OnVideo APRIL Video Reviews

OnVideo APRIL Video Reviews

ANATOMY
When a brilliant, ambitious medical student (Franka Potente of "Run, Lola, Run") is accepted into a prestigious anatomy class taught by a legendary professor she uncovers a chilling conspiracy: a secret medical society exists on campus and its members perform grisly autopsies on human subjects -- while they're still alive. With her fellow classmates turning up dead, will she be next? A first- rate thriller that unfortunately didn't get a proper send off by distributor Sony Pictures Classics. Well worth a look. Winner of the Audience Award for German Film of the Year at the 2000 German Film Festival. In German with English subtitles.
Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky. Stars: Franka Potente, Benno Furmann. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 100 min.), Thriller, 2000, Box office gross: $0.005 million, (Columbia TriStar), No VHS SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 4/3, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount

BAMBOOZLED
Spike Lee has come up with a biting -- and bitter -- satire of TV and, by extension, white Western culture in this heavy-handed but stupendous look at racism in entertainment. Damon Wayans plays the only person of color on the writing staff at a floundering TV net who's pushed by his boss to come up with a black show that will bring in ratings. Instead, he decides to get himself fired and creates a modern version of the 19th/20th century blackfaced minstrel show with two homeless men as his stars. When the show unexpectedly becomes a big hit, the writer lets it go to his head and he becomes obsessed with success ... and blackface. Director: Spike Lee. Stars: Damon Wayans, Savion Glover, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Tommy Davidson, Michael Rapaport, Paul Mooney.
Director: Spike Lee. Stars: Damon Wayans, Savion Glover, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Tommy Davidson, Michael Rapaport, Paul Mooney. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 136 min.), Satire, 2000, Box office gross: $2.185 million, (New Line), No VHS SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 4/17, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount

BILLY ELLIOT
Delightful light drama about a young boy -- raised all his life in a manly coal-mining town -- who decides one day that he would rather take up ballet dancing than the boxing lessons his macho father and friends have in mind for him. In Great Britain in 1984, at the height of a mining strike, dancing is equated with homosexuality, and a young man putting on a tutu is not the thing to do. But the boy wins over his dad and the town, and the film ends with a big dance number. An art-house success. Director: Stephen Daldry. Stars: Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, Gary Lewis, Jamie Draven, Nicola Blackwell.
Director: Stephen Daldry. Stars: Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, Gary Lewis, Jamie Draven, Nicola Blackwell. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 110 min.), Comedy-Drama, 2000, Box office gross: $17.730 million, (Universal), No VHS SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 4/17, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount

BOUNCE
Ah, cursed fate! How it manipulates our lives. In this romantic drama, fate conquers all. Due to a chance encounter, hot shot ad executive Buddy (Ben Affleck) gives his L.A.-bound airplane ticket to family man Tony Goldwyn so that Buddy can spend the night with a woman he's met at the airport. The plane crashes, killing all aboard, and Buddy, feeling guilt over his missed fate, falls apart. A year later and just out of rehab, he searches out the family man's widow (Gwyneth Paltrow) to make amends. Naturally, love blooms between the two. Director: Don Roos. Stars: Ben Affleck, Gwyneth Paltrow, Joe Morton, Natasha Henstridge, Tony Goldwyn, Jennifer Grey, Alex D. Linz, Johnny Galecki.
Director: Don Roos. Stars: Affleck, G Paltrow, Joe Morton, Natasha Henstridge, T Goldwyn, J Grey, Alex D. Linz, Johnny Galecki. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 105 min.), Romantic Drama, 2000, Box office gross: $36.779 million, (Miramax), No VHS SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 4/10, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount

FINDING FORRESTER
Emotionally stirring if predictable drama about a reclusive, white novelist who takes a black high school athlete under his wing. Sean Connery plays the acclaimed writer with one great book under his belt who has retired to seclusion for decades; newcomer Rob Brown plays the basketball-playing boy who has a talent for literature. The author comes out of his shell; the boy leaves the courts of the Bronx for a Manhattan prep school, along the way taking up with a white girl (Anna Paquin). Intelligent script and dialogue as the two men fight their respective demons. Director: Gus Van Sant. Stars: Sean Connery, Rob Brown, F. Murray Abraham, Anna Paquin, Busta Rhymes, April Grace, Michael Nouri.
Director: Gus Van Sant. Stars: Sean Connery, Rob Brown, F. Murray Abraham, Anna Paquin, Busta Rhymes, April Grace, Michael Nouri. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 136 min.), Drama, 2000, Box office gross: $20.537 million, (Columbia TriStar), No VHS SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 4/24, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount

LADIES MAN, THE
Weak comedy based on Tim Meadows' "Saturday Night Live" Ladies Man character. Here, the Ladies Man is fired from his Chicago morning-radio talk show and, desperate for money and on the run from a gang of husbands after him for sleeping with their women, he decides to track down the woman from his checkered past who's behind a note offering him love and cash. He gets more than he expected when he finally finds her -- she's married to one of the men after him! Don't expect much from this extended TV skit. Director: Reginald Hudlin. Stars: Tim Meadows, Karyn Parsons, Billy Dee Williams, Tiffani Thiessen, Lee Evans, Will Ferrell.
Director: Reginald Hudlin. Stars: Tim Meadows, Karyn Parsons, Billy Dee Williams, Tiffani Thiessen, Lee Evans, Will Ferrell. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 84 min.), Comedy, 2000, Box office gross: $13.592 million, (Paramount), No VHS SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 4/17, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount

LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE, THE
WWI and Depression-era golf drama that promises more than it delivers. Matt Damon plays Junuh, a young golf whiz in Savannah, Ga., with a great swing, a beautiful society wife, Adele (Charlize Theron), and a bright future. Then he goes off to war and disappears for 10 years -- apparently unable to come to grips with the horrors he underwent. As the Depression permeates Savannah, Adele's father -- owner of a golf resort with no customers -- commits suicide, leaving the failing links to his daughter. To stave off creditors she mounts a golf tournament with golf legends Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen. Wouldn't it be nice to have a Savannah boy play, too? And who should slink into town one dark, gloomy night, but Junuh. Drinking to ward off his evil memories, he takes a few swings -- and meets Bagger Vance (Will Smith), an itinerant golfer/caddie who brings Junuh back to his former glory with sage advice, male bonding and coaching. The resultant golf match fits right into the sports genre. Director: Robert Redford. Stars: Will Smith, Matt Damon, Charlize Theron, Bruce McGill, Joel Gretsch, J. Michael Moncrief.
Director: Robert Redford. Stars: Will Smith, Matt Damon, Charlize Theron, Bruce McGill, Joel Gretsch, J. Michael Moncrief. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 127 min.), Drama, 2000, Box office gross: $30.695 million, (DreamWorks), No VHS SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 4/3, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount

LITTLE NICKY
Wacky comedy based on a wild premise: After a 10,000 year rule, the Devil (Harvey Keitel) calls his three sons together to designate an heir, but, after looking over their sorry state, decides to stay on the throne, causing two of the boys to leave Hell to rule on Earth. This closes the gates between Earth and Hell, stopping the flow of humans down below, and causing dad to lose his body parts. Shambling, speech-slurring, wheezing Little Nicky (Adam Sandler) is dispatched to bring back his brothers, reopen the gates and save his dad's life. But Nicky has problems adjusting to the real world, and his stay on Earth becomes one weird adventure after another. It's a great idea but, unfortunately, the plot is bogged down by weak writing and the typical and by now overused Sandler body humor, sight gags and reliance on bathroom jokes. Director: Steven Brill. Stars: Adam Sandler, Patricia Arquette, Harvey Keitel, Rhys Ifans, Tommy Lister Jr., Kevin Nealon. Guest appearances by Jon Lovitz, Rodney Dangerfield, Dana Carvey, Reese Witherspoon, Quentin Tarantino, Henry Winkler, Regis Philbin, Michael McKean.
Director: Steven Brill. Stars: Adam Sandler, Patricia Arquette, Harvey Keitel, Rhys Ifans, Tommy Lister Jr., Rodney Dangerfield. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 90 min.), Comedy, 2000, Box office gross: $39.034 million, (New Line), No VHS SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 4/24, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount

MEN OF HONOR
Stirring military drama about the first black man to become a Navy diver -- and the adversity he must face as he surmounts bigotry and hatred to prove himself. Based on the real-life story of Navy diver Carl Brashear. Director: George Tillman Jr. Stars: Robert De Niro, Cuba Gooding Jr., Charlize Theron, Aunjanue Ellis, Hal Holbrook, Michael Rapaport, Powers Boothe, David Keith.
Director: George Tillman Jr.. Stars: Robert De Niro, Cuba Gooding Jr., Charlize Theron, Aunjanue Ellis, Hal Holbrook, Michael Rapaport, Powers Boothe, David Keith. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 120 min.), Military drama, 2000, Box office gross: $48.751 million, (Fox), No VHS SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 4/10, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount

102 DALMATIANS
Sequel to 1996's "101 Dalmatians," Disney's live-action remake of its classic animated film. Here Cruella De Vil, played again by Glenn Close, is released from a London prison after serving a three-year dognapping sentence -- and she's supposedly cured of her fixation on dog fur. But surprise -- the ringing of Big Ben sends her back to her old ways and, with the help of a French furrier (Gerard Depardieu), she goes after canine capes. More of the same slapstick and doggie tricks of the original prevail. Director: Kevin Lima. Stars: Glenn Close, Gerard Depardieu, Joan Gruffudd, Alice Evans, Tim McInnerny, Ben Crompton.
Director: Kevin Lima. Stars: Glenn Close, Gerard Depardieu, Joan Gruffudd, Alice Evans, Tim McInnerny, Ben Crompton. CC, (MPAA rating: G, 99 min.), Family, 2000, Box office gross: $62.608 million, (Buena Vista), $24.99 VHS SRP, Available: 4/3, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount

SPACE COWBOYS
Clint Eastwood's take on outer space has more in common with the Old West than science fiction, with four way over-the-hill Air Force test pilots from the 1950s called back into action to repair a Soviet satellite before it crashes to Earth. Outer space is just another vast prairie to these old-timers, who in their youth rode the planes that lead to the last frontier. It's a lament for lost youth in the way that a Western like "The Wild Bunch" equated lost youth with the end of the West, but here the Space Cowboys swagger in what was once a wild frontier but is now the provence of government bureaucrats (NASA). And like Eastwood's other Westerns, the film takes its time, methodically and perfectly, to get its point across. Director: Clint Eastwood. Stars: Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, James Garner, James Cromwell, Loren Dean, Marcia Gay Harden, William Devane, Courtney B. Vance.
Director: Clint Eastwood. Stars: Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, James Garner, James Cromwell, Loren Dean, Marcia. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 130 min.), Drama, 2000, Box office gross: $90.357 million, (Warner), No VHS SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 4/17, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount

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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March 15, 2001