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The Great Indoors

Friday, May 17, 2002

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Writing about videos is like living in Australia, where the seasons are the opposite of ours. This summer, all the best holiday 2001 movies are coming to shelves, often with extras for that growing pool of people with DVD players. You can decide if Denzel was more dynamic than Russell, if Halle had the Oscar hands down and if Britney Spears has a future as an actress.

	Hot Picks 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' You don't need to have read J.K. Rowling's novels or formed a mental picture of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to enjoy this movie. It proves "Gosford Park" doesn't have a monopoly on the best British, Irish and Scottish actors. You'll find Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Richard Harris and Robbie Coltrane, and the kids are pretty cool, too. (May 28) 'Monster's Ball' What's the opposite of a movie "meet cute"? A meet calamitously? Catastrophically? Billy Bob Thornton is an embittered prison guard, working on death row in rural Georgia, and Halle Berry is the wife of the last man he will escort to the electric chair. It's rich with themes: father-son relationships, visible and invisible prisons, freedom and the shackles of the past. (June 11) 'A Beautiful Mind' Perhaps it's no surprise that this movie won the Best Picture Oscar. It's like a brilliant mathematical formula: Take one former "Gladiator" and make him battle for his sanity, family and reputation, team him with a beautiful young actress, add a veteran director and the weight of a (sort of) true story, and you have a winner. (June 25) 'Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius' If, heaven forbid, it rains like the dickens on July 4, you will be happy to have this on hand. It will buy you and your children 80 minutes of peace and happiness. And just remember, it was nominated for an Oscar in the new animation category. (July 2) 'In the Bedroom' What, no Tolkien for the fifth spot? Nope. The first "Lord of the Rings" picture cries out for the biggest auditorium you can find, while this small, intimate story -- with an explosion of emotion -- will play nicely on your home set. Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson are a long-married Maine couple who come undone when their son becomes the target of his girlfriend's estranged husband. (Aug. 13) -- Barbara Vancheri Post-Gazette Staff Writer

May 21

"VANILLA SKY" -- Cameron Crowe directs this adaptation of a 1999 Spanish film called "Open Your Eyes," which plays with dreams, illusions, pop-culture references and an injury that requires Tom Cruise's playboy to hide his handsome features behind a blank mask.

"SIDEWALKS OF NEW YORK" -- Edward Burns wrote, directed and stars in this romantic comedy about three men and three women who unknowingly form a tangle of relationships against the backdrop of New York City.

"HOW HIGH" -- Rappers Method Man and Redman play potheads at Harvard in a comedy also featuring Hector Elizondo, Fred Willard, Jeffrey Jones and Spalding Gray in smaller roles.

"OUT COLD" -- One critic called this a frostbitten fiasco or "Dude, Where's My Snowboard?" for mall rats who would rather blow a small fortune on stupid movies than save for a ski vacation. Lee Majors is a land developer who buys a rundown Alaska resort and tries to make it safe for the espresso crowd.

"LA BUCHE" -- Sabine Azema, Emmanuelle Beart and Charlotte Gainsbourg are Parisian sisters whose parents split 25 years ago. Their infidelities continue to cast a shadow over their daughters' lives in this French film that was part of the Three Rivers Film Festival.

"LANTANA" -- The title refers to a symbolic tropical shrub with beautiful, exotic blooms concealing a thorny undergrowth. The movie, starring Anthony LaPaglia as a guilt-ridden police detective, is about four couples drawn into a web of love, deceit, sex and death.

"KING OF THE JUNGLE" -- John Leguizamo stars in this story about a young man with the mind of a child who witnesses his mother killed by a neighborhood punk.

"ROSE FAIRY PRINCESS" and "ANGELINA IN THE WINGS" -- Angelina Ballerina, a diminutive mouse who dreams of ballet stardom, makes her video debut with these delightful releases featuring the voice of Judi Dench as her ballet instructor.

"SNOW WHITE" -- Miranda Richardson and Kristin Kreuk from "Smallville" star in this Hallmark Home Entertainment production of the Brothers Grimm classic.

May 28

"HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE" -- Expect never-before-seen scenes and -- on the two-disc DVD set -- lots of other extras, including an interview with director Chris Columbus and a Quidditch lesson.

"DARK BLUE WORLD" -- Jan Sverak ("Kolya") directed this Czech film that bears some resemblance to "Pearl Harbor" but has a sadder, more serious tone. After their country is taken over by the Nazis, two soldiers head to England to fly for the RAF and fall in love with the same woman.

June 4

"THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES" -- In this spooky thriller made in Pittsburgh, Kittanning and elsewhere in Southwestern Pennsylvania, Richard Gere is a Washington Post reporter who inexplicably finds himself in Point Pleasant, W.Va. Once there, he uses his investigative skills to try to probe sightings of a winged, red-eyed man and other disturbing events.

