OnVideo NOVEMBER Video Reviews

AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS This comedy with a fabulous cast starts out like gangbusters but then slows down at the stretch. A cynical press agent (Billy Crystal) is called in to put out a studio fire: An eccentric auteur (Christopher Walken) is holding the print of his mega-budget film hostage until the film's press junket -- if there is a press junket. The film's stars -- married actors (Catherine Zeta Jones and John Cusack) have broken up after a string of nine hits. So it's up to the agent to get this pair back together at a remote Nevada desert casino, with the aid of the diva's assistant (and sister) (Julia Roberts) who, it seems, has had a torch for her sister's soon-to-be ex, who's just left a wellness guru's retreat. It all comes together at the casino, with unexpected revealed secrets that takes an askant look at Hollywood endings. Director: Joe Roth. Stars: Julia Roberts, Billy Crystal, Catherine Zeta-Jones, John Cusack, Stanley Tucci, Christopher Walken, Alan Arkin, Seth Green, Hank Azaria. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 103 min.), Comedy, 2001, Box office gross: $95.000 million, (Columbia TriStar), No VHS SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 11/13, DVD: Day & Date. BABY BOY Tough, unflinching look at modern urban life, third in director John Singleton's Los Angeles trilogy (that began with "Boyz N the Hood"). Jody is a 20-year-old African-American trying to live large in South Central L.A., but lacking the job to power his wallet. He's got two babies by two different women and still lives at home with his mother. Growing up is tough on Jody, but a series of events involving his mother's new boyfriend and her ex-con ex-boyfriend force him to learn some hard lessons about living, loving and surviving as a man in the hood. Director: John Singleton. Stars: Tyrese Gibson, Snoop Dogg, Ving Rhames, A.J. Johnson, Taraji P. Henson. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 130 min.), Drama, 2001, Box office gross: $27.823 million, (Columbia TriStar), No VHS SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 11/6, DVD: Day & Date. CRAZY/BEAUTIFUL Run-of-the-mill teen romance tries to spice up the age-old wrong-sides-of-the-track love affair with a modern tone, music and dancing but just succeeds in being ho-hum. Kirsten Dunst plays a spoiled congressman's daughter who's an accident waiting to happen. Her last brush with authority forced her to make amends by picking up trash on the beach by her Pacific Palisades home. There she meets a handsome young man (Jay Hernandez) from East L.A. and the sparks fly. He's got good grades and a bright future; she doesn't wear bras. The film gets hot and heavy as these star-crossed lovers try to make a go of it. Director: John Stockwell. Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Jay Hernandez, Lucinda Jenney, Taryn Manning, Rolando Molina, Soledad St. Hilaire, Bruce Davison. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 88 min.), Teen romance, 2001, Box office gross: $17.000 million, (Buena Vista), No VHS SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 11/13, DVD: Day & Date. DR. SEUSS' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS! Dr. Seuss' classic Christmas tale comes to the big screen in an overdone, bloated production that drains the story of its life and meaning -- exacerbated by another scene chewing performance by Jim Carrey. But we're in the minority -- audiences flocked to director Ron Howard's outing to the tune of $260 million -- and the prospects of a video blockbuster awaits in the wings. Director: Ron Howard. Stars: Jim Carrey, Taylor Momsen, Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Baranski, Molly Shannon, Bill Irwin, Clint Howard, Anthony Hopkins. CC, (MPAA rating: PG, 105 min.), Family, 2000, Box office gross: $260.031 million, (Universal), $24.98 VHS SRP, Available: 11/20, DVD: Day & Date. LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER Slam-bam action film based on the Lara Croft interactive game series. Angelina Jolie plays Lara Croft, a well-endowed heroine whose one goal in life, it seems, is to save the universe from the bad guys. She travels the world to find the broken pieces of a magical triangle and keep them from falling into the hands of a mystical cabal called the Illuminati. Why? Well, once every 5,000 years there's this solar eclipse when all the planets line up, and it will bestow godlike powers on the owner of the amulet. And so Lara is off to save humankind. But she also has an ulterior motive -- to use the amulet to give her the powers to talk to her long-dead dad. Is Lara really Indiana Jones in a push-up bra? Director: Simon West. Stars: Angelina Jolie, Jon Voight, Iain Glen, Noah Taylor, Daniel Craig, Leslie Phillips. