October 1, 2001
Welcome back to Entertainment Police, gents and gentiles, I hope you came hungry for some fresh whinin’ and opinin’. We’ve got a new batch of movies for you to ogle and unlike the last batch, we promise these won’t turn out to be Gremlins. But before we get to that, let’s take a moment for America’s favorite back-and-forth: Ask Roland!

Q. I recently watched the film “Hannibal” and have to admit that I was troubled by the pigs who eat people. I live next-door to a pig farm and ever since I saw that movie, I am afraid of those pigs. Sometimes, at night, I can see them looking at me through the fence with their greedy little pig eyes, and I can only imagine that they’re thinking that I’d be good to eat with some scrambled eggs and biscuits. Roland, can you set the record straight? Do pigs really eat people?
Max Falcon, Corn Hole, Kansas

A. Thanks for your question Max. You should be able to sleep better at night knowing that of course pigs don’t eat people! As a matter of fact, people eat pigs! It may surprise you to know that they’re always screwing up little details like this in the movies. We have eagle-eyed viewers like yourself to thank when Hollywood is called to the carpet for their frequent oversights and blunders.

Q. Roland, what do you think of the recent death of Pauline Kael and what it will mean to the future of film criticism?
Regina Lumley, Newtons Curve, Vermont

A. That’s a great question, Regina. “Peppermint” Pauline has been a fixture in the Peanuts world since I was a boy, and few will miss her more acutely than Roland McShyster. It seems like just yesterday that she was calling Charlie Brown “Chuck” and goosing him behind the water fountain. To be honest, if I’d been a Peanuts character (“Rolo”, perhaps?) I would have been all over her. And she probably would have gone for me, too. Hell, she didn’t even know Snoopy was a dog, so she probably could have really used some glasses. Her loss? My gain! My friends always told me she played for the wrong team but to be honest I don’t remember ever even seeing the team that the Peanuts gang was playing ball against all those years, they could have been Smurfs for all I know. But to answer your question, Reg, any day that they break Superman’s back or have “Peppermint” Pauline drown when the dam goes out in Peanuttown just to boost readership is a dark day for all professions, film criticism included.

Now for the movies!

In Theaters Now:

Hardballs
James Bond is back, and this time his nemesis is a customer service rep at BMW who won’t give 007 any love when his tricked-out Z8 starts making a weird clunking noise when he turns right. Not the most edge-of-your-seat Bond film to date, but for once I can really relate to his predicament.

Heart’s in Atlantis
Following in the red-hot footsteps of last year’s Oscar nominees Gladiator and Traffic, this year 70’s hair band Heart enters the band-movie races with their mystical underwater adventure. Dubbed by some “The Not-So Little Mermaid”, this flick features a mix of animation and live action, with plenty of Heart classics sang by fish, like “Barracuda”, “All I Want to Do Is Make Love to Neptune” and “The Beautiful Briny Sea”.

The Others
Finally, the Professor and Mary Ann get their own movie. Too bad it’s a love story, I was hoping for some clever cocoanut gadgets myself.

Planet of the Grape Apes
Nostalgia is big this month, and when I say big, I mean like 80-foot tall idiot gorilla big. This summer’s special-effects blockbuster stars Mark Harmon as a cocksure astronaut who’s interplanetary hot-dogging ends with him crash-landing on an uncharted planet in deep space, and landing on a small dog to boot. Before Harmon knows it, he’s putting on a Beegily Beagily suit and driving a Minibus around, trying not to get sat on by any gigantic damn dirty purple apes and having comic misadventures in 22-minute bursts. This is thinking-man’s sci-fi, with social overtones and dialogue that sticks with you for weeks, like: “You Moron! You Sat on My Car! Goddamn You to Hell!” “Grape Ape, Grape Ape?”. Watch out for the double-whammy ending where Harmon discovers that the Grape Apes love grapes.

Now on Video:

Amorous Parrots
This sequel to the popular kidflick “Paulie” sees the wise-cracking Parrot (voiced by Woody Allen) sold to a bird breeder who plans to use him as a stud to boost her reproductive empire. But is the neurotic and self-doubting Paulie up to the task with a stable of big-crested female Parrots who only know how to say “Braaaaak, I’ve got a headache!” and who insist on being treated to dinner first? Finally, a sex comedy the whole family can enjoy.

Blow
Something tells me Pamela Anderson forgot to secure veto rights for the name of this sensationalized biography piece, and to be honest it’s a little light on the home video footage. But still, American moviegoers should be happy they were spared a movie called “Pamdemonium” this year.

Enemy at the Gates’
Stephen Seagal’s back and aiming for the techie crowd in his latest effort, where he portrays Megagazillionaire Bill Gates in his ass-kicking, neck-snapping battle against the US Justice Department. This one is a definite hit, and those of you out there who think computers are boring obviously haven’t seen Seagal tenderize a courtroom full of DOJ thugs with PC keyboard. Sensitive strongman Carl Weathers classes up the production three notches with his turn as Judge Thomas “Action” Jackson.

Memento The Mexican
Loveable and hard-to-understand as ever, everyone’s favorite tortilla mascot finally gets his own movie, and boy is it a doozie. Memento’s donkey is so lazy that one day he has to pour hot sauce in the donkey’s water pail to get him going, only he puts too much in and Mucho the Donkey runs away to the hills! I’m not even sure what Memento is doing for the rest of the film’s 90 minute running time and most of it is in Spanish, but it hardly matters. I love that little guy!

The Tailor of Panama
Leave it to documentaries to shine the spotlight upon the hidden heroes of today’s culture. This gem focuses on Armand DeJesus, the brilliant costume designer from Van Halen’s seminal “Panama” video. Few men’s greatness can be measured in Eddie Van Halen’s pants, but Armand is the true exception in this case.

Alright folks, now that you’re a better informed consumer, go on out there and consume! What are you waiting for, an interest rate cut? See you next month!