This tense urban drama stars Nicolas Cage as Frank Pierce, a paramedic on the brink of physical and emotional collapse. Frank has worked for years in one of New York’s most brutal neighborhoods, and the pressure of his job has taken its toll; plagued with self-doubt, he is haunted by the spirits of the people he couldn’t save, and while he desperately wants to quit his job, outside forces won’t let him walk away. Bringing Out the Dead brought director Martin Scorsese back to the streets of contemporary New York, one of his favorite locations, after three films set elsewhere: Kundun, Casino, and The Age of Innocence. The film also reunited Scorsese with screenwriter Paul Schrader, who scripted Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The Last Temptation of Christ. The supporting cast includes Patricia Arquette as the daughter of a heart attack victim that Frank has fallen in love with, and John Goodman and Ving Rhames as two of Frank’s fellow drivers.

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Jean-Claude Van Damme returns as cybernetic warrior Luc Deveraux in this sequel to the 1992 action hit. After barely surviving his experiences as a part-human/part-robot Universal Soldier, Luc has opted to stay out of the front lines and work with a military project to refine and perfect the system. However, something goes wrong (as they so often do in films like this), and S.E.T.H. (Michael Jai White), the android supercomputer leading the new breed of soldiers, suddenly develops a murderous mind of his own. Soon S.E.T.H. is leading his fellow war machines on a rampage, and Luc is the only one who can stop them. The supporting cast includes Heidi Schanz and wrestling star Bill Goldberg.

Actor Frank Whaley makes his directorial debut with Joe the King, a downbeat drama about a 14-year-old boy coming of age in an abusive and uncaring environment. When he was nine, Joe Henry (Noah Fleiss) lied to his friends about his father’s job because he was ashamed that his father was the school janitor; in turn, he was humiliated in front of his class. Five years later, things are much worse; his father (Val Kilmer) has become a violent alcoholic who can’t hold a job, while his mother (Karen Young) is harsh and unloving. Joe works illegally as a dishwasher to help support the family, but resorts to petty theft when it’s clear his salary alone won’t pay his father’s debts. Eventually Joe attempts to steal the restaurant’s cash box to get his father out of the red — with tragic results. Whaley, who claims this story is “loosely autobiographical,” assembled a strong cast for his first turn behind the camera, including Ethan Hawke, John Leguizamo, and Austin Pendleton. Joe The King premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival.

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In the summer of 1977, a serial killer who called himself Son of Sam (real name David Berkowitz) held New York City in terror as he went on a killing spree, periodically writing letters to New York’s media in which he took full responsibility for the murders and made clear that he intended to kill again. Spike Lee’s Summer of Sam deals in part with this crime spree, but it mostly looks back at the fearful impact of his crimes on New York’s collective consciousness. Vinny and Dionna (John Leguizamo and Mira Sorvino) are an unhappy young married couple living in the Bronx; Vinny often cheats on Dionna but is wracked with guilt about it, while Dionna fears she lacks the looks or allure to hold onto a man. Ritchie (Adrien Brody) is a neighborhood kid turned punk rocker (complete with a fake British accent); he has a band and a girlfriend (Jennifer Esposito) but also makes money as an exotic dancer at a gay club. And Luigi (Ben Gazzara), a longtime leader of organized crime in the Bronx, is approached by the police, with whom he generally has a less cordial relationship, to help them find the killer, as the citizens of some neighborhoods barricade their streets in fear that he will strike there next. Meanwhile, a tortured psychopath named David Berkowitz (Michael Badalucco) seethes with rage in his gloomy apartment and receives messages from a demonic dog who commands him to kill and kill again. Spike Lee’s first film without a primarily African-American cast (though bearing the unmistakable New York stamp that’s one of his hallmarks), Summer of Sam was shown as part of the Directors Fortnight series at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.

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Initially released to IMAX theaters at the crescendo of millennial fever and 60 years after the original Fantasia, Fantasia 2000 was meant to revitalize Walt Disney’s goal of a constantly evolving film, with new segments replacing old ones with each re-release. Only The Sorcerer’s Apprentice remains, with seven new shorts. Angular, abstracted butterfly-like shapes fly through the air in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5; computer-animated whales take flight in Respighi’s Pines of Rome; Al Hirschfeld’s caricatures of New York life come alive in George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue; Hans Christian Andersen’s The Steadfast Tin Soldier is retold with computer animation against Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2, Allegro, Opus 102; frantic flamingos try to stop their yo-yoing comrade in Camille Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals, Finale; Donald and Daisy Duck play Noah and his wife trying to manage the ark to Sir Edward Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance; and the cycle of life, death, and rebirth are celebrated in Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite.

