The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Arts Tuesday, March 29, 2016 — 5 Zayn’s solo start puts the lust in lackluster By DANIELLE IMMERMAN Daily Arts Writer Allow me to introduce you to the new and improved Justin Timberlake. A year after escaping One Direction, Zayn Malik — the most tal- ented member of the British boy band, for- mer 12-year- old girls’ obsession and Gigi Hadid’s best accessory — just put out his first solo album. Sick of the tight pop param- eters placed on One Direction, Zayn quit the band real quick in pursuit of creative freedom, and that’s exactly what Mind of Mine is. It’s Zayn being Zayn. What does that mean? It means the virginal boy band image is tarnished with 18 songs packed with references to sex, alcohol and sex. It means basic pop bal- lads are ripped apart and shred- ded with R&B flare. It means One Direction homogeneity is replaced with a diverse set of club bangers, seductive R&B soothers and stripped down bal- lads. Let’s start with the club bangers. These are the Justin Bieber “What Do You Mean?” frat party hits: “Tio,” “Pil- lowtalk” and “Like I Would” are rated R One Direction hits with sexy lyrics and techno beats. They won’t matter in five years, but for now, look forward to hearing them at the bars. Where things get interest- ing are with the seductive R&B soothers: “Wrong,” “Truth” and “Rear View” are pretty solid but “Befour” is the essence of Zayn. Slow, steady beats are lay- ered with subtle instrumentals to let ears catch every marvel- ous note Zayn hits, because at 2:15 he belts that falsetto like no other contemporary artist can. His voice just keeps soaring and seducing and working. Yes, the lyrics may be basic, but with a voice like that, dull diction can be overlooked. But just when you thought you were listening to a former boy- bander, the intermission hits and it hits hard. “Flower,” lasting for just a minute and 44 seconds, is a minute and 44 seconds of artistic genius. As legend has it, Zayn completely improvised this Pakistani ghazal interlude. Sung in Urdu, “Flower” is probably the most notable track on Mind of Mine. It effectively turns just another R&B/pop album into something more. Nodding to his Pakistani Muslim heritage, this folky “let me practice some yoga poses” interlude is not only meaningful to Zayn, but lovely for the rest of us to listen to. However, between “Befour” and this stand-out intermission, it’s hard to really appreciate the rest of the album. Zayn attempts to pull at our heartstrings with stripped down ballads like “It’s You,” “Fool For You” and “Blue,” but from the lack of powerful instrumentals to the absence of his entrancing vocals, they all fall short of anything but aver- age. Though at first listen Mind of Mine positions Zayn as the next Justin Timberlake, there’s no doubt that something is lurk- ing behind his music that would say he’s something — someone — more. Once you get past some of the essential club hits he had to produce to stay relevant, “Truth” and “Flower” prove that Zayn has more to offer than just a few club hits and R&B jams. Whatever Zayn does next will be interesting, but for now respect the existence of “Flower” and add those R&B tracks to your sex playlist. FILM REVIEW ‘Dawn of’ a letdown By RACHEL RICHARDSON Daily Arts Writer There’s a new mentality toward superheroes in Gotham City. Residents no longer wel- come them into the city, but banish them to its outskirts — they’ve become completely fed up with these cape-wearing creatures, and by the end of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Jus- tice,” we are, too. Basically, there’s a lot of ten- sion between Batman (Ben Affleck, “Argo”) and Superman (Henry Cavill, “Man of Steel”), and the public hates both of them, thanks to Lex Luthor’s (Jesse Eisenberg, “American Ultra”) manipulative tactics. Luthor wants both of them dead, so their feud allows him to get what he wants with minimal effort on his part (although he does go to great lengths to create a backup plan). On the sidelines is Lois Lane (Amy Adams, “Man of Steel”), who desperately tries to repair Superman’s broken image. Sadly, no one vouches for Batman’s greatness, making him look like a ruthless killer lacking any morals whatsoever. Even more depress- ing is the romance between Lois and Clark; its destructive power can only be matched by kryp- tonite. Producing one coherent plot proves to be a difficult task for screenwriters Chris Terrio (“Argo”) and David S. Goyer (“The Dark Knight”). Even if you’re not a DC Comics fanatic, you’ll most likely predict 90 percent of the film’s events at least 10 minutes before they happen because of the excessive foreshadowing. And while we’re given far too many hints about what’s going to happen next, we don’t get enough backstory. Then there’s the issue of new characters suddenly being introduced, only to be killed off a few scenes later. Nothing is inherently wrong with big-budget superhero mov- ies produced by production com- panies like Warner Bros., and many are remarkable. But when the companies churn out a movie with the sole purpose of creating hype for the sequel, the movie at hand inevitably suffers a tragic fate. “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” suffers from this unfortunate mistake; annoyingly obvious promotional inserts fur- ther deteriorate the already loose narrative storyline. Performance-wise, the por- trayal of Batman wins, hands down. Affleck delivers his lines with just enough emotion to nicely humanize Bruce Wayne’s character without seeming melo- dramatic. But the feats of a hero are only impressive if he defeats a formidable adversary. Luckily for Affleck, Eisenberg perfectly por- trays the infamous Lex Luthor. The ever-present but only slightly detectable quiver in Eisenberg’s voice emphasizes Luthor’s