8 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, February 18, 1994 Pass the 'Chips,' please 'Blue Chips' overcomes predictability with action 0 0 By KEN SUGIURA Watching "Blue Chips" is a little like watching its star, Shaquille O'Neal, post up for one of his thun- derous dunks. Most of the time, you have a de- cent idea of what's coming, and you aren't surprised when it happens. Even Blue Chips Written by Ron Shelton; directed by William Friedkin; with Nick Nolte, Shaquille O'Neal and Mary McDonnell. still, just like an O'Neal rim-rattling jam, the movie proves to be entertain- ing all the same. The story of a down-on-its-luck college basketball team, "Blue Chips" takes a look into the high-pressure, oft-hypocritical world of big-time ath- letics. While the issues presented -- payoffs, slimy boosters, etcetera - are nothing new to the average col- lege basketball fan, and the plot is rather predictable, "Blue Chips" is a likeable movie due to its realistic bas- ketball action, amusing cameos and an intriguing inside peek at the world of the college game. It is another superlative achieve- ment for writer / producer Ron Shelton, who had a hand in the excel- lent sports-based films "Bull Durham" and "White Men Can't Jump." "Blue Chips" centers itself around the mythical Western University Dol- phins, a once-proud team that hangs all kinds of championship banners from its arena's rafters but has fallen on hard times of late, posting its first losing season in years at the film's outset. The fall from the top is attribut- able to the fact that the Dolphins' coach, the stressed-out Pete Bell (Nick Nolte) is steadfast in his desire to run a "clean" program, refusing to lure recruits to campus with cash and in- sistent in his demand for his players to be model student-athletes, attending class and earning diplomas. By refusing to cheat, Bell cannot land the all-stars, settling for the cli- che "good kids," nice guys who try hard on the court and do well in the classroom, but are second-rate ballplayers. Their inability to pro- duce wins has the boosters and alumni unhappy and the media calling for Bell's head. Nolte's character, volatile but truly concerned for the welfare of his play- ers, closely resembles Indiana's Bob Knight, after whom Nolte modeled his characterization. (Knight actually has a cameo role, coaching his Hoo- siers in the climatic game.) Following the season, Bell and his staff decide that in order to get some wins, it will need some top recruits, or in recruiting parlance, blue chips. The search ends with three pros- pects, the ghetto-dwelling Butch McCrae (Anfernee Hardaway), farm boy Ricky Roe (Matt Nover), and the unknown diamond-in-the-rough from backwoods Algiers, Louisiana, Neon Bodeaux (O'Neal). It becomes apparent, however, that in order for their services, they will require something in return from Bell. For McCrae, a new home and job for his mother; for Roe, cash and a tractor for his dad; for Bodeaux, anew Lexus. As boosters and the recruits them- selves remind Bell of the hypocritical nature of college basketball - coaches get six-figure salaries and shoe endorsement deals, the players who earn the wins and wear the shoes get nothing -the temptation of land- ing the three players on his team and reviving the program finally proves too great. Like the Dolphins, "Blue Chips" too is made a winner by the three recruits. O'Neal and Hardaway, who both play for the NBA's Orlando Magic, and Nover, who played collegiately for Indiana, had no prior acting experience, but the three de- Nick Nolte gives Shaquille O'Neal some acting pointers, which apparently paid off in "Blue Chips." liver decent performances. The star is Hardaway, who shines in a scene in which he tells Bell that he is homesick and wants to leave school. Other cameos include Knight, Larry Bird, announcer Dick Vitale and a host of former college greats in the basketball footage, including Bobby Hurley and former Wolver- ines Eric Riley and Demetrius Calip. BLUE CHIPS is playing at Briarwood and Showcase. Wonder Stuff keeps tradition alive in mainstream By THOMAS CROWLEY .1 Lyrically, singer/songwriter and guitarist Miles Hunt of the Wonder Stuff as always been brash. Songs like "Astley in the Noose" and "It's Yer Money I'm After, Baby" have ranked Hunt and the Wonder Stuff among the best of Britain's cheeky guitar-pop outfits. The tradition continues on the Stuff's latest LP, "Construction for the Modern Idiot" which features 12 new songs performed in the band's typically anthemic style, but written with a slightly different objective than some of the older tunes. "I just thought that maybe I over- generalize and never really hit the nail on the head in a lot of my early stuff," Hunt said, "so I wanted to get in tighter with the subject - you know, start a story off, explain what it is, and then finish it off." For Hunt, "Construction for the Modern Idiot," was a project which allowed the band to write and record their new material in a way which they hadn'ton theirlast album, "Never Loved Elvis" and pull taut the loose ends of their song structures. "With the third (album)," said Hunt, "we hadn't really bothered to do any rehearsing or finishing off of the songs before we went into the studio, which is stupid, really. We knew that we needed to get that done before, so we built a studio, rehearsed in there for a bout six or seven months, and wrote those songs." The result of their latest recording session has yielded a strong collec- tion of consistently clever rock songs set amidst fiddle, accordion, sitar and organ accompaniment. Themes range from a venomous attack on the pedophilic Man-Boy Love Associa- tion in "I Wish Them All Dead" to a contemplation of art versus commerciality in "On the Ropes." With Hunt's new songwriting ap- proach