AMERICAN BEAUTY
Fabulous black comedy (and winner of five Academy Awards) that
takes a jaundiced look at American suburban living and the
disintegration of the family, narrated from the grave by Kevin
Spacey, with jabs at parenting, gay bashing, teen sex,
advertising, real estate agents and fantasy. An auspicious
first-outing for stage director Sam Mendes. Stars Kevin Spacey,
Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari, Peter
Gallagher and Chris Cooper.
Director: Sam
Mendes. Stars: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Borch, Wes
Bentley, Mena Suvari, Peter Gallagher, Chris Cooper. CC, (MPAA
rating: R, 117 min.), Black comedy, 1999, Box office gross:
$108.468 million, (DreamWorks), No SRP, Priced for
rental, Available: 5/9, DVD: 4th
quarter.
Buy or preorder this title at up to 40%
discount
ANYWHERE BUT HERE
Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman are splendid as mother and
daughter who relocate to Beverly Hills from Bay City, Wisconsin,
finding new lives (as well as boyfriends) but also learning to
be each other's best friend. A warm, delightful film from
director Wayne ("Joy Luck Club") Wang. Also stars Ray Baker,
Bonnie Bedelia and Hart Bochner.
Director: Wayne
Wang. Stars: Susan Sarandon, Natalie Portman, Ray Baker, Bonnie
Bedelia, Hart Bochner. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 110 min.),
Comedy-Drama, 1999, Box office gross: $18.653 million, (Fox),
No SRP, Priced for rental, Available:
5/2, DVD: Day & Date.
Buy or preorder this title at up to 40%
discount
BEING JOHN MALKOVICH
Commercial and music video director Spike Jonze has put together
an incredibly offbeat and original movie about a street
puppeteer (John Cusack) who takes a filing job on the 7
1/2-floor of a New York office building, where the ceilings are
so low that workers must hunch over to move. One afternoon he
discovers a door which leads to a portal that enters the
consciousness of actor John Malkovich. Soon his friends partake
of the weirdness inside Malkovich's head. An astounding dissertation on
identity, longing and emotional fulfillment. Also stars Cameron Diaz, Mary Kay
Place, Catherine Keener, Orson Bean
and John Malkovich. Director: Spike
Jonze. Stars: John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Mary Kay Place,
Catherine Keener, Orson Bean, John Malkovich. CC, (MPAA rating:
PG-13, 112 min.), Black comedy, 1999, Box office gross:
$22.268 million, (USA), No SRP, Priced for
rental, Available: 5/2, DVD: Day &
Date.
Buy or preorder this title at up to 40%
discount
BRINGING OUT THE
DEAD
Director Martin Scorsese paints a bleak picture of one weekend
in the life of a paramedic (Nicolas Cage) looking for
redemption, haunted by the ghost of a victim he couldn't save,
as he travels the dark streets of New York City populated by the
dead, the near-dead and the living dead. John Goodman, Tom
Sizemore and Ving Rhames alternate as his ambulance co-driver
during three nights of hell. Also stars Patricia Arquette and
Marc Anthony.
Director: Martin
Scorsese. Stars: Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, John Goodman,
Tom Sizemore, Ving Rhames, Mary Beth Hurt, Marc Anthony. CC, (MPAA
rating: R, 120 min.), Drama, 1999, Box office gross: $16.640
million, (Paramount), No SRP, Priced for
rental, Available: 5/9, DVD: Day &
Date.
Buy or preorder this title at up to 40%
discount
DOGMA
This wild religious satire has two celestial outcasts journeying
across the U.S. to take advantage of a loophole in the Catholic
canon that will allow them to return to heaven. Unfortunately,
their success will bring on the Apocalypse, so the Voice of God
sends two "prophets," the 13th Apostle and a former muse to
enlist the aid of the Last Scion to stop them. Controversial and
not for everyone. Stars Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Linda
Fiorentino, Chris Rock, Alan Rickman, Salma Hayek and Alanis
Morissette. Director: Kevin
Smith. Stars: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Linda Fiorentino, Chris
Rock, Alan Rickman, Salma Hayek, Alanis Morissette. CC, (MPAA
rating: NR, min.), Dark Comedy, 1999, Box office gross:
$26.385 million, (Columbia TriStar), No SRP, Priced
for rental, Available: 5/2, DVD: Day &
Date.
Buy or preorder this title at up to 40%
discount
END OF THE AFFAIR,
THE
Based on a Graham Greene novel, this slow-moving, dreary film
traces an adulterous affair between a moody writer (Ralph
Fiennes) and a lapsed Catholic (Julianne Moore) during the
London Blitz. The film begins two years after the affair is over
when the writer -- by chance -- meets his ex-lover's husband,
causing him to relive his memories and reenter her life. Stars
Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore, Stephen Rea, Ian Hart and Jason
Isaacs.
Director: Neil
Jordan. Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore, Stephen Rea, Ian
Hart, Jason Isaacs. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 105 min.), Romance,
1999, Box office gross: $10.614 million, (Columbia TriStar),
No SRP, Priced for rental, Available:
5/16, DVD: Day & Date.
