The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, April 19. 1994 - 13
Grant takes over as new heart-throb
WIG
By JOHANNA FLIES
Forget Liam Neeson. Forget Daniel Day-Lewis.
Forget Tim Roth. They are all old hat. Hugh
Grant, the bodacious British bob from "Four
Weddings and aFuneral," is the new screen scream.
Cute as a button and sharp as a tack, if he was a
broom, you'd want to be the handle and sweep all
Four Weddings and a
Funeral
Written by Richard Curtis; directed by Mike
Newell; with Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell.
your earthly cares away. Take a swim in the blue
limpid pools of his eyes. Stick a fork in the
crinkles that form when he grins. Wonder at the
enormity of his shiny white teeth.
Grant is Charles, a perpetual bachelor with
friends who wear wacky vests and have orange
hair. They go to weddings together practically
every day and are quite fed up with the procedure.
"Bollocks," they say while describing the bride as
a "big meringue." The pressure of finding a mate
weighs heavily, especially on Charles who arrives
late at every ceremony after a litany of cursing and
demonic driving.,
It is at one such fiasco that Charles, who woos
women with quotes from David Cassidy, meets
Carrie, an American with a hat straight outof"The
Flying Nun." Boy, is he ever bowled over.
Carrie, played by Andie MacDowell, is a glam
dame who has slept with 33 different men. She
and Charles get along very well, especially con-
sidering that she is engaged to a pudgy old English
lord or prince who wears a skirt and leers
leacherously. Charles and Carrie run into each
other at each wedding they go to and get more and
more attached. The matrimonious meetings not
only culminate in a very engrossing love story but
offer endless possibilities for Charles and his
friends to get into all kinds of bloody humorous
situations.
For example, Charles gets stuck at a table
during a reception that is full of his ex-girlfriends
and a guy describing the 400 different kinds of tea
that exist in the world. Two greasy folk singers do
covers of both Barry Manilow and Tammy Wynette
songs on the altar. Guests get wasted and havoc
ensues. The genius of this film is most definitely
its humor.
Chuckles are not all that can be found, how-
ever. The one funeral is very emotional. The
power of the scene is enhanced by its placement
among the hilarious others and from its awareness
of the inexpressible grief of losing a lover and
friend. It's heavy, man.
Grant is unbearably good at playing charming,
shy and sensitive. His reaction shots in certain
scenes handily replace dialogue and his timing for
humor is superb and stimulating. It is rather hard
to understand how Carrie could prefer her old
Hamish, who has eyes like limpid pools of cess, to
Charles.
Though Charles is the film's central character,
it is his cast of friends that give the film a solid
context. Scarlet, his roommate, kisses guys and
then introduces herself. Fiona is suffering from
unrequited love and is assumed to be a lesbian
because she is single. The intimacy among the
group and the obvious love they have for each
other makes it easy to understand why they have
made it so far into their 20s without tying any
kinds of knots.
This movie could consist of endless trips to
weddings and it would be more than worthwhile.
As it is, there is nothing at all to find fault with
except maybe the old man who pops up every-
where producing feeble gurglings and stew. But
Hughie's locks, his tresses of silken brown hair
will keep your senses reeling and your knees a-
knockin'. Yowza.
FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL is
" RECORDS
1 - V _ _ O - _ _
plyn tSocs adAnAbr12
Continued from page 12
Japanese invasion, Shonen Knife have
just released their second major label
album, "Rock Animals," after a few
indie releases that earned the band a
strong cult following and accolades
from "alternative" rock gurus Kurt
Cobain and Thurston Moore (who
plays guitar on the "Rock Animal"
track "Butterfly Boy").
"Quavers" kicks the record off with
ablistering power-chord progression.
Occasionally, the lyrics become a bit
too cutesy like on "Little Tree," which
contains lines like "There's a little
tree in my yard / It was a very hot
summer/A great big green caterpillar
! Was eating the leaves of the tree."