"L.I.E." -- Teen-ager Paul Franklin Dano was honored at this year's Independent Spirit Awards for best debut performance as a troubled high-schooler drawn into the world of a pedophile played by veteran British actor Brian Cox. He's a hale, hearty fellow who is an ex-Marine with a secret side in this film that takes its name from the Long Island Expressway.

"MISSION KASHMIR" -- A winner at the Indian version of the Academy Awards, this is set in the war-torn Kashmir Valley and tells the story of an 11-year-old boy whose family is massacred by state police hunting a rebel leader. He is adopted by the officer in charge of the raid and his wife, whose own son died in a freak accident.

"AUDITION" -- When a producer sets up a fake casting call to help his middle-aged friend, a widower, search for a new wife, the audition leads to a nightmare of female revenge. In Japanese, with English subtitles.

June 11

"MONSTER'S BALL" -- Halle Berry made Hollywood history by winning a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of a poor Southern waitress who falls in love with a former prison guard who witnessed her husband's execution. If that's not thorny enough, they both have complicated relationships with their sons and he has an ailing, racist father.

"BLACK HAWK DOWN" --America's botched 1993 mission in Mogadishu, Somalia is re-created in this violent, chaotic and compelling action picture with an excellent ensemble that includes Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor and Sam Shepard. An Oscar winner for editing and sound.

"KATE & LEOPOLD" -- Aussie charmer Hugh Jackman is living in 1876 New York City when, through a crack in the fabric of time and a modern-day scientist, he is transported to today's Manhattan. There, he encounters toasters, Tater Tots and a cynical market researcher played by Meg Ryan.

June 18

"THE MAJESTIC" -- Jim Carrey is a blacklisted, amnesiac screenwriter in the 1950s who stumbles into a small California town where he is mistaken for a missing war hero. There, he finds love, a father thrilled with the return of his "son" and, eventually, the courage of his convictions.

"I AM SAM" -- Sean Penn earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Sam, a mentally retarded father who enlists a high-powered attorney (Michelle Pfeiffer) to regain custody of his precocious daughter (Dakota Fanning). It's a tear-jerker.

"THE SHIPPING NEWS" -- Kevin Spacey is a sad-sack newspaper inkman who moves to his ancestral homeland in Newfoundland, gets a job covering the shipping news and uncovers more than a few secrets inside and outside his family. Despite the presence of Judi Dench, Julianne Moore and Cate Blanchett, it proves plodding.

"ROLLERBALL" -- John McTiernan's new version of the futuristic 1975 film starring James Caan has been turned into an interminable extreme-sports music video. Rollerball is now a sport thriving in Kazakhstan and played by the likes of Chris Klein, LL Cool J and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos.

"ORANGE COUNTY" -- An Orange County teen and aspiring writer (Colin Hanks) turns his life around to get into Stanford University, only to be rejected because of a mistake by his guidance counselor. He heads to the campus with his burned-out brother (Jack Black) and girlfriend (Schuyler Fisk) where they make a bad situation worse.

"MAX KEEBLE'S BIG MOVE" -- Alex D. Linz is a tormented seventh-grader who sees his family's impending move as the chance to pay back his enemies, including a couple of bullies, school principal and the world's meanest ice cream man. Problem is, Max's parents change their minds and he's left with the realization that he's becoming a bully himself.

"AIR BUD: SEVENTH INNING FETCH" -- Buddy, perhaps the world's most athletic golden retriever, returns, and this time he's playing baseball. After this, he reportedly will take up volleyball. Yes, but can he spike?

June 25

"A BEAUTIFUL MIND" -- This four-time Oscar winner -- for best picture, director Ron Howard, supporting actress Jennifer Connelly and adapted screenplay -- stars Russell Crowe as mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. The facts have been fiddled with, but the resilience of the human spirit and redemptive power of love remain.

"GOSFORD PARK" -- Robert Altman directs a cast loaded with sterling British actors, including Oscar nominees Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith, in a murder mystery set in 1932 at an English country estate. Drawing-room swells and their servants have gathered for a shooting party that takes an unexpected and deadly turn.

"A RUMOR OF ANGELS" -- Vanessa Redgrave is an eccentric widow in coastal Maine who befriends a neighboring 12-year-old boy, whose mother was killed in a car accident and father is a workaholic, and teaches him many things, including that "there is no horror in death."

"THE AFFAIR OF THE NECKLACE" -- Hilary Swank is unconvincing as a French countess in this fact-based historical drama set four years before the French Revolution. Orphaned as a child when the king's troops confiscated the family estate, she seeks to have her birthright restored in a plan involving the theft of a priceless necklace.

"THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE" -- Guillermo del Toro ("Blade 2" and "Mimic") directs this ghost story, set in an isolated orphanage and political shelter in Santa Lucia, Spain. A 12-year-old, who arrives at the school as an orphan of the Spanish Civil War discovers hidden riches, sexual intrigue and a restless ghost.