inse- curities, which fuel his mali- cious desires. His freakishly high intelligence alone, demonstrated by his well-written, almost pro- phetic lines, is enough to make both opponents and audience members feel like hiding. But this is Jesse Eisenberg we’re talking about — he already brings a fan- tastically versatile awkwardness to every character he portrays, which can make us see him as anything from insanely adorable to totally evil. He also provides us with the only moments of comic relief that are actually humorous. As for their female counter- parts, Adams’s talent is taken for granted, as she is quickly reduced from a keen, independent woman to a damsel in distress. On the other hand, Gal Gadot (“Furious 7”), who plays Wonder Woman, is only allowed to demonstrate her badass combat skills for a few scenes, most of which are spoiled in the trailer anyway. It’s pretty obvious from the opening sequence how this film cost nearly $250 million — the cin- ematography is astounding. The shots of young Bruce Wayne fall- ing down a hole, running through what seems to be a graveyard and experiencing the death of his par- ents are extremely aesthetically pleasing. There’s a beautiful color contrast between the vibrant blue sky above Bruce as he falls and the darkness surrounding him as he runs through the graveyard. Another remarkable scene is the car chase that happens after Bat- man/Bruce Wayne realizes the true identity of the White Por- tuguese. Somehow his armored car, which looks like a Batmobile designed in the year 2020, can withstand explosives, machine gun bullets and everything else Lex Luthor’s henchmen throw at it. Cinematographer Larry Fong’s special effects are a perfect visu- al spectacle here: they’re quite unbelievable, but not entirely unrealistic. The captivating powers of this scene are further enhanced by the constantly shift- ing camera angles from which the viewers witness the event. Unfortunately, the rest of the film is riddled with cheesiness. This isn’t your barely tolerable level of corniness either — it’s an exasperated sigh, a facepalm- inducing level of awfulness. Slow motion is used far too often, turning what should be glori- ous moments into comedic ones. Another unfortunate trope is the superhero stare — the close-up shots that emphasize his gaze, then, ideally, quickly cut to what he was looking at. In the film, these shots are held far too long, making us feel incredibly uncom- fortable as we watch. Essentially, “Batman v Super- man: Dawn of Justice” suffers from an identity crisis. It falters trying to assert its belonging in the superhero genre by over- emphasizing numerous clichés. Furthermore, the amped-up romantic subplot between Lois and Clark attempts to inject romantic drama into a superhero adaptation, but it only results in dryness. Luckily, Eisenberg and Affleck’s performances are superb enough to provide us with a sense of stability. Despite the chaos that the script generates, they understand that the essence of this story is the same as every other superhero flick: the battle between good and evil. TV REVIEW ‘Heartbeat’ doesn’t have any sign of life By MEGAN MITCHELL Daily Arts Writer “Heartbeat” is the melting pot of the medical daytime drama. It’s like the network dropped Dr. Mahoney (Eliza Coupe, “Quantico”) from the last season of “Scrubs” onto the set of “Red Band Soci- ety” with the cast of “Grey’s Anatomy.” But instead of the super cool mash-up it sounds like, “Heartbeat” falls short of expectations, becoming a Viagra infomercial that never ends. Actress Melissa George (“The Good Wife”) leads this soap as Dr. Alex Panttiere, a brilliant and out- spoken heart transplant surgeon whose role is loosely inspired by the work of Dr. Kathy Magliato, one of the few female cardio- thoracic surgeons in the world. However, “loosely” is an under- statement. Even though the show reports to be completely based off of Dr. Magliato’s personal expe- riences, the delivery is artificial. Where Dr. Magliato is a profes- sional and leader in her career, Dr. Alex displays overly reckless actions and insulting behavior towards both her colleagues and patients. She blatantly disregards a midair medical crisis to finish preparing a speech and knocks impatiently on the glass window during an important legal meet- ing. Although Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie, “Tomorrowland”) also displayed these uncomfort- able qualities, at least House took the time to learn the names of his colleagues and interns. Alex knows them by nicknames like “spray tan” and “glasses.” The dynamic of “Heartbeat” is uncomfortable, at best. Although her family is broken and her job runs her life, the writers managed to jam in a love triangle between Panttiere, Australian McDreamy doppelganger (Don Hany, “Off- spring”) and her internal sur- geon boyfriend (Dave Annable, “Brothers & Sisters”). The only real romantic relationship in her life is with her ex-husband and famous rocker, Max Elliot (Josh- ua Leonard, “If I Stay”) who is, unfortunately for her, gay. But he’s a good father to their chil- dren, who show up about one time per episode to remind us of their existence. At work, the nurses throw racist comments at one another and doctors tease with sex jokes that are more uncomfortable than funny. The only slightly funny joke is when the interns seem to pop out of thin air, crowding the M.D.’s with notepads a few inches in front of their faces. Otherwise, this is not a hospital where you would want to be a patient. However, jokes aside, the human aspect of “Heartbeat” is compelling, pulling at our heart- strings with the intense situa- tions Dr. Alex’s patients seem to find themselves in on daily basis. In the second episode, a pair of conjoined twins face the emo- tionally taxing decision of perma- nent