JANUARY 2000
THE WHOLE NINE YARDS
Bruce Willis is in the witness relocation program after he rats out his fellow mob hit men. Matthew Perry is the new next-door neighbor who recognizes him. Let the hilarity begin. Michael Clark Duncan and Nastasha Henstridge co-star.
BATTLEFIELD: EARTH
Barely more than a glimpse preview, supposedly based on one of the best-selling sci-fi novels of all time. John Travolta is the main invader (alien?) who wages war on Earthlings in the future. Looks similar to Universal Soldiers.
THE NEXT BEST THING
Madonna and Rupert Everett are friends (he's gay) who decide to become parents. This drama follows the "couple" for years, as we see the child at about six years old. Benjamin Bratt plays Madonna's boyfriend later on in the movie.
WONDER BOYS
Mr. Catherine Zeta-Jones is an author and professor who takes troubled Wes Bentley under his wing. Appears to play like a Dead Poet's Society.
THE PERFECT STORM
Possibly George Clooney in a ship at sea when two heavy storms collide. Looks like one of those sub-par disaster flicks.
GLADIATOR
A la all those Roman Empire era movies of Techni-Color days gone by, Russell Crowe is a Roman gladiator, shirtless in most of the preview.
PATRIOT
A glimpse preview shows Mel Gibson running with a musket and flinging an arrow in this Revolutionary War version of Braveheart.
BOILER ROOM
Giovanni Ribisi is the new guy in a stock-trading company full of highly motivated salesmen. Just one problem - they're selling ficticious stocks. Ben Affleck is Ribisi's boss. Looks like a good drama/thriller. Think "Wall Street, the Sequel". Greed IS good.
THE SKULLS
Lame-looking movie about a secret society of upper-echelon Ivy Leaguers who essentially rule all things and the innocent who becomes a member only to be horrified by them. Craig T. Nelson co-stars as an elder member.
THE ADVENTURES OF ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE
Bobby DeNiro (as I like to call him when we talk) and Jason Alexander headline this mix of live-action and animation. The preview itself mentions the obvious - comparisons to Roger Rabbit. Advances in technology since then make this story of Moose and Squirrel very interesting.
FREQUENCY
Dennis Quaid, fresh off his Any Given Sunday role, is a father from the past who talks to his son in the future via a magic c.b. radio enhanced by solar power(super sun spots, or something like that). That scenario alone is good. Unfortunately, the concept may be muddled by a story that sees dad using son's knowledge of the future to stop a murder.
ERIN BROCKOVICH
Weak-looking "based on a true story" garbage about an intellegent, but uneducated, single mom who borders on white trash, ascending the corporate ladder (as far as her lack of education can take her) while trying to uncover a mystery on par with the tainted water from "A Civil Action". Oh. yeah, and she's sassy throughout. I'll pass on this one.
ROAD TO EL DORADO
An animated tale for the kiddies involving a hunt for hidden buried treasure. A dreamworks production doing its best Disney imitation. Looks colorful.