MEDIA COOL

MEDIA COOL

This month’s Media Cool was written by Richard Riegel, Bill Holdship, John Kordosh, Thomas Anderson and Bob Nevin.

RADIO DAYS (Orion Pictures)

OK, so maybe Woody Allen has relaxed from the art struggle a bit to wallow in nostalgia for America’s Good Old Days, just like the rest of us rapidly-aging types. Still (thus?), I find this movie much more “inspiring” than Allen’s acclaimed Hannah And Her Sisters, which had too much material about rich people and their couplings (save that for the New Yorker, Woody). Many of my favorite fantasies of America involve still-ethnic humble citizens of the 1940s sitting in their midnight linoleum kitchens, surrounded by cold cuts and depression glass—-and Radio Days induldges those fantasies to the glowing-neon max. Sure it’s episodic, but the sooner you learn life’s not a wellwrought urn, the better. R.R.

THE STEPFATHER (New Century Films)

Terry O’Quinn is flawless as a man who wants to be the perfect father with the perfect family living the perfect American Dream, just like the dads on all those TV sitcoms of the early ’60s. (“Father knows best,” he says to his wife and stepdaughter in one scene.) But when things go wrong, this dad simply murders his family, changes his identity, and moves on to the next widowed mother. This has been bombing at the box office, so it’s being advertised as another “slasher” flick in a last-ditch effort to make some bucks. A real shame, as this is one of the wittiest and scariest films of the year. What the hell—it’s one of the very best films of the year, bar none. The writing is excellent, the acting is excellent, and the chills are as good as anything Hitchcock ever conceived (watch for the birds on a wire/girl in the shower tribute as the film approaches its terrifying climax). “Who am I here?” Dad asks at the end—and it’s especially enjoyable to watch this lampoon of the archetypical American TV family at a time when Reagan’s going down for the count and the TV evangelists are coming apart at the seams. Good stuff.

BE TRUE TO YOUR SCHOOL: A DIARY OF 1964 (Atheneum)

The year he turned 17, Chicago columnist Bob Greene kept a diary, which, with minimal clean-up, has become this book. It’s dull reading, which I suppose is the point—much of the high school experience is

dull. Greene and his friends get into drinking, talk about getting laid and worry about being socially accepted ... timeless stuff, in its way. It’s kind of a kick to see a teen from that era become disenchanted with Peter, Paul & Mary as the Beatles explode onto the world’s stage. (The teenaged Greene notes the Beatles are “really cool” but the Rolling Stones are “pretty disgusting.”) A melancholy book, but one that’ll probably bring back your (equally melancholy) high school memories. J.K.

THE BEACH BOYS: TWENTY-FIVE YEARS TOGETHER (ABC)

Here are three reasons why this recently televised Beach Boys extravaganza was a lot better than it might have been (other than that inspiring McDonald’s commercial where a loveable old codger finds meaning in life cleaning grease-traps): 1.) Brian Wilson not only looked healthier than he has in years, but actually looked healthier than everyone else in the band! Especially memorable was his look of total bewilderment when Three Dog Night showed up. Who can blame him? 2.) Guest stars the Everly Brothers and Belinda Carlisle, whose performances of “Wake Up Little Susie” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” respectively, were high points in the show, paling only next to the impossibly weird spectacle of seeing Ray Charles in a Hawaiian shirt. 3.)J3ob Hope wasn’t invited. T.A.

COMIC MAGAZINE (Cinecom)

If you thought Japanese movies were all Kung Fu, Comic Magazine, a dark comedy about the cutthroat work of the video paparazzi, will change your mind. Written by—and starring—rock star Yuya Uchida, it tells the sotry of Kinameri, a grim-faced TV reporter who covers everything from the love scandals of movie stars to the Yakuza war in Kobe to a performance by the latest pop sensation, the Pussycat Club, a dozen teenaged girls who sing “(Don’t Take Off My) School Uniform.” Winner of Japan’s best picture

and best actor awards. B.N.

LABYRINTH:

THE PHOTO ALBUM by Rebecca Grand (Henry Holt & Co.)

David Bowie once said that Just A Gigolo was his 32 Elvis Presley movies rolled into one. I guess that makes last year’s Labryinth his 400-odd Jerry Lewis movies rolled into one. For those of you who couldn’t get enough of Bowie in a plastic fright-wig being out-acted by a bunch of Muppets, now available is this trade-sized paperback crammed with full-color photos you can cherish forever. If you’re old enough to remember that this same man was once considered one of rock’s brightest hopes, then you’re old enough to have probably cared. Try to remember why. T.A.