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Video / DVD
New releases
A look at what will be hitting the shelves this week
By Times Staff Writer
Published July 22, 2004
The Human Stain
DIRECTOR: Robert Benton
CAST: Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman, Ed Harris, Gary Sinise, Wentworth Miller, Jacinda Barrett, Anna Deavere Smith
SYNOPSIS: Based on the Philip Roth novel. Coleman Silk (Hopkins), a professor of classic literature at a small New England college, is disgraced by a slip of the tongue that is interpreted as a racial slur. He is fired, and the news literally kills his wife. Eventually Silk barges in on blocked, reclusive novelist Nathan Zuckerman (Sinise), spinning tales about his past and gushing about his affair with a woman half his age named Faunia Farley (Kidman).
WHAT WE SAID: Times film critic Steve Persall gave it a B+, writing, "There isn't a false note in The Human Stain except Hopkins' casting. . . . The movie's emotional pull and tragic irony are compelling. . . . Benton does an admirable job in a rare film that one wishes were longer. See the movie, read the book."
MPAA RATING: R; sexual situations, nudity, profanity, boxing violence
RUNNING TIME: 106 min.
The Big Bounce
DIRECTOR: George Armitage
CAST: Owen Wilson, Morgan Freeman, Sara Foster, Vinnie Jones, Charlie Sheen, Gary Sinise, Willie Nelson, Harry Dean Stanton, Bebe Neuwirth.
SYNOPSIS: Based on the Elmore Leonard novel. Jack Ryan (Wilson) gets into a fight with his foreman on a construction site, which turns Ryan into a local big shot and wins him help from a judge (Freeman) and the attentions of a gorgeous woman (Foster), who wants Ryan to help her steal $200,000 from her married boyfriend.
WHAT WE SAID: Times reviewer Marty Clear gave this one a C+, writing, "It takes a little effort to ignore the plot holes in The Big Bounce. But still, there's a sort of a laid-back charm to this movie that makes it an amusing accompaniment to your popcorn."
MPAA RATING: PG-13; sexual content, nudity and language
RUNNING TIME: 89 min.
Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
DIRECTOR: Sara Sugarman
CAST: Lindsay Lohan, Alison Pill, Adam Garcia
SYNOPSIS: Greenwich Village princess (Lohan) moves to the suburbs, where she isn't the most popular girl in school.
WHAT WE SAID: Teen critic Billy Norris, who reviews films for the Times' XPress page, gave it a C-. He brought along a friend to get the female perspective, but she didn't like it either. "The movie just did not entertain us; it was corny and offered nothing that would encourage either of us to recommend it to any of our high school friends."
MPAA RATING: PG; mildly mature themes, brief profanity
RUNNING TIME: 90 min.
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights
DIRECTOR: Guy Ferland
CAST: Sela Ward, Diego Luna, Romola Garai, John Slattery
SYNOPSIS: In this prequel to 1987's Dirty Dancing, a teenage girl and her parents move to prerevolutionary Cuba, where she falls in love with a waiter, who is (surprise!) a fabulous dancer who wants to enter a national dance competition with her.
WHAT WE SAID: The Times didn't review this film.
MPAA RATING: PG-13; sensuality
RUNNING TIME: 95 min.
Starsky & Hutch
DIRECTOR: Todd Phillips
CAST: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Snoop Dogg, Vince Vaughn, Juliette Lewis, Carmen Electra, Amy Smart, Fred Williamson, Jason Bateman
SYNOPSIS: Comic remake of the 1970s TV cop show.
WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave it a D, saying the only good thing about the movie was the cherry red 1976 Ford Gran Torino the heroes drive in their fruitless pursuit of laughs.
MPAA RATING: PG-13; pervasive drug content, violence, profanity, sexual situations, partial nudity
RUNNING TIME: 109 min.
Crimson Gold
DIRECTOR: Jafar Panahi
CAST: Hossain Emadeddin, Pourang Nakhael, Azita Rayeji, Kamyar Sheisi, Shahram Vaziri
SYNOPSIS: An Iranian film about a pizza delivery man in Tehran, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war, whose sad life is used as a vehicle to view the city and its inhabitants.
WHAT WE SAID: The Times didn't review this film.
MPAA RATING: Not rated; intended for mature audiences
RUNNING TIME: 95 min.
Broken Wings
DIRECTOR: Nir Bergman
CAST: Orly Silbersatz Banai, Maya Maron, Nitai Gaviratz, Vladimir Friedman
SYNOPSIS: A middle class family in Israel faces one crisis after another after the father dies.
WHAT WE SAID: The Times did not review this film.
MPAA RATING: R (for some language, brief nudity and drug use)
RUNNING TIME: 87 min.
[Last modified July 21, 2004, 10:45:14]
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