title: Sphere function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); studio: Warner Studios MPAA rating: PG-13 starring: Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Coyote, Live Schrieber release year: 1998 film rating: Three Stars reviewed by: Bill Warren The DVD release of 'Sphere' has a few welcome additions to the theatrical version. The "making of" short is a nifty bonus and the audio track with Dustin Hoffman and Samuel L. Jackson is agreeable, with a few interesting revelations (Hoffman says that at least one of the expository confrontations he and Sharon Stone have together was improvised). The cinematography is often dark as most of the film takes place in an underwater environment, but it is consistently sharp, with some impressive imagery. The soundtrack, both ambient and musical, has great echoing effects, particularly in Chapter 21. The film gives provides a good workout for the home system and is more than satisfying on the technical front.

title: Starship Troopers   studio: Columbia-Tristar Home Video MPAA rating: R starring: Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Michael Ironside, Patrick Muldoon release year: 1997 film rating: Four stars reviewed by: Bill Warren "Starship Troopers" is one of the most misunderstood and, therefore, underrated movies of the 1990s. It came under attack by a few fans of Robert A. Heinlein, author of the 1959 book on which the film was based, for not being enough like the novel. The Archie-and-Veronica-in-space plotline was criticized for being shallow and juvenile. Some people, incredibly, even accused the movie of being pro-fascist, when it's precisely the opposite. And it didn't do very well at the boxoffice, mostly because of its R rating.

title: Contact function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); starring: Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, James Woods, John Hurt, Tom Skerritt and Angela Bassett film rating: Four stars sound/picture: Four stars reviewed by: Kim Wilson Based on the novel by the late Carl Sagan, Contact ponders both the theological and scientific consequences of contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) plays a driven, yet stubborn astronomer who listens to the stars waiting for signs of life other than our own. Finally, while facing both ridicule from many in her field and the expiration of funding for her program, Ellie hears something unusual from a nearby star named Vega.