On Wed., March 14, Maize 
Collective — in partnership 
with Universal Music Group 
and Innovate Blue — hosted the 
first of a series of three music 
business panels titled “Industry 
Insight: Songwriters, Producers 
and Studio Musicians.” Held 
at the University of Michigan 
Museum of Art’s auditorium, 
the panel provided aspiring 
Ann Arbor artists with tips for 
success in the music business 
and 
featured 
an 
array 
of 
musicians, including Yungblud, 
a new signee to Geffen Records 
and rising hip-hop star, Evan 
Haywood, 
a 
musician 
and 
multimedia 
artist 
based 
in 
Ann Arbor, Kasan Belgrave, 
a 
Jazz 
Studies 
sophomore 
concentrating in clarinet and 
alto sax and DeNero Montez, 
a Detroit native singer and 
songwriter who has written for 
Justin Bieber.
The panel, moderated by 
Veniece Session of Ann Arbor’s 
Neutral 
Zone, 
addressed 
songwriting 
techniques, 
royalties, musical influences 
and the overall daily life of a 
career musician. Yungblud, who 
performed a few hours later at 
the Majestic Theatre in Detroit, 
was given the most immediate 
attention before leaving early 
for his show. His charismatic 
persona and unfiltered stream 
of consciousness was enticing, 
providing an example to the 
many aspiring musicians in 
the crowd of a young and fresh 

musician 
who 
successfully 
“made 
it” 
in 
the 
music 
business while maintaining his 
rambunctious attitude. When 
asked by Session — who herself 
has experience working with 
independent artists — if signing 
to a major label has hindered 
his creative process, Yungblud 
replied, “To be honest, I figured 

out who I was before I got 
signed. And, if you know that 
and you deep down know who 
you are, then how are they going 
to change that? They signed you 
for a reason, because they like 
you and like your sound.”
Next, Session asked Montez 
to elaborate on the songwriting 
process. He offered an easy-
to-comprehend explanation of 
songwriting and the business 
of 
copyright, 
stressing 
the 
importance of submitting your 

work to BMI (Broadcast Music, 
Inc.) 
or 
ASCAP 
(American 
Society of Composers, Authors 
and Publishers) as well as 
registering your lyrics with the 
Library of Congress. Haywood 
also interjected, advising the 
crowd to always run paperwork 
by a lawyer before signing, 
avoiding any chance that you 
as a songwriter would lose the 
rights to your masters.
Later, after Yungblud left for 
his show and the panel grew 
more intimate, the floor opened 
for audience questions and the 
panel was asked to speak on 
how they remain original in 
their music while having artists 
they admire. Belgrave raised a 
point that was met with nods 
of agreement from both the 
panelists and the audience, 
saying, “Automatically, we 
are 
subject 
to 
music 
that 
comes before us so we are 
automatically paying homage 
to music before us. Music is 
always moving, always evolving 
so I think you have to hear 
things from the past to create 
new sounds.”
The 
panel 
closed 
with 
Haywood 
offering 
young 
musicians a word of advice: 
“Keep 
making 
music, 
keep 
putting it out in any way,” he 
said. “No one will hear it at 
first and eventually you’ll start 
getting traction and building a 
fan base. Those fans will stick 
with you if you’re a nice person. 
Be kind and open and caring. 
Support your friends and make 
a community. Then, when you 
get that success, you will have 
friends holding you up.”

Maize Collective’s panel 
advises hopeful musicians

The panel 

provided aspiring 

Ann Arbor artists 

with tips for 

success in the 

music business

DANNY MADION
Daily Arts Writer

“Tomb Raider” may very 
well be the greatest video 
game movie ever made. Of 
course, I say this as someone 
who believes that there has 
never, in the history of the 
medium, been a good video 
game movie and as someone 
who is about to give the film 
at 
hand 
a 
predominantly 
negative review. But the basic 
competency on display here 
places “Tomb Raider” head 
and shoulders above dreck like 
“Assassin’s Creed,” “Warcraft” 
or “Resident Evil: The Final 
Chapter.” Only rarely could 
such baseline mediocrity be 
something to be celebrated, 
but that’s the state of the video 
game movie genre.
“Tomb Raider” takes most 
of its inspiration from the 2013 
reboot of the popular series, 
following 
adventurer 
Lara 
Croft (Alicia Vikander, “Tulip 
Fever”) as she goes on a search 
for her father years after his 
disappearance. 
After 
being 
shipwrecked on a mysterious 
island, she becomes a prisoner 
of 
Mathias 
Vogel 
(Walton 
Goggins, “Vice Principals”) 
and must fight to finish what 
her father started: Sealing a 
tomb that, if opened, could 
bring about the end of the 
world.
Most of the watchability of 
“Tomb Raider” comes down 
to Vikander’s performance in 
the titular role. From the first 
scene, she brings to life the 

