Ventura County Star from Ventura, California • 67

VIDEO haPliil SORCERER? STONE Arad-blooded adventure morie dripping with atmosphere fitted with the gruesome and the sublime and surprisingly faithful to the novel Scary yes but not too scary just scary enough The big DVD bonus: seven deleted or extended scenes which viewers access after a series of none-too-strenuous "challenges to find the sorcerer's stone (one of the best moments is a prolonged classroom exchange between Harry and the dour Professor Snape) (PG 152 minutes 2001) LANTANA A web of emotional hope and betrayal finked by unexpected connections We meet a cop (Anthony LaPaglia) his worried wife (Kerry Armstrong) a psychiatrist (Barbara Hetshey) her alienated husband (Geoffrey Rush) a housewife (Rachel Blake) and othfs all finked when one and two of the others become'suspecte But Ray Lawrence film only seems to be a murder mystery Its real subject is the everyday lives of these characters -their worries their sorrows the way they're locked into solitary sadness Subtle touching Director Ray Lawrence writer Andrew Bovell and producer Jan Chapman offer audio commentary on the DiflX which has a hmgish making-of documentary (PG-13 121 minutes 2002) LJf Near the Long Island Expressway (of the titte) a 15-year-old boy and a middle- aged ex-Marine engage in a subtie struggle that is about powessex and muririer feelings After the boy (Paul Franklin Dano) breaks into the house of the man (Brian Cox) the man gives him a choice of arrest or -he never quite says and the movitis strength is in that ambiguity Not about the practice of pederasty so much as about its feefings A risky fRa marred by a sudden and unconvincing erxfing (NC-17 97 minutes 2001) LfE AS A HOUSE A movie with much heart and not enough brain about a bittersweet summer when of the problems of al of the characters are solved Kevin Kline dscovers he has months to five and determines to win the love and respect of his pierced doper son (Hayden Christensen) by tearing down his ocemfilf home and buiking another: Kristin Scott Thomas is his estranged wife and Sanft mother Jena Malone is the cute neighbor Mary Steenburgen is her mother Jamey Sheridan is distant husband Kfine and Thomas redeem many of their scenes together but the rest of the movie is fimited to the techniques and emotional range of a good marte-forTV weepei (R 128 minutes 2001) METROPOLIS A surprisingly thoughtful ceaselessly exciting Japanese animated sd-fl story about a plot to use humanoids to take over a vast futuristic city Named after the 1926 Fritz Lang silent classic based on a 1949 comic book not a remake of the Lang film but a springboard into TAL" territory asking if machines can love If you have never seen a Japanese anime start here (PG-13 107 minutes 2002) SLACKERS Not funny-sexy but offensively dbtyminded a vulgar campus comedy in which a creep (tason Schwartzman) blackmail a nice guy (Devon Saaa) to idefiver" a beautiful girl (lames King) A formula story made original through its incomprehensibility Sevwal scenes so tasteless we cringe can we assume this movie contains Mamie Vbn Dorerts last nude scene? (R 87 minutes 2002) no elan TRAFFIC Consider this DVD set a film school in a box Steven Soderbergh won the best-rfirector Academy Award for this sweeping examination of the lLS-Mexico dn wan which gets remarkable treatment in a two-disc set that blows away the previous sine-DVD release Through commentary tracks and technical demonstrations Soderbergh and company offer extremely detaied glimpses of the art of film (collegial commentary from Soderbergh and writer Stephen Gaghan is especiaNy Ruminating) The set includes long segments of raw footage that did not make the film plus 24 (airly involving deleted scenes the buh of them featuring Catherine Zeta-Jones1 housewife-turned- drug lord (there also an amusing gag where Soderbergh set up Zeta-Jones lor a practical joke during filming at the US border) (Criterion DVD set is is $3995) Daniel Radcliffe has the title role in "Harry Potter and the Stone" which was released on video and DVD last week casts its rental spell Tfu Hollywood Reporter million during its debut week Warner Home Potter and the Rental stores each stocked an average of 29 Stone" has become the top-grossing "Potter" videos for tent with an average of 33 first-week rental title (dall time earning an percent of those copies representing DVD estimated $191 million after five days on video Domestic retailers have been reporting brisk store shelves according to Video Store sales of the VHS and DVD and several magazine research mass merchandisers as well as grocery and The previous rental record holder was drugstore chains ham been discounting the Universal January release of "The FSst popular title driving down the cost to and the starring Paul Walker and Vrn consumers to as low as $12 each in some Diesel which earned an estimated $1865 cases CENTU RYTH AT RES Special screenings nUNT AT HOME HCKE1MG AVAtUSU CENTURY STADIUM or J-800-J55-TEU VENTURAS wv 1 0 1 ohnonDrSFALt STADIUM StjETINM'f ALLSTADIUM SEATING ALL DIGITAL AH THE TIME 5 () THE SUM Of ALL FEAM (PG-13) UNDERCOVER BROTHER 1tM -131(11- 645-T5W- TAR WARS: EPSOOE I -ATTACK OF THE CLONES SA301 8:1 025 2:11 10:20 fANDANGOuCOM KM THESE THEATCBS SPHT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON (G) 6-7-62020-10-25 SPBER-MAN(PG-13)(1 IMOHIAIHH1 120-1 25-4201 725-1020 SFHH STALUON OF THE CNIARRON (G) 7209:45 MY MQ FATGREEK WEDDMQ(PG) MNKUb Indie short films tracks their progress in one- the 17th annual student music videos documentaries day-per-year snapshots their film showcase will be held 7 and experimental films of all relationship fortunes and Italy pm June 11-12 at the types will be screened 8 pm Itself all undergo significant Directors Guild 7929 June 7 at The Cafe on A 438 change It was director Gianni Sunset Blvd Los Angeles This South A St Oxnard Presented intent to explore the year 18 award-winning films every first Friday of the Month ways In which a will be screened Free by the Channel Islands Indie arrangements can adversely MfSEUM OF TELEVISION Film Festival For information affect its least powerful AND RADIO! "The Sound of or to submit your film call members New York Times His Music: A Tribute to 648-4252 critic Stephen Holden said the Richard runs through OJAI FILM SOCIETY) "The film "shows how an entire June 30 spotlighting many Way We Laughed" a 2001 society can operate on an rarety seen Rodgers-related Italian film that won the unspoken agreement not to programs "David Bowie: IK Golden Lion Award at the look too deeply Into the Give You Television" the first-Venice Film Festival will be workings of its social and ever video retrospective of the screened 4:30 pm June 9 at political machinery" Tickets groundbreaking musician will 145 Ojai Ave Ojai The film are $750 general $4 seniors run June 7-Sept 14 Admission is about two brothers who in and students Presented by the to the museum 465 Beverly 1958 emigrate from Ojai Film Society Call 646- Drive Beverly Hills is $6 $4 impoverished Sicily to Turin 8946 students and seniors $3 hoping to improve their DIRECTORS GIRLD OF children younger than 13 Call economic luck As the movie AMERICA: The Tisch School of (310)786-1025 JJITU 1111' lit 1 s-jri a a a i VC 3 a 5 ro i re 5- CENTURY DOWNTOWN 555 I' Main California Bid Compiny Opm Juim 71 Ad Ik Oi tab No MmtMi OrSMlM THE SUM OF ALL FEARS (P3-1 mifraiaoMH UNDERCOVER BROTHER (I STAR WARS EPMOOE I -ATTACK OF THE CLONBfPG) (1220-1 2046445) 7-6-116.