New Videos Coming Out This Week
Here's what you need to know to plan your next trip to the video store. There are some interesting releases slated for October 16, 2001, including Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace, Angel Eyes, and Cats & Dogs. Let's take a look at these films, along with a few additional releases of interest, and take a sneak peek at next week.
Angel Eyes
Tagline: "The Deeper You Look. The More You Will Find."
Length: 102 minutes
MPAA Rating:
R for language, violence and a scene of sexuality
Jennifer Lopez and Jim Caviezel star in this romantic drama with a supernatural angle. Sharon Pogue (Lopez) is a tough Chicago police officer who has no significant other and is estranged from her parents. In a police chase, Sharon’s life is saved by the mysterious Catch (Caviezel), and afterwards she becomes attracted to him. But Catch lives a strange life, spending most of his time just walking around the city, except he periodically brings groceries to a disabled woman (Shirley Knight). Meanwhile, Sharon’s mother (Sonia Braga) and father (Victor Argo) plan a ceremony to renew their marriage vows. As Sharon mulls over the possibility of reconciling with her parents, she also must try to figure out who Catch really is and how she should relate to him.
Selected Special DVD Features:
Formats Available: The above information refers to the DVD; this film is also available on VHS.
Cats & Dogs
Tagline: "Cats Rule! Dogs Rule! The Fur Will Fly."
Length: 87 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
for animal action and humor
In this comedy, special effects are used to make it seem as though dogs and cats speak with the voices of well-known actors, including Charlton Heston, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin, Sean Hayes, Jon Lovitz, Tobey Maguire, Joe Pantoliano, and Michael Clarke Duncan. The film chronicles one skirmish in the ongoing battle between felines and canines. When the cats become fearful that Professor Brody (Jeff Goldblum) will succeed in finding a way to prevent humans from being allergic to dogs, they use their elaborate spy network to try to sabotage his efforts. But the dogs counter this threat with their own extensive network of agents equipped with high-tech devices, eventually leading the felines to employ their parachuting Ninja cats. Cat lovers have criticized this film as being too pro-canine.
Selected Special DVD Features:
Formats Available: The above information refers to the DVD; this film is also available on VHS.
Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace
Tagline: "Every generation has a legend. Every journey has a first step. Every saga has a beginning."
Length: 133 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG for sci-fi action/violence
The three Star Wars films released in 1977-83 were actually episodes IV, V, and VI of the series, and at last the 1999 prequel to the three earlier movies is being released on VHS/DVD. In Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace, the weird creatures and strange worlds are done better than before because of the improvements in special effects in the intervening years. This time around Obi-Wan Kenobi is played by Ewan McGregor, and he is an apprentice to Jedi knight Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson). Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan travel to the planet Naboo and help its young Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman), then go to Tatooine, where they meet the boy Anakin Skywalker, who will grow up to become Darth Vader. One the movie’s most exciting sequences results when Anakin participates in a high-speed pod race. The Phantom Menace introduces a bizarre new creature named Jar Jar Binks.
Selected Special DVD Features:
Formats Available: The above information refers to the DVD; this film is also available on VHS.
Town & Country
Length: 104 minutes
MPAA Rating: R for sexuality and language
Warren Beatty, Garry Shandling, Diane Keaton, and Goldie Hawn star in this comedy about affluent New Yorkers going through marital woes. Porter (Beatty) and Griffin (Shandling) are best friends, and both are cheating on their wives. Mona (Hawn) discovers her husband Griffin’s infidelity, and Ellie (Keaton) learns that her husband Porter has been having an affair with a beautiful cellist (Nastassja Kinski). The situation gets even more complicated when Porter and Mona become sexually involved and Griffin wrestles with the issue of his homosexuality. But things really get zany when Porter and Griffin repair to Sun Valley, where they run into quirky characters played by Andie MacDowell, Jenna Elfman, Charlton Heston, and Marian Seldes. While most critics didn’t like Town & Country, a few found it to be very funny.
Selected Special DVD Features:
Formats Available: The above information refers to the DVD; this film is also available on VHS.
Additional Releases of Interest
Miracle on 34th Street - (1947)
Selected Special DVD Features:
Formats Available: The above information refers to the DVD; this film is also available on VHS.
Notorious - Criterion Collection (1946)
Selected Special DVD Features:
Formats Available: The above information refers to the DVD; this film is also available on VHS.
The Lady Eve - Criterion Collection (1941)
Selected Special DVD Features:
Formats Available: The above information refers to the DVD; this film is also available on VHS.
The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg - (1999)
Selected Special DVD Features:
Formats Available: The above information refers to the DVD; this film is also available on VHS.
The Ruling Class - Criterion Collection (1972)
Selected Special DVD Features:
Formats Available: The above information refers to the DVD; this film is also available on VHS.
Next page A Sneak Peek at Next Week Page1, 2
