
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 1, 1994                   TAG: 9401270001
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: B12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Mike Mayo
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Long

FOR VIDEO FANS, 1993 WAS A GOOD-LOOKING YEAR

1993 was an excellent year for home video. Theatrical releases did land- office business with slickly produced formula entertainment, while video continued to be much more diverse, energetic and challenging. Here's a quick look back at some of the best:

Foreign-language film

``Intervista'' (Triboro) was released just a few weeks before Federico Fellini died. It's a fitting and poignant farewell, combining fiction and fact with that wry humor Fellini was so famous for. Toward the end there's a wonderful moment when Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg recreate their famous dance in the fountain from ``La Dolce Vita.'' For fans of ``the maestro,'' it's worth the price of a rental all by itself.

Crime film

``One False Move'' (Columbia Tristar) is a modestly budgeted, understated story about cops and robbers, half road movie and half examination of small-town middle America. Comparisons to Steven Spielberg's ``Sugarland Express'' are not out of place. Though this one was released without fanfare, it has developed a strong and well-deserved following.

Documentary

This category is really hard to call. So many good nonfiction films arrived on tape this year that it's unfair to compare them. Michael Palin's witty travelogue about his north-south journey ``Pole To Pole'' (A&E) is certainly a strong contender. So is the video biography ``Hugh Hefner: Once Upon a Time'' (Playboy), a remarkably candid and honest look at a man who made his fantasies a reality.

But the year's best documentary has to be ``Brother's Keeper,'' (FoxLorber), an absolutely fascinating story about three childlike and possibly retarded brothers, one of whom is charged with murdering a fourth brother, in rural New York. On one level, it's a fairly straightforward legal mystery, but it's also a much more subtle look at the interplay between external reality and electronic media, including the filmmakers themselves.

Guilty pleasures

This category has become a staple of the industry, and the year's nominees are strong. ``Sins of the Night'' (Academy) provided faux noir thrills, and ``Snapdragon'' (Prism) took an unusual slant on the ``killer blonde'' subgenre of suspense films. But this year's award for Guiltiest Guilty Pleasure has to go to ``Beach Babes from Beyond'' (Paramount) for the title, if nothing else.

Re-releases

Considering that home video is a relatively young medium and is still sorting itself out, it's to be expected that there's some confusion. That's why certain titles go in and out of print. Both ``Valley of the Dolls'' (FoxVideo) and Russ Meyer's ``Beyond the Valley of the Dolls'' (FoxVideo) had been available only in used or bootleg editions until they were re-released this year. As flashy-trashy soaps, they're exemplary.

Several of Bob Hope's older comedies also found their way onto tape this year. Two of the most fun were ``Monsieur Beaucair'' and ``Ghostbreakers'' (both MCA/Universal).

Laserdisc

For serious videophiles, laserdiscs are the only way to watch favorite movies, and those same videophiles know that the Voyager label's Criterion Collection produces the best of the best. Its edition of Francis Ford Coppola's ``Bram Stoker's `Dracula''' is just superb. The laser version of Nicholas Roeg's ``The Man Who Fell to Earth'' is really the first complete edition available to American moviegoers. But my own favorite disc of '93 has to be John Woo's ``The Killer.'' The Criterion version is infinitely superior to the dubbed tape, in both sound and picture quality. It really does prove that Woo has the potential to be one of the best.

Horror films

Of all the low- and mid-budget horror flicks that came out on home video this year, one stands head, shoulders and claws above the rest. Yes, ``Carnosaur'' (New Horizons) does bear some resemblance to another dinosaur movie that shall remain nameless, but it's also a wicked black comedy.

Best video of 1993

A lot of fine movies arrived in stores as video originals this year. ``Zentropa'' (Buena Vista) is an eerie, surrealistic tale of post World War II Germany. ``The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag'' (Touchstone) is a comic mystery about a small-town librarian who's transformed by confession. ``Ted and Venus'' (Columbia TriStar) is a twisted and poignant love story about ``inappropriate behavior.'' ``Joey Breaker'' (Paramount) looks into the fast-paced world of a show business agent. They're all good films that deserve your consideration.

But the best movie to hit your favorite video store in 1993 is ... the envelope, please ... ``Flirting'' (Vidmark). John Duigan's Australian coming-of-age drama is a sequel to another fine film, ``The Year My Voice Broke.'' It's funny, touching, and if it's at all accurate in its depiction of the times, the mid-1960s were much the same in Australia and the American Southeast. By any standard or on any sized screen, it's one of the year's finest films.

New releases this week:

True Romance **

Stars Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper. Directed by Tony Scott. Warner Bros. 120 min. Rated R for graphic violence, strong language, sexual content, brief nudity. (Also available Unrated, with a few more minutes of violence.)

This ultra-violent exercise in style over substance is an overlong, self-satisfied B-movie that's not without a certain sleazy charm. Slater and Arquette are lovers on the run from gangsters. They drive from Detroit to Hollywood in a purple Caddy convertible. Scott tells the tale well enough, but in the end, the whole is less than the sum of the parts. Still, fans of mindless, violent entertainment will find much to like.

Hocus Pocus **

Stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy. Directed by Kenny Ortega. Buena Vista. 94 min. Rated PG for subject matter, tone, some violence.

Because this curious little horror comedy comes from the Disney studio, many parents may assume that it's meant for kids, but it's really too dark and too slow for very young viewers. The filmmakers seem to have been trying to capture the mix of gentle humor and strong visual style that made ``Beetlejuice'' a hit. But Ortega doesn't have Tim Burton's natural affinity for offbeat material, and he let his three leading ladies, playing Salem witches resurrected in 1993, run amok in an overacting contest.

Keywords:
YEAR 1993

by CNB