What's Hot

L.A. Times Archives

July 20, 2000 12 AM PT

* Last week’s Top 5 VHS rentals:

1. “The Green Mile” (1999). Although its Stephen King story is a good one, this version written and directed by Frank Darabont is hampered by excessive length, the suffocating deliberateness of its pace and some truly stomach-turning moments. Even Tom Hanks’ compelling performance as the head guard on death row in a 1935 Louisiana prison can’t overcome that. (Kenneth Turan, Dec. 10) R for violence, language and some sex-related material.

2. “The Talented Mr. Ripley” (1999). This Anthony Minghella-directed version of the Patricia Highsmith novel about an amoral wannabe (Matt Damon) who worms his way into the good graces of clueless U.S. expatriates (Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow) in 1950s Europe is unexpectedly lacking in emotional impact. (Turan, Dec. 24) R for violence, language and brief nudity.

3. “Scream 3” (2000). Director Wes Craven and writer Ehren Kruger bring the smart, darkly amusing--though very bloody--horror trilogy to a bravura finish, as that elusive serial killer terrorizes the set of “Stab 3: Return to Woodsboro.” Neve Campbell is back to face down evil once again, and so are the couple Courteney Cox Arquette and David Arquette as a ruthlessly ambitious TV newscaster and a small-town cop. The veterans are joined by Parker Posey, Patrick Dempsey and Jenny McCarthy. (Kevin Thomas, Feb. 4) R for strong horror violence and language.

4. “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo” (1999). Rob Schneider is the latest “Saturday Night Live” veteran to get a “doofus feature” of his very own. He plays a softhearted, softheaded fish-tank cleaner forced to become what some would call a “professional escort” and others--well, anyway, the movie is about what you’d expect. (Gene Seymour, Dec. 10) R for sexual content, language and crude humor.

5. “Hanging Up” (2000). The idea of Meg Ryan coping with her irascible dying father (Walter Matthau), a phone addict, and two self-absorbed sisters (Diane Keaton, who also directed, and Lisa Kudrow), sounds promising as a serious comedy, but the father and the sisters are so unlikable and the relationships so underdeveloped that the result is synthetic and contrived. (Thomas, Feb. 18) PG-13 for language and some sex-related material.

* Last week’s Top 5 DVD rentals:

1. “Bicentennial Man” (1999). Robin Williams gives a touching performance as a robot who gradually transforms into a human being in this romantic but overly glossy sci-fi fable. Directed by Chris Columbus. (Kevin Thomas, Dec. 17) PG for language and some sexual content.

2. “The Talented Mr. Ripley”

3. “Green Mile”

4. “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo”

5. “Hanging Up”

* Last week’s Top 5 VHS sellers

1. “Runaway Bride” (1999). Though it’s fun to see Richard Gere and Julia Roberts smooching on screen for the first time in nine years, the flawed and unpleasant conception of a woman who abandons men at the altar crossing swords with a misogynist newspaperman will leave viewers with an unavoidably sour taste. (Turan, July 30) PG for language and some suggestive dialogue.

2. “DragonBallZ-Android-Invasion”

3. “American Pie” (special edition) (1999). An unexpected hybrid of “South Park” and Andy Hardy that uses its surface crudeness as sucker bait to entice teenagers into the tent to see a high school movie that is sweet and sincere at heart. With a cast of likable young people. (Turan, July 9) R for strong sexuality, crude sexual dialogue, language and drinking, all involving teens.

4. “DragonBallZ-Android-Dr. Gero”

5. “Stuart Little” (1999). The shy and pleasant mouse of E.B. White’s famous children’s book has been turned into a rodent whose ready line of patter would make him at home on “The Tonight Show.” The computer animation is excellent. . (Turan, Dec. 17) PG for brief language.

* Last week’s Top 5 DVD sellers

1. “Independence Day” (1996). Mean, marauding aliens hit planet Earth planning to take no prisoners. Spectacular special effects are joined to a cardboard story line that exactly reproduces the fatuous sensibility of the 1950s. (Turan) PG-13, for sci-fi destruction and violence.

2. “Scream 3”

3. “Green Mile”

4. “The Talented Mr. Ripley”

5. “The Matrix” (1999). A wildly cinematic futuristic thriller that stars Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne as battlers against a computer-controlled world that treats people like Eveready batteries. The writing and directing Wachowski brothers combine rip-roaring visual feats with traditional sci-fi premises in a way that always dazzles the eye. (Turan, March 31) R for sci-fi violence and brief language.

What’s Coming

Tuesday: “The Beach,” “Drowning Mona” and “Magnolia.”

Aug. 1: “Romeo Must Die” and “Whatever It Takes.”

Aug. 8: “The Grandfather,” “Holy Smoke,” “Map of the World” and “Reindeer Games.”

Aug. 15: “The Cider House Rules,” “Erin Brockovich,” “Ghost Dog,” “Here on Earth,” “It’s the Rage” and “Titus.”

Aug. 22: “Agnes Brown,” “Beyond the Mat,” “Mifune,” “Not One Less,” “Simpatico,” “Supernova” and “The Tigger Movie”

Aug. 29: “The Big Kahuna,” “Deterrence,” “Held Up,” “I Dreamed of Africa,” “The Next Best Thing” and “Princess Mononoke.”

Sept. 5: “American Psycho.”

Sept. 12: “East Is East,” “High Fidelity,” “The Last September,” “Mission to Mars” and “Stiff Upper Lips.”

Sept. 19: “28 Days.”

Sept. 26: “Black and White.”

Commentary by Times critics.