1997_02 The Daily Collegian February 1997

              THE DAILY
COLLEGIAN
Friday, February 14,1997
Band offers
original,
high energy
sound
By Alice Egoian
The Daily Collegian
The Art of Noise is often
known for its collaborations with
well-known musicians s.uch as
Tom Jones and Frankic Goes lo'
Hollywood. Their-1986 hit.
"Paranoimia." featured a video
with the tcchno-hip Max Head¬
room.
Between 1990 and 1996.
three collections were pul to¬
gether by The Art of Noise and
various other musicians:The Fon
Mixes. The Drum and Bass Col¬
lection, and The Ambient Col¬
lection.
The popularity of Art of
Noise seems to be based on their
musical expertise and the cre¬
ative flair with which they ex¬
ecute such harmonious and
unique music. They've worked
wilh several olhcr artists along
the way and their 1986 album In
Visible Silence went gold in 15
nations.
They remain quite masked in
an industry where faces some¬
times mean more than tJlcnt.
Fortunately, they have sur¬
vived quite nicely and not been
dragged from iheir faceless ex¬
istence by mcdia-hypc.Thesc
three collections arc very differ¬
ent. s<J il is impossible to com¬
pare them directly to each other.
Each has its own separate style
and a force thai can only be ac¬
complished by the Art of Noise.
The Fon Mixes, regorded in
Sheffield England, are a techno- v
lover's wonderland. Even in the t
obscenely enormous rave scene
in England. I am sure these
songs still hold their merit.
While rave in Fresno is nothing
more than gasping for resusci¬
tation, other pans of the U.S. and
many countries center their club
life around it. This is especially
iruc in the U.K.
From Graham Masscy. re¬
sponsible in great part for 808
State, wc get a very hard-hitting
and energetic mix of Legs.
The first track. Instruments of
Darkness is mixed by U.K. rave
faves The Prodigy. Tip:Use for.
driving or dancing.
The Drum and Bass Collec-
•   lion is probably the second most
lively of the three.
Third in the scries, the re¬
mixes on this album have also
been worked up by some of the
best musical talents in the U.K.
It is characterized by the
. same sort of energy and levels
of experimentation that are evi¬
dent in The Fon Mixes.
This one seems to be quite a
balance between "Ambient" and
"Fon." It is neither trance nor
hardcore techno, but it contains
elements of both.
Please see BAND pa^e 4.
Good performances 'Shine' through
By James M.Ward
The Daily Collegian
It's a cliche:, but sometimes
truth is stranger than fiction.
"Shine." which hits Fresno the¬
aters today, fresh from capturing
seven Oscar nominations earlier
this week, is a perfect example
of this lircd — but true — cliche-.
In the course of the movie,
based on real events, a VERY
eccentric man (with obvious
psychological problems) who
mumbles nonsensical-gibberish
it> himself, marries a wealthy (al¬
beit flaky) women (played by
Lynn Redgrave) and becomes a
world famous pianist.
If the movie wasn't a biogra¬
phy, you would he hard pressed
to accept such a far-fetched sce¬
nario.
"Shine" tells the story of
David Helfgott (Gcoffcry Rush),
the exceptionally talented but
loony, piano virtuoso. As the
movie opens. Helfgott wanders
into a piano bar in (he Austra¬
lian city of Perth and wows ihe
patrons wilh his passionate play¬
ing of the piano. The owner of
the bar is so impressed with
Helfgott, she hires him to play
the piano full-time at the bar.
Helfgott meets, and falls in
love with one of the bar owners
friends. Gillian (Lynn
Redgrave), and ends up marry¬
ing her.
Most of the film though,
flashbacks to Helfgott's youth
and his tumultuous relationship
with domineering — but loving
— father. Helfgott's father. Pc-
ler. (played exceptionally well
by the Oscar-nominated Armin
' ——-
Mueller-
Slahl) is the
mate
stage parent.
He drums
into the
young David
that, he must
win every
music com¬
petition he
enters. Not
wanting to
disappoint
his father.
David be¬
comes ob¬
sessed wilh winning — which he
docs regularly.
Some of the best scenes in Ihe
movie arc the quiet moments be¬
tween David and Peter The scenes
arc gentle and loving but have a
strained quality to them — its ob¬
vious lhat Peter is living vicariously
through his talented son.
The relationship between father
and son becomes even more
siraincd when David is offered a
scholarship by Issac Stern to study
music in America. Peter refuses to
allowxDavid to leave for America,
which sends David into a fit of de-
Rated PG-13
105 minutes
Starring:
Geoffrey Rush.
Armin Mueller-Stahl,   *
John Gielgud. Noah Taylor
& Lynn Redgrave
Directed by: Scott Hicks
Written by: Jan Sardi
Starts today at Fig Garden.
Fresno; UA Sierra Vista.
Clovis.
pression
But David
recovers from
his disap-
poi n t ment
when he
meets an eld¬
erly writer.
K a t h c r i n e
P r i c h a r d
(Goofie
Withers), who
instills in
David a sense
of indepen¬
dence and
pride. So
when David gets another scholar¬
ship offer, this lime form the Royal
Academy of Music in England, he
stands up to his father (who imme¬
diately disowns him) and accepts
the scholarship..
In England. David increasingly
acts more erratic. After graduating
from the Academy, he returns to
Australia, where he has a complete
nervous breakdown and is institu¬
tionalized.
