Holiday Movies: Winter time, and the screening is easy

Where are our Millennial Movies? Movies about annihilation, computer viruses, paranoia, sci-fi conspiracies and--gasp!--a shortage of champagne? Movies that hype the end of the century, the end of the world? They're nowhere to be found. Too short a shelf-life, the executives claimed. So instead of continuing the postmodern trend launched by Run Lola Run, American Beauty and Being John Malkovich earlier this year, we're getting epic fluff--the annual flurry of "Oscar-bait."

Oscar-bait: n. 1. A movie lasting at least 160 minutes 2. A movie starring Jodie Foster.

A few years ago, Miramax made the brilliantly subversive decision to release Scream on Dec. 12. While analysts proclaimed the move "ignorant," good ol' Harvey Weinstein knew exactly what he was doing. Good cheer at Christmas masks the craving for blood, guts and sex-anything, anything to get us away from the umpteenth group singing of "Silent Night." Scream rocked the box office and Scream 2 opened in the same slot the next year to $39 million. Should have been a trend-o-rama, right? Nope. We're back to "Good for You" fare. Just look at this year's slate.

You've got Anna and the King-imperialism and Ms. Oscar-bait herself starring in a self-proclaimed epic about the "East meeting the West." Sure, the story is recycled, but who cares-it's good for you! The Hurricane tells the also "epic" tale of a boxer's struggle to battle racism and the justice system after being wrongly convicted of murder. Gag. There's more-Bicentennial Man's story of a "robot journeying to be a real man," Ride with the Devil's Civil War extravaganza, The Cider House Rules' lovey-dovey schmaltz, etc. Add in last week's Green Mile and what do you get? Ack. Double gag. Where's the counterprogramming? Where's the cynicism? After all, these could be the last movies we will ever see...

But all is not lost. On surface, this holiday movie season looks downright banal. But look closer and you'll find the hidden gems. Next week, Oliver Stone delivers the adrenaline extravaganza Any Given Sunday starring Al Pacino and Cameron Diaz. The same day (talk about counterprogramming hitting counterprogramming, thus eliminating the point of counterprogramming), Jim Carrey does Andy Kaufman in Milos Forman's Man on the Moon. In this issue, we give you a look at The Talented Mr. Ripley, Anthony Minghella's follow-up to The English Patient that stars Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow in a wicked little tale about murder, sexual identity and Italian palazzos.

And one thing's definitely for sure. The stars sure do come out for Christmas. Tom Cruise in Magnolia, Jodie Foster, Robin Williams, Denzel Washington, Pacino, Carrey, Damon, Paltrow, Diaz, Hanks, Jewel.

Jewel?

Check out the Ride with the Devil review. See you there.