The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Monday, March 14, 2011 - 7A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, March 14, 2011 - 7A The allure of classic film Why old movies captivate us, and r why that's not too cliche By Will Defebaugh I Daily Arts Writer Just what is it about old films that is so appealing? "Casablan- ca." "Breakfast at Tiffany's." "The Sound of Music." These mov- ies are all considered classics, rewatched time and time again. But why? What is it about these films that makes us love them so, that makes them qualify as our favorites? And do we actually love them, or is it just for show? These questions, particularly the last one, were on my mind after I learned that the State The- ater would be giving away cinema memorabilia this past weekend, ranging from old 35mm trailers to posters from every film the State has screened in the last five years. I thought about going - really, Idid. Butsomewhere between my being sick Saturday morning and the thought of an overwhelming crowd of pretentious film buffs fighting for a copy of a "Citizen Kane" poster they would probably never even put up made me want to stay curled up in bed. Then the idea occurred to me that it prob- ably wouldn't even be a crowd of pretentious film buffs, but just a crowd of wannabe pretentious film buffs. Or freshmen. Needless to say, I decided to nap instead. But as I was lying there, trying to drift off into unconsciousness, I couldn't help but think about all of the mov- ies that could be there. I thought about "The Graduate" and "Gone with the Wind." I had dreams of "Dr. Strangelove" and "Blade Runner." "To Kill a Mocking- bird," "Shawshank Redemption."P Would they be there? Should they be there? All these films have made a huge impact on pop culture at one point or another. People have loved them, cried over them. But there is something different about people liking them now - people who weren't around when they first made their mark. You have to ask yourself whether their inter- est is genuine or just trendy. After all, we live in a culture that is Hollywood-obsessed. The films we like say a lot about us. Does your list of favorites include COURTESY OF WARNER HOME VIDEO "Star Wars," or are you more of It's OK if "Citizen Kane" is your favorite movie. a "Clueless" fan? Whether in an interview or on a first date, the I think it's more than that. it to the top of the Empire State simple question, "What's your Just a couple of months ago I Building. But she sat there and I favorite movie?" can serve as really felt like watching an old sat there, and it was painful and insight into the soul. movie. After much debate I ulti- glorious. And when we are asked that mately settled on "An Affair to Now, when people ask me what dreadful question, we must con- Remember." Lookingback on that my favorite movies are and I say front ourselves. Do I answer experience, though I do think "An Affair to Remember" or "A honestly? Do I really want them in part it had to do with the fact Clockwork Orange," I know that to know just how many times that I had never seen the film and it sounds obnoxious. Just like I've seen "Uptown Girls"? Most I felt I would be a more cultured when people tell me that theirs would probably say not. They go person if I had, I think my reason- is "Pulp Fiction" or "Psycho," the other route and pick some- ing largely had to do with escap- I secretly roll my eyes. But the thing trendy or, more frequently, ism. I was on break and between truth is, no matter how annoying- something classic. They do this to schoolwork, dating and applying pretentious-indie-hipster they feel more original, which is ironic for jobs - I really didn't want to sound, the love people have for considering how many people's think about the real world or real old cinema is legitimate. People favorites said classic has been problems. I wanted to get away, to love these films because they are over the decades since its release. a world that was so different from great films and because they do But then again, that's not our own. exactly what movies should: They entirely fair. Most of these mov- So I went to 1957.1 stayed glued give us an experience we couldn't ies do have a genuine following in front of the TV with a box of have had otherwise. They take - they wouldn't be classics if tissues, yelling at Deborah Kerr to us somewhere we've never been, they didn't. And I'm not cynical just tell Cary Grant about the car somewhere far away. They take us enough to chalk it all up to image. accident and why she never made back in time. America is real attle winner By BEN VERDI That is, until one humbled DailyArts Writer American fighter (Eckhart) leads his band of brothers (and It's becoming more accept- Michelle Rodriguez, "Machete") able, one could say popular, to fight for something bigger to cast "Big Bad America" as than themsel'es. the enemy in That's a lot of cliches for one adventure, * . sentence, but this movie just war and action feels good. There's no point in movies. Our Battle: Los denying it. We don't learn more country's than we need to about the minor image has sunk characters either, except for - as so low that At Quality16 in every war movie - one of the people around and Rave soldiers is about to get married, the world and Eckhart's character is about are willing Columbia to retire from the military on the to spend bil- day the aliens show up. It's just lions to watch blue creatures nice to see America saving the defeat the American military on world again. a planet that doesn't even exist. America is cornered somewhat, cast too frequently as a bum- bling, crumbling empire on its last legs. It tries desperately to retain its power, and reveals just how much moral fiber it has, or lacks, in the process. So, frankly, it's the perfect time for a movie like "Battle: Los Angeles." This is a film with a $100 million budget about Aaron Eckhart ("The Dark Knight") commanding a group of Marines against extraterrestrials as our planet braces for extermina- tion. That's it. But a half-baked, didactic backstory about the aliens punishing us for our sins, or ignorance to their destructive power, isn't the real story behind this war movie. The story of this movie is that, without warning, things start to suck, America gets its ass kicked and, for most of the film, it looks like all hope is lost. USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! This movie is a special effects tour-de-force with a good-look- ing cast, grunted, uber-mascu- line quotes, epic battle scenes and tearful goodbyes to the dead. It's a burger and fries for a strong country that the world likes to poke fun at for the weight it's put on over the years. You leave "Battle: Los Ange- les" withthe same kind ofnation- alistic fervor that you probably haven't felt from a movie since "Independence Day" - another See BATTLE, Page 8A I A