The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Friday, January 23, 2015 — 7
Won’t remember
FOB for centuries
ISLAND RECORDS
Thnks fr th mmrs vn thgh thy wrn’t s gd
By CHRISTIAN KENNEDY
Daily Arts Writer
Fall Out Boy’s album
disappointingly
uneven
It is hard to believe that 10
years have passed since Fall Out
Boy’s claim-to-fame album From
Under the Cork
Tree
spawned
“Sugar,
We’re
Going
Down,”
“Dance, Dance”
and “A Little
Less
Sixteen
Candles, a Little
More
‘Touch
Me.’ ” Over the
past decade the
band has strung
together a hand-
ful of hits, ulti-
mately leading up to American
Beauty / American Psycho. Even
though it starts off strong, FOB’s
sixth LP loses all of its energy,
devolving into an unimaginative,
messy love poem.
“Irresistible” opens the album
with a punching beat and fantas-
tic verses. The lyrics are strong
and catchy without being repeti-
tive in typical Fall Out Boy fash-
ion. The chorus is decent, but
nothing spectacular; it holds
through the initial cry, but loses
energy through echoes. The title
track comes next and is one of the
band’s strongest dance anthems
since “Dance, Dance.” Here, the
echoes that lost energy on “Irre-
sistible” amp up the energy and
carry the chorus seamlessly into
the next verse, which are equally
enjoyable.
“Centuries,” the album’s lead
single, is decent, but let’s make
one thing clear — we will not
remember this song for centuries
(or even decades). Its most memo-
rable quality is the ephemeral and
haunting intro; beyond that the
verses’ strength in the aforemen-
tioned tracks is lost and replaced
with confused and slightly creepy
lyrics. “The bruises on your thighs
like my fingerprints” comes off as
abusive if anything.
Following
the
unmemora-
ble “Centuries,” FOB redeems
themselves on “The Kids Aren’t
Alright.” This track boasts the
first completely satisfying chorus
on the record. It is passionate,
moving and the first time we see
maturation in the band’s reper-
toire. Of course, that does not last
long once the quick keyboard rings
in on “Uma Thurman.” There are
so many reasons to love this song
(and not just the title). Its instru-
mental breaks are reminiscent of
action movie montages and laced
between quick and catchy verses
and choruses that do not come off
as “shouty” in the way some Fall
Out Boy material does.
If you find yourself listening
to American Beauty / American
Psycho you should soak up all of
the great qualities featured in
“Uma Thurman” because it is
downhill from there. “Jet Pack
Blues” begins the album’s decline
into a cocktail of undeveloped
stories and floating metaphors.
You know when you sing a song
and you think a line is repeated
once more than it is? “Baby Come
Home” is similar. When you think
the line is done, it is then repeated
five more times. None of the rep-
etitions are more enjoyable than
the previous and all the more
frustrating. “Novocaine” offers
no redemption; it is like literally
drowning in metaphors and simi-
les. The task of understanding
what the hell the song is trying
to say revokes any enjoyment the
music could bring.
Between “Jet Pack Blues,”
“Novocaine” and the next track,
“Fourth of July,” it is hard to
understand where one track
begins and the other ends.
Searching
for
distinctions
among these songs is fruitless.
“Fourth of July” continues the
metaphorical
misfires
with
“You and I were fireworks, and
we went off too soon.” Brilliant.
“Favorite
Record”
and
“Immortal”
follow,
posing
nothing new or interesting.
Ridiculously overused or unin-
terrupted metaphors abundant;
it all comes off as trying much
too hard. The latter half of this
record is far from immortal; it
was pretty much dead on arriv-
al.
The record concludes with
the slightly redeeming “Twin
Skeletons.” It has well-timed
instrumental breaks as not to
drown the listeners in content
as the previous tracks have. The
dragged out crooning of “hold
on” at this point is just too much.
I let go about six songs ago.
American Beauty / American
Psycho comes out of the gate on
fire and ends in a ball of flames.
It has two clear acts; take my
advice and get the hell out dur-
ing intermission.
C
American
Beauty/
American
Psycho
Fall Out Boy
Island Records
‘Paddington’ delights
FILM REVIEW
By JACOB RICH
Daily Film Editor
When I walked out of “The
Grand Budapest Hotel” last
March, I felt several conflict-
ing
emotions.
I was exuber-
ant,
having
just
experi-
enced such a
beautiful
and
absorbing film,
but also some-
what sad, as I
realized that I
would have to
wait another two years to get
to experience another new Wes
Anderson movie.
Thanks
to
“Paddington,”
I really only had to wait 10
months.
No, Anderson didn’t actually
have anything to do with this
film. But “Paddington” imitates
the beautiful, creative imag-
ery that Anderson’s films are
known for (complete with his
quirky rule-of-thirds-breaking
cinematographic style), while
simultaneously
and
expertly
emulating the innocent, non-
cynical and nostalgic emotional
content of his kid-friendly films
(like “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and
“Moonrise Kingdom”). But it’s
not just a Wes Anderson rip-off.
“Paddington” carves out its own
identity as a unique tale about
immigration, and the hardships
immigrants face when acclimat-
ing to their new surroundings.
“Paddington” is a screen
adaptation of an extraordi-
narily popular icon of British
children’s literature: Padding-
ton
Bear.
Paddington
(Ben
Whishaw, “Skyfall”) is a polite,
hopeful and naïve to a fault
young bear from “darkest” Peru,
who, due to a series of tragic
events, is sent by his aunt to
find a new home in London. Its
narrative champions the impor-
tance of immigrants to an urban
society, and one of its villains
(Peter Capaldi, “Doctor Who”)
is an obvious parody of the far-
right anti-immigrant groups of
the United Kingdom like the
British National Party.
