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AFTER LIFE Delightful fantasy-morality tale about a waystation on the road to the after life in which the recently deceased are told they have one week in which to choose one memory that they can take with them for all eternity. "Staff members" will take that memory, make a film of it, and give it to the dead, who will live out that single happy memory forever, forgetting all else. Stunning and profound work that examines the core of existence -- the memories and longings that make us human. Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu. Stars: Takashi Mochizuki, Ichiro Watanabe, Shiori Satonaka, Satoru Kawashima. CC, (MPAA rating: NR, 118 min.), Fantasy Drama, 1998, (New Yorker), No SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 8/15, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount CIDER HOUSE RULES, THE Wonderful coming-of-age drama about a young man (Tobey Maguire) raised at an orphanage in St. Cloud, Maine, during World War II, who learns the way of the world by leaving his mentor (orphanage head Dr. Wilbur Larch, played by Michael Caine), a doctor who would rather perform abortions than bring unwanted children into the world. Tired of his cloistered existence at the home, the young man joins up with migrant workers and eventually has an affair with the girlfriend of an Air Force pilot whose family owns an apple farm. There's more to the film (based on John Irving's novel), of course; director Lasse Hallstrom has elicited fine performances from all concerned, working from a script (by Irving) deeply imbued with real feelings and emotions. One of the best films of 1999. Director: Lasse Hallstrom. Stars: Tobey Maguire, Charlize Theron, Michael Caine, Paul Rudd, Delroy Lindo, Erykah Badu, Kathy Baker. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 134 min.), Drama, 1999, Box office gross: $56.818 million, (Miramax), No SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 8/15, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount ERIN BROCKOVICH Smash spring hit starring Julia Roberts as Erin Brockovich, a foul-mouthed ex-beauty queen who, as a low-wage employee for a small law firm, helped put together one of the largest class action suits in history -- a $333 million settlement against Pacific Gas & Electric for polluting the water supply in a small community in the Mojave Desert. This is Roberts' film through and through as she rips through the role -- and her clothes. Even if you're not a Roberts fan, this film will embrace you with its workmanlike disregard for her acting faults. Director Steven Soderbergh pushes Roberts so that she melts into the Brockovich role, pulling the viewer into the film with raw intensity. Only a lame, Hollywood ending (after the good guys win out) mars an otherwise exemplary film. Director: Steven Soderbergh. Stars: Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart, Marg Helgenberger, Cherry Jones, Peter Coyote. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 131 min.), Drama, 2000, Box office gross: $121.529 million, (Universal), No SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 8/15, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount HELD UP It hasn't been a good day for Michael Dawson (Jamie Foxx). Stuck in the desert at the local Sip & Zip, he's deserted by his fiancee, his prized 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk is stolen, and now he's being held hostage with an assortment of yahoos when the convenience store is held-up by inept robbers. And to top it off, the cops who surround the place think he's Mike Tyson. Things can only go downhill from here in this weak comedy that's tedious to watch. There's so many plot holes and script miscues that most of the fun in watching this derives from catching the filmmakers with their pants down. Director: Steve Rash. Stars: Jamie Foxx, Nia Long, Barry Corbin, Jake Busey. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 88 min.), Comedy, 2000, Box office gross: $4.500 million, (Trimark), No SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 8/29, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount HOLY SMOKE! When a young Australian woman (Kate Winslet) travels to India to find meaning in her life she gets caught up in a religious cult and decides to stay there. Horrified, her mother concocts a story -- that the young woman's father is seriously ill -- and lures her back home, where an American spiritual deprogrammer (Harvey Keitel) awaits her. A fierce ideological and sexual battle of the wills develops between the two as director Jane Campion examines identity, freedom and independence. Beautiful imagery. Director: Jane Campion. Stars: Kate Winslet, Harvey Keitel, Pam Grier, Julie Hamilton. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 116 min.), Drama, 1999, Box office gross: $1.758 million, (Miramax), No SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 8/8, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount I DREAMED OF AFRICA The mysteries and wonders of Africa come to the fore in this true tale of an Italian family that moves to Kenya to live on and run a large cattle ranch. Life is one trial and tribulation after another, with personal tragedies, poachers, and crises dominating the characters on screen; it's a nonstop downer. The landscape is the best thing about the film. Director: Hugh Hudson. Stars: Kim Basinger, Vincent Perez, Eva Marie Saint, Lance Reddick. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 112 min.), Drama, 2000, Box office gross: $6.344 million, (Columbia TriStar), No SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 8/29, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount NEXT BEST THING, THE Strange comedy about mismatched couple who start out as friends -- she's a yoga instructor (Madonna) and he's a gay landscape architect (Rupert Everett) -- and end up parents when they spend an evening together commiserating after her latest breakup with a callous lover. The pair live together, raising their boy until, six years later, she falls for an investment banker and the prospect of marriage fosters a custody lawsuit. Weak, artificial humor and situations leave this film hinging on the gay-straight hook. Director: John Schlesinger. Stars: Madonna, Rupert Everett, Benjamin Bratt, Illeana Douglas, Michael Vartan, Lynn Redgrave. