Pankin, Stuart

Mannequin & Mannequin 2: On the Move

Mannequin is notionally a romantic comedy in which Andrew McCarthy plays a luckless department-store employee and Kim Cattrall (Sex and the City) is an Egyptian princess reincarnated as a shop-window dummy, who comes to life when she encounters McCarthy, only to revert to mannequin status when anyone else is watching her. With her encouragement, he becomes emboldened in his career as a window decorator as well as falling in love with the princess. James Spader's oily, stammering executive is just one of the many examples of a film that tries way too hard to be funny, the sort of characterization that would be barely adequate for a TV commercial, let alone a 90-minute movie. Still, for fans of Sex and the City who might want to feast upon the spectacle of a younger Kim Cattrall, Mannequin might offer a measure of relief. --David Stubbs

Mannequin: In many ways Emmy is the perfect girlfriend: pretty and poised with a perpetual smile -- and she never talks back. Sure she's a department store dummy but Jonathan doesn't seem to mind.Mannequin 2: On The Move: Hollywood Montrose (Meshach Taylor) has now been promoted to the head of Prince & Company's Visual Display Department. He takes on a new assistant Jason (William Ragsdale) who in a past life was the prince of the kingdom of Hauptmann-Koenig. One thousand years ago he lost his beloved Jessie (Kristy Swanson) when an evil sorcerer (Terry Kiser) turned her into a wooden icon now known as the Enchanted Peasant Girl. As a tribute to Hauptman-Koenig the Enchanted Peasant Girl is being sent to Prince & Company for a window display. Jason awakens Jessie and the two get re-acquainted having a millennium of things to catch up on. But the evil sorcerer now reincarnated as Count Spretzle arrives on the scene to take Jessie (and a prized necklace) and hop a flight for Bermuda with Jason the only one who can stop him.System Requirements:Running Time: 184 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/COMEDY OF ERRORS UPC: 883904104322 Manufacturer No: M110432

The Hollywood Knights

You've got to give credit to the Hollywood Knights. They may be crass, juvenile, sex-mad pranksters, but they have an open-door policy: nerds and jocks alike are welcome, as long as they show proper disrespect for authority. The Hollywood Knights, a minor 1980 cult comedy poised somewhere between the innocent nostalgia of American Graffiti and the raunchy humor of Animal House, chronicles the antics of a practical-joking high school gang on Halloween night, 1965. In tribute to the last night of their favorite hangout, a Beverly Hills drive-in marked for destruction by the snooty Chamber of Commerce, the gang's court jester Newbomb Turk (Robert Wuhl in his film debut) leads the Knights in an all-out assault on the forces of law and order, conformity, and good taste. Nestled in the parade of toilet humor, fart jokes, mooning rebels, and topless co-eds, however, are the ruminations of the end of an era: the times they are a changin'. The doo-wop and surf soundtrack gives way to Motown, the Mamas and the Papas, and the Byrds as high school sweethearts Tony Danza and Michelle Pfeiffer weather the transition from puppy love to adult romance and Vietnam looms on the horizon. It's a schizophrenic film, bopping from juvenile anarchy to thoughtful drama and back again with a sloppy but energetic drive and a rowdy rebelliousness that will never be accused of sensitivity, decency, or dignity. Fran Drescher, Gary Graham, and a hilarious Stuart Pankin also star. --Sean Axmaker

Fatal Attraction (Special Collector's Edition)

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

Striptease

This horrible misfire from the usually reliable writer-director Andrew Bergman (The Freshman) has nothing funny, provocative, timely, or interesting to say (despite being based on a novel by Carl Hiaasen) once Demi Moore gets her clothes off. Moore plays a single, unemployed mom caught up in a custody battle who elects to make some money by stripping at a club. The character's troubles don't end there, however: Her ex-husband is posing a threat, and a perverted congressman (Burt Reynolds) is looking for more than a lap dance. Bergman's great wit is nowhere in sight, and the film primarily becomes another opportunity for Moore to function like a special effect. The unrated video version of the film includes two minutes of footage not seen in the theatrical release. --Tom Keogh

To take on the system she first must take it off. Demi Moore is a single mom who turns to stripping to acquire the money she needs for a custody suit involving her child. Year: 1996 Director: Andrew Bergman Starring: Demi Moore Burt Reynolds Armand Assante Ving Rhames Special Features: Scene access Video Format: A: Standard; B: WidescreenSound: English French: Dolby Surround 2.0; Subtitles: English French Region Coding: 1 (U.S. and Canada)Running Time: 118 min.System Requirements:Starring: Demi Moore Burt Reynolds Armand Assante Ving Rhames Robert Patrick Paul Guilfoyle. Directed By: Andrew Bergman Running Time: 117 Mins. Color This film is presented in both "Widescreen" and "Standard" formats. Copyright 1999 Warner Home VideoFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating:  UPC: 053939256925

