The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • Page 91

EI I The Sun Thursday, June 10, 1999 Page 23 VIDEO EIELEZ1DZ3 1 franchise. But it does its job withal minimum of warmth, humor, magic and meaning. Stripped of such outmoded values as narrative and i character, "Phantom Menace" is 1 simply a flat, dimensionless series of set-pieces that result in an unusually dead movie. This advertisemen for itself and for the oodles of merch tie-ins might pack in droves of hard-core fans, but it won't bring them back for seconds. (Ann Hornaday) PG 132 minutes Tea With MuSSOlini, Franco Zeffirelli's tender reminiscence of his childhood in wartime Italy, is suffused with the unmistakable perfume of a memory closely held, and that honesty and love hang on until the last delicate drop.

Judi Dench, Joan Plowright, Cher, Lily Tomlin and Maggie Smith star as a gaggle of ex- eyes of anyone who loves language, longing and love itself. (Ann Horna- day) 113 minutes She's All That combines the bubble-gum high school romance of John Hughes with the decidedly more cynical vision of "Heathers," to salutary effect. Freddie Prinze Jr. is appealing as a high-school BMOC who dates the school bohemian (Rachael Leigh Cook) on a dare. The outcome is entirely predictable, but this Cinderella story features a pleasingly feminist heroine, as well as a manic and highly entertaining supporting appearance by Matthew Lillard as a goofy, egomaniacal star of MTVs "Real World." (Ann Hornaday) PG-13 97 minutes Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace" does its job, which is to set up a new generation for the next two installments of the "Star Wars" -ponzriFur 4" ANTHONY HOPKINS tractively filmed and thoroughly reprehensible movie.

Mel Gibson, who seems intent upon getting pig-gier with each performance, plays a lowlife who's been presumed dead for months, only to reappear to demand his slice of his last heist. Brian Helgeland directs like the worst kind of Tarantino wannabe, with lots of retro references and a hip soundtrack. None of it covers up for "Payback's" poverty of imagination, morality or entertainment value. (Ann Hornaday) 102 minutes Pushing Till, with an outstanding cast, accomplished director and irresistibly exciting backdrop, should be the sleeper hit of the season, a sexy, taut action drama with intelligence and bite. It's not.

John Cu-sack and Billy Bob Thornton star as two hot-rod air-traffic controllers. A hodgepodge of story lines and half-baked characters, this movie veers so wildly in emotional tone and focus that it is in constant danger, to use the controllers' parlance, of going down the pipes. (Ann Hornaday) 122 minutes The Rage: Carrie 2 is at its worst when it simply tries to duplicate what worked so well for director Brian DePalma and star Sissy Spacek in 1976 (Amy Irving reprises her role). Emily Bergl's no Spacek, but she's got an interesting presence, and while director Katt Shea doesn't exactly excel at scaring people, she's got a decent visual sense. (Chris Kaltenbach) 104 minutes Saving Private Ryan, tws world war drama by Steven Spielberg, may be the director's masterwork, even outpacing the accomplishment of "Schindler's List." It is unquestionably the purest film Spielberg has made since "Jaws." The drama begins with a magnificent depiction of the battle at D-Day and does not let up from there as it follows a squadron Hanks) on a search for a paratrooper who has been ordered home.

Part wartime adventure, part delicate human drama, "Saving Private Ryan" combines technical genius and moral maturity to create an unforgettable tour de force. (Ann Hornaday) 168 minutes Shakespeare in Love is best described as a bonehead comedy for eggheads the literary set's "Something About Mary." Joseph Fiennes stars as the title character, who in 1593 is getting pressure to write comedies and is suffering from a vicious writer's block. When he meets the woman of his dreams (Gwyneth Pal-trow), he discovers the passion of forbidden love and is inspired to write a play called "Romeo Juliet." Only Tom Stoppard, who co-wrote the script with Marc Norman, has the chops to take as many liberties as he has with history, language and comedy. The result is a delightful froth that will bring tears to the www.instiiKt-themovie.com PART OF NETWORK The following movies were scheduled for release on DVD and VHS this week: Gods and Monsters (universal, vhs and DVD) takes as its narrative engine the mysterious death of director James Whale in 1957 and the events that may have led up to it. This strange little film features an extraordinary performance by Ian McKellen as the self-invented Whale.

