Lowe, Rob

Austin Powers - The Spy Who Shagged Me (New Line Platinum Series)

First he fought for the Crown now he's fighting for the family jewels! Mike Myers returns as the world's grooviest superspy who must return to the Swingin' Sixties to recover his ''mojo'' and stop Dr. Evil from liquidating the world.Running Time: 95 min.System Requirements:Starring: Mike Myers Heather Graham Seth Green Elizabeth Hurley Rob Lowe Robert Wagner and Michael York. Directed By: Jay Roach Running Time: 1 hrs. 35 mins. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 1999 New Line Home Video Inc.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 794043489129

"I put the grrr in swinger, baby!" a deliciously randy Austin Powers coos near the beginning of The Spy Who Shagged Me, and if the imagination of Austin creator Mike Myers seems to have sagged a bit, his energy surely hasn't. This friendly, go-for-broke sequel to 1997's Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery finds our man Austin heading back to the '60s to keep perennial nemesis Dr. Evil (Myers again) from blowing up the world--and, more importantly, to get back his mojo, that man-juice that turns Austin into irresistible catnip for women, especially American spygirl Felicity Shagwell (a pretty but vacant Heather Graham). The plot may be irreverent and illogical, the jokes may be bad (with characters named Ivana Humpalot and Robin Swallows, née Spitz), and the scenes may run on too long, but it's all delivered sunnily and with tongue firmly in cheek.

Myers's true triumph, though, is his turn as the neurotic Dr. Evil, who tends to spout the right cultural reference at exactly the wrong time (referring to his moon base as a "Death Star" with Moon Units Alpha and Zappa--in 1969). Myers teams Dr. Evil with a diminutive clone, Mini-Me (Verne J. Troyer), who soon replaces slacker son Scott Evil (Seth Green) as the apple of the doctor's eye; Myers and Troyer work magic in what could plausibly be one of the year's most affecting (and hysterically funny) love stories. Despite a stellar supporting cast--including a sly Rob Lowe as Robert Wagner's younger self and Mindy Sterling as the forbidding Frau Farbissina--it's basically Myers's show, and he pulls a hat trick by playing a third character, the obese and disgusting Scottish assassin Fat Bastard. Many viewers will reel in disgust at Mr. Bastard's repulsive antics and the scatological bent Myers indulges in, including one showstopper involving coffee and--shudder--a stool sample. Still, Myers's good humor and dead-on cultural references win the day; Austin is one spy who proves he can still shag like a minx. --Mark Englehart

The Outsiders - The Complete Novel (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Director Francis Coppola's adaptation of the popular S.E. Hinton novel about the price of rebellious youth is notable chiefly for the stunning cast of young actors who went on to rich and varied careers. In supporting roles, the film features the likes of Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Diane Lane, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, and Tom Waits, among others. The story centers on two rival gangs in the early 1960s Midwest, and the violent turf wars that escalate and tragically claim young lives. C. Thomas Howell plays the central character who yearns to prove himself and be accepted by his older brothers' gang, while at the same time finding his first love and dreaming of a life beyond his dead end existence. Geared toward the teenage crowd, the film nonetheless features some fine direction from Coppola in a story that evokes memories of the classic coming-of-age films of the 1950s. --Robert Lane

No one was surprised when Francis Ford Coppola revisited Apocalypse Now, but his overhaul of The Outsiders raised a few eyebrows. Here was a modestly successful film better remembered for its Brat Pack cast than its Oscar-winning director, but The Complete Novel succeeds in bringing more of S.E. Hinton's young adult classic to the screen along with Coppola's epic vision. The story remains the same: The working class greasers and wealthy Socs ("Socials") of Tulsa, OK, circa 1966, are at war. Despite the bigger names in the cast--Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe--the friendship between C. Thomas Howell's Ponyboy and Ralph Macchio's doomed Johnny is still the focus. If anything, Tom Cruise, as an obnoxious greaser, gives the least promising performance, while Matt Dillon (Crash) as the unpredictable Dally and Diane Lane (Unfaithful) as the beautiful Cherry provide a taste of the mature work to come. Aside from 22 minutes of restored footage (including a prologue and epilogue), which add heart and grandeur, The Complete Novel includes several new rock and roll tracks, most by Elvis Presley. In the end, the revamped Outsiders still plays like a cross between Rebel Without a Cause and The Last Picture Show--and that's a good thing. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

In 1983, Francis Ford Coppola's film of S.E. Hinton's novel struck a powerful chord with audiences, capturing the intense feelings of being caught between childhood and adulthood, and not belonging anywhere. Decades later, Coppola has revisited the film and reintegrated 22 minutes of character-enriching footage, including a new beginnning and ending more true to the book. A rousing new rock-n-roll soundtrack featuring six songs from Elvis Presley and other music greats make this new version of The Outsiders one of movie history's great rediscoveries.

