VIDEOPHILE

Rip It Up, Issue 182, 1 September 1992, Page 31

VIDEOPHILE

Deceived. Goldie Hawn gets her first “straight’’ role in a long time and she’s not bad. In this thriller she finds her hubby John Heard is not at all the man she thought she married Of course she only discovers this after he dies, and strange things start to happen. Everything gets quite creepy as Hawn learns who he really was, and what’s going to happen to her now she knows.

Barton Fink. Joel and Ethan Coen are known for their weird movies, and this is no different. Jungle Fever's John Turturro is Barton Fink, the Jewsish playwright lured to Hollywood with the promise of Big Bucks and the opportunity to make a film with “that Barton Fink feeling”. Of course the studio only signed him because he got his name in a good review and they really just want a standard formula wrestling movie. Roseanne's John Goodman is great as the mad insurance salesman sharing the seedy hotel Fink is lodging in. This is a must-rent, especially as they’re now making a sequel. Point Break. This did huge box-office world wide, notablybeacause of its two male leads: Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves. The plot gets a tad disjointed but it’s an enjoyable romp none-the-less. Reeves is the FBI rookie who goes undercover to find out if it’s local surfers pulling those bank jobs. He soon comes under the spell of Swayze, the Spiritual One. Point Break is the perfect video action movie — you miss nothing seeing it on the small screen.

Graveyard Shift. Author Steven King is currently trying to get his name removed from The Lawnmower Man because he doesn’t like it. I wonder if he’s seen this turkey. The killer rat looks most pathetic, and the story drags.

Boys In The Hood. Cuba Gooding Junior and rapper Ice Cube star in this tale of suburban life in South Central, LA. Larry Fishburne is one of the few black fathers in the neighbourhood providing any sort of positive role model, and it is through him we are given the in-your-face mesage. Cuba is the good son with good grades and a good future ahead of him. Across the road, Cube is the bad son with no future. For him, gangbanging is all there is and the consequences are inevitable: it is the innocent who pay the price. A powerful but low-key drama, this is another must-rent. N’DA