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Close Encounter of the First Kind:

Sighting (Poor)
Close Encounter of the Second Kind:

Physical Evidence (Fair)

Close Encounter of the Third Kind:

Contact (Good)
Close Encounter of the Fourth Kind:

Invasion (Excellent)

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Close Encounter of the Fifth Kind:

Colonization (Masterpiece)

IN THEATERS NOW
MARS ATTACKS!
(United States, 1996)

SYNOPSIS:

REVIEW:

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4:g$f:gllored spectacle as two-dimensional as the trading cards that,inspired it, MARS ATTACKS! is a kitsch.homa_geto every 1950s drive-in scielnce-fiction-mo'vi" guns fry,. salrcelq fly, gianj robots topple, and Martian brains explode... OK, so"fi"ft"-n"v mayb e thlt htt-qun is_the filmmakers'y?y of appealing to modern sensibilities. It's aligreatly amusing, if ultimately a little unsatisSring.
President Dale (Jack Nicholson) announces that a spaceships is approaching. Asihe world waits, we meet the immense cast in trild-and-true ({l_gs_s than sfrccessfut; aEaster-movie asnion. nmong them: news anchor Jason Sjonq (Yig$"t J. interviewer Natalie I.ake (Sarah ry*), {t9i Parker), bus driver Louise (Pam Williams Gri6r), former heavyweight cliampEf;; I-e;$Sa Wlliams ({im_nr-ory12, pipe-.smoking scientist Dr. Donald Kessler (Piercebrosnan)-, lady Marsha Dale (Glenn Close), Prels gsslstary Jerry Ross (Martin Short), a trailer-trash dad (Joe Don Baker), a grandmothel (sylvia Sidney, who gives the movie'jbest Pllforyrance), and.a white-trash casino developer ffichotson again) and his New Age-y wife (Annette Bening). Directors Jerzy Skolimowdki and Barbe"t Sihroeder have smill roles as, respectively, a scientist and the President of France. a stunning.opening sequence, U.S. *ft9t fleet of apparently.benign

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The introductions take a fair bit too long,. q0 9y the time the Martians start killing off the (starting cast with Fox and Paul Winfield), they're way overdue. Their eventual rymP demise, conversely, comes a bit too soon and anticlimacticaily. In between are some good gags, sveral inventive weapons,-a couple of audacious human experiments, and a fe# minor but annoying inconsistencies.
The-c_ult-classic, 1962Topps ggrds stressed hld,pulpy tone of impending apocalypse -? the Martians looked equally ridiculous, but the death and devastation wereri.t 1ituy".i'fot Jaughs. The film's 9ndlng_ig different from the Earth-attacks finale of the cardi,ahd the plot 4q::qtrylly.been dumbed down. And for the record, the reportedly $70 million MARS ATTACKS! isn't the first movie adapted from trading cardi -- TH-E GARBAGE pAIL KIDS MOVIE (1987) holds that distinction.

--Written by Frank Lovece

- President James Dale/Art Land Glenn Close - First Lady Marsha Dale Annette Bening - Mrs Barbara Land Pierce Brosnan - Professor Donald Kessler Danny DeVito - Rude Gambler Martin Short - Press Secretary Jerry Ross Sarah Jessica Parker - Natalie Lake Michael J. Fox - Jason Stone . Rod Steiger - General Decker Tom Jones - Himself Lukas Haas - Richie Norris Natalie Portman - Taffy Dale Jim Brown - Byron Williams Lisa Marie (aka Lisa Marie Smith) - Martian Girl Sylviagidney - Grandma Norris Christina Applegate - Sharona Joe Don Baker - Glerrn Norris Pam Grier - Louise Willjams Paul Winfield - General Casey DIRECTOR: Tim Burton U.S. DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros RUNNING TIME: 103 mins. MPAA RATING: PG-13

STARRING: Jack Nicholson

II\TDEPEIYDENCE DAY
(United States, 1996) SYtr{OPSIS:

rather than poor-sucker enemy draftees, it's deliciously easy to cheer on the troops.

