Larry Flynt

The New Yorker for Jan. 6 has an excellent, well-rounded piece on Hollywood, George Lucas and his "Star Wars" industry, which thrives 20 years after the first installment of the futuristic trilogy hit theaters. The article, written by John Seabrook, is occasioned by the rerelease of a digitally enhanced version of the trilogy, beginning with "Star Wars" Jan. 31, "The Empire Strikes Back" three weeks later, and "The Return of the Jedi" two weeks after that. Also, Lucas is now at work on a second "Star Wars" trilogy for release in 1999, 2001 and 2003.

As the holiday movie season approaches, the magazines are dangling actress Oscar bait from their covers. Nicole Kidman, looking positively embalmed, tips her cleavage to the readers of November's Premiere, promoting both her star turn in Jane Campion's forthcoming "Portrait of a Lady" and the sheer and absolute perfection of her marriage to Tom Cruise. "It doesn't feel like seven years to me at all," she gushes.The underdog nominee may be Kristin Scott Thomas, that British actress from "Four Weddings and a Funeral," "A Handful of Dust" and "Angels and Insects," who's about to appear with Ralph Fiennes in the season's biggest and highest-minded romance, "The English Patient."