Arachnophobia

Most horror movies depend on giant monsters; Arachnophobia gets just as many thrills out of creatures only a few inches long. A scientist (Julian Sands, Warlock, A Room with a View) who's hunting a vicious new species of spider in Venezuela unknowingly ships one back to the U.S. It ends up in a small town where a new doctor (Jeff Daniels, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Something Wild) is trying to establish a practice. When his patients start suddenly dying, Daniels suspects spiders--but no one takes him seriously because he's had a phobia about spiders since childhood. Arachnophobia builds a slow but relentless sense of menace and creepiness, mixed with a sneaky satire of small town life. If you're squeamish about spiders, this will get under your skin. Also featuring the ever-dependable John Goodman (The Big Lebowski, Barton Fink) as a comically zealous exterminator. --Bret Fetzer

Hollywood Pictures and Amblin Entertainment deliver the year's most electrifying big-screen roller coaster ride of a movie! Everyone is afraid of something ... for Dr. Ross Jennings (Jeff Daniels), his phobia is downright embarrassing. But when he moves his family to a small town, the one thing that bugs him most is now harming the townspeople at an alarming rate. For this unlikely hero, overcoming a childhood fear of spiders might just save the community, but it may already be too late! Directed by Frank Marshall (Executive Producer, BACK TO THE FUTURE, Producer, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK) and also starring John Goodman, this critically acclaimed breathtaking hit entertains with its terrific mix of thrills, chills, and laughter!

Congo

This is a terrible movie. Frank Marshall (Arachnophobia) demonstrates no control over story, actors, effects, or general presentation in this adaptation of a Michael Crichton novel about an expedition into deep, dark Africa that runs into an unknown race of killer apes. The big monkeys attack and attack and attack and have to be fought off with machine guns and lasers--that's pretty much the story, except there's probably an even better one behind "fourth Ghostbuster" Ernie Hudson's bizarre decision to speak with a British accent. While Marshall wants us to root for the human characters, they're all so obnoxious and unbelievable you can't help but feel lousy for the poor apes when they get chopped to bits just for defending their homes against these twerps. If you're not feeling enough environmentalist ire these days, watch this and get angry. --Tom Keogh

Napoleon

This live-action feature follows the adventures of a golden retriever puppy who chafes under his given name of "Muffin" (much preferring his own choice of "Napoleon") and who travels through the Australian outback in search of his canine roots. Plopping, as puppies will do, into a basket suspended by balloons one day, Napoleon drifts from the home of his mother and human family, eventually landing on the rocky shore of Sydney Harbor. There he becomes acquainted with a chatty parrot named Birdo Lucci (say the name aloud, you film buffs) and encounters all manner of animals in the wild: a cagey koala, a maternal kangaroo, an irritated lizard, and the dingoes with whom he wants to bond. The film was produced with an eye toward pleasing young audiences practically anywhere on earth, and the sight gags and visual thrills have a broad, universal appeal, while the many creatures in this film are given human voices on the soundtrack (any language would do, but the English-language actors include Joan Rivers and Dame Edna). On the downside, the dialogue can be a bit coarse ("shut up," "stupid," that sort of thing), though it's never obscene. And while no animals were hurt during the making of the movie, some of them certainly look as if they're placed in stressful situations. --Tom Keogh

Join a precocious golden retriever pup as he takes off on a magical journey to the wilds of the Australian Outback in this wonderful all-animal adventure. Napoleon is a wonderful treat the whole family will love! Life as a house pet isn't much fun for young Muffin, a puppy who dreams of being a "wild dog." So when he gets his chance to escape his suburban backyard in a helium balloon-powered basket, the pup hops on board, changes his name to Napoleon and sets off on the adventure of a lifetime. Along the way he meets some very special friends a chatty parrot, a wise owl, a clever koala and more who help him on his journey for excitement. But fun isn't all that Napoleon discovers on his quest for adventure...he also learns more about the world and himself than he ever thought possible.

Hangar 18

Squanto: A Warrior's Tale

Get ready for nonstop action in this rousing tale of a Native American who defies incredible odds in his struggle for freedom! Squanto, a young warrior abducted from his homeland and enslaved, must battle impossible hazards on a desperate journey home. Driven by a passion to be free, he risks everything to escape his captors, braving the wilderness and triumphing, finally, as a great leader. A vivid true story of one man's unquenchable thirst for independence, SQUANTO: A WARRIOR'S TALE thrills with high-powered action and inspires with legendary courage!

Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves

Get ready for king-sized laughs with Disney's brand-new sequel to the colossal movie hit, HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS. Rick Moranis returns as wacky, absent-minded inventor Wayne Szalinski, a scientific giant who gets into huge trouble when he decides to use his infamous shrink machine just one more time. A tiny glitch causes Wayne, his brother, and their wives to shrink big time! Soon, they must brave household insects the size of dinosaurs, a treacherous loop-the-loop track in a toy race car, dizzying "balloon" rides inside soap bubbles, and more! Meanwhile, thinking they have the house all to themselves, the kids get into mega-mischief -- never guessing their pint-sized parents are watching their every move! With amazing special effects and nonstop excitement, HONEY, WE SHRUNK OURSELVES is a hilarious, heartwarming, hugely entertaining adventure for the entire family!