Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 29, 1995 TAG: 9505020085
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
That's the case with "Hard Bounty." It's another version of last year's feminist Western, "Bad Girls." But unlike that big-budget fiasco, this one has a sense of humor. The plot's more or less identical; the production values about the same; and the acting is certainly no worse. Video veterans Matt McCoy and Rochelle Swanson are joined by Kelly LeBrock as the protagonists. Prolific director Jim Wynorski does his usual journeyman job behind the camera.
It's obvious from beginning to end that this story of prostitutes rebelling against patronizing patriarchs is the stuff of a B-movie. That's what "Bad Girls" was supposed to be, but somewhere in the filmmaking process, it tried to become "a major motion picture." Wynorski and company avoided such delusions and came up with a completely serviceable little time-waster.
Many of the same things could be said of "Bad Blood." It's a bargain-basement action flick in the Steven Seagal mode. But as a screen presence, star Lorenzo Lamas is much less obnoxious than Seagal, and he has much prettier hair with a more luxuriant ponytail.
He plays Travis Blackstone, an ex-cop who served time in prison to save his no-account younger brother. Said brother has got himself in trouble again - seems he owes a mob-controlled bank several mil - and comes to Travis to bail him out. Before it's all over, Travis's treacherous ex-girlfriend (Frankie Thorn) and treacherous current girlfriend (Kimberly Kates) are involved, too, along with Travis's TV-addicted dad (familiar character actor John T. Ryan). Joe Son steals all of his scenes as Mr. Chang, the rotund villain.
Director Tibor Takacs has obviously been watching his John Woo movies lately. Several of the big action scenes attempt to copy Woo's inventive style, with careful choreography and good lighting. Too often, though, the graphic violence verges on sadism.
To my tastes, "Bikini Bistro" is a lot more fun. It's a sexy comedy about restaurateuse Amy Lynn Baxter. Her Nibble Vegetarian Cafe is doing rotten business until pal Marilyn Chambers suggests that the waitresses change costume. The rest of the film follows the frivolous formula that's found in virtually every video with the word "bikini" in the title. This one is unique in that it appears to have been shot on video using some curiously grainy special effects with slow-motion sequences in key scenes. Because of those, the film looks better if you fast forward through the good parts, not just to the good parts.
"Sorceress" is a wildly complicated and cheesy horror flick from the aforementioned Jim Wynorski and a cast of video stalwarts including Linda Blair, Julie Strain and Edward Albert. It's about a couple of witches in competition over the career of a young executive. The effects are not particularly special, but the story moves along quickly enough to hold interest. These people are professionals in the field. They know how to make the most of a limited budget and don't try to do things they shouldn't. They don't exactly stretch the limits of the genre, either.
Continuing in the supernatural vein is "The Adventure Kid." My understanding of this convoluted tale is colored by the fact that volume two arrived before volume one, and I watched them in reverse order. But, as fans of Japanimation know all too well, logic doesn't have much to do with these nightmarish tales. This story, from the creators of the equally bizarre "Urotsukidoji," concerns some contemporary Japanese teen-agers and a computer built at the end of World War II. The machine carries them back in time and across dimensions where they encounter all sorts of sex-crazed monsters, zombies and the like.
The combination of strong violence with sexual imagery in a cartoon comedy is hard to define, and often hard to accept. Like all grand guignol horror, it's not for everyone. Even fans are likely to be as appalled as delighted.
"Undercover" is a polished soft-core video original about a beautiful young policewoman (Athena Massey) who bravely infiltrates an upscale bordello to solve the murder of a prostitute. Her boss assures her that he will rig her client list with men who know who she is. They'll just go up to her room and "play canasta." Yeah, right.
As always, director Gregory Hippolyte stresses glamour and romantic images over explicit action. The script, by the euphoniously named Oola Bloome and Lalo Wolf, takes the same approach.
Next week: Generation X and home video!
NEW RELEASES
Robert A. Heinlein's The Puppet Masters **
Starring Donald Sutherland, Julie Warner, Eric Thal, Richard Belzer. Directed by Stuart Orme. Buena Vista. 108 min. Rated R for graphic effects, brief nudity, violence, strong language.
This is a disappointing screen version of the 1951 novel. The filmmakers are fairly faithful to Heinlein's story of parasitic aliens, but they missed the atmosphere of paranoia that he created. In that regard, the film doesn't measure up to the original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" or, to take a more modern comparison, a really good episode of TV's "X Files."
Terminal Velocity * 1/2
Starring Charlie Sheen, Nastassja Kinski. Directed by Deran Serafian. Buena Vista. 90 min. Rated PG-13 for violence, strong language.
This silly live-action cartoon has all the right moves and none of the right chemistry. Skydiving instructor loses novice pupil on her first jump. But is she dead? Of course not. Not when there are Russian bad guys around. The plot makes no sense. Neither do the stunts and that's the problem.
Radioland Murders (turkey)
Starring Brian Benben, Mary Stuart Masterton, Ned Beatty. Directed by Mel Smith. MCA/Universal. 112 min. Rated PG for fleeting nudity, subject matter.
This one is a complete disaster. It's a big-budget comedy about one night in a 1939 radio station that leaves a cast of dozens stranded without a single real laugh. Waves of pointless action are hurled across the screen at a hysterical pace. Ouch!
The Road to Wellville **
Alan Parker's adaptation of a novel by T. Coraghessan Boyle is a sorry, sloppy, only occasionally humorous look at a turn-of-the century health spa where constant enemas and genital electroshock are supposed to induce health and a loss of libido. Matthew Broderick and Bridget Fonda star and Anthony Hopkins (in bunny teeth) is the deranged, detached proprietor of the spa. Only Dana Carvey as Kellogg's son George really stands out in the mire. 125 minutes. Rated R for nudity, comic sexual situations.
THE ESSENTIALS
Hard Bounty ** 1/2
Triboro. 90 min. Rated R.
Bad Blood **
LIVE. 90 min. Rated R.
Bikini Bistro ** 1/2
Bullseye Video. 84 min. Unrated and R-rated.
Sorceress ** 1/2
Triboro. 90 mins. Unrated and R-rated.
The Adventure Hid, vol. 1 & 2 **
75 min and 40 min. Unrated.
Undercover ***
A-Pix. 98 min. Rated R.
by CNB