The Michigan Daily - Hchigandaily.com Monday, November 12, 2012 - 5A The Michigan Daily - Fnichigandaily.comMonday, November12, 2012 - 5A FILM REVIEW Bardem steals spotlight FINE ARTS COLUMN The pop stars of the past Beautifully shot 'Skyfall' sets new standard for Bond By AKSHAY SETH Daily Arts Writer There's no point in starting off this review with some trade- mark bitching. It has been a good year for action movies. We've had Liam Nee- son punching soil rabid wolves (yes Liam, we At Quality 16 still love you and Rave despite that Columb.a shit you pulled la in "Taken 2"), Katniss landing headshots with her arrows, Master Wayne ris- ing up from the shadows and, of course, Tony Stark becoming best "Let me see your soul" friends with Bruce Banner. Mil- lions of dollars' worth of set piec- made up for by the white-knuckle es torched, thousands of blanks action sequences and a genuinely shot at stunt doubles and count- engrossing plotline. less said stunt doubles thrown off Unlike any of the previous buildings. A good year, indeed. Bond films, "Skyfall" takes dis- But hold on, guys. The action tinct steps to bring the infallible movie gods are pulling some- James Bond of the past 50 years thing else out of their pockets. hurtling toward the ground. Holy shit, it's a Walther PPK/S Bond is getting older, and after 9mm Short - you know what things slip desperately out of that means. Bond is back. hand in the brilliant opening And by Bond, no one means the scene, Oscar-winning direc- suave, cigarette-puffing intelli- tor Sam Mendes ("American gence officer from half a century Beauty") takes it a step further, ago. This is Daniel Craig's Bond making the daring move to give - chiseled, brutish and ready at a our favorite MI-6 officer a full- moment's notice to unleash pain. blown figurative rebirth. In "Skyfall," Craig proves why he What we end up with is a bat- will be considered one of - if not tered, defeated Bond who can the - best Bonds ever to serve in no longer do a million pull-ups Her Majesty's Secret Service. and frequently fails marksman- "Skyfall" is by no means per- ship tests. It's a bit unsettling at feet. At many of the later points first, but becomes even more so in its nearly 150-minute runtime, when the resident bad guy of the the film drags, loses tempo and whole affair makes his flamboy- exudes an overwhelming lack of ant appearance, announcing his direction. But the slight missteps plans to hunt down and kill M in narrative flow are more than (Judi Dench, "Quantum of Sol- COLUMBIA ace") as payback for pissing him off in the past. To call Javier Bardem's ("No Country for Old Men") Raul Silva just your typical run-of-the-mill bad guy is a bit like comparing Heath Ledger's Joker to one of the countless drunken imita- tors you find running around at Halloween. Under Bardem's deft command, Silva is perhaps the most diabolical bleached-hair, mommy-hating Latino. man ever to take the screen, and the purr- ing, understated nature of his performance just makes him all the more terrifying for it. Unsurprisingly, he takes abso- lute control of every scene he's in after making his showy entrance over an hour into the movie, stir- ring to life a sense of ever-pres- ent mortal fear found looming in every crevice of the film. The cold, contrasting imag- ery captured by master cinema- tographer Roger Deakins ("No Country for Old Men") makes "Skyfall" more than just the most visually captivating movie of the series. The watered-down blues of the Scottish countryside coupled with the cold grayness of London and the neon-framed coolness of nighttime Shanghai are used like gauges by Deakins throughout the film. Whenever there's a functional change in palette, Deakins shows it to us by washing it over Bond's griz- zled exterior. The technique is meant to provide us with the tiniest inklings of what may be happening inside, but ultimately the motivations of our hero are left up to us for interpretation. So is this the best Bond of all time? At various instances, the answer is a resounding "Yes." But even at the points when it doesn't ring true, the one thing worth realizing is that without a doubt, this is a new era in 007's distin- guished career - one marked by the glory of the past and the