Exit Wounds R
Violence: Definitely Not Suitable
Sexual Content: Not Suitable
Language: Not Suitable
Drugs/Alcohol: Not Suitable
Summary: Steven Segal plays Orin Boyd, a maverick cop who doesn't play by the rules. After saving the Vice President from being assassinated by chucking him off a bridge, Boyd is reassigned to the 15th precinct - the most dangerous and crime-ridden precinct in Detroit.
Once there, he quickly gets in trouble; both with criminals (more specifically, Latrell Walker (DMX), a dot-com millionaire turned drug dealer) and the police. Not just any police, mind you, but murderous, corrupt police who will protect their illicit side-deals at any cost.
This film could have sprung straight out of the eighties, and its not bad for a Steven Segal film. However, in terms of offering any intellectual (or even semi-intellectual) insight, it scores a big zero.
Enemy at the Gates R
Violence: Not Suitable
Sexual Content: Medium
Language: Not Suitable
Drugs/Alcohol: Medium
Summary: About the exploits of Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law), this film is based on the legends surrounding an actual Soviet Union hero who is so revered that his rifle is on public display in a Russian museum.
Though Vassili has the look of a natural born killer, at the film's opening, he hasn't even been provided a rifle by the chronically undersupplied army.
Once he finally obtains one, he catches the attention of political officer-publicist Danilov (Joseph Finnes), who sees the chance to build-up the sharp shooter into a larger-than-life hero.
Enemy at the Gates lumbers clumsily across the screen, constantly mirroring Nazi tanks. This World War II story of a sniper duel has indisputable visual power, but does not offer much in the way of dialogue.
15 Minutes R
Violence: Not Suitable
Sexual Content: Not Suitable
Language: Not Suitable
Drugs/Alcohol: Not Suitable
Summary: Robert De Niro is a police detective who is investigating a brutal murder that was committed by a psychopath seeking his 15 minutes of fame.
A sensational atmosphere develops as media sources are pulled into the case - television reporters and tabloid journalists devour and exploit each new detail of the murder, obscuring the truth.
Written and directed by John Herzfeld, 15 Minutes is a driving mystery-suspense thriller that will leave you thoroughly entertained. For adult audiences only. SEE REVIEW
See Spot Run PG-13
Violence: Mild
Sexual Content: Not Suitable
Language: Medium
Drugs/Alcohol: Medium
Summary: Gordon Smith (Arquette) is an offbeat mailman who has never met a dog he couldn't handle. When he offers to baby-sit James (Jones), the young son of his beautiful neighbor Stephanie (Bibb), he's hoping she'll return his romantic interest. A hard-working single mom, Stephanie thinks Gordon is just an overgrown kid himself but circumstances force her to leave James with him temporarily while she is away on business.
Meanwhile, in another part of town, an FBI agent named Murdoch (Clarke Duncan) is trying desperately to find his runaway canine partner, Agent Eleven, (Bob) who has escaped from protective custody. Thanks to his drug detecting abilities, the super dog's has incurred the wrath of local mobster kingpin, Sonny Talia, (Sorvino) who has put out a contract on the four-footed fed. Luckily, Agent Eleven is a lot faster and smarter than Talia's two inept henchmen, Gino (Viterelli) and Arliss (Schirripa), so they aren't having much luck. They lose the trail completely when the dog seeks refuge in Gordon's mail truck where James, who names him "Spot," promptly adopts him.
Gordon is not exactly a dog lover, especially after having to use his ingenuity to fight off the mailman-hating mutts on his harrowing Bleeker St. postal route. Armed with a variety of ingenuous devices, Gordon enters the combat zone and emerges victorious, if not exactly unscathed. Back at the post office, his colleague and good buddy, Benny (Anderson), is always ready to commiserate and offer advice to Gordon about his job and his love life.
Meanwhile, Stephanie is having her own set of unbelievable adventures trying to get back home, thanks to a freak snowstorm. Spot appears to be nothing but trouble so Gordon tries to persuade James to give him up. Instead, he finds both the kid and the pooch beginning to grow on him. When the mobsters catch up to them at the local pet store, all heck breaks loose. As the fur, fish and feathers start to fly, Spot finally gets to show his true colors. By the time Stephanie returns home to find her son and Gordon remarkably transformed, Agent Murdoch has shown up to reclaim his dog. The final decision as to where he will live is up to Spot, but the lives he has touched will never be the same.
See Spot Run is obviously another film produced with the sheer intention of cashing in big at the box office, and offers no original or insightful sense of story, plot, or theme.
The Mexican PG-13
Violence: Not Suitable
Sexual Content: Not Suitable
Language: Not Suitable
Drugs/Alcohol: Not Suitable
Summary: Jerry Welbach, a reluctant bagman, has been given two ultimatums: the first, an assignment from his boss to travel to Mexico and retrieve a priceless antique pistol, known as "The Mexican"... or suffer the consequences.
The second is from his girlfriend, Samantha: to end his association with the mob.
Jerry figures that being alive, even if he is in trouble with Samantha, is better than the more permanent alternative so he heads south of the border.
Finding the pistol proves easy, but getting it home is another matter - the pistol supposedly carries a legendary curse - a legend Jerry is given every reason to believe... especially when Samantha is taken hostage by a hit man to ensure the safe return of the pistol.
Besides having a mindless plot and being solely dependent on stars Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts, The Mexican is an insult to people of Mexican heritage (with its blatantly white supremacist perspective of that beautiful culture) as well as to anyone holding a shred of intellectual reasoning. SEE REVIEW
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