independence 
and 
strength 
of the character with relative 
ease, and her dedication to 
performing many of her own 
stunts pays off during the 
action scenes. While the script 
gives her increasingly little 
to do as the film wears on — 
by the third act, she’s been 
reduced mainly to grunting 

and screaming — she still 
anchors much of the movie 
around her, even as it commits 
the cardinal sin of wasting 
Walton Goggins as a one-note 
villain.
It’s 
in 
the 
storytelling 
department 
where 
you’ll 
find most of “Tomb Raider”’s 
shortcomings. 
At 
different 
points, 
it 
plays 
like 
a 
combination of “Indiana Jones 
and the Last Crusade” and “The 
Lost World: Jurassic Park,” 
and while that may sound fun 
at first, Roar Uthaug (“The 
Wave”) is no Steven Spielberg; 
his film lacks the sense of 
wonder and discovery that 
both of those films brought 
to bear at their best. There’s 
some fun to the treasure hunt, 
but many scenes feel like a 
non-interactive video game, 
denying 
the 
audience 
the 
opportunity to feel like they’re 
solving the puzzles along with 

Lara. That’s most of the fun 
of any movie like this, and it’s 
completely missing here.
For all Vikander’s talents 
as a physical performer, the 
action falls prey to Uthaug’s 
mishandled direction, as well. 
They aren’t potential health 
hazards like the action of a 
“Resident Evil” movie, but 
the fights in “Tomb Raider” 
are 
still 
wildly 
overcut 
and 
incomprehensible. 
It’s 
impossible to have any sort 
of 
appreciation 
for 
what 
Vikander is pulling off when 
you can’t tell what on Earth 
she’s doing in the first place. 
Even when the editing slows 
down, scenes like an extended 
bike chase through London 
or a foot chase through the 
docks add nothing to the 
story and instead simply pad 
the runtime. Again, this sort 
of thing might be fun with 
a controller in your hands 
— your average video game 
campaign runs about 10 to 20 
hours and thrives on smaller 
scale action like this — but in 
a movie, it’s just a distraction 
from the plot.
Uthaug’s fumbled direction 
is 
ultimately 
what 
dooms 
“Tomb Raider” to the purgatory 
between good and bad. There’s 
nothing 
to 
outright 
hate 
here, but there’s also little 
that’s memorable. Given that 
most video game movies are 
memorable only for their awe-
inspiring lack of quality and 
apathetic performances and 
writing, “Tomb Raider,” in all 
its normality, may represent a 
small step forward.

‘Tomb Raider’ is a shining 
star of a truly awful genre 

JEREMIAH VANDERHELM
Daily Arts Writer

FILM REVIEW

WARNER BROS.

“Tomb Raider”

Warner Bros. 
Pictures

Ann Arbor 20 + 
IMAX, Quality 16

EVENT REVIEW

SETH ALLEN / MAIZE COLLECTIVE

Is it really a dog-movie 
if it fails to make us cry? 
Throughout 
the 
years, 
cinematic portrayals of the 
unbreakable bonds between 
humans and dogs have, without 
fail, included a moment or 
two — if not an entire plotline 
— dedicated to tugging at 
audiences’ 
heartstrings. 
“Benji” is no exception. The 

most 
recent 
of 
numerous 
adaptations of the original 1974 
picture, this 2018 remake is 
proof of the perception that the 
storyline of a loyal dog and an 
endangered human companion 
is 
timeless. 
Though 
the 
instances of innocent cuteness 
in “Benji” will illicit more than 
a few “aww” reactions from 
viewers, 
the 
unexceptional 
characters 
and 
predictable 
plotline make everything else 
in the film come off rather dull.
Consistent 
with 
its 

predecessors, 
the 
storyline 
that “Benji” adheres to is 
fairly simple. Two spirited 
and 
independent 
middle-
school-aged siblings, Carter 
(Gabriel 
Bateman, 
“Lights 
Out”) 
and 
Frankie 
(Darby 
Camp, “Big Little Lies”), find a 
stray dog on the New Orleans 
city streets, forming a special 
bond with their newfound 
friend and naming him Benji. 
Matters 
escalate 
quickly, 
however, 
when 
a 
robbery 
occurs while the kids are 

