MOVIES RELEASED JANUARY 2002

1 JANUARY 

Beauty and the Beast (G): Selected. Animated. Buena Vista/ IMAX. Page O'Hara, Robbie Benson, Angela Lansbury.  90 mins. Re-release for IMAX of the classic 1991 Disney flick.  Watch out for the talking cutlery, it gives me nightmares.   Apparently has additional scenes! I'd like to see additional vomit bags, but there you go.  Watch for the "mass murder" scene that was left out to retain a G rating originally, but can now be left in.  BTW, is it only 45 mins? Cos I think your brain explodes if you watch something for over 45 mins in IMAX.  Bloody hell, who'd have thought a Disney flick could be so dangerous? (Opens wider March 28, July 4 NSW)

Shallow Hal (M): National. Fox. Comedy. 113 m. Gwenyth Palthrow, Jack Black, Jason Alexander. D: Farrelly Brothers. Featuring Palthrow in a fat suit, and until now almost unknown (except for his minor roles) Jack Black, this could be the Farrelley Bros return to box office and critical kudos as they had it for Something About Mary? Depends on the weather, but its constant change of date shows NO expectations by the distributor.  

3 JANUARY 

Dogtown and the Z Boys (PG): Selected. Columbia. Skating doco. 89 m. Stacy Peralta, Tony Alva, Jay Adams.  Narrator: Sean Penn. D: Stacy Peralta. Weird-ass title, this follows a group of "skeg head" while they "hang ten", get "funky" and bust a "funky chicken" in your ass.  Word to your English teacher.  Documentary about how surfing turned to skateboarding.  I wasn't aware that it had, but there you go.  

Rat Race (M): National. UIP. Comedy. 112 mins. John Cleese, Jon Lovitz, Rowan Atkinson, Whoopi Goldberg, Breckin Meyer, Seth Green, Amy Smart, Dean Cain, Kathy Najimy, Vince Vieluf, Cuba Gooding Jnr, Wayne Knight.  D: Jerry Zucker. Its all about this big road trip, right? A race really, where the prize is to win rats.  No, a whole stack of $US currency.  Cue lots of wacky comedy and silly characters.  Its Cannonball Run for the naughties.  Its been delayed a lot. Its probably completely shithouse, yet many of you will still go see it.   

Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (G): Selected. Potential. Sydney- Hayden Orpheum.  New DTS print. Re-release. Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, Peter Ostrum. Directed by Mel Stuart. Charlie desperately wants to win a ticket to the secret Chocolate Factory.. and does. Children's classic. Thankfully that Marilyn Manson remake never went ahead eh? Roahl Dahl classics.. why weren't there any more movie versions? 

10 JANUARY 

Max Keebles Big Move (PG): National. Buena Vista. Comedy. D: Tim Hill (Muppets From Space). Alex D Linz, Larry Miller, Jamie Kennedy, Nora Dunn.  A kid picks a few fights when he things he's going to leave town, but when it turns out that he's not moving, it gets interesting for him. If you supplant "cruddy" with interesting, it'll be more accurate, I'd say. 

Oceans 11 (M): National. Roadshow. Comedy. 116 mins. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Carl Reiner, Andy Garcia, Elliott Gould, Scott Caan, Casey Affleck. Directed by Steven Soderbergh. After a guy gets out of prison he assembles an elite group 11 people to knock off three Vegas casino's at once for the crime of the century as revenge for a casino boss stealing his girl.  Remake of 60's rat pack hit, helmed by Soderbergh, so expectations are high.  

The One (M): National. Col Tristar. Action. 87 m. Jet Li, Carla Gugino, Jason Satham, Delroy Lindo. A dimensional replica of a cop is going through worlds killing himself, gaining more power with each kill.  Presumably not in reference to The One, which Keanu was in The Matrix, co-incidentally Li WAS offered roles in the Matrix 2 and 3 but he knocked them back 'cos he's holding out for the Sharon Stone role in Basic Instinct 2.  This paragraph was brought to you by several illegal substances.  

17 JANUARY

In The Bedroom (MA): Selected, Melb/ Syd.  Drama. Sissy Spacek, Marisa Tomei, Tom Wilkinson, Nick Stahl, William Wise.  130m. USA. D: Todd Field  Its about a bedroom.. and what goes on it it. Possibly.  What, do you expect that I'd know about every movie released? "A young man. An older woman. Her ex-husband. Things are about to explode..."

Jeepers Creepers (MA): National. Roadshow. Horror. 89 mins.  Justin Long, Gina Philips, Johnathan Brek, Patrica Belcher. Brother and sister are chased by a indestructible force. V. successful in the US, and been praised for not being self-referential and all corny like all other teen horror movies are.  Sequel is rumoured.  

Serendipity (PG): National. Buena Vista. Romantic comedy. 91 m.  John Cusack, Kate Beckinsale, Molly Shannon, Jeremy Piven, Eugene Levy, Bridget Moynahan.  D: Peter Chelson. Couple meet by chance, but when her phone number blows alway she takes it as a sign so she pisses off on him. Will fate bring 'em back together? Yep, its all about "mean to be"- hopefully its not as sugar filled as the trailer makes it out to be. 

