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©fp Mg ©or Hrri ‘Man’ keeps viewers down BY WILLIAM FONVIELLE STAFF WRITER The concept of immunity is that of acquired resistance being exposed to a hazardous virus for so long that you cease feeling its effects. Please, let that be true for mov ies too because there’s only so many formulaic cop comedies that a person can take before his head explodes. The new waste-of-celluloid movie “The Man” fits the bill. That it took three writers to chum out this assembly line story is mind boggling. It is so by-the-num bers and obvious on every level that it would make hack screenwriting instructor Robert McKee blush. At times it wants to be a comedy. Other times it wants to be a thriller. And other times it wants to be a film. It fails on all counts. The plot revolves around a den tal supply salesman (Eugene Levy), who bungles his way in the middle of an investigation conducted by Special Agent Derrick Vann (Samuel L. Jackson). Levy is a bumbling fool, and Jackson is an distrusting maniac. They despise each other. But if they want to live through the day, they’ll have to learn to well, you get the point. Emo rock doesn’t meet criteria BY HARRY KAPLOWITZ STAFF WRITER It’s been getting easier to take gut-shots at emo. And bands like Criteria don’t contribute much of a defense for the critically withering yet ever-present genre. Off the Saddle Creek label, which also sports iiber-emo act Bright Eyes like a matching cotton wrist band, Criteria released their debut album When We Break. It’s sort of a testament to what emo could be if it was Jacked up and given a power ful amp to fiddle with. Musically, Criteria’s entire album sounds like what Dashboard Confessional would be if Chris Carrabba grew some balls. So you would expect When We Break to sound like Carrabba’s former side project, Further Seems Forever. But it doesn’t. GENERAL PUBLIC TICKETS: BUY 1, GET 1 FREE! ALL STUDENT TICKETS: $10! • • ■ '-4—■ if IB inspired by the african diaspora Brown's powerful choreography has zoomed to the forefront of modern dance rRONALD K. BROWN EVIDENCE Saturday, September 17 memorial hall, chapel hill 919.843.3333 (PApet fence - / THE TRANSFORMATION j I fl nos im . \ki.i i na / MEMORIAL HALL GRAND OPENING SEASON JML ha,,, MOVIE EViEW 'THE MAN' irk Levy and Jackson are two engaging, capable actors, but to saddle them with this piece of cin ematic swill is akin to watching a fish trapped in a plastic six-pack holder. If any of the actors involved are. ever subject to a Friar’s Club Roast, the comedians wouldn’t even need to compose jokes. They can just show clips from the movie, and the audience will nod their heads in solemn understanding. So sloppy is the filmmaking by Les Mayfield that the movie has a complete and utter lack of place. It claims to be set in Detroit, although that is somewhat falsi fied upon the first appearance of a Petro Canada station. They can call that skyline whatever they want, but it still is Toronto. A particularly troubling aspect of the film is its gleeful even sadistic approach to violence. In one early scene, Jackson needs to pump Booty, his criminal informant, for information. He proceeds to chase him down with his car, repeatedly hitting him until MUSIC iilllW CRITERIA WHEN WE BREAK **k That project was way more lyri cally advanced and actually made use of pervasive power chords. But what can you expect from Criteria frontman Stephen Pedersen, who has been quoted as saying that he doesn’t consider himself a songwriter? Because of his emphasis on delivery, though, the band does get away with some shining moments of radio-friendliness. The first single, “Prevent the World,” sets the pace with a tame rock sound. “Grey Matter,” some where in the middle of the rotation, and “Ride the Snake,” a wrap-up Diversions jjr jjk |'JR y \ 1;. g| k',\ COURTESY OF NEW LINE CINEMA Samuel L. Jackson and Eugene Levy star in 'The Man/ a terrible romp that puts two unlike personalities together in awkward situations. Booty crashes into a lamp pole. Jackson then beats him in the head multiple times with a trash can lid and caps the scene off say ing he is going to beat him “like a runaway slave.” This is, abysmally, the movie at its peak. The folks behind “The Man” are so painfully aware they are making a comedy, yet so painfiilly unaware that it isn’t a humorous one. Please, don’t waste your money or your time on this. There’s a film track, follow suit. All of a sudden, When We Break becomes a more accessible album, with catchy radio songs spread thinly throughout Pedersen’s love affair with deliv ery becomes apparent halfway through the album. Power chords and infectious hooks start to pop ulate each song more and more, making the album more radio friendly than any Further Seems Forever product. Lyrically, though, the project doesn’t live up. It’s like in “High Fidelity,” where the main character, Rob, is having a bad day. His co-worker Barry comes in and breaks up Rob ’s Belle & Sebastian brooding session. In response to Barry calling Telle & Sebastian “old sad bastard music,” Rob responds, “I don’t wart to hear old sad bastard