The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Wednesday, November 18, 2009 - SA The Michigan Daily - michisandailycom Wednesday, November 18, 2009 - 5A A view from the fringe Garners' great duty * 'Modern Warfare 2' brings artistry, innovation and political statements into play By Timothy Rabb Daily Arts Writer The "Call of Duty" series is tradi- tionally known for its faithful rec- reations of World War II history, including battles, weaponry, vehi- Call of Duty: cles and the like. ModeM In spite of the popularity of the Warfare 2 franchise's focus P PS3/ on the German- Xbox360 American con- flict, the "Modern Activision Warfare" spin-off is a foray into new territory - one in which Russia's leaders push for a return to the days of the Soviet Uiios5and'the'Cold Wa'.B Bitthis time, the tensions are anything but "cold." This highly anticipated sequel to the popular modern-day war game "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" picks up five years after the events delineated by its predecessor. In case you don't remember that far back, the Soviet Union was discov- ered to be in cahoots with a rebel force in the Middle East. Ultrana- tionalist Russian political figure Imran Zakhaev was funding war efforts in Middle Eastern countries in an attempt to divert attention from his own efforts to seize power in Russia. The second installment of the "Modern Warfare" series occurs after Zakhaev's death, when his assassination is unexpectedly con- strued as martyrdom by the Rus- sian people. United under their fallen leader's platform of nation- alism, Zakhaev's supporters rise to political power and fuel the fires of anti-Americanism to an extent that no one playing the game could pos- sibly expect. This installation retains the best aspects of the series, includ- ing the easy-to-learn controller scheme and heads-up display style. It also offers players themost gbvi- ous supplements to a first-person shooter sequel: Advanced guns like a Silenced ACR;ssn AK-47 Grena- dier, remote-controlled Predator Missiles and many others are at your soldier's disposal. You're also placed in several intense non-FPS situations, like riding a snowmo- bile down a ridiculously steep slope while simultaneously shooting enemy combatants or riding pas- senger in a Jeep through a war- torn city. And if that's not enough, the game also features an efficient, easily usable online interface that's oddly reminiscent of "Halo 2." But one of the "Modern War- fare" series's strongest suits is its ability to humanize its characters and draw gamers into its complex stories. When playing an ordinary FPS, players usually find that the sub par plot structure drops them right in the middle of the action, gun in hand and ammo loaded, following the same protagonist through the same series of inter- changeable missions. In "Modern Warfare 2," you view the world through the eyes of many different characters, including a CIA opera- tive on an undercover mission, an Army ranger on the front lines and even (briefly) an astronaut at the International Space Station. And though you see portions of the story through the eyes of different people, it all ties together beauti- fully by the campaign's end. It's hard to criticize a game that manages to effectively cover the whole gamut of wartime neces- sities, but if there's one aspect of "Modern Warfare 2" that's easy to hate, it's the split-screen gameplay. In all fairness, split-screen gaming is never an ideal situation for mul- tiple players who want the luxury of a large screen, but, in "Modern Warfare 2," minute details are so essential to the experience that the split-screen play is completely impractical. During online play, split-screen- ers may find themselves deadbefore they even see their attacker; as a consequence of the limited screen space, it's simply too difficult to squint your eyes so you don't miss that one camouflaged assailant way off in the distance. But fortunately this flaw also serves to highlight the game's strengths. You'll need the full range of vision of a large LCD screen to fully appreciate the many detailed facets of gameplay and graphics the game has to offer. The supremacy of this game above all other real-world simula- tion shooters, however, lies not in its eclectic assortment of weapons, characters and locations, or even its exquisite graphics. The riveting, vital plot point that differentiates this FPS from all others alludes to the very real fears that many hold in relation to our country's tense relationship with Russia. For the first time in mainstream gaming's recent history, players will fight full-scale military battles within the continental United States, spe- cifically in Washington D.C. and the suburbs of Virginia. These images will mark a pree;ppy i.' p careers of many gamers in that they will fully realize - in near-perfect 3-D detail - the consequences that -could have occurrediisa esult df' the Cold War. "Modern Warfare 2" is not entirely new. After all, it's only one installment in a series of games that are captivating, painstaking depic- tions of all the violence, tumult and despair of war. How does one go about describing a game that - in addition to being a triumph of artistry and innovation - is also a profound political statement on nuclear proliferation? In this case, it's fitting to invoke the words of former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart's definition of obscenity: You'll know it when you see it. "Modern Warfare 2" is obscenely good. Purchase it imme- diately. By BRANDON CONRADIS DailyArts Writer The subject of the