DVD Features:
Additional Scenes:10 Minutes of Additional Scenes
Audio Commentary:New Introduction and Commentary by Director Francis Ford Coppola New Introduction and Commentary by Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe and Diane Lane
Documentaries:The Casting of The Outsiders Staying Gold: A Look Back at the Outsiders S.E. Hinton on Location in Tulsa
Featurette:NBC Today Segment: The Outsiders Started by School Petition Readings: Seven cast members do readings of the book.
Other:Fred Roos and the Casting of The Outsiders, Including Never-Before-Seen Screen Tests and Auditions
Theatrical Trailer:1983 Theatrical Trailer

The Outsiders

Director Francis Coppola's adaptation of the popular S.E. Hinton novel about the price of rebellious youth is notable chiefly for the stunning cast of young actors who went on to rich and varied careers. In supporting roles, the film features the likes of Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Diane Lane, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, and Tom Waits, among others. The story centers on two rival gangs in the early 1960s Midwest, and the violent turf wars that escalate and tragically claim young lives. C. Thomas Howell plays the central character who yearns to prove himself and be accepted by his older brothers' gang, while at the same time finding his first love and dreaming of a life beyond his dead end existence. Geared toward the teenage crowd, the film nonetheless features some fine direction from Coppola in a story that evokes memories of the classic coming-of-age films of the 1950s. --Robert Lane

No one was surprised when Francis Ford Coppola revisited Apocalypse Now, but his overhaul of The Outsiders raised a few eyebrows. Here was a modestly successful film better remembered for its Brat Pack cast than its Oscar-winning director, but The Complete Novel succeeds in bringing more of S.E. Hinton's young adult classic to the screen along with Coppola's epic vision. The story remains the same: The working class greasers and wealthy Socs ("Socials") of Tulsa, OK, circa 1966, are at war. Despite the bigger names in the cast--Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe--the friendship between C. Thomas Howell's Ponyboy and Ralph Macchio's doomed Johnny is still the focus. If anything, Tom Cruise, as an obnoxious greaser, gives the least promising performance, while Matt Dillon (Crash) as the unpredictable Dally and Diane Lane (Unfaithful) as the beautiful Cherry provide a taste of the mature work to come. Aside from 22 minutes of restored footage (including a prologue and epilogue), which add heart and grandeur, The Complete Novel includes several new rock and roll tracks, most by Elvis Presley. In the end, the revamped Outsiders still plays like a cross between Rebel Without a Cause and The Last Picture Show--and that's a good thing. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

St. Elmo's Fire

A collective vanity piece for the so-called Brat Pack of the 1980s, this coming-of-age movie--written and directed by Joel Schumacher (A Time to Kill)--is a largely unbelievable ensemble piece about college grads having trouble getting a lift-off into adulthood. As in John Hughes's Breakfast Club--which has a lot of casting overlap with this film--each actor plays a rather narrow type with problems common to his or her classification. Some (as with Rob Lowe's seemingly doomstruck character) are more absurd than others. But absurdity isn't the issue in this movie; a general sense of indulgence is. Schumacher not only presumes an undeserved mystique about this cast, but he also exploits it and comes up empty. --Tom Keogh

Wayne's World

TV's Saturday Night Live has been like the evil twin of the legendary alchemist's stone, which supposedly could turn lead into gold. SNL usually does the opposite, taking rich comic premises from short skits and extrapolating them into overblown and unfunny full-length films. ("The Coneheads"? Puh-leeze!) But this film proved to be the exception, thanks to Mike Myers's wonderfully rude lowbrow humor and his full-bodied understanding of who his character is. Wayne Campbell (Myers) and his nerdy pal Garth (Dana Carvey) are teens who live at home and have their own low-rent cable-access show in Aurora, Illinios, in which they celebrate their favorite female movie stars and heavy-metal bands. When a Chicago TV station smells a potential youth-audience ratings hit, the station's weasely executive (Rob Lowe) tries to coopt the show--and steal Wayne's new rock & roll girlfriend (Tia Carrere) at the same time. It's filled with all kinds of knowing spoofs of movie conventions, from Wayne talking to the camera (and forbidding other characters to do so) to hilariously self-conscious product placements and labeling a moment a "Gratuitous Sex Scene." Dumb--and very funny. --Marshall Fine

Temptations abound when Wayne and Garth are offered a fat contract to tape their late night show at a sleazy TV executive's network.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 24-JUN-2003
Media Type: DVD

The Stand

After a government-spawned "superflu" wipes out more than 90 percent of the earth's population, the devastated survivors must decide whether to support or resist the advances of a mysterious stranger from way down South (heh-heh) who wishes to claim this new world order for himself. Although the six-hour length makes it nigh-impossible to digest in one sitting, this well-paced adaptation of Stephen King's apocalyptic magnum opus ranks among the best adaptations of the author's work, with strong performances from Gary Sinise, Miguel Ferrer, and especially Jamey Sheridan as a good-old-boy version of Old Scratch. The opening scene, set to the strains of Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper," is one of the most chilling things ever shot for television. Director Mick Garris is no stranger to King's world, having also helmed Sleepwalkers, the recent television remake of The Shining, and the upcoming Desperation. --Andrew Wright

