Great Expectations So You Weren’t Overwhelmed By Last Year’s Film Fare? Take Heart In Some Promising Prospects Due Out This Year

Now that we’re into the first full month of 1995, we can breathe easier. The 1994 movie miasma has dissipated into the vapors of history.

We won’t mourn it, though we might require stomach medicine come Oscar time.

Instead, let us look forward. For if there is one Hollywood truism we can bank on, it is that the public will buy anythi… no, no, no, sorry.

What we need to realize is this: No matter how bad things get, they can always get wor…

Just kidding. All we really need to do is recognize that no matter how long it takes, and however briefly it may last, good cinema usually follows the bad.

Thus, 1995. Thus, our renewed hopes for a year of good movies. Thus, our look at what that year may hold for fans of good film.

Here’s our list of the Top 10 Movie Expectations of 1995’s First Half. Read on, bearing in mind that scheduled opening dates are always tentative in two-horse towns.

10. Chapter 11 is NOT a Joe Eszterhas screenplay.

Kevin Costner, who may be the only top actor who has NOT worked in a movie written by highly paid screenwriter Eszterhas, is still known as the director of “Dances With Wolves.” But his reputation may get permanently sullied should his blockbuster wannabe, “Waterworld,” drown in cost overruns. Budget estimates of the futuristic thriller, which is a sort of “Mad Max Goes to the Beach” epic, range as high as $160 million. And that, folks, is no joke. Look for it sometime this summer.

Other potential blockbusters/flops: “Pocohantas” is Disney’s attempt to continue its animated magic; “Die Hard: With a Vengeance” is another Bruce Willis actioner in which scores of people likely will cease to breathe; “Goldeneye” introduces Pierce Brosnan as the fifth serious 007 (following Connery, Lazenby, Moore and Dalton); “Apollo 13” stars Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon and Bill Paxton as the NASA crew that nearly didn’t make it back from the moon; “Batman Forever” is Val Kilmer’s claim on the role created by Michael Keaton.

9. If that plot was good enough for MY parents…

Remember Shelley Long? Well, the ex”Cheers” star is being revived in a another retread television series. Look for her as shagcoiffed Carol in “The Brady Bunch Movie.”

Other variations on old material: “Kiss of Death” features “NYPD Blue” defector David Caruso in a remake of the 1947 noir; “The Nutty Professor” stars Eddie Murphy in a variation of the 1963 Jerry Lewis comedy; “Sabrina” boasts Harrison Ford in the Humphrey Bogart part in the 1954 romance; “Mission: Impossible,” should he decide to accept the role, will star - believe it or not - Tom Cruise; and “Major Payne” is Damon Wayans reviving the role that Charlton Heston played in 1955’s “The Private War of Major Benson.”

8. If I’ve told you once…

Familiarity may breed contempt, but it also pays dividends. In Hollywood, at least. “Batman” began as Tim Burton’s dark metaphor about hidden desires, but it has developed into one of the film industry’s biggest series. A Keaton is a Kilmer is a Connery is a Moore. And so on.

In addition to “Batman Forever,” the James Bond effort “Goldeneye” and the third “Die Hard,” look for such sequels as “Under Siege II” (with beetle-browed Steven Seagal) “Free Willy 2” (that whale again), “Father of the Bride 2” and “Ace Ventura Goes to Africa” (Jim Carrey, who also will star opposite Kilmer in “Batman”).

7. Hey, who shrunk the screen?

Yeah, Mike and Carol Brady are returning with their brood, and Cruise may enjoy his “Mission: Impossible.” But they won’t be lone rangers. Look also for such television-inspired films as “Casper” and “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.”

6. But, Mommy, why can’t you act like that?

It seems like forever ago, but there once was a “Year of the Woman” in Hollywood. For sure, it wasn’t 1994, which featured so few decent starring roles for actresses that even Sandra Bullock became a star. Just for driving a bus.

This new year could be different. Some of the movies that depend on woman star status include: “Cutthroat Island” features Geena Davis as a pirate; “The Scarlet Letter,” Hawthorne’s classic tale of illicit sex and religious intolerance, reportedly features a happy ending for Demi Moore; “My Posse Don’t Do Homework” gives Michelle Pfeiffer a chance to shine as a teacher of inner-city students; “Forget Paris” pairs Debra Winger in a romance with city-slick Billy Crystal; “The Bridges of Madison County” has Meryl Streep romanced by Clint Eastwood in this adaptation of the Robert James Waller breast-beater; Oscar-winner Kathy Bates and Jennifer Jason Leigh do the Stephen King trip in “Dolores Claiborne”; “Boys On the Side” is a road saga with Whoopi Goldberg, Mary Louise Parker and Drew Barrymore; and in “Losing Isaiah,” Jessica Lange stars as a white social worker who fights drug-addicted Halle Berry for custody of Berry’s baby.

