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Off The
Record...
David Bowie
hours...
Simply a fine album of
disconnected songs, in a sense returning him to his early days as a
singer-songwriter who could take off down different paths without necessarily
sticking to any one of them. The opening cut, Thursday's Child, offers a
wistful glance over his shoulder, a sort of end-of-the-millennium version of My
Way. It's a tip-off that hours... offers more reflection on the past than new
directions for the future. Nostalgic or not, Bowie seems engaged here, and to
be fair, his past has been so varied and adventurous that it would be almost
impossible for him to escape it entirely.
At The
Movies...
Mystery Alaska
Mystery, Alaska is about a
mythical town whose collective identity revolves around hockey. Every Saturday
in the frozen-year-round pond, the cream of the town's 633 residents side-off to
skate, score and crunch on the ice. Thanks to an article in Sports Illustrated,
the town team gets invited to play the fearsome New York Rangers, who are
willing to play a post-season exhibition match. There's a lot to laugh at here,
with ample fuzzy, emotional aspects designed to give this film redeeming social
value. There's a message, too. Sometimes, you win when you lose.
On Video...
Election
Very funny high school satire
about overachieving co-ed (Reese Witherspoon) who has her sights set on the
student government presidency and the teacher (Matthew Broderick) who opposes
her run for the office. At the center of the film is the school election ,but
the peripheral events (including illicit sexual affairs) are what mold the black
comedy into a cohesive whole. More important than the action are the
characters' interior choices, intents and desires, making this stand out from
run-of-the-mill teen romps.
The Buzz...
The martial arts action TV series
being put together by Jet Li and Mel Gibson now has a title.
Invincible teams Gibson and Li again, after Lethal Weapon 4, although neither
are expected to be on camera for the series.
Wes Craven, the director
behind such landmark horror works as Nightmare on Elm Street and the first two
Scream films, was upset with Miramax's decision to push the December release of
Scream 3 back to February. "I wanted to end the 20th century with my last genre
film," he said.
In the tough world of syndicated
television, two new programs, Peter Benchley's Amazon and Relic Hunter
starring Tia Carrere, put in impressive ratings numbers for their
premiere appearances.
Bryan Adams' new greatest
hits package, Best Of Me, will include all of him, in the nude. The singer
snapped self-portraits of himself for the cover of the album, which arrives in
stores Nov. 16, and Adams apparently decided to go au natural for the session.
Mariah Carey has toppled
the Beatles to become the artist with the most weeks atop the Billboard
Hot 100 Singles Chart, according to Columbia Records.
The next Halloween series
movie will be called Halloween H2K - Evil Never Dies, according to the Halloween
Movies website. Producer Moustapha Akkad is sorting through a number of
possible scripts to choose the one that will take Michael Myers and the horror
genre into the third millennium.
WB network programs, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Dawson's Creek will no longer be
carried on stations owned by cable net WGN. On Wednesday, WGN (which owns 25%
of WB) pulled WB programming, which means about 10% of the country can no longer
access WB programs.
Pierce Brosnan's publicist
has confirmed that Brosnan has become engaged to Keely Shaye Smith, a
correspondant for Entertainment Tonight. The couple have a two year-old son.
Filmmaker Renny Harlin has
signed to develop T.r.a.x, a weekly supernatural television series for Fox. The
half-hour show is being billed as a cross between The Blair Witch Project and
the network's own real-life crime series COPS. The title is an anagram for
trace, research, analyze,
exterminate.
Dougray
Scott might have to drop out of the role of Wolverine in the blockbuster
X-Men movie currently being filmed in Toronto due to commitments for the
villain role in Mission: Impossible 2 which John Woo slated for a
Memorial Day 2000 release.
According to VideoScan, The
Mummy posted the largest sales figures for the opening weekend of any
non-animated VHS released this year. The Brendon Fraiser thriller also
earned big numbers in rentals, posting the highest opening weekend revenues
since Saving Private Ryan was released last May. The DVD sales of The Mummy
also surpassed the second week DVD sales of The
Matrix, pulling in $9.47 million
compared to The Matrix's $6.91 million.
Hundreds of Marilyn Monroe's
belongings have gone on display this week at Christie's auction house in Paris,
including the flesh-colored dress Monroe wore to sing Happy Birthday to U.S.
President John F. Kennedy.
TV Guide Inc. is being
purchased by videocassette programming pioneer Gemstar International Group Ltd.
in a $8.6 billion stock deal, the second time in less than a year it is has
changed hands. |
