The Montana Standard from Butte, Montana • 34

elebrity For the week of July 20-26 songwriter on the muddled "A Room Full of View" and there are other banal filler ballads scattered about but the keepers outnumber the clunkers. Like "Flexible," a sexy thumper in which Myers imagines a female and bisexual James Bond Jane Bond while the music quotes from the score of the recent 007 flick "The World Is Not Enough." Though sampling stinks, the opening "Am I Here Yet? (Return to Sender)," which borrows the hook from Hot Chocolate's 1975 hit "You Sexy Thing," works in spite of itself. on her second CD, but she's not quite so weighty as O'Connor. On the hook-heavy "Should I Call You Jesus?" she offers the Holy Ghost a beer. The tone recalls Joan Osborne's popular breakthrough "One of Us." On "Vertigo," an improvement over her 1997 Desmond Child-produced debut, which yielded the melodramatic and irritating hit single "Kiss the Rain," Myers adeptly taps into what radio is after but; for the most part, succeeds artistically since she does so without dumbing down her sound.

Child returns as a co- any questionI get the answers if I listen," she sings, on the opening crystalline "The Healing Room." Thus begins the often conflicting range of O'Connor's canon here. The confused "No Man's Woman," for instance, finds the artist forsaking all men by lumping them into one stereotype the controlling ogre. She has no need for a mortal man, you see, because she boasts, "I've got a lovin' man but he's a spirit." Yet it's hard to take lines such as "I don't wanna be no man's woman" with a straight face in the wake of O'Connor's recent revelation that she's a lesbian. Last year she was a priest, before that a mother, wife and firebrand rocker. Still, for all her idiosyncrasies, O'Connor's a lot more believable than Alanis Morissette, who mined similar territory.

British pop singer Billie Myers also confronts religion hasn't got lately a hit. Hence, "Faith and Courage" adopts the modern program of cobbling together a number of producers (including Eurythmic Dave Stewart, Wyclef Jean, Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, Brian Eno) to help shape a more mainstream sound. It largely works on the CD's first half, O'Connor's most consistently accessible batch since her "I Do Not Want" days (but it's not her best that honor goes to her underrated "Gospel Oak" EP). Her subject matter deep spirituality might not speak to today's audience, which seems more interested in the shallow pop of Christina Aguilera, but when she sets her probing lyrics to beguiling music O'Connor can be inspiring. "I have a universe inside meWhere I can go and spirit guides meThere I can ask oh son not to listen to meEspecially as I have been so angryBut if you knew me maybe you would understand me," she sings on the Rasta-inspired "The Lamb's Book of Life," one of a number of songs on her mixed but passionate new CD in which she attempts to salve old wounds by pleading not so much for forgiveness as for compassion.

Fair enough. O'Connor's yoice is a singularly expressive marvel and her lyrical honesty is "Faith and Courage's" primary strength even when her tunes go slack. Her new CD, her first full- length studio set in six years, is clearly O'Connor's attempt to connect with the masses in a big way, something she hasn't done since the release of her only major hit album, 1990's "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got." This time she apparently wants what she Continued from Page 1 Crash the Beauty Queen From Mars" and "One Wild Night." Unfortunately, power-ballad schlock such as "Thank You for Loving Me" abounds, too. And Bon Jovi's sudden Beatles fixation (the "I Am the strings and vocal arrangements closing "Next 100 Years" and the boring psychedelics of "Say It "Isn't land a lot closer in Julian Lennon's camp than John Lennon's. SINEAD O'CONNOR "Faith and Courage" (Atlantic) 2-Vi stars BILUE MYERS "Vertigo" (Universal) 2-7.

stars Sinead O'Connor is the mistress of the understatement: "I know that I have done many thingsTo give you rea IPlatemi PRESS the box fffe 'X-Meri tops in $57.5 million opening By Alex Ben Block. of Bridge News Prinfe Shop Screen Printing T-Shirts Sweatshirts Jackets Hats Towels Aprons Pens Magnets Novelty Items of all Kinds Carey at cell phono CI 3-21 14 of. 'ico fcr ycur free pries quote! North America in two weeks. "We are thrilled," says Miramax's David Kaminow. "It has great word of mouth." Kaminow says that Miramax expects the gross for "Scary Movie" to exceed $100 million later this week.

