The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 45

i fch Thursday, December 30, 1993 THK PHILADELPHIA 1NQUIRKR Home Entertainment New on Video A cinematic tidal wave of inanity GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINEE BEST ORIGINAL SONG Carole Bayer Sajer-Jamcs Insram-Clif Majncss "The Day I Fall In Love CHARLES 0 I liiiflWMndi 3 -f cj ijli The video industry invented a new tradition a few years ago, taking the end of the year off and releasing only minor titles. Topping this week's list, such as it is, is a campy comedy. SURF NINJAS (1993) (New Line)' 87 minutes. Ernie Reyes Nicolas Cowan, Rob Schneider, Leslie Nielsen. Neal Israel's writing credits include the script for the first film in the Police Academy series, which collectively constitute the closest Hollywood has yet come to crimes against humanity.

But nothing in Israel's sorry resume quite prepares us for the tidal wave of inanity that crashes upon the hapless viewer of Surf Ninjas. PG (violence). Available on videodisc. This video supplier does not set suggested retail prices on titles it deems primarily for rental. IV NOW SHOWING at I-, ti i lili AMC MARPLE 10 ft I al 320, Springfield AMC ORLEANS 8 Cottman Busdelcn Aves BALA THEATRE Bala Highland Avenues 10ft City Ljne Avenue) GCC FRANKLIN MILLS MALL 10 IrVoodhaven Knights Rd.

REGAL HUNTINGDON VALLEY 14 County Line Rd. at Davisvilie Rd UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES BAEDERWOOD Baederwood Shopping Center UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES RITTENHOUSE SQUARE 1907-1911 Walnut Street UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES AT RIVERVIEW PLAZA 1 400 Delaware Avenue I'm'H'in AMC ANDORRA Ridge and Henry Avenues AMC GRANITE RUN 8 On Baltimore Pike at the Granite Run Mall BtSTs. tit Mitels: Iggy (Rob Schneider, center) takes the comedy-adventure "Surf Ninjas." LAST 10 DAYS! TODAY at thru JAN. 9 11111 Fri. DEC.

Sat. JAN. 1 Sun. JAN. 2 Tue.

JAN. 4 Wed. JAN. 5 Thu. JAN.

6.... IhOOAMt Fri. JAN. 1 Sat. JAN.

8.... 1 1 Sun. JAN. 9 series. Volume 1 episodes: "The Fighting Frammis," "Murder, Obliquely" and "Since I Don't Have You." Volume 2 episodes: "Dead-End for Delia," "I'll Be Waiting" and "The Quiet Room." THE LOST WORLD (1993) (Worldvision) $89.95.

99 minutes. John Rhys-Davies, David Warner. Adventure: A brilliant scientist, a headstrong writer, a beautiful photographer and a mischievous young boy head into the wilds of Africa to see if prehistoric animals are living there. (CC) RUNAWAY FATHER (1991) (Worldvision) $89.95. 94 minutes.

Donna Mills, Jack Scalia. Drama: Mills stars as a single mother seeking justice from the legal system after her husband fakes his death in an attempt to abandon his family. (CC) SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE MASTER BLACKMAILER (1993) (MPI) $24.98. 120 minutes. Jeremy Brett, Edward Hardwicke.

Another episode from the BBC series on the famed fictional sleuth. Instruction CELEBRITY GUIDE TO ENTERTAINING (1993) (Columbia TriStar) $14.95. 62 minutes. Paula McClure and Bernard Erpicum, the maitre d' of the Spago restaurant in Los Angeles, host this look at celebrities' secrets for making a party a special event. Mail order BEWITCHED: THE COLLECTOR'S EDITION (1993) (Columbia House) Four episodes of the popular 1960s sitcom.

The initial tape On Video FTTH 17 I REGAL HUNTINGDON VALLEY 14 County Line Road at Davisvilie Road UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES ARDMORE Lancaster Avenue, Ardrr.ore UNITED ARTISTS BAEDERWOOD tiaederwood Shopping Center UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES AT CHELTENHAM SQUARE Cheltenham Ave. Wash. Ln. UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES FEASTERVILLE Street Road and Bustleton Pike UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES FRAZER Route 30 and Malm Road UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES AT MAC DADE MALL MacDade Blvd. 4 South Ave.

UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES MONTGOMERYVILLE Routes 309, 202 and 463 UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES AT OXFORD VALLEY Middletown Langhorne UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES SAM'S PLACE Corner of 19th i Chestnut St. UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES AT RIVERVIEW PLAZA 1 400 S. Delaware Avenue Av.r Ar''T, iv. icr.ty Avenues Andorra Shopping Center AMC BARN 5 Fit. 61 1, S.

of Doylestown AMC GRANITE RUN 8 On Baltimore Pike ot the Granite Run Mall AMC MARPLE 10 Rt. 1 at 320, Springfield Marple Crossroads Shpg. Or. AMC ORLEANS 8 Cottmun Bustleton Aves. AMC PAINTER'S CROSSING 9 Routes! 4 202, Village ot Pointer's Crossing Shpg.

Ctr. GCC FRANKLIN MILLS MALL 10 Woodhaven Knights Rd. 'Last Action Hero' game plan; Letterman on tape -mm part in a native celebration in is available for $4.95 plus shipping and handling. Subsequent tapes are priced at $19.95 each. To order, call 800-638-2922.

Other THE CLIFFHANGER SERIALS (1993) (Republic) $29.98 each. Five tapes presenting more of those wild and woolly action serials from the '30s and '40s. Individual titles are Canadian Mounties vs. Atomic Invaders (169 minutes), Daughter Of Don (166 minutes), Federal Operator 99 (169 minutes), Haunted Harbor (243 minutes) and The Vigilantes Are Coming (230 minutes). A TIME FOR ROMANCE (1993) (Good-times) $19.95.

40 minutes. Model Fabio stars in three romantic tales: "Conquest of the Viking," "The Pirate Rogue" and "Dream Lover." Coming next week Charlie Sheen and Lloyd Bridges in HOT SHOTSI PART DEUX. Stars: Excellent Good Fair Poor (Videos with no stars were not reviewed by he Inquirer.) MPAA ratings: Motion Picture Association of America ratings are included for all titles that received them. If the title was reviewed by The Inquirer, further parental warnings (violence, nudity, etc.) are included. (CC): Closed captioned.

Inquirer staff reviews and synopses, compiled by Christopher Cornell. known features, such as "stupid pet tricks" and "top 10" lists. Multimedia CDs. if the multimedia CD is the home-entertainment format of the future, Blockbuster Video will be ready for it. Last month the giant chain announced a pilot program at about SO of its San Francisco stores, providing rental and sales of Magnavox CD-interactive, Panasonic's REAL 3DO and the Sega CD game attachment for Genesis.

These three devices are players for CD-ROM (read-only memory), discs that combine audio, video, graphics, text and animation in programs controlled by the viewer. Both the hardware and the software will be offered for all three systems. Rental of a player and three of titles will cost $19.95 for three days (two overnights). An individual title will rent for $4. In addition, the stores will rent CD-ROM software for one of the newest models of the Apple Macintosh and the IBMPS1.

The computers cannot be rented, but purchase will be available through a direct phone line to Apple and IBM from Blockbuster. Blockbuster expects to start a national introduction of multimedia product rentals in 1994. NOW SHOWING! UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES KING QUEEN 1 Mile North of Skyl Expy. oh Route 202, King ot Prussia UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES AT MAC DADE MALL MacDade Blvd. South Ave.

UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES MONTG0MERYVILLE Routes 309. 202 and 463 UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES AT OXFORD VALLEY Middletown Langhorne UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES AT 69TH STREET 53 69th St Upper Darby UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES 3 ON CAMPUS 40th and Walnut Steels rMviiMvissi ATC0 MULTIPLEX CINEMAS White Horse Pike, Rts. 30 4 73 GCC DEPTF0RD MALL 6 Depttord Center Road SAMERIC 1 908 Chestnut Street UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES AT RIVERVIEW PLAZA 1400 S. Delaware Avenue GCC FRANKLIN MILLS MALL 10 Woodhaven Knights R4 GCC NORTHEAST 4 Roosevelt Blvd. Welsh Rd.

Northeast Philadelphia REGAL HUNTINGDON VALLEY 14 County Line Road at Davisvilie Road UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES AT CHELTENHAM SQUARE Cheltenham Ave Wash. Ln. UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES CHESTNUT HILL in the Market Square UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES C0NC0RDVILLE Rl. 202 Jet. U.S.

