Little to Cheer About at Box Office

By Dade Hayes

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Universal's ``Bring It On'' repeated as box office champ over the extended Labor Day weekend, grossing a studio-estimated $14.5 million.

But given the frame's mediocrity, capping an unusually soft backend of summer, maybe the title should have been ``Bring a Yawn.''

Summer 2000 closed with its sixth consecutive weekend in the red compared with 1999. It still wound up as the No. 2 summer of all time, barely edging 1998, but the lack of dynamic titles and the troubles of exhibitors made it an anxious season for most distributors.

The Labor Day frame won't ease any of those worries. While the Beacon Pictures co-venture ``Bring It On'' certainly has outperformed, with a 10-day total of $37 million, nothing else exceeded $10 million.

New Line's ``The Cell'' and Warner Bros.' ``Space Cowboys'' finished a distant second and third, respectively.

ACNielsen EDI estimated the total business at $98 million, off 17% from the $117.5 million recorded last weekend. Year-to-date, the box office is clinging to an edge of less than 1% over 1999.

The only debuts during this notorious dumping-ground weekend were Miramax's ``Highlander: Endgame'' and Destination Films' ``Whipped.'' Neither made a dent, with ``Highlander'' snagging $6.4 million and ``Whipped'' managing just $2.7 million and failing to reach the top 10.

The news won't get much brighter from here for the two newbies. Labor Day releases tend to have dismal midweek numbers, as kids return to school and adults end vacations.

Averaging $6,095 per engagement during its sophomore outing, ``Bring it On'' has more than recouped its $10 million production cost. The cheerleading comedy starring Kirsten Dunst buoyed Universal's spirits after a seventh-place finish in the summer market-share race.

Elsewhere on the big board, ``Space Cowboys'' continued its unlikely crawl to $100 million. With a four-day span compared with the prior three-day, Clint Eastwood blue-plate special saw business spike 27%. The haul of $74.2 million has far exceeded projections, and should go at least $20 million higher.

DreamWorks' ``What Lies Beneath'' and Paramount's ``The Original Kings of Comedy'' both showed some legs. ``Beneath'' gained 2% from last weekend, posting $6.2 million to reach $137.5 million overall.

``Kings'' rebounded in its third weekend after a tepid sophomore frame. MTV Films production added an estimated $5.9 million, flat compared with last weekend's gross.

Though it didn't quite crack the top 10, ``Saving Grace'' transcended its specialized roots admirably for Fine Line. The stoner comedy added more than 500 runs, reaching 875. The weekend tally of $2.9 million brings the domestic harvest to $6.7 million, and the subdued September marketplace should allow plenty more playtime.

The original 255 playdates, Fine Line's Steven Friedlander noted, gained 22% over the prior weekend.

``An Affair of Love,'' also from Fine Line, collected $99,000, or $8,250 in each of its 12 sites.

Still the limited-release standard-bearer, the Shooting Gallery's ``Croupier'' kept up its remarkable pace, grossing another $290,000 to boost its haul to $5.3 million. ``Titanic Town,'' also from Shooting Gallery, brought in $37,000 from 16 screens.

``Smiling Fish and Goat on Fire,'' distributed by IDP, grossed an estimated $72,000 to reach $92,000.

Paramount Classics' ``Girl on the Bridge'' inched closer to the vaunted $1 million mark. The knife-throwing love story added $187,000 to its $841,000 total. The studio's ``Sunshine'' remains on 82 screens, with a haul through Monday put at $5.7 million.

The top 10 movies at the box office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Following are the top 10 movies at the North American box office for the Sept. 1-4 Labor Day holiday weekend, according to studio estimates collected Monday by Reuters. Final data will be issued Tuesday. .

1 (1) Bring It On .................... $14.5 million

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $37,000,000

2 (3) The Cell ....................... $9.1 million

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $46,400,000

3 (4) Space Cowboys .................. $8.3 million

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $74,200,000

4 (2) The Art of War ................. $7.6 million

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $21,300,000

5 (+) Highlander: Endgame ............ $6.4 million

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $6,400,000

6 (6) What Lies Beneath .............. $6.2 million

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $138,783,687

7 (5) The Original Kings of Comedy ... $5.9 million

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $28,900,000

8 (7) The Replacements ............... $4.4 million

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $36,800,000

9 (9) Nutty Professor II: The Klumps . $3.8 million

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $115,031,670

10 (8) The Crew ....................... $3.6 million

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $9,200,000

NOTE: Last weekend's position in parenthesis. + - new release. ``Whipped'' opened out of the top 10 with an estimated four-day haul of $2.7 million.