fascinating Oscar-nom- inated Ger- man film "The Baader Mein- P*Badu hof Complex" is the Red Meinhof Army Faction C0mpleX - also known A as the Baader Atthe Meinhof Gang Michigan - a real-life Vitagraph left-wing ter- rorist organization formed in the early '70s. The film dramatizes the group's ascension from anti- imperialist protesters during the war in Vietnam to one of the most infamous urban guerrilla groups in the world. It's startling and captivating, and while director Uli Edel's politics are unsurpris- ingly downplayed in favor of a more standard documentary-like approach, the film is unnervingly successful in its recreation of a time defined by turmoil. Martina Gedeck ("The Lives of Others") plays Ulrike Mein- hof, a radical left-wing journalist whose resentment of American imperialism and the war leads her to Andreas Baader (Moritz. Bleibtreu, "Speed Racer") and his girlfriend Gudrun Enss- lin (Johanna Wokalek, "North Face"). Together, the three form the Red Army Faction, welcom- ing other restless youths into their fold as they begin a series of bank robberies and protests that eventually lead to an all-out dec- laration of war on capitalism and the United States. It's not hard to see why some- thing like "The Baader Meinhof Complex" would be embraced by mnaipsrgam audiences. Provoca- tive and entertaining, the film plays like "The Battle of Algiers" for a generation raised on the / breathlbss international.'inltrigue of "24." There's not a whole lot of substance here; the subver- sive "third world" politics of Gillo Pontecorvo's film, in which the viewer, often unwittingly, is influenced to sympathize with the anti-French rebels, are ditched in favor of "Bourne"-like action scenes and an unsurpris- ing objectivity that allows the filmmakers to skirt by without making an overarching political statement. Its insistence on align- ing the terrorists' actions with sex, drugs and rock''roll - not to mention the fact that the mem- bers of the gang, with the excep- tion of the middle-aged Meinhof, are all sexy, uninhibited and glamorous-looking - seem to demonstrate this. The film is not so much con- cerned with deploying the inher- ent brutality of terrorism as it is with the young guerrillas' insis- tence on using it as a means to feed their desire for rebellion. Also, the film is ruthless in the way it uses individual characters as mouthpieces for the various conflicting viewpoints of the era, as if to ensure no audience mem- ber would leave with a bad taste in his or her mouth. All that said, "The Baader Meinhof Complex" is still a ter- rific film. It's long, but it never feels slow; it's violent, but it never feels gratuitous; and it's often unpredictable, though it never feels manipulative. While it loses grasp of its numerous characters at times - some disappear from the film completely only to reap- Unnervingly Successful. pear later without warning - its frenzied nature just lends to the feeling of chaos it's trying to emulate. The actors capitalize on their flimsy roles, but, ultimately, this isn't a film that emphasizes characters - even Baader and Meinhof seem inconsequential to the narrative. The dramatic impact instead comes from the collision between powerfully staged action set-pieces and real- life news footage from the era in which the film takes place. Like Gus Van Sant's "Milk," a film with which this shares some similarities (right down to the muted color scheme which resembles faded newsreel foot- age), "The Baader Meinhof Com- plex" is a fascinating example of a film about the past made to address politics of the present.L Again, it's not an overtly politi- cal film - in the sense that it doesn't voice its own opinions about the proceedings - but it certainlyposesmanyrelevantand controversial questions regard- ing the origins of terrorism and the necessary acts a government must take to stop it. This may be the obvious route for a film of this nature to take - acting as a kind of arbiter for the Right and Left - and in that sense the film could have been more daring. But there's no denying the sheer intensity of Edel's film, or the fact that, despite its flaws, it's one of the most purely diverting films to be released in quite a while. A fierce dose of flower power The shameless epics of Circles By BRIGID KILCOIN Daily Arts Writer Did you think TLC couldn't possibly add anoth- er reality show to its lineup? You thought wrong. "Flowers *** Uncut" follows the career of Jeff Leatham, a former male model Flowers and celebrity florist nicknamed Uncut "The Rock'n'Roll Florist" - a reference to his no-holds-barred Wednesdays style of flower arrangement. in at 10 p.m. the half-hour show, Jeff creates TLC flower arrangements for dozens of events and attempts to keep his team of assis- tants in check. Since every reality show is built around the same basic conventions (sit-down interviews, mon- tages set to music and a seemingly insurmountable problem that is always resolved by the program's end), the feature that often determines success or failure of a show is its protagonist. And Leatham is a smart choice. Despite his outwardly polished demeanor, he's goofy and endearingly vulnerable. His single-minded dedication to flowers, and the importance of a perfect arrangement is charm- ingly over-the-top. In one scene,. Leatham teaches the basic prin- ciples of arrangement to a group of impoverished mothers and then critiques their bombastic rib- bon-tying methods. "This isn't a fashion show; it's a flower show," he lectures. In another, his obses- sive flower devotion is displayed when he glances around the