I 4 312 UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES PENNSAUKEN Routes li 4 130, Pennsauken jffisj these Selected Theatres. UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES AT CHELTENHAM SQUARE Cheltenham Ave. Wash Ln. UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES CONCORDVILLE Route 202 and Jet US 1 J322 UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES KING QUEEN I Mile North of SKyl Expy on Route 202. King of Prussia UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES MONTGOMERYVILLE Routes 309, 202 and 463 UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES AT OXFORD VALLEV Middleiown Langhorne UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES AT 69TH STREET 53 S.

69th SI Upper Darby ATCO MULTIPLEX CINEMAS White Horse Pike, Rts 30 73 GCC DEPTFORD MALL 8 Deptford Center Road -(Opp. Sears Auto Center)- UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES PENNSAUKEN Routes 73 130 Near Tacony Palmyra Bridge, Pennsautten SPECIAL ENGAGEMENT NO PASSES Oil DISCOUNT TICKETS ACCEPTEP Robin Williams Sally Field MRS. DOUBTFIRE WrOTraaR -CHRIS (DLM. KM MIUAMS SAU.V FILD RS. LXXfKTTIRT nMWMN HA1Y FlifoTIIN-ROStRI PRimY HOWARD SHOW -lOANMHAW teMflTHMJIAHlON WilM SiNGER-ULSUi DSON XfctANN! FINE "iMHA (MCE MUM KIN WILDAM5.lv RADQJFFE FST CHRIS GOWMRS z.Z UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES AT THE PLAZA Routes 202, 363, Expy.

4 Tnpk. King of Prussia Shopping Plaza UNITED ARTISTS AT69TH STREET Ui ARTI THEATRES 3 ON CAMPUS 40th and Wolnul Streets Philadelphia AMC DEPTFORD 8 On Clements Bridge Rd. across from the Deptford Mall AMC MARLTON 8 800 North Route 73, Marlton ATCO MULTIPLEX CINEMAS White Horse Pike Routes 30 4 73, Atco UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES PENNSAUKEN Routes 73 4 130 Near Tacony Palmyra Bridge, Pennsauken ZLLU UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES AT TRI-STATE MALL Naamans Road, Claymont mm. UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES AT 69th STREET 53 South 69th Upper Darby UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES 3 ON CAMPUS 40th Walnut Sis. STARTS TOMORROW AMC DEPTFORD 8 On Clements Bridge Rd.

across tram the mall, Depttord AMC MARLTON 8 800 North Route 73, Marlton ATCO MULTIPLEX CINEMAS White Horse Pike, Rts. 30 73 UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES PENNSAUKEN Rts. 73 130 Nr Tac. Pal. Br.

l.HM,'f.MJ!- UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES AT TRI STATE MALL Naamans Claymont STARTS TOMORROW Recent movies BOUND AND GAGGED: A LOVE STORY (1993) (Triboro) $89.95. 96 minutes. Ginger Lynn Allen, Chris Mulkey, Karen Black. Comedy: A ragtag trio travels across the Minnesota backwoods in search of the perfect mate. R.

DARK UNIVERSE (1993) (Prism) $79.95. 83 minutes. Blake Pickett, Cherie Scott, Bent-ly Tittle. Horror: Earth is threatened by an alien from outer space bent on harvesting its inhabitants as a food source. R.

FOREVER (1992) (Prism) $89.95. 93 minutes. Sean Young, Keith Coogan, Diane Ladd, Sally Kirkland. Drama: A hotshot music-video director moves into a haunted house and is soon seduced, both by his lustful agent and by a beautiful ghost. R.

HIDDEN FEARS (1992) (Prism) $89.95. 90 minutes. Meg Foster, Frederic Forrest. Thriller: Years after a young woman witnesses her husband's brutal murder, she discovers new evidence and tries to have the case reopened. THE MAGIC BUBBLE (1993) (Monarch) $89.95.

90 minutes. Diane Salinger. Fantasy: A woman's dreary life changes for the better after she finds a bottle of enchanted bubbles. For children THE SECRET OF THE SEAL (1993) (Live) $24.95. 90 minutes.

