THi UBYSSEY VOL.LXXXVIII N°21 www.ubyssey.bc.ca Friday, 17 November, 2006 Creepy neck caressing since 1918 1 Reduce, Reuse, Remember f Pulling the blindfolds off waste * disposal in Vancouver. -- Pages 6 & 7 1 *\ XN* < v. Bond h back X^*. Daniel Craig invests some •• . ' --— ^ i i ^"' ..aa. _ . T?- .--."•'•• A glimpse of what's next v^jfeMt^;^ Brent Malish, future face of the T-Birds, talks life on and off the basketball court. ...Pag^ , jjf ' -^ v.* VP Academic resigns - Lprne Whitehead steps down to fill new ^ teaching enhancement position. - .. < } ...Page 12 4* t •1* J \x^),\ THE UBYSSEY FRIDAY, 17 NOVEMBER, 2006 CULTURE Craig marks welcome return to Bond's roots CASINO ROYALE opens today by Greg Ursic CULTURE WRITER According to etiquette mavens, one should avoid discussing religion or politics in polite company. They may wish to add "favourite Bond" to the list: raise the subject with any group of cinephiles and you're sure to get a "spirited" response. The announcement that MGM was drop­ Look on ping Pierce Brosnan for Daniel Craig sparked a firestorm of protests among Bond fanatics and spawned anti-Craig websites. The main­ the bright stream press stepped in with edito­ rials berating the studio for tamper­ ing with the "tried and true formula," with some suggesting that side of life "Blonde Bond" could sink the 50- overshadowed by gadgets, special use her looks to her advantage. And particularly the middle section year-old franchise. effects, coiffed hair and product unlike previous paramours, Lynd which dragged on considerably. STRANGER THAN FICTION Take a pill people! placement. So for the 21st film in does not bounce around in scanty There's also the matter of the never- now playing Having achieved his 00 designa­ the series they chose to return to outfits. I enjoyed the snappy chem­ ending endings, or The Return of by Alec Young tion, which imbues the holder with Casino Royale, the first Bond novel. istry between Craig and Green: it felt The King syndrome as I like to call it: CULTURE WRITER the discretion to kill in the course of Any doubts about Craig's ability uncomfortable at times, not unlike there were literally three times his duties for Queen and Country, to fill Bond's shoes are quashed real relationships, and set the tem­ when I thought the film was over Most people have someone—moth­ James Bond is ready for his first within the first few minutes of the plate for any inevitable future rela­ and at least one of the "endings" er, best friend, dog—that knows assignment: he is tasked with bank­ film: he gives what may well be the tionships Bond will have. could have been excised. them better than they know them­ rupting "Le Chiffre" (the Cypher) in best performance of the six actors But it's the action that impressed Finally, it's obvious that selves. This is all too true for Harold a poker tournament. Le Chiffre, it who have tackled the role. Craig's me most. the writers who worked on the Crick in Stranger Than Fiction. seems, is a self-styled financier for Bond isn't a wannabe model. He Unlike its predecessors, there Brosnan Bonds had too heavy a From Finding Neverland direc­ fanatics, or a banker to the bombers, possesses a boxer's demeanour in are no invisible cars or overblown hand in the script—if the producers tor Marc Forster, the film stars Will who provides money laundering actions and appearance, yet there CGI to distract the viewer. From the really want to break new ground Ferrell as Harold, an IRS taxman and investment services to terror­ is a hint of vulnerability beneath opening free running sequence, it's with the franchise, they need to whose life is pitifully mundane. ists around the world and MI6 is the bravado. clear that the action has been bring in fresh writers. Thankfully, He lives alone, doesn't like cookies itching to close in on his operation. Mads Mikkelsen is almost bland­ stripped down to its barest compo­ there were enough of Paul Haggis's and his favourite word is "integer." Bond is a novice to the spy ly subdued as Le Chiffre, if not only nents. I appreciated the fact that trademark witticisms—he was But when he discovers that his life biz who lacks the polish of his con­ for his penchant for weeping blood, there was no attempt to sanitise the brought in to help with the script- is the subject of a novel being nar­ temporaries. He's considered self- until his darker side is unleashed in violence: when Bond emerges from to keep things amusing. rated to him by a mysterious absorbed and reckless, little more the tournament's aftermath. a scrap heap, he's bloodied and Regardless of one's preferences, authorial voice (Emma Thompson), than a blunt weapon. He's accompa­ Judi