8A - Monday, October 8, 2012
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
FINE ARTS COLUMN
Why do students say 'I
do'to indelible ink?
"Will yego to prom with me?" DISNEY
Burton electrifies
in 'Frankenweenie'
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Animated Everything about the little town
painstakingly created by the
venture pays team'of talented animators from
3 Mills Studio screams "horror
mage to horror movie homage."
Each of the quirky characters
y AKSHAY SETH running around are direct and
Daily Arts Writer indirect references to some of
the most influential scary mov-
Bigfoot really make ies in cinematic history, the most
ky commercials? Is Elvis direct being main character Vic-
iving out his golden years cor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan,
ere "Charlie St. Cloud"). Victor is the
vada? * * typical outcast, a strange child
mpor- who has an even stranger fascina-
can Frankenweenie tion with scary homemade mov-
Bur- ies and science. It's the type of
actu- At Quality16 character Burton has embraced
ike a and Rave in every one of his films - out-
with- Disney landish, imaginative and, above
hnny all, isolated. In some views, the
Hel- character is perhaps a represen-
aham Carter? These are tation of Burton's own childhood
stions that can keep any - one probably enveloped by a
man tossing and turning shell of seclusion that indirectly
ite hours of the night. But nurtured a blossoming sense of
red, tortured souls: In his imagination and weirdness.
m, Burton responds to our In any event, Victor's only
with a resounding "Yes, friend is his dog, Sparky, who
oddamn right I can." unfortunately meets his end at
n all seriousness, "Fran- the hands of a speeding car. Vic-
nie," the proclaimed cre- tor is obviously devastated and
rnius's latest foray into eventually finds inspiration to
d children's films, really bring Sparky back to life using a
st movie he's made since technique very similar to the one
ey Todd: The Demon Bar- used in a certain Mary Shelley
leet Street." And just like novel. Before long, the town dis-
ter worthwhile Burton covers Victor's method of reani-
Frankenweenie" comes mating dead animals and the fun
its attention to detail. begins as everyone races to bring
EVIEW
their own dead pets back to life.
Before long, the town is overrun
by an army of zombie beasts, and
havoc ensues.
All of the characters Burton
has created in this film are dis-
tinct and memorable, but perhaps
the funniest and creepiest one is
Edgar (Atticus Shaffer, TV's "The
Middle"), an Igor-like hunchback
who eventually becomes Victor's
"friend" and accomplice. Voiced
with a certain childlike malevo-
lence, Edgar's presence on screen
is likely to scare younger audi-
ence members, but that subtle
scariness, coupled with a strange
sense of likability, is a demonstra-
tion of Burton's ability to flesh out
interesting characters.
Apart from the collection of
surprisingly complex characters,
"Frankenweenie" is also memo-
rable for its distinct approach to
claymation. Unlike previous films
that have adopted the same tech-
nique, "Frankenweenie" is shot
in black and white with 3D. It
seems like a strange combination,
but works perfectly with Burton's
take on the innate creepiness of
everything around us. The bleak
Victorian houses and crooked
trees in the form of skeletal
hands grasping for life are just
a few examples of how well the
approach works. Ultimately, it's
this visual brilliance that make
this movie an otherworldly expe-
rience.
Peeking out from under-
neath her coral sundress
was a long, fiery dagger.
It was casually placed, add-
ing a touch of danger to her
otherwise
pastel outfit.
The blade
swept up her '
neck, edging
dangerously
close to her
cropped
head. Stray ANA
ivy, wound S
around the
hilt, crept
across her shoulder blades,
seemingly growing from her
skin.
Fearlessly demonstrating
mythical prowess, the tattoo
shone as a beacon of rebellion, an
homage to those brave enough
to take the plunge and commit
to something - anything - for
longer than a second.
"No" is the way conversations
always end when it comes to
body art. "No, Anna," my mom
would say, throwing me the evil
eye. And even though I've always
wanted a small, simple tattoo,
they're all fiery, ivy-clad daggers
to my parents.
Negative associations with
body art started long before
prison gang tats and biker ink.
Associated with folklore and rac-
ism, body art has been generally
cast off as a delinquent identifier
since the 19th century in North
America and Europe. But tattoos
go back further than that - all
the way to Neolithic times, when
they were used as a healing tech-
nique, a Eurasian practice mim-
icking acupuncture.
