Tesday arts.michigandaily.com artspage@michigandaily.com ARelTSia~iy I WORLDA BEATER SPIELBERG'S LATEST SPECTACLE ARRIVES WITH AWE0M VISUALS By Jeffrey Bloomer Daily Arts Editor Now here is a frightening film. Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" is dark, tense """"" and merciless, unrelent- War of the ing in its vision of death Worlds and mass destruction. The At the Showcase director's light-hearted and Quality 16 sense of humor is found Paramounts only in small pockets in a movie otherwise engulfed in an adrenaline-soaked dread. And, no, there are no metaphors for current events; the movie acknowledges the possibility of terrorism and brushes it off with a cynical sneer. No, it tells us, these are not terrorists - they're something far worse. The film opens with a small-scale famil- iarity. There is a family. The father (Tom Cruise), a blue-collar bachelor who knows the locals better than his kids, has custody of the latter for the weekend. His children, played with a sterling competency by rela- tive newcomer Justin Chatwin and celeb- city whiz-kid Dakota Fanning ("Hide and Seek"), have another life with their moth- er and make no secret of their preference between the two. But then something begins to happen. Lightening strikes in erratic bolts. Cars everywhere lose power. There's an ominous hole in the middle of town that "the weath- er" seems to have created. Then there's the inevitable line of stock dialogue that is somehow still inspired: "There's something moving down there," a character says. True, but the thing about "War of the Worlds" is that it reveals itself to us only in pieces; its trailers are wisely bare-bones teases that allow it to unfold naturally into the primi- tive stunner that it was intended to be. Very loosely based on the quintessential 1898 H.G. Wells novel, "War of the Worlds" knows that the extravagant special effects sequences its nine-digit budget eagerly sup- plies just aren't that interesting without a human drama to anchor them. The charac- ters are functional, if not fully developed, as a flawed group of people that react to the film's events as something of a personal tragedy - it's not so much the fate of man- kind that concerns them, but maybe that their father doesn't know they're allergic to "You don't know the history of psychiatry - I do!" peanut butter; that he takes an active role in their lives only after they are nearly killed; and that he, in fact, doesn't know what will happen to them. While the movie avoids allegorical overtones, there's a symptomatic undertow to its stark imagery that endows it with an uncontrived extra-textual weight. A particularly affecting scene explores the aftermath, but not the actual impact, of a crashed commercial airline; anoth- er features a blazing train that unexpectedly glides past onlookers with a furious intensity. These moments, practically asides to the main narrative, cement the film's emotional impact in a way that its character drama can't compare. Equally impressive are the movie's digi- tal dreamscapes, which are some of the most technically impressive ever put on film. There's just something uniquely red- blooded to them; if you put this movie up against "Star Wars: Episode ItI," the Lucas film would look like a high-priced, com- puter-animated cartoon. The film ends as it began - with eerily serene narration from Morgan Freeman, whose raspy tongue must be that of God (just watch "Bruce Almighty"). And speaking of God, or at least someone who thinks of himself that way, this leaves us precious little room to talk about Cruise. Let's just say that he's a movie star for a reason. Amidst soccer moms everywhere who are self-righteously losing their schoolgirl crush and a growing hole of public scrutiny, Cruise's effortless screen presence carries a film like this as few other actors could ever hope to - and that's all that should really matter to us, anyway. Cruise is a madman, Freeman is God and Spielberg is playing with aliens. Everything is in its right place. 4 Upstr from foC o D 's in0 Opeb7way s P663-3 41o$ fhe t.pecCD's in topJ)ndto. - Enigmatic star shines on LP By Chris Gaerig hits. The song's ability to lose the drum Daily Arts Writer machine yet still retain its club creden- tials is a trait rarely seen. The sincerity of M__scR__E_____E___________ Annie's voice also happens to kick harder and sweeter than young love: "Time after Annie is somewhat of an enigma - a time / Everybody came around / And I seemingly ron-of-the-mill Scandinavian, was dancing with you." the bubbly blonde dancehall artist that "Come Together" is another one of the receives enormous amounts of critical jewels on Anniemal. Clocking in at just acclaim and indie, under eight minutes, it manages to retain music-snobworship. An its continuity without dulling down or On first listen, she A fli becoming a static beat. The nearly two- pumps out ecstasy- Anniemal minute intro features Annie crooning driven, rover jams, Big teat out taffy-filled lines over intertwining, but with time, the gorgeous keyboard hums and vocal music becomes outbursts. She brings the house down denser than any collection of dance songs screaming, "Come together!" ever shossld. Her latest release, Anniemsed The most emotional track on the - which is seeing a resurgence in praise album is its closer, "My Best Friend." with its American release -- is a swarm- Ansnie shrugs off irony and tongue-in- ing mass of drum and bass beats, syssth cheek wit for giddy hope, "I thoughtlI saw drones assd airy vocals, you last night smiling at me / Thought I The lead single, "My Heartbeat" heard yorsr voice calling for me." -- Pitchfork Media's trsp single of 2004 The biggest problem with Annsiemal - sheds the standard dance beat for a is inherent and unavoidable -- dance- inure prip structtire and sirganic instris- bal is only appropriate for certain mtets. The newly skiwed pace is a well- occasitits ssnd at certa in times. It tikes 'sed ad ;icrfw:i obsed diergeince si secib imdiet 4 nd settin0 so irsi]" inrougusout sue asumu. oven srugu Annie is able to create a record with dance hits and pop epics that flow together perfectly, her music is still unable to obtain a universal appeal. Anniemal is a pop gem that shows Annie's talent and her amazing potential. The density of her instrmmentation, givens time and progression, will draw com- parisons to artists like Bjork. Her vocals blend gorgeously with the glitchy, dance beats and bla ze through the music with a overwhelmning presence. Anntiemael's pop sensibilities are perfect. She's got ass sixth sense for clmb beats stronger thou any- body shire Basienim /axs. 4 4