2B - Thursday, September 13, 2012

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

ARTS RECOMMENDS
In this feature, Daily Arts writers will give their endorsements
for the arts you need to experience to help you deal with current events.
"A N"Gone Girl"
Joining the ranks of Carmen Sandiego, Waldo
and the Declaration of Independence (Damnit,
Cage!) is Amy Elliot Dunne, missing wife of Gillian
Flynn's recent release. She was - is, the Dunnes'
lawyer will say - a snappy, stunning New York
native. So why is her husband caught grinning by
cameras? It's sharp, its plot diabolic and its cast of
characters delightfully wicked.
CROWN
Night Visions
- Imagine Dragons
You've probably heard Imagine Dragons whis-
pered at Espresso Royale. Maybe you've heard the
single "It's Time." But for a band whose first album
Night Visionsquietly reached number one on iTunes
best-selling albums, there's more than meets the
eye. Rock anthems, jams, inspiring hymns - and all
NE P with a singer with palpable excitement.
"Mamma Mia!"
We all know the real cinematic masterpiece
of 2008 was the musical extravaganza "Mamma
Mia!" Pierce Brosnan may have once played the
most iconic secret agent in pop culture, but remem-
ber that time he also tried (he really, really did try
so hard) to sing? Heaven is almost certainly a place
where Meryl Streep sings ABBA songs on an end-
less loop, making "Mamma Mia!" the closest thing
UNIVERSAL we have to paradise.
"Cougar Town"
Get a bottle of red and those wine straws ready,
becausethe cul-de-sac crewisback. TBS announced
that "Cougar Town" will kick off its new season on
Jan. 8. For now, play a round of Penny Can, turn
any game into a drinking game, and stay confident
in your sexuality (just like Mariska Hargitay). If
h you're unfamiliar with Jules and her neighborly
winos, don't let the title discourage you: "Cougar
Town" has more jokes than it does age gaps.

JUDGING
A BOOK
BY ITS
COVER
Daily Arts writers go
against the famous
idiom, choose a
random book and
make assumptions
about its contents
based on the cover art.

0

6

David Bowie knew where he
was going... maybe.
The day began simply enough.
David had to be on the other
side of the city by noon, so he
awoke at the crack of dawn to go
through his usual cosmetics and
hair routine. But he only had the
tips of his fingers dipped into
his favorite hair gel when some-
thing strange started to happen.
David was tumbling through
the very folds of space and
time. Everything he ever knew
flashed around him as his body
transported to another galaxy
- a galaxy occupied by strange
wildlife and blue people.
After initially wondering if he
was experiencing an "Avatar"-

themed acid dream (it wouldn't
be the first time), David quickly
realized exactly where he was.
This world, with its blue people
and nonsensically large trees,
was his inner consciousness:
Bowieland.
Knowing he brought himself
to Bowieland for a reason, David
embarks on a thrilling race
against the clock to figure out
just exactly what it is he wants
from ... himself. But the two evil
overlords of Bowieland, who
go by the monikers Childhood
Fears and Lifelong Regret, will
stop at nothing to keep David a
prisoner in his own head.
Childhood Fear continually
shows David the moment in

his past when his older brother
hung David by his underwear on
the door handle; Lifelong Regret
flashes images of David's lum-
berjack-style beard he sported
all throughout college. Will
David be able to escape in time,
or will he be forced to hum "I'm
blue da ba dee da ba die" forever?
From Donald H. Carpenter
comes "He Knew Where He
Was Going (?)," the true-ish tale
of the epic adventure of Ziggy
Stardust and the space oddity
that changed everything.
A really important critic
somewhere said: "This shit is
crazier than 'Labirynth' ... no,
really."
-KAYLA UPADHYAYA

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6

TRAILER REVIEW

Bad-ass of the year? "The
World's Most Interesting Man"
probably wins
that distine-
tion. Bad-ass
of all time? SkyflI
James Bond
would cer-
tainly be a
leading contender. And the
recent explosive trailer for the
latest installment of the legend-
ary 007 thrill ride, "Skyfall,"
reminds us why.
Bond parries bullets and
explosions; he fixes his cuffs
promptly after each confronta-
tion; Javier Bardem, sporting
Aryan-like hair and a creepy
smile, is sinister; the Bond girls
are as seductive as they are dan-
gerous - none of the franchise's
fundamentals are lost.
Never before has Bond been
more complex as he is now in
Daniel Craig's commanding
performance. Couple that with

With a new album just weeks
away, the tension is building for
the moody Britons. Who isn't
salivating at
Pavlovian
proportions
after hearing
Muse's "Sur ss
vival" as this Muse
year's Olym-
pic theme Waner Bros
song?
That is, if you've actually
heard it. The mish-mash of ran-
dom sounds wasn't even close to
the anthemthatLondonneeded,
quietly pushing the track into
relative obscurity.
Muse's new single "Madness"
is a step further in the wrong
direction. An album's first legit-
imate single should be catchy,
concise and enticing, baitingyou
to bite on the record as a whole.
"Madness" is none of that.
Instead, the track is a five-
minute build-up of vibrating

6

Sam Mendes' direction, and
Bond, a character never recog-
nized as beingtragic until "Casi-
no Royale," has more potential
than ever to show his capac-
ity for redemption and wisdom.
Picking Mendes, an artsy film-
maker, as director was a gamble.

From what the trailer shows,
Mendes, while understand-
ing the heart of the franchise,
has expanded upon the artistic
boundaries set by his predeces-
sors. An old sheriff with new
tricks is back in town.
-SEAN CZARNECKI

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6

EPISODE REVIEW

TRAILER REVIEW

This is essentially Ryan
Murphy's ("Glee") soapbox from"
which he can spout his suppos-
edly progres-
sive ideas
about the
evolving fam- The New
ily structure
by writing gay Normal
caricatures. Plot
If Murphy is
supposedly NBC
championing
LGBT narra-
tives on TV, why is the gay com-
munity of "Normal" boxed into
such stringent stereotypes?
David (Justin Bartha) and
Bryan (Andrew Rannells) are
two gay men who decide rather
suddenly that they want to raise
a baby, shop around for a surro-
gate, find said surrogate in the
form of Goldie (Georgia King)
- a young mother married to a
cheating loser - and form a rela-
tionship with their surrogate ...
barely leaving enough time for

{ J Bold directors allow audi-
ences to embody key charac-
ters and, for better or for worse,
reshape their
perception on
humankind.
Anderson
is one of those The Master
guys, and his The Weinstein
1950's-set Company
high drama
about the
inception of Scientology looks
equal parts ambitious and pet-
rifying.
A cast consisting of Phil-
ip Seymour Hoffman, Amy
Adams and Joaquin Phoenix
NBC predicts a stupid-good film,
homophobic tirades ... comedy! Hoffman plays a charismatic
The few upsides of "Normal" "Master" of an incipient reli-
are found in Bartha and Ran- gious practice, which focuses
nells, who are endearing in their around a contentious Cause.
performances despite having Adams portrays his ideologi-
little to work with. cally faithful spouse. Then
But then Gwyneth Paltrow there's Phoenix: the enigma
shows up. and the nucleus of the plot. His
-KAYLA UPADHYAYA role as a returning Naval vet

viewers to register the obscene
amount of tired and half-baked
material they just witnessed.
Is it a feel-good comedy a la
"Modern Family"? Is it a par-
ody? Well, "Normal" is mostly
just people yelling - Goldie's
grandmother Jane (Ellen Bar-
kin) goes on frequent racist,

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