Today’s New Releases
The following list of new video and DVD releases is over 100 titles long. But the only 2 titles that I give a hoot about are “Amelie” and “Better Off Dead.” Well, maybe “Kids In The Hall: Brain Candy” and “Black Sheep” as well, but not as much.
So lets go to the list!
Here are the new video and DVD releases for Tuesday, July 16th, 2002:
FIRST UP, THE “BIG” TITLES
AMELIE- What a strange career path for director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. First he and collaborator Marc Caro make the black-hearted cannibalism comedy Delicatessen, which is set in some bleak near-future. It has some of the most elaborate, flashy, “look-at-me” camerawork since the Coen Brothers got drunk on the possibilities of cinema with Blood Simple. Then the two men deliver the opaque City of Lost Children, a full-out sci-fi epic that plays more like a Rube Goldberg contraption than a movie. Jeunet and Caro split up and Jeunet is seduced by Hollywood into making Alien Resurrection, a flop that kills a franchise. So what does Jeunet do? He turns around and delivers Amelie, starring Audrey Tautou and Mathieu Kassovitz. It’s a valentine to love and possibility that delights in romance almost as much as it delights in filmmaking itself. Tautou becomes a star and Jeunet is redeemed as surely as her insecure but lovable waitress. The witty voice-overs make this an ideal double-bill with Y Tu Mama Tambien.
BETTER OFF DEAD- In 1985, the same year John Cusack made the marvelous romantic comedy The Sure Thing and the fine Disney flick The Journey of Natty Gann, he delivered this oddball flick about a teenager desperately trying to commit suicide and only embarrassing himself in the process. The Sure Thing may be considered by many to be the better film, but Better Off Dead proved Cusack was one to watch. The mere fact that he made a film with someone called Savage Steve Holland proved Cusack wasn’t willing to play it safe. And his earnest charm grounded the bizarre, scattershot storyline (including that hilarious running gag about the newspaper delivery boy). After this, anyone paying attention knew Cusack had the smarts to forge a career. What would follow? Just Eight Men Out, Say Anything, The Grifters, Bullets Over Broadway, Grosse Point Blank, The Thin Red Line, Being John Malcovich and High Fidelity, to name a few. Now if we can only get the other Cusack/Savage Steve Holland film, “One Crazy Summer” released then many a happy night will be had.
John Q- A man with dying son takes E.R. hostage for surgery. (Denzel Washington, Robert Duvall, Kimberly Elise)
New Best Friend- A college student is murdered as part of class curriculum. (Dominique Swain, Taye Diggs, Mia Kirshner)
Pinero- The true story of a Latino poet-playwright-actor. (Benjamin Bratt, Giancarlo Esposito, Talisa Soto)
AND THEN, THERES THE REST OF THEM
The ’60s
The ’70s
Ablaze
American Flyers
Arthur: Scary Stories
Assassins
Baby’s Day Out
The Bachelor
Backflash
Battlefield Earth
Better Dayz
The Big Bus
The Big Tease
Black Cat Run
Black Sheep
Boys On The Side
Breaking Away
The Cell
Chasing Holden
Cheaters
Civil War Life: Left For Dead
The Clan Of The Cave Bear
Cleopatra’s Second Husband
Conspiracy Theory
A Cry In The Dark
Demolition Man
Drop Dead Gorgeous
Earthly Possessions
The Eddy Duchin Story
Elmo Says Boo
Enter The Dragon
The Exorcist (Version You’ve Never Seen)
Fever Pitch
Fort Apache, The Bronx
Get Carter (Full Screen)
Gung Ho
Hairdo U
Home Fries
The Incredible Human Body
Jamie Foxx: I Might Need Security
Kids In The Hall: Brain Candy
La Terra Trema
The Last Boy Scout
Lethal Weapon
Lethal Weapon 2 (Director’s Cut)
Lethal Weapon 3 (Director’s Cut)
Lethal Weapon 4
Liberty Heights
Life’s Greatest Miracle
The Long Kiss Goodnight
Lovers Lane
Mad City
The Master Of The Rings
Mean Machine
Mr. Wonderful
Murder At 1600
My Bodyguard
My Giant
National Lampoon’s Loaded Weapon 1
No Contest
Ossessione
Our Man Flint
Passenger 57
Playboy’s Women Of Enron
Point Of No Return
Primal Instinct
Proof Of Life
Pump Up The Volume
Red Beard (B&W)
Robin And Marian
Rock-a-Doodle
Romeo Must Die
Rookie Of The Year
Rush Hour
The Sandlot
The Sea Wolves
Soldier
Space Cowboys
Spawn
Sphere
Stay Tuned
Storytelling
A Stranger Inside
Superman (Special Edition)
Surviving The Game
Sweet Dreams
Ten Tiny Love Stories
Three Brothers
To Die For
Top Secret!
Under Siege
Under Siege 2: Dark Territory
Victory
What Have You Done To Solange
White Sands
Wild Wild West
Without Limits
WWF: Insurrextion
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