Big screen sizzles with mainstream offerings

Call it the year the empire struck back.

If 1996 was heralded as a time for independent film, 1997 proved Goliath (the major studios) still has the power to trample David (the indie filmmakers) -- and do it with a vengeance.

Though smaller studios released a glut of low-budget, art-house-friendly pictures, most of them fell flat on their faces, failing to wow both critics and audiences. Even this year's "little big movie," The Full Monty, was backed by a major studio.

In fact, many of the smartest and most engaging films of the past 12 months, including Donnie Brasco and Breakdown, came from the same forces in Hollywood that just last year were harped on by critics for pandering to their audiences.

Of course, this doesn't mean we were saved from the typical summer movie idiocy (see Speed 2: Cruise Control or Batman & Robin for proof -- or better yet, don't see them). It just means that for every insufferable Con Air, there was must-see fare such as Contact or Face/Off.

Still, there were some indie hits that garnered acclaim and mesmerized theater-goers. Unfortunately, many of them, including Ulee's Gold and In the Company of Men, enjoyed extremely limited runs (or no run at all) in State College theaters.

As a result, this year's overview of the best films is decidedly more mainstream than usual (listed alphabetically):

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery: Stupid? Yes. But few comedies evoked as many laugh-out-loud moments as Mike Myers' gloriously silly spy spoof. Don't write this off as another generic comedy; instead, enjoy it for the way it smartly lampoons two generations' worth of popular culture.

Boogie Nights: Former pants-dropping rapper Mark Wahlberg busted out on the big screen as a dimwitted-but-lovable dishwasher who gets wrapped up in the sleazy world of the porn industry. Director Paul Thomas Anderson loads his film with an amazing ensemble cast, including Burt Reynolds and Julianne Moore, dazzling energy and a definite "Scorsese-esque" vibe.

Chasing Amy: Clerks-helmer Kevin Smith wrote and directed what could have been another lame Generation X comedy: boy meets girl, girl has already met other girls, boy and girl get together. But, by employing tart dialogue, strong acting and a lot of heart, he managed to craft a touching, if slightly uneven, romantic comedy.

Contact: Robert Zemeckis takes the Spielberg baton and runs with it, directing this year's highly emotional -- though admittedly somewhat overly sentimental -- feel-good film. Critics who took potshots at the film's touchy-feely vibe failed to realize just how much heart it had.

Donnie Brasco: Al Pacino finally recovers from the overacting bug he caught a few years back and emerges with one of the best performances of his career. As a low-tier mobster whose operation is infiltrated by an undercover FBI agent (Johnny Depp, also excellent), Pacino is mesmerizing from start to finish. His final scene -- in which he realizes his own destiny -- is both subtle and amazing.

Face/Off: A comic book come to life. Ridiculously violent and entertaining, John Woo's over-the-top action flick was such goofy fun, it made you forget you were sitting in a theater. All three of the principals involved (Woo and costars John Travolta and Nicolas Cage) live up to and exceed the considerable hype they've attained in the past few years.

Jackie Brown: Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction follow-up has been greeted with a chorus of disappointment by critics and audiences -- a shame, since it's his most mature work to date. Pam Grier and Robert Forster shine as a mismatched duo trying to pull the same scam from every different angle possible. And, thankfully, Quentin doesn't act.

L.A. Confidential: One of the most outright entertaining films of the '90s. So many things about L.A. are fun -- the engaging cast (headed by the always amazing Kevin Spacey), a smartly written script and an overall amazing look and feel, courtesy of director Curtis Hanson -- it's hard to pinpoint its exact appeal.

Titanic: James Cameron's much-ballyhooed epic delivered on almost every imaginable level: an involving and heart-wrenching story, amazing special effects and an overall scope and scale that justified the money and labor spent on its production.

Wag the Dog: Barry Levinson's acidic take on what happens when the spin machine of Washington meets the hype machine of Hollywood. Political satire at its most fierce.