has also come a change in his attitude toward fans. Hunt was once regarded as intolerant and unap- proachable. The confrontational stance taken by Hunt in past years was not always confined to his songs. Often, fans eager to obtain an auto- 'With the third (album) ... we hadn't really bothered to do any rehearsing or finishing off of the songs before we went into the studio, which is stupid, really. We knew that we needed to get that done before, so we built a studio, rehearsed in there for a bout six or seven months, and wrote those songs.' - Miles Hunt, guitarist of the Wonder Stuff graph would receive nothing short of a harsh dismissal from the frontman. Thoughtful reflection and a growing familiarity with his fanbase via their letters have signaled a change in Hunt's attitude. "I suppose it's just me getting a little bitolderand appreciating people- a bit more," Hunt said, "I write a lot of letters every month to kids that write to us, and I suppose having a bit more of an understanding of the people who like the band, I don't feel quite so strange now when I meet people on the street." Half-way through the Wonder Stuff's American tour, Hunt is quite content with the impact the band has had internationally, and of the posi- tive reaction from the press. He still, however, considers his songs to be first and foremost for his own benefit. "Whether it makes any sense to any- body else doesn't really matter ... it's designed for our ears, really." THE WONDER STUFF will invade St. Andrew's Hall tomorrow night, February 19. Tickets are only $8.50 in advance; if you're 18 or over, the doors open at 9 p.m. RECORDS Continued from page 5 dependably sensitive ballads, it's no surprise that "So Far So Good" is just that - good. The album opens with the '80s classic "Summer of '69," then moves from the slower "Straight From the Heart" to the Tina Turner duet "It's Only Love." The album's tempo progresses in this way, rising and falling in degrees, so that the ballads, including "Do I Have to Say the Words" and "Heaven," arrive in just the right spots. All the hits are here, from 1983's "Cuts Like a Knife" to newest chart- topper "Please Forgive Me." Other songs, like"This Time," "Run to You" and "Heat of the Night" gain new energy from their position on the col- lection and sound better than ever. Basically a worthwhile album - if you like Bryan Adams, of course. -- Kristen Knudsen David Bowie Singles 1969-1993 Rykodisc After all this time, it might be a little too easy to forget that at one time David Bowie was the most daring, innovative musician in rock 'n' roll. Over the past decade, he has seemed a little lost, bouncing between unin- spired efforts like "Tonight" and "Never Let Me Down" and the mis- understood experimental guitar-rock of Tin Machine. With last yea'r's "Black Tie White Noise," he recorded his strongest album since 1980's "Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)," but it got lost when his record label folded shortly after its release. All of these factors taken together (along with his recitation of the Lord's Prayer at the Freddy Mer- cury Tribute Concert) have made Bowie appear as abefuddled old clown instead of the savage hipster that he once was. Fortunately, Rykodisc's two disc collection, "The Singles 1969-1993," elegantly salvages his recently tarnished reputation. Taking the single-disc collection, "Changesbowie," one step further, "The Singles 1969-1993" gathers all of Bowie's hits, which are still strik- ing in their musical range and depth. From the folky "Space Oddity" and the epic pop of "Changes" through the glittery hard-rock of "Ziggy Stardust" and "Rebel Rebel," the white-soul of "Young Americans" and "Golden Years," to the cold yet mov- ing synth explorations of "Be My Wife" and "Heroes" back to the dance- rock of "Let's Dance" and "China Girl," there isn't a bad song in the batch. And the B-sides and forgotten songs are even better. Such overlooked gems as the gorgeous "Drive-In Sat- urday" and "Life On Mars?" are just as impressive as ignored latter-day singles like "Loving the Alien" and "Absolute Beginners." Throughout the two discs there isn't a slow mo- ment and there's not a song that doesn't testify to the fact that Bowie was a true pop visionary. - Tom Erlewine Bailter Space B. E. I.P. Matador Bailter Space's latest EP finds them treading ground between neu- rotic and psychotic indie-rock. After opening with the calm, three-chord pop stylings of "X," the album then plunges into the angst-ridden nervous- ness of "Projects," with its fiery, feed- back-riff stylings which seem to sim- ply break free and lose control several times throughout the song. "Robot World" and "E.I. P.,"taken' from Bailter Space's latest album, have more of an experimental, almost industrial feel to them, but still retain the same mood of anxiety through- out. The samples of metallic rume blings on "E. I. P." and the pained",, anguish present on "Robot World" add a mood of coldness and severityi to the ever-present feeling of immi-- nent breakdown. The best moments on "B. E. I. P." are those where the simple song struc,- tures that they utilize are pushed to the brink of collapsing in a wall of noise and feedback and suddenly res- cued at the last minute. On nearly every track, this technique is utilized to its fullest extent, making "B. E. I. P." a brilliant taste of anxiety-ridden rock. - Andy Dolan The Wonder Stuff is among Britain's best "cheeky guitar-pop outtits." T-SHIRT PRINTING HIGH QUALITY LOW PRICES K . Kt .J OREAN CUiSINE A good atmosphere -- perfect for dates Students receive 0% off dinerl (313) 662-9303 113 E. Huron Ann Arbor I COMMUNICATION "While getting internship credit, you earn real-world experience in a fun & relaxed atmosphere!" 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