The Christmas Shoes

In this Heartwarming holiday Drama a workaholic attorney (Rob Lowe) crosses paths with a young boy on Christmas Eve and rediscovers the true meaning of love life and the holiday season.Special Features:Featurette and extra footage of the The Christmas Shoes including cast interviewsExclusive interview and Newsong and Donna VanLiereThe Christmas Shoes discussion guideChristmas Shoes music video and excerpts from Donna VanLiere s Christmas collections and upcoming book The Angels of Morgan HillFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY UPC: 018713518064 Manufacturer No: 05-51806

The Christmas Shoes bounces between two families--the Layton household, where father Robert (Rob Lowe, The West Wing) is so consumed with his work that he misses his daughter's recital; and the Andrews home, where mother Maggie (Kimberly Williams, According to Jim) has been diagnosed with a fatal heart ailment. Desperate to make his mother's last moments happy, Maggie's son Nathan struggles to buy a pair of red dancing shoes that seem like a pair Maggie remembers from her childhood. Naturally, the lives of these families become intertwined, particularly when Robert's wife takes over Maggie's choral program--which topples the already troubled balance between Kate and Robert. Perhaps because Rob Lowe is usually stereotyped as glib and insincere, The Christmas Shoes feels surprisingly heartfelt. The earnestness of The Christmas Shoes surprises because the story originated in the famously sappy country song of the same name, and movies based on songs rarely feel anything but plastic and contrived. There are certainly moments when The Christmas Shoes lays on the sentiment woefully thick, but you'd have to be an ogre not to be touched when Maggie and her husband have one last dance. Also featuring Dorian Harewood (Roots: The Next Generations). --Bret Fetzer

About Last Night...

For better or worse, David Mamet's hit play Sexual Perversity in Chicago is watered down into this romantic comedy about a couple (played by Rob Lowe and Demi Moore) who get together and then fall apart due to Lowe's character's inability to commit. Jim Belushi is on hand as the gratuitously swinish best friend who looks at women as meat, and Elizabeth Perkins is entertainingly arch as Moore's gal pal and Belushi's nemesis. There's nothing about this 1986 film by Edward Zwick (cocreator of TV's thirtysomething and director of Glory and Courage Under Fire) that is at all reminiscent of Mamet, but that doesn't make it bad or dull. While one can feel the script straining to fill in gaps where chunks of the original play have disappeared, Zwick often successfully tells the story without words at all, relying on the actors to convey pure emotion. Lowe is good, and the then-willowy Moore's understated performance reminds one of the actress she might have been before she became a spectacle. --Tom Keogh

View from the Top

An ingeniously campy and enormously entertaining piece of fluff, View from the Top stars the impossibly lithe Gwyneth Paltrow as Donna, a white-trash girl with dreams of escaping her dead-end life by becoming an international flight attendant. Her destiny is complicated by a sweet guy (Mark Ruffalo) who just wants to live with his family in Cleveland and by a sister stewardess (Christina Applegate) who stabs Donna in the back. View from the Top doesn't take itself seriously, yet takes itself just seriously enough--Donna and the rest of the characters treat their absurdly candy-colored world as if it mattered. As Donna experiences the world and improves her fashion sense, the result is both hilarious and hilariously touching. Also featuring Mike Myers, Kelly Preston, and Candice Bergen as Donna's visionary mentor. --Bret Fetzer

Academy Award(R)-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow (SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, Best Actress, 1998; SHALLOW HAL) stars in this hilarious comedy hit about a small-town girl who's about to get a taste of the big-time world! No one thought Donna (Paltrow) would go very far. But when she sets her sights on becoming a first-class international flight attendant, Donna throws caution to the wind and takes off in pursuit of her dream! The ride is anything but smooth, however, and Donna's laugh-packed journey of a lifetime is rocked by more turbulence than she bargained for! Also starring Christina Applegate (TV's MARRIED WITH CHILDREN), Rob Lowe (AUSTIN POWERS Trilogy, TOMMY BOY), Kelly Preston (WHAT A GIRL WANTS, JERRY MAGUIRE), and Candice Bergen (SWEET HOME ALAMBAMA, MISS CONGENIALITY), this charmingly funny treat will send your spirits soaring!

Youngblood

Handsome young men whack each other in the face with sticks and learn about life in this enjoyably silly hockey movie. Rob Lowe stars as Dean Youngblood, an American rookie who's been given a shot on a Canadian Junior League hockey team. Sure, he can skate, but can he take a punch? This coming-of-age story is about learning the beauty of vicious hockey fights. No, really. Containing both young-bucks-in-the-locker-room shots and plenty of hockey violence, Youngblood is a surprisingly entertaining cupcake of a movie--there's not much nourishment, but it sure tastes good. Watch for Patrick Swayze as the team's leader and Keanu Reeves in his first film role as the French-Canadian goalie. The DVD's most entertaining feature is the option of watching Youngblood dubbed into French--not to be missed. --Ali Davis

As young hockey hotshots Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze make an unbeatable team in a film that counterpoints a tender love story with thrilling on-ice action.System Requirements:Starring: Rob Lowe Cynthia Gibb Patrick Swayze Ed Lauter Jim Youngs Eric Nesterenko and Keanu Reeves. Directed By: Peter Markle. Running Time: 110 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2000 MGM Studios.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 027616861221 Manufacturer No: 1001854