Gros, James Le

*Batteries Not Included

Quite possibly the nadir of Steven Spielberg's career as a producer, this piece of sentimental junk from 1987 concerns five little spacecraft which arrive on Earth just in time to help out some New Yorkers getting kicked out of a tenement. The script's goo just sticks to the viewer, and the cast looks silly by trying not to be silly. You get the feeling that Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment was pretty much throwing stuff at the wall to see what would hang there, and they came up with this ridiculous thing. --Tom Keogh

Point Break (Pure Adrenaline Edition)

Young FBI agent Johnny Utah (Reeves) goes undercover at the suggestion of his partner (Gary Busey) to learn if a group of wild surfers is actually a gang of bank robbers. He soon comes under the dangerous spell of the surfers' charismatic leader Bodhi (Swyaze) a mystical mastermind who'll do absolutely anything for a thrill - and expects his followers to do the same.System Requirements:Running Time: 120 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: R UPC: 024543372325 Manufacturer No: 2237232

An unbelievable movie, and deliriously better for it. Keanu Reeves is a hotshot law enforcement dude--Johnny Utah by name--investigating a series of bank robberies in L.A. Four gunmen, disguised in rubber masks of ex-U.S. presidents, have never come close to being caught, but veteran agent Gary Busey has a theory: The bandits are surfers. This prompts the superb line, "The ex-presidents rip off banks to finance the endless summer!" This movie's full of dialogue like that, but instead of sounding ridiculous it creates its own infectious comic-book energy--ride the crest of it and you'll find the film's giddy zone. Patrick Swayze plays Bodhi, zen-master leader of the surfing clan, humming serenely with the wisdom of the waves. (Alarmingly, Swayze also did his own skydiving stunts.) Director Kathryn Bigelow (Strange Days) stages the action sequences with a visceral snap, and clearly has a gift for orchestrating pulp fiction. Though not a huge hit when was first released, Point Break has a well-deserved cult reputation thanks to its video afterlife. The film's executive producer is James Cameron, Bigelow's husband at the time. --Robert Horton

Enemy of the State

Robert Clayton Dean (Will Smith) is a lawyer with a wife and family whose happily normal life is turned upside down after a chance meeting with a college buddy (Jason Lee) at a lingerie shop. Unbeknownst to the lawyer, he's just been burdened with a videotape of a congressman's assassination. Hot on the tail of this tape is a ruthless group of National Security Agents commanded by a belligerently ambitious fed named Reynolds (Jon Voight). Using surveillance from satellites, bugs, and other sophisticated snooping devices, the NSA infiltrates every facet of Dean's existence, tracing each physical and digital footprint he leaves. Driven by acute paranoia, Dean enlists the help of a clandestine former NSA operative named Brill (Gene Hackman), and Enemy of the State kicks into high-intensity hyperdrive.

Teaming up once again with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Top Gun director Tony Scott demonstrates his glossy style with clever cinematography and breakneck pacing. Will Smith proves that there's more to his success than a brash sense of humor, giving a versatile performance that plausibly illustrates a man cracking under the strain of paranoid turmoil. Hackman steals the show by essentially reprising his role from The Conversation--just imagine his memorable character Harry Caul some 20 years later. Most of all, the film's depiction of high-tech surveillance is highly convincing and dramatically compelling, making this a cautionary tale with more substance than you'd normally expect from a Scott-Bruckheimer action extravaganza. --Jeremy Storey

Robert Clayton Dean (Will Smith) is a lawyer with a wife and family whose happily normal life is turned upside down after a chance meeting with a college buddy (Jason Lee) at a lingerie shop. Unbeknownst to the lawyer, he's just been burdened with a videotape of a congressman's assassination. Hot on the tail of this tape is a ruthless group of National Security Agents commanded by a belligerently ambitious fed named Reynolds (Jon Voight). Using surveillance from satellites, bugs, and other sophisticated snooping devices, the NSA infiltrates every facet of Dean's existence, tracing each physical and digital footprint he leaves. Driven by acute paranoia, Dean enlists the help of a clandestine former NSA operative named Brill (Gene Hackman), and Enemy of the State kicks into high-intensity hyperdrive.

