The Movies

The Mummy $8.01 million 2 weeks in release $17.6 million to date Cast Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz Director Stephen Sommers Studio Universal Pictures Content Rated PG-13 for violence, bad language, and nudity Plot Baby-faced French Foreign Legionnaire stumbles across a lost Egyptian city and unleashes you-know-who Gist This is a tongue-in-cheek update of the 1932 Boris Karloff movie Worldview Being afraid is passé. We're too postmodern to take monsters seriously The Matrix $6.13 million 3 week in release $20.49 million to date Cast Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne Director Andy and Larry Wachowski Studio Warner Brothers Content Rated R for virtual-reality violence and bad language Plot Computer hacker discovers that life is just a computer-generated simulation imposed on us by machines who breed, enslave, and consume us Gist Worldview "Reality" is a construction designed to imprison us. Once "the system" is overthrown, people can live free of rules and power games Forces of Nature $2.1 million 4 weeks in release $10.49 million to date Cast Sandra Bullock, Ben Affleck Director Bronwen Hughes Studio Dreamworks SKG Content Rated R PG-13 for bad language and sexual situations Plot En route to his wedding, Affleck has a fling with the trashy married go-go dancer he meets on the plane-which woman will he choose? Gist Characters repeatedly complain about how living with one person is like being imprisoned Worldview Who cares whether the guy picks the right woman? Marriage is arbitrary Analyze This $2.06 million 4 weeks in release $31.9 million to date Cast Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal Director Harold Ramis Studio Warner Bros. Content Rated R for bad language (lots of it), violence, sexual situations Plot Mobster can't kill like he used to, so he decides to hire a shrink, which terrorizes him GistMafia chic rides high again in this box-office hit Message Gangsters are social idols, but psychiatrists reign supreme My Favorite Martian $1.93 million 3 weeks in release $6.61 million to date Cast Jeff Daniels, Christopher Lloyd Director Donald Petrie Studio Disney Content Rated PG-13 for for bad language, violence, and nudity Plot Martian crashes on earth and lives with a TV reporter as his Uncle Martin Gist Stupid slapstick rehash of that half-remembered Bill Bixby sitcom. The original Uncle Martin, Ray Walston, has a supporting role Worldview It's a cuddly universe: Aliens are affable, misunderstood, and eager to make friends with humans.