Selected April and May Releases on Video/DVD
April 3
102 Dalmations
The live-action family movie 102 Dalmations is a sequel to the 1996 film 101 Dalmations, and Glenn Close again stars as the central character, Cruella De Vil. In the earlier movie, Cruella was jailed for dognapping, and in the new film, she’s out on parole. Cruella again plans to abduct Dalmation puppies to use their skins to make a coat, but her parole officer and an animal shelter operator work together to try to stop her.
The Legend of Bagger Vance
Matt Damon and Will Smith star in this fable-like drama directed by Robert Redford. Rannulph Junuh (Damon) was a promising young golfer from Savannah, Georgia, but combat experiences during World War I broke his spirit, and he drifted around for years before coming home. There Junuh meets a poor black man called Bagger Vance (Smith), who becomes his caddie and helps him along the road to recovery.
April 10
Bounce
Bounce pairs Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck in a well-crafted romantic drama. Buddy Amaral (Affleck) gives his plane ticket to another man, who is killed when the plane crashes. Later, Amaral seeks out the man’s widow (Paltrow) and befriends her, but remains silent about the ticket switch. But the friendship turns into romance, and Amaral must deal with the problem of what to do about letting the woman know of his role in her husband’s death.
Men of Honor
Starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Robert De Niro, this biopic is based on the life of Carl Brashear, the African American who overcame racism to become the first black diver in the U.S. Navy. When Brashear (Gooding) enters the Navy diving school, Master Chief Billy Sunday (De Niro) hates him and deliberately sets out to humiliate him. But eventually Brashear’s tenacity wins Sunday’s grudging respect, and both men gain from the experience.
April 17
Bamboozled
Written and directed by Spike Lee, Bamboozled is a satire on the way television uses African American images. Damon Wayans portrays Pierre Delacroix, a black Harvard-educated executive at a failing cable TV network who’s fed up with his job and how he’s being treated at work. In desperation Delacroix develops a blatantly racist minstrel show, starring two blackface performers called Mantan and Sleep ‘n’ Eat. But to Delacroix’s consternation, the new show turns out to be a big hit!
Billy Elliot
Set in a coal mining town in 1984 England, Billy Elliot is a warm-hearted drama about an 11-year-old boy who wants to become a ballet dancer. Charmingly played by Jamie Bell, Billy must overcome the strong objections of his father, a miner who fears his son’s interest in dance will influence him toward a homosexual orientation. But with the encouragement of his ballet teacher (Julie Walters), Billy works hard at achieving his dream of one day auditioning for the Royal Ballet School in London.
The Ladies Man
Tim Meadows stars in and coscripted the feature-length comedy The Ladies Man, based on a series of skits he performed on the Saturday Night Live television program. Meadows plays Leon Phelps, a radio talk-show host who, in spite of his 1970s wardrobe and hairdo, has seduced many married women. But things get complicated for Phelps when he gets fired from his job and struggles to find another, while trying to avoid a group of cuckolded husbands who are after him.
Space Cowboys
Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, James Garner, and Donald Sutherland star in this action/adventure movie about four former U.S. Air Force test pilots who are called out of retirement to go into space and deal with a problem onboard a Russian satellite. Many doubt that men their age can do the job, and the tough NASA physical training is not easy for the oldsters, but they eventually carry out their mission with wisdom and humor. In addition to his acting duties, Eastwood directed this highly entertaining film.
The Yards
This nuanced crime drama boasts an impressive cast, including James Caan and Mark Wahlberg. Leo (Wahlberg) goes to work for his uncle (Caan), who runs the yards that maintain New York City’s subways. This business, which requires bribes and kickbacks, supports Leo’s ailing mom, her sister, and Leo’s best friend. Soon Leo is wrongly accused of murder, and he must try to avoid bringing down his uncle’s business while protecting himself.
April 24
The Girl on the Bridge
Directed by Patrice Leconte, this French-language fable-like film is the story of a quirky relationship between Gabor (Daniel Auteuil) and Adele (Vanessa Paradis). In Paris, Adele is a suicidal young woman who goes to a bridge where she meets Gabor, a knife-thrower looking for a partner for his act. They team up and perform together on the Riviera, in Athens, and in Istanbul. A mystical bond develops between Gabor and Adele as he throws knives that land very close to all the parts of her body.
