ALIEN
RESURRECTION
Fourth outing in the "Alien" franchise has Sigourney Weaver's
Ripley cloned back to life to give birth to an alien for further
scientific and warfare research. Naturally things get a bit out
of hand and Ripley teams up with a rogue crew of outer space
misfits (including Winona Ryder and Ron Perlman) to fight the
slimy killer species. There's plenty of gore and action for
"Alien" buffs as the best aspects of the film's three
predecessors are cloned for reuse here. In pan-and-scan and
widescreen versions.
Director:
Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Brad
Dourif, Ron Perlman, Dan Hedaya. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 107 min.),
Science Fiction, 1997, Box office gross: $47.263 million, (Fox
0325), No SRP, Priced for rental,
Available: 4/28
ANASTASIA
Fox's foray into animated feature films was a moderate success,
considering it went up against Disney's re-release of "The Little
Mermaid." The film is a Hollywood interpretation of the myth of
the lost daughter (Princess Anastasia) of Russia's last ruling
family, the Romanovs, who were executed during the revolution.
There's cute animals, a supernatural villain, romance
and singing and dancing, making the film a passable fairy tale
for kids. Voices by Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Angela Lansbury,
Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Lloyd, Bernadette Peters and Kirsten
Dunst.In pan-and-scan and widescreen versions, with clamshell
packaging.
Director: Don Bluth, Gary
Goldman.
Stars: Voices of Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Angela Lansbury, Kelsey
Grammer. CC,
(MPAA rating: G, 92 min.), Animated, 1997, Box office gross:
$56.491 million,
(Fox 2764), $26.98 SRP, Available:
4/28
BOOGIE NIGHTS
This outrageous look at the California adult film industry in the
1970s stars Mark Wahlberg as a well-endowed, ambitious kid who
makes it big in the seedy world of smut-mongering. There's plenty
of sleaze to go around, but veryy little glamour in the warehouse
soundstages that house an industry based on exploitation and
downright craziness. Burt Reynolds excels as an X-rated "auteur"
who thinks he's an artist. Director: Paul Thomas Anderson. Stars:
Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, Don Cheadle, John
C. Reilly, William H. Macy. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 155 min.),
Drama, 1997, Box office gross: $25.000 million, (New Line
4624), No SRP, Priced for rental,
Available: 4/7
COP LAND
Sylvester Stallone is terrific here in an understated role as a
small-town sheriff -- a longtime admirer of the New York City
cops who live in his New Jersey hamlet -- who gets way over his
head when he decides he can no longer help them cover up their
indiscretions. A meandering and convoluted plot line in this lame
thriller runs the gamut from the silly to the unbelievable and
hinders what could have been a riveting moral tale of good vs.
evil. There's much wasted talent here, with the likes of Harvey
Keitel, Ray Liotta, and Robert De Niro turning in only slightly
perfunctory work.
Director: James
Mangold. Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta,
Robert De Niro. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 105 min.), Thriller,
1997, Box office gross: $44.810 million, (Miramax 13527),
No SRP, Priced for rental, Available:
4/21
FLUBBER
Disney's remake of their 1961 "The Absent Minded Professor," here
with Robin Williams as the charming but incessantly forgetful
professor who creates a new and revolutionary energy source,
Flubber. The original is embellished with great special effects
(high-bouncing bright green goo-Flubbers, a flying robot) but
hoes to a traditional story line that features a nasty rich man
foreclosing a quiet private college. Will the professor save
the day? Will he remember to show up for his wedding? Mildly
amusing, even for the little ones.
Director: Les
Mayfield. Stars: Robin Williams, Marcia Gay Harden. CC, (MPAA
rating: PG, 94 min.), Comedy, 1997, Box office gross:
$90.259 million, (Disney 12865), $22.99 SRP,
Available: 4/21
ICE STORM, THE
Set in 1973, this drama explores one day and night in the life of
a suburban family whose middle-class existence seems to be
unraveling -- in response to the changing sexual mores that
invaded the Connecticut suburbs after the free-form 1960s. Dad is
messing around with a neighbor's wife, his son is having trouble
losing his virginity, young sis is already experimenting with
sex, and mom is frustrated. The depressing mood is only shattered
by an aborted evening of wife-swapping. In the end, director Ang
Lee makes a pitch for the sancity of the nuclear family. Can we
please get back to Woodstock? Great acting by stars Kevin Kline,
Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver. Director: Ang Lee. Stars: Kevin Kline,
Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Christina Ricci, Elijah Wood, Adam
Hann-Byrd, Tobey Maguire. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 120 min.), Drama,
1997, Box office gross: $7.900 million, (Fox 2751), No
SRP, Priced for rental, Available:
4/14
JACKAL, THE
Loose remake and rejiggering of Fred Zinnerman's 1973 "The Day of
the Jackal" with Bruce Willis as a ruthless assassin with no name
and no identity, known only as the Jackal, hired by international
cutthroats to kill someone at the very top of the U.S.
government. Sidney Poitier, in a role by now all too familiar to
him, is an FBI agent out to stop the assassin; Diane Verona is a
cooperative Russian intelligence office; Richard Gere is an
imprisoned underground operative enlisted to help track him down.
