Movies Coming Soon
| American Pie |
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In this coming-of-age comedy, a group of friends at the end of their senior year make a pact to lose their virginity by prom night. In their outrageous attempts to fulfill this mission, they come to some surprising, hilarious and often touching realizations about themselves, their friendships, their notions of love, romance and their relations with the opposite sex. (1 hr. 35 min.)
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| Mission: Impossible III |
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Super-spy Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has retired from active duty to train new IMF agents. But he is called back into action to confront the toughest villain he's ever faced - Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman), an international weapons and information provider with no remorse and no conscience. Hunt assembles his team - his old friend Luther Strickell (Ving Rhames), transportation expert Declan (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), background operative Zhen (Maggie Q), and fresh recruit Lindsey (Keri Russell) - to travel the globe pursuing Davian and rescue Hunt's love, Julia (Michelle Monaghan). (2 hrs. 6 min.)
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| Do the Right Thing |
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Spike Lee's racial and political filmmaking bent is given the full treatment with this simmering exposé of racial tensions in a New York City neighborhood one scorching summer day. The film, written by Lee (and nominated for an Oscar), follows a group of racially diverse inhabitants from Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood as they spend their day trying to avoid the oppressive heat. These include African American pizza deliveryman Mookie (Lee), the racially sensitive Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito), and the silent, boom-box-blasting Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn). Also thrown into the mix are Sal (an Oscar-nominated Danny Aiello), the Italian-American proprietor of Sal's Pizzeria, as well as his two sons, Pino (John Turturro) and Vito (Richard Edson), who hold completely opposing attitudes when it comes to race. After Buggin' Out tries to organize a boycott of Sal's because of the lack of racial diversity on his shop's Wall of Fame, the tensions explode in an act of senseless violence. Lee's film is an electric work of political entertainment that confronts sensitive racial issues head-on. He deftly blends humor and drama as well as using specific music to further amplify his theme (Public Enemy's song "Fight the Power" actually becomes the film's main catalyst for action). Boldly closing the film with opposing quotes from Malcolm X and Martin Luther King on the nature of race relations, Lee leaves it up to the viewer to decide if Mookie's actions were the correct ones. Aiello and Esposito are standouts in an all-star cast that includes Lee himself, his sister Joie, "discovery" Rosie Perez, and the married team of Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. Always one to spark controversy, Lee's summer drama finds the filmmaker at the peak of his craft. (2 hrs.)
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| The Breakfast Club |
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When five high school students from different social groups are forced to spend a Saturday together in detention, they find themselves interacting with and understanding each other for the first time. A jock (Emilio Estevez), a stoner (Judd Nelson), a princess (Molly Ringwald), a basket case (Ally Sheedy), and a brain (Anthony Michael Hall) talk about everything from parental tension to sex to peer pressure to hurtful stereotypes while serving time. Ultimately, the five find that they may have more in common than they ever imagined and learn more about themselves as well as each other. (1 hr. 37 min.)
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| The Wiz |
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In this Sidney Lumet-directed Motown rendition of THE WIZARD OF OZ, Diana Ross plays a soulful Dorothy, accompanied by a cast peppered with R&B stars such as Roberta Flack and Luther Vandross. (2 hrs. 13 min.)
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| Dazed and Confused |
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Richard Linklater's DAZED AND CONFUSED takes a hysterical, nostalgic cross-clique look at high school social development. On the last day of school in May 1976, students at a suburban Texas high school wait, lackadaisically, for classes to end. The restless almost-seniors--an eclectic group of stone-heads, fraternal jocks, and snobby sorority girls--can't wait to haze the incoming freshman, an annual event as harrowing for freshman boys as it is humiliating for girls. Amidst this teenage wasteland of drugs, partying, and rock and roll is football star Pink (Jason London), who saves scrawny pre-frosh Mitch (Wiley Wiggins) from being paddled to oblivion by upper-classmates. But Pink has his own battles: he's struggling over the head coach's demand that football players sign a pledge to abstain from sex and all psychoactive substances. When a wild end-of-the-year party is cancelled, the students end up congregating at a beer-blast in the back woods, organized by aging hang-about Wooderson (Matthew McConaughey). In the same way that George Lucas assembled a cast of fresh young faces for AMERICAN GRAFFITI, Linklater here creates an unforgettable cast of characters that are immediately familiar to anyone who has ever been through high school. (1 hr. 37 min.)