separation when one sister is diagnosed with cancer and can- not undergo chemotherapy without harming her twin. After a 24-hour operation that show- cases Alex’s command over both the operating room and her male colleagues, the sisters wake up to fully see each other for the first time as the staff huddles anx- iously in the cramped room. It’s a touching moment that showcases the best of medicine and the pay- off that comes with the high-risk, high-reward lifestyle of the hos- pital’s staff. Then it’s back to the drama for Dr. Alex, who stares into Aussie McDreamy’s eyes as her boyfriend looks on jealously during an operation. I’m not a doctor, but even I know that she should probably focus on the open chest in front of her over those gorgeous eyes. “Heartbeat” seems to be NBC’s delayed response to ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy.” They try and try to showcase the role of women in a man’s profession, but ultimately end up showcasing an uncaring, troublemaker doctor who cares more about getting blood on her outfit than helping a dying patient. Unfortunately, “Grey’s Anatomy” might just be better than this glo- rified soap opera, which, unlike its namesake, doesn’t seem to have a pulse. COLUMBIA RECORDS “Oh, Rover, the way that you flip your tail gets me overwhelmed.” ALBUM REVIEW B Mind of Mine Zayn Columbia Records D+ Heartbeat Pilot (First two episodes reviewed) NBC Tuesdays at 9 p.m. A few months ago, in my other life as the film beat editor for The Michigan Daily, I was looking over a Daily Arts application. After giving the application a once-over and more thoroughly reading the writing sam- ples, I put an enthusiastic YES in the voting Google Doc. Almost instanta- neously, I got a text from a fellow editor, reading “did you see what [they] said about your lit column tho.” I went back to the applica- tion and, sure enough, I saw the phrase: “the literary columns are often pretentious and seem uninviting to those who are not extremely well versed in litera- ture.” I’d like to take this opportu- nity to say that this person is now on my beat and is a great writer and contributor to the Daily. When I bring this incident up, I’m not trying to call anyone out — but this comment made me consider the way I write, in terms of readability. Readability, the ease with which a reader can understand a given text, hasn’t always been at the forefront of my mind in my writing. Before college, when beginning to consider myself a “writer,” I would meticulously look through the thesaurus, try- ing to improve my vocabulary and find big words to annoyingly throw into casual conversation. Even last year, I had a list of pretentious words next to my bed that I would put into my film reviews (at which my editor would raise his eyebrows). But after reading that fairly innocuous comment in the Arts application, I began to consider language as a barrier. In Langs- ton Hughes’s anthology of Afri- can short stories, “An African Treasury,” he explicitly says he chose “those pieces which I enjoyed most and which I hope others will find entertaining, moving, possibly instructive, but above all readable. For me, cre- ative writing’s first function is readability.” When I first read this passage in the introduction to Hughes’s anthology, I was in total agree- ment. It seems reasonable that authors in general would want as large a potential audience as possible, but especially for Hughes, who witnessed incred- ible inequality throughout his life. After seeing the effects of segregation, Hughes wanted to break down the barriers between people, including those in literature. Still, with the enor- mous disparities in wealth and education in this country, these obstacles to learning and reading exist even today. But when looking at both past and present literary celebri- ties, there’s no question that not all authors share Hughes’s approach. Some authors want to make you work hard to under- stand their work, and since the start of literature there have been people like this. They’re often the same authors who want to exclude minorities and women from literature, using both their status and their words to keep others from the literary world. And yet there’s a sort of pride in getting through an unwelcoming text, one that the author clearly wants to make difficult for you. By engaging with texts spe- cifically designed for an elite reader, are we constructing the very economies that create this exclusivity? In reading authors like Jonathan Franzen and Lau- rence Stern, are we playing right into their literary gatekeeping? Should we never read again? Probably not. As both readers and writers, it’s important to be conscious of who the audience is meant to be — and what struc- tures we’re reinforcing with that work. But even if that work is emphasizing a point that we dis- agree with, it’s still substantive to look at critically. When we were discussing balancing these concepts in one of my classes, a peer aptly stated, “Some of the most important work in the world makes you feel like an inadequate slug.” I’ll admit, literature has made me feel slug-like on many occasions: when people hate my work, when someone uses a word I don’t know and even when I struggle through some of the reading in my harder literature classes that combines difficult vocabulary with convoluted concepts. In both reading and writing, there’s a necessity to be cognizant of what words can do. While it can feel easier to hide behind big words, the benefits of literature come from its big ideas. Lerner is not pretentious, nor uninviting. To find out for yourself, e-mail her at rebler@umich.edu. LITERATURE COLUMN The rarity of readability REBECCA LERNER C- Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice Rave & Quality 16 Warner Bros. The new and improved Justin Timberlake.