The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Friday, October 25, 2013 - 7A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, October 25, 2013 - 7A
Literally the worst grandpa.
Golden Gran dpa
Knoxville brings effectively pass gas while attempt- set up the pranks, but the reason
ing acartwheel (fartwheels). Those you're likely to shell out $10 and
surprising amount were the days, and though many of spend 90 minutes in a cinema hall
us have since grown up, it's nice to is to see the look of utter horror on
of heart to 'Jackass know there are people out there the face of innocent passersby as
still clinging to juvenility. they watch Zisman groan, groan
By AKSHAY SETH "Bad Grandpa" is an ode to that some more and shart on a wall.
Daily B-Side Editor resilience. Albeit more tame than The warm interactions between
anything else in the Essential Billy and Zisman are thrown in
In the exact moment these Jackass Canon, the film features between every prank to show
words are being written, the most the same "candid camera" gags some growth in grandpa's per-
recent Facebook status update for on unsuspecting bystanders, just sonality, but become sidelined
"Jackass Pres- minus all the masochistic self- when the debauchery is being
ents: Bad Grand- A- harm. We start with octogenarian carried out. The tear-jerk payoff
pa" is a photo of Irving Zisman (Knoxville) receiv- toward the end feels artificial at
Johnny Knox- Jackass ing news that his wife (Catherine best, and goes against the grain of
ville ("Jackass P Keener, "Enough Said") has just what "Jackass" is supposed to be:
3D") in cos- passed away. a satire of the extremes. Yes, Zis-
tume, playing a Bad Zisman takes his newfound man is verbally accosting many of
game ofleapfrog Grandpa bachelor status as a challenge - a the women he sees with the most
with seven Play- challenge to see how many differ- misogynistic, objectifying pick-up
boy playmates At Quality 16 ent women he can conspicuously lines you're likely ever to hear, but
at the Playboy and Rave and aggressively hit on before suc- the intention is to turn the lens on
Mansion. No, cumbing to senility. himself - to highlight absurdity in
"leapfrog" isn't Paramount Unfortunately, his daughter the garishness of what he's doing.
code name for gets sent to prison on an unknown "Bad Grandpa" succeeds
a sex position, narcotics-related charge, and our for simple reasons: It's a funny
though I have no doubt in my mind profanity-spewing grandpa is movie that'll likely keep people
that the people who came up with stuck with her son, Billy (newcom- laughing without rehashing tired
the idea had the double entendre in er Jackson Nicoll), who he must material we've already seen in
sight. It's simple, adolescent, crude drive cross-country to reunite previous chapters. The scrotum
and more so than anything else, with the father. slapstick, pooping parodies and
idiotic. The mayhem begins. A series all that other good stuff is still
But in many ways, that naugh- of pranks, the most memorable there - just presented in a format
ty, childish approach to humor is being shoplifting from a conve- that relies more heavily on reac-
what has allowed the "Jackass" nience store, guides us through the tionary humor than ever before.
franchise to retain a cult- audi- loosely strung narrative about Zis- It's an interesting new step
ence for over a decade. Watch- man finally showing love for Billy. for the idiots at Dickhouse Pro-
ing each installment is like being And in all honesty, the scripted bits ductions, reminiscent of a cer-
shoved back to those summer about grandpa having a miracu- tain Kazakhstani reporter no
afternoons in middle school when lous change of heart and embrac- one's ever heard of. It never
you'd set aside time every day to go ing his duties as Billy's ward aren't quite reaches those heights, but
ding-dong-ditch an entire neigh- needed to keep the movie relevant. no one can deny that it accom-
borhood, or establish social hier- They're necessary to establish plishes what it set out to: make
archies hinging on who could most some form of structure in order to us question what we choose to
TV NOTE00
'SNL'risks becoming irrelevant
without more diverse cast
UNIVERSAL
Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.
Lone glorifies heroes
By KARSTEN SMOLINSKI
For the Daily
For those moviegoers just
craving a bit of action, this film's
fearsome battles should more
than meet
your needs,
but for the
more demand- Lone
ing viewer, the
true story of SUtVNVC
"Lone Survivor" At State
also delivers a
good dosage of Universal
humanity.Based
on the book of
the same name by Navy SEAL
Marcus Luttrell and novelist
Patrick Robinson, the movie fol-
lows the events of Operation Red
Wings, when four SEALs came
under attack from, overwhelming
Taliban forces in the middle of
enemy territory in Afghanistan.