July 2

"SHALLOW HAL" -- A stuck elevator and post-hypnotic suggestion by self-help guru Tony Robbins turn Shallow Hal (Jack Black) into a man who can see a woman's inner beauty. Enter a well-padded Gwyneth Paltrow as a 300-pound Peace Corps volunteer with a kind heart, sense of humor and gentle touch with hospital patients.

"JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS" -- When the parents of Retroville are kidnapped by aliens, the kids go wild but eventually realize Jimmy must lead them on an interstellar rescue mission to get the old folks back. The animated movie is bright, colorful and boasts a sleek sense of design.

"PEARL HARBOR: THE DIRECTOR'S CUT": This is the ultimate version with four discs, 60 new shots, a copy of FDR's historic address to Congress, a companion booklet and four collectible postcards.

"I LOVE LUCY" -- One of the all-time great television shows comes to DVD with two volumes featuring the first eight episodes, with two more due in the fall. The first volume includes the once-lost pilot.

July 9

"THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS" -- The indefatigable Gene Hackman is Royal Tenenbaum who, with wife Etheline (Anjelica Huston), produced a family of geniuses. Their children achieved fame and success at early ages and had only one way to go: down. Also starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller and Luke Owen, it's told as a storybook come to wacky life.

"HART'S WAR" -- Bruce Willis and Colin Farrell are defiant soldiers in a German POW camp in this thoughtful World War II film also starring Terrence Howard and Vicellous Shannon as members of the Tuskegee Airmen.

"A WALK TO REMEMBER" -- Pop princess Mandy Moore and Shane West appear in this weepy teen romance, based on a Nicholas Sparks novel.

"IMPOSTOR" -- Gary Sinise stars in this futuristic thriller based on a 1950s short story by Philip K. Dick about a government scientist accused of being a replicant -- an alien with a bomb built into the center of his chest.

July 16

"JOHN Q" -- Denzel Washington is a factory worker driven to desperate measures to get an emergency heart transplant for his young son in this movie that spawned debate about health-care coverage.

"AMELIE" -- Audrey Tautou is a wide-eyed wonder as a French waitress who starts searching for a middle-aged man and suddenly finds herself nudging fate and her widowed father, co-workers, acquaintances and strangers alike in this word-of-mouth charmer.

"MEAN MACHINE" -- Vinnie Jones ("Snatch," "Gone in 60 Seconds") stars in a British remake of 1974's "The Longest Yard." In the Burt Reynolds role, he leads fellow convicts in a take-no-prisoners game of soccer against the guards.

July 23

"CROSSROADS" -- Britney Spears, Zoe Saldana and Taryn Manning play one-time friends who reunite for a road trip to California and, of course, to learn a little something along the way. And, wouldn't you know it? Britney's character gets a chance to sing.

"TARZAN & JANE" -- A new Mandy Moore song and a duet between Moore and Phil Collins are part of this direct-to-video animated sequel, set as the swinging couple celebrate their first wedding anniversary in the jungle.

"KUNG POW: ENTER THE FIST" -- Steve Oedekerk wrote and directed this martial-arts spoof about The Chosen One seeking to avenge the death of his parents at the hands of a kung fu legend, Master Pain.

July 30

"COLLATERAL DAMAGE" -- This is a tentative date for the action picture starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a Los Angeles firefighter hell-bent on finding a Colombian terrorist responsible for a bomb attack that killed his wife and son.

"RESIDENT EVIL" -- Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez and Eric Mabius star in this video-game adaptation that pits good against evil, human vs. computer and the living against the Undead. The trouble starts when a deadly viral outbreak occurs in the Hive, a vast underground genetic research facility.

Aug. 6

"THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING" -- This adaptation of the first volume of J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy of Middle-earth was named best movie of 2001 by the American Film Institute. It recounts the heroic quest of Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood), a peaceful Hobbit entrusted with the job of transporting a powerful ring to the fires of Mount Doom where it was forged. A special extended edition of "Fellowship" is coming Nov. 12.

Aug. 13

"IN THE BEDROOM" -- Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson memorably play a Maine couple who find their marriage and sedate lives corroded by hate and a desire for revenge after their son is killed.

"ROLIE POLIE OLIE: THE GREAT DEFENDER OF FUN" -- James Woods provides the voice of Gloomius Maximus, who tries to take the fun out of a birthday party in this 70-minute animated feature.

Aug. 20

"IRIS" -- Jim Broadbent won an Oscar for his portrayal of the husband of writer Iris Murdoch, the acclaimed English novelist and philosopher who sank into the shadows of Alzheimer's disease. Judi Dench plays the title role, and Kate Winslet and Hugh Bonneville nicely play the couple in their younger years.

"RETURN TO NEVER LAND" -- In this sequel to Disney's 1953 cartoon, it's Wendy's daughter who meets Peter Pan, Tinker Bell and Captain Hook and learns the value of "faith, trust and pixie dust." And how to recycle a beloved movie for a modern audience.

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