Teaming up once again with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Top Gun director Tony Scott demonstrates his glossy style with clever cinematography and breakneck pacing. Will Smith proves that there's more to his success than a brash sense of humor, giving a versatile performance that plausibly illustrates a man cracking under the strain of paranoid turmoil. Hackman steals the show by essentially reprising his role from The Conversation--just imagine his memorable character Harry Caul some 20 years later. Most of all, the film's depiction of high-tech surveillance is highly convincing and dramatically compelling, making this a cautionary tale with more substance than you'd normally expect from a Scott-Bruckheimer action extravaganza. --Jeremy Storey

A successful attorney (Smith) is given a video that ties a top Washington official to a political murder.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: R
Release Date: 2-APR-2002
Media Type: DVD

Singles

A romantic comedy set against the background of the Seattle grunge scene of the late '80s and early '90s, Singles contains music and/or cameo appearances by the music groups who defined the movement, including Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, Mother Love Bone, and others. (For a definitive documentary treatment of the same pop-music phenomenon, see Hype!) The plot is really a series of interconnected stories about various Seattle singles--some of who are part of a couple, at least temporarily. Matt Dillon plays a longhaired rocker whose girlfriend (Bridget Fonda) is considering breast enlargement surgery. As Steve and Linda, Campbell Scott and Kyra Sedgwick are going through the awkward stages of a relationship--that point when quirky little traits that may have seemed attractive initially can evolve into major annoyances. It's a funny, sweet, enjoyable picture that captures some of the flavor of the Northwest, where writer-director Cameron Crowe relocated after marrying Seattle native Nancy Wilson of Heart. (The Wilson sisters also appear on the soundtrack as members of The Lovemongers.) Ten years before the release of Singles in 1992, Crowe was the "boy wonder" reporter for Rolling Stone magazine who went back to high school in order to research and write what became Fast Times at Ridgemont High. His other work includes Jerry Maguire (1996) and Say Anything (1989). --Jim Emerson

Bridget Fonda, Matt Dillon, Kyra Sedgwick and Campbell Scott in an "exuberant romantic comedy" (Rolling Stone) about Seattle twenty-somethings searching for-and running from-love. Bonus: Two outake scenes. Year: 1992

Drugstore Cowboy

Gus Van Sant made his name with this offbeat story of a small group of drug addicts who heist pharmacies to feed their habit. Matt Dillon completely broke with his juvenile persona as Bob, the grungy ringleader and jittery mastermind of a junkie crew. With his frustrated wife Dianne (Kelly Lynch), his loyal partner, the easygoing Rick (James Le Gros), and Rick's juvenile girlfriend Nadine (Heather Graham in an early role), Bob plots ingenious heists and spends the rest of his days sitting around the house getting high. When the heat becomes too intense in Portland, the quartet hits the road for small-town drug stores and hospitals, but when their luck runs out it does so in grand fashion. Set in the Pacific Northwest of 1971, Van Sant so effortlessly re-creates the period that you'd think the film was a time capsule--except for the attitude. Van Sant refuses to moralize and lines his sympathies behind his characters. They're no heroes, but Van Sant can't cast them as villains either. His low-key direction concentrates on the flavor of day-to-day life for a crew of junkies living from fix to fix. Even his drug imagery is inventively placid, a dreamy set of floating visions that suggests their own disembodied states. James Remar costars as the dogged police detective Gentry and cult author William S. Burroughs makes a memorable appearance as the aging junkie Tom the Priest. --Sean Axmaker

Solarbabies

Paying homage to both The Road Warrior and The Lost Boys, Solarbabies is set in a futuristic world where water is scarce, children are locked away in orphanages, and a glowing ball of frenetic energy has the power to make dreams a reality. Released theatrically in 1986, the film's cast includes a who's who of some of that decade's most popular young actors: Jami Gertz (Sixteen Candles, Less Than Zero) is alpha girl Terra; Jason Patric (The Lost Boys, Rush)) portrays hot teen Jason; and Lukas Haas (Witness, Alpha Dog) co-stars as young deaf Danny. Through plucky perseverance and a skillful knowledge of skateball (a roller version of hockey), the kids come up with a plan to save civilization from the corporate dictatorship that rations the free flow of water and also save themselves from their stifling lives in the orphanage. As Terra points out, "We must have parents somewhere." Some of the sets seem so inspired by the The Road Warrior films that you half expect Tina Turner to pop out, referring to them as Raggedy Children. Instead, we get bon mots (again from Terra) such as, "Get out, you creature of filth!" The film has a certain cheesy charm that may appeal to viewers in their mid-teens. While not an original film by any means, it does include suspense and a surprising amount of heart. --Jae-Ha Kim

