Defending Your Life
by Albert Brooks
from Warner Home Video
Albert Brooks proves there's laughs after death with this almost heavenly comedy--almost heaven as in Judgment City, where recently perished Daniel Miller (Brooks) learns whether he is worthy of advancing to a higher plane of existence or will be sent back to earth for another incarnation.
His fate will be determined in a very special trial, during which scenes from his life are replayed on a giant screen. "Isn't it realistic?" a judge asks. "It makes some people nauseous." While the steely prosecutor (Lee Grant) will try to prove that Daniel failed in life to face his fears and insecurities, his glad-handing, reassuring defender (Rip Torn) will argue on behalf of this hapless "little brain" (a Judgment City term for residents of earth).
As Woody Allen did for the future in Sleeper, so does Brooks create an original vision of the afterlife. In Judgment City, white-robed residents can eat as much as they want without guilt or fear of gaining weight. They can also visit the Past Lives Pavilion, where they are greeted by a hologram of--who else--Shirley MacLaine.
Daniel finds himself touched by an angel. Meryl Streep gives an enchanting performance as Julia, whose exemplary life is in stark contrast to his. During her trial, the court watches in rapture as she saves not only children, but a cat from a burning building.
Daniel and Julia are a match made in Judgment City, but first Daniel must summon up the courage to express his true feelings for her, or she will surely advance without him.
Defending Your Life is Brooks's most ambitious film and, with Mother, his most accessible. --Donald Liebenson
Immediately following his death by bus, Daniel finds himself in the afterlife facing his past. If you can't make a case for having lived a full and fearles
superb music score won an Academy Award.s life, you must go back to Earth and try again. But Daniel doesn't want to go back after he meets Julia in this heavenly fable written and directed by Albert Brooks.
Fatal Attraction (Special Collector's Edition)
from Paramount
The date movie of the late 1980s, this had everyone arguing in the aisles. Does Michael Douglas deserve the unwanted attention he and his family are receiving at the hands of loony stalker Glenn Close? After a weekend extramarital affair with colleague Close, he returns home to wife Anne Archer, and Close becomes progressively angrier. You might even say she is boiling bunny mad.
Directed by Adrian Lyne, this is not your average thriller, as it garnered six Academy Award nominations. The plot is too obvious, but the dialogue rings true and the intense performances hold the story together. Anne Archer deserves kudos for side-stepping cliché as the strong but frightened wife, and Close is a scream as she chews up the scenery.
The film's original ending, which was reshot after poor preview screenings, has been added to the video release. --Rochelle O'Gorman
One True Thing
by Carl Franklin
from Universal Studios
Based on Anna Quindlen's bestselling novel, this is a mother-daughter and father-daughter story, two for the price of one. But director Carl Franklin also tries to inject a police-mystery angle that it neither needs nor will support. Renee Zellweger plays a young writer on the rise, who has finally gotten her break for a New York magazine. While home for a birthday party for her nearly famous writer father (William Hurt), she learns that her mother (Meryl Streep) has been diagnosed with cancer. Then her father does the unthinkable: He all but commands her to put her career on hold to take care of her mother and nurse her through her illness. Dad, a popular college professor who has never gotten the literary acclaim he always believed he deserved, essentially checks out--and daughter must play parent to her mother. Strong performances by Streep and Zellweger give this parent-child relationship the heart--and the anger--of the real thing, while Hurt seems slightly disembodied as the self-involved father whose needs have dominated both women. Still, the detective-story aspect (the film is told in flashback, as the cops try to discover whether someone slipped Mom a fatal dose of morphine) is a construct that could have been done without. --Marshall Fine
Fat Man and Little Boy
by Roland Joffé
from Paramount
Despite the combined star power in front of and behind the camera, Fat Man and Little Boy is a largely tepid retelling of the history of the Manhattan Project, the atomic testing project that led to the U.S. bombing of Japan during World War II (said bombs were dubbed "Fat Man" and "Little Boy"). The Nevada-based project is headed by General Leslie R. Groves (a testy Paul Newman) and scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Dwight Schultz of the TV series The A-Team), who later regretted his cooperation in the project. The problem with the film lies not with the acting, which includes solid performances by Bonnie Bedelia, Laura Dern, John Cusack, and future U.S. Senator Fred Dalton Thompson, but with the script by director Roland Joffé and Bruce Robinson (Withnail and I and Joffé's The Killing Fields). A subject as morally complex as the creation of a supreme weapon requires a strong and thoughtful script, but Fat Man and Little Boy never gets further than establishing that indeed, atomic power is something to reckon with. Joseph Sargent's 1989 made-for-TV film Day One, with Brian Dennehy as Groves and David Straithairn as Oppenheimer, covers the same story with twice the depth and avoids the pitfall of a romantic subplot (Oppenheimer's dalliance with a communist played by Natasha Richardson), which this film stumbles into. Cusack's doomed scientist is actually a combination of two real-life physicists, Harry Daghlian and Louis Slotkin, who died from radiation poisoning, albeit long after V-J Day. --Paul Gaita
Joseph - King of Dreams
by Rob LaDuca
from Dreamworks Animated
As the millennium turns, the crazed trend to produce direct-to-video sequels swells. Very few of these sequels are inspired, although most do not harm their origins. One might understandably pick up something labeled "from the makers of The Prince of Egypt with trepidation. Happily, the makers leave Moses alone and tell the tale of another Bible star, Joseph, known for his coat of many colors and a fantastic destiny. Joseph (voiced by Ben Affleck), his father's favorite son, is sold into slavery by his jealous half-brothers. After years of struggle, Joseph rises to be the Pharaoh's trusted adviser when his gift for interpreting dreams pays dividends. The 78-minute feature is rich in color and features several strong songs ("Better Than I" is the standout) written by newcomer John Bucchino. The film's religious elements are secondary, yet its heart is in the right spot--a most agreeable stance for a wider audience. Prince was designed as an "event" movie and suffered in the hype and marketing. With lower aims, Joseph is a more satisfying film and even invites the unexpected: we're ready for the next "sequel." --Doug Thomas
Based on a classic tale known the world over, JOSEPH: KING OF DREAMS is a stirring story of family and forgiveness. An inspiring musical adventure, JOSEPH: KING OF DREAMS retells the fascinating story of a boy whose extraordinary gift of seeing the future in his dreams sparks a deep division in his family. The jealousy of his brothers sends Joseph to faraway Egypt, where he is suddenly thrown into a world of high adventure, hidden intrigue and blossoming romance. In this new land, the Pharaoh enlists Joseph to interpret his royal dreams and save Egypt from disaster. Joseph is rewarded with honor and status, and as he rises to power, Joseph finds love and happiness. But when a sudden twist of fate reunites Joseph with his brothers, Joseph must face decisions of forgiveness.
