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Arts & Entertainment
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Planning the perfect ceremony becomes a nuptial nightmare for (from left) Nina (Diane Keaton), her husband
George (Steve Martin), wedding coordinator Franck (Martin Short) and bride-to-be Annie (Kimberly Williams).
Martin’s remake sentimental, stale
» /
“Father of the
Bride”
By John Payne
Senior Reporter
Steve Martin’s wecpy-eycd remake of
“Father of the Bride” (opening Dec. 20) is a
movie that aims to explain the traumas of
organizing a wedding, apparently by put
ting the audience through the same ordeal.
It is a hopelessly sentimental, tedious
affair that provides a couple of laughs but
few surprises.
Director Charles Shyer’s reworking of
the 1950 Spencer Tracy classic is surpris
ingly somber, exploring the nature ot la
ther-daughter relationships.
Martin plays George Banks, an already
uptight businessman who has something
new to fidget about: his 22-year-old daugh
ter (Kimberly Williams). Just back from
Europe, she has met “the right kind of guy.”
That breed of man, Martin explains, is worse
than “the wrong kind of guy.”
In this ease, Mr. Right, or Bryan (George
Newbem), seems like a great catch. Young,
wealthy and handsome, Bryan has a genuine
love forGcorgc’sdaughtcr. As farasGeorge
is concerned though, his son-in-law-to-be is
too perfect. Director Charles Shyer milks
George’s initial misgivings for all their comic
worth.
Of course, George overcomes these doubts
and the wedding plans proceed. His struggles
to both organize the wedding and to come to
grips with “losing his little girl” comprise
the film’s tension.
But where it tries desperately to be poign
ant, “Father of the Bride” is unmercifully
corny. The wise-cracking Marlin seems out
of place as the naive, worrying dad.
George’s daughter, we arc told repeat
cdly, is fiercely independent— so much so
that in the film’s only unexpected twist, she
calls off the wedding when her fiance gives
her a blender for the couple’s eight-month
anniversary.
For Annie, the gift conjures up images of
Donna Reed and June Cleaver, a 1950s
domestication she dreads. Soon, she fears,
her future husband will be giving her iron
ing boards and dishwashers. This is resolved
and George and Bryan finally bond during
one the movie’s gushier moments.
Martin narrates throughout the film in
“Wonder Years” fashion, which gives “Father
of the Bride” even more of a tclcvision
silcom feel. The only difference is that this
refried theme has been stretched to 1 1/2
hours.
Martin’s “Parenthood,” or even his some
times self-indulgent send-up of West Coast
norms “L.A. Story,” had more to say about
life and love. This time around, he’s just full
of cheeky sentiment.
“Father of the Bride” is being billed as a
family film and it is basically a sweet movie.
No one dies and nothing gets blown up.
Mostly though, it’s something old and
borrowed, and nothing new.
Trek mania extends to Klingon lexicon
The Klingon Dictionary
Marc Okrand
Pocket Books
By Bryan Peterson
Staff Reporter
Wilh the arrival of “Star Trek VI” and its
attendant fanfare has come a Christmas blit/ of
merchandising of “Star Trek” material, as if
this sudden flood would atone for years of Trek
neglect.
Pocket Books now brings us “The Klingon
Dictionary,” an official guide to Klingon words
and phrases that brings wilh it a good number
of hints about Klingon culture.
“Star Trek” books lead the marketing del
uge, but they have always been one of the most
visible and best-selling Trek items. The Pocket
Books series has printed more than^6 million
copies of more than 90 titles since 1979.
Novels are the most common, but a number
of non-fiction Trek titles has been available
since the mid-1970s from Pocket Books and
other publishers.
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were the bad guys in the simple, easy sense: the
Federation was good, the Klingons were bad.
They looked mostly like humans, but one could
always detect a Klingon with a good look or a
screeching tribblc.
Now, with “Star Trek: The Next Genera
tion,” decades have passed and the Klingons
are allies of the Federation. They have sprouted
mysterious, spiny foreheads (allegedly there
are different “races” of Klingons on the home
planet) and have become much more complex
characters.
