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By STEVE PERSALL
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 5, 2000
Here is what reviewers thought of this week's new video releases back when they were released on the big screen. Second thoughts include hindsight about the movies, what they'll be like on video and suggestions about who might want to rent them.
U-571 (PG-13)
Nazi submarines are using a top-secret decoder to pass messages among the fleet. After one U-boat is damaged at sea, a U.S. Navy sub is sent to confiscate the decoder and shift momentum to the Allies. Things get sticky when the Americans are forced to sail the German sub through Allied waters. Matthew McConaughey (Contact, A Time to Kill) plays an officer thrust into command, and Harvey Keitel plays his grizzled chief petty officer.
First impressions: ". . . an ode to ultimate sacrifice punctuated by gunfire, torpedo tension and depth charges. Sailors spend a lot of time looking upward and bracing for concussions. Orders are shouted and repeated to confirm. Nothing links the crew except a common goal of killing "Krauts' and survival after their ship is blown up and those left alive escape in the German sub. Action is the code word and the cast gamely responds . . . Submarine movies should be deeper than this."
Second thoughts: Home video will certainly cramp the style of director Jonathan Mostow's action sequences. Complaints about the film's lack of historical accuracy, stealing credit from the British Navy for this true-life mission, dulls the dramatic impact.
Rental audience: War movie buffs.
Rent it if you enjoyed: Das Boot, Crimson Tide, The Hunt for Red October.
A surprise snowstorm closes Syracuse, N.Y., schools for a day, and students find plenty of pranks and romance to fill the time. Chevy Chase gets top billing as a daffy weatherman, and Chris Elliott plays a grubby villain with a snowplow that could re-open the roads for school buses. The focus, however, is on the youngsters, who maintain their innocent appeal with puppy-love mechanics.
First impressions: ". . . all zip, crafted in the hit-and-run style of Nickelodeon's adolescent sitcoms. It will probably mean more to young moviegoers than The Tigger Movie. The good news is that the filmmakers realize this and display a notable sense of responsibility while catering to childish rebellion. Snow Day is a frantic fantasy that aggressively entertains, while keeping the mayhem to a level comparable to Disney's old Dexter Reilly/Merlin Jones comedies. There isn't much in this movie that kids shouldn't try at home."
Second thoughts: Chase could use more roles (and alert performances) like this one to save his career.
Rental audience: Ages 14 and under.
Rent it if you enjoyed: Good Burger, TV's All That.
Ambitious student (Joshua Jackson) joins a secret society called the Skulls to make the grade at his Ivy League university. The powerful club delivers power, pleasure and profit, all for the price of his soul.
First impressions: "All this back-stabbing nonsense would be less bothersome if any of it was taken less seriously by screenwriter John Pogue, who earnestly piles on the story's fear-mongering elements past the point of incredulity. Veteran director Rob Cohen (The Rat Pack, Dragonheart) offers some pretty pictures of campus life . . . (but) little else that is visually striking." (Brian McTavish, Knight Ridder Newspapers)
Second thoughts: Sounds like a boneheaded movie.
Rental audience: Cheap daters; anyone who can name the TV stars of Dawson's Creek and Popular.
Rent it if you enjoyed: The Firm, with all of the cool stuff edited out.
DVD
New and noteworthy for digital players
The Rocky Horror Picture Show 25th Anniversary Special Edition
The movie that wouldn't die is celebrated with a two-disc set that should leave Frank N. Furter fans shivering with "an . . . tici . . . pation."
The plot, for what it's worth, follows newlyweds Brad and Janet (Barry Bostwick, Susan Sarandon) into the clutches of Furter, a transvestite mad scientist creating a sexy monster. Forget any logical dramatics and sing along with Richard O'Brien's classic rock-opera score, or just throw toast and weiner props at the television screen.
This DVD package makes home participation easy. A DVD-ROM Juke Box allows viewers to select favored songs for singalongs.
New technology allows viewers to see a Rocky Horror audience responding to the action occurring simultaneously on screen. Subtitled cues provide proper timing for using props such as water pistols, umbrellas, etc. Traditional verbal responses to the movie's campy dialogue are supplied.
O'Brien and actor Patricia Quinn (Magenta) provide a running commentary on an alternate audio track. Two versions of the movie are included: the edited U.S. release and one issued in the United Kingdom featuring the previously lost song Superheroes.
And that's just the first disc.
Disc two includes deleted scenes, outtakes, preview trailers and two documentaries on the film's enduring phenomenon. Trivia games and Web links to Rocky Horror sites are available on demand. Perfect background material for reviving The Time Warp again.
REWIND
Videos worth another look
The name Hal B. Wallis may not ring a bell, but the movies he produced should be very familiar. Wallis died on this date in 1986, after a career that ranged from winning an Oscar for co-producing Casablanca to making Elvis Presley a movie star.
Wallis' introduction to Hollywood was a 1930 gangster classic called Little Caesar, starring Edward G. Robinson. Forty-five years and 227 films later, Wallis retired after finishing Rooster Cogburn, his fifth movie featuring John Wayne.
Any of these Wallis double features would make fine home video flashbacks:
True Grit and The Sons of Katie Elder -- A pair of Wayne westerns. The former won the Duke his only Oscar as drunken marshal Rooster Cogburn. The latter paired Wayne with Dean Martin as brothers avenging their father's murder and mother's swindling.
Anne of the Thousand Days and Mary, Queen of Scots -- Two lavishly British historical epics. Richard Burton plays Henry VIII, vexed by Anne Boleyn (Genevieve Bujold) in the first film. Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson compete for the throne in the other.
Blue Hawaii and G.I. Blues -- A double dose of Elvis, featuring two of his better musical soundtracks.
Money from Home and Jumping Jacks -- Two reasons why Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were one of the greatest movie teams ever.
Yankee Doodle Dandy and Sergeant York -- Biographies of true-life heroes -- composer George M. Cohan and World War I soldier Alvin C. York -- become film essays in patriotism.
The Maltese Falcon and High Sierra -- Both sides of Humphrey Bogart's cinematic appeal: cool, detached private eye and hot-tempered gangster.
Jezebel and Now, Voyager -- Bette Davis earns jeers as a schemer and tears as a fatally ill lover. Wallis always knew how to showcase his stars.