Junior
by Ivan Reitman
from Universal Studios
Arnold Schwarzenegger as a pregnant man? The Terminator with cramps and morning sickness? That was all the teasing audiences needed to flock to this 1994 farce, which reunited Arnold with his director and costar from Twins, Ivan Reitman and Danny De Vito. Reitman had also directed the Austrian muscleman in Kindergarten Cop, and they brought the same breezy quality of those earlier films to this enjoyable fluff, in which Arnold plays a scientist who uses his own body to test a revolutionary new fertility drug. His colleague De Vito talks him into the experiment, which succeeds beyond their wildest expectations when Arnold begins a full-term pregnancy. Emma Thompson offers a wealth of comedic support as the biologist who moves into Schwarzenegger's lab while he's coping with his "maternal" condition, and Pamela Reed (who was also in Kindergarten Cop) adds to the fun as De Vito's pregnant ex-wife. What's surprising about this mainstream hit is not that it makes the most of its absurd premise, but that it's also sweetly heartwarming in its treatment of role reversal and the joys and pains of pregnancy. It's a good-natured vehicle for a different side of Schwarzenegger's star appeal, and the fact that it works at all is a tribute to Reitman and his cleverly talented cast. --Jeff Shannon
Jimmy and Judy
by Randall K. Rubin
from ANCHOR BAY
Edward Furlong of TERMINATOR 2 and Rachael Bella of THE RING star as two teenage suburban outcasts who fall in love, spin out of control, and hit the road as fugitives, all captured through the unblinking lens of their video camera. In an American landscape scarred by violence, drugs, madness and murder, is their undying devotion the most extreme reality of all? William Sadler (THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION) co-stars in this shocking and shockingly real
independent sensation that Skratch Magazine calls a
distinctly disturbing piece of true cinematic genius. This is the story of JIMMY AND JUDY.
Malevolent
by John Terlesky
from Dimension
This intense action thriller sends Lou Diamond Phillips (COURAGE UNDER FIRE) racing to clear his name when he's framed for a series of murders he did not commit! A maverick cop under routine investigation for a job-related shooting, Jack (Phillips) finds himself being set up as the prime suspect in an escalating killing spree! Sliding deeper into trouble and with few clues to go on, Jack desperately teams with an exotic dancer (Kari Wuhrer -- EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS) who may hold the secret to the motive behind this mystery. With time running out, Jack must do whatever it takes to put all the pieces together and prove his innocence before the real killer pulls off the perfect crime!
The Learning Curve
by Eric Schwab
from MGM (Video & DVD)
Sleek and stylish, The Learning Curve follows two young lovers named Georgia (Monet Mazur) and Paul (Carmine Giovinazzo) who quickly discover they have a mutual taste for recklessness, cheap fast food, and petty larceny. But when a scam goes awry, they're at the mercy of a ruthless and criminal record executive. Paul starts to work for the exec and, to Georgia's dismay, is soon seduced by drugs and money. The Learning Curve starts out slightly implausible but is consistently surprising; as it goes along, the story grows more clichéd, yet the script, direction, and performances are smart enough that the movie maintains its stylish momentum. By the end, The Learning Curve is just short of preposterous, yet--much like the Hong Kong action movies that surely influenced the director--the movie remains so fully committed to the high-pitched emotions of its melodramatic plot that it becomes not only engaging but even moving. --Bret Fetzer
Two aimless twentysomethings are launched into a fiery tryst of love, lustand crimein this stylish thriller that conjures memories of Bonnie and Clyde (The Courier News). Starring Carmine Giovinazzo (Black Hawk Down), Monet Mazur (40 Days and 40 Nights), Vincent Ventresca ('the Invisible Man ), Jack Laufer (Lost in Yonkers), Majandra Delfino ( Roswell ) and Steven Bauer (Traffic), this 'taut thriller (The Star) is charged with sizzling love scenes, unrelenting suspense and a final chase scene [that] will grab the viewer's throat (The Courier News)! Paul (Giovinazzo) and Georgia (Mazur) are lovers, soul mates and partners in crime.But when this duplicitous duo tries to dupe the wrong man (Ventresca), they are ensnared in a worldmore dangerous than they could ever have imagined. Seduced into working for him on dangerous jobs beyond their small-time capability, Paul and Georgia suddenly have everything they ve ever wanted andeven more to lose.
We Wish You A Merry Christmas/Jingle Bells/O'Christmas Tree
from Lions Gate
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