac- of Solace
cers - the super-
suave secret AtQualityl6
agent playboy and Showcase
who musn't dis- Columbia
play any signs
of emotional
weakness; the femme fatale who
at some point must have sex with
said playboy; and the larger-than-
life villain with an otherworldly
scheme who must be allowed to
capture the playboy so he can
it.
And so we meet Mr. Bond again
in "Quantum of Solace," but he's
not the same. Sure, the character
on screen is named James Bond,
and he's played for the second time
by the superb (and freakishly mus-
cular) Daniel Craig ("Munich"),
yet he exhibits traits that are
completely alien to the character.
He doesn't .deploy any cool gad-
gets or especially large guns, con-
trary to the film's advertising. He
doesn't even spend more than a
few minutes face-to-face with the
villain (Mathieu Amalric, "The
Diving Bell 'and the Butterfly").
He does have sex, but it's with a
peripheral character, not with
this film's designated "Bond girl"
(Olga Kurylenko, "Max Payne").
Most distressingly, he spends the
majority of the film in a state of
perpetual moodiness over the
loss of his one true love, the dou-
ble-double-crossing Vesper Lynd
(who died in "Casino Royale"). A
Bond with emotions and who can't
get over a girl? Someone alert the
IMDb.com message boards.
The action picks up right where
"Casino" left off. With the help of
M (Judi Dench, "Shakespeare in
Love"), Bond discovers the exis-
tence of an ultra-secret evil orga-
nization named QUANTUM. The
group was responsible for many
of the backdoor shenanigans in
"Casino," and Bond goes globe-
hopping as he follows their trail.
Eventually, he winds up in Bolivia
confronting sadistic environmen-
talist Dominic Greene (Almaric),
who plots to control the country's
water supply. Yes, the villain is an
environmentalist. Between this
and "The Dark Knight" 's war-on-
terror politics, it seems this year's
most daring blockbusters also
have the most political agendas.
"Quantum" is better made than
most currentaction-movie junk on
the market, with a quick pace that
always keeps viewers guessing.
Director Marc Forster ("Finding
Neverland") demonstrates he can
successfully anchor a thoughtful
thriller. The film comes alive dur-
ing an opera-house sequence and
scenes in which M finds herself
questioning her loyalty to Bond.
Additionally, Kurylenko plays the
most well-rounded Bond girl in
recent memory; she's clever and
cunning, and her emotional arc
during the story rivals Bond's in
sheer gut-wrenching impact.
But people going to see a Bond
movie deserve to have some of
their expectations met. While
"Quantum of Solace" is a solid,
See BOND, Page 8A
11
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