Under The Sand (M): Selected: Sydney & Melbourne. (Sous le sable). France. Drama. 96 mins. Potential Films. Charlotte Rampling, Bruno Cremer, Jacques Nolot.  After her husband dissapears, a wife pretends that he never left.  Its a intimate study of grief, death and solidarity. 

24 JANUARY 

Intimacy (R): Selected. Palace. Drama. 119 m. France/ UK. Kerry Fox, Mark Rylance, Timothy Spall, Alastair Galbraith, Marianne Faithfull, Philippe Calvario, Susannah Harker, Rebecca R. Palmer Written By Patrice Chéreau & Anne-Louise Trividic from the short stories by Hanif Kureishi, directed by Patrice. Best known as the film in which the actors give each other (non-simulated) oral sex.. and a lot more, check this out if you've always wanted to see more of Kerry Fox. Oh that whole storyline things probably there too, if that's what floats your boat. Sicko.

Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back (MA): National. Buena Vista Int. Comedy. Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, Shannen Doherty, Joey Lauren Adams, Ben Affleck, James Van Der Beek, Jason Biggs, Matt Damon, Joey Lauren Adams. Road trip movie- Bluntman and Chronic the movie is being made so Jay and Silent Bob travel to Hollywood.  Along the way they meet gorgeous jewel thieves, wildlife marshal, and just about everyone who's featured in a Kevin Smith movie to date.  Snoochy bloochies or something.  Final live action Smith movie with these characters, watch out for animated adventures..   

Spy Game (M): National. UIP. Thriller. 130 mins. Director: Tony Scott Brad Pitt, Robert Redford, Catherine McCormack, Zoltan Benkoczy.  Spy thriller about a rookie (Pitt) and the grizzled old expert (Redford) that teaches him the way of the game.  CIA operative Nathan Muir is on the brink of retirement when he finds out that his protégé Tom Bishop has been arrested in China for espionage.  No stranger to the machinations of the CIA’s top echelon, Muir hones all his skills and irreverent manner in order to find a way to free Bishop.  As he embarks on his mission to free Bishop, Muir recalls how he recruited and trained the young rookie, at that time a sergeant in Vietnam, their turbulent times together as operatives and the woman who threatened their friendship.  

31 JANUARY

Behind Enemy Lines (M): National. Fox. Action. 105 m. Gene Hackman, Owen Wilson, David Keith, Elizabeth P. Perry. USA. D: John Moore. Owen's got a hair cut and Gene didn't need one (and looks grumpy).  That's all I know from the big-arse displays at my local cinema.  Oh and a air force plane goes down in flames. That doesn't count as a spoiler if its on a  30 by 40 foot display poster does it? Only if you are blind I'd say.  If you ARE blind, write to me and let me know.   

Dalkeith (M): Selected, Melbourne (Mt Waverly). Leigh Sheehan Productions. Drama. Australia. About a dog that enlivens the world of a retirement home.  Based on a true story.  Despite A Current Affair doing a story on the making of the film, it has failed to attain a distributor and has been released to a single theatre.  

D-Tox (MA): National. UIP. Thriller. 96 mins.  Sylvester Stallone, Tom Berenger, Charles S. Dutton, Sean Patrick Flanery, Kris Kristofferson, Robert Patrick Director: Jim Gillespie

Hearts In Atlantis (M): National. Roadshow. Thriller. 103 mins. Anthony Hopkins, Hope Davis, David Morse, Anton Yelchin, Mika Boorem.  Stephen King adaptation, (written by William Goldman, directed by Scott Hicks) although its the Green Mile King, not the Pet Cemetery King.  Set in Harwich, Conneticut in 1960, this is the story of Bobby Garfield (Anton Yelchin), a fatherless 11-year-old boy who is befriended by Ted Brautigan, a strange man (Anthony Hopkins) boarding in the building Bobby lives in with his mother, Elizabeth (Hope Davis). both Dobby and Ted are threatened by outside forces; Bobby by a gang of local bullies, Ted by men in yellow jackets he believes are out to get him...

Iris (M): Selected. Buena Vista. Drama. Juliet Aubrey, Eleanor Brown, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Saira Todd, Timothy West. 90 mins. D: Richard Eyre. UK. A life story of a novelist & philosopher from Oxford 1950's until her untimely death in 1999. 

Mulholland Drive (MA): National. Roadshow. 24th: advance screenings/ previews. Drama / Mystery. 147 mins.  Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Dan Hedaya, Justin Theroux, Ann Miller, Robert Forster.  D: David Lynch. Weirdness no doubt. This one was going to be a TV series but when that didn't occur it became a film, but don't let that put you off.  A woman (Harring) suffers amnesia after a car accident, and indulges in a bit of hot lesbian sex. As you do. While sharing an apartment with another woman, who happens to look like her (Watts).  Watts, being a Canadian, helps Harring out with finding her true identity.. however don't expect this to really have much to do with what the actual film's like.  Its two and a half hours of unadulterated Lynch madness.