Buy or preorder this title at up to 40%
discount
EYE OF THE
BEHOLDER
Off-kilter thriller about a British spy (Ewan McGregor)
investigating the corrupt son of a British ambassador in
Washington who becomes obsessed with a serial killer (Ashley
Judd) when he inadvertently records her latest murder. Much of
the film -- a clone of Brian De Palma's clones of Hitchcock --
attempts to psychologically bind the two characters but instead
wanders off into a frenzy of action. At times delightfully
stylish and high-tech, the film bogs down in its last half as
the spy -- for none-too-legal reasons -- closes in on his
quarry.
Director: Srephan
Elliott. Stars: Ashley Judd, Ewan McGregor, Jason Priestly, k.d.
lang, Genevieve Bujold. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 101 min.),
Thriller, 1999, Box office gross: $16.392 million, (Columbia
TriStar), No SRP, Priced for rental,
Available: 5/23, DVD: Day &
Date.
Buy or preorder this title at up to 40%
discount
GALAXY QUEST
Very funny sci-fi spoof about the aging stars of a defunct
sci-fi TV series (a la "Star Trek") summoned to save an alien
civilization under attack. The aliens think the show is real --
and the actors really space heroes -- and whisk them away into
space for adventures that they're certainly not prepared for.
Stars Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub
and Sam Rockwell.
Director: Dean
Parisot. Stars: Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony
Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell. CC, (MPAA rating: PG, 102 min.), Sci-Fi
Comedy, 1999, Box office gross: $65.761 million, (DreamWorks),
$22.99 SRP. Available: 5/2, DVD: Day &
Date.
Buy or preorder this title at up to 40%
discount
MAN ON THE MOON
Director Milos Forman takes on the life of wacky comedian Andy
Kaufman, with Jim Carrey uncannily melding into the lead role, a
man who truly blurred reality and unreality on stage and off.
Kaufman's career was one explosion after another -- from his
outrageous stage acts (including a grueling stint as a wrestler)
to his tenure on "Taxi" -- and this film is an homage to those
outbursts of brilliance. Co-stars Danny DeVito, Paul Giamatti,
Courtney Love.
Director: Milos Forman. Stars: Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito, Paul
Giamatti, Courtney
Love. Director: Milos
Forman. Stars: Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito, Paul Giamatti, Courtney
Love. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 118 min.), Comedy Bio, 1999, Box
office gross: $34.580 million, (Universal), No SRP,
Priced for rental, Available: 5/30, DVD:
Day & Date.
Buy or preorder this title at up to 40%
discount
SLEEPY HOLLOW
Director Tim Burton's graphic and gory take on Washington
Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," with Johnny Depp's
Ichabod Crane (a schoolteacher in the book) a New York constable
using "modern forensic methods" to solve a series of beheadings
in the Hudson River Valley in 1799. It's science vs. witchcraft
as the unstoppable Headless Horseman (a Hessian soldier himself
beheaded during the Revolutionary War) won't rest until he gets
his head back. Co-stars Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson,
Casper Van Dien, Michael Gambon, Christopher Lee and Christopher
Walken. Don't lose your head over this one.
Director: Tim
Burton. Stars: Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson,
Casper Van Dien, Michael Gambon. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 100 min.),
Horror Thriller, 1999, Box office gross: $99.174 million,
(Paramount), No SRP, Priced for rental,
Available: 5/23, DVD: Day &
Date.
Buy or preorder this title at up to 40%
discount
SNOW FALLING ON
CEDARS
A murder mystery unfolds on a small island off the Puget Sound
in the Pacific Northwest, bringing up painful memories of the
Japanese-American internment during WWII. When a fisherman turns
up dead, all suspicions turn to an American man of Japanese
descent and the ensuing trial -- covered by a reporter who is
secretly in love with the accused man's wife -- turns into a
maelstrom of unresolved emotional conflicts. Stars Ethan Hawke,
James Cromwell, Richard Jenkins, James Rebhorn, Sam Shepard, Max
von Sydow and Youki Kudoh.
Director: Scott Hicks. Stars: Ethan Hawke, James Cromwell, Rihard Jenkins, James
Rebhorn, Sam Shepard, Max von Sydow, Youki Kudoh. CC, (MPAA
rating: PG-13, 130 min.), Drama, 1999, Box office gross:
$14.378 million, (Universal), No SRP, Priced for
rental, Available: 5/30, DVD: Day &
Date.
Buy or preorder this title at up to 40%
discount
WORLD IS NOT
ENOUGH, THE
This non-stop James Bond thriller starts out with a typical 007
bang of an opening and keeps its momentum until the very last
second. Bond (Pierce Brosnan) must stop a megalomaniacal
mastermind out to steal a nuclear warhead in a wild scheme to
destroy oil pipelines and control the world's oil supply, along
the way getting involved with the scheming heiress to an oil
fortune. This outing gives Bond plenty of new "toys" to play
with and cranks the franchise up at least several notches. Great
entertainment. Also stars Denise Richards, Sophie Marceau, Judi
Dench, Robert Carlyle and John Cleese.
Director: Michael
Apted. Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Denise Richards, Sophie Marceau,
Judi Dench, Robert Carlyle, John Cleese. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13,
128 min.), Action, 1999, Box office gross: $126.000 million,
(MGM), $19.98 SRP. Available: 5/16, 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
April 15, 2000
|
