HOME ENTERTAINMENT : Video Fitness Fare to Battle the Holiday Bulge
The holidays are just around the corner and so are the overgenerous helpings of turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, mincemeat pie and fruitcake. Let’s face it: It’s almost impossible not to gain weight during the holiday season. So it’s a great time to start an exercise program. There are several new exercise videos currently on the market.
Go girl!
“The Flo-Jo Workout, Mind, Body and Spirit” (Paramount Home Video, $20) is a totally hip, cool exercise program based on five-time Olympic medalist Florence Griffith Joyner’s winning motto: “Believe, achieve, succeed.” The 78-minute video features beginning and intermediate-level workouts.
“Give me attitude,” Flo-Jo tells her fellow exercisers as she boogies with them through a fun and sexy program. One can even use a lot of Flo-Jo’s steps on the dance floor! The program, which has Arsenio Hall as executive producer, also offers sections on nutrition and motivation.
In “Clueless,” Alicia Silverstone was devoted to the “Buns of Steel” workout tape. Warner Vision Entertainment has just released two new programs in its best-selling series: “Buns & Thighs of Steel 2000” and “Abs of Steel 2000 Plus” ($15 each).
Anchor Bay Entertainment is offering four new workout videos ($15 each). “Yoga Workout With Yvette” features actress Yvette Mimieux (“The Time Machine”) and yoga master Szabolcs Atzel-Bethlen in a workout designed to build a stronger, leaner body. The other three videos feature exercise classes offered by three famous spas: “Rancho La Puerta Bottom Line Workout” demonstrates how to tone, firm and shape the legs and buttocks while burning fat; “The Greenhouse Body Toning Workout” also includes a beauty segment featuring makeup tips; and “Golden Door Fabulous Abs Workout With Fat Burning Aerobics” combines abdominal exercise and a low-impact aerobics routine. Also featured is a post-workout Tai Chi energizer.
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Special Interest: “Growing Younger, A Practical Guide to Lifelong Youth” (Time-Life Video & Television, $20), hosted by Dr. Deepak Chopra (“The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success”), outlines his seven steps for a healthier, happier and longer life. The tape also contains a 44-page workbook.
“Personal Self-Defense” (Empact Enterprises of America Inc., $20) is an informative instructional tape that offers a combination of three aspects of increased personal security--prevention awareness, physical tactics and assertive behavior. Hosted by Emory Morris. To order, call (800) 383-8811.
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Bond Is Back: With the latest Bond adventure “GoldenEye” arriving in theaters Nov. 17, MGM/UA Home Video is jumping on the Bond bandwagon by reintroducing after a 16-month moratorium the first eight Bond films ($15 each): “Dr. No,” “From Russia With Love,” “Goldfinger,” “Thunderball,” “You Only Live Twice,” “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” “Diamonds Are Forever” and “Live and Let Die.” MGM is also offering three Bond gift sets ($43-$90), which include behind-the-scenes documentaries.
Killer Bs: Margot Hope is “Femme Fontaine Killer Babe for the C.I.A.,” a campy, tasteless tongue-in-cheek spy thriller from Troma Team Video of “The Toxic Avenger” fame.
Molly Ringwald has gone from everyone’s favorite teen-ager in “16 Candles” to a murderous, obsessed medical student in the insipid thriller “Malicious” (Republic Home Video).
New This Week: Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins, Mara Wilson and Dylan McDermott star in “Miracle on 34th Street” (FoxVideo, $15), the disappointing remake of the 1947 classic.
George C. Scott is a wonderful Scrooge in the 1984 TV version of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” (FoxVideo, $15). Literate, well acted and lavishly produced. Roger Rees, Edward Woodward and David Warner also star.
Martin Lawrence and Will Smith play two Miami cops who must find a million dollars in heroin before their department is closed in the hit action-comedy “Bad Boys” (Columbia TriStar).
Jimmy Smits and Edward James Olmos headline “My Family” (New Line Home Video), a sweeping saga of a family from their journey from Mexico to L.A. in the 1920s to the present day.
Drew Barrymore and Chris O’Donnell play young lovers on the lam in “Mad Love” (Touchstone Home Video).
Also New: “Gordy” (Buena Vista Home Video, $15); the Oscar-nominated “A Great Day in Harlem” (ABC Video, $20); and “The Last Good Time” (Hallmark Entertainment).
