The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 118

I New in the neighborhood od on video in time for Oscars By MAX McQUEEN Palm Beach Post-Cox News Service The video of Boyz the Hood (R, 1991; Columbia TriStar, $92.95) is in your neighborhood today. Just in time to capitalize on its two Oscar nominations. These aren't any ol' Oscar nominations. Academy Award history has been made in that Boyz's 23-year-old director John Singleton is the youngest person to be in the running for directing and screenwriting Oscars. What's more, Singleton is black, which makes his Oscar honors all the more miraculous, as filmdom's upper echelon is whiter than a Ku Klux Klan rally in a snowstorm.

Singleton's sudden entry through Hollywood's nearly all-white front doors was no accident. Unlike controversial Spike Lee, Singleton seems more interested in making commercial movies than in making cinematic sermonettes, a factor that cannot be overlooked in an industry that prizes the appearance of substance as much as the presence of substance. Boyz looks and feels and is a film of great import regarding social issues. But it is not well made. In actuality, Singleton's story about survival in south central Los Angeles is grossly underwritten and poorly edited.

TOP TEN VIDEOCASSETTES The top sales and rentals, according to Billboard magazine: Sales 1. Fantasia Disney 2. The Jungle Book Disney 3. Playboy: Sexy Lingerie IV Playboy 4. Cherfitness: A New Attitude CBS-Fox 5.

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Warner 6. Richard Simmons: Sweatin' to the Oldies Warner 7. Penthouse: Satin Lace A Vision 8. Oscar's Greatest Moments Columbia-TriStar 9. Ghost Paramount 10.

Home Alone Fox Rentals 1. Thelma and Louise MGMUA 2. The Rocketeer Disney 3. Regarding Henry Paramount 4. Point Break Fox 5.

Hot Shots Fox 6. Mobsters MCA-Universal 7. Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead HBO 8. Double Impact Columbia TriStar 9. Jungle Fever MCA-Universal 10.

City Slickers Columbia 22. The Palm Beach VIDEO BARGAIN It's a BARGAIN Gimmicks WE OFFER NEW FULL LENGTH FOR SPANISH AUDIOS FEATURE MOVIES ADULT MOVIES NINTENDOS OVER A THOUSAND TITLES FOR $4.99 please inquire WE ARE OPEN TALK ABOUT EXPORT? We Honor Video Warehouse Exxon N. 7 DAYS 10AM-7PM A WEEK RIGHT WE ARE THE VA DISCOVER Summit FOR WHOLESALE EXPORT PLEASE INQUIRE Military VIDEO WAREHOUSE (407) 687-2046 4535 SUMMIT BOULEVARD SUMMIT PLAZA. WEST PALM BEACH NORTH WEST CORNER OF MILITARY SUMMIT BEHIND EXXON $79.95) had the misfortune of coming out on the heels of the bigbudgeted Green Card. Both are PEACE about foreign men who marry North American women so they can stay on these shores.

Peter Weir's Green Card was as lumbersome as a high Mass wedding. Michel Brault's A Paper Wedding is no great catch, but it does have Genevieve Bujold. She's the middle-aged, Canadian bride in a marriage of convenience to a Chilean refugee (Manuel Aranguiz). As usual, Bujold is more interesting to watch in this modest effort than most actresses are in high-priced showpieces, such as Green Card. John Singleton, 23, is the Lock up your Barbie dolls.

And youngest person to be nomi- Kens, too, for that matter. Chucky, nated for directing and the walking, talking, stalking killer screenwriting Oscars. doll is back in Child's Play 3 (R, 1991; MCA Universal, Nonetheless, Cuba Gooding Jr. (now in Gladiator) makes a good showing as a youth intent on living a decent life. However, he is overshadowed by Larry Fishburne who, as Boyz's Everyman father figure, is an anchor in a film crowded with rudderless performances and characters.

Comedy True, The Dark Backward (R, 1991; Columbia TriStar, $89.95) defies description. We're shoehorning it into the comedy category because it's so bad, it's funny. In what has to be one of the alltime lame films, Judd Nelson stars as a laughless stand-up comic whose career soars when an arm grows out of his back. What a gimmick. Bill Paxton is mildly amusing as the three-armed comic's greasy sidekick.

The only thing we can recommend of director Adam Rifkin's misfire is the pained walk-ons by James Caan, Rob Lowe and Wayne Newton. Drama To follow up his outstanding Henry Ken Branagh did an about-face: He made Dead Again (R, 1991; Paramount, an American-style detective story with himself in the lead. Two leads, to be exact. Branagh portrays a private eye who is on the trail of a missing miss (Emma Thompson). The plot thickens twice-over when it appears the hunter and the hunted were married in a past, troubled life.

Keeping track of Dead Again's double personalities adds great fun to this stylish murder mystery, which proves Branagh's Henry was not a royal flash in the pan. The small-budget A Paper Wedding (unrated, 1991; Capitol, MARCH 20, 1992 TGIF READING DAY at the Mall SATURDAY, MARCH 21st 11AM to 2PM STORIES TOLD BY COSTUMED CHARACTERS FINGER PUPPET BALLOONS Cross Military Trail Obeechebee Blvd Mall Horror Vintage Hollywood Tom Jones (unrated, 1962; HBO, $59.99) was scheduled for rerelease before the recent death of its producer-director, Tony Richardson. With or without the director's death, it's about time the video generation had access once again to the 1963 Oscar winner for best picture. Though its bawdiness has been dated by three decades, in its day Tom Jones was viewed as a daring sex romp. Albert Finney is in the title role as a foundling in 18th century England who grows up to be quite a man about town.

Tom Jones' Oscar win was a big upset. The British-made comedy was up against such Hollywood heavyweights as Cleopatra and How the West Was Won. Want to see the original ending to Fatal Attraction (R, 1987; Paramount, Now you can, thanks to Paramount's new Directors Series. Director Adrian Lyne introduces the "restored" version of his 1987 hit with Glenn Close and Michael Douglas. Also included are outtakes and rehearsals of this much-imitated thriller.

Coming soon Executive Action Wednesday Billy Bathgate April 1 Dennis Miller Black and White April 1 Ed Sullivan Show April 7 Other new releases The Great Los Angeles Earthquake, with Ed Begley Jr. Shattered Spirits with Martin Sheen and Melinda Dillon Two Minute Warning with David Jansen and Gena Rowlands FLORIDA STONE CRAB OR PRIME RIB DINNER 9.95 with this ad only While supplies last make your reservations early. Dinners served with homemade bread butter, vegetable potato. DOCKSIDE ON THE INTRACOASTAL PANAMA Expires Located on PGA Blvd. Intracoastal Reservations 627-1545 1 AY al AND.