INDEPENDENCED,AY uses sci-fi sp_ectacle to tell a good o1' fashioned war story. ALIENS (1986) did the same thing: When the bad guys are murderous extraterrejtrials

REVIEW: Utt y_U"Jyi!r_g!t Zone cloaked morality plays in paranormal trappings,

{lyiqg saucers, which have perched over major cilies. Math whiz David Levinson (Jeff_Goldblum)_deducg! tlt?!th. ships are using Earth satellite signals to coordinate, so he and dad Julius (Judd Hirsch) rush to the-White House, whire David's ex-wife (Margaret _Co]in) is p^res_s secretary. Then the hovering hoard begins blasting away, turning cities into fireballs of collapsing dominoes.
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{nd th{ we do, after Clinton-esque President Thomas J.'Whitmore (Bill Pullman) and General William Grlf (R9be{ Loggia) have made 9very attempt to iommunicate peaceably yjtn !$ aliens. By then, they've already seen a mother itrfu Aisfatch three dozen

Other heroes-in-the-making include drunken vet-turned-crop duster pilot Russell Casse Bg*9v Qgaid), top-gun Cagtag Slevel Hiller (an eye-openingly teriific Will Smith), his gir]{en{ Jasmine_ (Vivegg_A. Fo4 andhis !ud!y Captain Jimmy Wilder (Harry Connict Jr,!D^avid's-boss {r{y (Harvey-Fierstein), the First Lady (MaryMcDonnill;, tire Secretary of Defense (Jam9s Rebhorn), and a scientist (Brent Spiner)'at Area 51--wher6ihe government really is hiding Roswell aliens. Though pre-openingbuzzpainted it as a big-budget B-movie, INDEPENDENCE DAl' transcends its genre roots. Though quickly sketched, its characters are three-dimensional. Urrlike TWISTER (1996)--which is populated by automatons--INDEPENDENCE DA1' features interesting people with recognizably human concerns. Some of its best moments involve not special-effects, but genrrine emotion. Whitmore's speech to his ragtagtroops before their final assault is a well-delivered masterpiece of one-world patriotiim-that only a misanthrope would find corny. The science? It's no more implausible than usual, and while INDEPENDENCE DA1' ultimately gngages Jhe-.eVe more than the brain, it also engages the heart--something most current action-movie directors have forgotten how to do.

--Written by Frank Lovece

STARRING: Will Smith - Captain Steve Hiller Bill Pu[man - President Whitmore
Jeff Goldblum - David Levinson Mary McDonnell - Marilyn Whitmore Judd Hirsch - Julius Margaret Colin - Constance Spano Randy Quaid: Russell Robert Loggia - General Grey James Rebhorn - Secretary Nimziki Harvey Fierstein - Marty Harry Connick Jr - Jimmy Vivica Fox - Jasmine Debrow James Duval - Miguel Brent Spiner - Dr Okun DIRECTOR: Roland Emmerich
U.S. DISTRIBUTOR z 2[thCentury Fox RUNNING TIME: 135 mins.

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MPAA RATING: PG.I3

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TOY STORY
(United States, 1995)

SYNOPSIS: Woody, a traditional pull-string talking cowboy, has long enjoyed aplace of honor as the favorite among six-year-old Andy's menagerie of toys. Quick to calm their anxieties about being replaced by newer arrivals, Woody finds his own confidence shaken, and his status as top toy in jeopardy, upon the arival of BazzLightyeir, simpty ttre coolest space action figure ever made. Woody plots to get rid of Btzz, but things backfire and he finds himself lost in the outside world withBuzz as his only companion. Joining forces to find their way home, the two rivals set out on an adventure that lands them in the clutches of Sid, a sadistic neighborhood kid who is notorious for dismembering and reassembling "mutant" toys in his bedroom. As "guests" of Sid and his dog, Scud, tlie two fugitive toys forge a genuine friendship and learn that only through mutual trust and respect do they have any chance of survival.

REVIEW:
It'd be easy to applaud TOY STORY as a breathtaking visual accomplishment. The first fully computer-animated feature film, this adventure comedy is a jaw-dropping parade of state-of-tlie-art images with the art so artfully concealed thal the fict that itis computer-animated is quickly forgotten. Yet TOY STORY isn't an instant classic just for its visual inventiveness: The tricks are in the service of a wonderfully imaginative story. It's filled with cracklingly kinetic set-pieces and verbal jokes, like the real-estate brokerage called Virtual Realty. An escape sequence rivals those of TOPKAPI or TV's "Mission: Impossible." And the antagonist's comeuppance is so brilliantly eerie, it's like "The TwilightZone" crossed with FREAKS.

