Sneaks ’93 : Opening Soon

After the throat-clearing of January, the year starts off on a decidedly thoughtful note. In a drama-heavy schedule, two films focus on the other Los Angeles--the one outside the movie industry. Taylor Hackford’s “Blood In-Blood Out” follows three East L.A. cousins over 12 years, and in “Falling Down,” the economy, the freeways and urban anxiety overwhelm a working man. In “Sommersby,” Civil War veteran Richard Gere finds a wary reception when he returns from battle. The first of several spoofs Hollywood has waiting arrives: “National Lampoon’s Loaded Weapon I.”

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Amos & Andrew. A comedy about an African-American playwright (Samuel L. Jackson) who settles into a mansion on a vacation island, prompting the locals to assume he is a burglar. With Nicolas Cage, Dabney Coleman and Michael Lerner. (Columbia)

Army of Darkness. Director Sam Raimi sends “Evil Dead” star Bruce Campbell back to the Dark Ages. To return to the present, the time-traveling hero must not only battle an army of the dead, but also steal their souls. (Universal)

Blood In . . . Blood Out. Taylor Hackford directs the 12-year saga of three cousins growing up in L.A.’s Latino culture. Their lives are inextricably linked, yet their adult experiences yield unexpected results. Jesse Borrego, Benjamin Bratt and Damian Chapa star. (Buena Vista)

Brother’s Keeper. A documentary about the murder of one of four elderly, unmarried brothers who lived in a squalid two-room shack on a New York dairy farm. When the victim’s bedmate confessed, the case garnered national attention. From Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky. (Creative Thinking Intl.)

The Cemetery Club. Ellen Burstyn, Olympia Dukakis and Diane Ladd play three middle-aged widows who find life quite different the second time around. Danny Aiello, Lainie Kazan and Christina Ricci also star for director Bill Duke. (Buena Vista)

Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice. Continues the saga of the satanic children who terrorize a town. David Price directs; Terence Knox stars. (Dimension)

Dead Alive. When the population of walking corpses in a ‘50s neighborhood becomes a nuisance, a young couple decide to deal with it. Peter Jackson directs; Timothy Balme stars. (Trimark)

Double Threat. Sally Kirkland and Andrew Stevens star in the erotic story of an aging movie star, her co-star and her “body double.” David A. Prior directs. (Pyramid)

El Mariachi. Robert Rodriguez wrote and directed this futuristic action movie for $7,000. Set in a Mexican border town, it deals with a mariachi musician and a hit man. Carlos Gallardo and Consuelo Gomez star. (Columbia)

Ethan Frome. Liam Neeson stars in the classic story of a farmer who dutifully tends to his invalid wife but longs for the beautiful housekeeper who comes to stay with them in turn-of-the-century New England. Patricia Arquette and Joan Allen star for director John Madden. (Miramax)

Excessive Force. Martial-arts enthusiast Thomas Ian Griffith wrote this action script in which he plays a Chicago cop accused of ripping off $3 million and setting up his partners, who are killed during a bust. With Lance Henriksen and James Earl Jones. (New Line)

Falling Down. A laid-off defense worker (Michael Douglas), estranged from his wife and daughter, loses it one day during a traffic jam. Robert Duvall is the cop who must stop Douglas. Joel Schumacher directs; Barbara Hershey, Tuesday Weld and Rachel Ticotin co-star. (Warner Bros.)

A Far Off Place. Two teen-age friends are forced into the wilderness by a gang of poachers and undertake a 1,000-mile trek across the Kalahari desert. Former cinematographer Mikael Salomon directs Reese Witherspoon, Ethan Randall, Jack Thompson and Maximilian Schell. (Buena Vista)

Fifty-Fifty. Peter Weller, Robert Hays and Charles Martin Smith star in a comedic action tale of two CIA mercenaries who overthrow a dictator in a South China Sea country. Smith directs. (Cannon)

Groundhog Day. Bill Murray, Andie McDowell and Chris Elliott get together for director Harold Ramis in this romantic comedy. Murray’s an ego-driven TV weatherman who relives Feb. 2 over and over. (Columbia)

Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey. Three pets become separated from their owners and must make a perilous trip back to them. Set in the Pacific Northwest. Robert Hays and Kim Greist star as the humans; directed by Duwayne Dunham. (Buena Vista)

Into the West. Mike Newell (“Enchanted April”) directs a Jim Sheridan script in which two young children steal a horse and ride like the wind--pursued by the police and others. With Gabriel Byrne and Ellen Barkin; filmed in Ireland. (Miramax)

Just Another Girl on the IRT. A character named Chantel speaks with candor about her hopes and dreams. Ariyan Johns stars for writer-director Leslie Harris. (Miramax)

The Last Days of Chez Nous. Gillian Armstrong returns to her Australian roots with a drama detailing a troubled household coming apart. Starring Bruno Ganz, Kerry Fox and Lisa Harrow, who won the Australian equivalent of the best actress Oscar. (Fine Line)

Mac. John Turturro co-writes and makes his directing debut with a tale of two Italian brothers who start up a construction company in ‘50s New York City in honor of their late father. Ellen Barkin also stars. (Samuel Goldwyn Co.)

