(04/29/21 7:00am)
Over the past three months, a lot has come out, a lot has charted, a lot has not, a lot has spoken to the moment and a lot has failed to do so. Looking back on this spring semester The Daily Cardinal is happy to share some of their favorite binges that have helped them navigate the crazy, tumultuous times of Spring 2021.
(04/12/07 6:00am)
Wisconsin Film Festival 2007 kicked off yesterday and lasts
until Sunday night at various theaters in Madison. Founded in 1999,
the festival takes place each spring and showcases an array of
independent films ranging from documentaries, to shorts, to
experimental films. The film fest also provides an outlet for local
filmmakers and foreign cinema alike. The Daily Cardinal Arts staff
had a chance to review some of the films featured in this year's
film festival.
(08/29/06 6:00am)
A summer of laughs, tears and the mutant X gene has come and
gone, and now it's time for you to return to your boring life at
what's not even the nation's No. 1 party school any more. Here's a
fond remembrance of those happier times. Can it really have been
just a week ago? Or was it all just a dream...? Most Pathetic,
Self-Indulgent Swipe at Critics Disguised as a Movie: ""Lady in the
Water"" ""Lady in the Water"" is stupid enough to begin with, with
nefarious grass creatures that can only be seen in a mirror's
reflection and a little boy who becomes suddenly clairvoyant after
reading cereal boxes. (You have to see it to believe it.) But it
gets worse when it becomes clear that ""Lady in the Water"" is
nothing more than a childish jab at the critics who assailed ""The
Village."" Shyamalan's hubris has been growing exponentially since
""The Sixth Sense,"" but this is the first time it has manifested
itself so completely into one of his movies. Shyamalan takes
special glee in the scene in which the villainous movie critic
character gets viciously killed by a grass creature, despite the
fact that, even more than the rest of this mess of a movie, it
doesn't make any logical sense. ""Lady in the Water"" is a
baffling, astonishing failure that even the ample talents of Paul
Giamatti can't salvage, and is certainly the worst movie of this
lackluster summer. —Joe Pudas Most Inspired Typecasting: Patrick
Stewart and Kelsey Grammer in ""X-Men 3"" In an effort to make
their film more imaginative and daring than their previous entries,
the producers in charge of ""X3"" made the ""risky"" choice of
Kelsey Grammer, most famous for playing an intellectual, verbose,
up-tight psychiatrist to play the role of Henry ""The Beast""
McCoy, an intellectual, verbose, up-tight mutant. But paired with
Patrick Stewart, famous for playing ""Star Trek's"" Captain Picard,
playing another humanity-lauding chief in charge of a group of
unique humans and quasi-humans. The chance taken by casting these
two untried actors in risky roles no doubt contributed to making an
excellent film. —Brad Boron Best Summer Songs You Never Want To
Hear Again: ""Promiscuous"" by Nelly Furtado and ""Hips Don't Lie""
by Shakira There have been two songs fighting for the title of
""the"" summer song this year: Nelly Furtado's surprising comeback
""Promiscuous,"" featuring producer Timbaland, and Shakira's ""Hips
Don't Lie,"" a retooled version of Wyclef Jean's ""Dance Like
This"" (first heard in the film classic ""Dirty Dancing: Havana
Nights""). Both were equally catchy, sexy pop tunes with tons of
energy, making them infinitely danceable and thoroughly enjoyable.
But, as fall rolls around, it has become obvious that these
infectious songs are now a plague on radio and music TV stations,
taking up more airtime than quite possibly all other songs
combined. For music that claims to be about the beauty of a
one-night affair, the two songs have become more like a summer
fling now pleading for commitment. It's time to cut the strings and
bring the ""Sexyback"" to the airwaves. —Kristin Czubkowski Song
That Should Have Caused the End of the World But Ended Up Only
Sucking Mildly: ""Stars Are Blind"" by Paris Hilton Let's get one
thing straight: Paris Hilton's summer hit ""Stars Are Blind"" is a
bad song. Combining teen pop, reggae-lite and soulless vocals,
""Stars Are Blind"" is so lightweight it floats by without making
any lasting impressions. It is too fluffy to function even as
pleasant diversion. But make no mistake—this makes the song a
resounding triumph for Paris. As an American aristocrat famous for
nothing more than being filthy rich and being well, just plain
filthy, everyone expected her singing career to be an embarrassment
of Shatner-Nimoy proportions. But ""Stars Are Blind"" isn't a
miserable way to spend four minutes—it isn't interesting, fun or
diverting, either—but it is thankfully so soft and mechanized that
it's hard to pay attention to the song for more than thirty seconds
at a time. Which is probably why the record label decided to make
the music video look like an outtake from ""1 Night in Paris.""
—Joe Lynch