DANCE WITH ME
A handsome Cuban handyman sweeps a dance instructor off her feet
with his unschooled footwork and charm in this passionate dancing
yarn set to sizzling Salsa. Vanessa L. Williams and Latin
American pop star Chayanne star in this old-fashioned romance in
which an amateur teaches a professional a thing or two about
discipline, dreams and love, all set to hot Latin grooves by
Gloria Estefan, Ruben Blades, Jon Secada and others.
Director: Randa
Haines. Stars: Vanessa L. Williams, Chayanne, Kris Kristofferson,
Joan Plowright. CC, (MPAA rating: PG, 126 min.), Musical drama,
1998, Box office gross: $15.814 million, (Columbia TriStar),
No SRP, Priced for rental, Available:
1/12, DVD: Day & Date.
DISTURBING BEHAVIOR
Unsatisfying thriller about high school kids scientifically
conditioned to behave well who eventually go ballistic when the
programming goes awry. This cross between "A Clockwork Orange"
and "Stepford Wives" with hot teen stars has all the requisite
elements of your typical high school horror film: good kids gone
bad, a wacko doctor (here a slightly lunatic psychiatrist), a
pretty heroine, a hunky hero, and the trigger for all the mayhem:
sex. Stars James Marsden, Katie Holmes, Nick Stahl, Bruce
Greenwood, William Sadler, Steve Railsback.
Director: David
Nutter. Stars: James Marsden, Katie Holmes, Nick Stahl, Bruce
Greenwood, William Sadler, Steve Railsback. CC, (MPAA rating: R,
83 min.), Thriller, 1998, Box office gross: $17.494 million,
(MGM), No SRP, Priced for rental,
Available: 1/5, DVD: Day &
Date.
54
Life and love set against the backdrop of the famed, exclusive
New York 1980s nightclub Studio 54. One of a host of 1998 films
that are paeans to the me-me-me 1980s, this one follows the
adventures of a young man who makes it past the velvet ropes into
the inner workings of a wondrous and glamorous world inhabited by
would-be disco singers, social climbing bus boys, the famous and
the infamous. Highlighted by a throbbing disco soundtrack. Stars
Mike Myers, Salma Hayek, Ryan Phillippe, Neve Campbell and Sela
Ward.
Director: Mark
Christopher. Stars: Mike Myers, Salma Hayek, Ryan Phillippe, Neve
Campbell, Sela Ward. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 93 min.), Drama,
1998, Box office gross: $16.574 million, (Miramax), No
SRP, Priced for rental, Available: 1/12,
DVD: No.
HOW STELLA
GOT HER GROOVE BACK
Spicy, touching romance about a 40-year-old black woman's (Angela
Bassett) mid-life crisis: Though Stella has achieved success in
the investment field, she's neglected her inner self. Divorced
and without a man in sight, she joins her best friend (Whoopi
Goldberg) on a trip to Jamaica where she surprises herself and
rekindles her love life. Hunky Taye Diggs plays the 20-year-old
who helps Stella win the battle with herself. Based on the
best-selling Terry McMillan novel.
Director: Kevin
Rodney Sullivan. Stars: Spicy Bassett, Whoopi Goldberg, Taye
Diggs, Regina King, Suzzanne Douglas. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 125
min.), Drama, 1998, Box office gross: $37.279 million, (Fox),
No SRP, Priced for rental, Available:
1/6, DVD: No.
MAFIA!
Typical Jim ("Hot Shots") Abrahams' spoof, this time taking pot
shots at the Mafia in a rough take-off of "The Godfather." Every
scene you can imagine that might lend itself to parody takes a
grilling by the talented cast: the late Lloyd Bridges (as the patriarch of
the powerful crime family who, as a child, had to swim to America
from Sicily), Jay Mohr, Christina Applegate and Olympia Dukakis.
Definitely for fans of this genre only. Director: Jim Abrahams. Stars: Lloyd
Bridges, Olympia Dukakis, Christina Applegate, Jay Mohr. CC,
(MPAA rating: PG-13, 87 min.), Comedy, 1998, Box office
gross: $19.847 million, (Buena Vista), No SRP,
Priced for rental, Available: 1/19, DVD:
No.
OUT OF SIGHT
Off-kilter love story-cop actioner-thriller about a U.S. Marshal
(Jennifer Lopez) and a career bank robber (George Clooney) who
meet and fall in love when he escapes from a prison in Florida
and heads back to Detroit for one last score. Flashbacks fill out
the characters and their motivations. Lopez steps out in her role
as a lovestruck cop who always falls for the wrong man, while
Clooney adds the right amount of sparkle with his fast talking
charm. Based on an Elmore Leonard novel. Co-stars Ving Rhames, Dennis Farina and
Don Cheadle.
Director: Steven
Soderbergh. Stars: Jennifer Lopez, George Clooney, Ving Rhames,
Dennis Farina, Don Cheadle. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 123 min.),
Action thriller, 1998, Box office gross: $37.400 million,
(Universal), No SRP, Priced for rental,
Available: 1/5, DVD: Day and
Date.
PI
This very weird film -- about a somewhat mad young scientist who holes up in his
urban garret with a variety of electronic gear in order to
find a mathematical order to life -- balances an involving philosophical
meditation on existence with an off-the-wall mystery. Max is close
to discovering a 216-number sequence that could bring order to chaos.