grit- tiness of the present. There's something par- ticularly beautiful in an off-pitch voice ser- enading you with Ke$ha's "Die Young." Momentarily forgetting the home- work sitting neglected in a shoved- under- the-bed backpack, the rough crooning of ANNA "Wild childs, SADOVI lookin' good / Livin' hard just like we should," creates a barrier between you and the ugly world with its cradle-like arms of understanding. But, probably not. There's nothing truly romantic in Ke$ha's latest hit. Rather, the hard-thumpingtechno has one purpose: to remind the listener of their fleeting attractiveness. The only cure? Dancing with a total babe and forgetting the inevitable unhappiness that fol- lows aging. There's nothing wrong with cheesy, Auto-Tuned goodness (I love Ke$ha, no shame). In fact, mainstream culture is entirely reliant on the now-usual pop style. Going out, clubbing, hav- ing a good time and forgetting that guy who cheated on you - thank god we have a go-to Top 20 song for all those occasions. But popular music hasn't always been backed by synthesized beats and layered voices. That's right; I'm taking it back - way back - and div- ing into the oft-overlooked, mostly ignored world of clas- sical music. Once upon a time, people got down to Debussy; bounced to Beethoven; waltzed to Vivaldi. What is now known as clas- sical used to be the life of the party; the quartet in the corner was the band to book and no one even dreamed that one day a half-naked girl with mussed up hair and smudged eyeliner would take over the radio. They didn't even know there was goingto be a radio. The best part about classical music, for me, is the imagination behind it. There's a time and a place for it, and when the two line up in perfect harmony, clas- sical music is like an orgy for the soul. Like when riding a bike bor- rowed from a friend's grandma down the bustling, bright streets of Tokyo at night, watch- ing the billboards flash with symbols and photos of unfamil- iar celebrities. Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor came on through shuffle, and for once, my iPod nailed it: Piano strokes reverberated the chaos of the city, pulsing beats of a different kind through my ears. I imagined my life through the music, the cadence of the notes mimicking the rhythm of my pedaling. No words to pause the feeling - just a perfect com- panion concerto to celebrate the night with. It was romantic. It was clas- sical. It was edgy and cool because everything lined up, and ifa movie was made of my life, I would include that scene, that music and I would also be played by Elizabeth Olsen, obvi- ously. More than likely, classical - music gets a bad rep due to the setting in which it's listened to. A silent, chair-filled auditorium that seats more than 200 people doesn't invite any room for feedback or conversation. Rock concerts, pop concerts, elec- tronic music festivals, country hoedowns ... they all allow for movement, foridiscussion, for excitement. Younger genera- tions' appreciation for music relies on a dialogue between a musician and a listener. Not only are most classical composers dead, but there's no chance of. interaction between the artist and audience. Taylor Swift is the new Beethoven. Ke$ha is a pop star; Taylor Swift is a pop star; Rihanna, Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga are pop stars. Liking pop doesn't mean a love for hard rock can't develop. Liking electronic music doesn't negate the catchiness of hip hop. Listeningto main- stream doesn't mean classical is moot - only that there's more left to discover in the musical realm. Listen to classical music on your own: during study hours, during a walk home from class, during an awesome night out that ends at 6 a.m. (no shame, ever). It's then, at the times where it's you and the music, that the appreciation can set in. Sadovskaya is shuffling to Chopin. To join, e-mail asado@umich.edu. TV N OTE BOOK Kathy Griffin teaches us that expletives are just words By BRIANNE JOHNSON "jizz" ... in front of an audience. Daily Arts Writer She said it to the public. To the Public bathroom stalls serve an educational purpose. If not a fullyinteractive guide to pop cul- ture fandoms (Who's Sherlock, what's a T.A.R.D.I.S. and where is this