BRIDE OF CHUCKY
With the teaser line "Chucky Gets Lucky," you know this third
sequel to 1988's "Childs Play," about the evil spirit of a psycho
killer inhabiting a doll, is sheer gore fun. Chucky is put back
together by ex-flame Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) but when he comes
back to life all is not well -- until Tiffany dies and also
inhabits the body of a doll. Now the gruesome twosome team up
for another round of mayhem. Brad Dourif is the voice of Chucky.
Director: Ronny Yu.
Stars: Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif, Alexis Arquette. CC, (MPAA
rating: R, 89 min.), Horror, 1998, Box office gross: $32.368
million, (Universal), No SRP, Priced for
rental, Available: 3/23, DVD: Day & Date.
BULWORTH
A brilliant political satire about a burned-out California
Senator who flips out on the last weekend before election day,
makes sure he has a gigantic insurance policy for his daughter,
then puts out a hit on himself. With nothing to lose he goes over
the edge, telling his supporters about big money and special
interests running the government. He finds that his constituents
love it. Now making media headlines, hanging out in the ghetto
and speaking in hip-hop rhyme, he finds that life is worth living
again ... but can he stop the assassin?
Director: Warren
Beatty. Stars: Warren Beatty, Halle Berry, Oliver Platt, Don
Cheadle, Paul Sorvino, Jack Warden. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 107
min.), Satire, 1998, Box office gross: $26.525 million, (Fox),
No SRP, Priced for rental, Available:
3/16, DVD: No.
DEAD MAN ON
CAMPUS
Very dumb comedy about two flunking college students who unearth
an obscure regulation in the college charter that offers straight
A's to any student whose roommate commits suicide. Now the pair
hunt for the university's most suicidal student so they can move
in and get him knocked off. Stars Tom Everett Scott, Mark-Paul
Gosselaar. Ugh.
Director: Alan Cohn.
Stars: Tom Everett Scott, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Alyson Hannigan.
CC, (MPAA rating: R, 94 min.), Comedy, 1998, Box office
gross: $15.062 million, (Paramount), No SRP, Priced
for rental, Available: 3/9, DVD:
No.
EVER AFTER
This delightful updating of the Cinderella fairy tale packs a
'90s sensibility into 16th century France. Proto-feminist
Danielle (Drew Barrymore) is placed at the mercy of her evil
stepmother (Anjelica Huston) and is cast into the role of a
servant when her father dies. She eventually meets her prince
(Dougray Scott) and is transformed into a princess, but not
before setting him straight on human rights, freedom and the
dignity of women. There's plenty of action and romance, too.
Fabulous sleeper hit has all the right elements in all the right
places.
Director: Andy
Tennant. Stars: Drew Barrymore, Anjelica Huston, Dougray Scott,
Megan Dodds, Melanie Lynskey. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 121
min.), Melodrama, 1998, Box office gross: $65.644 million,
(Fox), $19.98 SRP, Available: 3/2, DVD: Day
& date.
HOME FRIES
Dark comedy that takes a satirical (but affectionate) look at
middle America. The plot revolves around a pregnant fast-food
worker (Drew Barrymore) who's lover is murdered by his wronged
wife and two stepsons: they literally frighten him to death by
chasing him down in a helicopter. But the copter's radio
transmission gets picked up by Barrymore's take-out headset, and
one son infiltrates the burger stand to find out what she knows.
He soon discovers, however, that the closer he gets to her, the more he
wants to love her, not kill her. A quirky little film.
Director: Dean
Parisot. Stars: Drew Barrymore, Catherine O'Hara, Luke Wilson,
Jake Busey, Shelley Duvall. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 94 min.),
Black comedy, 1998, Box office gross: $10.307 million,
(Warner), No SRP, Priced for rental,
Available: 3/30, DVD: Day &
Date.
LIVING OUT
LOUD
A pair of losers -- Holly Hunter as the spurned and divorced wife
of a philandering surgeon, Danny DeVito as a schlub of an apartment building
doorman -- move through post-marriage life rudderless, isolated and alone, until
the unlikely duo come together to console each other for life's failings.
Because of the fine acting and intelligent script, we come to care for the leads
-- we feel their pain, sorrow and humiliation, as well as their joy -- and come
to love them for it, the way we're supposed to care for characters on the big
screen. A thoughtful, mature relationship film that is at once funny and sad.
And Queen Latifah is superb as a friendly nightclub torch singer.
Director: Richard
LaGravenese. Stars: Danny DeVito, Holly Hunter, Queen Latifah,
Richard Schiff, Elias Koteas. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 103 min.),
Romantic comedy, 1998, Box office gross: $12.708 million, (New
Line), No SRP, Priced for rental,
Available: 3/16, DVD: Day &
Date.