In an ordinary world in which toys come to life when no one's watching, Andy Davis (voice of John Morris) receives supercool action figure BuzzLigI'fiyear (voice of Tim Allen) as a gift. This upsets pull-string cowboy Woody (voice of Tom Hanks) who genially presides over snappish Mr. Potato Head (voice of Don Rickles), dinosaur Rex (an amusingly neurotic Wallace Shawn), Slinky Dog (voice of Jim Varney), love interest Bo Peep (voice of Annie Potts), and, among others, those porennial, stiff posed, green Army men, led by Sergeant (voice or R. Lee Ermey). When Woody and his comically self important rival--who thinks he's a real Galactic Ranger--become stranded outdoors, they're forced to help each other or face dismemberment and "mutant toy" reconstruction by next-door's vicious Sid (voice of Eric Von Detten)

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With astonishingly real-Loking cars and streetscapes, TOY STORY heralds a sea-change that will affect live-action film techniques and location-shooting. In pushing so thoroughly the boundaries of a new technology--one destined to lead (though not in the immediate future) to computer-animated virtual actols--TOY STORY seems a new historical equivalent of THE JAZZ SINGER or THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY.
--Written by Frank Lovece

DIRECTOR: John

Lasseter

U.S. DISTRIBUTOR: Buena Vista Distribution Company RUNNING TIME: 81 mins. MPAA RATING: G

RATING:Si&$giJ
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DR. DOLITTLE
(United States, 1995) SYNOPSIS:
supp_ressed a very special talent he possessedis a child: the abilify to communicate with animals. Forgotten are his childhood memories of counsel with a four-legged friend until a near accident awakens his long-dormant talents._Now owls, horses, guinea pigs anything that could claim a spot in the animal -advice. kingdom -- seek his medical Dolittle's confusion, his colleague's terror and his family's concem are all alleviated as a healthy dose of animal behavior reminds him what it meanito be human.

A skilled ghysician, Dr. John Dolittle has long

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with the animals, as the song goes, and not with humans. rt tacfs irie;;;[ orgABg (1995) and the wit of PAULIE (1998), and is undermined by some serious story problems.

REVIEW: g{ggoladically tunny, this non-singing, It*"tqJ non-dancing remake of 1967's DoCToR OR DOLITTLE isn't anything anythine much to talk a6orit.

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As.a youngster, John Dolittle conversed with his dog (voice of Ellen DeGeneres). The rational world says tha(simpossible,of course, so tfe'dog got sent away and young John repressed any.memory iif his ability. Now grown, with a famity of his o-*t *'.l a sriccessful medical practice, Dolittle.(Eddie Murphy, nicely submerged in ttre role) is astonished when the trauma of nearly.*llttrg over a dog (voice 6f Norm Macdonald) reictivates it. And there's the rub: movies-that promise talking animals should be about talking animals. As Mr. Ed and Francis the Talking M.u1e-proved, audiences will suspend belief foia ctenerty sei rrp' fantasy premise: Ed and Francis'human.companions were astonished, but accepted lhe evidence of their ears. DR. DOLITTLE about a man coping (badlyj with the'belief that i9 hearing animal voices means he's mentally ill.
gqid, there are grea! fal.enjs voicing.the gener_ally_self-absorbed animals, with Garry Shandling,_Gilbert Gottfri_ed, John Leguiz,amo and Julie Kavner among the most recognizable. couple of scenes with a suicidal circus tiger (Ab&t Brooks) ^And_a momentarily fulfill the movie's promise. But it's badly editedlndpaced, and further marred by poor taste (enough with tlrg qa racism. Guinea pig^RoAney (Chris nockj may -ass_jo_kel!) not.say the n-word, but his cliched black inflections and vocabulary couli let the NAACp up in arms. Ditto the heavily Hispanic-sounding rats. And the use of tne G--"word in reference to.Italians is simply reprehensible in a family film.

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-WrifienbyFrek l.ovece STARRING: Eddie Murphy - DrJohnDoliJtle

DIRECTOR: Betty Thomas (I{YF)
U.S. DISTRIBUTOR: 20th Century Fox

RUNIYING TIME: 95 mins.

