OK, I know what you're thinking-- just because it feels like spring doesn't necessarily mean it really is spring.
And there's one sure sign that spring has not yet officially arrived - the drive-in movie theaters are still closed.But let's remember that Hollywood Standard Time marches to its own drummer. And since "Christmas movies" begin in mid-November and "summer flicks" begin in mid-May, what's so odd about "spring movies" beginning now?
As for what's coming . . . it's the usual mix - comedies, thrillers, dramas, horror, science fiction, etc.
But in some cases, the usual stars are certainly not in their usual genres. Dustin Hoffman has the lead in a science-fiction thriller ("Outbreak"), Marlon Brando stars with Faye Dunaway and Johnny Depp in a romantic comedy ("Don Juan DeMarco"), Sean Young plays a gender-bender version of a famous monster ("Dr. Jekyll & Ms. Hyde"), Wesley Snipes and Patrick Swayze do some cross-dressing ("To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar") and Nicolas Cage portrays a heartless, conscienceless killer ("Kiss of Death").
In addition, there are also no fewer than two animated features (Don Bluth's "The Pebble and the Penguin," Disney's "The Goofy Movie"), two Stephen King horror-thrillers ("Dolores Claiborne," "Mangler"), three sequels ("Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh," "National Lampoon's Senior Trip," "Armour of God II: Operation Condor"), several art films ("Vanya on 42nd Street," "The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl," "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle," "Priest"), a "Saturday Night Live" spinoff ("Stuart Saves His Family") and yet another movie that springs from a video game ("Mortal Kombat").
There's even a restored, reissued classic ("Dr. Strangelove or: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb").
Here's the schedule, which is, as always, quite tentative:
MARCH 3
HIDEAWAY - Jeff Goldblum is a man who comes back from death to find he has a psychic link with a similarly resuscitated psychotic killer. A thriller co-starring Christine Lahti.
MAN OF THE HOUSE - Young Jonathan Taylor Thomas (TV's "Home Improvement") makes life miserable for his mother's fiance (Chevy Chase) in this family comedy. Mom is played by Farrah Fawcett.
MANGLER - A short story by Stephen King provides the basis for this high-tech thriller, which teams actor Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger in the "Nighmare on Elm Street" flicks) and director Tobe Hooper ("The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "Poltergeist").
ROOMMATES - Peter Falk dons old-age makeup to play a feisty baker who takes on custody of his grandson in this comedy-drama, which then follows the next 30 years of their life together. D.B. Sweeney and Julianne Moore co-star.
SHALLOW GRAVE - This very dark comedy-thriller from England was a hit at the Sundance Film Festival, with its story of three roommates who must decide whether to report the death of their new boarder or dispose of the body and keep his suitcase full of money.
VANYA ON 42ND STREET - Louis Malle ("My Dinner With Andre," "Damage") directed this group of actors (Julianne Moore, Wallace Shawn, Andre Gregory) rehearsing Chekov's "Uncle Vanya" in a New York theater.
MARCH 10
OUTBREAK - Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman, Rene Russo and Donald Sutherland attempt to save the world from a lethal virus in this sci-fi thriller, which seems to resemble Stephen King's "The Stand."
MARCH 17
BYE BYE, LOVE - This comedy about parenting in the '90s features Matthew Modine, Randy Quaid and Paul Reiser as divorced weekend fathers who use a local McDonald's as neutral ground to pick up the kids from their ex-wives.
CANDYMAN: FAREWELL TO THE FLESH - A sequel to "Candyman," this time relating the origins of the urban-legend killer with a hook for one hand (again played by Tony Todd), beginning in the post-Civil War era.
LOSING ISAIAH - This drama explores issues raised through an interracial adoption, with Jessica Lange and David Strathairn as a couple sued by the birth-mother (Halle Berry) of their adopted son. Oscar nominee Samuel L. Jackson and his real-life wife La Tanya Richardson play lawyers for both sides.
NATIONAL LAMPOON'S SENIOR TRIP - High school seniors make a trek to Washington, D.C., led by Matt Frewer and Tommy Chong in this farce.
THE WONDERFUL, HORRIBLE LIFE OF LENI RIEFENSTAHL - This documentary explores the life of the controversial 91-year-old German documentarian, most famous for her propaganda film about Hitler, "Triumph of the Will" (1934).