The film introduces the four
main characters, HMI Marcus
Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg, "The
Fighter"), Lt. Michael P. Murphy
(Taylor Kitsch, "John Carter"),
GM2 Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch,
"Killer Joe") and STG2 Matthew
Axelson (Ben Foster, "Contra-
band"), quickly establishing their
rich family lives and the strength
of their bonds as brothers in arms.
Soon thereafter, Lt. Cmdr. Erik S.
Kristensen (Eric Bana, "Hanna")
sends them into the Afghan moun-
tains on a mission to capture or kill sound effects induce flinching
a notorious Taliban leader. and audiences also receive close-
After making a difficult moral ups of the SEALs' gruesome
decision over whether to release wounds.
or kill a few goatherds who acci- Initially, the film comes off
dentally stumble upon the four like any other film with an excess
SEALs' hiding place, the heroes of of shooting and explosions but
the movie rapidly find themselves a dearth of unique emotional-
under attack by local Taliban mili- ity. "Lone Survivor" glorifies the
tia. Stranded in the middle of the heroes and their deaths while
Afghan wilderness and having unceremoniously dispatching a
only limited radio contact with number of nameless, faceless "bad
American forces, their options guys." However, the film takes
leave the soldiers with no choice a surprising turn in a moment
but to fight for survival. that humanizes the Afghanis and
imparts to the audience a wonder-
ful sense of hope for the preva-
At least it's lence of human kindness.
Possibly the film's strongest
accurate. asset is the accuracy with which
it depicts this true story, based off
of the accounts of the lone survivor
himself, Marcus Luttrell. Though
The intense and lengthy action Hollywood does of course fudge
sequence that follows excellently some of the more minor details,
portrays a sense of desperation the events that resonate most with
as well the SEALs' astounding the audience stay fairly true to real
ability to endure massive pun- world events. In this regard, "Lone
ishment. This echoes the film's Survivor" inspires and entertains
opening where actual footage of without turning the phrase "based
the Navy SEALs' extreme train- onatruestory" into ameaningless
ing establishes the theme of marketing gimmick.
willpower and a tone of realism. While "Lone Survivor" may
During the combat, a highly sub- recycle the familiar themes of
jective and frenetic camera con- patriotism, honor in war and per-
veys the hysteria that ensues as sonal sacrifice, its dedication to the
the Taliban force them to retreat real-life heroes of Operation Red
further and further down the Wings remindsviewers of the true
mountain. At every impact the value of these principles.
Woodley is the next Lawrence
By DREW MARON
For the Daily
There's more to the "diver-
sity" argument involving the
new "Saturday Night Live" cast
than simple political correct-
ness.
Since heavy hitters Jason
Sudeikis, Fred Armisen and
Bill Hader all left this past
season, executive producer
Lorne Michaels hired six new
cast members, all of whom are
white and only one of whom
is female. I'm not saying "Sat-
urday Night Live" should con-
sider race or gender as much
as talent. Nor was I one of the
people outraged that "Doctor
Who" didn't cast a woman or
a non-Caucasian actor as the
12th Doctor.
Very little
progress has
By KAREN YUAN
For theDaily
Shailene Woodley is the next
Jennifer Lawrence. Kemember
when everyone found out who
was casted as Katniss in "The
Hunger Games?" Jennifer Lawho
is this nobody; she looks nothing
like the character; Hollywood
blasphemes again, ugh. Remem-
ber how, only a year after "The
Hunger Games" debuted, Law-
rence held an Oscar in her arms?
She rocketed from obscurity to
stardom in an incredibly short
amount of time.
At this time next year, the fan-
fare surrounding Shailene Wood-
ley will be at colossal, JLaw-level
heights. Mark my words: Though
many don't recognize the name
now, soon people will be utterly
maniacal about her. I'm talking
Buzzfeed .gif-articles, a catchy
nickname, millions hoping that
she's single - the whole shebang.
It's clear from the big splash-
es Woodley has been making
recently that fame is imminent.
