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a
conscience when his master begins flirting
with Nazism. James Fox is Lord Darlington,
with Emma Thompson as the spunky maid
with whom Stevens falls in love. Reuniting
most of the collaborative elements from
"Howard's End" will make this a hard one for
the critics to ignore. Screenplay by Ruth
Pravver Ihabvala, based on the novel by Kazuo
Ishiguro. (Columbia, Nov. 5)
Romeo is Bleeding
Gary Oldman ("Bram Stoker's Dracula")
plays a different kind of sucker in "Romeo is
Bleeding," a film no/r black comedy written
and directed by Peter Medak ("The Ruling
Class"). Oldman is a crooked NYPD officer
stationed in Queens who falls for Mafia
queen-pin Lena Olin ("Havana") and goes
straight to hell under her influence. Annabella
Sciorra and Juliette Lewis are Oldman's wife
and mistress, respectively. (Gramercy, Nov.
19)
Six Degrees of Separation
Will Smith of TV's "The Fresh Prince of
Bel-Air" is being touted as the next Eddie
Murphy thanks to his recent performance in
"Made in America." In "Six Degrees of Separation,"
Smith stars as a savvy young con man
who convinces Stockard Channing and Donald
Sutherland that he is the real-life son of
actor Sidney Poilier. John Guare ("Atlantic
City") adapted from his play for director Fred
Schepisi ("The Russia House") If Smith really
is the "next big thing," this could be the
sleeper of the season. (MGM, Nov.)
Shadowlands
Rebounding from the negative reviews and
lackluster boxoffice for his Chaplin bio-pic.
Sir Richard Attenborough directs this basedon-fact
romantic drama. Anthony Hopkins
stars as the celebrated British author C. S.
Lewis, who falls madly in love with a beautiful
New York writer (Debra Winger). Script b\
Nicholson from his award-winning pla\ ;
"Shadowlands" marks the third collaboration
between Attenborough and Hopkins, who appeared
in "Chaplin" as the editor of Chaplin's
biography and starred as the demented ventriloquist
in Attenborough's 1978 thriller
"Magic." (Savoy Pictures, Dec. 25)
Robocop 3
Robo is back despite lackluster reviews and
boxoffice for his second outing. This time, it's
a kinder, gentler cyborg (played by Robert
Burke instead of Peter Weller) who quits his
job with the Detroit Police Department to
protect the community from Omni-Consumer
Products Corporation, the company which
originally designed the Robocop robots. Written
by Fred Dekker and "graphic novelist"
(that's "comic book writer" to you and me)
Frank Miller; directed by Fred Dekker. If anything
can bring Orion back from the dead, it's
"Robocop" (which doesn't necessarily mean
that anything can bring Orion back from the
dead...) (Orion, Nov. 5)
Sister Act II
Nothing heals old wounds like a $140 million
domestic gross. "Sister Act" was notorious
for the feud between Whoopi Goldberg
and Disney brass, but that hatchet was buried
under an avalanche of boxoffice admissions
in the summer of 1992. Directed by Bill Duke,
"Sister Act 11" reunites Goldberg, Kathy
Najimy and Maggie Smith as those oh-so-fun
nuns. In a typically clever cost-cutting maneuver,
Disney got the sequel moving along
quickly by adapting an existing project—
gospel musical developed by Dawn Steel—to
accommodate the "Sister Act" cast. "Sister 11"
finds Goldberg helping troubled inner-city
high school students find themselves via the
organization of a student-run gospel choir.
Script by James Orr and Jim Cruickshank;
believe it or not, "Sister Act II" is based on a
true story! (Buena Vista, Dec.)