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UPSIDE Well, it's unlikely to be as bad as Showgirls...
DOWNSIDE ...or as good as Leaving Las Vegas.

MAD CITY

STARRING Dustin Hoffman, John Travolta, Mia Kirshner, Alan Alda, Blythe Danner, Bill Nunn
DIRECTED BY Costa-Gavras

In early drafts, the title referred to Madison, Wis. But by the time Costa-Gavras and first-time screenwriter Tom Matthews reworked things — with further help from Falling Down scripter Ebbe Roe Smith — the setting of this hostage-crisis drama was switched to the fictional Madeline, Calif. For better drama? No, for a more controlled shoot. And, by using L.A. soundstages, less chance that Travolta would have any problems finishing his work in the six-week window before he had to jump into Face/Off.

The resulting marathon shoot suited Mad City's story, in which Travolta, a museum security guard in a rage over being fired, inadvertently shoots another employee, then takes hostages in a three-day standoff with police — all stage-managed by a seamy, ambitious TV reporter (Hoffman). The inspiration for the story wasn't some real-life shoot-out on CNN, but Billy Wilder's 1951 flop Ace in the Hole, a scaldingly cynical portrait of a newspaperman who keeps a man trapped in a collapsed cave until he can milk the story dry. Says Matthews, ''It was kind of a no-brainer to translate that story to TV.'' (Nov. 7)

UPSIDE Travolta's continued white-hot box office clout.
DOWNSIDE It's a downer.

STARSHIP TROOPERS

STARRING Casper Van Dien, Jake Busey, Patrick Muldoon, Denise Richards
DIRECTED BY Paul Verhoeven

''In 10 years,'' Verhoeven promises, ''people will look back at Showgirls and realize it was a very elegantly made movie.'' Uh-huh. Meantime, fans who suffered the Dutch director's 1995 Vegas detour can amuse themselves with his return to sci-fi — a $90 million man-versus-giant-insect epic based on the classic Robert Heinlein novel.

Although Troopers is set in the distant future and packed with high-tech effects, Verhoeven insists his real inspiration came from the old bomber-pilot flicks of the 1940s. ''You know, where you got to see them in boot camp preparing for battle, not knowing which ones would live and which would die. It's a war movie, only this time we really do dehumanize the enemy.'' For the actors — an ensemble cast of unknowns — playing against alien insects wasn't an entirely pleasant experience. Says Van Dien: ''We had 30-foot warrior bugs, 80-foot plasma bugs, tanker bugs with 30-foot backs that I had to jump off of — and the whole time Verhoeven was jumping up and down, his arms flailing, screaming 'The bugs are coming! The bugs are coming!' '' (Nov. 7)

UPSIDE When the director of RoboCop and Total Recall says the bugs are coming, it sounds promising.
DOWNSIDE He also said Showgirls was elegant.

THE TRUMAN SHOW

STARRING Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, Ed Harris, Holland Taylor
DIRECTED BY Peter Weir

In his first dramatic role since hitting it big, Carrey wants to prove his range is as stretchable as his face. The $20 million man (who took a paltry $12 million for this part) stars as Truman Burbank, an insurance salesman who's unaware that his entire life is, in fact, the world's most popular 24-hour-a-day television show — and that everyone from his mother (Taylor) to his wife (Linney) is just an actor. Says Linney of Carrey's new role: ''You get to see a far more vulnerable person in a wild world.'' Carrey, according to producer Edward Feldman, took a little time to make the transition. ''At first, Jim was continuing some of his normal behavior,'' he says. ''The second week he did everything fresh.'' He also had a fresh costar; Harris' role (as the man who created Truman's show) was originally filled by Dennis Hopper, who lasted just one day of filming, then departed after differences with the director. (Nov. 14)


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