``Bring It On'' and ``Nutty Professor II: The Klumps'' are released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Seagram Co. Ltd.

``The Cell'' is released by New Line Cinema, ``Space Cowboys,'' ''The Art of War'' and ``The Replacements'' by Warner Bros., both units of Time Warner Inc..

``The Original Kings of Comedy'' is released by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc..

``Highlander: Endgame'' is released by Miramax Films, and ''The Crew'' by Touchstone Pictures, both units of Walt Disney Co..

``What Lies Beneath'' is released by DreamWorks SKG, which is privately held.

``Whipped'' is released by Destination Films, which is privately held.

JOHN L.: Summer still has about 2 and a half weeks left in it, but the Hollywood Summer season is officially over with the advent of Labor Day. It has not been the best time financially for the movie studios, but it has also been pretty good. This year, more than most, we had a good mix of really good movies, to good movies, to bad movies, to total crap. The wealth was spread quite well with several movies making more than a $100 million at the box office signifying a bonafide hit. Critics complain that there was no "Phantom Menace" or "Sixth Sense" blockbuster, but those are mutants in terms of box office success. Only one movie crossed the magical $200 million barrier, but a good amount made more than a $150 million like Gladiator, Perfect Storm, and Scary Movie. Also, the Summer of 2000 is the second highest grossing one ever next to last year’s. Attendance is down, but ticket prices are up and that is saving the hide of movie studio execs everywhere. Later in the report, I will have my full analysis of what has transpired at the cineplex since the first weekend in May as well as a preview of the Fall 2000 movie selection. This week we have only one new movie in the top ten in the form of the fourth Highlander adventure. The other hoped for hit was Whipped, but it failed to even make the top 12 so no full look at that Amanda Peet Julia Roberts ripoff circa 1989. I was thinking about checking it out since I liked Peet’s work in "The Whole Nine Yards," but it looks like it may be regulated to another Bad DVD Night. On the other hand, I did see 2 movies this weekend and I have full reviews of each. They are "Bring it On" and "Highlander: Endgame." One is pretty awful and the other one is not all that hot. You decide which is which.