5. Forsooth, good sir, but I needst cleave thy head with my bodkin.

What would a year be without a costume saga that gives some big star the chance to wear a silly long-haired wig and thrust a saber or two? Look for Liam Neeson in an excitable remake of “Rob Roy” and Mel Gibson to fight (star in and direct) his own Scottish Highland battle in “Braveheart.” In “First Knight,” meanwhile, Richard Gere portrays Sir Lancelot, Sean Connery is cast as King Arthur and Julia Ormond (“Legends of the Fall”) is the Queen Guinevere they both can’t get enough of.

4. For our part, we can’t get enough of Keanu.

They’re still working on a script for “Speed 2,” which, if there is any justice in the world, will drain the hard drive of every computer terminal in the 213 area code. But that doesn’t mean that the abysmally talented, if somewhat cute, Keanu Reeves will disappear during 1995. Look for him in “A Walk in the Clouds,” a romantic drama co-starring Anthony Quinn, and “Johnny Mnemonic,” a futuristic thriller that proves he does have a brain (though it may boast a computer chip made by Intel).

3. Bring us the head of Sharon Stone.

Sometimes, it’s all a star can do to hold onto his or her luster. Sharon Stone has pulled off one effective performance (“Basic Instinct”), but she still gets work. (It does help to bat blue eyes.) Her next effort is the neo-Western “The Quick and the Dead,” which features her as a revenge-seeking gunfighter looking for Gene Hackman.

Speaking of hangers-on, Sarah Jessica Parker, funny in “L.A. Story” but less so in anything since, stars as a woman afraid of marriage with Antonio Banderas in “Miami Rhapsody.” Chevy Chase, who can’t even score Doritos commercials anymore, stars in “Man of the House” as a man trying to win over the son of the woman he loves (good luck). Christopher “Tarzan” Lambert continues his B-grade career in “The Hunted,” which puts him in Japan and in trouble. And the aforementioned “Speed” meteor Sandra Bullock, who comes alive opposite such hulks as Sylvester Stallone (“Demolition Man”) and Keanu Reeves, tries to extend her career in something called “While You Were Sleeping.”

2. Oooooooohhhhh, kids, scaaaaaarrry!

As for the obligatory Clive Barker memorial school of horror, there are several scaries scheduled over the year. “In the Mouth of Madness” is a John Carpenter effort starring the ubiquitous Sam Neill. “The Mangler” involves a killer portrayed by Robert Englund, dreamed up by Stephen King and directed by Tobe Hooper. Jeff Goldblum is the star of “Hideaway,” an adaptation of the Dean Koontz novel about a man, returned from death, haunted by a fierce presence.

“Candyman 2” features the title character enjoying vengeance on his killers. And, of course, pinhead Barker himself returns with “Hellraiser V: Bloodline.”

1. And if all else fails, there’s always 1996.

But until then … peace. Give the year a chance. Dustin Hoffman takes on a killer virus in “Outbreak.” Lori Petty ponder whether to drink a beer or save the world in “Tank Girl.” Marlon Brando romances Faye Dunaway in “Don Juan DeMarco.” Robert Duvall portrays a down-andout oil worker in “The Stars Fell on Henrietta.” Hugh Grant returns as an expectant father in “Nine Months.”

The only thing that would ensure a decent year would be another Quentin Tarantino movie. But, hey, you can’t have everything.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with story: Spring films (Tentative dates) Feb. 3 Miami Rhapsody The Jerky Boys In the Mouth of Madness Boys on the Side Feb. 10 The Quick and the Dead Billy Madison Feb. 17 The Brady Bunch Movie Just Cause Heavyweights Feb. 24 The Walking Dead The Hunted March 3 The Mangler Man of the House March 10 Roommates Hideaway Outbreak March 17 Losing Isaiah Bye Bye Love Candyman 2 March 24 Tall Tale Stranger Things Tank Girl March 31 Dolores Claiborne The Pebble and the Penguin Tommy Boy Kiss of Death Major Payne A Little Princess April Jefferson in Paris The Goofy Movie Bad Boys Don Juan DeMarco Stuart Smalley Basketball Diaries The Stars Fell on Henrietta May My Posse Don’t Do Homework Crimson Tide Mortal Kombat Braveheart Forget Paris First Knight Devil in a Blue Dress Nine Months A Walk in the Clouds Die Hard: With a Vengeance Casper To Wong Fu, Thanks For Everything