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Show A&EDiversion Friday, Oct. 2, 2009 Page 7 ‘Surrogates’ reaches all audiences In the Benjamin world of Wood “Surrogates,” people can enjoy all aspects of daily life without Grade B leaving the “Surrogates” comfort of their homes. Sit back and relax while a robotic version of yourself interacts with the outside world, eliminating dangers of accidental death, communicable disease and personal insecurities. You can create the ideal version of yourself, with the perfect body and flawless tan, without anyone ever seeing the ugly truth. It is life ... only better. The movie makes quick work of the setup, informing the audience in quick snippets of the machines’ dissemination into society during the opening credits. Virtually all of the world’s population makes use of surrogates while a small pseudo-religious minority led by The Prophet (Ving Rhames) urges the return to natural human life and has set up sovereign no-robot territories in most major cities. At its most basic level, “Surrogates” is a “whodunnit” and as is typical begins with a murder. Detective Tom Greer (Bruce Willis) begins investigating an unprecedented incident of human operators dying while connected to their surrogates. Greer is a cynical beat-cop who uses a surrogate while dealing with the emotional distance of never being Reel Reviews able to interact with those around him, namely his wife Maggie (Rosamund Pike). In the course of his investigation Greer’s surrogate is attacked, and the human Greer narrowly escapes death. His robotic counterpart is destroyed and Greer is forced to physically enter the world in order to find the truth. The murders are no small act, and as Greer fights to uncover the bigger players he is forced to reconnect with a world that he has all but lost touch with and questions everything around him in order to avert disaster. The movie is deeper than it appears. It combines the look and feel of sci-fi thrillers like “I, Robot” with an interesting view on human nature and morality like “Minority Report.” The actors, in their surrogate form, are filmed with an eerie glow while true humans are portrayed as gritty and ugly as possible. In one scene, Greer enters a no-robot community and looks at the events going on around him – gardening, horseback riding, children playing baseball – as though he were entering a distant world. Beneath the explosions and chase scenes, which were impressively done, lies a critique of what happens when technological advantages replace human interaction, when identities are unknown, and when we lose accountability for our actions. In many ways, I think that the filmmakers bit off more than they could chew. Many of the bread crumbs are rushed and even predictable as Greer moves toward the big aha moment. The man behind the curtain is nowhere near as surprising as the filmmakers intended but the storyline is still engaging. Willis puts in a respectable performance, essentially playing two versions of himself, yet many of his and his costars’ surrogate moments come off as overly stiff, and Rhames as the righteous revolutionary was a little difficult to swallow. The film’s look is polished, albeit too much at times, and the effects are well-executed offering plenty of visual eye candy as surrogates leap over buildings, dropping appendages and squirting green goo from charred wounds. I enjoyed the movie. It had the potential to blow my mind and didn’t quite hit the mark, but I still found myself going over the questions about humanity it raises long after the credits had rolled. I am always impressed when a movie is able to create its own world of moral issues and social challenges and in “Surrogates” we get a look at what it is that makes us human, and what happens when you take that away. –B.C.Wood@aggiemail.usu.edu GET LOST! (Bring a date, but no nibbling on the ears) • • • • The largest corn maze in cache valley The best deal around unique maze design located next to eccles ice arena OPEN NOW Mon-Thurs 5-11, Fri 5-12, Sat 2-12 Adults $6 Children $4 Call 435-755-5755 $1 off every Monday! Group Discounts Available www.greencanyonfarms.com 2850 N 100 E 435-770-7547 Next to Eccles Ice Arena off Main Street Turn by Nate’s & Andy’s $1 OFF Buy 1 Get 1 FREE with this coupon not valid with any other offer Monday-Thursday only not valid with any other offer expires September 30 College of Ag scholar of the year WILLIAM BROCK IS AWARDED by the College of Agriculture as scholar of the year during the annual College of Agricultural Banquet. PETE P. SMITHSUTH PHOTO H1N1 ends century-old tradition at Stanford By BRUCE NEWMAN San Jose Mercury News SAN JOSE, Calif. – Stanford University’s centuryold liplockapalooza called Full Moon on the Quad has survived mono, cold sores, bad breath, regular flu and even fears that HIV could be spread by kissing. But it couldn’t survive swine flu. Stanford canceled the tradition that dates back to the 19th century, when a senior would give a freshman – or dozens of freshmen – a kiss in the sandstone quad during the first full moon of the school year. But H1N1 – a swinish strain of flu that sounds like a geometry proof, but in which H1+N1=0 kisses – has brought the Full Moon crashing down. And because it’s Stanford, this decision was only arrived at following an extensive epidemiological review. Vice Provost for Student Affairs Greg Boardman issued the death knell Tuesday, denouncing frivolous quadrangular kissing on the California campus as “unconscionable” under the circumstances. Ira Friedman, director of the school’s Vaden Health Center, said the university’s administrators weren’t any happier about shutting the event down than students were. “We’re disappointed,” Friedman said. “It’s a longstanding, valued tradition that’s looked forward to by a lot of people. But it doesn’t make sense to have an event that involves a lot of kissing, the exact opposite of our isolation and social distancing strategies this year. H1N1 is not to be taken lightly.” Friedman also called Full Moon, originally scheduled for Oct. 4, “a recipe for disaster.” Among the affected undergraduate population milling around the Main Quad on Thursday, opinion seemed decidedly mixed. “I was disappointed to hear that it had been cancelled,” said Ben Cohn, a freshman from San Diego. “My cousins went to school here, and they said it was the highlight of your orientation to Stanford. They can ban it officially, but I think just as many people will be kissing in other situations.” The kisses were chaste in the late 1800s when students lined up to give each other a nice peck. Over the decades, it evolved – or devolved – with some students showing up drunk or naked while groups handed out mints and condoms. Cohn reluctantly acknowledged that the scope of the event could create a problem. “The mass kissing might be bad,” he said. “One person could possibly kiss 50 people in one night. When it multiplies like that, it gets dangerous.” Senior Kate Powell said she had attended previous Full Moons, but she didn’t kiss anybody, she just watched. She wasn’t so sure the Moon going down would change anything. “You can still catch swine flu sitting next to somebody in class who has it,” Powell said. “People are still going to make out at parties. They’ll do it wherever.” The Best Price Everyday Stu den tD isco 50 -70 unt s Wh o the lesale pub to lic. 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