Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 14, 1994 TAG: 9405170039
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EXTRA EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Perhaps the best is ``Body Shot.'' It's a tricky story about photographer Mickey Dane (Robert Patrick) who's so fascinated by a rock star named Chelsea that he'll root through her garbage. That makes him a natural choice to shoot a series of suggestive pictures of a Chelsea lookalike (Michelle Johnson). When the original turns up dead, he realizes he's been framed.
Robert Ian Strauss's script uses a noir-ish voiceover to good effect, and the presence of B-movie veterans Kenneth Tobin and Charles Napier doesn't hurt, either. Director Dimitri Logothetis shows a certain visual flair in some nicely composed shots, though he does overindulge in the circling camera cliche. And he got fine work from his two leads. Patrick is known best as Arnold Schwarzenegger's implacable antagonist in ``T2,'' and he brings the same intensity to this part. All in all, a cut above the norm.
``A Dangerous Woman'' enjoyed a limited theatrical release last year. The movie is a wild, unfocused tale of murder, theft, innocence, politics, sex and Tupperware. It all revolves around a childlike, possibly retarded woman, Martha (Debra Winger), who cannot lie.
Both she and her aunt (Barbara Hershey), fall under the spell of a silver-tongued handyman (Gabriel Byrne). Martha also has to deal with the lies of a slimy low-life (David Strathairn) at the laundry where she works. Director Stephen Gyllenhaal and writer/producer Naomi Foner (his wife) capture the small-town atmosphere and tell the story well. The film's primary strength and weakness is Debra Winger.
Here, she is made up to be deliberately unattractive, redefining frumpy. At times her interpretation of Martha borders on Lily Tomlin's famous character Edith Ann. At other times, she seems absolutely believable and right. It is an intense performance, so intense that some viewers will be put off.
``The Nightman'' essays similar emotionally charged material. It's about conflicts among three essentially unsympathetic characters in two different time frames.
In the early 1970s, Eve (Joanna Kerns) hires Vietnam vet Tom Wolfe (Ted Marcoux) as the night manager of her resort hotel. Over the course of the hot Georgia summer, her teen-age daughter Maggie (Jenny Robertson) strikes up a friendship with him. Flash forward to the present where Maggie has become a prosperous lawyer, her mother is dead and Tom has just been released from prison, having served 18 years for her murder.
Maggie thinks he's stalking her.
But ...
Most of the story is set in the past. Actor turned director Charles Haid lets the proceedings drawl along at a leisurely summertime pace. That's fitting enough, but he let his actors cut loose in big, teary scenes where emotional overindulgence runs amok. Still, this one has a steamy Erskine Caldwell-Tennessee Williams quality that's always kind of fun.
``Save Me'' is far and away the tawdriest of this bunch, but that's the point, so it's useless to criticize the film for it. Our hero is Jim (Harry Hamlin), a stockbroker whose work is suffering in direct relationship to his crumbling marriage. Then one day he spies Ellie (Lysette Anthony) as she's shopping for underwear (really!), and is smitten. But is her current beau Oliver (Michael Ironside) merely overprotective or abusive? When she passes Jim a note saying ``Save Me,'' he's hooked.
Most videophiles will be two or three steps ahead of Neil Ronco's script all the way through, but, again, so what? The two stars are so convincing - he as a stud muffin made stupid by testosterone, she as a feral floozy - that the other shortcomings pale. Besides, any video that includes a scene at a monster truck show and then pretends to be superior to it is working on another plane. Credit director Alan Roberts with aiming low and hitting his target.
``Blown Away'' tells the same basic story with a younger cast. It's about two brothers (Coreys Feldman and Haim) who work at a fancy Western ski resort, and Megan (Nicole Eggert), the spoiled daughter of the owner. Imagine ``Body Heat'' starring the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew with several explicit but unimaginative love scenes. This one also features Gary Farmer, a fine character actor who's been woefully underutilized since his debut in ``Powwow Highway.''
Next week: Independent productions, and the return of a popular classic.
THE ESSENTIALS:
Body Shot ***
Triboro. 98 min. Rated R for strong language, violence, sexual content, brief nudity.
A Dangerous Woman **
MCA Universal. 93 min. Rated R for strong language, violence, sexual content.
The Nightman ** 1/2
A-Pix. 96 min. Rated R for sexual content, strong language, brief nudity, some violence.
Save Me **
Columbia Tristar. Time not listed, about 90 min. Rated R and unrated for nudity, sexual content, strong language, violence.
Blown Away **
LIVE. 93 min. Unrated, contains nudity, strong sexual content and language, some violence.
by CNB