Bovie Movie

This cold, stylish erotic-thriller grossed over $100 million at the box-office despite vigorous protests at its depiction of gays and women. The shocking opening sequence features a graphic sexual encounter involving a rock-star bound with a white Hermes scarf by an unidentified blond woman. Despite the fact that the scene ends with a bloody icepick murder (horrifyingly realized by makeup artist Rob Bottin), Hermes scarves quickly sold out at stores nationwide. This seeming paradox is at the heart of the film’s appeal, as it mixes perverse sexuality and erotic bloodshed in a manner common to European thrillers (director Paul Verhoeven had done it himself in 1979’s marvelous De Vierde Man) but mostly taboo in America. The plot concerns Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone), a successful bisexual mystery writer who may also be a ruthless murderer. Everyone close to Catherine dies, and troubled policeman Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) must find out why. In the process, Nick becomes sexually involved with both Catherine and police psychiatrist Beth Gardner (Jeanne Tripplehorn), while the bodies begin piling up and Catherine turns the cat-and-mouse game around on Nick. Verhoeven and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas — who was paid $3 million for the script — keep the tension ratcheted up throughout, even during the frequent sex scenes, which carry a violent edge reminiscent of the Italian thrillers of Dario Argento. The film’s most notorious scene, a police interrogation in which Catherine makes drooling idiots out of her captors by revealing that she is not wearing underwear, became a cultural touchstone and was widely imitated and parodied. Sharon Stone, meanwhile, was embarrassed to the point that she claimed Verhoeven had aimed lights on strategic locations without her knowledge. George Dzundza and Dorothy Malone co-star.

Latina heartthrobs Salma Hayek and Penélope Cruz co-headline the rousing indie Western Bandidas. The brainchild of producer/screenwriter Luc Besson (La Femme Nikita, The Big Blue), Bandidas marks one of only a handful of films in its genre (along with Bad Girls, Cattle Annie and Little Britches, and Johnny Guitar) to use women as its principals, and distinguishes itself further by adding hefty doses of comic relief to the Western formula. Hayek and Cruz play Sara and Maria, respectively — two women whose father is wiped out by a nasty, vile, gun-wielding swindler named Tyler Jackson (Sling Blade co-star and country music singer Dwight Yoakam). Jackson cuts a bloody swath across the Southwest as he reduces one bank after another to an impoverished trash heap. In revenge, these women (who sit at opposite ends of the personality spectrum) vow to beat Tyler at his own game by hitting and robbing each of the banks before their father’s killer can reach them. Steve Zahn co-stars as the “criminal science” officer who aids the girls in their mission; Espen Sandberg and Joachim Roenning co-direct.

Starring Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, and Winona Ryder, How to Make an American Quilt comes to DVD from Universal Studios with a widescreen transfer. Audio is offered in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound in English, Spanish, and French, with Spanish subtitles and English closed captions available. Extra features include film highlights, talent bios, production notes, and web links.

Tom Berenger returns to the role of Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Beckett in the action thriller Sniper 3. This time around, the Marine sniper must hunt down his best friend who has become a dangerous spy and criminal mastermind attempting to manipulate the United States and the world.

Eddie Murphy once again finds himself exchanging both wisecracks and gunfire in this comic action-thriller. Scott Roper (Murphy) is a hostage negotiator with the San Francisco Police Department; Roper has his own way of doing things, which doesn’t always mean following department proceedure, but he’s good at his job and has the respect of his colleagues. Roper has been given a new partner, Kevin McCall (Michael Rapaport), a former SWAT team member whom Roper is training in the fine art of handing dangerous criminals with words as well as weapons; in his spare time, Roper tries to smooth out his stormy relationship with his girlfriend, Ronnie Tate (Carmen Ejogo), and deal with his addiction to gambling. However, Roper has his hands full when Michael Korda (Michael Wincott), a psychotic criminal, claims some hostages in the midst of a jewel heist. Roper finds it hard to be cool and detached in dealing with Korda, since the thief killed a cop who was one of his best friends, and one of the people taken by Korda happens to be Ronnie.