MARCH 24
ARMOUR OF GOD II: OPERATION CONDOR - Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chan is back in this sequel to one of his most successful efforts, again playing an Indiana Jones-style archaeologist in a stunt-driven adventure. In Chinese, with English subtitles.
DOLORES CLAIBORNE - Based on Stephen King's novel, this horror yarn about a successful journalist (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who is haunted by her past when her mother (Kathy Bates) is charged with murder.
I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT - An unusual comedy-drama about a woman who lives in denial, refusing to accept that her daughter is a dwarf, and the older man (Marcello Mastroianni) who eventually asks for the girl's hand in marriage. In Spanish, with English subtitles.
GORDY - This live-action family film centers around a piglet who tries to rejoin his family; from the creators of TV's "Green Acres."
MAJOR PAYNE - This comedy has Damon Wayans ("Blankman") taking on another goofy persona as the title character here, a by-the-book soldier who finds himself at a military academy for boys.
MRS. PARKER AND THE VICIOUS CIRCLE - Jennifer Jason Leigh plays legendary writer Dorothy Parker, the centerpiece of this ensemble film about the acerbic group that gathered at the Algonquin "Round Table" on a regular basis in the 1920s. Matthew Broderick co-stars.
MURIEL'S WEDDING - After "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert," here comes another comedy-drama that features an Abba soundtrack, this time the story of a dysfunctional young woman who yearns to marry.
TALL TALE - This Disney family effort blends fantasy, comedy and adventure in the story of a young boy (Nick Stahl) who conjures up Paul Bunyan (Oliver Platt), Pecos Bill (Patrick Swayze) and John Henry (Roger Aaron Brown) to help battle bad guy J.P. Stiles (Scott Glenn).
MARCH 31
HEAVENLY CREATURES - A true-life horror story about a pair of high school girls in 1950s New Zealand who bond together so strongly that when their parents threaten to separate them, they kill one of their mothers.
TANK GIRL - This wacky action-comedy stars Lori Petty ("A League of Their Own," "Free Willy") in the role of the punk comic book character who takes on the establishment in a "Mad Max"-style future.
TOMMY BOY - Two of TV's "Saturday Night Live" regulars star in this comedy about an oaf (Chris Farley) who takes over his dad's business only to find himself confronted by buy-out attempts. So, he enlists the aid of his father's right-hand man (David Spade). Rob Lowe, Bo Derek and Brian Dennehy co-star.
APRIL 7
DON JUAN DEMARCO - A deluded young man who believes he is Don Juan becomes the catalyst for a reconciliation between his psychiatrist (Marlon Brando) and his estranged wife (Faye Dunaway).
THE GOOFY MOVIE - This first feature-length cartoon for the beloved Disney character has him bonding with his teenage son Max, in his own inimitable way, of course.
APRIL 12
DR. JEKYLL & MS. HYDE - A modern-day horror-comedy loosely based on the Robert Louis Stevenson classic, with Tim Daly (TV's "Wings") as a descendent of the good doctor and Sean Young as his gender-bender alter-ego.
THE PEBBLE AND THE PENGUIN - The latest animated feature from Don Bluth ("The Land Before Time," "An American Tale") follows the comic mating rituals of a group of penguins in Antarctica. Voices by Martin Short, James Belushi, Tim Curry; music by Barry Manilow.
APRIL 14
CIRCLE OF FRIENDS - Chris O'Donnell ("Scene of a Woman," "The Three Musketeers," Robin in the upcoming "Batman Forever") stars in this Irish college romance.
NAKED KILLER - Another contemporary, over-the-top Hong Kong action flick.
PRIEST - A controversial entry at the recent Sundance Film Festival, this British drama focuses on a priest who has a gay affair and is frustrated by his confessional vows when a young woman confesses an incestuous relationship.
STUART SAVES HIS FAMILY - Stuart Smalley (Al Franken), a regular "Saturday Night Live" character," is the focus of this comedy-drama about dealing with personal crises in the '90s.
THE SUM OF US - This Australian drama is about a blue-collar, working-class father who wants to support his gay son but finds himself pulled in different directions by social forces.
