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Video / DVD

New releases

A look at what's hitting the shelves

By Times Staff Writer
Published June 23, 2005

COACH CARTER

DIRECTOR: Thomas Carter

CAST: Samuel L. Jackson, Debbi Morgan, Rick Gonzalez, Rob Brown, Ashanti, Robert Richard, Channing Tatum, Denise Dowse, Antwon Tanner

SYNOPSIS: A high school basketball coach (Jackson) suspends an undefeated season when his players disobey his academic rules. Inspired by a true story.

WHAT WE SAID: St. Petersburg Times film critic Steve Persall gave the movie a C+. "If not for Jackson's fiery presence," Persall wrote, "Coach Carter would be TV movie of the week material. Make that a miniseries. This is a basketball flick that goes into quadruple overtime, at least 30 minutes past its dramatic stamina."

MPAA RATING: PG-13; profanity, violence, drug references, sensuality, alcohol abuse

RUNNING TIME: 130 min.

DIRECTOR: Wes Craven

CAST: Christina Ricci, Joshua Jackson, Judy Greer, Portia de Rossi, Jesse Eisenberg, Shannon Elizabeth

SYNOPSIS: Teenagers become vicious werewolves.

WHAT WE SAID: The Times did not review this movie.

MPAA RATING: PG-13; horror violence/terror, some sexual references, nudity, language and a brief drug reference

RUNNING TIME: 96 min.

DIRECTOR: Florent Emilio Siri

CAST: Bruce Willis, Kevin Pollak, Ben Foster, Jimmy Bennett, Michelle Horn, Jonathan Tucker, Marshall Allman

SYNOPSIS: A former hostage negotiator (Willis) puts those skills to work again when an accountant (Pollak) with mob ties is a home invasion victim.

WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave the film a B. He wrote, "Hostage is a movie with a mean streak as wide as the screen, with Bruce Willis returning to the brute-force stardom that allowed him so many terrible role choices by escaping what he does best. . . . Hostage isn't a particularly expert film, but like a hired killer, it stays on task."

MPAA RATING: R; strong violence, harsh profanity, drug abuse

RUNNING TIME: 113 min.

DIRECTOR: John Pasquin

CAST: Sandra Bullock, Regina King, Enrique Murciano, William Shatner, Diedrich Bader, Ernie Hudson, Heather Burns, Treat Williams

SYNOPSIS: Bullock reprises her role as an FBI agent, this time going undercover as a Las Vegas showgirl to rescue the kidnapped beauty pageant host (Shatner) she met in part one.

WHAT WE SAID: Times reviewer Rick Gershman gave the movie a C. "MC2 has no reason on earth for FBI agent Gracie Hart to go undercover again, so it reinvents itself as a buddy cop movie, pairing her with tough "loose cannon' Sam Fuller (King). Now too famous to work undercover, Hart is assigned to do public relations for the Feds in Las Vegas when MC1's Miss United States and pageant director Stan Fields are kidnapped," he wrote. "Also missing is any semblance of a mystery or believable characters."

MPAA RATING: PG-13; sex-related humor

RUNNING TIME: 107 min.

DIRECTOR: John Maybury

CAST: Adrien Brody, Keira Knightley, Kris Kristofferson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kelly Lynch, Laura Marano, Brad Renfro

SYNOPSIS: Amnesiac Persian Gulf War veteran (Brody) gets brutal psychiatric treatment that thrusts him 15 years into the future.

WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave the film a C. "The Jacket is merely an average chiller with arty pretensions, chiefly Peter Deming's cadaverous lighting and foreshadowing camera moves," he wrote. "Filmmakers haven't escaped the influence or matched the effectiveness of The Sixth Sense yet, but the fat lady's warming up to sing."

MPAA RATING: R; violence, profanity, brief nudity, sexual situations

RUNNING TIME: 102 min.

DIRECTOR: Franco Zeffirelli

CAST: Fanny Ardant, Jeremy Irons, Joan Plowright, Angela Molina, Jean Dalric, Tara Marie Anderson, Alessandro Berolucci, Stephen Billington, Olivier Galfione, Gabriel Garko, Anna Lelio

SYNOPSIS: The fictionalized story of the final days of opera singer Maria Callas.

WHAT WE SAID: The Times did not review this film.

MPAA RATING: PG-13; some sexual content and strong language

RUNNING TIME: 111 min.

[Last modified June 22, 2005, 10:45:07]