Susan Granger’s VIDEO UPDATE for week of Friday, June 16th:
Just in time for Father’s Day, Universal Home Video has repriced ($9.98-$14.98) 21 male-oriented videos, including two new-to-video Westerns, “Gunsmoke” and “Ride Clear of Diablo,” which star Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier of World War II. Others include “The Virginian,” “The Peacemaker,” “Hell’s Angel,” “Jet Pilot,” “The Texans,” and “Beau Geste.”
Adapted from a story by Isaac Asimov, “Bicentennial Man,” starring Robin Williams, chronicles the life of Andrew, who begins as a household appliance in 2005. But when his owner, Sam Neill, discovers he has creativity, curiosity and compassion, Andrew gradually becomes humanoid. The concept explores the technology of artificial intelligence but the screenplay, which spans several generations, contains too many characters and wallows in sentimentality.
“Play It To the Bone” revolves around two has-been middleweight fighters, played by Woody Harrelson and Antonio Banderas. They’re signed to fight a 10-rounder in Las Vegas, hitch a ride with a mutual friend, Lolita Davidovich, and experience recurring visions of Jesus. And Eric Roberts stars in “La Cucaracha,” a Hitchcockian tale of madness and redemption in Mexico.
For tots, from Nickelodeon, there’s “Blue’s Clues: Stop, Look and Listen” and “Maurice Sendak’s Little Bear: Rainy Day Tales.”
PICK OF THE WEEK: Best Picture contender “The Green Mile,” stars Tom Hanks as a guard on Death Row, circa. 1935. He recalls, in flashback, his poignant friendship with an unusual black prisoner (Oscar-nominee Michael Clarke Duncan) with a mysterious, supernatural gift. Adapted from Stephen King’s novella, this is a suspenseful, powerful adult drama – and the second execution is so boldly horrifying that words like gruesome and gory seem trivial.