Animated story of a young boy who discovers two seals from a species thought to be extinct, and soon finds he must save them. Vintage films THE NAKED MAJA (1959) (MGMUA) $19.98. 111 minutes. Ava Gardner, Anthony Franciosa. Drama: Lots of sweep but not much depth in this tale of the legendary painter Francisco Goya and a beautiful model.

STOLEN HOURS (1963) (MGMUA) $19.98. 100 minutes. Susan Hayward, Michael Craig. Inferior modern-day remake of Dark Victory with Hayward as the blithe party girl who ignores the symptoms of her increasing illness. Pro wrestling SURVIVOR SERIES 1993 (1993) IColi-.

seum) $59.95. 120 minutes. Featured matches include the All-Americans (Captain Lex Luger, the Undertaker and the Steiner Brothers) against the Foreign Fanatics (Captain Yokozuma, Ludvig Borga, Jacques of the Quebecers and Crush). Made for television BLIND WITNESS (1989) (Worldvision) $89.95. 92 minutes.

Victoria Principal, Paul LeMat. Thriller: Principal stars as a blind woman whose search for her husband's murderers climaxes in a battle to the death. (CO BODY BAGS (1993) (Republic) 95 minutes. Robert Carradine, Stacy Keach, Mark Hamill, Deborah Harry, Sheena Easton, David Naughton, Twiggy, David Warner. Director John Carpenter hosts this trio of tales produced for the Showtime cable network.

R. FALLEN ANGELS (1993) (PolyGram) $89.99 each. 90 minutes each. Tom Hanks, James Woods, Joe Mantegna, Laura Dern, Gary Busey, Isabella Rosselini, Alan Rickman, Peter Gallagher, Tim Matheson, Bonnie Bede-lia, Gary Oldman, Meg Tilly, Bruno Kirby, Peter Scolari, Diane Lane, Nancy Travis, Gabrielle Anwar and Marg Helgenberger. Two installments from the Showtime film noir anthology Denotes new listing this week 1.

CLIFFHANGER ('92, R) 2. SLIVER ('93, R) 3. INDECENT PROPOSAL ('92, R) 4. FREE WILLY t'93, PGI 5. MADE IN AMERICA ('93, PG-13) 6.

RISING SUN (92, R) 7. DENNIS THE MENACE ('93, PG) 8. BORN YESTERDAY 93, PG) 9. LIFE WITH MIKEY ('93, PG) 10. GROUNDHOG DAY 93, PG) 1 1.

THE SANDLOT ('93, PG) 12. POSSE V4 92, R) 1 3. POINT OF NO RETURN ('93, R) 14. SCENT OF A WOMAN Vi ('92, R) 15. FALLING DOWN tt C93, R) 16.

LOST IN YONKERS ('92, PG) 17. THREE OF HEARTS ('93, R) 18. COP AND A HALF 19. N. LAMPOON'S LOADED WEAPON I ('92, PG-13) 20.

WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S II '4 ('93, R) 21. THE DARK HALF 93, R) 22. THE ADVENTURES OF HUCK FINN ('93, PG) 23. ALIVE ('92, R) 24. ALADDIN V4 ('92, G) 25.

AMERICAN HEART 'i ('93, R) 26. THE BODYGUARD 92, R) 27. FIRE IN THE SKY 93, R) 28. SPLITTING HEIRS 93, PG-13) 29. THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL ('92, G) 30.

BAD LIEUTENANT 92, NC-17) From Billboard magazine 122592 1992 KIDS SAVE $2 I ON TICKETS FOR KIDS UNDER 12 with coupons iliance (ram rr3iin" SPECTRUM BOX OFFICE 9 AM-6 PM. 10 PM (no semia chorgi) All re2Ei5 outlets including select Showcase and West Coast Video Stores (service charge of JI.5C per ticke! CHARGE BY PHONE: PA (215) 336-2000, NJ (609) 665-2500, DE(302) 984-2000 (service charge of $1.75 per ticket, $7.00 maximum per order J. 75 service charge per ticket on aI Rtnkside Seal orders) Information: (215) 336-3600 OUR Bf ST NTRTflNMNT WllUt! ALL SEATS RESERVED PRICE INCLUDES W( $9.50 $14.50 $16.50 Special RINKSIDt Sim Available-Can For Details "GREAT with Stockard Channing as its hilariously brittle heroine. Donald Sutherland is a great comic asset." JanH Malta, NKW YORK TIMES "A DAZZLER! SELDOM DO WE GET FILMS SO BRIGHT AND SO COMIC. Itfiiuis Cuiiniiighiim.

