ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 16, 1996 TAG: 9611190040
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEPHEN WHITTY KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
WHEN THE WEATHER gets colder, Hollywood gets bolder.
Globe-spanning musicals that spare no expense. Stirring romances set against a backdrop of wartime tragedy. Lush literary epics and expensive family fantasies.
These costly films are Hollywood's holiday gifts to you - and the movies on which studios annually gamble their Oscar hopes and box-office dreams.
All of these seasonal presents have been manufactured to strict industry standards. Many of them come with famous brand names and fancy packaging.
But then, so did that yellow-and-green-striped turtleneck you got from Aunt Edna last year.
So here is a week-by-week guide to some of the bigger flicks this holiday season, with tentative dates of arrival - their national release dates. And a few cautions about what may be under all that pretty wrapping.
Also, please note that these are national release dates. They may not arrive in these parts on exactly the same days.
NOV. 22
``STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT''
To: Trekkers, the second generation.
From: Paramount and Commander Riker.
The package: Make it so! Jean-Luc Picard and crew battle the always oddly accessorized Borg. Co-star Jonathan Frakes pulls double-shifts as director.
What's inside: The usual holograms and interstellar space, now on the big screen. Unfortunately, even state-of-the-art effects couldn't bring back Tasha Yar.
``THE ENGLISH PATIENT''
To: Upscale romance readers.
From: Miramax, director Anthony Minghella and Ralph Fiennes.
The package: Love during wartime. A mostly internalized story of loss, as told by a wounded Englishman, and based on a prize-winning novel.
What's inside: A big-budget risk for Miramax and for Fiennes, whose American star never quite rose. The presence of the intelligently romantic Minghella - who wrote and directed the terrific ``Truly, Madly, Deeply'' - helps hedge the bet.
NOV. 27
``THE CRUCIBLE''
To: Arthur Miller fans and ACLU members.
From: 20th Century Fox, Winona Ryder and Daniel Day-Lewis.
The package: Miller's tale of Puritan witch-hunts, and his timeless metaphor for modern ones.
What's inside: A subject unlikely to draw many young fans - but full of dramatic performances sure to pad out a nomination list or two.
``101 DALMATIANS''
To: Smart children and grown-up kids.
From: The Mouse Factory, and screenplay factory John Hughes.
The package: Hello, Cruella world. The live-action version of the ageless saga of Pongo and Perdy.
What's inside: Cast with real people, the dognapping story suddenly looks a little grim - but it does provide Glenn Close with a great excuse to cop a 'tude and camp it up. As if she needed an excuse.
DEC. 6
``DAYLIGHT''
To: Paranoid commuters and loyal Stallone fans.
From: Universal, and Sly.
The package: An underground tunnel collapses, with the usual slice-of-life humanity - and one pumped-up hero - trapped under the Hudson River.
What's inside: Think ``The Poseidon Adventure,'' minus the boat. But cross your fingers; director Rob Cohen's last picture was the lumbering ``Dragonheart.''
DEC. 13
``JERRY MAQUIRE''
To: Sports fans and romance lovers.
From: TriStar, and writer/director Cameron Crowe.
The package: Tom Cruise is a washed-up sports agent who finds true love, real purpose and a few laughs.
What's inside: Mission intriguing. This would have been a slam dunk for Kevin Costner (and especially if Ron Shelton were directing). But when was vulnerable, offbeat comedy ever Cruise's game? An interesting gamble.
``Mars Attacks''
To: Sci-fi cultists and downtown devotees.
From: Warner Bros., Tim Burton and other assorted misfits.
The package: A budget-breaking sci-fi parody, based on old bubble-gum cards, and starring everyone from Tom Jones to Jack Nicholson.
What's inside: Independence daze - and a very iffy proposition. Burton's sense of humor isn't a widely shared one, and broad comedies with gargantuan casts often don't work. Or has everyone finally managed to forget ``1941''?
``THE PREACHER'S WIFE''
To: Heavenly lovebirds.
From: Denzel and Laverne, and Disney.
The package: Penny Marshall remakes the old Cary Grant romantic fantasy. This time Denzel Washington is Dudley the angel, and Whitney Houston is the clergyman's wife he touches - spiritually speaking, that is.
What's inside: With Billy Dee Williams off the scene, Washington is the closest thing we have to a black Cary Grant. If anyone can pull this off, he can. And with Houston as his co-star, expect lots of up-tempo gospel numbers.
DEC. 20
``GHOSTS OF MISSISSIPPI''
To: Political activists and armchair jurists.
From: Castle Rock and fightin' liberal Rob Reiner.
The package: Alec Baldwin and James Woods star in the true-life story of the murder of Medgar Evers, and the long search for justice that followed.
What's inside: A serious drama that had some drama of its own earlier this year, when a hurricane struck its North Carolina locations. Woods' performance as proudly racist suspect Byron de la Beckwith has already started a buzz.
