ALONG CAME A
SPIDER
Sequel to 1997's successful "Kiss the Girls," which starred
Morgan Freeman as Washington police detective, forensic
psychologist and best-selling author Alex Cross, who foiled the
work of a rather nasty serial killer. Here Freeman reprises his
role, with Monica Potter coming on board as a discredited Secret
Service agent who becomes his sidekick. It seems that a Senator's
daughter is kidnapped by a criminal mastermind who wants Cross to
write him up as the greatest criminal of the new century. It's up
to Cross to figure out the obtuse clues and bring the baddie to
justice. Plenty of plot twists and turns.
Director: Lee
Tamahori. Stars: Morgan Freeman, Monica Potter, Michael Wincott,
Mika Boorem, Anton Yelchin, Kim Hawthorne, Dylan Baker. CC, (MPAA
rating: R, 103 min.), Thriller, 2001, Box office gross:
$72.752 million, (Paramount), No VHS SRP, Priced
for rental, Available: 9/25, DVD: Day &
Date.
BLOW
True story of George Jung, the first American to import cocaine
to the United States on a large scale. Johnny Depp plays George,
a shallow young man who really doesn't know what he wants from
life. Wafting through the cool, hip California landscape in the
1970s, George falls into a great but illegal way to make money:
importing marijuana from Mexico in the customs-free luggage of
his stewardess girlfriend and selling it to his buddies on the
East Coast. Soon he becomes rich and complacent and busted
(several times) -- his own mother, at one point, rats on him for
a parole violation. Out of jail at the end of the decade, he
links up with the Medellin drug cartel and becomes the largest
importer of cocaine -- 85% of the market -- into America. But
again George falls on hard times -- the Colombians and the Feds
are both after him. Facing middle age, George's life of greed has
left him dreary in a world decidedly lacking the fun he sought
all his life. George could do only three things well in his life
-- sell dope, make money, and go to prison. In the end, sitting
out a 30-year sentence, he's alone and lonely, long-deserted by
his wife and daughter. Depressing. Depp, as usual, turns in a
bravura performance and the film is worth watching just for him.
Director: Ted Demme.
Stars: Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Jordi Molina, Franka Potente,
Rachel Griffiths, Ray Liotta, Paul Reubens, Ethan Suplee. CC,
(MPAA rating: R, 123 min.), Drama, 2001, Box office gross:
$52.566 million, (New Line), No VHS SRP, Priced for
rental, Available: 9/11, DVD:
Day & Date
DRIVEN
Exciting auto-racing actioner written by and starring Sylvester
Stallone. The pedal-to-the-metal film follows the duel between a
top German driver (Til Schweiger) and an unstable American rookie
(Kip Pardue) on the Formula One open-wheel racing circuit. Enter
Stallone as a washed-up veteran racer hired to help the rookie.
Throw in tons of point-of-view racing shots, loud music,
spectacular crashes, flying debris, and a little love and you get
a 240-MPH adrenaline rush. Stallone apparently spent four years
researching the action on the racing circuit, and the film was
shot over eight months in nine countries. The storyline and
acting defintely take a back seat to the cars, but isn't that the
point? It's "Grand Prix" for the new millennium, with director
Renny Harlin's patented brand of stunts & effects.
Director: Renny
Harlin. Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Burt Reynolds, Kip Pardue,
Stacy Edwards, Gina Gershon, Estella Warren, Robert Sean Leonard,
Til Schweiger, Stacy Edwards. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 116
min.), Action, 2001, Box office gross: $32.076 million,
(Warner), No VHS SRP, Priced for rental,
Available: 9/18, DVD: Day &
Date.
FORSAKEN, THE
A cross-country road trip takes a dangerous detour when
driver-for-hire Sean picks up Nick, a hitchhiker on the trail of
a band of vampires. At a roadside diner, they meet up with a
crazed, helpless woman, a recent victim of a vampire feeding, and
Sean becomes infected. Now the three must race against time to
track down and kill the source of the virus: a centuries old
vampire with superhuman strength and a strong appetite for blood.
Director: J.S.
