Gross, Arye

Just One of the Guys

Though marketed as a raunchy teen sex comedy à la Porky's, Just One of the Guys is an amusing and well-acted comic riff on gender roles. Believing that she's lost a journalism contest because she's a woman, high school student Joyce Hyser disguises herself as a boy in order to see how the other half lives. Her investigation leads her to discover some interesting truths about how men and women treat each other in social and romantic situations. The screenplay by coproducers Jeff Franklin (a veteran TV scribe) and Dennis Feldman nicely balances the sex-driven gags with more character-driven material, which is well delivered by Hyser, Clayton Rohner as her eccentric pal, and especially Billy Jacoby as her perpetually aroused brother; the capable cast also includes Sherilyn Fenn and Arye Gross. Eighties music fans should also appreciate the soundtrack, which features tracks by Berlin, Lindsay Buckingham, and the Stooges. --Paul Gaita

She's 18, she's beautiful and she's about to set off an epidemic of comic hysteria when she enrolls in a new high school as JUST ONE OF THE GUYS. Stars Golden Globe nominated actress Sherilyn Fenn ("Twin Peaks").

Minority Report (Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition)

A special unit of police have developed a successful way to catch criminals before they commit their crimes.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 8-AUG-2006
Media Type: DVD

Set in the chillingly possible future of 2054, Steven Spielberg's Minority Report is arguably the most intelligently provocative sci-fi thriller since Blade Runner. Like Ridley Scott's "future noir" classic, Spielberg's gritty vision was freely adapted from a story by Philip K. Dick, with its central premise of "Precrime" law enforcement, totally reliant on three isolated human "precogs" capable (due to drug-related mutation) of envisioning murders before they're committed. As Precrime's confident captain, Tom Cruise preempts these killings like a true action hero, only to run for his life when he is himself implicated in one of the precogs' visions. Inspired by the brainstorming of expert futurists, Spielberg packs this paranoid chase with potential conspirators (Max Von Sydow, Colin Farrell), domestic tragedy, and a heartbreaking precog pawn (Samantha Morton), while Cruise's performance gains depth and substance with each passing scene. Making judicious use of astonishing special effects, Minority Report brilliantly extrapolates a future that's utterly convincing, and too close for comfort. --Jeff Shannon

Tequila Sunrise

Robert Towne is one of Hollywood's most celebrated screenwriters, but because his directorial efforts have been few and far between, anticipation was high when this star-powered crime story was released in 1988. Critical reaction was decidedly mixed, but there's plenty to admire in this silky, visually seductive film about a drug dealer (Mel Gibson) whose best friend from high-school (Kurt Russell) is now working for the Los Angeles sheriff's drug detail. Their personal and professional conflicts are intensified by their love for the same woman, a waitress (Michelle Pfeiffer) at the Italian restaurant they both frequent. There's a big deal going down with a drug lord (the late Raul Julia), but as it twists and turns, Towne's story is really more about personal loyalties and individual honor. And even if it doesn't quite hold together, the movie's got a fantastic look to it (courtesy of the great cinematographer Conrad Hall), and the three stars bring depth and dimension to their well-written roles. --Jeff Shannon

House II: The Second Story

For the Boys

For the Boys is a lumpy attempt to create an old-fashioned backstage drama, replete with classic showbiz feuds, breakups and make-ups, and the often inexplicable adoration of fictional fans toward characters with dubious star appeal. Released under a cloud of accusations that the story was ripped off from the life of USO stalwart Martha Raye (who had been attempting to get an autobiographical film project set up), For the Boys didn't improve its public relations by being, well, not very good. Bette Midler stars as Dixie Leonard, a singer plucked from obscurity by song-and-dance man Eddie Sparks (James Caan) while on a USO tour during World War II. Their bawdy chemistry before audiences makes them a durable act through many years and wars to come. The problem is that they don't like each other very much, and here's where director Mark Rydell (On Golden Pond) drops the ball: the film never develops sufficient story grounds or the emotional complexity necessary for a high degree of conflict in what is essentially a two-character drama. It doesn't help that the script requires Dixie and Eddie to be on nonspeaking terms for most of the 50 years they know one another, or that the story culminates in a horribly contrived reunion on television, with both actors buried under enough flesh-aging prosthetics and make-up to make them look like Dick Tracy villains. --Tom Keogh