I am somewhat amazed at the success of this film. The previews were just okay, and did not seem interesting enough to entice a large crowd, however they did have a sort of young teenage girl centric point of view that would attract the MTV TRL set. Horny guys like myself might be interested in looking at it to see hot cheerleaders flopping around in little tiny skirts to house music and bad rhymes. A bunch of friends and myself went to check this movie out to see whether all of the critical praises this film is getting is warranted. There seems to be some sort of message floating around here that puts it above the average episode of "Popular" or "Freaks and Geeks." Let me tell you right off the bat that "Bring it On" is not a great movie, but it is not gosh awful in a "I want my money back" sort of way. As of this sentence, I have not fully decided whether to give this movie a positive recommendation yet. I am going to go over what was bad first and then try to find the good parts of this Kirsten Dunst star vehicle. To see what is bad, let’s look at the plot first. The basic plot is Kirsten Dunst plays the head cheerleader of a squad that has won many national cheerleading championships and hopes to win another. But in the process of practicing one of their standard routines they come to learn that their former HC had stolen the moves and the music from a high school on the other side of town.  Moral dilemmas ensue with much hilarity.  Dunst does not want to cheat so she tries to make peace with an angry victimized cheering squad.  The problem here comes with the supposed racial angle the movie tries to portray that is pretty much ignored.  The other team who origniated the moves is from East Compton California and is a predominately African-American group of cheerleaders and students who cannot afford to go to the national championship.  The movie pretty much ignores the racial aspect and it just comes down to basic dance plagiarism.  Now, not focusing on the skin color differences is a good thing, but there is this undertone that it is more serious than is actually portrayed to make the movie more high falutin' than it actually is.  Having some of the Dunst's squad be a little more agressive on the racial side might have made it a stronger movie, but it all done for laughs and making it deeper probably would have turned off the desired audience.  The other thing that is bothersome is the blatant comedy in the movie with silly cheerleader speak bits.  This can be funny, but most of it is stupid in my opinion.  Some may find this humorous, but I did not.  The cheerleaders in the film are not all that hot.  None of them look like they are young enough for high school age except for Dunst who was actually 17 when she filmed this movie so it was okay to look at most of them in a "oh yeah, she's hot" sort of way.  The gratuitous panty shots are not that numerous and not graphic at all. Pretty basic stuff there on a sexual level. Very PG stuff here.  They wash cars and there is a girl's locker room scene that has all of the girls covered up with nothing scandalous shown at all like the previews promised.  Stupid PG-13 rating ruining all of the fun.  The final thing that annoyed me was Jesse Bradford as Cliff the possible boyfriend to Kirsten Dunst.  This guy completely sucked and he is doing an awful Sean William (American Pie) Scott impersonation.  His mouth keeps forming this Billy Idol type sneer every 5 seconds and it just becomes gross.  He can't even air guitar convincingly.  Okay, these things bothered me while watching, Bring It On, but there are some things that worked.  Eliza Dushku as Missy was very good as the rogue cheerleader best friend to Dunst.  She looked good in the outfit and was fun to watch.  Fans of her work on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" should be pleased.  Her character in the movie is supposed to be about 16, but in real life she is almost 20.  Close enough.  The head cheerleader of the East Compton squad, Gabrielle Union is good in a supporting role as the leader of her group who want to show that they are just as good as the other teams and just want a chance to prove they can compete.  Her character is strong, and she looks good in the green outfit as well.  The movie could have been a little stronger if they had focused a bit more on the Compton cheerleaders and their struggle for respect.  The best scene in the movie is when Union and her crew show up at one of the football games Dunst and her squad are cheerleading.  The Compton group mimics the Dunst people exactly to embarrass them in front of the whole school.  Overall, everyone tried real hard to make the movie a fun time for the whole family.  I even think they did most of their own cheering stunts since all of the high jumping flying stuff was done by non of the leads.  The other thing of note is the kid playing the evil younger brother to Dunst.  He has one of the funniest bits of the Summer season when he tries to get his sister's attention.  It is a stupid bit that comes of this, but it is funny.  Now, after writing all of this and going over whether I really liked or disliked this feature film, it basically came down to the audience I saw it with.  I believe there must have been some current or ex cheerleaders watching the film because they hooped and hollered at every bit that was really inside in terms of how cheerleaders act.  I always like it when an audience gets into a movie like it's real.  So, Final Review:  2 1/2 stars; 6 out of 10; B-; thumbs up.  This is not a great film, but if you are in the mood to see something harmless and inoffensive (except for maybe the opening cheerleader sequence) then you will like the movie.   Not one of my favorites, but good enough.

HIGHLANDER: ENDGAME - FULL REVIEW

I am a fan of the first Highlander movie and the general concept of these immortals fighting to be the last one to reach some salvation quickening thingie.  I have only seen the first movie one time, and I remember very little of it's detail.  I saw the second movie and was pretty much bored and confused so when the third one came out, I skipped it.  The TV show with Adrian Paul came on and I checked it out and thought it was pretty good.  Christopher Lambert showed up and passed the torch to a certain extent to Paul in a good episode.  The only problem with the show is that the violence is toned down and that hurts the whole concept of having to behead evil immortals to stop them when beheadings are frowned upon on regular television.  I became frustrated because of the editing and the timeslot of the show, so I ignored it and continued to watch Mad TV and Saturday Night Live.  Now, we come to the fourth installment of the Highlander series and from the previews it looked good.  Lambert, the star of the movies has to team up with the star of the television series to face a super powerful immortal that will take the combined strength of Lambert and Paul to stop.  Also, there is some hot babe stuck in the middle to complicate things as well.  And for all of you professional wrestling movie cameo fans, we have Adam "Edge" Copeland from the World Wrestling Federation showing up to challenge the guys from Scotland.  After seeing this movie, all I can say is, this is a complete and utter mess.   The plot, action, acting, flow, pacing, look, editing, directing, point, and consistency with the other films and series are just awful.  This is the worst movie of the Summer since "Battlefield Earth" in terms of just plain bad.  Let's examine the good stuff....Okay, how about the okay stuff....Hmm, this is getting tough.  Okay, how about the stuff that is not as bad as some of the other things.  Uhh, some of the swordplay was nicely choreographed.  Paul is okay acting wise but is not really in a role to show off his acting chops.  Lambert plays the same character in every movie, at least it seems that way since he delivers every line in that same high pitched monotone  strangely accented voice of his.  Bruce Payne as the evil immortal has an imposing pair of crucifixion boots, but when he starts pontificating on his villainy, it is unbearable.  He overacts worse than any William Shatner Priceline.com commercial.  He is laughable in his performance.  The love interest in the film played by Lisa Barbuscia is underused but she does have the most interesting subplot with Paul.  It could have been developed more, but it is eventually made irrelevant.   Here are the two things that ruined the movie for me.  For one, there were too many flashbacks to when the Lambert and Paul characters first met 400 years ago.  These flashbacks keep interrupting the so-called plot every 10 minutes and when they start doing flashbacks in the middle of flashbacks it is time to walk out of the theater.  The other thing that disturbed me was how the movie trailers showed several scenes that are no where to be found in the finished film.  The big scene that actually enticed me to see the movie is when Lambert cuts Payne in half with his sword, but Payne just splits into 2 people.  A very cool effect that did not happen. In fact the scene that could have contained it was not even in the movie.  This pissed me off to no end.  Also, there is a clip of Lambert and Paul jumping through some portal... nope, not there.  Highlander has a strong but somewhat small following.  Most people like the original film and the television show, but these last three movies have not been well received.  This movie tries to finish the series off but a sequel can be made at any time if they want to.  The storylines change with every new version so a Highlander 5: The New Beginning should be made within the next few years.  Help us all if they do.  Final Review:  1 star out of 5: 2 out of 10; D; thumbs down. Fans of the TV show should see it since Adrian Paul is okay and has a decent subplot, but fans of the first movie should avoid this one at all costs along with anyone else with any sense.  

