0 T Wednesday, July 3, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com FILIM REVIEW hite HouseDown lacks grit Rainbows on parade Wednesday, July 3, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Stepping backwards? 15 By MAYANK MATHUR Daily Arts Writer The second film of the year that focuses on a takeover of the White House challenges the concepts of expectation and reality. Roland C+ Emmerich ("The Day After White Tomorrow") puts House Down together his love for disaster and At Quality16 his penchant for and Rave spectacle to pro- duce a very medi- Centropolis ocre buddy-cop Entertainemnt action flick that provides more laughs than gasps and more exasperated sighs than genuine thrills. "White House Down" is particu- larly confusing to digest because it thrives on the ingredients that should havebeen added asagarnish- ing and does away with the essential ones that would added more flavor and originality. It's a pity that Emm- erich prefers to sacrifice grit and tension in place of comedy and light- heartedness in his latest outing, as one is left wondering of what could have been instead of appreciating what has been served. Ultimately the film does elicit a credible degree of involvement and excitement from the audience, but it does so for all the wrongreasons. Students of ENGR 390/599 Culture, Wellness, Techolog Participate on Teams to imagine & create new apps for better living contact Prof. Jasprit Singh singh@umich.edu --.5O The film follows John Cale - ' (Channing Tatum, "Magic Mike"), a U.S. Capitol Police officer who fails to make the grade in his per-' sonal and professional life as he gets snubbed by his daughter at every turn and gets rejected in his attempt to join the Secret Ser- vice. Things don't exactly brighten up when the White House comes under siege while Cale is on a tour1 of the building with his daugh- ter. In a not-so-surprising turn of events, Cale is separated from his daughter and tasked with protect- ing President James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx, "Django Unchained"). Thus begins Cale's quest to reunite with his daughter while making sure that the President survives the attack. The movie doesn't have an extraordinary story to tell, which Everyone loves Tatum. isn't necessarily a flaw, and the rapid sequence of events ensures to arouse feelings of tension and that boredom doesn't rear its ugly anxiety, and this is where the film head. A series of unexpected turns is dealt its most telling blow. leaves the audience guessing as The chemistry of the male leads to why the White House is under further ensures that the film is attack and who exactly is pulling devoid of any seriousness whatso- the strings, which allows the film ever as Tatum and Foxx work so to score a point over its counter- well off each other that they make part "Olympus Has Fallen" as far the joblook easier than it should be. as twists are concerned. In an interview with Jimmy Kim- However, at times, the plot is mel, Jamie Foxx said that he went too convoluted for its own good from being "a slave to the Presi- and the plethora of characters - dent," referring to the immediate especially the villains - do get tir- transition he had to make from ing. The bad guys aren't scary or "Django Unchained" to "White intimidatingenough and they don't House Down". However, it doesn't seem to know exactly why they're seem like he ever stopped being doing what they're doing. Motives "Django" - he's as badass as he can constantly change and each time be in his role as captured President they seem more and more unclear. James Sawyer. When you see the Though obviously present, the President in his Jordans, pullingup threat is never credible enough a rocket launcher to the window of CENTROPOLIS ENTERTAINMENT an SUV saying "Damn right," you know something's not right. Foxx and Tatum make a mediocre buddy-cop flick. That image sums up this movie in a nutshell: You're entertained by what you see, but you know that's not what you're supposed to be entertained by. It's a very clear line that Emmerich chooses to blur, and while it may work at times, there's no question that a little less of it would have made the movie a lot more than it is. J 's the crack of dawn, Sunday morning (11 a.m.) and I open my eyes that are still caked with 10 pounds of mascara from Saturday night. I think to myself there is _ no way in hell I'm getting out of bed. As I start to drift back to NATASHA sleep a delicious ERTZBISCHOFF thought creeps - into my psyche: breakfast. The tantalizing thought of crispy bacon and fluffy eggs jolts me to life and I put on lilac shorts, a