Courtesy Photo
JOHNNY DEPP (left) portrays the enigmatic journalist Raoul Duke, and Benicio Del Toro is Dr. Gonzo, his parter, in “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” The
film is based on the book of the same name by Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.
Hollywood set to unleash
another disastrous summer
By Bret Schulte
Film Critic
Sometimes California just begs for
natural disasters.
This summer, a meteor will slam
into the Earth (only weeks before we
collide with an asteroid), a killer alien
will attack a Jamie Lee Curtis movie
and Godzilla is slated to attack
Manhattan May 20.
Once again. Hollywood will
attempt to create another blockbuster
summer out of big names, big explo
sions and big budgets.
.And it will probably work.
“Armageddon.” and “Deep
Impact” both boast big stars and out
of-this-world budgets in the latest dis
aster film competition (remember last
year "Volcano” buried “Dante's
Peak”).
both turns tocus on certain death
from aggressive planetoids with salva
tion lying in the hands of a couple
tough guys softened by cute girls.
Walt Disney’s 36th" full-length ani
mated feature, “Mulan,” is the next
ethnic animated adventure by
America's oldest purveyor of cultural
stereotypes. Lending their voices are
Eddie Murphy and Harvey Fierstein
along with Ming-Na Wen and B.D.
Wong. Fortunately, it’s not a musical.
“Airplane!” and “Naked Gun”
director David Zucker leads the cre
ators of “South Park” through their
first big-screen appearance.
“BASEketball” is about two average
guys with an interest in beer and sports
who create a new sport that becomes
wildly popular.
The summer’s brightest spot looks
like Johnny Depp’s latest potent, non
mainstream project, “Fear and
Loathing in Las Vegas.”
Directed by Terry Gilliam (“12
Monkeys”), the long-awaited film
promises to be a visually stunning
adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s
drug-enhanced tales of a journalist
seeking the truth.
The rest of the summer lineup
includes a questionable adventure
starring Harrison Ford as a pilot and
Anne Heche as a magazine editor
stranded on a desert island; another
magazine editor with older hunk
appear in “The Horse Whisperer.” fea
turing Robert Redford.
And, finally, the wait for “The
Parent Trap” of our generation is
finally over.
May 8: “Deep Impact”
May 15: “The Horse Whisperer”
May 20: “Godzilla
May 22: “Fear and Loathing in
Las Vegas”
June 12: “Six Days, Seven
Nights”
June 12:
“Can’t Hardly
Wait”
June 19:
“Mulan”
June 24:
“Jane Austen’s
Mafia”
June 26: “Out
of Sight”
July 1:
“Armageddon”
July 10:
“Madeline”
July 17: “The
Mask nf 7nrrn” COURTESY PHOTO
July 29 “The HANKS stars as Captain John Miller in “Saving
Parent Trap” Private Ryan,” a WWII action drama.
July 31: -
“Dance With Me”
July 31: “BASEketball”
August 14: “Virus”
The Mary Riepma Ross Film
Theater, 12th and R streets, features
non-studio and independent film
releases. Its lineup runs through the
summer and includes many of this
year’s most highly touted foreign and
domestic films.
Showings run from Thursday
through Sunday weekly. Call 472
9100 for specific times.
May 21-31: “Afterglow,” directed
by Alan Rudolph. A dry, modem com
edy set around two troubled mar
riages.
June 4-14: “Ma vie en rose (My
Life in Pink)” by director Alain
Berliner. The Belgian director’s first
film is a critical and funny commen
tary on gender roles and upper-class
stereotypes.
Courtesy Photo
THE REMAKE OF “GODZILLA,” which will premiere in theaters this summer,
will improve on the familiar storyline with high-tech special effects.
June 18-28: “Sweetheart: The
Films of Mary Pickford ” Presented
by the Mary Pickford Foundation and
Milestone Films, the traveling film
festival is a tribute to the only actress
to co-own a major Hollywood studio.
July 9-12: “Fireworks,” directed by
Takeshi Kitano. Violent and stylistic,
the Japanese detective film won Best
Picture at 1997 s Venice Film Festival.
July 16-26: “Mrs. Dalloway,”
directed by Marleen Gorris. A British
melodrama, the heavily psychological
film explores the consequences of life
decisions made young.
July 30-Aug. 9: “Love and Death
on Long Island” directed by Richard
Kwietnioswki. Jason Priestly plays a
B-movie actor who is obsessed over by
a widowed man (John Hurt) in this
comedy-drama.
Aug. 13-23: “Buffalo 66,” directed
by Vincent Gallo. Touted as funny,
tragic, rare and brilliant, it’s the tan
gled story of an ex-con, who con
vinces his family he was just out of
town during his prison stay and seeks
revenge against a former team mem
ber of the Buffalo Bills upon his
release.
