Celebrating 80 Years of Service to LIU

Arts & Entertainment
The Bank Job More Than Just Stratham Violence
By Aaron Isaac Feldstein
Editor-In-Chief
When going into the cinema to see a Jason Stratham
film, it is easy to think of his recent streak of all fight, no
story action films. What tends to be forgotten are the story
driven movies that earned him his success. British movies
like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch utilized
Stratham’s acting skills and not his ability to be a
punching bag, like his Hollywood-esque movies War and
Transporter.
Well, with his new movie, Bank Job, Stratham has
returned to the movie type that made his name known
across the States.
And all he had to do was go back to his British roots.
The Bank Job takes place in 1970s England, where a
black activist, cleverly named Michael X, has some
incriminating photos of the Princess of England. When he
threatens to use this against the country, the government
gets involved and tries to make sure the pictures don’t see
the light of day.
So it dispatches car dealer and petty thief Stratham to
do it.
Stratham and his friends are brought on to set up the
heist, although they think it is only for the money and jewels
in the safety deposit boxes.
What ensues is a complex, yet easy to follow bank heist
movie filled with corruption, HAM radio operators, the
phrase pooh-pooh land and a kidney stone that passes at
the most inopportune moment.
The film had a nice pace to it, getting into the story right
The Bank Job
Local Showimes
UA COURT STREET STADIUM 12
108 Cour St., Brooklyn, NY 11201
Times: 12:00 p.m, 2:35, 5:15, 7:45, 10:15
REGAL BATTERY PARK STADIUM 16
102 North End Ave., New York, NY 10281
Times: 12:00 p.m, 2:25, 5:00, 7:35, 10:10
By Jordan Axt
The Chronicle (Duke)
Erykah Badu has always been one to buck trends and
create her own style, whether in her neo-soul music or
audacious and colorful fashion choices. Her newest
release, New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War, continues
Badu's habit of defying expectations.
The album, Badu's first release in five years, is the initial
volume in a two (or perhaps three)part series in which
Badu attempts to "talk for my race and my planet."
Taking one look at the album's cover creates similar
hopes of passionate social commentary, as drawings of
weapons, syringes and dollar signs all float above the
singer's pensive head.
Unfortunately, Badu's work fails to make good on the
promises of her album cover. Not only do most of her
tracks seem uninspired and poorly produced, even her
best songs fall short of the ardent and relevant discourse
(Terry (Jason Statham), Kevin Swain (Stephen Campbell Moore), Guy Singer (James Faulkner),
Bambas (Alki David) and Dave Shilling (Daniel Mays) in THE BANK JOB.
(Photo credit: Jack English)
off the bat. The movie doesn’t hesitate and take its time
introducing everybody before getting to the reason the
audience paid $11 to see it. However, director Roger
Donaldson could’ve made the character introductions a little
more in depth. As quickly as the plot was thrown at the
audience, so were the characters. As the story moves forward,
the characters are quickly introduced, along with
their backgrounds and how they relate to the others. This
is juggled with attempting to keep up with the film’s story
line. I would’ve liked a quick five-minute scene that let me
know the relationships of everyone.
This missing fact didn’t hurt the film, but it could’ve
made it a little better.
The actors in the film did a nice job, but no performance
stands out as Oscar worthy. Daniel Mays delivers the
only noteworthy performance. Mays, who in America
would be best known as Pilot No. 3 in Pearl Harbor, plays
an actor and is definitely the comedy relief of the film. His
cheeky antics, quick comedy and childish smile make the
audience like this guy and really root for him. It also helps
she had guaranteed. "Soldier," with its smooth, simple
beat and perfect vocals, still remains too vague and broad
Seawanhaka
Seawanhaka
that the films his character stars
in are the type parents shouldn’t
take their children to see.
The final part of the film that
struck me was the filming.
Donaldson, whose films credits
include Cocktail, No Way Out
and Dante’s Peak, has a tendency
to do close ups of the characters
during conversation. The
close ups Donaldson used
made the audience focus on the
character, but nothing else.
However, the shots didn’t do
anything to reveal who the
character was, and just seemed
like an attempt to do something
different. If so, it didn’t work.
The other part of the filming
was how Donaldson followed
characters going from point A
to point B. Normally in films
the director shows the character
going somewhere, and in the
next shot they are at the destination. In The Bank Job,
Donaldson follows the character up the stairs, through the
door down the hall, up the next stairs and onto the roof. It
is a shot back to Italian Neorealism films that made this
popular, but in this case, you want the story to move. This
type of filming really seemed that they were trying to fill
time to make the movie longer.
This film doesn’t jump off the screen like a heist movie
should, but it doesn’t put the audience to sleep either. In
fact, the audience I was with was yelling at the screen,
cheering when something went right, booing went something
went wrong, and laughing when it realized the type
of films Mays’ character makes.
Overall, I feel this is a movie worth seeing. I wouldn’t
put it top on the list, but one that should be seen for its historic
value if nothing else. And if you’re interested in
going because you want to watch Stratham headbutt somebody,
be patient, you’ll get your five minutes of Jason
Stratham being Jason Stratham.
Erykah Badu visits 'New Amerykah'
to be taken as a serious treatise on life in America. Badu
peripherally mentions "Iraqi fields," "falling towers" and
"broken levees," simply condemning every controversial
political situation without ever giving her own position or
solution to The nation's problems.
Furthermore, some of Badu's work is just bubbly pop
music-enjoyable, catchy music, but pop music nonetheless.
The album's first single, "Honey", offers "daring and
provocative" lyrics like "You're so sweet/All I gotta do is
add a little lemon/You're my favorite drink/You make me
think." In other words, this could easily be a Mariah
Carey song (yes, I know Mariah Carey also has a song
called "Honey").
By attempting to create an album that produces a serious
dialogue about issues in this country, Badu becomes
another example of an artist biting off more than she can
chew. Be sure to appreciate New Amerykah for what it is
-a nice soul album-and not for what it wants to be, a serious
and critical approach to modern America.
March 12, 2008 Page 14