Zolotin, Adam

Stephen King's Storm of the Century

"Give me what I want and I'll go away," demands the black-eyed, stocking-capped stranger Linoge (Colm Feore), who appears in a quiet island community on the verge of the worst storm in decades and brutally bludgeons an old lady to death. Tim Daly, the town sheriff and voice of reason and moral strength, locks up the quiet madman, but the deaths pile up as Linoge acts them out from his cell like a murderous mime pulling psychic strings. Stephen King, whose original teleplay is his best work for the screen since The Stand, transforms the sleepy burg into a Peyton Place of guilty secrets and criminal activity ripped from under a blanket of small town normality while the white-out of the snowstorm completely cuts them off from civilization. Director Craig R. Baxley nicely maintains an icy tension while the waiting game goes on, perhaps a little too long, before Linoge finally reveals "what he wants" and the drama turns into a struggle for man's soul in miniature. The more ambitious special effects and set pieces sometimes disappoint but are more than made up for in King's knack for turning the mundane into the macabre (the children's song "I'm a Little Teapot" has never sounded more sinister) and a few brilliantly realized sequences, the best of which occurs when townspeople are literally yanked out of existence while watching the storm. Storm of the Century is one of the most successful translations of King's brand of horror to the screen. --Sean Axmaker

The terrifying tale of a town beseiged by evil. The inhabitants of a picturesque sleepy little town on a small island off the coast of main find themselves completely cut off from the rest of the world when they are hit by the worst storm of the century. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 03/22/2005 Starring: Tim Daly Colm Feore Run time: 248 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Craig R. Baxley

Jack

Jack powell is about to tackle his biggest adventure ever the fifth grade. Jack is a 10-year-old boy who just wants to go to school with all the other kids his age. Theres just one little problem he looks like a 40-year-old man. As jack embarks on the greatest journey of his life he takes us on a ride of laughs. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 08/02/2005 Starring: Robin Williams Fran Drescher Run time: 113 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Jack is Francis Coppola at his most pointless noodling, looking for the film he wants to make instead of just making it. Robin Williams stars as 10-year-old Jack, a boy with an inexplicable disease that ages him at four times the normal human rate. Kept at home like a contemporary Boo Radley, Jack becomes a neighborhood legend until his parents relent and send him to school. In time, the other kids befriend him and stay loyal as his hyperdevelopment puts a strain on his body and emotions. The idea is sound, but the execution is a bore. The best the script and Coppola can come up with are painfully long scenes in which Williams's character proves himself on the playground and in gross-out contests in a tree house. Coppola fishes around for signs of life and spontaneity in these scenes, but the film is actually best when Jack has to cope with certain feelings in his mature body (such as his attraction to a character played by Fran Drescher) that he isn't prepared for emotionally. Jack would have been a lot better if Coppola had embraced a plan from beginning to end and stuck to it. --Tom Keogh

Zerophilia

Studio: Tla Releasing Release Date: 02/19/2008 Rating: Nr

Leave it to Beaver

You might think that this 1997 comedy based on the popular late-'50s TV series would be little more than a pointless clone of its small-screen predecessor, but as a harmless slice of family entertainment it's surprisingly easy to take. Of course nobody could ever hope to match the original Cleaver family for Eisenhower-era charm, but there's cleverness afoot in the notion of presenting the Clinton-era Cleavers with just a hint of dysfunction beneath all that domestic bliss and innocence. While Ward (Christopher McDonald) pushes his son Beaver (Cameron Finley) onto the football team to compensate for the lost glories of his bygone youth, Beaver's grades suffer along with his self-esteem. When a teacher suggests that the Cleavers seek family counseling, June (Janine Turner) has visions of Beaver in the loony bin. Meanwhile, brother Wally is wracked with guilt over dating his friend Eddie Haskell's object of affection, but eventually these various plot lines (borrowed from the TV show) converge for the requisite happy ending. What--you were expecting Beaver to become a Prozac kid? --Jeff Shannon

A lot has changed since the first leave it to beaver television show aired nearly fifty years ago. But beaver cleaver is still a little boy with a knack for getting into very big trouble. Join the beaver his parents ward and june brother wally and his way-out wacky friends for an adventure. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 06/24/2008 Starring: Christopher Mcdonald Erik Von Detten Run time: 88 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Andy Cadiff