Ministry of Magic?), a graveyard of etched linoleum ex-loves or a convenient surface to sharpen your many knives, the public bathroom stall is the world's dictionary. Not to be mistaken for its Oxford English brethren, the toilet stall has emerged as my go-to source for every slang term, allusion to and variation of the word "semen." Don't flip the page in haste - I promise to keep this clean (mind you, the staff is paid daily to wipe-mop-wax the area until it's spick, span and pee-free). Before you flee from your solo Starbucks table to scrub your hands clean of my perversity, just think about the word. Con- front it. Acknowledge it. Accept it (and don't forget that, if you leave, Charlie with the tall chai latte is eager to steal your seat). It's only a word. Just ask come- dian Kathy Griffin. Though such a word needs no context, let me indulge you: On Nov. 9, Griffin performed her stand-up routine for her loyal Detroit fan base (and seven straight men dragged to the show by drunken girlfriends) at the Fox Theatre. Jokes aside, the infamously banned-from- live-TV star "shocked" me in the simplest way: She said the word elderly woman at my right. To my mom. To me. It's not like I'd never heard the word before and not as if I don't frequently roll my eyes at the fact that it's carved in the stalls of many a University bathroom. But I couldn't help but gasp. Where was my media guardian angel to mute the offense? To blur Griffin's lips as if convinced that.I wouldn't be-able to deduct the punch line from every third penis joke? To obscure such devious language with the com- fort of a resounding BLEEEEP? Bathrm'1 stfa11 C We found Lance Bass. ar di Tele than g view c constr and pr life. But the sc bara 1 so, she Who k inappr I've crusad of art, Lill vv I t aL4..1.) sible and influential as televi- *e the urban sion. So how have I let a media personality's slip of the j-word ctionaries of shock me? Reader, remind me of my own advice: It's just a word. life. I remember rejoicing at "Degrassi: The Next Genera- tion" 's first use of the word "bitch," like watching my own vision is great - better wide-eyed creation stumble reat. It contributes to my toward me out of sheer excite- of the world and society, ment that it's walking for the acting my delicate schema first time. It was hip. It was cool. edicting the scripts of daily It was the first amendment .. right? Kathy Griffin didn't follow Yet the night of Griffin's gaffe, ript ("Does she ever?" Bar- my media angel - in the form of Valters asks) and, in doing a cherubic Neil Patrick Harris - broke my TV-laden reverie. spoke to me (don't question it). new people still used words "Wait," he said. "This isn't TV, opriate for MTV! Brianne. You're watching real- never been one to actively ity, and that shit isn't censored." le against the censorship Maybe television has affect- especially an art as acces- ed more than my skewed crime estimates and aversion to Blake Lively. Maybe television, in cen- soring itself, has censored me - my language, my habits and my expectations. I don't notice a word has retired from my vocabulary until a brazen comedian sings it into the audience for all to hear. I don't realize my pace quickens down a poorly lit East Univer- sity Avenue until I arrive home, heart pounding and Damon Sal- vatore not hitched to my neck. I don't question the hazy fade to a Plato's Closet commercial fol- lowing my romantic endeavors. I forget that, despite what "The Real World" may tell me, televi- sion is not reality. "That's better," NPH says, wings aflutter. You heard 'em, reader. TV is fair game, and so is the public bathroom stall. * #HASHTAG Follow us @michdailyarts Campus Mind Works Groups FREE drop-in education and support groups for any U-M student with Depression, Bipolar, or Anxiety Gratitude Interventions from Positive Psychol gy Strategies for Manag Depression & Anxiet When: Tuesday, November 13 5:30-7:00 p.m. Where: Chrysler Center, Room 133, North Campus Visit www.campusmindworks.org for more info. Presented by the U-M Depression . Center in collaboration with DepessoCenter the College of Engineering SPOTTED: YOU APPLYING TO THE DAILY ARTS TV/NEW MEDIA BEAT. XOXO GOSSIP DAILY E-mail arts@michigandaily.com to request an application.