Costa-Gravas, a filmmaker known for his scathing indictments of political corruption, takes on the media in a fatally flawed movie that never manages to portray a sympathetic character. This time out John Travolta plays a simpleton security guard  who loses his job in a museum and takes over the museum where he was employed at gun point., replete with  hostages.  Dustin Hoffman plays the ace television reporter exiled to the boonies for conduct unbecoming a cold-hearted journalist. And, he just happens to be on hand in the museum toilet when Travolta makes his fateful gun-toting appearance. Hoffman sees the opportunity to make the forlorn, confused security guard his ticket back to big time television. The Network anchor played with customary smarminess by Alan Alda tries his best to scuttle Hoffman's comeback and Robert Prosky remains cynically on the sidelines as Hoffman's local station head. It's all ambitious and heavy-handed. The talent involved makes it palatable, but don't expect too much. If the fate of a security guard interests you better to check out Bean and get some insane laughs for you viewing time.

I'm just a simple man.©Warner

     Mad City looks great. It's a seam- less transfer with detail perfectly recorded in varying lighting. Colors are consistently accurate and vibrant. Delivered  anamorphic, widescreen and pans &scan, the DVD production is thoroughly involving. Dolby Digital 5:1 surround sound is excellent. Too bad the material is not up to the standards of the first rate DVD.

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Movie Rage: Death in the Aisles
Everyone knows what it feels like to get angry at the movies these days. Here's a humorous but not so delightful view of big screen misery.