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Music From The Movies  Fireworks at the renovated Hollywood Bowl! Let's have fun at a Hollywood Bowl Orchestra concert with just-retired conductor John Mauceri on "Music From The Movies" Friday, November 10th at 7:00pm! PLUS - Reg's DVD Spotlight! WE'LL MISS YA JOHN...In September, one of the great champions of film music, John Mauceri, stepped down from his post as Director of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra after 16 seasons. (He's now Chancellor at the North Carolina School of the Arts.) We can still enjoy his great Bowl recordings on Philips. (Don't worry, he's still guest-conducting around the world...and recording!) We'll hear music from Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Night Unto Night, The Wizard of Oz, Spellbound, and Carousel. IN FUTURE SHOWS...Bond, James Bond is back in Casino Royale. I'll also pay tribute to the late composer Basil Poledouris (he scored Conan the Barbarian, Robocop, and The Hunt for Red October, among many others). REG'S DVD SPOTLIGHT CARS. (Walt Disney Home Entertainment, 2006. 1 Disc. 116 Minutes. Rated G.) Directed by John Lasseter and Joe Ranft. With the voices of Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy, Paul Newman, Cheech Marin, Michael Keaton and others. A hotshot rookie car, voiced by Wilson, wins his way into a three-way tiebreaker race, but gets sidetracked on his way to California. He crashes into a podunk town, and must learn to stop and smell the roses before he can get back on track. Pixar brings its usual high-quality visuals to the movie, which is fun if a tad predictable. I couldn't get enough of the scenery, bathed in pinks and reds of the desert sunset. Also on the disc is a featurette about the Pixar team's trip down Route 66, and two short films ("Mater and the Ghost Light," and my personal favorite "One Man Band") which are almost worth the price of the disc by themselves. -- Jared Counts POINT BREAK (PURE ADRENALINE EDITION). (20th-Century Fox, 1991/2006. 120 minutes. Rated R.) Directed by Kathryn Bigelow. With Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze, Gary Busey, Lori Petty. "Gimme 2...!" One of my longtime guilty pleasures. Yes, it's a cheesy 90's action movie, the dialogue often silly, the plot stretches believability...but it's great fun! An FBI agent (Reeves) goes undercover to catch a gang of bank robbers who may be surfers. Houston's own Patrick Swayze plays Bodhi, the leader of the gang; Petty is "the surfer girl" who was involved with Swayze and falls for Reeves. Busey's in there as the veteran FBI agent partnered with "quarterback punk" Keanu. Director Bigelow (then married to the movie's executive producer, James Cameron) knows how to construct set pieces while keeping the action moving pretty steadily. Worth a look to see Reeves and Swayze at their physical peak of beauty. At the time of this movie, Swayze had just had a tremendous hit with Ghost, Reeves goes on to shoot Bill & Ted, and Busey had just recovered from his near-fatal motorcycle accident. Interesting times for all. Extras include 8 deleted scenes (skippable), trailers, and 4 featurettes with new commentary from most of the cast and crew, except for Keanu who's seen in vintage clips. --Regina THE LITTLE MERMAID (TWO-DISC SPECIAL EDITION). (Walt Disney Home Entertainment, 1989/2006. 2 discs. 83 minutes. Rated G.) Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker. Wow! I had never seen The Little Mermaid before viewing this splendid disc! A frisky young mermaid, Ariel, makes a Faustian bargain with an unscrupulous seahag in order to meet a human prince on land! Of course this movie began the second major era of Disney animation. 2-disc set has plenty of extras, including deleted scenes, making-of featurettes, alternate ending, commentary by Musker, Clements and composer Alan Menken, and much more. Plus a musical sneak peek at Little Mermaid III. --Regina BLACK RAIN (SPECIAL COLLECTOR'S EDITION). (Paramount Home Video, 1989/2006. 125 minutes. Rated R.) Directed by Ridley Scott. With Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, Ken Takakura, Kate Capshaw, Yusaku Matsuda. Douglas and Garcia are cops who escort a yakuza (gangster) back to Japan...and promptly lose him at the Tokyo airport. I had seen this on video once before (a poor-quality 1999 release)...the new "special collector's edition" is far superior. I like Michael Douglas in pretty much anything, and Ridley Scott serves up a good action movie, reminiscent in many ways of his (earlier and admittedly better) Blade Runner. But what's really outstanding here are the performances by the two Japanese actors, and the work of cinematographer (now director) Jan De Bont (well-served in this new edition). The score is one of Hans Zimmer's better efforts. --Regina
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