Thrills and chills. In widescreen and pan-and-scan versions.
Director: Michael
Caton-Jones. Stars: Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, Sidney Poitier,
Diane Verona. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 125 min.), Thriller, 1997,
Box office gross: $54.910 million, (Universal 83267), No
SRP, Priced for rental, Available:
4/28
KISS THE GIRLS
Well-designed thriller about a forensic psychologist and police
detective from Washington, D.C. (Morgan Freeman) who travels to
Durham, N.C. to investigate the disappearance of his young niece.
Once there he helps track down a serial-kidnapper and killer who
collects beautiful women. There's plenty of twists and turns
before the final reel peters out. Co-stars Ashley
Judd as a strong-willed doctor who becomes a victim.
Director: Gary
Fleder. Stars: Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Cary Elwes, Tony
Goldman. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 117 min.), Thriller, 1997, Box
office gross: $60.300 million, (Paramount 331883), No
SRP, Priced for rental, Available:
4/14
L.A.
CONFIDENTIAL
Fabulous film noirish adaptation of James Ellroy's novel about corrupt
cops
and seedy Hollywood doings in the soft underbelly of the City of
Angels during the early 1950s. The film is anchored by a mass murder
at
a downtown L.A. diner that leads to tabloid blackmail, a call-
girl ring, political corruption, dirty cops, frame-ups, torture
and even more murders. Swirling through it all are exquisite
characterizations by Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito, Guy Pearce,
Russell Crowe, James Cromwell, David Strathairn and, of course,
Kim Basinger. A gem of a film.
Director: Curtis
Hanson. Stars: Kevin Spacey, Kim Basinger, Russell Crowe, Danny
DeVito. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 138 min.), Thriller, 1997, Box
office gross: $43.000 million, (Warner 14913), No SRP,
Priced for rental, Available:
4/14
RED CORNER
Richard Gere stars as a corporate lawyer whose business trip to
China finishes with a flourish -- he's accused of murdering a
fetching Chinese beauty after an all-night celebration. Justice
-- the Red Chinese way -- comes to the fore in this thriller as,
ramrodded through the system and guilty until proven innocent,
he's beaten (physically and emotionally) and denied American
counsel. He finally gets the aid of a lowly public defender (Bai
Ling), and the movie slides into a melodramatic predictability.
For Gere fans and China haters.
Director: Jon Avnet.
Stars: Richard Gere, Bai Ling. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 122 min.),
Thriller, 1997, Box office gross: $22.442 million, (MGM
906832), No SRP, Priced for rental,
Available: 4/7
ROCKETMAN
Dumb comedy about a bumbling NASA scientist (Harland Williams)
selected as a last-minute replacement on a manned mission to
Mars, where he wrecks havoc, butts heads with the cocky crew
captain, falls for a voluptuous female Mission Specialist, and
gets outwitted by a mischievous chimp. Though innocent and a born
dreamer, the inept cosmos-man saves the day when he rescues
fellow astronauts from the surface of the red planet. Is there
really life out there after all?
Director: Stuart
Gillard. Stars: Harland Williams, Jessica Lundy, William Sadler.
CC, (MPAA rating: PG, 94 min.), Comedy, 1997, Box office
gross: $15.368 million, (Buena Vista 12978), No SRP,
Priced for rental, Available:
4/14
SEVEN YEARS IN
TIBET
This dramatic vehicle for Brad Pitt has him staring as Austrian
mountaineer Heinrich Harrer, who leaves Germany in
1939 not in protest against the horrors of Nazism but as a man so
self-absorbed that politics takes a back seat to climbing the
Himalayas. After escaping a British prisoner of war camp, he
hikes his way to Tibet, where he's spiritually transformed by his
meetings with the Dalai Lama. For Pitt fans only. In widescreen
and pan-and-scan versions.
Director:
Jean-Jacques Annuad. Stars: Brad Pitt, David Thewlis, B.D. Wong.
CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 131 min.), Drama, 1997, Box office
gross: $37.555 million, (Columbia TriStar 33073), No
SRP, Priced for rental, Available:
4/7
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