Storm of the Century

"Give me what I want and I'll go away," demands the black-eyed, stocking-capped stranger Linoge (Colm Feore), who appears in a quiet island community on the verge of the worst storm in decades and brutally bludgeons an old lady to death. Tim Daly, the town sheriff and voice of reason and moral strength, locks up the quiet madman, but the deaths pile up as Linoge acts them out from his cell like a murderous mime pulling psychic strings. Stephen King, whose original teleplay is his best work for the screen since The Stand, transforms the sleepy burg into a Peyton Place of guilty secrets and criminal activity ripped from under a blanket of small town normality while the white-out of the snowstorm completely cuts them off from civilization. Director Craig R. Baxley nicely maintains an icy tension while the waiting game goes on, perhaps a little too long, before Linoge finally reveals "what he wants" and the drama turns into a struggle for man's soul in miniature. The more ambitious special effects and set pieces sometimes disappoint but are more than made up for in King's knack for turning the mundane into the macabre (the children's song "I'm a Little Teapot" has never sounded more sinister) and a few brilliantly realized sequences, the best of which occurs when townspeople are literally yanked out of existence while watching the storm. Storm of the Century is one of the most successful translations of King's brand of horror to the screen. --Sean Axmaker

Leave it to Beaver

You might think that this 1997 comedy based on the popular late-'50s TV series would be little more than a pointless clone of its small-screen predecessor, but as a harmless slice of family entertainment it's surprisingly easy to take. Of course nobody could ever hope to match the original Cleaver family for Eisenhower-era charm, but there's cleverness afoot in the notion of presenting the Clinton-era Cleavers with just a hint of dysfunction beneath all that domestic bliss and innocence. While Ward (Christopher McDonald) pushes his son Beaver (Cameron Finley) onto the football team to compensate for the lost glories of his bygone youth, Beaver's grades suffer along with his self-esteem. When a teacher suggests that the Cleavers seek family counseling, June (Janine Turner) has visions of Beaver in the loony bin. Meanwhile, brother Wally is wracked with guilt over dating his friend Eddie Haskell's object of affection, but eventually these various plot lines (borrowed from the TV show) converge for the requisite happy ending. What--you were expecting Beaver to become a Prozac kid? --Jeff Shannon

Jack [Region 2]

Jack is Francis Coppola at his most pointless noodling, looking for the film he wants to make instead of just making it. Robin Williams stars as 10-year-old Jack, a boy with an inexplicable disease that ages him at four times the normal human rate. Kept at home like a contemporary Boo Radley, Jack becomes a neighborhood legend until his parents relent and send him to school. In time, the other kids befriend him and stay loyal as his hyperdevelopment puts a strain on his body and emotions. The idea is sound, but the execution is a bore. The best the script and Coppola can come up with are painfully long scenes in which Williams's character proves himself on the playground and in gross-out contests in a tree house. Coppola fishes around for signs of life and spontaneity in these scenes, but the film is actually best when Jack has to cope with certain feelings in his mature body (such as his attraction to a character played by Fran Drescher) that he isn't prepared for emotionally. Jack would have been a lot better if Coppola had embraced a plan from beginning to end and stuck to it. --Tom Keogh

Jack [Region 2]

Jack is Francis Coppola at his most pointless noodling, looking for the film he wants to make instead of just making it. Robin Williams stars as 10-year-old Jack, a boy with an inexplicable disease that ages him at four times the normal human rate. Kept at home like a contemporary Boo Radley, Jack becomes a neighborhood legend until his parents relent and send him to school. In time, the other kids befriend him and stay loyal as his hyperdevelopment puts a strain on his body and emotions. The idea is sound, but the execution is a bore. The best the script and Coppola can come up with are painfully long scenes in which Williams's character proves himself on the playground and in gross-out contests in a tree house. Coppola fishes around for signs of life and spontaneity in these scenes, but the film is actually best when Jack has to cope with certain feelings in his mature body (such as his attraction to a character played by Fran Drescher) that he isn't prepared for emotionally. Jack would have been a lot better if Coppola had embraced a plan from beginning to end and stuck to it. --Tom Keogh