ONE TRUE THING
This delicate melodrama tells the life-affirming tale of an
ambitious young New York journalist who reluctantly returns
home to help care for her dying mother and is confronted by her
past -- and her philandering father. While there she learns to
understand her parent's hidden strengths and frailties -- as well
as her own. A hanky puller for sure. Stars Renee Zellweger,
William Hurt and Meryl Streep.
Director: Carl
Franklin. Stars: Renee Zellweger, William Hurt, Meryl Streep. CC,
(MPAA rating: R, 127 min.), Drama, 1998, Box office gross:
$23.209 million, (Universal), No SRP, Priced for
rental, Available: 3/16, DVD: Day &
Date.
PLEASANTVILLE
A brother and sister in 1998 are magically zapped into the world
of a 1950s TV sitcom where they bring color and social change to
an otherwise black and white, complacent world of conformity. The
beauty of the film -- in addition to its entertaining,
intelligent story line -- is the way in which the black and white
screen literally changes to color as love and feelings come to
the fore. A wonderful look at the clash between modernity and the
conservative family values of the period, with a lesson for the
turn of the millennium. Stars Tobey Maguire, Reese Witherspoon,
Joan Allen, William H. Macy and Jeff Daniels.
Director: Gary Ross.
Stars: Tobey Maguire, Reese Witherspoon, Joan Allen, William H.
Macy, Jeff Daniels. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 124 min.),
Fantasy-Drama, 1998, Box office gross: $39.194 million, (New
Line), No SRP, Priced for rental,
Available: 3/23, DVD: Day &
Date.
RUGRATS MOVIE,
THE
Nick's animated darlings move to the big screen in this splendid
full-length feature that follows Rugrats Chuckie, Tommy, twins
Lil & Phil and Angelica as they embark on an adventure to return
"broke" newborn Dil Pickles (he must be "broke" cause he cries
all the time) to the hospital, instead getting lost in the
forest, fending off a hungry wolf and battling a troupe of
monkeys who have escaped from a derailed circus train. Wonderful,
almost surreal humor. Director: Norton Virgien and Igor
Kovalyov. Stars: Voices of E.G. Daily, Christine Cavanaugh, Kath
Soucie, Cheryl Chase. CC, (MPAA rating: G, 82 min.), Family,
1998, Box office gross: $92.000 million,
(Paramount), $26.95 SRP, Available: 3/30,
DVD: Day & Date.
SOLDIER
This run of the mill sci-fi adventure about fighting men in outer
space revolves around Kurt Russell as a no-nonsense, unfeeling
killing machine who's made obsolete by a new generation of bio-
engineered soldiers. Put out to pasture, he's dumped on a distant
planet where he learns to have feelings and eventually faces off
against his rival (Jason Scott Lee) in a slam-bash finale.
Rehashed themes and outworn ideas.
Director: Paul
Anderson. Stars: Kurt Russell, Jason Scott Lee, Gary Busey,
Connie Nielsen. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 98 min.), Sci-Fi, 1998,
Box office gross: $14.567 million, (Warner), No SRP,
Priced for rental, Available: 3/2, DVD:
March 23.
WATERBOY, THE
This goofball comedy has Adam Sandler as a socially-retarded
31-year-old Cajun football waterboy who's been tormented all his
life by everyone around him -- until he joins a losing college
football team and learns to transform his anger into awesome
tackles. Sparkling slapstick, some bathroom humor, and the theme
of the "downtrodden wreaking revenge" made this into one of the
best comedies of the year.
Director: Frank
Coraci. Stars: Adam Sandler, Kathy Bates, Fairuza Balk, Jerry
Reed, Henry Winkler. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 86 min.), Comedy,
1998, Box office gross: $140.000 million, (Buena Vista), No
SRP, Priced for rental, Available:
3/16, DVD: Day & Date.
WHAT DREAMS MAY
COME
This beautifully created visual orgy of an afterlife fantasy has Robin Williams
dying and going to heaven, leaving behind his true love and wife Annabella
Sciorra. After exploring Paradise (in which thoughts become real), he discovers
that his wife has committed suicide and journeys to find her soul in the hell
she has created. Co-stars Cuba Gooding Jr. as a kind of heavenly spiritual
guide. The glorious colors and computer-generated sets, while spectacular on the
big screen, don't quite come off on video and, unfortunately, the story line
doesn't make up for the loss of the visual image: Though there's a lot of
philosophical outpourings on life and death, the characters have no real depth
to their lives -- they're just there to forefront the scenery.
Director: Vincent
Ward. Stars: Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding Jr., Annabella Sciorra.
CC, (MPAA rating: R, 114 min.), Fantasy, 1998, Box office
gross: $55.350 million, (PolyGram), No SRP, Priced
for rental, Available: 3/9, DVD:
May.
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