D: Lars von Trier;
with Ernst Hugo Jaregard, Ghita Norby, Kirsten
Rolffes, Holger Juul Hansen, Peter Mygind, Baard Owe, Soren Pilmark, Birgitte
Raabjerg.
VHS Home Video
Waterloo Video, 1016 W. Sixth
 The Kingdom |
made me curious about this Danish director’s earlier film The Kingdom.
Its four-hour running time had scared me off when it was released theatrically
on these shores, but it played originally as a television miniseries, a format
which breaks the film down into four one-hour-long segments that prove to be
ideal video viewing. Also, The Kingdom‘s hand-held camerawork and
intimate framing techniques make it seem better suited to the small screen. The
Kingdom is the name of a hospital complex, a hospital that is suffering — in
the spiritual sense — from sick building disease. Like Breaking the
Waves, The Kingdom is structured as a battle between Good and Evil,
but whereas Waves found some kind of reconciliation between the forces,
Kingdom is all about the war — a subject I find infinitely more
interesting and dramatic. With its internecine dramas and intrigues, the movie
is perfect for anyone weaned on episodic doctor shows. Yet I suspect it will
also appeal to the same kind of sinister transcendentalism that shows like
The X-Files tap into. Breaking the Waves is a movie I like very
much, but it now seems but a speck of sand on the shores of The Kingdom.
— Marjorie Baumgarten
NCAA Championship Basketball
PC CD-ROMGTE Entertainment
 NCAA Championship Basketball |
Basketball is a good purchase. The action is fast and challenging, the
gameplay robust and interesting. But as a realistic college basketball
simulation it falls a little short. Since the NCAA doesn’t allow its players’
names to be used for promotional purposes, the player names in the game are all
made up. And the roster only has 64 college teams on it, which means some of
your favorites may be missing. Furthermore, due to the limited number of
colleges, each team’s schedule looks nothing like it does during an actual
season. Still, one of the best aspects of NCAA Basketball is that you
can play over many seasons, recruiting new high school players before each
begins. In this way you can build a powerhouse team and stay dominant over many
years. — Kurt Dillard
Beautiful Girls
D: Ted Demme; with Matt Dillon, Annabeth Gish, Lauren Holly, Timothy Hutton,Rosie O’Donnell, Martha Plimpton, Natalie Portman, Michael Rapaport, Mira
Sorvino, Uma Thurman.
VHS Home Video
 Beautiful Girls |
in the most entertaining 10 minutes of her on-screen career in Beautiful
Girls, one of the best date movies of 1996. Penned by Things to Do in
Denver When You’re Dead scribe Scott Rosenberg, the film is a rich study of
some 17 characters who come together during a 10-year high school reunion in
blue-collar, small-town Massachusetts. The ubiquitous girls in question seem to
be on the minds of all the guys in the picture (Hutton, Rapaport, and Dillon),
and there’s nothing but trouble in store for any of them. Hauntingly realistic
in its portrayal of the relationship traumas we bring upon ourselves,
Beautiful Girls works well as a romance while avoiding the mush and
stiltedness of the typical twentysomething date flick. Of special note are
Hutton in an earnest comeback role for his flailing career (remember The
Temp ?), and Portman as a 13-year-old “heartbreaker-in-training,” really
showing her dramatic range and potential as a future star. —
Christopher Null
Z
PC CD-ROMVirgin Interactive/The Bitmap Brothers
Z is yet another real-time strategy game trying to cash in on the
popularity of Warcraft II and Command & Conquer. While the
game borrows many of the better ideas from those two immensely popular titles,
it also strikes out on its own with some original features. In battle you
control small groups of robots and robot-controlled vehicles, trying to take
control of as many territories on the map as quickly as possible. Each mission
opens and closes with a farcical scene between Commander Zoc and his
beer-guzzling grunts. It won’t be remembered as a ground-breaking classic, but
if you’re looking for an alternative and fairly entertaining diversion then
Z is worth a glance. — Kurt Dillard
This article appears in January 24 • 1997 and January 24 • 1997 (Cover).