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Written by Gregg Shapiro, Contributing writer
Jul 28, 2010
A scene from “The Runaways” – Photo: Courtesy
“The Runaways”
(Sony Pictures Home Entertainment/Apparition)
Biopics are always a hit-or-miss proposition, and “The Runaways” is a good case in point. An all-girl (emphasis on “girl,” as the band members were in their teens) rock band that actually played its own instruments and co-wrote its own songs, The Runaways formed in the mid-1970s, a time when such a thing was still on the risky side.
Southern California girls Joan Jett, nee Larkin (Kristen Stewart) and Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning), who share a love of rock music and coloring outside of the lines, are groomed by record producer/starmaker Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon) to be the next big thing.
With other band members recruited, including Sandy West (Stella Maeve), Lita Ford (Scout Taylor-Compton) and someone – a possible composite? – named Robin (Alia Shawkat), taskmaster Fowley puts the band through their paces and eventually unleashes them on the world. They only caused a ripple stateside, but in Japan they were a tsunami. One scene shows a mob of rabid and screaming Japanese fans shattering a glass wall separating them from the band.
Unprepared for success, the already unstable personalities begin to clash. Cherie, especially, feels pulled in several directions. After being abandoned by her self-absorbed mother (Tatum O’Neal), she feels guilty for having left sister Marie (Riley Keough) behind to care for their alcoholic father. Heading down a path similar to dear old dad’s, Cherie becomes involved in a romantic relationship with Jett. Things come to a head during a recording session where tempers flare and instruments are thrown.
Since the devil is in the details, it’s interesting that in director/screenwriter Floria Sigismondi’s vision, she gets the fashions, the hairstyles, the make-up, even the cars so right, while she drops the ball on other things. The Runaways were more than just Jett and Currie, but their story is the main focus. This is true to the end of the film. Post band break-up, the two young women who hadn’t spoken to each other for quite some time are reunited on the radio – one as an interview subject, the other as a listener and caller. Kudos, however, to Sigismondi for not shying away from the same-sex love story in The Runaways’ tale.
DVD bonus features include the featurette “Plugged In: Making The Film,” commentary by Joan Jett, Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning and more.
“Showgirls”
(MGM/UA)
Newly reissued in a Blu-Ray+DVD set, the value of this film is completely lost on me. As camp classics go, “Showgirls” ranks low on the list when compared to “Valley of the Dolls” or “Mommie Dearest.” It’s a rabidly misogynistic mess: a corny, softcore-porn, toxic baby-oil spill of a movie and probably Ann Coulter’s favorite flick of the 1990s.
Switchblade-wielding hitchhiker Nomi (barely human blow-up doll Elizabeth Berkley) is on her way to Las Vegas to be a “dancer,” a career goal as vague as the look in her eyes. Once there, she’s frequently propositioned. One perv tells Nomi that “sooner or later she’s going to have to sell it,” and sooner comes sooner than later.
Staying with costume mistress Molly (Gina Ravera), Nomi “dances” at strip club Cheetahs, but clings to her dream of being a Vegas showgirl just like Crystal (Gina Gershon), the star of “Goddess” at the Stardust. But Nomi still has dues to pay, including a $500 private dance for Crystal and boyfriend/manager Zack (Kyle MacLachlan and his important hair).
Before you know it, Nomi lands an audition at the Stardust with Tony (a toupeed Alan Rachins) and his gay assistant Marty (Patrick Bristow), and she’s cast in “Goddess.” Soon Nomi and Crystal are thick as thieves and flirting with lesbian titillation (it’s a testament to Gershon’s talent that she survived this car wreck).
Of course, Nomi can’t resist banging Zack, which only heightens the sexual tension between her and Crystal. And in a twist on the “42nd Street” myth, Nomi becomes Crystal’s understudy and then proceeds to fix it so that she gets the lead in the show. But Nomi’s world is about to be turned upside down when Molly is brutally raped and beaten and Zack discovers the truth about Nomi’s sordid past.
The Blu-Ray+DVD set boasts a bevy of bonus features.
