D: Taylor Hackford; with Ray Sharkey, Tovah Feldshuh, Peter Gallagher, Joe
Pantolino, Maureen McCormick.
VHS Home Video
Encore Movies & Music, 8820 Burnet
For all the dopey rock & roll clich�s to which The Idolmaker falls victim, this 1980 movie remains late actor Ray Sharkey’s best screen
performance — an ambitious, Svengali-like songwriter who sees his talents
better manifested in others. As he cultivates and grooms for stardom various
teen idol up-and-comers (including a young Peter Gallagher), he discovers a
yearning to pursue the spotlight himself. Tovah Feldshuh’s ho-hum turn as the
uptight teen-magazine editor is a useless subplot, serving only to provide the
obligatory romance angle, but Maureen McCormick’s brief appearance as a groupie
will delight Brady Bunch fans who fantasized about a grittier side of
the Marcia-meets-Davy-Jones segment. Sixties-pop composer Jeff Barry penned the
soundtrack, which booms and genuinely resonates with the same exhilaration as
the era itself. — Margaret Moser
Dead Presidents
D: The Hughes Brothers; with Larenz Tate, Keith David, Chris Tucker, FreddyRodriguez, Rose Jackson, N’Bushe Wright.
VHS Home Video
Waterloo Video 1016 W. Sixth
There’s no doubt that Menace II Society, the Hughes Brothers’ first
effort, is a powerful film depicting the cyclical nature of the dead-end
existence bred by the economics of the inner city. Dead Presidents
shares this theme, but in a more subtle, mature way. A group of
good-natured boys who go off to Vietnam and return home with all the standard
hardships (plus being broke in the ghetto), eventually organize an
inconceivable robbery they believe will deliver them from the war zone once and
for all. While Dead Presidents offers a fresh perspective on both movie
genres (war and crime) it attempts to combine, the film is rather ambitious in
its undertaking. There are essentially three movies in one here — pre-Vietnam,
during the war, and the difficult Seventies re-entry which spurs on the crime
— and the weight of the story detracts from a basically quality film with both
a good cast and atmosphere. Each of these parts could make a film in itself,
and Dead Presidents suffers a little for it. — Jen
Scoville
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
D: Fritz Lang; with Dana Andrews, Joan Fontaine, Sidney Blackmer, PhilipBourneuf, Barbara Nichols.
VHS Home Video
Vulcan Video, 609 W. 29th
When the future son-in-law of a newspaper tycoon is indicted for strangling a
showgirl and dumping her body, everyone is shocked except the audience, who is
already in-the-know about his little experiment with the justice system. And
what a lonely one it could turn out to be. While the accused and the audience
relax in the knowledge of his innocence, the power-hungry prosecutor is fast
proving the guilt of this curious cat. Joan Fontaine smolders as the prim and
bejeweled fianc�e of the high-powered beau-on-trial. Though not director
Lang’s best film noir effort — the plot is a bit convoluted and
unbelievable — my craving for a silvery Fifties suspense film was certainly
satisfied. — Kayte VanScoy
Mission Force Cyberstorm
SierraCD-ROM for Windows
Cyberstorm allows you to command a force of up to 26 HERC robots
through brutal battles on distant planets against the parasitic Cybreds. Each
battle is a test of planning and preparation as well as tactical prowess.
Before landing in hostile territory, the player puts together a squadron of
gigantic HERCs by selecting chassis, armor, shields, weapons, and so on. Then
genetically engineered Bioderms are created to pilot the beast-like machines.
Once in the fray, pilots are directed to favorable positions in order to lay
waste to the defending Cybred forces. Each turn allows access to the action
from above, commanding the Bioderms to victory. While fighting the
computer-controlled Cybred forces is interesting, a greater challenge awaits
those who choose multi-player battles where up to eight humans can participate
at once. — Kurt Dillard
Carrington
D: Christopher Hampton; with Emma Thompson, Jonathan Pryce, StevenWaddington, Samuel West, Rufus Sewell, Penelope Wilton.
VHS Home Video
Taking one’s time to tell a story reaps its own rewards, but in filmmaking
that reward is often a dubious distinction. Christopher Hampton’s Carrington
falls prey to this criticism, yet it is a wonderful story nonetheless.
Divided into chapters, Carrington provides glimpses of the “dazzling but
doomed” life of the painter Dora Carrington and her love relationships,
particularly with the potently gay writer Lytton Strachey. And although the
viewer wants more than glimpses of these characters, the film vividly recreates
the Bloomsbury world they inhabit. Ultimately a statement about
self-destruction, Carrington convincingly conveys the vicissitudes of
the avant-garde, artistic life. — Clay Smith
This article appears in September 20 • 1996 and September 20 • 1996 (Cover).