music, Barry, I just' want something I can ignore.” playing in theaters now called “The Constant Gardener.” It is a truly great film. Go see it. If the studio wishes to make “The Man 2,” it might want to consider rounding up all existing prints of this first film and burn them in front of a running cam era. Now, that movie would be a crowd-pleaser. Contact the AOE editor at artsdesk@unc.edu. In essence, that/one statement does more to legitifnize emo’s place in music more than most emo lyr ics. Criteria is jwholly ignorable arid, therefore, /completely harm less in that “emo-will-only-make- Jou-feel-sad-at-the-end-of-the day” kind of way. Extremely derivative in its deliv ery and simple in its lyrics, When We Break.gets by on power chords and four-note choruses that don’t /leave much to the imagination. ' /Despite this, the band won’t be without exposure. Aside from heavy promotion on Saddle Creek, the band will be touring with indie favorites Minus the Bear with a Sept. 28 stop at Cat’s Cradle. Bring your faux-hawks. Contact the AOE Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu. News Talk 1360 WCHL Presents ISTEPHANIE MILLE RShow Stephanie Miller LIVE FROM CARRBORO! Friday, September 16 9:00 am - 12:00 noon The Arts Center in Carrbono 300-G E. Main Street Doors open at 8:00 am. • Admission is first-come, first-serve. Sponsored By-. • Chapel Hill - Carrboro’s Earth fop* ggisay (AcMp) the haolthy supermarket JSB \ Kill IIJLjr News, Talk A Tar Heats Station THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2005 Sigur Ros gives notable concert BY BEN PITTARD ASSISTANT ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Extravagant light shows, visual izations and spectacle are nothing new to the concept of the concert. But for all the hype surround ing them, these displays are often pompous and arrogant. There is a time, however, when these elements culminate and, with a breathtaking performance, become something more some thing epic. There is a point where a concert can become an experience that can almost be described as spiritual. Sigur Ros was able to achieve that experience Wednesday at the Carolina Theatre in Durham. The band honed its live show to an unparalleled experience that outshined the hopes and expecta tions of even the most die-hard fan. Long-time collaborators and string-quartet Anima opened for the band with their own eclectic mix of ambient chamber-pop. Although at times a bit restrained and deliberate to the point of inducing sleep, the girls of Anima were engaging enough to pique the interest of even the most lethargic audience member. The band used a wide array of non-traditional instruments dur ing the set, including water-filled wine glasses, a bowed saw, bells and even an old-school Casio key board. The simple Nintendo-style beat emitted from the latter evoked more than a chuckle from the audi ence, which was soon silent as the band built from the skeletal beat and constructed a monumental arrangement from mere kitsch. But this cannot be compared to Sigur Ros. The band proved them selves masters of presentation and orchestration playing everything in the set impeccably. As the band opened their set and the curtain drew, another curtain covered the stage in front of the band. A white curtain served as a veil on which a beautiful yet eerie visu alization was cast and lights from the stage projected the shadows of the performers in a grand vision on CONCERTIiUIEW SIGUR R6S CAROLINA THEATRE, DURHAM WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 7 ***** the fabric. As the song ended, the veil was raised revealing the band as they began to perform “Ny Batteri.” A giant screen behind the band displayed a different visualization during every song. During the crashing drums, flashes of light splashed across the stage in perfect synchronicity. At first the choice to host Sigur Ros in a Durham concert hall seemed somewhat odd. But once in the element, the decision made perfect sense. The pitch-perfect acoustics of the venue comple mented the sterling performance of the band. Given the heavy level of produc tion put into each album by the band, one wonders how close to that perfection a live performance can come. But somehow Sigur Ros man aged to pull it off with a perfor mance that far outweighed any recorded material they have ever released. Jon Thor Birgisson’s ethereal vocals reached to the heavens, hit ting high notes with an elegance only few can imagine. At the end of the set, a visualiza tion of a black background with the white silhouettes of birds on a wire was projected behind the band. As the members left the stage one by one, a bird flew from its perch fluttering off into the black ened sky. A standing ovation from the audience rang out through the hall as the band returned to the stage performing an encore of “The Pop Song” from their 2002 release ( ). As the final climax of the song rang out, the band finally silenced, raising their arms together and taking a graceful bow, leaving the audience in a state of complete and total awe. Contact the AOE editor atartsdesk@unc.edu. 9
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