THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 21, 1995 TAG: 9503210050
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: CRAIG SHAPIRO
LENGTH: Long : 115 lines
IF THERE were such a thing, a Videomatic Certificate of Merit would go to Will Rodgers of Norfolk. He's proof the instructions for the first Shmendrick Awards, announced here last week, weren't printed in Sanskrit.
They seemed pretty uncomplicated: Call Infoline at 640-5555, category 2827, and nominate your:
1. Favorite video that came out in 1994.
2. Favorite actor in a video that came out in 1994.
3. Favorite actress in a video that came out in 1994.
Our accountants would then figure out the top vote-getters. We'd run the nominees today, have you vote again and next Tuesday, when everyone else is rehashing the Oscars, announce who won Shmendricks.
Will caught right on, nominating ``Hard Target,'' Brandon Lee in ``The Crow'' and Lena Olin in ``Romeo Is Bleeding.'' James of Norfolk phoned in ``Schindler's List,'' Al Pacino in ``Carlito's Way'' and Angela Bassett in ``What's Love Got to Do With It?''
``Speed,'' ``Jurassic Park'' and, in a thinly veiled but clever bit of block-voting, ``Dazed and Confused'' also got calls.
But there must be part of a video that came out in 1994 that some of you didn't understand.
How else to explain calls for ``Forrest Gump'' and Tom Hanks or for Winona Ryder in ``Little Women''? Neither film is on video, and it's been 1995 for more than two months.
So let's try again - call Infoline by 5 p.m. Thursday. If you won't do it for me, do it for poor Sam Hundley. He's our art guy, and he's been working like crazy on the Shmendrick. All we need are the winners.
VIEWER'S PET: Are you a dog or a cat person? Maybe you're both. Two National Geographic productions explain why. ``Those Wonderful Dogs'' and ``Cats: Caressing the Tiger'' (Columbia TriStar) are $19.95 each.
SUCH A DEAL: ``The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T,'' ``Casey's Shadow,'' ``Ghostbusters,'' ``Milo & Otis'' and ``The Bear'' (Columbia TriStar, $14.95)
Republic has added three ``Hallmark Hall of Fame'' titles to its catalog: ``The Shell Seekers,'' ``Breathing Lessons'' and ``Blind Spot'' ($14.98) FLASHBACK
With ``The Specialist'' and ``Pentathlon'' out this week (reviews follow), take another look at ``Nighthawks'' (1981). Sly Stallone turns in a solid job, one of his best, as Deke DeSilva, a rogue New York cop who is pulled for a special assignment: Hunt down a ruthless international terrorist known only as Wulfgar (Rutger Hauer).
Director Bruce Malmuth keeps the story tight and the action - and there's plenty of it, including a white-knuckle chase through the subway - moving briskly. A hand-held camera and some tracking wizardry give it grit. Hauer, in his U.S. film debut, is lean and icy-cool; Billy Dee Williams is smooth as DeSilva's partner.
And, to his credit, Malmuth always plays fair, so when the showdown comes around, viewers come away satisfied. (RATED R: language, violence) THE COUCH REPORT
``The Specialist'' (Warner, 1994). Warning: Not to be taken seriously. As camp, though, it's not half bad. Sly, fittingly, is a bomb expert hired by Sharon Stone to wipe out the Miami Beach mob. He's a lone wolf; mostly, he looks lost. She pulls off the ``big star'' shtick - and her clothes. The fun is seeing who can chew the most scenery: James Woods, Eric Roberts or Rod Steiger, whose come-and-go Cuban accent is the most outrageous since Desi Arnaz. At least Desi had a reason. C-
(CAST: Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, James Woods, Rod Steiger, Eric Roberts. RATED: R for violence, language, nudity)
``Only You'' (Columbia TriStar, 1994). Why is every romantic comedy billed as the next ``Sleepless in Seattle''? Because they all try to be. Faith (Marisa Tomei) gets the name of her soul mate from a Ouija board; instead, she meets Peter Wright (Robert Downey Jr.), a smitten shoe salesman. Faith and Mr. Wright. Get it? That's the problem. Except for Downey, who's a treat, and the picture-postcard Italian countryside, it's too obvious. C
(CAST: Marisa Tomei, Robert Downey Jr. RATED: PG, nothing offensive)
``The Scent of Green Papaya'' (Columbia TriStar, 1993). A passage at the end of this 1993 Oscar nominee describes it best: ``If there was a verb for `move harmoniously,' it would be used here.'' Set in pastoral 1951 Saigon, it is mesmerizing, a visual feast with a wonderful soundtrack. The love story at its core is also deceptively unconventional. It's been a long time coming to video, but better late than never. (Vietnamese with English subtitles) A
(CAST: Tran Nu Yen-Khe, Lu Man San, Truong Thi Loc. UNRATED, nothing offensive)
``Pentathlon'' (LIVE, 1995). ``Direct to video'' isn't good news, but this one, with Dolph Lundgren as an East German athlete who defects, had po' because it's directed by Bruce Malmuth. No go. Except for David Soul, a riot as the nutso bent on restoring the Third Reich, it's like UNC's four-corner offense: Booooring. D
(CAST: Dolph Lundgren, David Soul. RATED: R for violence, language)
Also: Johnny Depp and Faye Dunaway in ``Arizona Dream,'' a take on American mores (R); William Hurt in the coming-to-terms drama ``Second Best'' (PG-13); ``The New Age,'' a comedy about Hollywood with Peter Weller and Judy Davis (R); ``A Woman at War,'' pitting Martha Plimpton against the Nazis (unrated); Thomas Ian Griffith kicking guess-what in ``Crackerjack'' (R); and ``The O.J. Simpson Story,'' the recent made-for-TV job (unrated)
Next Tuesday: ``Love Affair,'' ``Wes Craven's New Nightmare,'' ``Angels in the Outfield,'' ``Exit to Eden,'' ``A Simple Twist of Fate,'' ``Nostradamus,'' ``Camp Nowhere,'' ``It's Pat,'' ``Lancelot of the Lake,'' ``Sugar Cane Alley,'' ``Enjo,'' ``Attack of the 5'2'' Women,'' ``Pet Shop'' ``Silent Hunter,'' ``Percy & Thunder,'' ``Dead Badge.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
TRISTAR PICTURES
Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey are lovers in the newly released
video ``Only You.'' See listings of this week's new tapes at end of
Videomatic, page E5.
Photo
COLUMBIA TRI-STAR
Tran Nu Yen-Khe, left, and Vuong Hoa Hoi star in ``The Scent of
Green Papaya,'' which was nominated for an Oscar in 1993.
by CNB