Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe What's new on the home video scene... MOVIES Advertisement "Collateral Damage" -- Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a heroic New York firefighter and devoted family man pushed over the edge when a terrorist explosion kills his wife and young son in this rousing action-revenge thriller. Arnie's character, Gordon Brewer, accidentally gets a look at the man behind the blast, a Colombian called El Lobo, or the wolf (Cliff Curtis), and sets out on a one-man crusade to South America to catch him or kill him -- whichever comes first. Invading the wolf's lair is not all that difficult -- even though the United States has been looking for this guy for a long time. Brewer manages to infiltrate rebel strongholds, destroy cocaine cash crops and generally wreak havoc with the guerrillas before chasing El Lobo back to New York, with the help this time of Mrs. Lobo (Francesca Neri), with more heroics and more violence and a neat plot twist yet to come. We tend to view even simulated terrorist attacks differently now but this is vintage Schwarzenegger through and through with the usual far-fetched, rip-roarin', crowd-pleasing action and a somewhat aging but still awesome Arnie. Except this time he's considerably more grim than usual. 2002. 109 minutes. Warner Home entertainment. Rated R (violence, some language). Advertisement "Dragonfly" -- Dr. Joe Darrow (Kevin Costner) is devastated by the death of his wife Emily (Susanna Thompson), also a doctor. Though pregnant, she had joined a mercy mission in Venezuela and perished in an avalanche on a rain-slick mountain road. No body was found but authorities assured Joe there were no survivors. Grief-stricken, Joe resumes his work but soon begins to get what appear to be attempts by Emily to contact him: cryptic signs appear in the form of one of her favorite things, the dragonfly, a patient returns from the brink of death with a haunting message, a weird-talking parrot, finally an unsettling vision. With each supernatural event, Joe becomes more desperate until he begins to realize the truth and finally does what we had been urging him to do for some time. The ending's a surprise but you may have guessed it by then. Contrived, manipulative but fairly compelling, 2002. 105 minutes. Universal Studios Home Video. Rated PG-13 (thematic material, mild sensuality). "Resident Evil" -- A violent gorefest based on a computer game and set in a mysterious underground research center called the Hive. Scientists are working on bioweapons and genetic cloning experiments when something goes wrong, they're trapped and a deadly virus sweeps through the place. A rescue team, headed by miniskirted Milla Jovovich, checks things out only to be attacked by the dead scientists who now are flesh-eating zombies. There also are ferocious zombie dogs, too, and, oh yes, a monster with a 9-foot tongue. Such fun and games. 2002. 100 minutes. Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment. Rated R (strong sci-fi/horror violence, language, sexuality/nudity). Advertisement VIDBITS Headlining the August lineup are a giant fantasy epic and three family dramas. On Aug. 6, amidst great fanfare, comes "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." This is followed on Aug, 13 by Oscar-nominated "In The Bedroom" and on the 20th by another solid drama, "Iris." And, the feel-good family flick "The Rookie" is due up on Aug. 27... AOL Time Warner is having its financial troubles but its video arm is playing a winning hand. Variety says Warner Home Video collected a record $1 billion in second quarter revenue, buoyed by video sales of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "Ocean's Eleven"... "Shallow Hal" and "The Royal Tenenbaums" are the leaders in this week's video rental derby... A pair of sequels going great guns at the box office have tentative fall dates on video. "Men In Black II" is expected Nov. 19 and "Stuart Little II" Dec. 3... New on video for kids: "Butt-Ugly Martians." Guess that says it all... "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" is the choice of the Video Software Dealers Association as the year's No, 1 sleeper, a movie that does much better than expected. Among the other VSDA award winners were "The Fast and the Furious" and "Traffic" as the best rental movies from a major and independent studio, respectively. The top sell-through titles in the same categories were "Shrek" and "The Sopranos" (First & Second Season)... Advertisement