workspace as he's arranging flowers. "Hopefully around 4:30 or 5 o'clock, this room will be like an enchanted forest of trees and love," he gushes, attired in a bowler hat complete with over- sized flower pin. "I just want to create a corner of fantasy and happiness." Although every career has its moments of strife, the field of flower arranging is not exactly fraught with drama. TLC's producers seem to struggle with this noneventfulness, honing in on any slight misstep to up the tension quotient. One major plot point is when a few vases break prior to a benefit, sending the "Flowers Uncut" team into a tizzy: "I don't care if those vases are fucking broken!" Leatham yells. "Go and get some more!" Another calamity arises when Leatham notes that several flower pots have hand-print smudges on them. "We have a problem," he says dramatically. "The pots are dirty." The biggest flaw in "Flowers Uncut" is that it's extremely similar to other TLC reality program- ming -sthe show focuses the majority of its energy on random celebrity cameos and over-done sit- down interviews about its subject, the beauty and power of flowers. It seems obvious that the focal point of a show about flower arranging would be about the resulting flower arrangements, but little time is spent displaying the finished product. Leatham's creative process would be interesting if coupled with the actual construction process, but these important aspects are brushed aside in Even Grandmaster Flash approves. favor of pointless side-stories about topics like con- suming edible flowers. The episode ends with rap pioneer Grandmaster Flash congratulating Leath- am on a job well done, which is undoubtedly enter- taining for the miniscule subset of TLC reality programming fans who enjoy early 1980s hip hop- but still baffling to the 40-something women who will likely make up most of the show's audience. "Flowers" isn't must-see TV, but it's an enter- taining diversion and a positive step away from TLC's overload of programs focusingon freakishly oversized families. While it might not shed a huge amount of light on the flower arrangement busi- ness, Leatham is entertaining enough so it doesn't matter. By JEFF SANFORD Daily AssistantArts Editor Crafting an instrumental album can be a tricky, high-risk enter- prise. Without the structural and Russian melodic guide of Cirdes the human voice, no-vocalist bands Geneva better make damn Suicide Squeeze sure their music is strong enough by itself to hold the modern listener's waning attention span. Needless to say, this is no easy task. Success, though, brings hand- some rewards. The fortunate band is lauded with throwaway labels like "poignant," "sprawling" and "inspi- rational," and it might even land ajob scoring excellent films about high- school football fanaticism: Unfortunately, Russian Circles's most recent effort, Geneva, is neither inspirational nor poignant (whatever that means), and it's only occasionally sprawling. The band - which is fre- quently and fairly likened to a harder and heavier version of Explosions in the Sky - struggles to keep the songs consistently compelling enough to warrant the vocal-less approach. For an album filled with such doom-in om," "Me va boast Opener' dard me drummii fair amoi in nothin core brea is certai for this album d continue it turns o key to en The h closestI instrume in the Sk Ne forn tar line; moaning ever moi builds is minutes, nowhere layering throw an into the voking song titles as "Fath- track to the next level. lee" and "Hexed All," Gene- "Malko" would be a bright spot s surprisingly little drama. on the album if it weren't so shape- 'Fathom" begins with stan- less. The song unfolds over a starry, tal discord and tom-heavy impressive guitar riff until it's bru- ng. It builds up nicely with a tally cut off by a dense mush of dis- unt of suspense, but resolves tortion and spasmodic drumming. ig more than a generic hard- This vigorous coda is hardly earned, akdown. The flaccid ending and the song loses steam despite its nly a disappointment, and surface-level intensity. It all results to happen so early on the in an odd, discomforting feeling of a oesn't exactly encourage band not knowing when to quit. d listener patience. And as It's largely the nebulous song form iut, patience is precisely the and pacing that doom Geneva, but Ljoying Geneva. the album isn't completely meritless. opeful "Hexed All" is the The drumming prowess is a constant, Russian Circles comes to helping to grease the tracks a bit and ntal brethren Explosions keep them from completely losing .y, with its understated gui- momentum. Closer "Philos"is an awe- inspiring, multi-movement song prov- ing that, when Russian Circles wants bulous song to, it can in fact turn in a truly rivet- a dp in ing instrumental. It's just a shame the s and paCin. band can't do it consistently. Clearly, Russian Circles is a band that's shamelessly epic (see, for s, spacey drumming and instance, track six, titled "When strings. But again, what- the Mountain Comes to Muham- mentum the song initially mad"). This typically isn't a problem destroyed when, after four - instrumental bands invariably fall the tracks goes absolutely into this classification. But on Gene- .The band seems to confuse va, the trio winds up on the "shame- with movement, opting to less" side much more than the "epic" other superfluous variation side. And sometimes, a little shame mix instead of taking the can do some good. SLIDESHOWS ONLINE! For photos from last night's Brother Ali and Devendra Banhart concerts, head to michigandaily.com/blogs/the filter.