Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe What's new in the world of home video... MOVIES Advertisement "Personal Velocity" -- Writer-director Rebecca Miller has combined three of her short stories into an engaging collection of tales about three very different women struggling to change their lives and flee the men who confine their personal freedom. First, there's Delia (Kyra Sedgwick), a bitter, battered wife who finally flees, with her three small children in tow, after being beaten in one of her abusive husband's enraged tantrums. Then, there's Greta (Parker Posey), a New York book editor whose career takes a huge leap after she edits an epic-in-progress by a famous novelist who becomes her lover, convincing her to dump her "beautiful" but dull husband. And, finally, Paula (Fairuza Balk), alone and pregnant, rattled after a near brush with death, basically running away from life. Miller, daughter of playwright Arthur Miller, has painted three impressive portraits backed by fine performances by the three leads. Unfortunately, there is no ending to any of the stories so we can only guess how it all turns out. 2002. 90 minutes. MGM Home Entertainment. Rated R (brief violence, some strong sexuality and language). Advertisement "Abandon" -- For the most part, this is an effective thriller involving a missing college student and his ex-girlfriend. That would be Catherine Burke (Katie Holmes), a smart, articulate senior swamped with essays, a final thesis paper, job interviews and exams but on a sure fast-track to success. Two years ago, her former boyfriend, Embry Langan (Charlie Hunnam) vanished mysteriously but he was the kind of weirdo genius who would do that sort of thing and no one thought much about it at the time. But now the police, specifically Detective Wade Handler (Benjamin Bratt), are on the case and there are lots of questions for Catherine. She and Handler hit if off after a rocky beginning but there's a surprising development and Catherine discovers she's being stalked. An intelligent sure-footed mystery yarn until its final scenes when it almost loses its way. 2002. 93 minutes.Paramount Home Entertainment. Rated PG-13 (drug and alcohol content, sexuality, some violence and language). "Welcome to Collinwood" -- A wacky, eccentric heist movie in which nothing goes right for a gang of bumbling misfits trying to break into a jewelry store. Foreign movie fans will notice right off that it's a remake of the 1958 Italian classic "Big Deal on Madonna Street," with some scenes identical to the original, and while this version by writer-director brothers Anthony and Joe Russo has its moments it's not the big deal of "Big Deal." The ensemble cast is a good one, however, including William H. Macy, Michael Jeter, Sam Rockwell, Isaiah Washington, Luiz Guzman, Patricia Clarkson and Jennifer Esposito. Plus, in a cameo role as the gang's safecracking teacher, George Clooney in a wheelchair. 2002. 86 minutes. Warner Home Video. Rated R (language). Advertisement "Just A Kiss" -- It all starts with "just a kiss" between two people who shouldn't be together and fans out in all directions, bringing in several others and a game of mix and rematch, a game where, as one observer put it, in this group, fidelity is not an option. Co-star Patrick Breen's script has the characters dealing with sexual and emotional misunderstandings and all sorts of pitfalls, even a plane crash, with gimmicky asides such as the occasional use of animation and a parallel universe and a style that mingles poignancy with farce, meaningful dialogue with one-liners. Fisher Stevens, in his directorial debut, has an attractive cast with which to work, also including Ron Eldard, Kyra Sedgwick, Marisa Tomei and Taye Diggs but not everything works and the film falls short of its potential. 2002. 90 minutes. Paramount Home Entertainment. Rated R (strong sexual images and language). "Swimfan" -- In a teen retread of "Fatal Attraction," Jesse Bradford plays Ben, a high school swimming star, and Erika Christensen is Madison, a bad seed new-girl-in-town who goes from Ben to bent when, after a bit of dip-and-dally, he rejects her advances. Well, you know what they say about a woman scorned. Things definitely do not go swimmingly after that as Madison turns psycho-stalker, striking back with an obsessive thirst for revenge, derailing Ben's budding athletic career and costing him his girlfriend, his best friend and his job. Eventually, Ben decides to get even. A familiar, rather thrill-shy thriller. 2002. 84 minutes. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. Rated PG-13 (mature thematic elements, sexual content, disturbing images, language). Advertisement VIDBITS Coming up: "Maid in Manhattan," "Ghost Ship," "Femme Fatale" and "Jackass: the Movie"... "Road to Perdition" is the top video movie rental across the land this week... Variety says Americans have spent $1.7 billion renting movies on DVD and VHS so far this year, an increase of 10.5 percent over 2002... "About Schmidt" and "Adaptation" are the latest Oscar hopefuls to draw a video date. New Line's "Schmidt," with Jack Nicholson up for another Academy Award, is due June 3. Coming May 20, "Adaptation" (Columbia TriStar), boasting three acting nominations -- Nicolas Cage for best actor and Chris Cooper and Meryl Streep for supporting performances... New on DVD: Appropriate in this Oscar season, or any season, two international classics that won best foreign language picture awards are making their DVD debut. One is Francois Truffaut's lavish 1973 comedy-drama "Day for Night," a fascinating salute to the art of moviemaking, and the other is Claude Lelouch's tender 1960 love story "A Man and a Woman." Both are from Warner, as is Akira Kurosawa's visually rich "Dreams" (1990) in its DVD bow... Also appearing on DVD for the first time, a boxed set of Krzysztof Kieslowski's extraordinary trilogy of love, intrigue, passion and tragedy, "Red" (1993), "White" (1994) and "Blue" (1994), filled with extras, from Mirarmax... Advertisement In 1934, at the height of the Great Depression when the country needed a lift, a little girl named Shirley Temple bounced on screen in "Stand Up and Cheer" to do "Baby, Take A Bow" and became an instant star -- and national cheerer-upper. She soon was the No. 1 box office draw and could do no wrong in a long string of uplifting films with catchy tunes and happy endings. Now, on April 23, Shirley Temple will be 75. In celebration, Fox Home Entertainment is releasing all 21 titles of the Temple Fox library together on VHS for the first time.
