AIR BUD
A lonely 12-year-old boy just recovering from his father's
untimely death befriends a stray dog who just happens to have the
ability to score baskets. Between them they take the boy's school
team on the way to the state finals -- until the dog's brute of
an owner shows up to exploit the situation. Mild family
entertainment, a little boring for the elementary school crowd.
Director: Charles Martin Smith. Stars: Michael
Jeter, Kevin Zegers, Wendy Makkena, Buddy. CC, (MPAA rating: PG,
101 min.), Family, 1997, Box office gross: $22.335 million,
(Disney), $19.99 SRP Available:
12/23
CON AIR
The penal system's most dangerous inmates hijack a Con Air
transportation flight taking them to a super-maximum security
facility in this exciting thriller that takes bits from every
action thriller ever made and mixes them up for a volatile jet
ride. Nicolas Cage plays a Zen-Rambo hero stuck on the jet, John
Cusack plays a U.S. Marshal tracking the flight, and John
Malkovich plays the evil mastermind, Cyrus the Virus. Great fun.
Director: Simon West. Stars: Nicolas Cage, John
Malkovich, John Cusack. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 105 min.), Action,
1997, Box office gross: $101.113 million, (Touchstone 12694),
No SRP, Priced for rental, Available:
12/9
CONSPIRACY
THEORY
This light-headed thriller stars Mel Gibson as an obsessed cabbie
who publishes a conspiracy newsletter and who constantly bothers
a Justice Department attorney (Julia Roberts) with whatever his
latest crackpot opinion happens to be. In reality, the cabbie
lives in fear of a past he can't remember, and when the attorney
starts to take his latest theory seriously, both find themselves
in a desperate fight for their lives. There's so many holes in
this script that a special award should be created for its
muddle-headed plotting and disrespect for the viewer's
intelligence. The garbled story is only equalled by the garbled
direction and acting. Co-stars Patrick Stewart as
a very nasty secret agent.
Director: Richard Donner. Stars: Mel Gibson,
Julia Roberts, Patrick Stewart. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 135 min.),
Thriller, 1997, Box office gross: $76.000 million, (Warner
15091), No SRP, Priced for rental,
Available: 12/30
CONTACT
Jodie Foster plays a radio-astronomer who receives the first
extra-terrestrial radio message from the star system Vega, sent
in the form of a digital blueprint for an intergalactic space
ship. With the world in scientific and religious turmoil over the
realization of life beyond the solar system, the astronomer,
aided by a young, rebellious religious scholar (Matthew
McConaughey), attempts to become the first human to make contact.
Along the way she comes in contact with her own faith. Despite
its length and slow buildup and hokey sentimentality, the
film ultimately makes an uplifting statement about humankind's
place in the universe.
Director: Robert Zemeckis. Stars: Jodie Foster,
Matthew McConaughey, James Woods, John Hurt, Tom Skerritt, Angela
Bassett. CC, (MPAA rating: PG, 150 min.), Sci-Fi, 1997, Box
office gross: $100.769 million, (Warner 15041), No SRP,
Priced for rental, Available:
12/16
GEORGE OF THE
JUNGLE
The folks at Disney took on a live action version of the Jay
("Rocky and Friends") Ward late-1960s cartoon character "George
of the Jungle," with a buff Brendan Fraser playing the bumbling
would-be Tarzan, and they came up with a surprisingly funny
comedy. George -- abandoned in the jungle as a babe and brought
up by a talking gorilla -- is not so much a jungle king as a man-
child, which sets the stage for romance, slapstick and tomfoolery
as he meets civilization and defends his lair against poachers.
Director: Sam Weisman. Stars: Brendan Fraser,
Leslie Mann, Thomas Haden Church. CC, (MPAA rating: G, 91 min.),
Comedy, 1997, Box office gross: $102.052 million, (Disney
11774), $22.99 SRP, Priced for rental,
Available: 12/2
HOW TO BE A
PLAYER
Dray Jackson is a player: he has the car, the clothes, the money,
the women. A lot of women. Plus worshipful friends who study his
moves and watch Dray as he slips from one girl to another without
getting caught by his steady. Until his sister decides to stand
up for women everywhere and brings together seven of his "girls"
for a "surprise" party he won't forget. Overdone.
Director: Lionel C. Martin. Stars: Bill Bellamy,
Natalie Desselle, Lark Voorhies. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 94 min.),
Comedy, 1997, Box office gross: $14.000 million, (PolyGram
0601478), No SRP, Priced for rental,
Available: 12/16
MY BEST FRIEND'S
WEDDING
Julianne (Julia Roberts) and Michael (Dermot Mulroney) started
out as lovers but ended up best friends, sharing good times and
bad, loves and hates, since college. Now he's popped the marriage
question to another woman (Cameron Diaz), and Julianne decides
she wants him back, at all costs -- and she has only four days in
which to do it. This is one of the most mean-spirited comedies
we've seen all year: Roberts' character is totally despicable in
her attempts to "get her man at any cost." How could anyone
identify with her? The level of dishonesty and reprehension here
sets new standards for deception and chaos in filmmaking. The
best thing in the film is Rupert Everett as Julianne's longtime
gay friend - but his acting talents are wasted here (check him
out in "Cemetary Man" for a more involving role). Coming on the
heels of the equally nasty "Addicted to Love," I hope we're not
seeing a trend here. This will rent despite its shortcomings,
which is why it's rated "3" with our rentability index; generally
this would be a "2" or lower.
