August 21
Hannibal
Anthony Hopkins returns as serial killer Hannibal Lecter in this sequel to The Silence of the Lambs, but Julianne Moore replaces Jodie Foster as F.B.I. agent Clarice Starling. In Silence Dr. Lecter escaped from prison, and in Hannibal he surfaces ten years later, living comfortably in Florence, Italy. When events occur that rekindle interest in Hannibal’s case, Clarice is tasked with locating and recapturing him. Also, wealthy Mason Verger (Gary Oldman), Hannibal’s only surviving victim, seeks revenge, and Florence police detective Pazzi (Giancarlo Giannini) pursues Hannibal as well. The film features some gruesome footage.
Pokemon 3
This children’s animated feature film is the third in a series about the Pokemon, short for Pocket Monsters. In Pokemon stories, school-age kids collect and "train" Pokemon, and the pocket monsters in the collections battle one another. In Pokemon 3, a confused little girl named Molly and a Pokemon group of flying alphabet characters abduct a woman named Delia and bring her into a seemingly impenetrable fantasy world. But Delia’s son Ash, who is a Pokemon trainer, and Ash’s friends and their Pokemon set out to rescue Ash’s mother, resulting in a series of Pokemon battles.
Say It Isn’t So
In this gross-out comedy, Gilly (Chris Klein) is a dog-catcher who falls in love with a hairdresser named Jo (Heather Graham). But when a private detective reports that Gilly and Jo are brother and sister, they end their incestuous relationship. After Jo has moved away and become engaged to another, Gilly finds out the report was in error, and he has many obstacles to overcome to win Jo back. One scene in the movie involves Gilly punching a cow from behind and getting his arm stuck inside the animal. In addition to Klein and Graham, the film stars Orlando Jones, Sally Field, and Richard Jenkins.
August 28
Joe Dirt
Toilet humor abounds in this comedy starring David Spade and Dennis Miller. Joe Dirt (Spade) was abandoned by his parents when he was eight years old, and the movie consists mostly of the thirty-something Joe recounting incidents in his life on a radio show run by Zander Kelly (Miller). Shown in flashback are some attractive young women Joe has encountered and some unusual experiences he has had, including the time he got covered by human waste. Ninety-three percent of the critics on Rotten Tomatoes found this movie rotten, but fans of Spade and Miller probably won’t care.
See Spot Run
This lowbrow comedy about an F.B.I. dog named Spot is aimed at kids. When Spot bites off the testicle of a mob boss, a hit is put out on the dog. Due to a mix-up, Spot winds up in the care of Gordon (David Arquette), a goofy U.S. mail carrier who is also caring for his neighbor’s young son James (Angus T. Jones). This leads to a number of slapstick adventures for Gordon, James, and Spot. The movie has a plethora of jokes involving dog excrement, not to mention a scene where gas emitted from a zebra’s hind end is set afire.
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