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. i i 3 Popular Now - Lightweight * Portable * PCMCIA Credit Card Type Adapter fechnology IBM ThinkPads Available! - TrackPoint II Pointing Device .x3 xrf 3s~rr7 . .-.. External VGA Support - 4MB RAM Model 350 AOACOT l "l 4LT Model 350C ^OIC'O T4T- Model 500 4 96ST 50/25MH7 ThinkPad 500 comes with a free carrvino rasp I 46:NL L')MHZ 4nb:NL-'Z )MHZ i