It's never fully explained what
tnggers the breakdown — the film
suggests Helfgott's performing the
complex, difficult "Piano Concerto.
No. 3" by Rachmanioff for his
final performance at the Acad¬
emy contributed to his break¬
down — an explanation that
doesn't really satisfy. Yes
Helfgott is a bit eccentric in the
movie (In one scene he collects
his mail with no pants on — to
the horror of his landlady) but he
seems to go completely bananas
for no readily apparent reason.
As Helfgott. Rush is.all
twitchy mumbles and nervous
ticks. (Which is reminiscent of
Dustin Hoffman's role in
"Rainman.") Its the kind of
showy performance thar Oscar
votcrs love.
But the two real stand -out
performances in the movie arc
given by Noah Taylor, as the
young David and Stahl. as
David's father. It's in the scenes
between these two aciors that the
film really takes off.
Other scenes -- especially
between Rush and Redgrave —
aren't very convincing. But the
film docs manage to keep the
events intcre-sting Dircv-tor Scott
Hicks accomplishes the tough
task of making the act of piano
playing exciting. When Helfgott
starts pounding on the ivories, he
captures ihe intensity and pas¬
sion til his pertormancc. Inexpli¬
cably though, since the film is
based on Helfgott's own wife's
biography of Helfgott, the film
never captures what makes
Helfgott tick — and breakdown
— so when he is restored to
some kind of normalcy and
makes his triumphant return to
concert piano playing, it fails to
be the inspirational moment
Hicks' strives for.
'Asteroid' offers lots of explosions, little else
By Tom Shales
The Washington Post
Writer's Group
Audiences love watching things
blow up. Huge fires are sure-fire.
Thus much of America will pre*
sumably gel a big fat bang out of
"Asteroid." the two-part NBC
miniserics aboul a rain of tenor lhat
strikes the Earth.
It's sort of a showering inferno,
actually—one large asteroid break
ing up into smaller ones which
bombard the Earth wilh multiple
fiery blasts and booms.
The film, reportedly produced at
a cost of $19 million, airs on Sun¬
day and Monday. Feb. 16 and 17
(al 9 p.m. on Channel 24). It's an
oddly bipolar production. Part one
includes spectacular scenes of the
asteroids striking—mainly in Kan¬
sas City and Dallas—with movie-
quality special effects lighting up
the screen.
But then part two calms down
cpnsiderably. In fact, agonizingly.
Much of it consists of people roam¬
ing through the flaming ruins of
Dallas trying to find one another.
The heroine of the film, a super as¬
tronomer named Lily McKee
(Annabclla Sciorra). searches for
her father (Anthony Zcrhe) and for
her 8-year-old son. Elliot (Zachary
B. Charles). In scene after scene.
Elliot calls for help and mama calls
for Elliot.
The suspense isn't maddening,
but all the shouting is. It's loo bad
ihe film bogs down so. But NBC
may not care. Sunday nighi is a
more important ratings night any¬
way. The network and producers
probably figured lhat if they lop-
loaded the thing with pyrotechnics
the first night, people would sit
through the second just to sec who
survives and who gets blown asun¬
der. Or a cinder.
One encouraging ihing about
"Asteroid" Is how positive the film's
attitude is. Yes. yes. horrible de¬
struction is devastating variourcit-
ies. but the people in the film react
sanely and without turning on one
another, for the most part. There's
a minimum of looting and noting
Near the end. a deranged daddy
sht>ois a rescue worker, but he's the
exception to the rule. And besides,
the filmmakers needed one more
cheap thrill before the ending
Even those dread "feds" come
off well in the screenplay by Robyn
Berger.
Partner in heroism lo Sciorra's"
quick-witted astronomer is Jack
Wallach (Michael Bichn). director
of the Federal Emergency Manage¬
ment Agency (FEMA). He's al first
baffled about how to handle this
unprecedented sort of catastrophe,
but then he springs into action and
manages lo hop all over the coun¬
try rallying troops and rescuing
folks personally.
It's refreshing to find a movie in
which federal bureaucrats are noi
portrayed as heartless cads. Don
Franklin makes a si/able coniribu-
lion to the heroics, too. as a Kansas
City fireman named Ben who
somehow manages to end up in
Dallas at the site of what could be a
monumental oil refinery explosion.
Director Bradford May wastes
no time in getting the big bangs
banging. In ihe very first scene a
truck dnver on a highway in Bill¬
ings. Mont., gets rather a nasty sur¬
prise when a relatively small chunk
of asteroid crashes on ihe highway
in front of him Boom* Big boom'
But much bigger and boomicr
btHims are to come
It seems the"" Fletcher Comet,
which zooms by Earth every 4.000
years or so. collides with a meteor
and sends it hurtling toward Earth.
Laser beams are employed to de¬
stroy it but instead they explode it
into "thousands" of pieces, some of
which get through and wreak havoc.
Among the more picluresquc forms
tof havoc is the destruction of a huge
dam and the flooding of Kansas
Ciiy.
Obviously, the film owes a lot
to such recent disaster hits as
"Twister" and "Independence
Day", there's even a reference to
everybody having a happy Fourth
of July, albeit with plenty of unin¬
vited fireworks. The thing moves
along at a feverish clip, at least
Pleast- see ASTEROID page 4