THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 1, 1994 TAG: 9406010039
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: B8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: CRAIG SHAPIRO
DATELINE: 940601 LENGTH: Medium
Chalk it up to the video age. Print accounts and TV documentaries are fine; there's something undeniably visceral, though, in watching German guns firing on the invading forces then cutting to those same guns, silhouetted against a clear sky, sitting silently in fields ``grown green and soft with the healing of time.''
{REST} It's a device used to good effect throughout ``D-Day + 50'': archival footage of C-47s in flight and a huge transport housed at The Airborne Museum in St. Mere Eglise; the strategically key Pegasus Bridge in 1944 and before it was dismantled last year.
The video also conveys the sweep of the invasion, visiting a dozen sites, and holds down the narration, letting the viewer reflect at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, with its rows of white crosses and the moving Garden of the Missing.
Mixed in are facts and anecdotes that elaborate on D-Day's victories and failures, making the 106-minute tape both a primer and a travelogue.
``D-Day + 50. . . Normandy'' is $35 plus $4 shipping and handling. Add $3 and get a reprint of Michelin's 1947 Battle of Normandy map. Call (800) 868-1188.
MAIL CALL: Shawn Ware asked about ``Heavy Metal,'' the animated sci-fi flick from the early '80s. Word from Music Video Distributors in Norristown, Pa., is it's never been available because of the myriad artists' rights involved.
Curtis Zrombwalski wants ``Plan 9 From Outer Space,'' maybe the worst film ever. Send a check or money order for $19 to Sinister Cinema, P.O. Box 4369, Medford, Ore. 97501-0168.
Next. Call the Infoline Videomatic Mailbox: 640-5555, category 2827 (2VCR).
SUCH A DEAL: ``Lonesome Dove,'' ``Return to Lonesome Dove'' ($19.95, Cabin Fever); ``The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw,'' ``Rio Diablo'' ($14.95, Cabin Fever); ``Passion Fish,'' ``The Pickle'' ($19.95, Columbia TriStar)
The Couch Report
``Short Cuts'' (1993, New Line). Only Robert Altman, taking off from the short stories of Raymond Carver, would try to weave the many parallel storylines in this three-hour marathon into a cohesive whole. Stylistically, it's as intriguing as his ``Nashville,'' one of the great films of all time. The characters, though, aren't nearly as involving. Pin part of that on Carver. But in a bizarre and black way (nothing wrong there), Altman does celebrate the mundane - ``the good, the bad and the in-between.'' And what a cast.
(CAST: For starters, Andie McDowell, Tim Robbins, Lily Tomlin, Matthew Modine, Julianne Moore, Lyle Lovett, Fred Ward, Lori Singer, Madeleine Stowe, Robert Downey Jr. RATED: R for nudity, language and themes)
``Twenty Bucks'' (1993, Columbia TriStar). Altman on a smaller scale. The movie ties a half-dozen stories together with a $20 bill, following it from a street person to a groom-to-be to a stripper and beyond. The script, written in 1935 then lost on a shelf, has charm to spare - and has a lot to say about how money defines us. The cast is diverse and committed. Don't pass it up.
(CAST: Brendan Fraser, Elisabeth Shue, Christopher Lloyd, Steve Buscemi, Linda Hunt, Gladys Knight. RATED: R for nudity, language and violence)
Also: Tyrone Power in ``Crash Dive,'' ``The Rains Came'' and ``Son of Fury,'' all on video for the first time.
Next Wednesday: ``Wayne's World 2,'' ``My Life''
June 14: ``Ace Ventura: Pet Detective''
June 15: ``The Getaway,'' ``Man's Best Friend,'' ``State of Emergency,'' ``Sexual Intent,'' ``Love, Cheat & Steal,'' ``Dangerous Game''
June 22: ``Geronimo: An American Legend,'' ``Tombstone,'' ``The Air Up There,'' ``Six Degrees of Separation,'' ``They Watch''
June 29: ``The Pelican Brief,'' ``Philadelphia,'' ``In the Name of the Father,'' ``Naked,'' ``Iron Will,'' ``Rhapsody in August,'' ``The Trial,'' ``La Vie de Boheme,'' ``Daddy'' and three documentaries: ``For All Mankind,'' ``Last Voyage of the Lusitania,'' ``Schindler''
by CNB