Now widespread, the art
of tattooing is embraced and
encouraged by younger gen-
erations. Redefining the art,
professional tattoo artists boast
high-quality indelible ink and
painless procedures. Whether
it's a drunken dare, a meaningful
symbo
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l or an "I'm really bored, when your skin starts to sag and
oring? Oh god, Iam," get- your wrinkles increase. They
a tattoo parlor has never stay with you until the end, going
mpler. And committing through the wear and tear of life
s a lot easier when you along with you.
now what permanence Eternal companions, tattoos
ke. become a source of terror for
ink I want a butterfly fly- some: picking the right design,
r a rainbow," said some placement, colors. All of a sud-
mewhere. And now she den, you're tearing out your
at exact image emblazoned hair, worried thatyour future
lower back. workplace will one day host a
n I get the number 42? beach volleyball tournament
ike, I'm the answer to life. and everyone will see your
"said my friend the other love for dolphins on your upper
w he has a magenta 42 on thigh.
f. Suddenly, it's less of a per-
sonal choice than a statement:
Getting something lame is only
one 'vants acceptable if it's ironic. Tattooing
o one wants your mom's name is not ironic.
know where Coming up with a coolness fac-
tor adds to the stress. It's much
easier to keep getting those
ee aryis 25-cent temporary tats while you
get your shit together.
Tattoos are a relationship.
can get whatever you can And in the monogamy-fearing
ie designed on your skin culture of University students,
rmanent reflection of the it's a surprise that tattoos are so
u felt in a single moment prominent. Are you really going
ein lies the problem. to love Justin Bieber in 15 years?
na, I'm going to tell you I sincerely hope not. But some-
iing really, really impor- thing continues to draw people
aid my mother's coworker, to ink. Whether due to street
g herself from the August cred or for bragging rights,
he whispered to me the tattoos are becoming less of a
ocation of her tattoo, a taboo and more of an art form.
airy she got over 20 years I have a secret: I'm going to
go against my mom's wishes and
so important that you get a tattoo. I've always wanted
et a tattoo, because some- a tattoo-of the snake eating an
're going to look at it and elephant from Antoine de Saint-
Good God, I'm an idiot."' Exupdry's "The Little Prince."
'ed from the alcohol on That's all I've wanted - a small,
ath and smiled, excusing simple snake eating an elephant.
from the patio. My moth- And even though it looks like a
ws how to throw parties, hat, and maybe no one else will
won't allow a tattoo. get it, like any other relation-
e are plenty of semi- ship, I'm willing to take the next
nent things in life: black step - I'm committing to com-
e, knock-off Sharpie mitment and I'm not going back.
6
6
s and your Facebook
nship status. But tattoos
embodiment of eternal
they don't get up and leave
Sadovskaya is getting her
tattoo right now. To hold her
hand, e-mail asado@umich.edu.
F IL M R EVIE W
SButter' lacks subtlety as a
s atire o f Midwestern life
Not'Taken'with sequel
By NOAH COHEN
Daily Arts Writer
In "Taken 2," Bryan Mills
(Liam Neeson, "Taken") and his
family are taken. Mills shoots a
bunch of people
and saves his
family. That's
not a synopsis Taken 2
of the plot -
that is the plot. At Quality16
Roll credits. and Rave
Liam Neeson Twentieth
is not by any
stretch of the Century Fox
imagination
a bad actor, but this script does
everything in its power to make
him look like a hack. At one point,
his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace,
"Lost") asks him, "What are you
going to do?" He gravely replies,
"What I do best." Laughter was
not the intended effect of this
line, but the theater rang with
it. As thoughtful and deliberate
as the man is, Neeson's talent is
compromised of delivering lines
that stray from epically trite to
downright ridiculous.
Grace, as Kim, is as emotive and
charming (read: sexy) as ever, but
somethinginthe wayshe portrays
her fear bullies our suspension of
disbelief into near-rupture. The
shallowness and motivation of the
villain, Murad Krasniqi, (Rade
Serbedzija, "Batman Begins")
also damage the credibility of
the storyline. His compulsion,
revenge over the murder of his
son (who, before being killed by
Mills in "Taken," had committed
serial child-enslavement, rape,
torture and murder), seems oddly
resolute. Perhaps it is ignorant to
presume anything, but one would
think the bond between a father
By SEAN CZARNECKI
Daily ArtsWriter
In "Butter," the Iowa State
Fair is a hillbilly pageant of igno-
rant country people. They are
simple-minded
fools who care
about but-
ter. They don't Butter
think dinosaurs
existed. They At the
live in isolation Michigan
from minori-
ties. They're The Weinstein
stupid. They're Company
idiots, corn-fed
American jingoists, rednecks, war
The buttermobile is equipped for butter battle.