But he's being chased by a brokerage firm that wants the sequence to manipulate
Wall Street, and is wooed by Hasidic Jews who feel the number represents a long-
lost Kabalistic code for the coming of the Messiah. At every turn Max is
followed and oppressed -- or is he just flat out a paranoid schizophrenic? A
jarring soundtrack with grainy black and white images keeps you on the edge of
sanity. Abstract and cerebral. A first time film with a fresh cast, well worth
investigating.
Director: Darren
Aronofsky. Stars: Sean Gullette, Mark Margolis, Ben Shenkman,
Samia Shoaib, Pam Hart, Stephen Pearlman. CC, (MPAA rating: R,
85 min.), Drama, 1998, Box office gross: $3.171
million, (Artisan), No SRP, Priced for rental,
Available: 1/12, DVD: Day &
date.
RETURN TO
PARADISE
A joy-ride Malaysian vacation of sex and drugs turns bad for a
trio of three carefree guys when, after two of them return to the
States, the third is arrested (unbeknownst to his friends) on
drug charges and sentenced to death. Back in the U.S., the
prisoner's lawyer tries to persuade the pair to return to
Malaysia and take some of the heat: If they do three years apiece
in a nasty prison, their ex-buddy's life will be spared. A kind
of "Midnight Express" for the '90s. Stars Vince Vaughn, Anne
Heche, Joaquin Phoenix, David Conrad and Jada Pinkett Smith.
Director: Joseph
Ruben. Stars: Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, Joaquin Phoenix, David
Conrad, Jada Pinkett Smith. CC, (MPAA rating: R, 109 min.),
Drama, 1998, Box office gross: $8.288 million, (PolyGram),
No SRP, Priced for rental, Available:
1/19, DVD: No.
RUSH HOUR
High-octane thriller teams up Jackie Chan (as a Hong Kong cop
sent to the U.S. to help an old friend get back his kidnapped
daughter) and Chris Tucker (as a misfit L.A. cop) for fantastic
stunts, action and comedy. Both stars get to do what they do
best: Chan's martial arts and acrobatic skills come to the fore
and Tucker gets to lip-off non-stop. The duo fight off the bad
guys (the Chinese Mafia) while eluding the FBI and the L.A.P.D.
(who want the pair to keep off the case). Straight-ahead
enjoyment.
Director: Brett
Ratner. Stars: Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Ken Leung, Elizabeth
Pena, Julia Hsu, Chris Penn. CC, (MPAA rating: PG-13, 97 min.),
Action, 1998, Box office gross: $130.000 million, (New Line),
No SRP, Priced for rental, Available:
1/26, DVD: Day & date.
SLUMS OF BEVERLY
HILLS
Wonderfully funny and gentle coming-of-age-comedy about a
15-year-old girl's (the talented Natasha Lyonne) growing
problems: her rising sexuality and her dysfunctional, nomadic
family, (headed by a Willie Loman-type car dealer dad, played by
Alan Arkin) who move from dump to dump in Beverly Hills so the
kids can stay in the better Beverly Hills schools. Complicating
matters is the arrival of messed-up cousin Rita (Marisa Tomei),
fresh from a drug rehab hospital, whose stay with the family
poses both a salvation and a threat. Though set in 1976, there's
more than nostalgia at the heart of this tale of personal and
familial acceptance. Highly recommended.
Director: Tamara
Jenkins. Stars: Natasha Lyonne, Alan Arkin, Marisa Tomei, Kevin
Corrigan, Jessica Walter, Rita Moreno, Carl Reiner. CC, (MPAA
rating: R, 91 min.), Comedy, 1998, Box office gross: $5.376
million, (Fox), No SRP, Priced for rental,
Available: 1/19, DVD: No.
SMOKE SIGNALS
Two men take off on a life-changing road trip in this off-beat
film that won a Filmmakers Trophy and Audience Award at the 1998
Sundance Film Festival. It's the story of a young Native American
man's struggle to reconcile his relationship with his alcoholic
father who, years earlier, set the family house afire while in a
drunken stupor. Though laced with humor, the film takes a serious
look at the demons that haunt many Native Americans forced -- for
whatever reason -- to languish in 20th century reservations.
Director: . Stars:
Adam Beach, Tantoo Cardinal, Irene Bedard. CC, (MPAA rating:
PG-13, 89 min.), Comedy, 1998, Box office gross: $6.653
million, (Miramax), No SRP, Priced for rental,
Available: 1/19, DVD: No.
TRUMAN SHOW,
THE
Possibly the finest film of the year is Peter Weir's astute
dissertation on the nature of existence and faith, in the form of
naif Truman Burbank, whose whole life -- unbeknownst to him --
has been orchestrated in a fabricated environment for the sole
purpose of a TV show. Every second of every day from the moment
he was born, Burbank (Jim Carrey) has been the unwitting star of
"The Truman Show" -- the longest-running No. 1 soap opera in
history -- living in a picture perfect town that's actually a
gigantic soundstage, surrounded by an entourage of family and
friends who are really actors. But a series of technical glitches
one day sets into motion events that shatters Burbank's idyllic
existence, forcing him to uncover the truth behind his life. A
tour-de-force for everyone concerned.
Director: Peter
Weir. Stars: Jim Carrey, Ed Harris, Laura Linney, Natascha
McElhone. CC, (MPAA rating: PG, 103 min.), Satire, 1998, Box
office gross: $125.618 million, (Paramount), No SRP,
Priced for rental, Available: 1/12, DVD:
No.
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