``ONE FINE DAY''
To: Beauty lovers.
From: 20th Century Fox and a couple of dreamboats.
The package: Two harried single parents meet and fall in love. Just like in real life - except in Hollywood these frazzled folks are played by Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney.
What's inside: Another romantic comedy, in a season full of them - although the presence of two of the most gorgeous people on the planet should make this worth a look, and perhaps a sigh.
``MARVIN'S ROOM''
To: Dysfunctional survivors.
From: Miramax, and most of the Screen Actors Guild.
The package: A feel-not-so-good drama about eccentrics, pyromaniacs, shut-ins - and other typical American family members.
What's inside: A huge and interesting cast, including - take a breath - Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Gwen Verdon and Hume Cronyn.
``MY FELLOW AMERICANS''
To: ``Anonymous'' politicos and fans of American Movie Classics.
From: Warner Bros., and two charming pros.
The package: Jack Lemmon and James Garner play former presidents and lifelong political rivals who hate each other - but eventually have to get bipartisan when a crisis looms.
What's inside: A grumpy-ex-politico comedy, aimed at an older audience that doesn't have many choices this season
DEC. 25
``MICHAEL''
To: Self-help devotees and unicorn collectors.
From: New Line Cinema, director Nora Ephron and John Travolta.
The package: Travolta follows up his ``Phenomenon'' phenomena by playing a literal angel-on-earth who gets discovered by the tabloids.
What's inside: Probably enough holiday optimism to make your teeth ache. Really, isn't one philosophizing Travolta a year enough?
``THE EVENING STAR''
To: Fans of ``Terms of Endearment.''
From: Larry McMurtry, Shirley MacLaine and Paramount.
The package: Finally stopped crying? Good. Because Aurora Greenway is back - and now she's dealing with troubled grandkids and a younger lover.
What's inside: The usual folksy comedy and homespun drama - plus a welcome return engagement by Jack Nicholson.
``SHINE''
To: Music lovers and anxious analysts.
From: John Gielgud and some down-under wonders.
The package: A father turns his talented son into a piano prodigy - and drives him straight into a nervous breakdown. Gielgud, Lynn Redgrave and Armin Mueller-Stahl round out the cast.
What's inside: A widely praised Australian film that won cheers and standing ovations at Sundance and the Mill Valley Film Festival.
DEC. 27
``THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT''
To: Riot grrrl groupies and First Amendment absolutists.
From: Columbia, director Milos Forman and producer Oliver Stone.
The package: A star is porn. Woody Harrelson plays Larry Flynt, a man who starts out by publishing dirty pictures and ends up defending free speech; Courtney Love plays his doomed, drugged love, Althea.
What's inside: The oddest holiday release this year - and an eagerly awaited movie that's been building word-of-mouth raves since its New York Film Festival premiere.
``IN LOVE AND WAR''
To: Papa, and his fans.
From: New Line Cinema and director Richard Attenborough.
The package: Hemingway goes to war, and falls in love with a Red Cross nurse. Chris O'Donnell is the macho man manqu; Sandra Bullock plays the woman in white.
What's inside: A wartime epic - from a ``tasteful'' director who makes some of the dullest epics around. Maybe the front-line carnage will liven things up a bit.
ALSO ON THE WAY
Helen Mirren fights the British government in ``Some Mother's Son'' Laura Dern gets pregnant, and unhappily famous, in the satirical ``Citizen Ruth'' The citizens of ``Rosewood'' face racism and home-grown horror A family fractures, quietly, in ``Substance of Fire'' The dumb and dumbest take over when ``Beavis and Butt-head Do America'' Albert Brooks comes to terms with his ``Mother''
AND FINALLY
Kevin Spacey directs the slightly cracked crime story ``Albino Alligator'' Dwight Yoakam and John Ritter collide in ``Slingblade'' Hulk Hogan is ``Santa With Muscles'' Arnold Schwarzenegger is Arnold With Muscles in the comedy ``Jingle All The Way'' ``Mother Night'' unveils an old Kurt Vonnegut novel Emilio Estevez faces ``The War at Home'' Madonna is ``Evita'' Nicole Kidman is ``The Portrait of a Lady.'' And Woody Allen tries a musical with ``Everyone Says I Love You.''
LENGTH: Long : 196 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. James Woods in ``Ghosts of Mississippi,'' 2. Arnoldby CNBSchwarzenegger in ``Jingle All the Way,'' 3. Drew Barrymore and
Edward Norton in ``Everyone Says I Love You'' 4. and John Travolta
in ``Michael.'' 5. A few of the ``101 Dalmatians,'' 6. Ralph Fiennes
and Kristen Scott Thomas in ``The English Patient,'' 7. Winona Ryder
in ``The Crucible,'' 8. Whitney Houston in ``The Preacher's Wife.''
color.