Bette Midler gives the brassiest, sassiest performance of her career as Dixie Leonard, a USO singer whose electrifying stage presence, and flair for outrageous comedy, captivates troops and civilians alike. Teamed up with America's beloved song and dance man, Eddie Sparks (James Caan), the whole world becomes Dixie's stage through three very different wars, and 50 years of music and memories, laughter and tears. All of it... FOR THE BOYS.

Big Eden

Big Eden has won the audience awards at just about every gay and lesbian film festival there is. Henry (Arye Gross) is an artist living in New York but still carrying a torch for the guy he had a crush on in high school. When his grandfather has a stroke, Henry returns to his Montana hometown, Big Eden, where he rediscovers friends he hasn't seen in years. His high school crush has since married, had children, and divorced--and seems ready to take some very different steps with his life. Big Eden is one of those implausibly tolerant towns where lesbians kiss each other in public and old coots in cowboy hats try to play matchmaker with bashful queers. Still, it's this sweet warmth in Big Eden that has made it a festival crowd-pleaser. --Bret Fetzer

A New York artist returns to his home town in Montana to care for his ailing grandfather, and is also given the chance to confront his feelings about being gay in a small town and his passion for his high school best friend.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 30-APR-2002
Media Type: DVD

Soul Man

Mother Night

The third movie from director Keith Gordon (The Chocolate War, A Midnight Clear). The 35-year-old director who started as an actor (Christine) has turned into one of the more assured directors working today. His films are ambitious in plot and tone. With Mother Night he works with his first major star, Nick Nolte.

In 1961, the fictitious Howard W. Campbell Jr., an American by birth, shares the same deserted prison with Adolph Eichmann. As he prepares to stand trial for war crimes, the former playwright scribes his memoirs. Now this is the same Howard W. Campbell Jr. who was a notorious voice on German radio during the war, tearing into American policy and spreading Nazi propaganda. Was he a willful participant or an American spy? Campbell, who romanticizes at the drop of a hat, tells his story of indifference, morality, and love. His days of notoriety in Berlin give way to anonymity back in the States. He purrs about his true love (Sheryl Lee) and tells truths with his shrewd neighbor in New York (Alan Arkin).

The movie is based on Kurt Vonnegut's 1961 novel of the same name. Gordon and screenwriter Robert E. Weide have an uncommon insight into Vonnegut's material: the mesh of fact and fiction, the sweeping themes, the tragic goofiness. The movie is perfectly suited to Nolte's gruff style with a husky voice that pierces the night. The film is a cherished companion piece to Slaughterhouse Five. --Doug Thomas

The Couch Trip

Dan Aykroyd (Ghostbusters) is running the asylum and ruling the airwaves as a mental patient turned talk-radio shrink in this comedy of loony proportions co-starring Charles Grodin Donna Dixon Walter Matthau and Chevy Chase. When asylum inmate John Burns (Aykroyd) intercepts a call to his psychiatrist he brashly impersonates the good doctor. And he does such a good job that he s given an offer to fill in for a stressed-out Beverly Hills celebrity psychologist (Grodin) as the host of a call-in radio advice show. Escaping the hospital Burns is soon gleefully crossing swords with his predecessor s beautiful colleague (Dixon) crossing paths with a crafty crackpot (Matthau) and crossing the line into complete hilarity as his offbeat psychobabble takes ultra-trendy La-La Land by storm!Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 027616884428 Manufacturer No: 1004362

Hexed

When a pathological liar meets a beautiful but murderous French fashion model the two incite a laugh riot. Arye Gross stars in this wacky comedy thriller which spoofs mega-hits FATAL ATTRACTION and BASIC INSTINCT. Wonderfully zany HEXED piles on the laughter as it careens from one uproarious gag to another.System Requirements:Running Time: 93 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 043396090743 Manufacturer No: 09074