Pic Hits for the week

wednesday
november 15
Stormchasers: Lugging 70mm, high-definition IMAX cameras out on thefront lines in search of severe weather phenomena, the title characters in this new film have delivered some of the grandest, scariest storm footage imaginable. Highlights include a trip into the eerie calm of a hurricane's eye wall and a turbulent game of tag with an oncoming killer tornado--all on the six-story-high screen at IMAX Theatre, Civic Center Boulevard and Fifth Avenue in Scottsdale. The 38-minute film, directed by Greg MacGillivray, opens Wednesday and plays daily at noon, 2 and 4 p.m., through March 12, 1996. The Secret of Life on Earth screens at 1 and 3p.m. daily, and double features of the unrated movies are scheduled at 7 and 9 nightly. Tickets range from $4.50 to $8.50. For details call 945-4629 or 949-3105.

Cage Heat: Sun Devils and Hoop Dreams: Bill Frieder's Arizona State University roundballers take the court for the first time this season at 7 p.m. Wednesday in an exhibition match against New City Sports Federation. The scene is ASU Activity Center in Tempe. For details call 965-3434. Meanwhile, back at the ranch house, PBS hosts the national broadcast debut of Hoop Dreams on Wednesday. The film by Steve James, Fred Marx and Peter Gilbert, which got the shaft last year from those documentary doofuses at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, airs at 7 p.m. on KAET-TV, Channel 8. The three-hour show repeats at 10:30 p.m.