Along with their complexity, the viewer
sees more of the Klingon culture and hears
more of the language.
This is a working language created by a
linguist for the third “Star Trek” movie, a
language which has stayed and grown with
“Star Trek” since that lime.
The $9.95 price is awfully steep for a nov
elty, but this is a must for the collector and a
maybe for the fan.
Included in the book are an overall guide to
the structure of the Klingon language, and both
English/Klingon and Klingon/English listings.
These arc followed by separate descriptions
of pronunciation, “clipped” Klingon, suffixes,
syntax, and so on, allowing the careful reader
to make sense of such classic Trek quotes as,
“bortaS bir jablu’DI’reH QaQq’nay,” (“Re
venge is a dish best served cold.”)
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Courtesy of Pocket Books
Concert bands
mix rap/metal
as new trend
column
album review
By Bryan Peterson
Senior Editor
Going to print on the last day of the semester
is cutting it a bit close, but I could not let a 10
semestcr tradition of the Fifth Column end.
This time around, we return to the world of
rap music, now bigger and better and worse
than ever. All of that at once.
The whole world continues to jump on the
rap wagon, and the field of rap continues to
divide and conquer. The rap/ metal crossover
trend made more news than ever this year,
highlighted by the national tour of Anthrax and
Public Enemy.
Both bands made much of the idea that a
heavy metal band could successfully tour with
a rap band, and that black and white fans could
get together and jam. It was indeed a Fine show
even though I had to travel to Chicago and then
to Champaign, III., to see it.
The crowds remained pretty well segre
gated during the show — the whites for metal
and the blacks for rap — but everyone did get
together and have a Fine time, especially when
both bands shared the stage for “Bring Tha
Noizc,” but I think everyone went home and
listened to the bands to whom they had been
already listening.
Many bands now are combining both styles
of music into a brand of rap/mclal fusion that is
fast becoming a genre all its own.
Where Public Enemy gives us one such
fusion effort on its most recent album, bands
like 24-7 Spyz and Follow For Now base their
entire sound on such a melding.
. A newcomer to this emerging field is The
Hard Corps, whose “Def Before Dishonor”
release does one of the better iobs of mixing
these two genres.
It is probably closer to metal-influenced rap
than to rap-influenced metal, but cither way,
the mix is strong.
Three while guys and three black guys, The
Hard Corps has seen MTV airplay and more
than a little interest among music buyers.
With just enough rap and just enough metal
so that neither side is left out, The Hard Corps
sUll adds enough power and vitality to rise
above mere genre mixing.
Anyone should be suspicious of a band that 4
covers AC-DC’s “Back in Black,” the ultimate
teen metal anthem, but these guys come closer
to pulling it off than anyone.
From the band’s theme song opener to its
strongest cut, “Three Blind Mice,” to album’s
end, The Hard Corps’ songs draw upon the
energy of all six members and produce a catchy,
choppy blend that draws from the backgrounds
of all those involved.
The works seem to draw more deeply from
the rap world and offer some familiar ideas:
“Crime Don’t Pay,” “Why Can’t We be Friends,”
“bring Down the House,” and the anti-crack
stance of “Three Blind Mice.”
While the ideas may be familiar, The Hard
Corns pives them a fresh treatment which
makes all the difference for this release.
Nowhere can the familiar cliches of metal
be found, and that also helps a great deal. By
drawing from familiar sources and injecting
some fresh vitality into them, The Hard Corps
succeeds in its blend pf rap and metal sounds.
Back to the world of rap without the metal
influence, we first turn to “Make Way for the
Mothcrlode," a singing blast of consciousness
from Yo-Yo, one of d small but growing num
ber of female rappers.
Yo-Yo has gained the song writing support
of such figures as Ice Cube, Stevie Wonder and
James Brown for her 16-song release.
To those talents she adds a blend of fierce
rap, slowed-down soul and some serious sam
pling to give the listener a needed dose of the
female perspective in rap.
________