National Lampoon's Animal House Double Secret Probation Edition
DIRECTOR: John Landis
CAST: John Belushi, Tom Hulce, Stephen Furst, Mark Metcalf, Mary Louise Weller, Martha Smith, James Daughton, Kevin Bacon, Douglas Kenney, Chris Miller, Bruce Bonnheim, Karen Allen, James Widdoes, Tim Matheson, Peter Riegart.
SYNOPSIS: The irreverent Delta Tau Chi fraternity wreaks havoc at Faber College in 1962, despite efforts of uptight Dean Vernon Wormer and the sanctimonious Omega Theta Pi house.
WHAT WE SAID: St. Petersburg Times film critic Steve Persall wrote a column Aug. 22 about the film's 25th anniversary. "Other filmmakers have tried to emulate the irreverence of Animal House," he said. "None have come close to matching the social satire and pinpoint personalities director John Landis invested in his film. Most figure just having college students getting drunk and frisky is enough. It isn't. Newer campus comedies like Old School, American Pie, even National Lampoon's own Van Wilder can't possibly duplicate the creative frontier spirit of Animal House, breaking new ground as an antisocial statement against the status quo."
MPAA RATING: R
RUNNING TIME: 109 minutes
DVD FEATURES: Where Are They Now? A Delta Alumni Update, Did You Know That (Universal animated anecdotes), the Yearbook: An Animal House Reunion, available in widescreen format.
Chasing Papi
DIRECTOR: Linda Mendoza
CAST: Roselyn Sanchez, Sofia Vergara, Jaci Velasquez, Eduardo Verastegui, Lisa Vidal, D.L. Hughley, Freddy Rodriguez.
SYNOPSIS: Papi (Verastegui) is a playboy with three girlfriends in different states, except for one weekend when they all converge in Los Angeles.
WHAT WE SAID: Times correspondent Marty Clear gave the film an F in his April review. "It's hard to know what to dislike most about Chasing Papi," he said. "Probably, though, the most annoying aspect of Chasing Papi is that it doesn't have one funny moment."
MPAA RATING: PG for mild sensuality and language
RUNNING TIME: 85 minutes
DVD FEATURES: Commentary by Mendoza, cinematographer Xavier Perez Grobet and actors Vergara, Sanchez and Verastegui in Spanish and English with English or Spanish subtitles, theatrical trailers, making-of featurette, bloopers and outtakes, music video: Chasing Papi by Huey Dunbar featuring Fat Joe, available in widescreen format
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
DIRECTOR: Peter Jackson
CAST: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys-Davies, Christopher Lee, Andy Serkis, Liv Tyler, Brad Dourif, Miranda Otto, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving
SYNOPSIS: The second episode of the trilogy is larger and louder than the first, The Fellowship of the Ring. The hook for nonreaders of J.R.R. Tolkien's novels is Gollum, a computer-generated character overshadowing the flesh-and-blood performers.
WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave the film a B in his December review. "The Fellowship of the Ring was far superior in terms of sheer wow, although the plot seemed more like a video game outline. The Two Towers has more story momentum, as midsections often do, yet it comes at the expense of special effects with ominous discussions matching fantastic compu-doodles for screen time. . . . Everything about The Two Towers is bigger, but that doesn't necessarily make it better."
MPAA RATING: PG-13; harsh violence, scary images
RUNNING TIME: 179 minutes
DVD FEATURES: Four discs with the film (including new scenes); commentaries; multiple documentaries and design/photo galleries, features on adapting the book into a screenplay and planning the film; design and inspiration for locations in Middle-earth; storyboards to previsualization; Weta Workshop visit with sculptors in action as they create weapons, armor, creatures and miniatures from the film; Atlas of Middle-earth tracing the journey of the Fellowship; and more. Available in widescreen.
Stitch: The Movie
DIRECTORS: Tony Craig and Robert Gannaway
CAST: Voices of Zoe Caldwell, Tia Carrere, Daveigh Chase, Kevin McDonald, Ving Rhames, Kevin Michael Richardson, Chris Sanders, David Ogden Stiers
SYNOPSIS: In this sequel to last year's Lilo & Stitch, Stitch is joined on Earth (by accident, of course) by 625 other experiments-gone-wrong.
WHAT WE SAID: This movie is a direct-to-video release.
