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