Boxoffice-March.2000

PITCH BLACK
***l/2
Starring Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell,
Cole Hauser, Lewis Fitzgerald, Claudia
Blaek and Keith David. Directed by
David N. Twohy. Written by Jim Wheat,
Ken Wheat and David N. Twohy.
Produeed by Tom Engelman and Tony
Winley. A USA release. Sei-FilHorror.
Rated R for sci-fi violenee and gore, and
for language. Running time
A freak meteor
storm causes a commercial
space llight to
make an emergency
landing on an unknown
planet.
After surviving
the harrowing crash,
the passengers think
that the main threat to
their safety is an
escaped convict. Riddick
("Saving Private Ryan's"
Vin Diesel), who was
being transported to
prison on the ill-fated
flight. But Riddick
proves to be their one hope for salvation
from the indigenous human-devouring
aliens that soon make their presence
known (with the help of impressive CGI
effects used to bring the winged, bladenosed,
lizard-bodied creatures to life).
The photosensitive monsters are kept at
bay as long as the three suns shine
bright. But, as fate would have it, a total
eclipse engulfs the interstellar castaways.
As the group is stalked, their only
chance of being led to safety is by relying
on Riddick's night vision and survival
instincts.
Vin Diesel's demeanor is refreshing
and the combination of his voice and
physical build make his character memorable.
He's a one-man Eastwood,
Schwarzenegger and Snipes. The
macabre past or further adventures of
his character would be an excellent follow-up.
Not since the second coming of
the Terminator has there been an antihero
so worth cheering. Dwayne E.
Leslie
GENDERNAUTS
**l/2
Starring Sandy Stone, Texas Tomboy,
Susan Stryker, Max I alerio, Jordy Jones,
Stafford, Tornado, liida J iloria and Annie
Sprinkle. Directed and produeed by Monika
Treut. A First Run release. Documentary.
Unrated. Running time: 86 nun.
Subtitled "A Journey Through
Shifting Identities," "Gcndernauts"
focuses on the variant degrees of several
transsexuals' self-imposed gender reassignment.
Some strive for a complete
transformation while others are content
with the changes hormone therapy
REVIEWS
FLASHBACK: July, 1989
What BOXOFFICE Said About...
EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY
[March 3 sees the release of the Columbia comedy "What Planet Are You From?",
in which Carry Shandling stars as an alien whose mission is to seduce and impregnate
Earth women. Back in 1989, Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carrey and Damon Wayans
played randy extra-terrestrials who were shown
the ways of amour by Geena Davis and Julie
Brown.]
"Earth Girls Are Easy" is
a bubbly and intensely colorful
comedy which makes up for a familiar story by
being simply too funny to resist. Valerie (Geena
Davis), a good-natured but hopelessly naive beautician
in the soaringly tacky San Fernando Valley, is
suffering over the loss of her deadbeat fiance
(Charles Rocket) when a spaceship lands in her
swimming pool. Inside are Mac (Jeff Goldblum),
Wiploc (Jim Carrey) and Zeebo (Damon Wayans),
three friendly, furry and slightly horny aliens who
take an immediate liking to Valerie and her ditzy
friend Candy (Julie Brown, who also co-wrote the script).
Anxious to show their three new friends the planet Earth—or at least as it exists in
the Valley, which has precious little to do with real life—Valerie and Candy shave
the aliens, making them appear human. What follows is predictable fish-out-ofwater
business as the aliens tear up a dance club, steal a car and create traffic chaos
and, like Daryl Hannah in "Splash," absorb language from television broadcasts
(Wiploc picks up James Dean's "You're tearing me apart!" lament from "Rebel
Without a Cause" and regurgitates it at a hilarious moment). It's all time-tested comedy
fodder, handled ably here. All in all, "Earth Girls Are Easy" is a clever, mindless
hootbrings.
Most seem to have arrived at the
conclusion and come to terms with the fact
that they don't really belong to either sex,
but postulate that they are merely more
extreme examples of the gender identity
crisis within us all, as few people come
close to fitting the idealized or stereotypical
criteria of what is female or male.
Director Monika Treut. herself a drag
king, interviews a number of transgender
pioneers representing a vast spectrum of
personalities, intellects and temperaments
—some are terrifically together, others a
tad too "Boogie Nights"-caliber neurotic
for their own good. Each gives a brief personal
history and some pontifications on
how their sexual identities have affected
their lives. But as most all of the participants
are San Francisco denizens.
"Gendernauts" fails to transcend the
microcosm of one of the world's few communities
that embraces alternative sexuality.
It would have added greatly to have
such subjects as cultural theorist Sandy
Stone, a male-to-female transsexual who
teaches at the University of Texas, describe
what daily life is like, how people treat her,
in a town not quite as open-minded. (Few
of the film's subjects could pass unquestioned
in their new gender.)
The documentary could also have
dug deeper as far as the technical aspects
of the process involved in changing
sexes. The first question—though likely
a rarely articulated one—that the layperson
has on the subject is how can working
genitalia be constructed? This goes
unaddressed for the most part until a
rather unexpectedly graphic video clip
from porn star Annie Sprinkle's oeuvre
is shown in which she's trying out her
girl-to-boyfriend's brand-new appendage.
This somewhat shocking snippet briefly
shows how it works (or in this case, doesn't)—but
this is one area where perhaps
a dash of clinical professionalism would
have been more appropriate.
"Gendernauts" is populated with
interesting and colorful characters who
provide human faces to and thoughtful
ruminations on the subject at hand, but
the documentary's haphazard, conversational,
undemanding, preaching-to-theconverted
approach renders its value
more therapeutic than sociological.
— Christine James
52 (R-18) BOXOFFICE