hot pink V-neck and a floral headband for good measure. Then I roust my roommate out of her hibernation - and she rips my head off much like a grizzly bear would - and we set out to scavenge something fried and dripping in grease. On our walk to a quaint mom n' pop restaurant, Nookies, I spot something odd - something very odd. I do a double take and realize the unfortunate outfit this girl is wearing isn't a mirage. Her rainbow suspenders, pleather skater skirt, 10-inch pleather platform shoes and knee-high rainbow socks are real (gasp). I grab my roommate and tell her to check out the life-size Hara- juku girl. After I recovered from disbe- lief at that heinous ensemble, out of nowhere a whole pack of people appears wearing these ridiculous, whimsical rainbow outfits. I feel faint at the sight and I'm thinking to myself that I'm either losing it or there's a full moon out. Then I hear a boy chanting: "I'm gay and proud, gay and proud, GAY AND PROUD!" Suddenly it hits me and I start to smile, realizing the cause for all the tacky rainbow is the Chicago Pride Parade. So I extend my hand to the boy that's chanting, high five him and yell back "HELL YEAH." For a split second he stares at me, his face a cocktail of confusion and elation, and you know what he said back to me? "Thank you - I love you." After we passed all the pride paraders and returned home, I went straight for my laptop. I Googled the Chicago Pride Parade and started to read a little bit about its history. I learned this particular parade com- memorates the rebellion of LGBT patrons of the Stooewall Inn ioNew York Gity and that this is the 44th one. I looked through the picture gallery and saw people dressed in the same outfits I had seen earlier, hugging each other and smiling with pure happiness washing over their faces. Seeing that genuine happiness, I was happy as well, and hoped the Pride Parade would con- tinue for another 44 years. "I'm gay and proud, GAY AND PROUD!" The next day, I still couldn't stop thinking about that boy. I couldn't understand why he seemed so shocked I had high-fived him. He had actually thanked me and told me he loved me. Frankly, in the moment, I hadn't even given the high-five a second thought before doing it. I just didn't really get it - the rainbow socks, the "Legalize Gay" American Apparel tanks or the boy's happiness. But then again, I guess I didn't really get it because I have always been allowed to be who I really am. I guess if someone told me I couldn't be Natasha, I would wear a bunch of loud clothing because I would want people to hear me loud and clear - I'm me and I don't give a damn what you think about that. But then I realized that, in fact, I was wearing a bunch of loud cloth- ing. Sure I was only wearing two instead of all seven colors of the rainbow, but my lilac shorts and pink shirt were really serving the same purpose as those rainbow socks. They were saying something about me (in however small of a way) and I had never given that a second thought. I had never given a sec- ond thought to the great privilege of being able to wear what I want, be whom I want and to love whom I want. Finally, the rainbow socks I had mocked earlier made sense. Then I realized something else - gay pride isn't just about being proud of dudes liking dudes or chicks liking chicks. It isn't just clothes - it's about parading about in your true colors. It's about people liking themselves and unapologeti- cally saying to the world "I'm me andI'mproud." -Naasha Ermzbischoff can be reached at nmertz@umich.edu. ast week wasn't a step and House of Representatives forward for America. overwhelmingly voted in favor Instead, it repre- of using the old data. sents a stark In his dissenting opinion of and steely the Court's ruling on DOMA, reminder of Justice Antonin Scalia argued the incredible the court had no power to lengths still to "invalidate (the) democratically come in guar- adopted legislation," complete- anteeing all ly ignoring his vote a day ear- citizens their lier against the congressionally constitution- reauthorized YE A. Additionally, ally promised BEN Justice Roberts stated that this equality. GLOGER decision doesn't gut the VRA, as Follow- Section 5 is still enforceable so ing the long as Congress creates a new, Supreme Court's nullification updated formula. of the Defense of Marriage It appears that Roberts and Act, supporters of equality Scalia hope to have their cake and basic human decency cel- and eat it too. (Although it ebrated in fabulous form atop the appears as if Scalia has gone for stairs outside. seconds.) A new formula does Meanwhile, political