REST OF THE TOP 10 IN 10:

1.    Jennifer Lopez is one of the most popular actresses out there, but she is still looking for her breakout movie role that will gross more than a $100 million.

2.    The Cell is not a great movie, but for some reason it is still sticking around despite its blandness.

3.    It may be a sad moment in our time when a Clint Eastwood movie is considered a sleeper hit.

4.    Wesley Snipes is known by most moviegoers, but his name alone cannot make people shell out record amounts of cash to see him run from the law again.

5.    To me the success of What Lies Beneath could be considered a sleeper surprise since I did not think this would be that successful.

6.    Kings of Comedy is funny, but I can't wait for the day when 4 white comedians get together to do 2 hours of goofing on black people as much as Harvey, Hughley, Cedric, and Mac rip on crackas.

7.    It would be funny if in the Replacements if a quarterback jumped in the air and kicked a defender like Carrie Ann Moss did those cops in The Matrix.

8.    It is hard to believe that Eddie Murphy has been around for 20 years and is still making movies that make a lot of money at the box office.

9.    The Crew is definitely not a "mob hit."

10.    Amanda Peet was supposed to be made a superstar with "Whipped," but it looks like we are still a long way off from the next Sandra Bullock let alone Julia Roberts.

SUMMER 2000 REVIEW

Wow, what a Summer.  We had gladiators, dreadlocks, dinosaurs, black private dicks, holocaust chickens, giant waves, poorly conceived cartoons, mutants, ghosts, coach balls, hamster rape, chicken rape, nurse rape, mind benders, and a bunch of so so movies the past 4 months.  It was not the greatest time to be a movie fan but we did get some good movies, but the good ones were all silly and the bad ones were all bad.  Here is the list of the top ten grossing films of the Summer of 2000 that actually started in mid Spring:

1. Mission: Impossible 2 (Paramount)  $213,785,038

COMMENTS:  I did not like this movie and I am considering it for my top 5 worst list for the year.  It took to long to get going and only has one decent action sequence.  However, Thandie Newton may be the most attractive actress of the Summer.

2. Gladiator (DreamWorks) $183,637,370

COMMENTS:  I was not the biggest fan of this movie, but I did enjoy it.  This was the most universally love movie of the season.  It had the best action and a strong story.  The final battle and some of the pacing of the plot could have made it a bit stronger, but it is not enough to really detract from this being one of the best movies of the Summer if not the year.

3. The Perfect Storm (Warner Bros.) $177,845,359

COMMENTS:  This movie did not do much for me, but it struck a chord with the public big time.  George Clooney finally has his hit movie and should do well financially for his next effort.  This was not the feel good movie of the year, but it was visually interesting.  My problem was with the poor accent acting and the lack of character development for some of the crew.  Not the best, but I  have seen much worse.