CB.S-TY Stockard Channing Will Smith Donald Sutherland JRED1EPISL moil MFTRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER MAIDEN MOVIESNEW REGENCY MWVm STOCKARD CHANNING WIU DONALD SUTHERLAND "SJX DEGREES OF SEPARATION' MARY BETH HURT BRUCE DAVISON IAN McKELLEN JERRY GOLDSMITH PETER HONESS "EliPATRIZIAyonBRANDENSTEIN IAN BAKER SRIC KIDNEY FRED SCHEPISi ARNON MILCHAN EST cniniunMiKiii 1400 Delaware Ave. 755-2219 EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT Dailv: 1:00. 4:00,7:20, 10:00 NO PASSES ACCEPTED FOR THIS ENGAGEMENT fffiiriftiTMMiiiTiMia 21 8 for Pl, tvtry mw door loo now world, 'f (oj I III i If ff 5. By Andy Wickstrom FOR THE INQUIRER Arnold Schwarzenegger's Last Action Hero was zapped at the box office last summer, falling far short of blockbuster expectations. But when the movie arrives on video Jan.

26, it will come with a whole new game plan literally. In a first for video-rental stores, a Last Action Hero video game will be released simultaneously, for rental only, with the movie. The Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo versions of the game will be found only in video stores and only as a rental, for seven months. (But versions for Game Boy and Game Gear, the portable systems, will be available at regular prices in the usual places.) Columbia TriStar Home Video, through a special arrangement with its sister company, game designer Sony ImageSoft, is pricing the game at an unusually high wholesale level, between $60 and $70. The resulting retail price of about $100, the same as the highest-priced new movie releases, means most game players can afford only to rent it.

After seven months, the game will be repriced for consumer sales. All advertising and store displays for Last Action Hero will promote both the movie and game, and the tape will contain a promotional spot touting the game rental. Letterman on video. GoodTimes Home Video, one of the most widely distributed budget labels, recently licensed the video rights to Late Night With David Letterman from NBC. That's 11 years of Letterman humor from which to draw.

GoodTimes hasn't determined when the first releases might appear or at what price, but the tapes will be devoted to the talk show's well- I've seen movies on the TNT cable channel presented in the wide-screen format, but they are not available in video stores this way. Why not? To present a movie in wide-screen aspect ratio on TV, the top and bottom of the picture are bordered by black bands. Generally, people find this distracting or mistakenly believe part of the picture is missing. So the video companies prefer to crop off the edges and present the image in full height. It's a matter of giving the customers what they are used to seeing.

Do you have a question you'd like answered? Send your queries to Andy Wickstrom, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Box 8263, Philadelphia 19101. AMC WOODHAVEN MALL 4 t-95 Woodhaven Rd. Rt. 13 GCC NORTHEAST 4 Roosevelt Blvd. Welsh Rd.

REGAL HUNTINGDON VALLEY 14 County Line Rd. at Davisvilie Rd. UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES AT CHELTENHAM SQUARE Cheltenham Ave. Wash. Ln.

UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES FEASTERVILLE Street Bustleton Pk. STARTS TOMORROW UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES KING QUEEN 1 Mile North ot Schuylkill Expressway on Rt. 202 UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES AT OXFORD VALLEY Middletown to the mall, Langhorne NO PASSES ACCEPTED FOR THIS ENGAGEMENT UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES AT RIVERVIEW PLAZA 1400 S. Delaware Avenue UNITED ARTISTS THEATRES SAMERIC 1908 Chestnut Street AMC ANDORRA 8 Ridge Henry Avenues AMC GRANITE RUN 8 Baltimore Pike at Granite Run Mall AMC MARPLE 10 Rt.1 at 320, Springfield Marple Crossroads Shpg. Ctr.

AMC PAINTER'S CROSSING 9 Routes 1 and 202, Village at Painter's Crossing Shpg. Ctr. AMC 309 CINEMA 9 N. End ol 309 Expressway at Route 63, Montgomery..