Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

VIDEO PREVIEW: Dramatic Portrait

Academy Award-nominated 'Road to Perdition' makes video debut

Paul Newman, left, and Tom Hanks star in the Oscar-nominated movie "Road to Perdition."

Only one of today's top video titles is on the road to Oscar.

That's "Road to Perdition" (Dreamworks/Universal), which captured six Academy Award nominations for its portrait of haunted Depression-era mob assassin Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks), whose 12-year-old son witnesses a hit, putting the pair at odds with -- and on the run from -- Sullivan's surrogate father, a dapper crime boss played (to the hilt) by Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominee Paul Newman.

An even more fantastical existence awaits in "Tuck Everlasting" (Disney, $22.99 VHS, $29.99 DVD), as a World War I-era teen ("Gilmore Girls' " Alexis Bledel) yearns to escape her domineering mother (Amy Irving) -- and does so when she discovers a reclusive family (led by William Hurt and Sissy Spacek) with an amazing secret. Ben Kingsley (as an enigmatic wanderer) and Jonathan Jackson (as the Tucks' forever-young son) co-star in this adaptation of Natalie Babbitt's beloved children's novel.

Jackie Chan, meanwhile, suits up for action in "The Tuxedo" (Dreamworks/Universal), playing a New York cabby whose new chauffeur job comes with a killer uniform. Jennifer Love Hewitt and "The Patriot's" Jason Isaacs co-star.

Rounding out this week's recent-release roundup: "Knockaround Guys" (New Line), a group of second-generation gangsters (Barry Pepper, Vin Diesel, Seth Green, Andrew Divoli) who botch a $500,000 cash delivery and try to undo the damage by recovering the money. Dennis Hopper and John Malkovich co-star as East Coast crime bosses.

Speaking of knockaround guys, Steven Seagal headlines "The Foreigner" (Columbia/TriStar), playing an agent hired to transport a mysterious package.

Elsewhere in the realm of the unseen and/or unknown, a beautician and a vengeful housewife team up for a crime spree in the comedy "Allie & Me" (Vanguard). "My Big Fat Greek Wedding's" Lainie Kazan joins Dyan Cannon, James Wilder, Joanne Baron and Ed Lauter in the starring cast. And a wannabe actor (Robbie Bryan) heads to New York in search of stardom in "The Stand-In" (IndieDVD, $19.98 on VHS or DVD), which features Kelly Ripa, David Ogden Stiers and Jaid Barrymore (Drew's mom).

Also climbing aboard the straight-to-video express, "Road to Perdition" co-star Jennifer Jason Leigh headlines "The Quickie" (Monarch), playing a poor mother about to lose her only child to a foster home. Lesley Ann Warren, Dean Stockwell and Henry Thomas co-star. And Third Eye Blind's lead singer, Stephan Jenkins, stars in "The Art of Revenge" (MTI), playing a successful musician who spurns his wife (Joyce Hyser) for younger women, prompting her to get back at him with the help of an alluring grifter (Nichole Hiltz).

Two family friendly animated titles also make their video debuts today. A special edition of "Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World" (Disney, $22.99 VHS, $29.99 DVD), with Las Vegas' own Paige O'Hara providing the title character's voice, adds 22 minutes of footage to the third chapter in the "tale as old as time." And Charlton Heston lends his voice to a new cartoon version of his Oscar-winning role as "Ben-Hur" (GoodTimes, $14.95 VHS, $19.95 DVD).

And before we depart the kidvid realm, Scholastic Home Video introduces a trio of titles featuring favorite stories: "Harold and the Purple Crayon," "Pete's a Pizza" and "Miss Nelson Has a Field Day" (Scholastic, $9.95 VHS, $14.95 DVD).

A Cary Grant classic, meanwhile, leads today's vintage DVD debuts. The brilliant 1942 romantic comedy "The Talk of the Town" (Columbia/TriStar, $29.95), directed by George Stevens, casts Grant as a fugitive from the law (unjustly accused, of course) who hides out with a friend (Jean Arthur) and her summer tenant, an unsuspecting law professor (Ronald Colman) who's a candidate for the Supreme Court.

And those who've seen Sharon Stone in 1999's "Gloria" should check out the original 1980 version (Columbia/TriStar, $24.95), with Gena Rowlands' Oscar-nominated performance as a former gun moll protecting a youngster from the mob. Rowlands' husband, the late John Cassavetes, directs. Elvis Presley's 1957 "Loving You" (Trimark, $24.99), meanwhile, casts the King as a gas station attendant transformed into a rock 'n' roll star with the help of an ambitious publicist (Lizabeth Scott).