MPAA RATING: PG-13

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DEEP RISING

(United States, 1998)

REVIEW:
More dumb fun that it ought to be, DEEP RISING is this year's CONGO, updating adventure-movie archetypes with hip humor and a visually-powerful monster. Its one big fault: It doesnt know when to stop.
Charter-boat operator Finnegan (Treat Williams) has a motto: "If the cash is there, we do not care." That's sensible since his entire boat looks like a greasy engine room and his passengers tend to be the type who sneak aboard boxes oftorpedoes, put guns to each other's heads for fun, and speak the accented English preferred by international mercenaries. Led by the dour Hanover (Wes Studi), the current band of brigands plans to rob a gigantic cruise ship called the Argonautica, the dream project of an oily American (Anthony Heald) who presides over the monied multinationals of this Monte Carlo of the South China Sea and has a hidden agenda. None of these human matters matter after the ship gets rammed straight into THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE by some enonnous something. Then the first person gets pulled down through a toilet with a violent squish, accompanied by the appropriate far-reaching splatters of blood and flesh. Hanover and company--including Finnegan and his hilarious, smart-mouthed nervous-nelly engineer (Kevin J. OConnor)--board the Argonautica and find it destroyed and deserted. But even as various parties are devoured by a mysterious leviathan with enormous, spiked, alien-suckered tentacles, Finnegan finds time to rescue and be rescued by a tough, wisecracking thief (Famke Janssen) in low-cut red gown. The exhausting final.sequence drags on way too long, and you're more than re4dy for the film to be ovdr by the time the spectacular pyrotechnics engulf the screen (Oscar-winning cinematographer Dean Cundey co-directed the second unit). Otherwise, suspensp-savvy writer-director Stephen Sommers has made monstrously delicious seafood gumbo.

--Written by Frank Lovece

STARRING:
Treat Williams - Finnegan Famke Janssen - Trillian
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DIRECTOR: Stephen Sommers U.S. DISTRIBUTOR: Buena Vista Distribution Company R{.]NNING TIME: 106 min MPAA RATING: R

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HALLOWEEN H2O (United States, 1998) REVIEW: Despite its awkward title, this seventh film in the franchise begun by John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN is a sharp little bundle of scares and the sort of self-referential humor perfected by co-executive producer Kevin Williamson's SCREAM. It's hard to gauge the scope of Williamson's input: The press kit reports he wrote the initial screenplay, though (perhaps for labyrinthine Writers Guild reasons) Robert Zappia is credited with the story, and Zappia and Matt Greenberg with the script. Whatever the case, it's a jolt of fun, with some fun jolts.
H20 finds one-time terrorized baby-sitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) living under an assumed name, having faked her death. A single mom teaching at a private school attended by her l7-year-old son, John (Josh Hartnett), functioning alcoholic and control freak Laurie lives in terror of her apparently unkillable brother's
return.

And tonight is Halloween 1998, twenty years since psychotic sibling Michael Myers went on his homicidal rampage. The third through sixth HALLOWEEN movies, in which Curtis did not appear, dont exist in this chronology. Accordingly, the "late" Laurie's daughter, Jamie Lloyd (HALLOWEEN IV) is never mentioned.
Handsomely mounted and filled with such suspenseful touches as Laurie fearfully seeing things that arent there-at least not most of the time--the film strikes a leisurely pace after its literally gut-twisting opening sequence (in which Nancy Stephens reprises her role as Nurse Marion Wittington from the first two films). Suspenseful throughout (especially a harrowing bit involving a mother and small daughter at a roadside rest stop), H20 becomes beautifully unrelenting once the hunter and hunted finally face each other. The characters'pathologies feel truthful, and the finale is both poignant and a hammering knockout. Oh, and Jamie Lee's mom, Janet Leigh, plays the school secretary and drives what looks an awful look like her character's first car in PSYCHO.

--Written by Frank Lovece

STARRING:
Jamie Lee Curtis - Laurie Strode/Keri Tate

DIRECTOR: Steve Miner U.S. DISTRIBUTOR:Dimension Films RUNNING TIME: 85 mins. MPAA RATING: R