Jacqueline Bisset

The high-power combination of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Paul Verhoeven (director of the first "RoboCop") looked as good at the box office this summer as it did on paper, and now "Total Recall" also shapes up as one of the blockbuster videos of the fall. Carolco is offering the R-rated sci-fi action film for a mere $24.99. Among the more noteworthy releases you may have missed during the past two weeks (when this column didn't appear): "Pretty Woman" (Touchstone, $19.

It's no surprise that writer-director Boaz Yakin ("Fresh," "Remember the Titans") had to self-finance "Death in Love," a film so personal and uncompromising that it's hard to imagine even the most daring investor backing anything so bold. Though the end result is bound to polarize audiences, it's nonetheless a head-turning, visionary achievement.

It's official. Black is out. Aqua is in. That was the winning fashion statement made Wednesday by arrivals at Shrine Auditorium for the 61st annual Academy Awards. From Geena Davis to Jodie Foster, from Jacqueline Bisset to Rob Lowe (his shirt), the color of choice was a Pacific Ocean green-blue. Short hair was in vogue, becoming the new status symbol for actors who are working.

The musical fantasy "Swing" aims for lush, follow-your-bliss romanticism, but plays out like a lame cross between a Gap commercial and "Cocoon." It takes a "Twilight Zone"-lite premise and spins it into the ground with addlebrained glee. Painfully sincere in its approach, the movie chugs along with such precise, choreographed steps that there's nary a surprise to be found along the way.

"La Ceremonie" is vintage Claude Chabrol: elegant, brisk and lethal in its assault on the obliviousness of the haute bourgeoise. The self-absorbed, often hypocritical upper-middle class has been a favorite Chabrol target for going on 40 years. But his droll, darkly humorous thrillers seem ever richer in their characterizations--and, in this instance, in the never-stronger sense that time really is running out for the privileged amid a widening gap between the haves and have-nots.

January is the Angeles Crest Highway for the disposal of bad movies, and that dumping of celluloid corpses plagued us right through the month's final weekend. "Fascination," a stupendously torpid thriller without a single redeeming quality, opened Friday without review screenings.

Truman Capote once said that the world will never let a beautiful woman starve, and in Sunday's 9 p.m. premiere of the made-for-CBS movie "Dancing at the Harvest Moon," Jacqueline Bisset's character proves that the planet's weakness for a pretty face apparently hasn't changed a whit. Bisset, 58, hasn't changed much either.

James Perez, a native of East Los Angeles, acknowledges that he will be living in a fishbowl, but he sees his new job as chief of the FBI's Office of Equal Opportunity as a "fantastic adventure." A federal judge in Texas ruled last year that hundreds of Latino FBI agents have been discriminated against and regularly assigned to demeaning duties. Noting that the suit has focused attention on how Latino agents are assigned and promoted, Perez said FBI Director William S. Sessions "has asked me to look at all facets of FBI operations and make recommendations directly to him."

The Early Show Josh Radnor. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS Today John and Revé Walsh; Donald Trump; Harry Connick Jr.; Scott Hamilton. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC Good Morning America (N) 7 a.m. KABC Live With Regis and Kelly Donald Trump; Abigail Breslin. (N) 9 a.m. KABC The View Matthew Perry; Esperanza Spalding; Jacqueline Bisset. (N) 10 a.m. KABC The Doctors When someone faints; in-vitro fertilization. (N) 11 a.m. KCAL The Talk Jane Leeves; Laila Ali. (N) 1 p.m. KCBS Dr. Phil A man takes a polygraph test.