The film cost about $19 million to make, with an equal sum spent on marketing costs. It should be wildly profitable for Miramax and Disney. Warner sea going thriller "The Perfect Storm," starring George Clooney, continued to show strength. It placed third for the weekend, blowing in another $17.5 million to bring its take after three weeks to almost $130 million. Sony Pictures Entertainment's Revolutionary War drama "The Patriot," starring Mel Gibson, is also showing it has "legs." It placed fourth this weekend, adding another $11 million, which is a decline of under 30 from last weekend.

Its total take is now just over $83 million. Disney also had reason to be pleased with the performance this weekend of its family film, "Disney's The Kid," starring Bruce Willis. It grossed another $10.5 million, which is a very mild drop of nly 17 from last weekend. Disney did add another 153 locations to bring the total theater count to 2,320, but it is clear this movie is finding an audience in any case. "We are totally delighted, ecstatic and very, very happy about this," says Rod Rodriguez, General Sales Manager of Disney's Buena Vista theatrical releasing division.

Rodriguez says that "Disney's The Kid" had the best second weekend hold of any Disney live action summer film. For instance, the big 1997 summer hit "George Of The Jungle" declined about 20 in its second weekend. DreamWorks also has a hit with the animated comedy "Chicken Run," which came in sixth this weekend. It grossed another $7.8 million to bring its total take after a month to just shy of $77 million. Taking ninth place this weekend was Disney's action comedy "Gone In 60 Seconds," starring Nicholas Cage, which grossed another $2.6 million.

That brings its total domestic box office after six weeks in release to about $91 million. Among films in limited release, Artisan Entertainment's "Chuck Buck" opened in seven theaters and grossed $70,000, or a solid $10,000 per location. Miramax opened "The Wisdom of Crocodiles" on one screen in New York City and grossed an estimated $10,000. In its sixth weekend, Paramount Classics' drama "Sunshine" grossed $468,000 in 147 theaters for an average of $3,184 per location. That brings its total take to a very nice $2.26 million.

about eight years ago. It is highly likely all involved will soon be pursuing an "X-Men" sequel. Twentieth Century Fox, a unit of News had three movies in the top ten this weekend. The Farrelly brothers' comedy "Me, Myself Irene" placed seventh with a gross of $5.7 million, to bring its total take to just over $77 million. The hit Martin Lawrence action comedy "Big Momma's House" followed suit in eighth, grossing another $2.8 million and bringing its total domestic take to just over $108 million.

The irony is that studio chief Bill Mechanic, who gave the green light to all three films, was ousted from his position earlier this summer, before any of these three films were released. "There's no question these are all his movies," says Sherak, noting that the studio also hold international rights to another potentially big movie, "What Lies Beneath," starring Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer, which DreamWorks opens in North America next weekend. If exit polls are an indication, it looks like "The X-Men" should have some staying power or "legs" as they would put it in Tinseltown. Sherak says that on opening night 65 of the audience was male and half were under age 25. He says the good news is that about three quarters of the audience, men and women of all ages, say they would "definitely recommend" the movie to a friend.

Those polled by the independent research organization Cinemascore.com also gave it generally high marks. Men under 21, and those 21 to 34 years old, graded it as an A or A minus. Men over 35 and women in all age groups said it was a plus. Sherak notes that there were a lot of successful movies over this three day period, which results in a weekend that he calculates is up about 30, from the same weekend last year an unusually large jump. The top dozen movies this weekend grossed about $148.7 million, compared to $107.1 million a year ago, according to Exhibitor Relations, which is an astounding increase of 38.9 "Everybody was writing off this summer," says Sherak, "but it's there.

And there are still a lot of movies yet to come." It was another exceptionally strong weekend for "Scary Movie," from Miramax Films, a division of the Walt Disney Company. The horror spoof grossed another $26.1 million, which is a relatively mild drop of 38 from its surprisingly big opening. It has now sold about $89 million worth of tickets in HOLLYWOOD A record breaking $57.5 million opening for Twentieth Century Fox's "The X-Men," and a strong second weekend for Miramax Films' "Scary Movie" helped ignite the North American box office this weekend and put the summer of 2000 onto the fast track. The long awaited big screen version of the cult comic book series "The X-Men" exploded with an average of $19,008 per theater playing in 3,025 locations and on an estimated 5,000 screens. That makes it the fourth highest three day opener of all time, behind Universal's "Jurassic Park: The Lost World," which opened with $72.1 million on a holiday weekend in 1993; Fox's "Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace," which opened last year over a holiday weekend with $64.8 million; and Paramount Pictures' which opened this year over Memorial Day weekend with $57.8 million.