"Shhhhhh..."
and son might end somewhere (Famke Janssen, "X-Men") and
short of condoning child sex traf- Serbedzija do fine jobs in their
ficking. respective roles of absolute help-
lessness and absolute evil, there is
something missing in their chem-
W e're not istry that keeps the audience from
fearing for the wife's life. Maybe
gonna take it. we never believe harm will come
to her, or maybe we simply don't
care about her, but whatever/it is,
the apathy removes most of the
"Taken 2" does some unsubtle suspense from the hostage situ-
footwork to persuade the audi- ation and renders about a half of
ence that its villain is deserving the movie boring.
of death. We've had enough of Lastly, this movie commits the
male villains putting their vio- unforgivable sin of sneaking its
lent-threat-whispering mouths title into the protagonist's dia-
uncomfortably close to the logue. As soon as the audience
necks of their female hostages. hears Neeson say, "Kim, your
That expositive proof-of-evil is mother and I are going to be
so tired, it feels like Hollywood taken," everyone knows, instinc-
paternalism. But this movie is tually, that it's time to sneak out
not entirely without feminist of the theater and find a better
flair: When Bryan tells Kim to get movie. Ultimately,, though Nee-
herself to the American Embassy, son, Janssen, Grace and Ser-
she begs instead to be brought bedzija aren't lacking as actors,
into the mortally dangerous the director, Olivier Megaton,
conflict to help save her parents and the screenwriters, Luc Bes-
- and Bryan, needing her help son and Robert Mark Kamen,
badly, relents. manage to make the cast look
Although Bryan's wife Lenore foolish.
mongers, Neanderthals - carica- girl who has recently moved into a
tures who should not represent foster home, possesses an incred-
the majority of fair-goers, or the ible gift for this niche Midwestern
people of the Midwest. craft. And so ensues a story whose
See, "Butter" is too smug, too quaintness is blown outofpropor-
lacking in nuance. It goes for the tion - butter-sculpture turns into
jugular, but lacks the teeth - an allegory of power.
that requisite sharp insight - so Plainly said, Pickler is a carica-
it flails instead. "Butter" never ture of the Sarah Palin or Michelle
enlightens, never makes its audi- Bachman archetype. Beneath that
ence ponder the new far right of prim dress and punctual attitude
the Republican Party. Whatyou're is a scandalous past and a big ball
left with is a ham-fisted farce, a of crazy. The "dumb, conserva-
condescending, glorified soapbox, tive female politician" image has
a sneering "fuck you" from those become so massive a comedic tar-
liberal elitists who give liberals a get, you don't need a sharpshooter
bad name. like Hawkeye taking aim to hit
a bullseye - you need a meme.
But to be fair, Garner's perfor-
An unrefined mance is an unqualified success.
Her scenes are nicely balanced
film, between addled ideology, hypoc-
risy and desperation. While she
has no real "I can see Russia from
my house!", moments, she does
Jennifer Garner ("The Odd rally a few laughs from the audi-
Life of Timothy Green") plays ence with a couple of brainless
LauraPickler, the wife ofabutter- quotables.
sculpture champion who's been on the other side of the spec-
asked to step aside after having trum, completely devoid of poli-
dominated the competition for 15 tics, Shahidi hands in an innocent
years. Not wanting to give up her portrayal of a girl who has been
husband's streak - butter is all she through hard times, but responds
has - Pickler enters the competi- with optimism, graciousness and
tion herself. Little does she know beauty. A minority character
her foremost competitor, Destiny stuck in a mostly white town, the
(Yara Shahidi, "Salt"), an orphan story would've done well to focus
on either her journey as a foster
child in an increasingly multicul-
tural society, or Pickler and her
obsession with social status.
As it is, writer Jason A.
Micallef's script ends up fum-
bling both. "Butter" is never able
to easily juggle both the two main
storylines and the subplots, the
most burdensome being Brooke
Swinkowski, played by Olivia
Wilde ("People Like Us"). Wilde
is funny, sexy, "wild," raunchy
- and completely unnecessary.
After the first twentyminutes,her
role in the film is inconsequential,
with almost her entire screen
time devoted to being an irrev-
erent gag. "Butter" loses inertia
where none should be lost, bring-
ing all its loose ends together in
a schmaltzy, uninspiring finale,
the satiric elements left ripe and
unexploited.
Director Jim Field Smith
("She's Out of My League")
brings little style to the picture,
too. Besides a nice monologue
scene with Garner, for the most
part he can pointa camera in the
general direction of the action.
It's competent cut-and-piste-
the-script filmmaking. By the
time you get home, almost every
featherweight punch thrown at
you will have melted away. But-
ter, indeed.