A WALK IN THE CLOUDS - Directed by Alfonso Arau ("Like Water for Chocolate"), this romantic drama about a returning G.I. (Keanu Reeves) who becomes mixed up with a volatile vineyard owner (Anthony Quinn) and his daughter (Spanish actress Aitana Sanchez-Gijon).
APRIL 21
THE BASKETBALL DIARIES - The true story of a high school basketball star who becomes addicted to drugs and finds his world spinning out of control. Leonardo DiCaprio ("What's Eating Gilbert Grape," "The Quick and the Dead") stars, with Lorraine Bracco as his mother.
THE CURE - The neighborhood bully (Brad Renfro, of "The Client") seeks out the friendship of another boy (Joseph Mazzello, of "Jurassic Park"), who has contracted AIDS in this drama. Anabella Sciorra, Diana Scarwid and Bruce Davison co-star.
KISS OF DEATH - A remake of the classic film noir thriller that made a star of Richard Widmark, updated as a vehicle for David Caruso (TV's "NYPD Blue"), as a petty criminal forced to infiltrate the New York mob. Helen Hunt, Samuel L. Jackson and Nicolas Cage co-star.
A LITTLE PRINCESS - A little girl raised in India is sent to a strict New York boarding school after her widowed father is sent off to war. She uses her imagination to overcome hardship. Based on the children's novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett ("The Secret Garden").
PANTHER - Melvin Van Peebles wrote and son Mario Van Peebles directed this look at the rise of the Black Panther Party in 1966 Oakland, Calif., which focuses on founders Huey Newton and Bobby Seale.
APRIL 28
DR. STRANGELOVE: OR, HOW I STOPPED WORRYING AND LEARNED TO LOVE THE BOMB - Stanley Kubrick's 1964 classic end-of-the-world political satire, starring Peter Sellers in no less than three distinctive roles, and George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Slim Pickens and James Earl Jones, is restored to its black-and-white glory for this reissue.
WINDOW TO PARIS - A Russian comedy-fantasy with political overtones about a pair of heavy drinkers who stumble upon a bizarre "window" in St. Petersberg that acts as an entry-way to Paris, France. In Russian and French, with English subtitles.
MAY 5
MORTAL KOMBAT - Based on the popular video game, this action picture stars Christopher Lambert (the "Highlander" pictures) as a crusading warrior.
MY POSSE DON'T DO HOMEWORK - A compassionate ex-Marine (Michelle Pfeiffer) abandons her military career after 10 years to teach in an inner-city high school in this drama.
TALES FROM THE HOOD - This anthology horror film has its stories being told by an undertaker (Clarence Williams III) to a trio of inner-city street hustlers.
TO WONG FOO, THANKS FOR EVERYTHING, JULIE NEWMAR - The three stars of New York's drag-queen beauty pageant circuit, Noxeema (Wesley Snipes), Vida (Patrick Swayze) and Chi Chi (John Leguizamo), hit the road for Hollywood but their 1967 Cadillac convertible breaks down in a small Nebraska town, where cross-dressers are not exactly the norm. (Does this sound just a bit like "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert"?)
NO ANNOUNCED DATES
BLUE SKY - Jessica Lange won a Golden Globe and is nominated for a best actress Oscar for her performance in this drama set in 1962, about a nuclear engineer who becomes involved in a coverup about nuclear bomb testing. Tommy Lee Jones, Powers Boothe and Chris O'Donnell co-star.
COBB - This tough biography of baseball legend Ty Cobb gets a boost from an Oscar-caliber (but not nominated) performance by Tommy Lee Jones. Robert Wuhl and Lolita Davidovich co-star.
FRIDAY - Actor/rap music artist Ice Cube has the lead role in this comedy about a young man growing up in South Central Los Angeles.
MY FAMILY - Gregory Nava ("El Norte") directed this multigenerational drama about a Latino family in Los Angeles, with Jimmy Smits, Esai Morales and Edward James Olmos.
TOM & VIV - This period drama chronicles the tragic marriage of T.S. Eliot (Willem Dafoe) and his first wife, Vivien Haigh-Wood (Miranda Richardson). Richardson and Rosemary Harris (as Eliot's mother) are both nominated for Oscars.
RED - This third film in Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Three Colors Trilogy" (the others being "Blue" and "White") is getting raves as the best of the lot by national critics (and is nominated for three Oscars). In French, with English subtitles.