The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Monday, December 8, 2008 -5A

Away from the pack

ByANNIE LEVENE
Daily Arts Writer
James Franco is having a really
great year. Between outshining
the current king of stoner com-
edy, Seth Rogen, in this summer's
"Pineapple Express" and generat-
ing buzz for his role in director
Gus Van Sant's "Milk," Franco
has proven himself to be the rare
kind of actor who seems to appeal
to all demographics. Women want
to date him, guys want to smoke
with him and everybody wants to
watch him.
While Franco has long been
associated with hipster favor-
ite "Freaks and Geeks," his true
entry into the public eye was
quite typical.
Like most other young and
attractive actors, Franco rose to
fame through roles in lighter fare
like 1999's "Never Been Kissed"
and action flicks like the "Spider-
Man" series. Since then, Franco,
has managed to distinguish him-
self from the rest of the teenybop-
per icons.
Unlike a lot of bold-faced
names, Franco has always rec-
ognized the importance of bal-
ancing his education and career.

He graduated from UCLA and But with risqua parts comes the
entered Columbia University's public's fixation on a straight
graduate school this past fall. actor playing a gay role. One of
"I'm not there for any other the most anticipated scenes of
reason than that there is stuff I "Milk" is the oft-discussed love
want to learn and people I want scene between Franco and Penn.
to work with," said Franco in a But Franco was just doing his job.
phone interview last week. "We just did it, and that's it,"
His admission into Columbia's Franco said.
The actor was more interested
in the opportunity to work with
Van Sant. For Franco, it was not
'Thinking m an's only his admiration for the direc-
tor but also the passion Van Sant
actor' sets. had for the project.
"I did a little research on Har-
himself apart vey Milk, found out who he was
and found out that Gus had been
in new film trying to do this movie for 10 to
15 years," said Franco. "It's such
an important story for him to tell
since he's been trying to do it for
MFA Writing Program has made so long. There's no other movie I
him a Hollywood abnormality: a would want to be a part of as much
"thinking man's actor" who can as this one. It's everything."
also ensure box office success. To Franco,. "Milk" is special
With "Milk" being teased because it isn't just a political
(somewhat unfairly) as this year's movie; it dives deep into Harvey's
"Brokeback Mountain" - Franco personal life. Franco's role as
plays Scott Smith, boyfriend to what he calls the "political wife"
Sean Penn's Harvey Milk - Fran- is meant to give the audience a
co is again distinguishing himself taste of the politician's human
fromthe Josh Hartnetts and Chad side, the one that wasn't in front
Michael Murrays of the industry. See FRANCO, Page 8A

Worst suicide attempt ever.

Holiday troubles
A dysfunctional in many years. When the mother, ished the middle brother Henri
Junon (Catherine Deneuve, "Apres (Mathieu Amalric,"Quantum of
family deals with Lui"), develops Solace") from the family for rea-
thleukemia, she *** sons that never seem to be fully
tragedy at Chrstmas requires a bone revealed. And the youngest son,
. marrow trans- A Christmas Ivan (Melvil Poupaud, "Un Homme
By EMILY BOUDREAU plant from one Tale Perdu"), is experiencing marital
Daily Arts Writer of her children. troubles.
Of course, there Atthe No, Christmas does not mean
As Christmas approaches, are quite a few .Michigan quality family time for the Vuil-
happy-looking, photogenic fami- obstacles in the Theatre lards. Sister-in-law Sylvia puts it
lies take over everything from family's way and IFC best when she says, "What a bunch
commercials to the silver screen. Junon really of weirdos. The Vuillards pretend

Perhaps this is why the Vuillard doesn't care if
family in "A Christmas Tale" is her family is toget
oddly endearing, despite their Christmas. The old
chain smoking and conversations beth (Anne Consi
on Kafka. They are dysfunctional, ing Bell and the F
but lovable. successful playwr
The basic plot is fairly formulaic cope with perpet
and reminiscent of 2005's "The Her brother Paull
Family Stone." The Vuillard family "Dying or Feeling
hasn't sat down at a table together schizophrenic. Eli;

ther in time for
lest child, Eliza-
gny, "The Div-
Butterfly"), is a
ight who must
ual depression.
(Emile Berling,
g Better'?) is a
zabeth has ban-

they're normal, but they're not."
There are many places where
this film could have gone wrong.
After all, it's not easy to have
actors deliver monologues to the
camera without it coming across
as lame or pretentious. Junon's
monologue at the beginning sets
a quirky buthomey tone.,In 'A
See CHRISTMAS, Page 8A

"Sorry, 'm notinto dudes."

Rivers returns 'Home'

By DAVID RIVA
Daily Arts Writer
Rivers Cuomo is truly one of a
kind. The Harvard-grad-turned-
emo-poster-
boy has slowly ***
worked his way
to full-blown RiverS
rock star status CuomO
while fronting
the alt-rock hit- Alone 11:
makers known The Home
as Weezer. Fif- Recordings of
teen years and RiversCuomo
six albums later, Geffen
Cuomo and his
band have sold
millions of records and play to
thousands of people every night.
To say life is awesome for Cuomo
would be an understatement, but
it was time to step back from the
screaming fans, bright lights and
anthemic riffs of the arena-rock
life and invite his loyal fans into
his own place of residence for a
more humble offering.
Alone II: The Home Record-
ings of Rivers Cuomo is Cuomo's
second collection of demos,
recorded from 1992 to 2007. The
19 songs that appear on Alone II
were selected from a pool of 500
unreleased tracks that includes
solo cuts and rejects from Wee-
zer albums (including a three-
song set from the storied Black
Hole Sessions, a Weezer project
that never materialized), along
with a cover and very unlikely
collaboration.
WE'RE
BLOGGIN'.
THE FILTER
(thefilter.blogs.michigandaily.
com)

Due to the fragmented nature
of the album, Alone II is really
more of a scattered song collec-
tion than a conventional album.
Taking this into consideration,
Alone II includes a handful of
engaging tunes. "I Want to Take
You Home Tonight," "My Brain
Is Working Overtime" and "I'll
Think About You" are all shaped
in the conventional Weezer mold:
three-minute sing-alongs with

witty verses and the obligatory
guitar break. In short, they're very
accessible tracks. Lyrically and
stylistically, the songs are very
similar to Weezer's earliest work
on albums like Weezer (The Blue
Album) and Pinkerton. The highly
sought-after Black Hole tracks are
far less listenable and don't meet
their lofty expectations: Clocking
in at a combined 2:36, and severely
See CUOMO, Page 8A

IFSI U D 0 K U