Finding Forrester
In this drama, Jamal (Rob Brown) is a gifted black teenager who is good at basketball and also enjoys writing. Then Jamal befriends the reclusive William Forrester (Sean Connery), an old writer who hasn’t published anything since his first book made him famous decades ago. Forrester believes Jamal has great potential as a writer and becomes his mentor. But when Jamal starts attending a private school on a scholarship, he must make some major decisions that will affect the rest of his life.
Little Nicky
Adam Sandler stars in and cowrote this comedy that features a large number of cameo appearances by well-known movie and television personalities. In the film, the Devil’s two older sons go to New York City, where they’re responsible for all manner of mischief. Soon the Devil’s youngest son Nicky (Sandler) chases after his errant brothers to bring them back to Hell. But the plot is unimportant; what matters are the crude jokes and raunchy humor that Adam Sandler fans have come to expect in his films.
May 1
All the Pretty Horses
It’s 1949 and there’s no good reason for adventurous young John Grady Cole (Matt Damon) to stay in his native Texas, so he gets on his horse and rides into Mexico in search of new experiences. Eventually, John Grady gets a job on a huge ranch, where he becomes romantically involved with the owner’s beautiful daughter Alejandra (Penelope Cruz). But soon John Grady is thrown into a grim Mexican prison from which he will never be released unless someone pays off the jailer.
The Emperor’s New Groove
This animated comedy is set long ago in a remote South American kingdom whose emperor is the selfish young Kuzco (voice of David Spade). Kuzco is so hated by an old woman named Yzma (voice of Eartha Kitt) that she has him poisoned, but the potion intended to kill Kuzco doesn’t work as expected and turns him into a talking llama. However, Kuzco (in llama form) enlists the aid of a peasant named Pacha (voice of John Goodman), who helps him in getting back to his human form and regaining his position as emperor.
Miss Congeniality
Sandra Bullock stars in this comedy about a tomboyish, unglamorous woman who must transform herself into someone with all the traditional feminine graces. When a terrorist makes a threat against a beauty pageant, F.B.I. agent Gracie Hart (Bullock) is given the undercover assignment of posing as a pageant contestant. While Hart has the right figure for the job, her appearance, movements, and manners are all wrong, so a veteran beauty consultant (Michael Caine) is brought in to coach her.
May 8
Duets
Directed by Bruce Paltrow, Duets is an unconventional musical about the world of competitive karaoke. The movie intertwines the stories of three unlikely twosomes as they make their way to Omaha to compete in a karaoke contest for a $5,000 prize. The twosomes are: (1) a white sales executive and a black ex-convict; (2) a hustler and his showgirl daughter (played by Gwyneth Paltrow, daughter of the film’s director); and (3) a taxi driver and a sexually promiscuous young woman.
Quills
Starring Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet, Michael Caine, and Joaquin Phoenix, Quills chronicles the last years in the life of the Marquis de Sade (Rush), which he spent in a mental institution. At first, the priest (Phoenix) who runs the institution permits Sade to continue writing, and his manuscripts are smuggled out by a laundress (Winslet) and published. But eventually Napoleon feels threatened by Sade’s work and sends in Dr. Royer-Collard (Caine) to take charge of the situation and keep Sade under control.
Sunshine
Ralph Fiennes plays three roles (father, son, grandson) in this drama that traces the lives of three generations of a family of Hungarian Jews under three forms of government: emperor, fascist, and communist. Ignatz Sonnenschein, whose father made the family wealthy by marketing a health tonic called Sunshine, changes the family name to Sors. Ignatz’ son Adam converts to Christianity and leads the Hungarian fencing team to the 1936 Olympics. Adam’s son Ivan becomes a police agent of the communist government.
What Women Want
This entertaining lightweight romantic comedy stars Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt. Male chauvinist Nick Marshall (Gibson) expects a promotion at the ad agency where he works, but the job goes to a woman named Darcy Maguire (Hunt). Then Marshall receives an electrical shock that enables him to read the mind of any woman he encounters, and his ideas for ads for women’s products are suddenly better than those proposed by Maguire. But things get complicated when Marshall and Maguire start to fall in love.
May 15
Antitrust
In this suspense thriller, Milo Hoffman (Ryan Phillippe) is a young computer nerd who goes to work in the Pacific Northwest for a large software company, where he makes some unsettling discoveries. His new employer, which is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for antitrust violations, is headed up by personable billionaire Gary Winston (Tim Robbins). Soon Milo realizes that Gary is willing to kill to assure the dominance of his company, and the young man finds himself struggling just to stay alive.