It also connects in a fascinating way his most famous movie The Bride of Frankenstein" and the trauma he suffered in World War I. Still, an oddly misplaced temporal sense keeps Bill Condon's film from being the gripping story it should be. (Ann Hor-naday) Unrated 105 minutes Last Kites (Universal, 1998, VHS) is directed by Kevin Dowling and stars Randy Quaid, Embeth Davidtz and A. Martinez. A freak accident spares a remorseless serial killer while he is seated in the electric chair and seemingly causes him to lose all memory as well as giving him a new personality that allows him to see heinous crimes before they are committed.

But the family of the victims, as well as the authorities, are skeptical about the puzzling transformation. (Entertainment News Service) (not previewed) Psycho (Universal, 1998, VHS) is director Gus Van Sant's shot-by-shot remake of Alfred Hitchcock's horror classic, with Anne Heche as looking piece of romantic escapism, with Grant underplaying charmingly while Roberts manages not only to dazzle and charm (as is her wont), but actually to inject genuine emotion into this most implausible of stories, which has the most famous movie star in the world falling for the owner of a tiny book shop. Unbelievable, unlikely, unreal and great fun to watch. (Ann Hornaday) PG-13 125 minutes October Sky tells the story of a future NASA scientist who has to master calculus, chemistry and physics, defy his high school principal and stand up to a coal-miner father who. thinks he's wasting his life.

It's also one of the surest pleasures of this film year, a quiet, unforced ode to family, friendship and the power of the mind. Jake Gyllenhaal and Chris Cooper star. (Chris Kaltenbach) PG 110 minutes The Other Sister features earnestly sweet performances by Juliette Lewis and Giovanni Ribisi as two mildly retarded young people who want to build a future together against the objections of her domineering mother (Diane Keaton). But this well-intentioned story still bumps up against an uneven tone and the slight whiff of condescension that accompanies all but a few attempts of up-and-coming actors to portray mentally challenged people. (Ann Hornaday) PG-13 131 minutes ITieOut-of-Towners, a pallid remake of GENERAL CWfMA T0WS0N COMMONS I (4IB) 44441478 hoyts hunt valley 12 IISllMoCojnwild (410)J2MIOO Horn WEST NURSERY LnracurvMO (iioittMm LOEWS COLUMBIA PALACE! NOSCMvtatOl LOEWS SUNIURNf 7 McioawwArmpollk (410) 7414300 lOfWS VALLEY CWTH9 feltewdMornBO.

(410)344194 LOEWS WHITE MARSH Mow tod Ik IB No (410)034034 lCTWATRB EASTPOWT MOVIES 10 NX toMm IM (410)3144100 UNITED ARTISTS 0OLDEN RING MALI 4400 town 4M. (410)444144777 Vince Vaughn is Norman Bates in Gus Van Sant's shot-by-shot remake. Marion Crane and Vince Vaughn as Norman Bates. It will no doubt prove groundbreaking to teenagers who think this stuff started with "Scream," but was this experiment worth doing? Yes and no; If It introduces new audiences to Hitchcock, all the better. And if anything, the new "Psycho" testifies to Just how revolutionary the original was when it was released in 1960.

But it's difficult to see what's in it for Van Sant, since there's not much expressive free-. dom in a re-creation. (Ann Horna-day) 105 minutes the 1970 movie that starred Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis, features Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn as the Midwestern couple whose visit to New York City turns into a series of hair-raising calamities. Where the original had bite and some genuine bits of comedy, this lurching, unfunny affair isn't even redeemed by the presence of John Cleese, who plays an imperious hotel manager. (Ann Hornaday) PG-13 91 minutes Patch AdamS, a relentlessly manipulative feel-gooder, is not so much a movie as a chance for Robin Williams to perform stand-up comedy wearing a medical gown.

It's based on the real-life story of a man who started a hospital based on the idea that laughter really can be good medicine, but it presents a hero who never seems to have a bad moment. (Chris Kaltenbach) PG-13 120 minutes Payback is aptly named, because that's what fllmgoers should demand upon seeing this derivative, unat GENERAL CINEMA OWINOS MILLS 17 10100 Mill Run CircM 390081 GENERAL CINEMA SKUIIIT SQUARE I MtwoyExn 17 2669 II MOYTS CINEMAS HUNT VALLEY 12 Hunt Vdly Moll 329-9800 NOTTS WIST NURSERY CINEMA 14 WmI Nurnty Rood 85099 A LOEWS THEATRES COLUME4A ftUACI it lOSopp.FMraudDr. 7304600 AlOfWSTHIATMS TIMONHIM ONfMA York Rd. opp. Fair Gmdt 2JM202 niOfwswHm MARSH THIATM Whin Monk Blvd.

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