A futuristic sci-fi adventure film about a group of roller-skating orphans who try to save a mystical alien from destruction while rebelling against the evil power that rules their arid planet. Features special effects by Oscar-winner Richard Edlund.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: PG - 13 UPC: 027616072436 Manufacturer No: M107243

Bad Girls (Extended Cut)

Viewers of this Hollywood-processed movie should prepare to suspend disbelief: the four prostitutes turned outlaws will have flimsy excuses for being adept in gun slinging, stunt riding, and world knowledge. But this Western trips over a poor script of laughable plot points (secret plans are left out for wandering eyes, loot is taken without resistance) and a story that sticks forever in second gear. Never better or worse than Young Guns, with these intelligent actresses only part of the scenery. Drew Barrymore comes off the best, along with James LeGros as a meek rancher. --Doug Thomas

Madeleine Stowe, Andie MacDowell, Drew Barrymore and Mary Stuart Masterson star in the wild Western story of four fallen women on the run. Branded as outlaws, pursued by a posse and tracked by Pinkerton detectives, the four must ride together to stay alive. But when they're double crossed by a gang of ruthless desperados, the women decide it's time to stop running, and start fighting! BAD GIRLS is a rough-riding, straight-shooting, fun-filled adventure that writes a whole new chapter in the lore of the Western hero!

The Last Winter

A team in Alaska is tormented by an unseen evil. After one crewmember is found dead disorientation slowly claims the sanity of the other team members as each of them succumbs to an unknown fear.System Requirements:Running Time: 101 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS UPC: 796019810784 Manufacturer No: 81078

The Rapture

A Los Angeles telephone operator who tires of mate-swapping and turns to a religious sect for spiritual guidance.Running Time: 100 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 794043490828

Once upon a time, in the 1980s and early 1990s, American independent movies did not seek to merely ape Hollywood formulas. They were more than just feature-length resumes for shrewd, enterprising filmmakers who had nothing to say, but dreamed of saying it with a big-studio budget. Back then, independent films provided a different kind of movie experience; they challenged and provoked audiences--and none more so than 1991's The Rapture, written and directed by Michael Tolkin, the man who wrote the screenplay for The Player, Robert Altman's scathing anti-Hollywood comedy. Mimi Rogers plays Sharon, a lost soul who gives up her hedonistic life of sex and drugs when she finds God and becomes a fundamentalist Christian fanatic. Her pilgrim's progress, presented in a deadpan, nonjudgmental style, culminates quite literally in the title event--the Second Coming, the Apocalypse, the end of the world, or whatever you want to call it. Rogers's fearless performance becomes all the more provocative when you recall that the actress is a lifelong member of the Church of Scientology. The Rapture is a mind-boggling, wildly ambitious movie that's open to myriad interpretations. But no matter what you make of it, it's sure to leave you engaged and shaken. --Jim Emerson

Real Men

(Headline): Real men don t hide from danger they create it.James Belushi (K-9: P.I. Joe Somebody) and John Ritter ( Eight Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter ) push the comic envelope in this genuinely off-the-wall comedy (The Science Fiction Horror and Fantasy Film Review) about an improbable mission between the CIA the KGB and of course visitors from another planet!The fate of the entire world lies in the hands of a brilliant charming cad of a secret agent named Nick Pirandello (Belushi) who has to barter for global salvation with aliens seeking a highly secret glass of water! Dire circumstances force Nick to recruit na ve insecure insurance agent Bob Wilson (Ritter) as his partner making his precarious predicament downright preposterous as their insane mission becomes not only extra dangerous but entirely extraterrestrial!Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 027616899651 Manufacturer No: 1005704