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 107 min.), Comedy, 2000, Box office gross: $14.983 million, (Paramount), No SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 8/29, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount PRINCESS MONONOKE Anime -- based on Japanese folklore -- about a young warrior who must fight mythical forest creatures -- and solve the mystery of a curse placed on him by one of those monsters -- in order to save his village -- and his life. Pure of heart, and riding an elk as swift as the wind, he travels far from home, encountering all types of creatures and people on his journey for salvation. Along the way he enlists the aid of Princess Mononoke, half-girl, half-wolf, who has nothing but hatred for all humans, whom she sees as the destroyers of the wild. It's a classic tale of nature vs. encroaching civilization as the forest is being overrun by a group of villagers who are mining iron to make rifles. Their goal -- the destruction of the forest spirit. The lesson here is obvious for adults but is not lost on the youngsters. Director: Hayao Miyazaki. Voices of Billy Crudup, Billy Bob Thornton, Minnie Driver, Claire Danes, Jada Pinkett-Smith. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 135 min.), Animated, 1997, Box office gross: $2.300 million, (Miramax), No SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 8/29, DVD: No. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount REINDEER GAMES Trifle of a thriller about an ex-con (Ben Affleck) who takes on the identity of his dead cell-mate, getting himself way over his head in crime. His cell-mate was corresponding with a beautiful woman (Charlize Theron) (who never saw a picture of the con) and when released, he visits her with his new identity and falls in love. But all is not well -- the woman's crazy criminal brother (Gary Sinise) shows up, convinced the man knows the layout of a casino, and kidnaps the pair. Plenty of blood before the final twists play out. Not an auspicious outing for director John Frankenheimer. Director: John Frankenheimer. Stars: Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise, Charlize Theron, Clarence Williams III, Dennis Farina. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 104 min.), Thriller, 2000, Box office gross: $23.153 million, (Dimension), No SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 8/8, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount ROMEO MUST DIE "Romeo and Juliet" transported to modern San Francisco, with Jet Li coming to America to track down the killers of his brother and getting involved with the daughter of a black mobster. Li is an ex-cop who went to jail in Hong Kong to save his gangster father and brother; the pair escape to the Bay Area and set up their crime business on the waterfront. With the crime action split between the Chinese mob and the black mob, a war of sorts breaks out over the future home for a major league sports team and one of the casualties is Li's brother. In a great escape sequence, Li flees Hong Kong and shows up in S.F. to save the day. Fast-paced action, blaring soundtrack, but not quite enough of Li's trademarked martial arts action. Director: Andrzej Bartkowiak. Stars: Jet Li, Aaliyah, Isaiah Washington, Russell Wong, DMX, Delroy Lindo. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 115 min.), Thriller, 2000, Box office gross: $55.700 million, (Warner Bros.), No SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 8/1, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount SUPERNOVA Original director Walter Hill pulled his name from this sci-fi adventure (the credited director is Thomas Lee, a fake name used when director's are unhappy with studio cuts and no longer want to be associated with the final product; the name replaces the famous bogus Alan Smithee) about an ex-drug addict (James Spader) who helps rescue a 22nd century medical ship from being sucked into a giant blue star. Derivative adventure is loaded with special effects, some sex, violence, and a creature from the ninth dimension. Most of the action is predictable -- and there's a very unsatisfying ending. This R-rated version has a different beginning and end than the theatrical PG-13 version. Director: Thomas Lee. Stars: James Spader, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Lou Diamond Phillips, Peter Facinelli, Robin Tunney. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 90 min.), Science Fiction, 2000, Box office gross: $14.218 million, (MGM), No SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 8/22, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount TIGGER MOVIE, THE This first major big screen Winnie the Pooh feature is just tiggerific. Old-fashioned animation comes to the fore in this adventure that finds Tigger in search of his family tree. Naturally, it takes a while for him to find out that he's the only tigger around, and that his true family are the friends in the Hundred Acre Wood that love him. A wonderful tale for kids and parents alike. Voices of Jim Cummings, Nikita Hopkins, Ken Sansom, John Fiedler, Peter Cullen and Andre Stoja. Director: Cheryl Abood. Voices of Jim Cummings, Nikita Hopkins, Ken Sansom, John Fiedler, Peter Cullen, Andre Stoja. CC, (MPAA rating: G, 76 min.), Animated, 2000, Box office gross: $44.744 million, (Disney), $24.99 SRP, Available: 8/22, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount TITUS "Lion King" Broadway director Julie Taymor makes her big screen debut with this adaptation of Shakespeare's bloody "Titus Andronicus" that features human sacrifice, beheadings, mutilations, cannibalism and all sorts of bizarre blood-spilling that surrounded the Roman conquest of the Goths (spearheaded by the titular general played by Anthony Hopkins). Titus returns to Rome with his booty: the Queen of the Goths (Jessica Lange) and her sons, and the betrayals and backstabbings begin. Though Taymor paints a luscious production -- strange landscapes, colorful, wild costumes -- and throws in some time-warping (there's video games, motorcycles and swing music), the film, at almost three hours, takes quite an effort to get through. Director: Julie Taymor. Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange, Alan Cumming, James Frain, Laura Fraser, Jonathan Rhys Meyers. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 162 min.), Drama, 1999, Box office gross: $1.921 million, (Fox), No SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 8/15, DVD: Day & Date. Buy or preorder this title at up to 40% discount All films are screened using the DVD version, when available, on a reference Onkyo DV-S717 DVD player. | Contents/Site Map | Home | Resources | VidNews | KidVid | Calendar | Sell-Through | DVD | Reviews | E-mail: mail@onvideo.org © 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 OnVideo. All rights reserved July 15, 2000