Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 5, 1993 TAG: 9311060191
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WENDI GIBSON RICHERT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
This could mean only one thing: Home movie rentals will surely multiply this winter.
That's where Seth Godin's "The Video Renter's Bible" (W.W. Norton and Co.) comes in handy. And handy it is, a pocket-sized 67 pages filled with recommendations and subtle disapprovals for more than 500 movies.
This baby's indeed a blessing if you need your movie choices divided into neat lists along the lines of ``Academy Award Winners Worth Watching,'' ``The Alumni of Saturday Night Live,'' ``Classy X-Rated Movies for Couples,'' ``Female Heroes, Women Friends,'' and ``Ron Howard's Favorites.''
There's even a category for ``Movies With Kevin Costner or Tom Cruise You Probably Haven't Seen'' and ``If You Liked Twin Peaks,'' ``Romancing the Stone,'' `` ... Terminator 2.''
The slick paperback, which retails for $2.99, also is infused with Video Renter's Bible Facts on many pages. Did you know, for instance, that ``Crocodile Dundee'' was the most popular foreign film ever shown in the United States? Or that the longest interval between an original movie and its sequel was 46 years for ``The Wizard of Oz''?
We figure this guide is much easier to drag to the video store than Leonard Maltin's bulky, 1,500-pager. But when you get down to it, we must say we prefer to choose our flicks the old-fashioned way - by judging them by their covers.
by CNB