lead- invite discussion for ways of ers in Texas were racing to pass ensuring more equitable repre- voter identification laws, redis- sentation. Yet, Congress can't tricted maps and restrictions to even pass gas after eating Chi- early voting that had previously potle, let alone a vital stipula- been rejected by the Depart- tion of the most important piece ment of Justice for being too of civil rights legislation. racially discriminatory. In practice, Section 4's use Twenty-four hours before and relevance has only increased the Supreme Court struck down over time, as Justice Ruth Bader DOMA, it had already ruled Ginsburg pointed out in her dis- against Section 4 of the 1965 senting opinion. Furthermore, a Voting Rights Act. Section 4 2006 study by our very own Uni- provides a formula for deter- versity's Law Prof. Ellen Katz mining which states and juris- found that while areas covered dictions are bound by Section 5, by the now defunct Section 4 which requires them to receive accounted for only a quarter of federal preclearance from the the country's population, they DoJ for any changes to their vot- represented more than half of ing processes. all successful Section 2 litigation Without this formula, the brought between 1982 and 2004 legislation is unable to monitor (Section 2 provides a nationwide racially discriminatory areas. stipulation to not engage in vot- Now, these areas - with prov- ing practices that discriminate.) en discriminatory histories - Typical challenges include an can implement legislation that attempt by the all-white Board of intentionally disenfranchises Aldermen of Kilmichael, Missis- minority voters. sippi to cancel town elections in In his written statement, 2001 after an unexpected amount Chief Justice John Roberts of African Americans announced sided with Shelby County, Ala- their candidacy. The DoJ said bama, stating that Section 4's uh-uh and the town elected its formula is a relic of the past that first black mayor. Similarly, in has run its course. 2004, Waller County, Texas tried Indeed, the only thing outdat- to reduce access to early voting ed in this decision is Roberts' con- near a historically black universi- tinued disregard for anyone who ty after its attempts to prosecute isn't white and hopes to enjoy two black students running for their constitutional right to vote. office had failed. It's true that Section 4 of the What's that saying again? If it VRA uses data from 1972. How- ain't broken ... break it yourself? ever, Congress has updated the None , of these blatant act four times, most recently attempts at racial discrimina- in 2006 when after 21 hearings tion should come as any sur- and the collection of over 15,000 prise, as these are areas that pages of evidence the Senate routinely failed- to prove they were done with that whole rac- ism thing. The VRA stipulates that if any jurisdiction goes 10 years without racially discrimi- nating, they are removed from Section 5. Towns in a number of states did just that, thus remov- ing themselves from the burden of preclearance. If it ain't broken... break it yourself? All any of the bounded juris- dictions had to do was simply stop discriminating to remove themselves. However, that would have first required them to stop being racist. But no mat- ter - our country's highest judi- cial court was more than willing to embrace them. Instead, this decision shifts the burden from the states to individuals, who must now chal- lenge each discriminatory act through costly court processes after the fact. Which brings us back to the rainbows. The exuberance outside the Supreme Court following the DOMA decision was a color- ful affair, filled with kisses and cheers. Still, try as I might, I couldn't bring myself to smile. I had already seen Roberts' know- ing wink a day earlier, his feint before the inevitable right hook. Don't misinterpret his vote against DOMA. He is a calcu- lating man, meticulously aware that the ruling still leaves same- sex marriage legality at the dis- cretion of the state, particularly those who have actively worked toward restricting votes within their communities. The effects of the VRA are far-reaching and profound. Rob- erts doesn't expect Congress to revitalize the legislation by creating an updated formula through which the federal gov- ernment can monitor racially discriminatory areas. Here's to hoping they rip the cake right out of Scalia's hands. -Ben Gloger can be reached at bgloger@umich.edu. ANN ARBOR NEEDS YOU! AND SO DO WE! APPLY NOW TO BECOME A COMMUNITY CULTURE WRITER FOR DAILY ARTS. Email arts@michigandaily.com to request an application.