Director: P.J. Hogan. Stars: Julia Roberts,
Dermot Mulroney, Cameron Diaz, Rupert Everett. CC, (MPAA rating:
PG-13, 105 min.), Romantic Comedy, 1997, Box office gross:
$124.600 million, (Columbia TriStar 82723), $19.95 SRP,
Priced for rental, Available:
12/9
187
A once idealistic high school teacher (Samuel Jackson) relocates
to Los Angeles from Brooklyn after being stabbed by a sociopathic
student. In Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley he hopes to get a
fresh start but discovers that the suburban students are as mean
as the ones he left behind. Will the transformed teacher take a
stand against the impotent administrators and students who would
rather fight than learn? An heroic thriller for those who don't
tire of revenge films, though the ending isn't what one would
suspect of this genre.
Director: Kevin Reynolds. Stars: Samuel L.
Jackson, John Heard. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 119 min.), Action,
1997, Box office gross: $5.716 million, (Warner 15432), No
SRP, Priced for rental, Available:
12/23
OUT TO SEA
The big screen's grumpy old men -- Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon
-- team up again, this time as mismatched brothers-in-law who
wind up as dance hosts aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean.
Their goal: meet and fleece the bevy of wealthy women on the
ship. The slapstick comedy co-stars Dyan Cannon and Gloria
DeHaven.
Director: Martha Coolidge. Stars: Walter
Matthau, Jack Lemmon. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 109 min.),
Comedy, 1997, Box office gross: $26.580 million, (Fox 6105),
SRP, Priced for rental, Available:
12/30
SIMPLE WISH, A
Family film about seven-year-old girl (Mara Wilson) who has one
simple wish -- that her father (Robert Pastorelli) will get a
part in a Broadway play. But her wish conjures up Murray (Martin
Short), the world's only male fairy godmother. The incompetent
fairy leads the girl on a whirlwind adventure undoing the messes
he's created trying to grant her wish, all the while trying to
save the world from an evil ex-godmother (Kathleen Turner). Not
as off-kilter as it should be, and a tad slow, but with some
outstanding bits: Short attempts to transform a man with a
shotgun into a rabbit and turns him into a giant rabbi instead.
Oh vey!
Director: Michael Ritchie. Stars: Mara Wilson,
Kathleen Turner, Martin Short, Robert Pastorelli. CC, (MPAA
rating: PG, 90 min.), Family, 1997, Box office gross: $7.974
million, (Universal 83331), No SRP, Priced for
rental, Available: 12/16
SPAWN
Based on the best-selling comic book by Todd McFarlane, this
special-effects laden thriller revolves around a covert
government operative murdered by corrupt colleagues who makes a
Faustian deal to be resurrected to see his beloved wife one last
time -- in return for leading the devil's army against mankind.
Back on Earth with supernatural powers, he discovers that there's
hell to be paid when he deviates from the master plan. This film
is more like a comic book than one would have thought -- the
acting and story all lay flat on the screen. There's no depth to
the characters or the plot, no build-up behind the action. Events
start out full-speed ahead and just ricochet from scene to scene.
Who cares about Spawn? And the vaunted special effects leave much
to be desired. John Leguizamo, however, puts in a terrific role
as the evil Clown. There's also a director's cut R-rated version
that features an interview with McFarlane and a making of
featurette.
Director: Mark Dippe. Stars: Michael Jai White,
Theresa Randle, Nicol Williamson, John Leguizamo, Martin Sheen.
CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 93 min.; R, 94 min.), Horror, 1997,
Box office gross: $55.000 million, (New Line 4591, 4610),
SRP, Priced for rental, Available:
12/23
SPEED 2: CRUISE
CONTROL
This sequel to the Sandra Bullock/Keanu Reeves starrer of 1994,
here set aboard a cruise ship, has little to do with the original
aside from Bullock's name on the marquee (she's little more than
an ornament to the action). Here she goes on a
holiday cruise with her cop boy friend (Jason Patric) and
naturally gets involved in a plot by a crazed computer whiz
(Willem Dafoe) to crash the ship into an oil tanker. Lots of
escapes and near-misses that strain credulity. The film was a bit
heavy a midships and sank of its own languorousness.
Director: Jan De Bont. Stars: Sandra Bullock,
Jason Patric, Willem Dafoe. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 121 min.),
Action, 1997, Box office gross: $47.755 million, (FoxVideo
6100), No SRP, Priced for rental,
Available: 12/2
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