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| Flashdance |
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In Adrian Lyne's FLASHDANCE, a young woman, Alex (Jennifer Beals), strives to achieve success as a classical dancer, but economic forces require her to work as a welder by day and an exotic dancer by night. Standing in her way is an abundance of profound social obstacles, not the least of which is her boss at the welding factory, Nick (Michael Nouri), who is also her boyfriend. Alex strives to be accepted into a prestigious ballet academy, and she is furious when she realizes that her boyfriend might be pulling strings for her behind the scenes. Along the road to self-discovery and independence, Alex also struggles to accept love, come to terms with her own stubbornness, and find the inner strength to turn her lofty dreams into reality. Edited for maximum rhythmic impact, FLASHDANCE is full of glistening bodies and metallic surfaces, powered by Giorgio Moroder's throbbing music and one hit song after another: Michael Sembello's "Maniac," Karen Karmen's "Manhunt," and, notably, Irene Cara's Oscar-winning theme song, "Flashdance...What a Feeling." FLASHDANCE marks the first coproduction between Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson, who geared the film toward the MTV generation. (1 hr. 38 min.) |
| Xanadu |
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A young album-painter learns a lesson about daring to dream when he is kissed by a magical muse. Throwing caution to the wind, he partners up with a wealthy former jazz musician to start-up a roller disco nightclub, but finds that one of his dreams might be too lofty--even for the powers that be. A modern musical featuring the musical talents of Olivia Newton-John, Electric Light Orchestra, the Tubes, and Cliff Richard, with a touch of cartoon from animator Don Bluth. (1 hr. 33 min.)
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| Piranha |
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"Operation Razorteeth," a government project involving the breeding of mutant piranhas, gets way out of hand when the fish raid a lake at a summer camp for kids in this Roger Corman-produced, Joe Dante-directed classic. Heather Menzies stars as Maggie McKeown, an insurance investigator out to trace a missing teenage couple who have disappeared in the woods. With the help of a drunken recluse, Paul Grogan (Bradford Dillman), they come across a supposedly deserted army base inhabited by Dr. Robert Hoak (Kevin McCarthy) who has been breeding the deadly fish in secret. In their hunt for the missing couple McKeown and Grogan drain the army pool, unleashing millions of mutant piranhas into the lake of a nearby children's summer camp and a newly opened tourist resort. Smart exploitation with a ludicrous and clever script co-written by John Sayles, this drive-in answer to JAWS is full of film references and plenty of B-movie thrills (gore and nudity). PIRANHA is the kind of movie they don't make anymore--and better yet--it holds up well. (1 hr. 32 min.)
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| Weird Science |
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Teenage geeks Gary (Anthony Michael Hall) and Wyatt (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) are sick of being ignored by girls, abused by cool guys, and forced to spend their weekend nights watching nerdy old sci-fi movies. Left alone for the weekend, they use Wyatt's computer to create Lisa (Kelly LeBrock), a stunningly beautiful woman with a body that stops traffic, a heart of gold, and a genius IQ. The boys embark on an adventure with their creation, going to bars, driving Ferraris, throwing a killer party, and keeping Wyatt's psychotic older brother, Chet (Bill Paxton), in check. But in the end, they learn that wearing cool clothes, hanging out with cool kids, and being popular might not solve all their problems. Written and directed by the king of teen flicks, John Hughes, this film was released after SIXTEEN CANDLES and in the same year as THE BREAKFAST CLUB. Like many of his films, Hughes's WEIRD SCIENCE is set in fictional Shermer, Illinois. A young Robert Downey (sans the "Jr.") appears as Ian, a cool kid who takes pleasure in tormenting Gary and Wyatt. (1 hr. 34 min.)
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