mT Sas RISS&ENTERTAINME Smith & Reeve at the Movies Iain W. Reeve and Steph Smith, Two Thumbs Up Our Noses Finally trying to remove himself, both literally and figura- tively, from a pie, Jason Biggs stars as a member of the US Cold War era army accidentally sent to Greenland and is mistaken for another officer. While searching for answers, he soon uncovers things he wasn’t meant to in Guy Y. Reeve: I recall seeing a poster for this movie about a month ago. It carried the seal of many film festivals and one critic proclaimed Biggs as a “comic genius.” I suddenly felt intrigued as to how the guy who fucked the pie could be a comic genius. I can safely say that this critic was either confused or was watching another picture. Not only is this film lacking comedic genius, but lacks a coherent theme or message as well. There are plenty of things that made me think throughout that this would be a solidly intriguing film. The cinematography is quite sharp and imaginative. There is some fantastic use of lighting and colour, and the Greenlandian (is Greenlandian actually a word?) scenery is truly breathtaking. On top of this, there are some solid performances. Veteran Michael Ironside takes a delightfully eccentric, albeit immobile, turn as the title character. Jeremy Northam is also equal parts hard-ass and unpre- dictable as the base command- er who refuses to accept that Biggs’ character isn’t the offi- cet he is expecting. Biggs’ per- formance is far from genius, but he pulls off the strongest, though far from flawless, per- formance I’ve yet seen from There is a lot to dislike, though. Without giving too much away, this is just one of those films where telling you very little ends up hurting in the end. Whereas Broken Flowers, a film of similar tone, managed to score huge points by keeping the audience in the dark; Guy X resolves nothing and means nothing. The ending answers none of the questions the audience has, and the rather empty remainder of the plot makes few poignant thematic senti- ments. Sure, the day-to-day antics of the troops are fun and at times interesting, Sure, the army newspaper that Biggs’ character is put in charge of is a neat plot idea. But the film inevitably makes no statement. I’m normally a sucker for a good black comedy. Many of my favourite films of all time are ones that master a delicate balance of realistic humour with real drama and suspense. The genre-less films, those that combine a vari- ety of moods and devices, are the greatest. I find these films to be a true slice of real life. With some near-believ- able characters, a neat story idea, and some nice camera work, Gay X could have been a solid film in the vein of Wes Anderson’s recent work. Instead, it is essentially a poor man’s American Beauty. Smith: The tag line reads, “Jason Biggs is a comedic genius!” I should have known then what I was in for. This is the him. The kid has some promise. aeditor@gmail.com American Pie kid. He is not a comedic genius, and especially not in this film. It was not a comedy, and Jason Biggs did not show even a slight sign of being funny. Because of this, I don’t know where to put this film. War film, conspir- acy film, comedy...none of them fit, while at the same time all of them fit. I suppose the reason I disliked it so much was the erratic nature of the film, that and its dis- jointed storyline. It’s a good thing to place various ele- ments from various genres into a film, but it must be done in such a way as to make it seem like one consistent movie. Guy X jumped around from style to style so much that I was unsure as to what I was watching. The acting was surprisingly good, especially considering the casting. Jason Biggs played his finest role to date in this film. And I don’t even mean that in comparison to jam- ming his junk in a pie, he actually seems to be a decent actor. If not for the lackluster script he was given, I feel this might have been his breakthrough performance. Natascha McElhone was fabulous in her role as the love interest/nurse/fellow army officer, and Michael Ironside was wonderful as Guy X, the supposedly brain dead soldier whom the story revolves around. He was heart wrenching and honest, and he had maybe 20 lines. In the end, the movie was boring. There was no excit- ing point in the plot, nor any conflict resolution or expla- nation at the end. Sometimes that is okay, a film like Broken Flowers can get away with being unresolved because of the way the film it written and presented. This one was sup- posed to end. This film was supposed to have a resolution.. Actually, to be honest, it did, it just wasn’t a very well written or coherent one. It seemed like the ending was thrown together loosely and then tacked on. It lost what little flow the movie had because of this fact. I would defi- nitely give this movie the thumbs down. In the time I spent watching it I could have been doing much mote pro- ductive things, such as cleaning the cat box or taking out the trash. Coldplay: January 26th, GM Place Steph Smith, OP Contributor First, I must preface this with a big screw you to those people who spent their week mak- ing fun of me for going to see Coldplay. The fact that you are in love with a terrible Liz Phair record does not speak to your credibility. You listen to what you like; I listen to what I like. Second, just because they aren’t the indie-est of indie bands doesn’t mean they aren’t worth a damn, and it most certainly does not mean that I have no taste in music. That is all. Now that I have that out of the way, this was my first time seeing Coldplay and I am glad that I did. They have shown me that the age of showmanship and the art of per- forming are not dead. Front man Chris Martin knows how to talk to a crowd and knows how to put on a show. The same, however, can not be said for the opening act, Fiona Apple. Have you ever fallen asleep in an arena filled with thousands of people during a concert? No? Neither had I, but there is always a first time for everything. Not to say she was bad, because she wasn’t. She has a wonderfully deep and smoky, almost jazzy voice. The problem with Miss Apple is that she has absolutely no stage presence and her songs are boring. Coldplay, however, were the opposite. From the erratic seizure inducing lights during “Politik,” to the giant yellow glitter filled balloons that floated down from the ceiling dur- ing “Yellow,” they hit the crowd just right. One of the strangest occurrences of the night was the crowd sing along to “The Scientist.” You see, normally when 20,000 people sing a song in an arena it sounds worse than the Jingle Cats on repeat and set on the record play- er too fast. Not this crowd. They actually managed to belt forth a beautiful, in tune, and shockingly harmonious rendition of the song. It was truly something. They later repeated the same feat with the final song of the evening, “Fix You.” The only thing I would complain about was the choice of set list. It was mostly pan- dering to the “I don’t own a single album crowd,” and was filled with an assortment of radio hits and singles. “Trouble,” “God Put a Smile Upon Your Face,” “In My Place, Clocks,” “Don’t Panic,” etc. Not many closet classics were thrown into the mix, which is something, I must admit, I always enjoy. So, for a big arena show, and for a band that plays upbeat music rather than “stare at your shoes and contemplate your crappy life” music, the guys did okay. They put on a good show, pulled out a few laughs, played some well-known hits, and looked like they were having fun, an element so often overlooked in modern day music. Yes, it’s about the music, but if you are on stage playing music for a living and you are not having some kind of fun doing it, then you are wasting your position in the music industry. Oh, and they bowed in a row when they were done. I haven’t seen that done in a while. It’s either so very European of them, or so very theatrical. Either way, it was a cool touch to a very enjoyable show.