4. X-Men (20th Century Fox) $153,257,611

COMMENTS:   This was a fun movie and very faithful to the comic book.  It had fun cameos by some other mutants and Wolverine was very well represented.  This movie has its action moments, but they are not very detailed.  The movie is strong since the characters they focused on are represented very well. Too bad Storm and Cyclops get left behind to a certain extent, but they all get their big scenes.  The sequel should be interesting.

5. Scary Movie (Miramax) $149,348,668

COMMENTS:  If I had to pick my favorite movie in the top 10 I would have to pick this one.  It was laugh out loud fall on the floor, check for a broken rib funny... if you have seen all the Scream movies, both I Know What You Did Last Summer movies, The Sixth Sense, The Matrix, The Usual Suspects, and even the Crying Game.  I have seen all of those movies so I got the jokes. If you have not, then three fourths of this movie will make no sense.  However, there are a few universal sight gags that will either disgust you leave you salivating for the planned sequel.

6. Dinosaur (Buena Vista) $135,606,304

COMMENTS:  This movie was a big disappointment.  The first half hour of it is great and should have been the whole movie.  It shows the start of how the dinosaurs became extinct but then it becomes the most boring desert trek since Hoffman and Beatty were in "Ishtar."  The animation is fine, but the story fell apart after the spectacular first act.  This movie could have made so much more money if its story was more interesting.

7. What Lies Beneath (DreamWorks) $138,783,687

COMMENTS:  I have not seen this movie yet, but I will see it the first day it comes out to see what the fuss was all about.  Harrison Ford has finally done an adult drama that has become a hit.  The taste of Random Hearts is just about gone.  Michelle Pfeiffer usually has trouble finding movie success, but she came back big time by just spreading her legs on a step.  Whoda thunk it?

8. Big Momma's House (20th Century Fox) $116,222,463

COMMENTS:  I never got to see this movie thinking it would suck, but it seems like it may have been pretty good.  I just did like the makeup effect on Martin Lawrence because it looked way too fake.  I guess most people got around that and just ran with the premise.  I think I will rent BMH and WLB at the same time and have a DVD Double Feature.

9. The Patriot (Sony) $111,802,610

COMMENTS:  Mel Gibson tried to relive the quality of his "Braveheart" movie and sort of missed it.  Patriot felt like part two in some sort of Mel Gibson lone warrior superhero trilogy.  The battle scenes looked very similar in style to Braveheart's.  The movie was pretty good, but I think if Mel was not in it it would have made more money.  People avoided it because it was not fantastic and that it looked likd Gibson repeated himself.  Heck Braveheart did not make a lot of money when it was released.  Patriot is still a million times better than the directors Godzilla 1998 fiasco.

10. Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (Universal) $115,031,670

COMMENTS:  I liked Nutty 2 quite a bit.  It was funny and expanded on the Klump family quite well.  Eddie Murphy is extremely talented and does not get enough credit for his acting ability.  However most of his scenes as Buddy Love are a little forced, his portrayal of Grandma and Mama Klump are Oscar worthy.  

This Summer had its share of bombs and boy did it have a classic one in the form of "Battlefield Earth."  Here are the top 5 least successful movies of the Summer in terms of quality and box office.

1.    Battlefield Earth  $21.471 million

A lot has been said about this movie and none of it has been good unless it was from John Travolta a week before the movie opened.  BE was a mess on all levels, but as I said in my initial review, it is the best movie I have ever seen to goof on.  It has inane dialogue, bad plot, ignores most of the book, bad acting, logic errors, and bad special effects.  This will be a midnight movie classic in 10 years and there will be Battlefield Earth parties where people dress up like the Psyclos and the ratbrains.  I will be first in line myself.  

2.    Titan A.E.  $22.752 million

This movies poor showing this Summer was a surprise to me.  It is not a bad movie, but it just lacked a certain oomph that would have made it a hit.   I was very excited to see it since I really enjoy the Don Bluth style of animation, but this movie just did not have it.  It was visually stunning in some parts and saves the movie from being a total disaster on that alone.  I think what happened is that it came out about 3 weeks after Battlefield Earth stunk up the joint and people were just not into seeing Earth taken over by aliens again.  I think people should give this movie a second chance and see that it was not all that bad.