While the story is one of a
political nature, the film never
feels stuffy or overly preachy.
On the contrary, this film is
the shot of pure non-cynical
warmth that the increasingly
cynical world of children’s cin-
ema needs. “Paddington” is less
concerned with minute-to-min-
ute laughs or beat-you-over-the-
head morals and more in love
with cinematic beauty. Every
shot is lavishly and individually
treated as its own diorama of
interesting objects, and part of
the fun of the film is discovering
what visual treats the filmmak-
ers have around every corner.
Perhaps it’ll be a pointlessly
complex steampunk-style filing
system in the library, or a paint-
ing on the wall that animates
to reflect the emotions of the
house’s residents. “Paddington”
is chock-full of these wonderful
visual flourishes.
The narrative of “Padding-
ton” works because of its dis-
tinctly
British
sensibilities
surrounding
the
potential
absurdity of having human
actors speak to a talking, cud-
dly bear. You’d expect a film like
this to fall prey to the obvious
set of jokes involving anthro-
pomorphic animals in film:
the exclamations of finding “a
real-life talking bear” and the
inevitable slapstick humor to
follow. It thankfully avoids that
altogether by having the human
characters
quite
amusingly
just not care that Paddington
happens to be a talking bear.
This narrative choice cuts out
unnecessary plot hang-ups and
leads to some funny dialogue
moments (“just keep walking,
that bear is probably just selling
something”).
It also works because of
its superb technical sensibil-
ity with its CGI. Paddington,
constructed of a blend of ani-
matronics and CGI, is a techni-
cal accomplishment, and looks
far less out of place strolling
through London than the half-
CGI
dwarves
did
stomping
around Middle Earth in the
recent “Hobbit” movies.
“Paddington” is an expert
piece of children’s cinema. It’s a
shame it likely won’t be as popu-
lar in the Americas as it will be
in the UK, because its simple
beauty is universal.
A-
Paddington
StudioCanal
Rave and
Quality 16
‘Seeking Woman’ is
creative & hilarious
By MATT BARNAUSKAS
Daily Arts Writer
Ever hear that someone is liter-
ally Hitler? Hyperboles are a com-
mon but powerful part of speech:
They can con-
vey
sadness,
frustration and
excitement
as
language
that
makes everyday
occurrences
larger
than
life. In FXX’s
new
comedy
“Man
Seek-
ing
Woman,”
hyperbole
becomes real as
the fantastic and surreal go hand-
in-hand with the mundane, creat-
ing a unique perspective for the
TV romantic comedy.
The show opens with Josh
Greenberg (Jay Baruchel, “This
Is the End”) parting ways with
his girlfriend of four years (or six
if you count the e-mailing), Mag-
gie (Maya Erskine, “Betas”). Josh
shows a quiet sense of defeat as he
tries to keep open opportunities
with Maggie, as the two decide
if they might be able to be bud-
dies. Josh walks away followed
by his own personal raincloud.
The raincloud is the first of the
magical reality moments in the
episode. By using such a common
image, “Man Seeking Woman”
preps itself to dive into the absurd
world that it has created.
Josh’s sister Liz (Britt Lower,
“Unforgettable”) sets him up
with a friend from Sweden, only
to learn the friend is an absolute
troll – a troll as in being born in
the Scandinavian Forest and “she
moved here last year so she could
run her nonprofit and live under-
neath the Wabash Bridge.”
Creator Simon Rich, a former
writer for “Saturday Night Live,”
has adapted his own short story
collection “The Last Girlfriend
on Earth” into “Man Seeking
Woman.” There’s definitely a
sense of Rich’s sketch and short
story writing influences in the
show with most of major events of
supernatural comedy forming the
meat of the episode. Rich takes
tropes associated with roman-
tic comedies and inserts enough
insanity and exaggeration to
make the situations enjoyably
clever.
Interspersed between are more
grounded moments in Josh’s life
as he tries to gain his confidence
back. However, some of these
moments feel like they’re just bid-
ing time untill the next comedic
set piece. These bits are aided
though by the efforts of Baruchel
who makes Josh more than a sad
sack who hasn’t been laid in a
while. Josh’s efforts show heart,
and that makes it saddening to see
him try and fail.
In a world where the extremes
of ideas exist, Baruchel serves as
the straight man to the absurd
happenings around him. This is
best seen when he attends a party
hosted by Maggie and her new
boyfriend who is literally Hitler
(an unrecognizable Bill Hader,
“Saturday Night Live”). In the
world of “Man Seeking Woman,”
the crazy events are accepted
as normal by most characters,
and Josh is the only occasional
detracting voice, “I thought he
died like, years ago?” Josh ques-
tions, only for his friend Mike
(Eric André, “Don’t Trust the B in
Apartment 23”) to answer, “Nah,
he faked that. Yeah, he’s been hid-
ing in Argentina since, like, the
‘40s.”
By using common exaggera-
tions and spinning them into a real
world setting Rich has created
an insane but relatable universe.
Even though Josh’s experiences
veer into the preposterous, there
are still the common struggles
of getting over a relationship or
reclaiming one’s self-confidence
to tie fantasy to reality.
It’s hard seeing Josh stumble
and fail in such large ways that
it is a relief to see him succeed
when he gets the phone number
of a woman called Laura (Vanessa
Bayer, another “SNL” cast mem-
ber). The corresponding response
by the show’s universe is uplift-
ing. Even though life’s difficul-
ties can seem larger than life, the
smallest victories can bring us
insurmountable joy.
FXX
More Men Must Seek Eric André.
B
Man Seek-
ing Woman
Series Pilot
FXX
Wednesdays
at 10:30 p.m.
TV REVIEW
AKBUM REVIEW