Sheesh! However, you can't help but
forgive Shonen Knife for simple lyr-
ics because the three ladies sing the
words with so much beauty and con-
viction that it's impossible for any
sane person to vehemently hate any-
thing this band does.
The Knife pays tribute to Black
Sabbath sludge on "Cobra Versus
Mongoose," and, though the match
sounds crazy, the band pulls it off.
The best song hands-down is "To-
mato Head" (?!?) which cranks the
fuzz boxes to obtain a raw sound that
is surrounded by a crystal clear lead
guitar.
"Rock Animals" is the perfect
companion piece to "Let's Knife."
"Let's Knife" has more songs and is
perhaps a better introduction to the
Knife's sound, while "Rock Animals"
is a fantastic follow-up and includes a
spiffy toy with the CD. Shonen Knife
are musically enchanting, an air of
fresh breath in a bloated, decaying
rock 'n' roll world. As the band sings
on "Music Square" - "When you
sing the song that I love /I can't stop
the beating of my heart./Idon't know
why."
- Matt Carlson
Orbital
Diversions
F. F. R. R.
This hour-long EP (?) is a compi-
lation of recent Peel Sessions and
remixes of lastyear's club hit, "Lush."
Of course, this remix craze is getting
a little out of hand and has become a
quick way to make money for ultra-
hip techno artists, but, surprisingly,
"Diversions" contains quite a bit of
worthwhile new material.
The first half contains a minor
rearranging of the most surreal track
on Orbital's latest LP, "Impact (The
Earth Is Burning)," and an overlaying
of the spacey ambience of "Lush"
combined with the techno-bleep se-
quences of "Walk Now," another LP
track. "Semi-Detached," the only
completely new track to appear, slows
the pace down a bit and takes off with
some of Orbital's trademark warped
breakbeats.
The second half contains remixes
of "Lush" by three guest remixers.
The first two of these, remixed by C.
J. Hammond and Psychick Warriors
Ov Gaia, are the typical "take one bit
of the song, add some effects, play it
over and over" type of remixes, and
are best ignored.
However, the third remix, by
techno-revolutionaries Underworld.
a
T
is an amazing new concept in remix-
ing. This track takes Orbital's origi-
nal rhythms but changes the notes and
sounds so that the song's ambience is
even spacier than before. Guitars are
also added at just the right moments
as well as some melodically harsh
noises. The result is more of a col-
laborative effort between the two
bands than a traditional, dull remix.
For the most part, "Diversions" is
full of interesting new takes on
See RECORDS, Page 14
Do these people frighten you? Well then, you're weak and aren't worthy of
them. They are the band Wig. Recently signed to Island Records, this
strangely good local band is moving up in the musical world and will likely
soon be too important to vomit in your general direction. They have been
labeled as hard edged alternative rock, but that is a sad and generic file to
place these boys in. Wig is one of the better bands to emerge locally of late,
and deserve better than labeling by the media. The best way tounderstand
what kind of music they play is to go to their show Thursday April 28 at
Cross Street and listen to them. Now is an excellent time, since they
haven't had time to be destroyed by success and/or failure. Time frames for
seeing bands are all too short and must be seized with vigor. So go out
there and seize some of this!
Because you can't fit
it all in your backpack.
univer8ity Towers Apartment.s
536 S. Forest Ave. 761-2680
I
NEED A PLACE TO STUDY?
UNIVERSITY UNIONS announces rooms and times made available just for study
Wednesday, April 20 - Thursday, April 28
The Michigan Union
The U Club
4pm - midnight weekdays
Sat. 23rd 11am - midnight
Sun. 24th 9pm - midnight
Pendleton Room
8am - 4pm
North Campus Commons
Dining Room
3pm - 4am
New Lounge
7am - midnight
Lounge Area by CAEN
Labs & Atrium Lounge
open 24 hours
The Michigan League
Coffee Shop
2pm - 11pm weekdays
The University Club is a private club for students, faculty, staff, alumni, and their accompanied guests.
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