She's slated to star next June in
"The Fault in Our Stars," beating
out 200 other auditioners for the
coveted role. She also landed the
main role for "Divergent," anoth-
er majorly hyped film coming out
next year. Both movies are based
off of high-profile bestsellers
many teens are fanatical about.
There's no question that Woodley
will cement her status as a favor-
ite among the younger popula-
tion. If there is any fanbase that
can really launch an actress in
spotlight, it's the Young Adult
section of Barnes & Noble - as
proven by the classic examples of
"The Hunger Games," "Twilight"
and "Harry Potter" series.
Some may worry that ifher act-
ing isn't on par, Woodley will ruin
any chances of rising to the top.
However, her previous record
has shown her genuine ability to
seize a role and make it her own.
This past summer, she co-starred
in "The Spectacular Now" and
garnered praise for her perfor-
mance. Though her character
She plays a lot of sad people.
The Good Ol' Boys Club of comedy needs to die.
b
i
The
and "D
remote
absolut
ranks
isn't ju
perfort
differe
they b
When
with e
ground
going
simple
At t
ers are
diversi
een made saw the new cast ushered in
with host and alumna Tina Fey
n 38 years. guessing if they were new cast
members or part of indie-band
Arcade Fire. Yet, part of me
still mourns for what feels like
problem for me is "SNL" missed opportunities.
toctor Who" aren't even I'm not saying the new cast
ly the same thing. "SNL" is all bad. Beck Bennett (more
tely needs diversity in its widely known as the star of
to function. The show the AT&T "It's Not Compli-
ast about how funny its cated" commercials) eas-
mers can be - it's how ily fits in, standing out in the
nt they are and how well episode's highlight, a Lonely
ounce off each other. Island-infused digital short
you have five actors all titled "Boy Dance Party" that
rxtremely similar back- will undoubtedly shoot its way
is and personalities, it's into the public consciousness
to be boring. Plain and despite lacking any Timberlake
or Samberg cameos.
he very least, the writ- Various media outlets, as well
cognizant of the lack of as cast members Kenan Thomp-
ty. The season premiere son and Jay Pharoah have all
voiced their displeasure at
Lorne Michaels's recent casting
choices. Pharoah, in particular,
criticized the collective failure
to find a Black female comedian
to join the cast.
The purpose of "SNL" is to
reflect modern culture, and its
cast members are keys to that
end. If the cast seems dull and
the jokes repetitive (a popular
opinion among most), it's sim-
ply because the show no longer
represents the cares and anxi-
eties of the day. The people of
today's America are not who
they were 10 or 20 years ago.
We moved on, grew up and
became an even greater melt-
ing pot than ever before. Diver-
sity, therefore, isn't a chore. It's
a necessity-to remain relevant
in today's modern comic era.
was re
Woodle
throug
ness of
ban tee
starred
ney in
receive
tion an
role, al
dozen
as one
lywood
I'm not
o,
Cu
on,
Hav
movies,
ately is
portray
quired to act fairly passive, al girl in "Descendants," hurting
ey was still able to shine from the brokenness of her fam-
h the nuanced earnest- ily, and then does a complete 180
her portrayal of a subur- by playing the sweetly doe-eyed
n in love. In 2011, she also and affectionate Aimee Finicky
alongside George Cloo- in "Spectacular Now."
"The Descendants." She If there's anything left to
d a Golden Globe nomina- sell her by, it's Shailene Wood-
.d critical acclaim for this ley herself. Her Twitter is full
ong with nominations for a of endearing slice-of-life bits
more awards and a feature on eating cookie dough, smi-
of Nylon Magazine's Hol- ley faces and pictures of home-
I stars of the future (see, cooked dinners. She has also
alone in this!). written exactly one post on
Tumblr - a post that has been
reblogged over 5,000 times. It's
waner of the presented in all lowercase as she
muses on her decision to cut her
test Tumnblr hair short for "The Fault in Our
Stars" and cancer patients: "this
the Internet. could be a beautiful opportu-
nity to rally the troops of man-
kind and ask for some warriors
to help contribute to the cause.
ing personally seen both any of you have 8 inches of hair
,what strikes me immedi- to spare? ... yay!!! :)))" OK, seri-
Woodley's versatility. She ously: How can you not love this
s a caustic, confrontation- girl?
t