"The X-Men" now becomes the highest grossing, non-holiday, non-sequel opening of all time. It also enjoyed the third highest single day gross on Friday, behind those sequels to "Star Wars" and "Jurassic Park." "The X-Men" also had the biggest opening of a movie in July in history, surpassing the $51.1 million opening of "Men In Black" in 1997 and the $50.2 million opening of "Independence Day" in 1996. "The X-Men" is now the second biggest opening of 2000, after Paramount -Pictures' which opened with a day take of $59 million and four day ticket sales of over $70 million on Memorial Day weekend. It is also the second best opening in the more than 65 year history of Twentieth Century Fox, second only to last year's "Star Wars" prequel, which the studio was distributing for Lucasfilm. Tom Sherak, Chairman of the 20th Domestic Film Group as well as Senior Executive Vice President of Fox Filmed Entertainment, described the elation at the studio this way: "In the immortal words of (former New York Yankee broadcaster) Phil Rizutto: 'Holy Cow! It's a home It is also a home run for director Bryan Singer who had never directed a big action movie before; the beleaguered Marvel Entertainment Group; producers Richard Donner and Lauren Schuler Donner; and co-producers William S.

Todman, Jr. and Joel Simon, who initiated the project Business Printing Letterheads Business Cards Forms Envelopes Flyers Door Hangers Tags Menus Placemats Signs Brochures Checks Vouchers Computer Forms 17c ccn do from ono color to full color printing. i Other Printing Posters Flyers Personal Letterhead Wedding Anniversary Invitations Bumper Stickers Register Forms l7o can do cm'jroicbry items Other Services Wedding Accessories Attendant's Gifts Decorating Items Lamination Call Jchn Carey at 4C0-G520 1. "Who Moved My An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life" by Spencer Johnson (Putnam) 2. "Body for Life: 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength" by Bill Phillips and Michael D'Orso(HarperCollins) 3.

"Flags of Our Fathers" by James Bradley with Ron Powers (Bantam) 4. "The Wrinkle Cure" by Nicholas Perricone, M.D. (Rodale Reach) 5. "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom (Doubleday) 6. "Ten Things I Wish I'd Known Before I Went Out into the Real World" by Maria Shriver (Warner) 7.

"Simple Abundance" by Sarah Ban Breathnach (Warner Books) 8. "In a Sunburned Country" by Bill Bryson (Broadway) TO) VIDEO SALES These are the best-selling video cassettes listed in the July 14 issue of Video Business magazine, compiled from a national sampling of video stores for the week ending July 9. Title, Label: 1. RUNAWAY BRIDE Paramount 2. STUART LITTLE Columbia 3.

AMERICAN PIE Universal 4. THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH MGM 5. STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE Fox 6. BLUE'S CLUES: STOP, LOOK LISTEN -Paramount 7. POCAHONTAS Buena Vista 8.

ALICE IN WONDERLAND Buena Vista 9. THE FOX AND THE HOUND Buena Vista 10. MY BEST FRIEND'S 20TH Century Fox 2000, Video Business. Distributed by Knight RidderTribune Information Services. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BESTSELLERS FICTION 1.

"The House on Hope Street" by Danielle Steel (Delacorte) 2. "The Heartbreaker" by Julie Garwood (Pocket) 3. "Cradle and All" by James Patterson (Little, Brown) 4. "The Indwelling: The Beast Takes Possession" by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins (Tyndale) 5. "Omerta" by Mario Puzo (Random House) 6.

"Hot Six" by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's) 7. "Liar's Game" by Eric Jerome Dickey (E Dutton) 8. "The Brethren" by John Grisham (Doubleday) N0NFICTI0N WEDDING Columbia VIDEO RENTALS These are the most popular videocassette rentals listed in the July 14 issue of Video Business magazine, compiled from a national sample of video stores for the week ending July 9. 1.

THE GREEN MILE Warner 2. THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY Paramount 3. SCREAM 3 DimensionMiramax 4. DEUCE BIGALOW: MALE GIGOLO BVTouchstone 5.

HANGING UP Columbia 6. GIRL, INTERRUPTED Columbia TriStar 7. AMERICAN BEAUTY Dreamworks 8. BICENTENNIAL MAN BVTouchstone 9. NEXT FRIDAY New Line 10.

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