Matinee. In director Joe Dante’s latest, John Goodman is a B-movie producer type who alters the lives of four teen-agers when he comes to Key West, Fla., during the Cuban Missile Crisis to test his latest sci-fi thriller. Cathy Moriarty also stars. (Universal)

Midnight Ride. Michael Dudikoff, Mark Hamill and Robert Mitchum star in a thriller about a man who must extricate his trusting wife from a serial killer. Bob Bralver directs. (Cannon)

National Lampoon’s Loaded Weapon I. Emilio Estevez and Samuel L. Jackson play detectives assigned to the baffling Wilderness Cookie Girl homicide case. Expect sendups of “Basic Instinct” and “The Silence of the Lambs” in this buddy-cop spoof. With Jon Lovitz, Tim Curry, Kathy Ireland and William Shatner. Gene Quintano writes and directs. (New Line)

Nemesis. Former kick-boxing champ Olivier Gruner limbers up in a sci-fi thriller set in 2020, which pits cyborgs who have decided to rule the Earth against an elite cop. Brion James co-stars for director Albert Pyun. (Imperial)

No Place To Hide. An orphaned 16-year-old girl is targeted for abduction by a vengeful secret cult. Kris Kristofferson, Drew Barrymore and Martin Landau star for director-writer Richard Danus. (Cannon)

The Opposite Sex. Courteney Cox and Arye Gross allow moviegoers to eavesdrop during their first serious relationship. Kevin Pollak also stars. Directed by Matthew Meshekoff. (Miramax)

Rain Without Thunder. Set almost 50 years from now, this drama follows two women who go to Sweden for an abortion when that procedure--and all contraception--has been banished by a U.S. constitutional amendment. Jeff Daniels, Betty Buckley, Linda Hunt and Frederic Forrest star. (Orion Classics)

Riff-Raff. Radical British filmmaker Ken Loach directs a comedy about a young construction worker who moves into a London flat with a youthful singer. The co-stars have such thick accents that this film is spoken in English but has English subtitles. Robert Carlyle and Emer McCourt star. (Fine Line)

Shadow of the Wolf. A young hunter battles his father, the white man and the land to survive in the Arctic. Lou Diamond Phillips, Jennifer Tilly and Donald Sutherland star for director Jacques Dorfmann. (Triumph)

Sniper. Marine sniper Tom Berenger and National Security Council official Billy Zane’s mission in the Panamanian jungles is imperiled by their intense distrust of one another. Luis Llosa directs. (TriStar)

Sommersby. Richard Gere is a gentleman who returns from the Civil War to a hometown whose residents wonder: Is he really the man he says he is? Jodie Foster, Bill Pullman and James Earl Jones help them find out; Jon Amiel directs. (Warner Bros.)

Street Knight. An ex-cop finds himself back on the unforgiving streets of L.A. when he agrees to locate a missing teen-age gangbanger. Jeff Speakman stars; Albert Magnoli (“Purple Rain”) directs. (Cannon)

Strictly Ballroom. A humorous, visually tongue-in-cheek extravaganza about a rebellious dancer who feels utterly confined by the strict regulations of competitive ballroom dancing. Baz Luhrmann directs. (Miramax)

Swing Kids. A group of German teens who live for swing music must decide whether to join or fight the rise of Nazism in the late 1930s. Thomas Carter directs Robert Sean Leonard, Christian Bale, Frank Whaley and Barbara Hershey. (Buena Vista)

The Temp. Timothy Hutton and Lara Flynn Boyle (“Twin Peaks”) star in this corporate jungle thriller. (Paramount)

Trusting Beatrice. A quirky romantic comedy in which the French immigrant Beatrice and her daughter move into a fellow’s house after he accidentally burns theirs down. Cindy Lou Johnson directs her own script. Irene Jacob and Mark Evan Jacobs star. (Castle Hill)

Untamed Heart. Christian Slater plays a shy, gentle Minneapolis busboy who uses every ounce of his unusual heart to win over a waitress, played by Marisa Tomei (“My Cousin Vinny”). Rosie Perez also stars for director Tony Bill. (MGM)

The Vanishing. When Kiefer Sutherland’s girlfriend mysteriously vanishes, he becomes increasingly obsessed with her whereabouts. A psychological thriller co-starring Jeff Bridges and Nancy Travis; directed by George Sluizer. (Fox)

Vermont Is for Lovers. A comedy about a New York couple who go to Vermont to get hitched. When spats threaten their love, locals allay their fears. (Zeitgeist)