Cardone. Stars: Jonathon Schaech, Kerr Smith, Brendan Fehr. CC,
(MPAA rating: R, 90 min.), Horror Thriller, 2001, Box office
gross: $6.755 million, (Columbia TriStar), No VHS SRP,
Priced for rental, Available: 9/25, DVD:
Day & Date.
HEARTBREAKERS
Screwball comedy about a mother-daughter team (Sigourney Weaver
and Jennifer Love Hewitt) of con artists whose scam is to bilk
rich men out of their fortunes. The con works like this: Weaver
meets, woos and marries the man, while Hewitt entices him into an
extramarital affair. Bingo! Adultery pays big in divorce court.
But the pair get more than they bargain for when they travel to
Palm Beach, Fla., for mom's last sting: their latest mark (Gene
Hackman) dies, the daughter falls in love with a handsome bar
owner (Jason Lee) and their last mark (Ray Liotta) tracks them
down for retribution. While the comedy has its moments
(particularly Hackman), for the most part it wallows in slapstick
sight gags that fall far short of their marks.
Director: David
Mirkin. Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ray
Liotta, Jason Lee, Anne Bancroft, Nora Dunn, Gene Hackman. CC,
(MPAA rating: PG-13, 122 min.), Comedy, 2001, Box office
gross: $40.000 million, (MGM), No VHS SRP, Priced
for rental, Available: 9/25, DVD: Day &
Date.
KNIGHT'S TALE,
A
Fourteenth century jousting adventure set to a musical backdrop
of 20th century music ("We Will Rock You," "Golden Years," etc.).
The anachronisms don't stop there: all the characters are imbued
with modern-day attitudes and speech. The story line is right out
of Screenwriting 101: a servant (Heath Ledger) to a knight dons
his master's armor and becomes a champion of the court, beating
out the evil knight and winning the fair lady. There's even an
unemployed Geoffrey Chaucer (in his pre-"Canterbury Tales" days)
to add flowery prose and humor to the affair. For the teen set
only.
Director: Brian
Helgeland. Stars: Heath Ledger, Rufus Sewell, Shanynn Sossamon,
Paul Bettany, Laura Fraser, Mark Addy, Alan Tudyk. CC, (MPAA
rating: PG-13, 122 min.), Action, 2001, Box office gross:
$55.261 million, (Columbia TriStar), No VHS SRP,
Priced for rentalx, Available: 9/25, DVD:
Day & Date.
MEMENTO
A complex mystery of murder and revenge told in a non-linear
fashion. Leonard (Guy Pearce) is an insurance investigator whose
memory has been damaged following a head injury while intervening
in his wife's murder. Unable to remember anything that happened
more than 15 minutes prior, Leonard has taken to prolifically
taking notes, shooting Polaroid photos with cryptic messages
written on the back, and tattooing important clues to his wife's
death on his torso, arms and legs. It's a tough road to hoe for a
detective seeking revenge, especially since it keeps getting
harder for him to determine whether some of the people coming to
his aid (including Carrie-Anne Moss as a seemingly friendly
bartender and Joe Pantoliano, who's either a helpful friend, an
undercover cop, a two-bit hustler or the murderer) are messing
with his already messed up mind. The plot unravels backwards (the
film's opening is actually the last few seconds of the story) but
the flashbacks and alternating time sequences are structured in
such a way that observant viewers won't get lost. An incisive
exploration of memory and reality.
Director:
Christopher Nolan. Stars: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Ann Moss, Joe
Pantoliano, Mark Boone Junior, Stephen Tobolowsky. CC, (MPAA
rating: R, 113 min.), Thriller, 2000, Box office gross:
$17.271 million, (Columbia TriStar), No VHS SRP,
Priced for rental, Available: 9/4, DVD: Day
& Date.
ONE NIGHT AT
MCCOOL'S
Off-kilter dark comedy that plays out "Rashomon"-style, with
three men -- McCool's bartender Randy (Matt Dillon), hot-shot
attorney Carl (Paul Reiser) and police detective Dehling (John
Goodman) -- telling the overlapping stories of each man's
involvement in the death of another man at the bar, which kicks
things off, but more crucially, their involvement with sexy young
Jewel (Liv Tyler). Each story is related by the three men to
their confessors -- a hit-man (Michael Douglas) in a senior
citizen bingo parlor for Randy, a shrink (Reba McIntire) for Carl
and a priest for Dehling. And each story, though going over the
same grounds, differs from the others, giving the film a shifting
shape that is delightfully wild. A gem in the rough.