3.    The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle  $25.640 million

I knew this would suck so I avoided it.  I love the original cartoon and from the previews you could tell it was not faithful to the source material.  The villains of the cartoon are thrust into the real world as real people while Moose and Squirrel are still cartoons.  I knew there was a problem when Rocky says at one point he can't fly anymore.  Number one rule, do not take away a superhero's superpower because if you do, your movie will suck.  This is a lesson Robert Altman learned the hard way when he made "Popeye" and had his lead hate to eat spinach defeating the whole purpose of the character.  If Rocky and Bullwinkle had stayed in the Whatsamatta U. environment with real actors and avoided the "real world" the movie may have had a chance.  

4.    Hollow Man  $75.202 million

This movie has made a fair amount of cash, but it was a complete failure on any kind of story level.  This movie was hyped as being a revolutionary invisible man movie with all of its special effects of fading away one bit at a time.  The movie starts out okay but when Bacon becomes nothing, so does his character.  It becomes just a rape fantasy and becomes very boring.  He does nothing cool with his new power and just bitches about it most of the time.  The DVD for this movie should be good with a bunch of making of footage, but I don't know how many times I could sit through Bacon walking around in a green suit all day.  Paul Veerhoven is a sick dude who has not made a decent movie since Total Recall.  Maybe he should look at that Showgirls 2 script again.

5.    I Dreamed of Africa  $6.543 million

Kim Basinger continues to sink into the black hole that has swallowed her husband Alec.  I avoided this movie, but I plan to do one of my amazing DVD Double Features and watch this and "Bless the Child" back to back.  Basinger is well known by the general public, but I don't know why since the only movie people went to see her in was "Batman."  The movie, "L.A. Confidential" in which she won the best supporting actress Oscar was a box office dud as well, but was critically acclaimed immensely so she gained respect.  She is pretty, and can act when motivated, but I cannot tell you what it would take to get her in a good movie that she can carry by herself.  

JOHN L.' FAVORITE MOVIES OF THE SUMMER OF 2000

1.    Scary Movie - God help me, I laughed my bum off at this one.  Sorry to all of you Perfect Storm and Gladiator fans.

Runners up: 

1.    The Original Kings of Comedy -  ha ha ha ha ha.

2.    Gladiator - best all around Summer movie experience in the last 4 months.  

JOHN L'S LEAST FAVORITE MOVIES OF THE SUMMER OF 2000

1.    Hollow Man - I actually fell asleep during this movie.

Runners up:

1.    Battlefield Earth - ha ha ha ha ha ha

2.    Dinosaur - first 30 mintues were awesome, next 50 minutes blew chunks.

TOP 10 MOVIES TO LOOK FOR IN THE FALL 2000

This section covers 10 movies that have a potential to make waves before the holiday season starts the week of Thanksgiving.  Here are the 10 in chronological order that I think may cause a stir this Fall.

1.    Nurse Betty - Rene Zelwegger tries to be a star on her own with a little help from Chris Rock, Morgan Freeman, and Greg Kinnear.

2.    Urban Legends: Final Cut - this sequel to the pretty good original has a fencing masked killer stalking college kids  trying to capitalize on urban legends.

3.    Meet the Parents - the preview for this Ben Stiller and Robert Deniro comedy gets a great response in the theaters when it is shown.

4.    Pay it Forward - This all star cast of Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, and Haley Joel Osment try to change the world and hope to get some more Oscars.

5.    Book of Shadows:  Blair Witch 2 - Oboy, is this going to suck worst than the first one.

6.    Charlie's Angels - This has the silliest preview of the year, but it just might be a hit if the action and humor mix well.

7.    The Legend of Bagger Vance - Matt Damon and Will Smith try to golf while not boring the audience to death.

8.    Little Nicky - Adam Sandler stars in this move as possibly the son of Satan which some critics say is not too far from reality.

9.    Men of Honor - Cuba Gooding Jr. tries to make it as a deep sea diver during turbulent times.

10.    Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas -   This movie should also be called Jim Carrey's last chance.

Some other movies to look for are Bedazzled with Brendan Fraser, Red Planet with Val Kilmer, and the 6th Day with Arnold "Black Plowman."  It should be an interesting Fall to say the most. That is it for my Summer 2000 review and Fall 2000 preview. This also pretty much marks my one year anniversary of this web site.  I hope to continue it for many years to come.   Bye for now.