ARTS
The Michigan Daily
Friday, June 19, 1987
Page 8
Wire: Back together with a new sound
4
By Mike Rubin
Tonight at St. Andrew's Hall in
Detroit heralds the historic Detroit
debut of the legendary late-70's
British all-weatherbeaters Wire.
This quintessential quartet, as the
faithful may remember, were
summa cum laude graduates of the
'77 class of British punks.
More cerebral than their fellow
nihilistic alumna, and more adept at
the Arts & Crafts portion of their
curriculum, the band forged (way)
ahead out of London's self-
consuming scene to create three
impeccable and inimitable LP's of
savagely acute but essentially
abstract guitar "pop" that defined
the term "art-punk," sowed the
seeds of America's hardcore
movement (especially through the
fan blade-blinding whirr of
"12XU"), and influenced hundreds
of bands from Minor Threat to the
Minutemen, before splitting up in
1980 to focus on individual
member's solo projects.
News of the group's resumption
last year warmed the rock-and-roll
cockles of thousands of hearts (as
did last year's reunion EP
Snakedrill), and the band is playing
America for the first time (aside
from some New York dates back in
1978) in support of their new (but
disappointing) LP The Ideal Copy.
Diehard old fans may be in for a
big surprise this evening, however.
Besides the band's switchover
from a molar-grinding guitar attack
to a hip-gyrating synthesizer
squiggle, tonight's live show will
feature no tunes from Wire's
passionate and pioneering first era,
in keeping with Wire's unusual
approach to concert performances.
"Once we recorded something,"
bassist Graham Lewis said, "and
made a document of that material,
quite often our feeling toward that
material was that it was done, it
was history. The pieces that would
survive to live performance were
pieces we still felt we could do
something with, because we've
never attempted to replicate the
records. We think of live as a
unique experience, and we like it to
be a unique experience for ourselves
as well. First and foremost, you do
the work for yourself, or otherwise
it's just a complete waste of time."
"We're not human jukeboxes,"
concurred vocalist Colin Newman,
"and though we'll probably play
some stuff from The Ideal Copy,
we won't attempt to reproduce the
sound of the record. It's always
been our policy that if you can
bring enthusiasm to bear on a
piece, no matter what it's source,
then do it. But if there isn't really
enthusiasm to do something and
you can't do it for real, or make it
genuine, then it has to be
jettisoned, however good it was at
one time."
Wire appears tonight at 10 pm at
St. andrew)s Hall, 431 E.
Congress, in Detroit. Advanc
etickets are $10.50 and a vailable at
all the usual spots. Buy them at
Schoolkid's because they're the
only place that doesn't charge a
service charge. Call 961-8137for
more information or directions.
4
Two new releases take you from Eastwick to 'Nam
John....John Updike. How could do you know, a few seconds later
you let them do this to your your Daryl Van Horne, played by
masterpiece? How could you let Jack Nicholson, steps into the
them take a magnificent, subtle, picture. Don't get excited, John. I
book like the Witches of Eastwick know that it seems like a great cast
and turn it into a commercial, over- (and it is) but what director George
sensationalized piece of Hollywood Miller and screenwriter Michael
crap? I knew that it was not going Cristopher do with this movie is an
-to be anything like the novel but, atrosity. They keep the plot pretty
for some strange reason, I thought mush the same. Daryl seduces each
that maybe, just once, a major woman in a different way but when
filmmaker could respect another he also brings out the evil within
piece of artwork enough not to each woman they decide that the
completely sell it out for the sake four-way relationship must end.
of some measly special effects. Daryl doesn't go for this, though
Why, John, why? I mean, you and decides to get a little revenge
don't need the money or anythine. himself.
The movie still had the same Basically, the film is unclear,
characters as the book. You still confusing and inconsistant. They
had your three modern day witches spuratically shove in little bits and
living in Eastwick, Massachusetts. pieces of your book without
They were played by Cher, Susan making much sensical use of them.
Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer. This aside, the movie is not all
Well, these witches verbally put together harmful. The chemistry is
together their ideal man. And, what wonderful and all of them look
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pretty good together. Jack can do no
harm. I mean, he would even be up
for an Oscar if he was in Porky's
IX. Unfortunately, though, their
chemistry is not enough to make
this movie and the bits and pieces
of you novel do not make this
movie and the dumb special effects
do not make this movie. This
movie just doesn't make it, John.
I'm sorry. Hey, can't you sue them
or something?
- Seth Flicker
Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal
Jacket is a strange and eerie look at
a strange and eerie period and event
of our history. In typical
Kubrickian fashion, the movie
features a twenty minute intro-
ductory segment in which we watch
a platoon of green-behind-the-ears
Marine recruits turned into killers
by their tough-as-nails drill
instructor (Lee Ermey). While this
is already a fairly standard cinema
cliche, Kubrick provides it with
some new twists.
First of all, there is virtually no
dialogue throughout this sequence,
the only sounds come from the
sergeant's shrill commands, barks,
acrid insults, and the squads
rhythmic chants. The lack of any
attempt at character development
throughout the introduction signals
that Jacket will be far afield from
sibling film Platoon, in which the
characters were quickly painted in
overly simplistic characterizations.
Secondly, the real focus of the
training camp segment is the
evolution of one fat, misfit recruit
(Vincent D'Onofrio) from an ever-
grinning hick kid into a
psychopathic killer. Ermey's
command - "love your gun. It's
your best friend" - is taken all too
seriously by D'Onofrio's character.
This segment works well as a
chilling tale on the effects of
military indoctrination and speaks
implicitly about the difficulties of
returning to civilian attitudes for
surviving veterans.
After bootcamp the film moves
to Vietnam, where it becomes more
chilling as well as more surreal.
While most films about Vietnam
feature jungle warfare filmed in the
Phillipines, Jacket focuses on
urban warfare and was filmed
entirely in England. Perhaps
Kubrick was attempting to remove
the film from specific Vietnam
references and make a more general
statement about modern war. The
footage looks like it could more 4
easily be West Beirut than
Vietnam.
The overabundance of flames
also suggests surreal aspirations.
Every shot is framed by three or
four small areas of burning
buildings suggesting a vision of a
post apocolyptic hell more than a
realistic view of Vietnam.
Throughout the film there is vir- ,
tually no character development,
each remaining just a typical soldier
doing his duty. The lone exception
to this is Sargeant Joker (Matthew
Modine), the protagonist and
sometimes narrator whom we
follow from bootcamp to the field
where he is a reporter for Stars and
Stripes.
Modine is totally unsympathetic
as the cynical journalist, wearing a 4
peace button on his lapel and
smirking throughout, leaving the
viewer wondering why this man
volunteered for the Marine Corps.
-Alan Paul
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