Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 27, 1990 TAG: 9006270320
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Mike Mayo
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
But Jane Fonda discovered the right formula, combining the convenience of home video with America's endless quest for physical fitness (i.e. weight loss). The rest is history.
These days, hundreds of exercise tapes are available for sale and rental. They are aimed at a wide audiences - from beginners to video veterans. Here's a quick look at three new releases, based on the opinions of a visiting expert (my wife), who is familiar with several different aerobic exercise routines. She has a passing familiarity with the Jane Fonda and Raquel workout tapes.
Dancer/actress\ Rita Moreno's "Now You Can" is basically an introductory tape. It's a light workout, aimed at women of all ages. Moreno is 57 years old; she's accompanied on the program by women who are 65, 48, 38 and 22. The program's emphasis on stretching muscles before, during and after the workout is perhaps its strongest point. This one is ideal for beginners or for anyone of any age who is just starting to get into shape.
It should come as a surprise to no one that\ Sports Illustrated magazine would feature its swimsuit models on fitness tapes. These young women embody one ideal of feminine beauty - not the only ideal - and three tapes are available for those who hope to emulate them. Judging by the "Rachel Hunter Super Shape-Up" volume, these tapes are not for beginners. They're repetitive, without dancing or choreography, but probably extremely effective, if you have the stamina for a lot of floorwork.
\ "The Firm" is a three-volume set of exercise tapes and it's certainly the best of this bunch. Each tape runs about 60 minutes and is followed by an excellent 40-minute educational section describing how the tapes are meant to be used with an emphasis on the development of a long-term fitness routine. Each tape is fast-paced; they are designed for all levels of workout, from beginner to veteran. They employ free weights, though the producers stress that the exercises can be done without weights.
Volume One centers on weights and repetitions; Volume Two, with dancer/actress Janet Jones-Gretsky, is geared more toward aerobic dance; and Volume Three, with dancer/actress Sandahl Bergman, adds a wide wooden stool as a simple stair-climbing device. My expert thinks that these are the best fitness tapes she's found.
Interestingly, the three "Firm" tapes - a fourth is in the works now - are being produced in South Carolina by an independent company, Meridian Films. I don't know how widely the tapes are distributed in video stores. They can be ordered directly at 1-800-843-3476.
No workout tape will do you any good if your VCR isn't working.\ "The Consumer's Guide to VCR/Camcorder Maintenance" is designed to help you keep your machine in shape. This tape, made in Norfolk by Ron Thomas, tries to show the VCR owner with average mechanical abilities what he or she can do clean and maintain the machines without calling a repairman (he also tells you when you should call a repairman).
This is an extremely simple, no-frills approach that begins with the basics. For example, Thomas tells you to unplug your VCR before you do any kind of repair or cleaning, and then he demonstrates how to unplug it.
For those who aren't quite ready to take the cover off the VCR, the Electronics Industries Association has published four pamphlets that take some of the mystery and confusion out of home video and audio equipment.
The titles are "How to Choose, Use, and Care for Audio and Video Tape," "How to Install, Connect and Expand TVs, VCRs, Telephones . . .," "How to Save Money and Take Care of TVs, VCRs . . .," and "Care and Service of Audio and Video Products." These cover basic information, defining the terms and jargon of home electronics.
The pamphlets are available for the cost of postage and a self-addressed No. 10 envelope (the kind that an un-folded 8 by 11 page fits in). If you're thinking about buying your first VCR or upgrading your system with a second VCR, I'd strongly recommend taking a look at the "Installation Products" pamphlet. Postage on it runs 65 cents but it's well worth it.
The address is: Electronics Industries Assn., P.O. Box 19100, Washington, D.C. 20036
New releases this week
War of the Roses: Starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito. Directed by DeVito. RCA/Columbia, 107 min. Rated R for profanity, sexual scenes, comic violence. This comedy is long on venom and short on laughs. It's a handsome, slickly made film with a fine cast playing believable characters. Their previous collaborations, "Romancing the Stone" and "Jewel of the Nile," have been light, romantic comic adventures. This film looks at the dark, possessive side of a marriage that's crumbling in the nastiest divorce you can imagine. Who gets the house if neither of them survives?
She-Devil: Starring Roseanne Barr, Meryl Streep, Ed Begley Jr. Directed by Susan Seidelman. Orion, 95 min. Rated PG-13 for profanity and sexual scenes. Most of the really funny stuff in this one is given to Meryl Streep, as a husband-stealing romance novelist, and she is far and away the best part of the film. Roseanne Barr, as the titular heroine, is purposefully abrasive and unsympathetic. In the skewed story of a woman betrayed, we're meant to cheer for a character whose implacable anger is turned against almost everyone she meets; thin people, rich people, young people, old people, even gerbils and poodles. That dark undercurrent makes the humor deliberately uncomfortable.
Ski Patrol: 1/2 Starring Ray Walston, Martin Mull. Directed by Richard Correll. RCA/Columbia, 92 min. Rated PG for profanity. This is an innocuous, inoffensive little comedy aimed at younger audiences. Basically, it's an extended version of one of those Coors beer commercials where a bunch of attractive kids in plaid shirts yuk it up in a rustic bar, interspersed with several fast-paced comic ski scenes. The plot and characters are standard issue. The cast (made up of young TV veterans) is capable; the stunt skiers do first rate work; the humor stays close to the limits of acceptable taste; the Rocky Mountain scenery is spectacular.
THE ESSENTIALS:\
`Rita Moreno: Now You Can' Wood Knapp Home Video. 60 min.
\ `Rachel Hunter Super Shape-Up' HBO Home Video. 60 min.
\ `The Firm' Vol. I-III Meridian Films. approximately 100 min. each.
\ `The Consumer's Guide to VCR/Camcorder Maintenance' Videotakes (800-526-7002). Time not listed.
by CNB