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Based on a true story, The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer concerns the notorious Ira Einhorn, a political activist turned murder suspect who eluded Philadelphia police for nearly 20 years. In 1968, Texas-born Holly Maddux (Naomi Watts) left home to attend Bryn Mawr College, and two years later she made the acquaintance of Einhorn (Kevin Anderson), a community organizer and activist well known for leading peaceful crusades and as the key figure in Philadelphia’s radical community. Holly and Ira became romantically involved, but, despite his public image, behind closed doors Einhorn was often abusive and manipulative, though Holly, for her own reasons, accepted his poor treatment and infidelity. In 1977, Holly had reached the end of her rope and told friends she was leaving Ira, intending to return to their apartment only to collect her belongings. She was not seen again for several months, until her corpse was found stuffed in a trunk in Ira’s apartment. Einhorn was arrested in connection with the crime, but was released on bail, only to flee the country, surfacing in France four years later. Convicted ‘in absentia’ for Holly’s murder in 1993, Einhorn was extradited to the United States in 1997 under the condition he receive a new trial. The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer was produced for NBC Television, and was first aired as a two-part miniseries in May 1999.

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An authority on rare books is drawn into a confrontation with the forces of darkness in this thriller directed by Roman Polanski. Dean Corso (Johnny Depp) is a rare book broker who makes his living tracking down valuable items for rich bibliophiles. Corso is hired by Boris Balkan (Frank Langella), a millionaire New Yorker with a vast collection of occult literature and a keen interest in “The Nine Gates to the Kingdom of Shadows.” Legend has it that the book was co-written by Satan in the 17th century, and only three copies are known to exist; the owner of one recently sold the book to Balkan a few days before killing himself. Balkan wants Corso to find the other two copies (one owned by a Mr. Fargas in Portugal and the other by a French collector named Kessler) and examine them to determine if they are forgeries. Corso is told to be thorough and spare no expense. He begins by visiting Liana Telfer (Lena Olin), the widow of the man who once owned Balkan’s copy of the book, who has an unusually strong desire to get the book back, and confers with his friend Bernie (James Russo), who soon turns up dead, in a manner much like an illustration from the book. Corso learns that the book contains clues to a puzzle that will allow people to call up the devil, and certain people will stop at nothing to find the missing parts of the formula.

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Tom Welles (Nicolas Cage) is a surveillance expert on the rise. He’s living the American dream with a wife, Amy (Catherine Keener), infant daughter, and a house in the suburbs of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. After the completion of an assignment for a U.S. Senator, Welles is summoned to the house of a recently deceased captain of industry. His widow, in settling his estate, has discovered an 8MM film in her late husband’s private safe. The silent short depicts the apparent murder of a young woman by a large, masked figure, what is known as a “snuff” film. Greatly disturbed by the film’s contents, the widow hires Welles to find the identity of the woman and determine if she is still alive. Welles finds the girl’s identity and follows her trail from the time she ran away from home to Hollywood. Once there, Welles meets adult bookstore clerk Max California (Joaquin Phoenix) to act as Virgil to Welles’ Dante. As the two begin their descent into the world of underground pornography, the detective grows more and more distant from his family, as if he cannot shake the taint of the world in which he now walks. Tom and Max eventually meet pornographers Dino Velvet (Peter Stormare) and Eddie Poole (James Gandolfini). By this time the detective finds he can no longer walk out of the inferno.

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Based on a popular series of video games, Wing Commander introduces us to an elite fighter squadron in the year 2654. The Earth confederation is at war with a vicious race called the Kilrathi. The Kilrathi have captured a navigational device which will allow them to jump through worm-holes in space to arrive behind enemy lines. Only this highly trained squadron, led by three young pilots, stand in their way. Christopher “Maverick” Blair (Freddie Prinze Jr.) is just out of the Academy, but his lack of experience is more than compensated by his exceptional navigational skills, though he is still haunted by the deaths of his parents in a previous galactic war. His friend, Todd “Maniac” Mashall (Matthew Lillard), is a brash, gung-ho fighter jock always rushing into danger. Their wing commander and leader is Jeanette “Angel” Deveraux (Saffron Burrows). Assigned these two new pilots by Admiral Geoffery Tolwyn (David Warner), the strong and beautiful Deveraux is at first resentful, but later develops feelings for Blair. Perhaps the two will find time for romance on their way to saving the solar system.

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Woody the Cowboy, Buzz Lightyear, and the rest of their friends from the toy box return in this computer-animated sequel to the 1995 hit Toy Story. This time around, Andy, the young boy who is the proud owner of most of our cast of characters, is off at summer camp, giving the toys a few weeks off to do as they please. Woody (voice of Tom Hanks) is unaware that in the years since his model went out of production, he’s become a rare and valuable collector’s item. An avid toy collector (voice of Wayne Knight) decides that he wants Woody for his collection and swipes him, so Buzz Lightyear (voice of Tim Allen), Hamm (voice of John Ratzenberger), Rex (voice of Wallace Shawn), Slinky Dog (voice of Jim Varney), and Mr. Potato Head (voice of Don Rickles) venture forth to rescue their kidnapped friend before Andy returns. Along with most of the original voice cast, composer Randy Newman returns with a new score and new songs.

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