‘Benji’ will make you cry

SAMANTHA NELSON
Daily Arts Writer

visiting a local pawn shop, a 
place they frequent in hopes 
of 
purchasing 
back 
their 
deceased father’s old watch. 
Carter 
and 
Frankie 
find 
themselves victim to a robber’s 
stupidity, which transforms 
a plain, economically-driven 
act of theft into a full-blown 
kidnapping. One of the only 
witnesses 
to 
the 
incident, 
despite his being a dog and 
an inferior to the — ironically 
— consistently clueless adults 
around him, Benji must lead 
the mission to save Carter and 
Frankie and prove his loyalty 
and devotion. 
The shining moments that 
emerge from “Benji” are not 
those that add to the forward 
momentum of the plot, which 
becomes 
quite 
foreseeable 
within the first 30 minutes of 
the film. Given the repeated 
remakes that this storyline has 
undergone, without significant 
adjustment to plot, character 
or tone, it can be surmised 
that director Brandon Camp’s 
intentions are not to shock 
audiences or push boundaries. 
Instead, “Benji” finds another 
way to grab viewers’ attention 
by evoking pity on Benji’s 
behalf. 
The 
interspersing 
of sequences that show an 
unwanted Benji trotting along 
with sad eyes and a hunched 
back are especially effective 
in puncturing even the coldest 
of hearts, warming any viewer 

up to the canine protagonist 
and giving viewers a reason 
to connect with the events 
unfolding on the screen before 
them.
In the opening sequence, 
audience members observe in 
distress as Benji’s mother and 
littermates are discovered by 
a dog-catcher, locked up and 
taken to the pound, leaving 
puppy-Benji helpless and alone. 

Stunned with pity for Benji, it 
becomes virtually impossible 
for viewers not to emotionally 
gravitate towards and invest 
in the poor, lonesome puppy 
before their eyes. Thus, even 
once the main, uninventive 
plotline of the film kicks in, 
audiences 
find 
themselves 
rooting for the rescue of the 
detained children, not out of 
complete, 
genuine 
concern 
for Carter and Frankie’s fate, 
but rather out of a desire for 
Benji to finally find the home 
and the love that he has been 
searching for. 
Empathy felt for Benji’s 
pure intentions of finding a 
family aside, viewers cannot 
help but impatiently await the 
arrival of the end of the film, 
an end that from the start, was 

far too obviously set-up to be a 
happy one. Though audiences 
are blatantly aware of where 
the children are and how to 
find them, “Benji” proceeds 
to include segments in which 
the authorities take stabs at 
detective work, attempting to 
solve a mystery that audiences 
already know the answer to 
for what feels like a painfully 
boring 
and 
frustrating 
eternity.
What 
is 
fundamentally 
problematic 
with 
“Benji” 
is that, though it is able to 
evoke temporary emotional 
responses 
from 
audience 
members, that is all it is able 
to do. The mixture of pity 
and hope that moviegoers 
experience 
simply 
is 
not 
enough to sustain attention-
spans for the duration of the 
film. 
Unlike 
contemporary 
dog-movie genre flicks such 
as, “Marley and Me,” “Hatchi” 
and even “A Dog’s Purpose,” 
“Benji” is not a film that can 
be 
thoroughly 
enjoyed 
by 
everyone. 
Though 
younger 
audience members will almost 
certainly find entertainment 
through this family-friendly 
adventure, 
no 
amount 
of 
commiseration or desire for 
redemption for “Benji” can 
induce any viewer beyond 
the age of 10 to ignore the 
tedious nature and severe lack 
of imagination that “Benji” 
possesses. 

“Benji”

Netflix

FILM REVIEW

NETFLIX

5 — Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com