Dench's return as M is bruised. And when he takes some­ Casino Royale is a substantial, Harold learns that the novel is nied by the beautiful yet brainy marked by an expanded role in one out, it's up close, personal and engaging action film that boasts about to end with his tragic and Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), who is on keeping with the tone of the film. messy. Despite his protests to the some clever humour, solid perform­ imminent death. hand to ensure that the treasury's Her character has a caustic edge and contrary, killing clearly takes an ances—most notably Craig's rough To change his fate, Harold enlists cash isn't squandered. prefers expediency over decorum emotional toll. and ready Bond—and lays the the help of literary professor-turned- In spite of the fact that the last (translation: she's a ball buster.) In spite of the pluses, I found groundwork for further exploration metaphysical sleuth Jules Hilbert Bond movie earned more than any I also enjoyed Green's perform­ myself underwhelmed by both the of the character. All the studio has to (Dustin Hoffman). His advice is for of its predecessors, the progeny of ance as Vesper Lynd. Astute and soundtrack and the opening mon­ do now is to convince the legions of Harold to try and disrupt the plot creative producer Albert Brocolli felt pragmatic, she doesn't fall for tage. The 140 minute run time was Bond fans that breaking the mould line by changing his life. He takes that the character had become Bond's charms and knows when to in need of some judicious editing, is a good thing. @ the advice to heart and begins learn­ ing to play the guitar and pursuing love with Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a baker he is assigned VAG's new perspective idealises Emily Carr to audit for tax fraud. In a particular­ ly clever touch, we also see Harold EMIL Y CARR: NEW PERSPEC­ ment was suppressing the traditions go to the movies to see Monty TIVES ON A CANADIAN ICON of First Nations cultures through Python's The Meaning of Life. at the Vancouver Art Gallery such acts as banning the potlatch It is strange to see Will Ferrell until January 7 ceremony and forcing children into tone down his performance from residential schools. over-the-top comedy. His greatest by Peter Clark Surprisingly, the VAG's "New talent remains the art of ludicrously CULTURE WRITER Perspectives" exhibition does not deadpan comedy. I challenge any­ make mention of these issues. An one to listen to him tell Gyllenhaal The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) untrained viewer is left thinking that that he ogled her "only as a repre­ makes its best efforts to attract the collected melange of various First sentative of the United States gov­ exhibitions that expose interna­ Nations artwork presented alongside ernment" and not crack up. tional culture or freshly examine painted documentations of "disap­ As for the other actors, Emma local phenomena. They are, for the pearing" cultures is a natural one. Thompson has a lot of fun portray­ most part, novel and original, and It is never pointed out that the ing the deliriously eccentric author one rarely sees the same thing pottery that Carr decorated with First who spends much of her time envi­ twice. The exception to this rule is artifacts representing a veritable about BC's most famous artist. It Nations imagery and sold to tourists sioning gruesome deaths for her the repeated exhibitions of Emily mishmash of the artistic traditions implies creativity, critique, and even was highly exploitative and misrepre- characters, and Hoffman is solid as Carr. It is rare that you step into of First Nations peoples. controversy. However, it still idealis­ sentative of cultures that never used usual. Gyllenhaal does a dizzying the VAG at a time when there is no The second section identifies es her work, neglecting to mention pottery. After exploring the gallery character turn in the middle of the Carr on the walls, unless perhaps Carr's modernist tendencies, describ­ highly critical analyses that have space, viewers are left ignorant of the film, going from an anti-establish­ they are in the midst of setting up ing her time in France in 1911— been prevalent since the 1980s. contemporary issues surrounding ment left-winger to a sugary sweet­ for her next exhibit. She makes up 1912 and her embrace of the style of Emily Carr has been criticised Carr's work. heart who offers Harold a batch of the largest single chunk of the European Primitivists such as in the past two decades for present­ Perhaps it is not the gallery's job homemade cookies in the course of gallery's collection and it's hard to Gauguin and Matisse.