Director: Harald
Zwart. Stars: Matt Dillon, Liv Tyler, John Goodman, Paul Reiser,
Michael Douglas, Reba McEntire, Richard Jenkins. CC, (MPAA
rating: R, 93 min.), Comedy, 2001, Box office gross: $6.276
million, (USA), No VHS SRP, Priced for rental,
Available: 9/25, DVD: Day &
Date.
SOMEONE LIKE
YOU
Light-hearted comedy about a young woman with a broken heart who
tries to understand why things went wrong with her last affair --
and to understand modern romance and what men really want. Ashley
Judd plays Jane, a talent booker for a TV talk show whose latest
love affair with a new executive producer (Gregg Kinnear) goes
sour too fast. Jane tries to figure things out -- with the help
of her best buddy (Marisa Tomei) and her new roommate Eddie, an
inveterate womanizer (Hugh Jackman). Add in Jane's stint as a
secret -- and suddenly successful -- Dr. Ruth-like sex columnist,
and a growing attraction between Jane and Eddie, and love and
relationships get more and more complex. What's a modern girl to
do? Fine acting in a well-thought out -- if not stunning --
script.
Director: Tony
Goldwyn. Stars: Ashley Judd, Greg Kinnear, Hugh Jackman, Marisa
Tomei, Ellen Barkin, Laura Regan, Catherine Dent. CC, (MPAA
rating: PG-13, 97 min.), Comedy, 2001, Box office gross:
$27.284 million, (Fox), No VHS SRP, Priced for
rental, Available: 9/18, DVD: Day &
Date.
SPY KIDS
At last! A kids action adventure that the whole family can really
enjoy -- and from the pen and camera of Robert Rodriquez, known
more for his bloodletting epics ("El Mariachi" and "From Dusk
Till Dawn") than for his gentle touch. This surprise spring hit,
pushing past $100 million at the box office, follows a pair of
kids -- the children of retired, married spies who gave up their
life of danger for parenthood -- as they embark on a wild
adventure to rescue their folks from a nefarious villain and save
the world from an army of robots. There's plenty of action,
gadgets and gizmos, and wholesome laughs to appeal to the kids in
us all. This one works for ages 6 to 60.
Director: Robert
Rodriguez. Stars: Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Alexa Vega,
Daryl Sabara, Alan Cumming, Tony Shalhoub, Teri Hatcher, Cheech
Marin, Robert Patrick. CC, (MPAA rating: PG, 85 min.), Family
Action Comedy, 2001, Box office gross: $100.000 million,
(Miramax), $15.95 VHS SRP, Available: 9/18,
DVD: Day & Date.
TAILOR OF PANAMA,
THE
Set in the seamy and steamy streets of Panama City after the
Noriega years, this delightfully written, directed and acted spy
thriller (based on the John Le Carre best seller), has Pierce
Brosnan playing a discredited British spy sent to Panama to
redeem himself. He enlists -- or rather blackmails -- a cockney
ex-con (Geoffrey Rush) who has reinvented himself as a popular
tailor to the rich and powerful to be his source for inside
information. It doesn't hurt that the tailor is married to a
beautiful American woman (Jamie Lee Curtis) who works for the
director of the Panama Canal company. No one trusts anyone in
this dark and dreary world, and when the tailor stars creating
stories for the spy -- involving a fake radical political group
-- a chain of events is set off that threatens to destroy
everyone's life. There are no gadgets or spy gimmicks here --
just deception, misinformation, distrust and disloyalty -- and
some very, very fine acting.
Director: John
Boorman. Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Geoffrey Rush, Jamie Lee Curtis,
Brendan Gleeson, Catherine McCormack. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 109
min.), Thriller, 2001, Box office gross: $13.256 million,
(Columbia TriStar), No VHS SRP, Priced for
rental, Available: 9/11, 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.
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