Best in Show
Directed and coscripted by Christopher Guest, Best in Show is a hilarious comedy about the owners of five dogs who compete in the Mayflower Kennel Club’s show in Philadelphia. The owners include (1) a contentious yuppie married couple from Illinois ; (2) a middle-class Florida married couple; (3) a gay couple from New York; (4) the owner of a fly fishing shop in North Carolina; and (5) a wealthy old man and his young wife. But the funniest character in the movie is the wacky announcer (Fred Willard) who acts as color man during the broadcast of the dog show.
Pay It Forward
When Las Vegas social studies teacher Eugene Simonet (Kevin Spacey) challenges his class to come up with an idea that will change the world, young Trevor McKinney (Haley Joel Osment) proposes the following: One person should help three other people improve their lives, and each of those three should help three more, and so on. Trevor also tries to arrange a romantic relationship between his mother (Helen Hunt) and Mr. Simonet, and the film traces the progress of Trevor’s scheme to make the world better and the results of his efforts as matchmaker.
May 22
Before Night Falls
Julian Schnabel directed this visually stunning biopic about Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas (Javier Bardem). The film shows Arenas as a young adult enjoying life in various homoerotic situations, particularly at the beach, and the combination of his open homosexuality and his writings eventually gets Arenas in trouble with the Castro government. Arenas is thrown in jail, where he spends several years before being deported as an undesirable. Ultimately, an embittered Arenas makes his way to New York, where he contracts AIDS and commits suicide.
Dungeons & Dragons
Inspired by the game of the same name, the action/adventure movie Dungeons & Dragons takes place in a mythical land where all the work is done by commoners for a privileged class called the Mages. The young Empress Savina (Thora Birch) seeks equality for all segments of society, but she is opposed by the elitist Profion (Jeremy Irons), who intends to seize power and maintain the Mages’ favored status. Control of the kingdom is determined by the possession of a large gem and a magic scepter, and Savina’s supporters must secure these items before they fall into the hands of Profion’s followers.
Requiem for a Dream
In this downbeat drama, writer-director Darren Aronofsky captures the psychological outlook of the drug addict. Ellen Burstyn gives a brilliant performance as Sara Goldfarb, a middle-aged woman who becomes hooked on amphetamines by way of diet pills. Sara’s son (Jared Leto), his girlfriend (Jennifer Connelly), and his buddy (Marlon Wayons) are young people who are addicted to drugs like heroin and cocaine. The film is unrelenting in showing the appalling prices paid by these four dreamers for the brief highs the drugs give them.
Vertical Limit
Three climbers are trapped in the Himalayan mountains near the top of K2, second highest peak in the world. Among those stranded are experienced mountaineer Annie Garrett (Robin Tunney) and wealthy businessman Elliot Vaughn (Bill Paxton). When Annie’s brother Peter (Chris O’Donnell) learns of his sister’s plight, he heads up a team of six people, including seasoned climber Montgomery Wick (Scott Glenn), on a rescue mission. The members of the rescue team encounter a series of perilous situations as they struggle to reach the trapped climbers before it’s too late.
May 29
The House of Mirth
Writer-director Terence Davies’ adaptation of Edith Wharton’s classic novel is set among New York City’s upper social strata in 1905 . The bleak story centers around the attractive Lily Bart (Gillian Anderson), a woman approaching age 30 who has not found a suitable husband. However, her prospects remain fairly good until she runs afoul of the scheming Bertha Dorset (Laura Linney), who manages to destroy Lily’s hopes. The film is a fascinating study of a society that makes almost no provision for a woman to be economically independent of men.
Shadow of the Vampire
In the early 1920s, legendary German director F.W. Murnau made the classic vampire movie Nosferatu with actor Max Schreck in the role of the vampire. Shadow of the Vampire is a fictionalized account of the making of Nosferatu which postulates that Schreck was not a human playing a vampire--he really was a vampire! Schreck’s strange behavior is attributed to the fact that he never breaks character, and Murnau is indifferent to the fates of cast and crew as long as his film gets made. Shadow of the Vampire stars John Malkovich as Murnau and Willem Dafoe as Schreck.
Traffic
Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Traffic is a hard-hitting drama about the illegal drug traffic from Mexico into the U.S. The movie, which stars Michael Douglas, Benicio Del Toro, and Catherine Zeta-Jones, chronicles the stories of law enforcement personnel and drug dealers on both sides of the Mexican-American border. Also, the film tells the tale of newly appointed U.S. drug czar Robert Wakefield (Douglas), who, even as he tries to spearhead the "war on drugs," discovers that his own teenage daughter is a junkie.