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 100 min.), Action, 2001, Box office gross: $131.043 million, (Paramount), No VHS SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 11/13, DVD: Day & Date. LEGALLY BLONDE Surprise summer romantic comedy stars Reese Witherspoon as Elle, a soon-to-be-college grad pegged as a dumb blonde whose priorities are shopping, clothes, hair, nails and marriage and whose boyfriend dumps her because she's not good enough for him on his journey to become a U.S. Senator by age 30 after a stint at Harvard Law School. Devastated -- but smarter than she acts -- Elle bones up and enters Harvard herself to get her man, finding, however, that he's taken up with another woman. Now Elle must outperform her rival and win over skeptical law students and professors, eventually finding that her new personae is much more important than husband chasing. A wonderful family film moral tale. Director: Robert Luketic. Stars: Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Selma Blair, Matthew Davis, Victor Garber, Jennifer Coolidge, Holland Taylor. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 96 min.), Comedy, 2001, Box office gross: $95.000 million, (MGM), No VHS SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 11/6, DVD: Day & Date. OSMOSIS JONES Combination live-action and CGI bodily function comedy that sinks to new lows, so to speak. Osmosis Jones is an Alka Seltzer commercial come to life, with its story existing in two realms: the real world of junk-food addict Frank (Bill Murray) and the interior, CGI-created world inside his body. The action is officially kicked off when Frank eats a hard-boiled egg that has landed on the ground, gulping down with it a good dose of an evil virus. Thrax the virus rides the egg into Downtown Frank, where he's chased by Osmosis Jones, a member of the Immunity Police. There's an entire city inside Frank, with an election, wannabe cops and red blood cell girl friends. It's oh so clever in its execution as the film jumps back and forth between the two worlds, but the heavy-handed humor consistently falls flat (like an Alka Seltzer left in a class of water for too long) in both universes. Director: Peter and Bobby Farrelly. Stars: Bill Murray, Elena Franklin, Molly Shannon; voices of Laurence Fishburne, Chris Rock, David Hyde Pierce, Brandy Norwood, William Shatner. CC, (MPAA rating: PG, 98 min.), Comedy, 2001, Box office gross: $14.000 million, (Warner), $22.96 VHS SRP, Available: 11/13, DVD: Day & Date. PLANET OF THE APES Tim Burton's reimagining of the 1968 "Planet of the Apes" is not the breathtaking tour-de-force that fans of the director -- and the series -- expected, but it still stands as a fine cinematic accomplishment in its own right. If there had been no original, this film would certainly be applauded but, alas, there is that first one and we'll always carry that version in our mind (kind of like our first boyfriend or girlfriend -- we can never shake the beauty of that first encounter). This remake loosely follows the original, with some extra twists and turns (including the ending) and some delightful, typically Burtonesque flourishes along the way. A fast paced, fun, enjoyable outing. Director: Tim Burton. Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke Duncan, Paul Giamatti, Estella Warren, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, David Warner. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 119 min.), Science Fiction, 2001, Box office gross: $180.000 million, (Fox), No VHS SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 11/27, DVD: Day & Date. SHREK Delightful story about the adventures of an odious ogre, Shrek (Mike Myers), who is definitely not the hero of your run-of-the-mill fairy tales: he's got bad breath, he's green and ornery, and he just wants to be left alone. His warm, isolated swamp becomes overrun by a host of fairy tale creatures -- blind mice, pigs, a wooden boy with a long nose, a big, bad wolf (DreamWorks' spoof on Disney) --banished from an antiseptic kingdom by a pint-sized king (John Lithgow). To get his swamp back, Shrek teams up with a talking donkey (Eddie Murphy) to rescue a princess (Cameron Diaz) from a fire-breathing dragon. Somewhere along the line there's love and revenge (as in most fairy tales) and plenty of satire and just plain fun. Director: Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson. Stars: Voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Lithgow, Vincent Cassel. CC, (MPAA rating: PG, 85 min.), Animated, 2001, Box office gross: $265.000 million, (DreamWorks), $15.95 VHS SRP, Available: 11/2, DVD: Day & Date. SOPRANOS, THE: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON The second season of the smash series, packaged in a five-volume VHS Collector's Edition box set for $99.92 and a four-disc DVD Collector's Edition box set for $99.98. The DVDs include four audio commentaries by the directors of selected episodes; interviews with the cast and creator David Chase; "The Real Deal" featurette that features discussions about "The Sopranos" with critics, psychiatrists, former FBI agents and other experts; first season recap; episodic synopses; previews and recaps; more. Contains all 13 episodes. Director: . Stars: James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli, Nancy Marchand, Dominic Chianese. CC, (MPAA rating: NR, 696 min.), Drama, 2001, Available: 11/6, DVD: Day & Date. All DVDs are screened on a reference system consisting of a Rotel RDV-1080 DVD Audio/Video Player, a Rotel RSX-972 Surround Sound Receiver, and Phase Technology 1.1 (front), 33.1 (center), and 50 (rear) speakers and Power 10 subwoofer. | Contents/Site Map | Home | Resources | Calendar | Sell-Through | DVD | Reviews | E-mail: mail@onvideo.org © 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 OnVideo. All rights reserved October 20, 2001